News from "The Gouge"

Available here at "thedegouge.com"

Jan 26, 2023

Benefits of Doing Business with Non-Profit Companies.


A good way to "degouge", to fight the gouge, is to work with businesses that are not in the profit business. Most large US and world banks seem driven by the overriding forces of shareholder and executive profit. The result is consumers pay higher fees to finance the corporate lifestyle of a few, this can be proven by the many scandals and fines large banks have been hit with over the last few years.
However credit unions are nonprofit, because they are owned by their members. Credit unions generally provide all the services that banks provide, but usually with lower fees. This is because they are not driven to produce ungodly profits, but rather to provide a banking service. Modern credit unions have checking and savings accounts, loans, online banking, mobile check deposit, etc. and usually at multiple branches.

One example is a wire transfer. At a particular bank and a particular credit union, both charged $50 to send a wire transfer. This seems valid as it takes a bit of work. The difference is to receive a wire transfer into your account. This actually takes no work, but the bank still charged $25 just to report that the transfer arrived, but the credit union charged nothing. A single real example of one of the many tiny ways a bank drains your earnings to fund their lavish lifestyle.

There are other nonprofit businesses, such as insurance companies that pool insurance deposits to cover loss payments, but don't charge massively excess fees to fund exorbitant executive salaries. Consider a non-profit reciprocal inter-insurance exchange insurance agency. A 2020 U.S. News report examined car insurance rates charged by the largest auto insurers in the US. They reported that USAA (a reciprocal inter-insurance exchange) provided the cheapest average annual car insurance rate at $885. This is quite low compared to the next lowest which was $1,168 per year, and the highest of the companies compared which cost $1,880 per year on average. This comparison alone highlights the amount of over payment people are making for a like service. A great way to save $250 to $1,000 dollars a year (every year) is simply to change insurance companies.
The downside is that some USAA services are only available to current and former military personnel and families. A different option for everyone not qualifying for nonprofit membership, is to reevaluate insurance every three years. Insurance companies often rely on customers fear of change, so they often offer initial low rates, then slowly creep up their rates at every renewal. This is called the “loyalty penalty” or “price walking”.
Think about what should happen for the average customer, and that is that as the car they are insuring is aging, the value, thus the replacement cost, is decreasing. Yet it is typical for the insurance rate to increase ever cycle. This is the loyalty penalty. The way to avoid the loyalty penalty is to compare rates at different insurance companies every few years, and switch when there is a savings. Insurance companies know that most people don't like the hassle of switching, or change itself, so this behavior occurs frequently in the industry.

Likewise, shopping at employee owned stores will typically limit being gouged. Most employee owned chains are light on the profit, so the prices are often cheaper. Examples include stores like Winco, which is an employee owned grocery store chain. The prices are almost universally reported as being lower than the other local mega-chain supermarkets.
The owners, being the workers, don't all own a fleet of Learjets like the owners of some supermarket chains. Also they are reportedly treated well as owners/workers as it is their store. In addition, many shoppers report a personal satisfaction of knowing that the profit for their purchase is going to local workers.




Keep more of this for yourself.


The takeaway here is that member owned business are a way keep more of your earnings.
And don't worry, it's OK, CEOs and Billionaire activist investors have enough money, they will survive.







The alternative to knowledge and adaptation, in this case is slowly losing your dollar savings value, as the printing continues...

The average US worker works far harder than their counterparts in other developed nations, and get less and less for it every year.
Information is the key, news is critical to an informed decision. Learn more at "thedegouge.com".


This release is for informational purpose only.

No legal, financial or investment advise is given, just opinion.

Learn more at thedegouge.com




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