U.P. Paper to be Delivered by USPS

The Ironwood Daily Globe is shifting from traditional paper carriers to the U.S. Postal Service for delivery of the newspaper. The Globe cited troubles with delays and a shortage of carriers which caused people to miss the paper sometimes as the driving force behind the decision. I am writing about this because the only paper I ever received in the mail was the Wall Street Journal and I had not heard of smaller localized papers doing this for their immediate customers. I know you can have other major newspapers delivered through the mail, but the concept of dropping all of your local delivery struck me as interesting.

The upside to this is that the efficient post offices in Michigan's Upper Peninsula stated that they have all mail delivered by 4 pm. Some subscribers wouldn't receive their paper until the evening before this switch was made.

Rising gas prices were making it more and more difficult for the independent contractors who use their own vehicles. The newspaper is paying the carriers a bonus if they continue their route through June 19. Part-time jobs created by the change in the paper's production will be offered to the carriers first out of consideration for their positions being eliminated.

Now, if only my Beaners coffee and Sweetwaters donuts could be delivered in the mail every morning. Man, that would be great! :)

Michigan Flavored Online Auction

Check out www.mlive.com/ebid/ for a wide range of auction items from local Michigan businesses. The Grand Rapids Press, Kalamazoo Gazette, and Muskegon Chronicle are all offering up items from their respective areas. Hurry up and bid now because the auction ends on May 23. From vacation packages to restaurant deals and just about everything in between you are sure to find something that will make you want to place a bid. The items I looked at appear to have a reserve price that seems to hover around 50% of the item's actual value (or regular price). I don't believe anything goes for under $200 so don't think you will pick up anything on the cheap.

"Click It or Ticket" is Coming

The "Click It or Ticket" seatbelt enforcement program runs May 22 through June 4. Various checkpoints will be set up around the state along with advertisements and partrols that are designed to get more people to buckle up those seatbelts. It boggles my mind to see people not wearing a seatbelt. What do they think is going to stop them when their vehicle goes from 60 m.p.h. to ZERO in an instant?

Another thing that angers and scares me is seeing parents or caregivers (yes, even daycare workers) putting kids in the front seat of a car. Sometimes buckled, sometimes not. Not only do they not belong in the front seat, but they also should have been in a car seat.

It is one thing to be careless and reckless with your life when you have a say in it. It is far different when you are too young/little to have a say in how you travel. Check out Michigan Safe Kids for information on what you can do to help increase child passenger safety in Michigan.

For more information on the "Click It or Ticket" campaign head on over to www.buckleupamerica.org/.

Via the Traverse City Record Eagle

Gas Prices Week of 5/15/06

The average price for a gallon of gas in Michigan as of today is $2.95. That is about a $0.14 increase from last month. One year ago the average price of regular unleaded gasoline in Michigan was $2.16. We are closing in on the previous all-time high of $3.205 that was set on 9/3/05. That huge price hike was due largely in part because of the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. Now, it is supposedly due to demand outpacing supply.

The Today Show had an interview with someone (the President, I think) of Chevron this morning. My favorite question asked of him was this - "why do gas stations raise their prices when they hear that the price of crude oil has gone up, yet the gasoline in their tanks was purchased at a lower price?" Naturally, the representative from Chevron danced his way right around the question.

It would be different if when the price of crude oil decreases that stations would lower their prices even though the fuel in the tanks was purchased at a higher price. This would be using the same thought process they use when crude oil increases. Of course, that will never happen.

That is the point that folks focus on when they wonder if the big oil companies are price gouging. Are we being gouged or are we finally paying the price for our decades of carefree gas consumption?

Price data courtesy of AAA Fuel Gauge Report.

Mackinaw City Travel Deal

There are some great travel packages to Mackinaw City that start at $154.97. Go to www.mackinawcity.com for the full list. Here are the details on one of the better looking packages -

• 3 Nights Lodging at your choice of hotels
• Round trip ferry boat ticket to Mackinac Island
• Mackinac Island carriage tour
• Admission to your choice of three parks (Fort Michilimackinac, Historic Mill Creek, and Fort Mackinac)
• Mackinaw Trolley Tour
• Live show at Mackinaw Theater

Prices for this package start at $154.97 (now until June and then again in October) and go as high as $374.34 in-season at a premium waterfront hotel.

If you were to pay for all of these items separately it would break down as follows -

1 Adult Roundtrip Ferry ticket - $20.00 1 Adult admission to Fort Michilimackinac - $9.50 1 Adult Mackinac Island carriage tour - $19.00 1 Adult Mackinaw Trolley Tour - $20.00 1 Adult ticket to Mackinaw Theater - $19.00

A grand total of $87.50 without even considering the hotel costs. A nice hotel room in Mackinaw City could easily run in the neighborhood of $80-$100. This package deal looks pretty good with all of the extras they are giving you.

If you are going to be heading up north this summer I would recommend that you look into taking advantage of one of these packaged deals.

Chocolate Treats at Traverse City's Chocolate Den

Got a chocolate craving that just won't go away? Hustle on down to the Chocolate Den in downtown Traverse City. A Traverse City staple for seven years, the Chocolate Den is sure to please any chocoholic. If you can't make it up to Traverse City you can always place an order over the phone. I imagine that during the summer months they will have to enclose the chocolates in an insulated container with a cold pack to keep your precious chocolates from melting. You can always stop in and dip some fresh strawberries in their chocolate fountain. Oh yeah! :)

Get directions to the Chocolate Den using Google Maps.

Via Traverse City Record Eagle.