If you read about how to be successful, you will see GOALS GOALS GOALS. While this is especially true in books about winning at Soccer, it is quite prevalent in all self-help books. The problem is goals is that you have to know what you want.
If you have kids and want to make sure they go to the right schools and then you want to be able to retire in comfort, then your goals are pretty clear. If you own a store and want to expand to a chain, the goal is readily apparent.
However, what happens when you are at a transition point in life. The vicissitudes of life brought me to Connecticut following a job which I would subsequently quit a few months later because it was even worse here than it was where I came from. For most of my life, I had some kind of overriding goal. First, I was in school, and a goal was prescribed for me, finish school successfully. There were subordinate goals, but it always came back to that one. When I graduated college, I opened Phoenix Games, and everything was driving towards making Phoenix successful, and, later, making Phoenix survive.
In 2007, when it was apparent Phoenix Games would not pay the bills, I started working for my father teaching people with special needs to drive. It was a good job which helped people, but it was not satisfying because I went from what felt like a holy quest to a job that kind of did some good for some people.
In 2010, I started working for American Income Life. I had a new fiancee and we had a bold and ambitious dream. I would achieve the success that AIL promised was possible and we would find greatness. I could focus all of my energy towards AIL and that dream. Unfortunately, that dream, for various reasons did not pan out, and in January of 2012, I left that job and entered the car business selling Audis and later Volkswagens as I still do.
I had not driving ambition, but, for the first time, I was financially stable. I could start paying down, rather than racking up, debts. My credit score is floating up to a respectable level. Most of my immediate debts incurred running Phoenix Games are paid off.
In this situation, I was able to relax, not worrying about what was to come next. I just did what I wanted to, enjoyed things as they came. Recently, things changed again, and for various reasons, many of the things that I was distracting myself with became unavailable, and it came into stark focus that I do not have a direction in which I wish to head.
This bothered me greatly for a time. I sometimes have the feeling that the clock is ticking and I need to get moving before time runs out. I would try to make a long term goal, then shift to another, then another, only to realize that I really didn’t know what the right long term plan was.
I realized, that, while the clock moves, there is plenty of time left on it. It’s ok not to know what the big plan it. As they say, go as far as you can see, and then look further. Sometimes as far as you can see is up to the next bend in the road, and that’s ok. So, today, I will sell cars, maybe try to arrange a nice role playing game group, enjoy board game night, and, for now, let things fall where they will.
Saturday, March 16, 2013
Friday, March 8, 2013
If You Don't Ask for What You Want, You Get Everything You Ask For
There is a lesson that I have been reminded of a few times recently, both by things that have happened in my selling life as well as my personal life, and that is that one rarely gets what one wants when one does not ask for it.
I had a customer recently who, when they came in, all they could say was that they wanted lease payments. I tried to ask them what kind of car they were looking for, features, trim level, anything, but all they wanted was to know what the payment was. The lowest one, of course. It was all about the Benjamins, they claimed, and they mentioned the Jetta S, which they knew was cheapest. I mentioned that it had the smaller engine, but they just wanted the lowest price.
So, I showed them the numbers on that car, around $250 with very little out of pocket, and we took the car out for a drive. They assured me that they liked how the car drove, but they needed to think about it for a night.
I called them the next day, and they told me that they bought a Ford for $360/month. The reason they gave me was that there was not enough power in the engine of the Jetta. Of course, there wasn't enough power, they wanted the cheap one with the 115 horsepower engine. If they had told me they wanted more power, I would have shown them the SE with 170 horsepower for about $285/month. Instead, because they did not tell me what they wanted, they had to settle for a more expensive vehicle elsewhere.
I know that some car shoppers think that they are somehow better off keeping their cards close to the vest, but the fact of the matter is that if I don't know what someone wants, I can't possibly help them to get it.
You get this in the personal relationships as well. Have you ever had or heard about this conversation, perhaps on a road trip.
Wife: "Do you want to stop and get something to eat?"
Husband: "No, I'm fine."
Temperature in the car drops about 20 degrees.
Husband: "But maybe we should stop."
It's a funny story, but think of how often people do not get what they want from their partner because they don't ask for it. Usually this is because they feel that their partner should "know them well enough" to know what they want. If expecting your partner to read your mind is part of your happy relationship strategy, you should not get too attached to the idea of getting what you want. The plain and simple fact is that no matter how much you partner may want to make you happy and give you what you want, it becomes very difficult if they do not know what it is.
If you want to get what you want, whether it's a car with a little more power or to stay within a certain budget or a cheeseburger along the highway, you are much more likely to get it if you ask for it.
Sunday, March 3, 2013
Pressure Sales is So 1987: How to Sell in 2013
When people walk into a car dealership, they usually do so with a sense of trepidation. They expect aggressive salespeople, pressure tactics and a generally unpleasant experience. Some people would rather go through an IRS audit than shop for a car. They will do all kinds of things to protect themselves from the maneuvers of the car salesman.
It doesn’t have to be this way. This happens because “old school” salesmen have used pressure tactics for years and they have worked. They teach the young guys that this is how it works. They become managers and require such tactics of their salespeople. But does it really work?
Certainly pressure will get some people to sign on the line, but will they want to come back? When it come times to replace that car in a few years, they’ll shop around again. Why would you be loyal to a dealership that treated you like a piece of meat on a conveyer belt? So the customer will shop around again, get abused again, and the cycle continues.
This is not how I sell. I don’t sell with pressure for two reasons. First, I don’t do it because I don’t like it. I do not want to come in to work everyday and cause stress to nice people. Second, it doesn’t work. I don’t just want to force someone to buy a car today. I want to give them a pleasant experience. A customer who has a pleasant experience is easier to work with, they don’t worry if there’s a slight delay to meet with the Business Manager. They give us a good review online. They tell their friends and family. Most importantly, when the time comes for their next car, they won’t need to shop around. They’ll know that they can call me again and get the same good treatment.
I had one customer a few weeks ago say that buying a car is usually like going to the proctologist, but buying one from me was a pleasant and easy experience. Another customer had such a good experience that she gave me a $50 gift card as a thank you.
A lot of people in the industry think that customers only care about price and that they’ll go down the street for $5. This is true, if and only if, you have not treated the customer right. If you abuse them and pressure them, they’ll go down the street to pay $5 more, if only to be treated right. I have customers who come in, experience the way I work, and still shop around because that’s how they buy a car. However, when they go, I am confident that they will come back, because I know unfortunately that the other salespeople they will encounter have yet to learn this lesson. I’ve had customers offered a better price elsewhere still come back because it is worth it to people to be treated right.
I don’t know about how cars were sold in the old days. Maybe I couldn’t sell a car in 1987. Fortunately, it’s 2013, and in 2013 a customer wants to be treated right. In 2013, I sell plenty of cars the right way.
It doesn’t have to be this way. This happens because “old school” salesmen have used pressure tactics for years and they have worked. They teach the young guys that this is how it works. They become managers and require such tactics of their salespeople. But does it really work?
Certainly pressure will get some people to sign on the line, but will they want to come back? When it come times to replace that car in a few years, they’ll shop around again. Why would you be loyal to a dealership that treated you like a piece of meat on a conveyer belt? So the customer will shop around again, get abused again, and the cycle continues.
This is not how I sell. I don’t sell with pressure for two reasons. First, I don’t do it because I don’t like it. I do not want to come in to work everyday and cause stress to nice people. Second, it doesn’t work. I don’t just want to force someone to buy a car today. I want to give them a pleasant experience. A customer who has a pleasant experience is easier to work with, they don’t worry if there’s a slight delay to meet with the Business Manager. They give us a good review online. They tell their friends and family. Most importantly, when the time comes for their next car, they won’t need to shop around. They’ll know that they can call me again and get the same good treatment.
I had one customer a few weeks ago say that buying a car is usually like going to the proctologist, but buying one from me was a pleasant and easy experience. Another customer had such a good experience that she gave me a $50 gift card as a thank you.
A lot of people in the industry think that customers only care about price and that they’ll go down the street for $5. This is true, if and only if, you have not treated the customer right. If you abuse them and pressure them, they’ll go down the street to pay $5 more, if only to be treated right. I have customers who come in, experience the way I work, and still shop around because that’s how they buy a car. However, when they go, I am confident that they will come back, because I know unfortunately that the other salespeople they will encounter have yet to learn this lesson. I’ve had customers offered a better price elsewhere still come back because it is worth it to people to be treated right.
I don’t know about how cars were sold in the old days. Maybe I couldn’t sell a car in 1987. Fortunately, it’s 2013, and in 2013 a customer wants to be treated right. In 2013, I sell plenty of cars the right way.
Monday, September 3, 2012
Faith Makes Life More Interesting and Less Scary
Some of you may know that I consider myself Christian. Although I do not always attend a church or practice faith with others, the faith remains. Many people in the circles I travel in look askance at faith. They think of religion as the opiate of the masses. For many, this is because they have been scorned by modern day Phareses for their various "sins" leading to the common response of "if you don't want me, then fine, I don't want to get in there anyway!"
My own personal journey to faith was a highly rational one. I was not converted by another believer. I simply observed the path of my life and applied some deductive reasoning to it. I found that the events of my life seemed for form a coherent narrative indicative of a guiding hand. It was only years later that I came to read the Gospels and realized that the kind, loving, faithful God described there is the same one I had deduced.
I have faith that my life is guided by God. Not directed. Not controlled. Just guided. Maintaining the same rational approach, I can well admit that I cannot prove that God is guiding my life. Perhaps I am simply reading into a series of coincidences. Humans are very good at finding patterns where none exist. However, by having faith, I can believe that as long as I set my feet on the path, I will be guided the right direction. When you get right down to it, faith or not, the strategy is the same: do the best I can with whatever comes before me. The only difference is that by believing, I can stroll forward without fear.
There are many things that could go catastrophically wrong in my life. My car has over 140,000 miles on it. I do not presently have health insurance. A major car issue or a health issue would pretty much be game over for me, but I believe that there is a purpose for me, and, if God has a purpose for me, he's going to make sure that something as simple as a vehicular issue or lack of insurance will not sideline his plan.
What if I'm wrong? Who cares? I would rather spend decades happily believing that the hand of God will lead me to good things than spend those same decades worrying what might happen, especially since it is well recognized that focusing on good things causes good things and focusing on bad things causes bad things. What if there is no God but my very faith in him makes it real? Would that be so bad?
My own personal journey to faith was a highly rational one. I was not converted by another believer. I simply observed the path of my life and applied some deductive reasoning to it. I found that the events of my life seemed for form a coherent narrative indicative of a guiding hand. It was only years later that I came to read the Gospels and realized that the kind, loving, faithful God described there is the same one I had deduced.
I have faith that my life is guided by God. Not directed. Not controlled. Just guided. Maintaining the same rational approach, I can well admit that I cannot prove that God is guiding my life. Perhaps I am simply reading into a series of coincidences. Humans are very good at finding patterns where none exist. However, by having faith, I can believe that as long as I set my feet on the path, I will be guided the right direction. When you get right down to it, faith or not, the strategy is the same: do the best I can with whatever comes before me. The only difference is that by believing, I can stroll forward without fear.
There are many things that could go catastrophically wrong in my life. My car has over 140,000 miles on it. I do not presently have health insurance. A major car issue or a health issue would pretty much be game over for me, but I believe that there is a purpose for me, and, if God has a purpose for me, he's going to make sure that something as simple as a vehicular issue or lack of insurance will not sideline his plan.
What if I'm wrong? Who cares? I would rather spend decades happily believing that the hand of God will lead me to good things than spend those same decades worrying what might happen, especially since it is well recognized that focusing on good things causes good things and focusing on bad things causes bad things. What if there is no God but my very faith in him makes it real? Would that be so bad?
Friday, June 15, 2012
TDI is Totally Diesel
I have recently moved from the Audi side of the dealership to the Volkswagen side. It did this for a number of reasons, but the main one comes down to the fact that I could see myself buying a Volkswagen, while I could not see myself getting an Audi. The Volkswagens are extremely practical cars. I'm the kind of guy who, while I like power and performance, I'm really wowed by things like fuel economy and technology.
The most exciting thing that Volkswagen has for me is also the most commonly misunderstood: TDI Diesel engines. Diesel engines are available on a number of models including the Jetta and Passat. On the inside, they are just like their gas-burning brethren, the difference being that while driving the TDI versions, you will go to the gas station about half as often. Most cars have a range of about 400 miles on a tank of fuel, TDI Passat officially gets 795 miles, but most owners find that they do better than that.
This is hybrid level fuel economy without the batteries, the production and disposal of which make a Prius about as environmentally friendly as a Ford Explorer. Additionally, Diesels have more torque than regular gas engines, and torque is what pushes you back in your seat when you hit the gas hard. For example, the Passat TDI has 236 lbs/ft of torque at 1750 RPM, versus the Prius' lethargic 105 lbs/ft at 4000 RPM. (For comparison, a Mini Cooper Clubman gets 118 lbs/ft.)
If TDI is so great, why isn't everyone beating down VW's door to get them? Hybrid-like fuel economy, truck -like torque, and without the hybrid environmental and safety concerns? The answer is that Americans have certain preconceptions about diesel. They think it's noisy, smelly, slow to start up, sluggish, and expensive.
I would like to address all five of these concerns right here, so that all of my readers can get the record straight, then go beat down VW's door to get themselves a diesel.
Noisy and Smelly
A big gas pickup truck is noisy and smelly, but it runs on gasoline. When many people think of diesel, they think of either 18 wheelers or farm equipment. The noise and smell that those pieces of machinery have is not because of their fuel but because of their construction. A VW diesel sounds just like a regular engine (in fact, it is a little quieter than a regular Audi gas engine). As for smelly, unprocessed, diesel exhaust is worse than gas exhaust, which is why a TDI engine has a more complex set of exhaust scrubbing technology at work, making TDI a cleaner tailpipe than many gas engines. The smell is slightly different, but you would certainly never mistake it for an 18 wheeler.
Slow to Start Up
This is one I got just the other day. He suggested that diesels were annoying because you had to wait for them to warm up before they would start. This is ridiculous, as TDIs start instantly, just like a car does. However, diesel engines do not have spark plugs, combustion is created with heat and pressure rather than spark, so what if it's very cold. How long will it take to start then?
This is a video from Medicine Hat, Alberta showing a Golf TDI starting when it is 30 degrees below 0. My gas powered car doesn't start that well at 30 below.
Sluggish
According to Motortrend's review, the Passat TDI goes 0-60 in 8.7 seconds versus the 2.5L gas engine, which is the standard Passat engine, which took 9.0 seconds to reach 60. How's that for sluggish.
Expensive
A Passat SE TDI starts at $25,995, which is a little higher than the Passat SE 2.5 at $23,725. Diesel fuel here in Connecticut is about $4.00 per gallon versus $3.80 for 87 octane. (However if you are comparing a TDI to a sportier car which requires premium gas, you are looking at similar sticker price and similar fuel price, but this is to compare practically minded models.)
The average person drives about 12,000 miles per year and keeps a car for 5 years.
So, how much more will a diesel really cost you, once you take into account fuel savings? Assuming gas prices do not change, assuming that bio-diesel technology comes to a grinding halt, and not including the fact that diesel engines last much longer than gas engines, the difference in total cost is $200. (Mention this post, and I'll discount any TDI on our lot by $200, so there!)
Please don't actually beat down the door. The door to the showroom is glass, so just open it gently and come on in. We've got TDIs for everyone.
The most exciting thing that Volkswagen has for me is also the most commonly misunderstood: TDI Diesel engines. Diesel engines are available on a number of models including the Jetta and Passat. On the inside, they are just like their gas-burning brethren, the difference being that while driving the TDI versions, you will go to the gas station about half as often. Most cars have a range of about 400 miles on a tank of fuel, TDI Passat officially gets 795 miles, but most owners find that they do better than that.
This is hybrid level fuel economy without the batteries, the production and disposal of which make a Prius about as environmentally friendly as a Ford Explorer. Additionally, Diesels have more torque than regular gas engines, and torque is what pushes you back in your seat when you hit the gas hard. For example, the Passat TDI has 236 lbs/ft of torque at 1750 RPM, versus the Prius' lethargic 105 lbs/ft at 4000 RPM. (For comparison, a Mini Cooper Clubman gets 118 lbs/ft.)
If TDI is so great, why isn't everyone beating down VW's door to get them? Hybrid-like fuel economy, truck -like torque, and without the hybrid environmental and safety concerns? The answer is that Americans have certain preconceptions about diesel. They think it's noisy, smelly, slow to start up, sluggish, and expensive.
I would like to address all five of these concerns right here, so that all of my readers can get the record straight, then go beat down VW's door to get themselves a diesel.
Noisy and Smelly
A big gas pickup truck is noisy and smelly, but it runs on gasoline. When many people think of diesel, they think of either 18 wheelers or farm equipment. The noise and smell that those pieces of machinery have is not because of their fuel but because of their construction. A VW diesel sounds just like a regular engine (in fact, it is a little quieter than a regular Audi gas engine). As for smelly, unprocessed, diesel exhaust is worse than gas exhaust, which is why a TDI engine has a more complex set of exhaust scrubbing technology at work, making TDI a cleaner tailpipe than many gas engines. The smell is slightly different, but you would certainly never mistake it for an 18 wheeler.
Slow to Start Up
This is one I got just the other day. He suggested that diesels were annoying because you had to wait for them to warm up before they would start. This is ridiculous, as TDIs start instantly, just like a car does. However, diesel engines do not have spark plugs, combustion is created with heat and pressure rather than spark, so what if it's very cold. How long will it take to start then?
Sluggish
According to Motortrend's review, the Passat TDI goes 0-60 in 8.7 seconds versus the 2.5L gas engine, which is the standard Passat engine, which took 9.0 seconds to reach 60. How's that for sluggish.
Expensive
A Passat SE TDI starts at $25,995, which is a little higher than the Passat SE 2.5 at $23,725. Diesel fuel here in Connecticut is about $4.00 per gallon versus $3.80 for 87 octane. (However if you are comparing a TDI to a sportier car which requires premium gas, you are looking at similar sticker price and similar fuel price, but this is to compare practically minded models.)
The average person drives about 12,000 miles per year and keeps a car for 5 years.
| Gas | Diesel | |
| Additional Purchase Price | $0 | $2200 |
| Average Mileage | 27 | 37 |
| Cost per mile | $0.14 | $0.10 |
| Cost of 60,000 miles | $8,444 | $6,486 |
So, how much more will a diesel really cost you, once you take into account fuel savings? Assuming gas prices do not change, assuming that bio-diesel technology comes to a grinding halt, and not including the fact that diesel engines last much longer than gas engines, the difference in total cost is $200. (Mention this post, and I'll discount any TDI on our lot by $200, so there!)
Please don't actually beat down the door. The door to the showroom is glass, so just open it gently and come on in. We've got TDIs for everyone.
Ask to Keep the Carfax
I’m sure you’ve seen the ads: “Ask for the Carfax.” The American car buyer is well trained to ask for the Carfax. However, the American car buyer does not know what they are looking for, what a Carfax is supposed to look like, and, most importantly, that they should ask for a copy of the Carfax to keep.
I had a customer today who bought a car last month and came to regret it and wanted to trade it in. In the course of the appraisal, my manager told me that the car had a bad Carfax because it had an accident in its history.
When I brought the customer the bad news that she was going to get $4000 less for the car than she paid for it last month, I asked her if she knew about the accident. “Accident?” she said, “they showed me a Carfax that said it was clean and had been driven by an old woman in Florida. First, Carfax doesn’t tell you anything other than the state it was registered in, and, second, her car had three previous owners, one of whom had crashed it.
Unsurprisingly, the dealer who showed the fraudulent Carfax would not let her keep it. This makes sense, since showing a fake Carfax would be fraud, and given the size of the purchase, would probably be felony fraud.
When we sell a car, we include the Carfax when we deliver the car, whether the customer asks for it or not. Our cars are all clean, and we like to show it off. If a dealer won’t let you keep the Carfax, what are they hiding? Why wouldn’t they let you keep it?
Many dealers, are quite legit and above board, playing by the rules and honestly presenting their product. Unfortunately, some are not. Do not enter into the car buying process adversarially. That just causes stress for everyone, but do be sure to ask for whatever information you would like to reassure yourself that you are being treated right.
If something seems amiss, feel free to drop me a line. I’d be happy to give you my take on the situation. If you tell them that you need to check something out, and they try to pressure you to buy right away, don’t. After all, if they can sell it to you today, why couldn’t they sell it to you tomorrow. What don’t they want you to know?
I had a customer today who bought a car last month and came to regret it and wanted to trade it in. In the course of the appraisal, my manager told me that the car had a bad Carfax because it had an accident in its history.
When I brought the customer the bad news that she was going to get $4000 less for the car than she paid for it last month, I asked her if she knew about the accident. “Accident?” she said, “they showed me a Carfax that said it was clean and had been driven by an old woman in Florida. First, Carfax doesn’t tell you anything other than the state it was registered in, and, second, her car had three previous owners, one of whom had crashed it.
Unsurprisingly, the dealer who showed the fraudulent Carfax would not let her keep it. This makes sense, since showing a fake Carfax would be fraud, and given the size of the purchase, would probably be felony fraud.
When we sell a car, we include the Carfax when we deliver the car, whether the customer asks for it or not. Our cars are all clean, and we like to show it off. If a dealer won’t let you keep the Carfax, what are they hiding? Why wouldn’t they let you keep it?
Many dealers, are quite legit and above board, playing by the rules and honestly presenting their product. Unfortunately, some are not. Do not enter into the car buying process adversarially. That just causes stress for everyone, but do be sure to ask for whatever information you would like to reassure yourself that you are being treated right.
If something seems amiss, feel free to drop me a line. I’d be happy to give you my take on the situation. If you tell them that you need to check something out, and they try to pressure you to buy right away, don’t. After all, if they can sell it to you today, why couldn’t they sell it to you tomorrow. What don’t they want you to know?
Thursday, May 31, 2012
Mayor Bloomberg's Soda Rule: Right Move, Poor Outreach
If you ask a nutrition expert what the single most effective thing that you can do to be healthier is to cut sugary drinks. It is all to easy to fill up a Big Gulp and pound down 800 calories of sugar without even thinking about it.
Mayor Bloomberg of New York City, realizing that the toxic American food environment is literally killing America, where 1 in 2 New Yorkers are obese, and 1 in 3 Americans are Diabetic or Pre-Diabetic, is moving to ban sugary drinks over 16 ounces. If you carefully avoid the news, read these short articles to get a rundown:
Yeshiva World News
NBC New York
Also useful to read before my commentary is this post by Craig Fear, nutritional expert from Northampton, Massachusetts. Sugar: Why It's Killing Us and What We Should Do About It
The first thing that I notice about both news articles is that they fail to mention Diabetes. Until I met Craig Fear and read his blog, I thought that sugar was harmless as long as one exercised enough to burn it off. After all, it metabolizes into energy which you consume. What could go wrong with that? Well, what goes wrong with it is that every bit of sugar you take in has to be dealt with by the Pancreas, which is only built to take so much. Like any other piece of equipment, if you put it under constant strain, it wears out more quickly than it should causing Diabetes and Pancreatic Cancer.
No matter what form our health care industry takes in the future, ultimately, society carries the cost of health epidemics. The epidemic of Diabetes will cause a massive spike in disability, meaning reducing the productivity of the American population, while, at the same time, increasing greatly the cost of care for the American population. You don't need a degree in economics to realize that this is a long term recipe for economic disaster far worse than anything that the Republicans or Democrats could cook up in their wildest dreams.
When you see 16 oz for $0.89, 32 oz for $0.99 and 64 oz for $1.09, you will buy the 64 oz. I know I used to before I learned the consequences. Once you have the 64 oz of sugary soda (that's half a gallon, by the way, also all the fluid you need for the day), you will drink it because otherwise you'd be wasting it. You just consumed about as much sugar as your body is built to handle in a month. Imagine what it would do to your body to do this every day?
The new regulations would not prevent you from getting 32 oz, it would just make it cost twice as much as 16 oz, eliminating the marketing ploy which makes you buy and drink far more sugar than you really want or need.
Mayor Bloomberg, in taking this action in the face of public opposition, is making a very brave move with the kind of integrity and courage that is too often sadly lacking in politicians. I personally applaud him for this, and you should too.
Mayor Bloomberg of New York City, realizing that the toxic American food environment is literally killing America, where 1 in 2 New Yorkers are obese, and 1 in 3 Americans are Diabetic or Pre-Diabetic, is moving to ban sugary drinks over 16 ounces. If you carefully avoid the news, read these short articles to get a rundown:
Yeshiva World News
NBC New York
Also useful to read before my commentary is this post by Craig Fear, nutritional expert from Northampton, Massachusetts. Sugar: Why It's Killing Us and What We Should Do About It
The first thing that I notice about both news articles is that they fail to mention Diabetes. Until I met Craig Fear and read his blog, I thought that sugar was harmless as long as one exercised enough to burn it off. After all, it metabolizes into energy which you consume. What could go wrong with that? Well, what goes wrong with it is that every bit of sugar you take in has to be dealt with by the Pancreas, which is only built to take so much. Like any other piece of equipment, if you put it under constant strain, it wears out more quickly than it should causing Diabetes and Pancreatic Cancer.
No matter what form our health care industry takes in the future, ultimately, society carries the cost of health epidemics. The epidemic of Diabetes will cause a massive spike in disability, meaning reducing the productivity of the American population, while, at the same time, increasing greatly the cost of care for the American population. You don't need a degree in economics to realize that this is a long term recipe for economic disaster far worse than anything that the Republicans or Democrats could cook up in their wildest dreams.
When you see 16 oz for $0.89, 32 oz for $0.99 and 64 oz for $1.09, you will buy the 64 oz. I know I used to before I learned the consequences. Once you have the 64 oz of sugary soda (that's half a gallon, by the way, also all the fluid you need for the day), you will drink it because otherwise you'd be wasting it. You just consumed about as much sugar as your body is built to handle in a month. Imagine what it would do to your body to do this every day?
The new regulations would not prevent you from getting 32 oz, it would just make it cost twice as much as 16 oz, eliminating the marketing ploy which makes you buy and drink far more sugar than you really want or need.
Mayor Bloomberg, in taking this action in the face of public opposition, is making a very brave move with the kind of integrity and courage that is too often sadly lacking in politicians. I personally applaud him for this, and you should too.
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