Didn't mean to upset anyone-
Hi guys,
Sorry, but I did not mean to upset everyone with my comments about screaming like a "Loco Gringo" maybe it was a bad choice of words.
But being a business owner here and having to deal with a daily load of BS from various customers & public service companies, it is not easy to just wash your hands and accept customers that owe you $25,000-$50,000 and do not want to pay or when Andinatel & TV cable cut off your service even though you paid on time, just because they do not have the internal systems to properly monitor their customers. Or when customs (Aduana) here wants to charge you 30-40% of the value of the goods you are importing (when the published rate is 5%) just because one of the customs agents reviewing your cargo needs additional income to pay his own expenses (don't forget, Ecuador was rated the 3'rd most corrupt country in the world). Or when a Hospital purchasing agent has the "BALLS" to ask for a 50% Bribe to give you a $100,000 order when he is being paid by the state to do his job properly, if I paid that who do you think pays the ultimate price-- The Ecuadoran People, that's who.. and I do not think that is fair....
I have tried for over 2 years to be tolerant, understanding and accepting, but NO MORE, sorry but if you all had a business here, and not just visiting for a short time, you would totally understand what I am referring to. Every time I have done things the way it is done in the States, I have had shit piled on top of me, since I adopted the Loco Gringo attitude, my business has prospered because my customers know I mean business and that we are a serious and professional company that will not tolerate CORRUPTION, LIES, & TOTALLY BAD CUSTOMER SERVICE.
Make no mistake, I respect the Ecuadoran people otherwise I would not remain here, but I will not be trampled upon nor will I accept things because that is the "WAY IT IS DONE" when it is my livelyhood and that of my employees at stake, I have not run numerous successfull businesses in Latin America by acting that way, No Risk No Gain Guys.
Again, my appologies if I have offended anyone on the board.
Cell phones & making contact
Hey Artisttyp,
I'm sorry about the phone problems & that we missed each other,
but it I'm glad nevertheless that you enjoyed your time here.
Mongerers who want meet up with me or others here Quito when they get here, I recommend activating your PM services by paying Jackson's small fee. I will post some info privately that I won't post publicly for fairly obvious reasons. One of those things is my cell number.
For you guys coming to Quito or Ecuador & may want to have cellular access, I will suggest a few things.
First, it will be cheaper to buy or bring a cheap model cellular from the US or outside Ecuador.
I brought a cheap Nokia 6010 which I had been using in San Diego's T-Mobile network
and Tijuana's Telcel network. Therefore, the Movistar network in Ecuador worked fine for me.
Their offices which are all over will sell you a chip, card, number, & minutes for as little as $3.
That $3 is only an introductory offer, but lasts for over a month. While it won't last long for talking,
most people do text messeging as it's much cheaper. Then buy $10 cards as their expiration dates far exceed the cheaper cards. There also exists Porta and another for cell service, but I don't know much about them.
BTW, texting is also better if your spanish isn't very good, but you still want to communicate with the local girls.
Trying to comprehend listening to them by phone can be difficult & costly in minutes.
Those who won't have cellulars in Ecuador should make use of the cabinas found most everywhere here for making calls both locally and beyond. Don't be timid to ask them for assistance if neccessary as dialing local land lines or cellulars might require using some extra digits.
I'll second that on the dry weekend....
I was down this weekend for business but tried to do some partying in the evening... Major bummer.:(
I am friendly with the lady who runs 270 La Nina so she did serve me and I took one of the Quitenas there. Fairly decent. All the other places I could find weren't even open.
Coin Shortage Means a Penny Could Be Worth 5 Cents
Have some bad news for all us Ecuador mongers. Because of a coin shortage, the penny could be worth five cents soon! I wonder if this will affect prices?
[url]http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,247479,00.html[/url]
A potential shortage of coins in the United States could mean all those pennies in your piggy bank could be worth five times their current value soon, says an economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago.
Sharply rising prices of metals such as copper and nickel have meant the face value of pennies and nickels are worth less than the material that they are made of, increasing the risk that speculators could melt the coins and sell them for a profit.
Such a risk spurred the U.S. Mint last month to issue regulations limiting melting and exporting of the coins.
But Francois Velde, senior economist at the Chicago Fed, argued in a recent research note that prohibitions by the Mint would unlikely deter serious speculators who already have piled up the coinage.
The best solution, Velde said, would be to "rebase" the penny by making it worth five cents rather than one cent. Doing so would increase the amount of five-cent coins in circulation and do away with the almost worthless one cent coin.
"History shows that when coins are worth melting, they disappear," Velde wrote.
"Rebasing the penny would ... debase the five-cent piece and put it safely away from its melting point," he added.
Raw material prices in general have skyrocketed in the last five years, sending copper prices to record highs of $4.16 a pound in May. Copper pennies number 154 to a pound. Prices have since come down from that peak but could still trek higher, Velde said.
Since 1982, the Mint began making copper-coated zinc pennies to prevent metals speculators from taking advantage of lofty base metal prices. Though the penny is losing its importance — it is worth only four seconds of the average American's work time, assuming a 40-hour workweek — the Mint is making more and more pennies.
Velde said that since 1982 the Mint has produced 910 pennies for every American. Last year there were 8.23 billion pennies in circulation, according to the Mint.
"These factors suggest that, sooner or later, the penny will join the farthing (one-quarter of a penny) and the hapenny (one-half of a penny) in coin museums," he said.