RICA... well stupid

RICA is forced upon us in South Africa (it's some act where you have to register your sim card so they can track you in case your number/sim is used in crime). I registered today, because I upgrade my cellphone contract tomorrow (or it's due anyway).

But if you, like me, are a bit of a techno guy, then you don't get snail mail anymore. So how do you prove where you stay? My edgars accounts, my vodacom acccount, my bank statements, all goes to my email now (I started that just before RICA came, and now what?!). So I went to the police station to fill in an affidavit to state I stay where I stay. It worked fine... but what bothered me about it all is that my address is on my ID, and my ID is required for RICA. So yeah, stupid if you ask me. :-/

What do you hate buying the most?

There is always a cognitive dissonance in me when I have to buy toilet paper, and refuse bags.

In retail terms, those are called "grudge purchases". This is because, well, the one you pull through your buttocks, and the other you just throw away. The point is, you don't want to spend a lot of money on stuff that you just want to throw away.

I remember once buying toilet paper, saying, "I can't believe I pay this much for what I'm going to do with it". Then the sales assistant replied, "yes that's a lot of money for what it's for". But you see there is a difference. It's for a clean buttocks - now that's a worthy cause, one I'm willing to spend some money on. But what you do with it... not stuff I want to spend money on. A grudge buy. I don't buy the cheapest toilet paper anymore... because I think that's a rip off too. So the lesser of the two evils, are the double ply thick decent toilet paper.

On to refuse bags. Now with these I haven't found anything that I am really satisfied with. The expensive ones are definately better... but are they worth the premium? Searching for the above images, I found there's a gazillion different types of refuse bags... clearly a diverse market. But where do I fit? I like cheap, because... well, I'm sure you can figure it out, but I am not happy with them. They tear at the worst times, they are just not worth it... but neither are the ones with draw strings, or scented etc. or heavy duty. Just give me decent quality at a decent price. That's all.

What do you hate buying, but have to? What is the brand/choice you've settled on and why?

McDonalds on Durban road (Bellville RSA)

I was at McDonalds a week or two back... and I got stuck in the drive through. They were cashing up or something (it's a 24h McD's and it was about 8:30 AM), and but it took me 25m to get through it... And I didn't order anything, I needed to be somewhere else at 9:00 so I needed to get out there quickly.

So I was unhappy, and I voted with my feet... yeah... but that doesn't change anything. So I emailed McDonalds South Africa, and logged a complaint. But you see, they still have not come back to me. So my consumer blog is starting.

Consumer blog too

I've decided I'm going to give consumer reviews on products that I like, or dislike for whatever reason. It'll often be on the marketing of the product, or the packaging, or just the usage etc.

I'll be posting my first consumer review shortly...