- No More UK Landing Cards on Arrival, ePassport Gates Open to US and Other Citizens by Travel Codex. Let’s hope more countries follow this.
- American Airlines Taking its Mechanics to Court Over Work Slowdown Affecting 125,000 Customers by VFTW. Really don’t like airlines taking mechanics to court over these sort of things. I think if successful it can set a dangerous precedent. For example American Airlines is claiming that mechanics are writing up issues that aren’t necessary. In my opinion if there is an issue, it should be written up and fixed. If American Airlines are claiming mechanics are lying about issues, that’s a completely separate issue.
- DEAL DEAD – Using PPBDC on Google Pay to get the 1% by Miles Per Day. RIP
Deals starting/expiring at the end of today or starting today (view the full deal calendar here):
- [FL, GA, SC, AL] Ameris Bank $100 Checking Bonus
- Wells Fargo: 5% Back At Office Max/Depot ($250 Maximum), In Store only (In Addition To Normal Rewards)
- [Targeted] Capital One 360: $450 Bonus for Existing Customers who Deposit $50,000 (or $150 Bonus for $20,000)
- [Targeted] Chase Offers/BofA: Save 10% At Whole Foods Markets 365 ($6 Maximum)
- [YMMV] American Express Delta Offers – Up To 75,000 Miles + $200 Statement Credit – No Lifetime Language
- Delta Flash Sales: Domestic From 12k Round Trip
- Delivery.com: $10 Off $20+ On Alcohol With Promo Code SPRINGSIP (+ $10 Referral Bonus)
- [Targeted] eBay: 8% back in eBay Bucks with No Minimum Purchase [5/20-5/22]
- [YMMV] Amazon: Open Amazon Assistant Once Per Day For Five Days & Get $5 Amazon Credit
Deals starting/expiring at end of tomorrow:
- BB&T $200 Checking Bonus – Direct Deposit Not Required [AL, DC, FL, GA, IN, KY, MD, NC, OH, SC, TN, TX, VA, WV]
- BB&T $200/$400 Checking Bonus, Direct Deposit Optional [YMMV & AL, DC, FL, GA, IN, KY, MD, NC, NJ, OH, PA, SC, TN, TX, VA, WV]
- Giant, Stop&Shop, Martin’s: 3x Fuel Points on Visa Gift Cards [5/17-5/23]
- Delivery.com: 20% Off Food Orders With Promo Code MAYTWENTY (+ $10 Referral Bonus)
Here are some of the most popular posts from yesterday:
The Travel Codex blog about US citizens being able to use the e-Passports lines in England is great timing for me, and something I wouldn’t have known about if not for this site.
I really like that you share / link other blogger’s posts when the information is pertinent. DoC is a consolidator of great information.
Thanks Will!
Always happy to share the love =)
I was wondering why my PPBDC on my Google Pay account was displaying as unavailable every time I wanted to send money to myself since almost two weeks ago. Seems like PP and Google killed that loophole. Too bad, nevertheless I did end up using the PPBDC to send money to myself via google pay as direct deposits to meet the DD requirements for the Wells Fargo $400 bonus while netting the PP cashback. Funny coincidence that they decided to kill the loophole just as I met the bonus requirements.
With Amex killing my serve and bluebird and on top of that PayPal no longer allowing credit backup on their PPBDC. I have no use for the PPBDC other than to place my two PPBDCs in the sock drawer until I discover another possible loophole in the future.
William — Airline mechanics routinely slow down and create maintenance work when they are engaged in contract negotiations. It is a practice almost as old as the industry. It’s called “leverage.” In response, airlines routinely seek (and win) preliminary injunctions against such illegal conduct. The reason this game exists is because the industry is burdened by an antiquated law, the Railway Labor Act, that for political reasons is impossible to change. Allowing very highly paid individuals to belong to unions is a very bad idea (for both company and employee) which is why such unions don’t exist outside of the Railway Labor Act. Indeed, if there were a truly free market for airline service, USA airlines with labor unions would almost certainly all go out of business. But, as a society, we tolerate this silliness. In the scheme of things, the inefficiency it creates is modest.
Allowing very highly paid individuals to belong to unions is a very bad idea
Think we will agree to disagree on this.
I’m about as anti-union as you can get, but I agree with you Will. However, I don’t think government employees should be able to unionize but anyone in the private market should be free to join a union if it best serves his/her purpose. Businesses should be able to choose if they want to work with a union or not. Freedom of contract is a good thing.
Why don’t you think government employees should be able to unionize?
It’s all basic economics and human nature. With a private company, “management” has a profit motive. In simplistic terms, they want to make as much money as possible. That would, again in simplistic terms, be aided by paying your workers as little as possible.
In the public sector, there is no profit motive. Without a profit motive, management — as human beings — is usually inclined to be as nice as possible to their fellow employees. Why not? It sucks being an ogre. In the private sector, you’re going to probably lose your job, or your company will go out of business, if you overpay your employees. Government doesn’t go out of business and government officials don’t usually lose their jobs by overpaying their workers. Sure, if it gets bad enough (huge tax increases), maybe those officials will be voted out of office, but that’s why much of the overpayment usually comes in the form of pensions. These obligations hit after the official leaves office. In the meantime, if you’re nice to your union employees, their union works to secure your reelection — which is likely to be very effective because they’re the people who will care the most about the election! It’s a vicious cycle, which is why unionized public sector employees are paid significantly more than private sector employees for similar work.
Similar economic factors occur in the private sector when you’re dealing with highly compensated individuals — especially in protected industries like the airlines where there are barriers to entry. Airline pilots, for example, are highly trained and have very desirable skills. In a free market, they’d be free to move to the employer who offered them the best pay and working conditions. Airlines would compete — as other industries do — for these desirable workers, and their pay and benefits would be good. But in the unionized airline industry, this doesn’t happen. The existing workers and management negotiate seniority clauses: you’re not paid by your skill, but by your longevity. You’re stuck at your airline. The negotiated terms favor existing workers (naturally), so senior pay is ridiculously high and starting pay is ridiculously low. Instead of having your highest paid employees working for the benefit of the business, you have them conspiring among themselves to boost their piece of the pie. They become adversaries (how many companies have their own employees as their adversaries). You get stupid behavior that harms the company — like mechanics slowing down their work to boost their bargaining position. This is economic absurdity. But that’s what happens when highly paid employees belong to unions. It’s generally illegal in the USA under the Fair Labor Standards Act, but airline employees are exempt from those rules because they are oddly governed by 100-year-old railway laws.
iahphx’s long winded post is similar to my thoughts. In the private world, businesses have to balance the demands of the union against market forces for their products. That doesn’t exist in the public sector, so unions and their employers (i.e. gov’t agencies) are on the same side against the taxpayer, who really doesn’t have much say.
If McDonalds wants to pay people $45/hour and charge $22 for a Big Mac – have at it. I’ll eat somewhere else. If the gov’t wants to pay a high school dropout $45/hour to pick up trash along the road, I can’t exactly stop paying my taxes in protest.
I can move to a different jurisdiction, but that’s about it. I moved several years ago to get away from a city-level income tax, but I can’t get away from the state and federal taxes.