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Category Archives: NZ Business
xtra mail customers are going to Yahoo! mail
The big mail transfer is finally coming… and not before time. Telecom’s somewhat clueless (and expensive) marketers have managed to mangle thing though, for a start using the name “Yahoo!Xtra Bubble” for the new service. Xtra subscribers will get moved to Yahoo Mail (the Beta is great), and will also get Flickr Pro, a 1 …
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Economy class sleeping – emerging reality?
They’ve mentioned this before about this before… and now it looks like AirNZ is going to try it. Economy class bunks. From 2010. “One concept showed berths stacked three-high in a herringbone layout along the sides, and another row stacked down the middle of the cabin. This is something that will allow tourism to NZ …
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Direct Broking versus eTrade – Fees
Fees for trading in NZ stocks seem to be still based on ancient premises – percentage takes and high rates. Here are ASB’s fees – they charge you the same $30 for a $500 or $10,000 transaction. Ditto with Direct Broking, who have a slightly lower ticket clipping rate, but still set the baseline at …
On shorting stocks in NZ
Fisrt – a picture on why shorting sticks can be a good thing for your portfolio – here is the return on my US portfolio this calendar YTD (the green line) versus the S&P500 (in blue). When the market turned sour in the last weeks my portfolio has stayed up because of the somewhat balanced …
Jasons, vianet and Trade Me.
A new beta travel site from Jasons. Interestingly they are targeting Australia and the South Pacific as well as NZ. They have 168 listings for Wellington. Vianet, Trade Me’s Travel partner, has 80. However, Jason’s site only displays 10 results at a time, doesn’t map them at all. The battle is on. My money (and …
Contact Energy sucks sucks sucks
I arrive back home to find my gas has been disconnected. For the second time. This year. AND my electricity was disconnected once this year. It is no wonder that this industry killed someone – their approach to customer service is arrogant beyond belief. My bills are always overpaid, and indeed I am over one …
Burger Fuel numbers
2380 investors, $5.25m raised. That’s $2,205 per investor – paltry. A poorer showing given that they even spent money on TVC’s advertising the float. Goodness knows what the total expenses were for the float, but this can’t have been an efficient way of raising the cash – especially as the founders appear to have deep …
pay phones, funny money, income and Telecom
Chicago’s OHare airport is ripping out pay phones and replacing them with power sockets, chairs and counters. Bless them – I’m sick of wandering around (usually american) airports looking for power sockets. Disposable income for “Managers” is largest in Saudi Arabia, small in the USA and generally better in third world countries than first world. …
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On IPOs Xero and BF
To me a successful IPO: is fully subscribed raises the money at a fair price results in a healthy listing Xero was fuly subscribed, BF was not. We shall wait and see whether BF is able to make the second deadline with a meaningful shareholder base. To determine whether the price was fair, we look …
Xero – 92 cents – what does this mean for burger fuel?
not a great record for Xero shares so far, on very thin trading though. Remember they launched at $1.10, but cost IPO investors $1. If you didn’t get any shares at the IPO, and still believe, then now would be a good time. well for a start BFW has not yet managed to raise their …
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Trade Me launches Pay Now
Trade Me have quietly launched Pay Now. This is a really important development, as it is the final barrier falling between Trade Me’s traditional model and true eCommerce. Now you can Buy and Pay with a credit card in one move, and just walk away from the screen. All for free. (Sellers pay a credit …
10 tips for Telecom’s outsourcing to Manila
I’m actually ok with Telecom outsourcing part of their broadband help-desk support to Manila – as long as they do it right, which, knowing Telecom, they won’t. Here are some implementation tips for them…. Firstly, don’t let the Filipinos pretend that they are sitting in Waikanae or Auckland. That’s insulting to them and insulting to …
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Air NZ reverses plan to tighten 737 seating
Great Headline: Air NZ reverses plan to tighten 737 seating I’d love to blame the blogosphere… but the airline touts passengers ad travel agents as those responsible for pushing back. There are still a few planes that will remain cramped though…
Chalkie replies to Gareth Morgan…
Chalkie clearly reads blogs, and has replied to Gareth Morgan’s rebuttal to her article on his website. The original Chalkie article is now on Stuff, and you can read Chalkie’s remarks below (& in the comments of the previous post) Jenny Ruth “My primary source of income is not from writing for savings industry-funded trade …
Lance Wiggs 