Category Archives: Business Beat

Hide the Deals

Posted on August 8, 2012 | 1 comment

In case you haven’t spent enough already…


You expect to run into lots of advertising on web sites run by for-profit companies. Still I was surprised to learn that Bank of America allows online vendors to promote themselves while you are reviewing your banking transactions. (Is no area free from commercials?) The above screen capture shows an example. Directly under the entry for my credit-card purchase from the Orvis Company is a message to shop at Sports Authority and earn 10 percent cash back.

Bank of America benefits of course. First they probably charge the vendor to post the message. Second the offer is only good if you use a BOA credit or debit card. You learn this if you click the offer to get the details. In fairness to the banking giant, you can opt out of learning about additional ways to spend money by clicking the “Hide Deals” link. But I wonder which way the screen was set by default. I’m not sure how long these “helpful” messages have been there. The Orvis/Sports Authority deal is the first one I have noticed.

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Posted in Business Beat

Film Piracy Dilemma

Posted on July 25, 2012 | 2 comments

What should you do when the theft of intellectual property affects you personally? In my case I bought a DVD online that I’m almost certain was recorded from a television broadcast and sold without a license. My dilemma is that I want to add the film to my small collection and cannot find it for sale anywhere else.
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Call It WalBucks

Posted on July 1, 2012 | 1 comment

Now Open Bucks


Now that it’s open, it needs a name. Or at least a better name than “West Bremerton Starbucks.” That’s what a recent article in the Kitsap Sun called the latest store (see photo) to join the Starbucks empire.
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In Case You Didn’t Know

Posted on May 30, 2012 | 2 comments

Would a liquor sign send an unnecessary message?


Let’s be clear. The Liquor sign in the photo is a fake. Can you tell? :) Although I think the sign looks great, the QFC on Kitsap Way has not filled in the big gap on its storefront between the Deli and Seafood signs. I did it for them using Microsoft PhotoDraw just in time for the June 1st end to Washington’s 80-year monopoly on retail liquor sales. Beginning on Friday, QFC and many other retailers in the state will begin selling liquor as a result of the 59 percent yes vote on Initiative 1183 last November.

In QFC’s case a row of shelves in the wine shop will be cleared out and stocked with some of the more popular brands of spirits like Smirnoff vodka, Jack Daniel’s whiskey, and Tanqueray gin. By one count, liquor will be available at more than 50 stores in Kitsap County. Previously we had six state stores. Because consumers can expect to find the hard stuff for sale in so many places, QFC will probably cool it on adding a liquor sign. They did include a liquor insert in this week’s grocery circular. Prices shown are for cardholders of course.

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Posted in Business Beat

Dancing Man in Port Orchard

Posted on May 11, 2012 | 2 comments

Where’s your smart phone?


Readers of the Mud Bay blog know I can’t resist stopping to take a picture whenever I see a dancing man in Kitsap County. Clearly I haven’t found all of them. I spotted a new one today during a rare weekday trip to Port Orchard. The dancing man outside Talk’s Cheap on Bay Street (see photo) might have been jumping for joy for months about the store being an authorized Verizon retailer. I wouldn’t know. I only pass through the county seat on Sundays on my way to Annapolis, where I park and ride my bike along Beach Drive.

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Posted in Business Beat, Other Local Places

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Name This Bucks Contest

Posted on April 23, 2012 | 9 comments

Windows were installed last week.


Two previous posts, Tallbucks and V-Bucks, show pictures of the Starbucks that’s being built at the corner of Kitsap Way and National Avenue in Bremerton. The post titles are interim names I gave the building at the time the photos were taken. A reader has suggested that the Mud Bay Blog sponsor a contest for a final name for the building as it nears completion (see photo).
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Posted in Business Beat

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Turning Aluminum into Green

Posted on April 18, 2012 | 2 comments

Ignoring transportation costs, my recycling program is almost flawless. It’s a multistep process, but in the end it should make everything disappear.
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Posted in Business Beat, Economy

West Hills Inflatable

Posted on April 11, 2012 | 2 comments

As cute as the car?


Even when I’m clueless about the specific product being advertised, I always stop to take pictures of giant rooftop inflatables. Case in point: the hamster (or Hamstar as Kia spells it) shown in the photo. With a quick online search though, I learned more about a car, and the campaign to sell it, that’s tied to a hip rodent.
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Posted in Business Beat, Cars

V-Bucks

Posted on April 4, 2012 | 2 comments

Reminds me of the trunk of a 1959 Chevrolet


Tallbucks, posted last month, showed a picture of the new Starbucks that’s under construction in the Walgreens parking lot at the intersection of Kitsap Way and National Avenue in Bremerton. A better title would have been V-Bucks (see construction photo taken last weekend).

At least we now know what the architect had in mind for the metal posts that extend up from the masonry pillars on the building’s north and south sides—they support huge beams that in turn support the building’s V-shaped roof. In addition to attracting attention, the roof might be a great place to store extra cartons of venti cups.

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Tallbucks

Posted on March 3, 2012 | 5 comments

Are they building a venti?


Do we really need another coffee place on Kitsap Way in Bremerton? That was my first thought when I read that a Starbucks will be located in the Walgreens parking lot at the intersection of Kitsap Way and National Avenue. As the new building began to take shape this week (see photo), another question arose: does it need to be so tall?
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