Business Ideas 101

[adrianh]

Part of the problem

Watch this and see how bizarre packaging can be...

https://www.boredpanda.com/unnecessary-packaging/

[Blurock]

Watch this and see how bizarre packaging can be...

https://www.boredpanda.com/unnecessary-packaging/

Exactly! Many companies use fancy packaging as part of their marketing or "image", but they do go overboard and end up being irresponsible.

It reminds me of the dog food company who launched a new product with fancy packaging.
The product flew off the shelves for the first two weeks and they had to increase production to keep up.
But then it all stopped. No sales! Why?

The dogs did not like the new dog food!

(Nobody bothered to ask the dogs what they wanted)

[Blurock]

Another "plastic" road!
There is another one at Shishalanga's Cliffdale depot in KZN.
On the 10th Sept officials gathered to witness the company's road surface trial. They have improved on an international formula with at least 6% recycled plastic content.

This is an outstanding achievement by a South African company!

[adrianh]

The dogs did not like the new dog food!

(Nobody bothered to ask the dogs what they wanted)

We have 9 cats so we go though a loooooooooot of cat food. I find it interesting how the packaging and flavors are aimed at us humans - I think that most of the cat food smells really bad and probably doesn't taste anything like the advertised flavors....
If only the cats could speak :-)

It also reminds me of a Garfield cartoon I saw years ago - Garfield was complaining that the "Doggy biscuits" don't taste like "Doggy" at all.

[ians]

Watch this and see how bizarre packaging can be...

https://www.boredpanda.com/unnecessary-packaging/

I might be way off the mark...my thought is that China for example are smart in the way they dump their waste... in fact they are so smart ...they get you to buy their waste in the form of a highly toxic plastic item (which is not tested) ...which only lasts a short period of time ...in fact the time frame is irrelevant ...so long as you are left with the responsibility of disposing of the item.

[ians]

Exactly! Many companies use fancy packaging as part of their marketing or "image", but they do go overboard and end up being irresponsible.

It reminds me of the dog food company who launched a new product with fancy packaging.
The product flew off the shelves for the first two weeks and they had to increase production to keep up.
But then it all stopped. No sales! Why?

The dogs did not like the new dog food!

(Nobody bothered to ask the dogs what they wanted)

The best way to check if what you are giving your animal is good or bad... the smells they drop while spending quality time in the house or the aftermath on the grass.

[Blurock]

I might be way off the mark...my thought is that China for example are smart in the way they dump their waste... in fact they are so smart ...they get you to buy their waste in the form of a highly toxic plastic item (which is not tested) ...which only lasts a short period of time ...in fact the time frame is irrelevant ...so long as you are left with the responsibility of disposing of the item.

Our products are manufactured from virgin material only, but we are competing against cheap imports using recycled material. Of course there is a huge difference between the safety and lifetime of these products, but consumers are totally ignorant and buy on price only.

It is important, but not always possible to check the origin of goods. I have seen reports of small plastic particles in rice or sweets. As a bachelor I lived on cheese, bully beef and whatever I mixed with it. After having seen how certain foodstuffs are made, I will never touch a polony or bully beef again.

[ians]

Spending a chilled Saturday morning considering ...what next... Electric cars.

Well it seems electric cars are the way forward ...with that comes infrastructure.

Looks like i found my next venture... for the next 30 years... by then i will be 80 and ready for the furnace.

Solar power has been around for a while... many buildings are already covered in panels and many more will be covered in the near future... it seems with solar power comes a new tariff ... already in the pipeline or in some cases already implemented... I keep hearing this new phrase "industrialization tariff" a fancy word for a tax you gona be paying on solar/ self generated power ... you will be given 60 or 6000 amps and charged for that amount of power supplied not consumed... I suppose they have to start considering how they will generate revenue from you when all the power stations are sitting idle... you would think it would be encouraged ...but it isnt because someone is gona loose a lot of revenue... i mean the entire drag net ...coal suppliers ... transport etc etc.

Think about...at the rate technology is progressing... us old fools are getting left behind faster than we can think... looking at the big picture ...it requires huge infrastructure... until someone creates a solar panel with the capacity to run and charge the vehicle as it moves ...electric cars will require power....charge stations etc etc. solar power is going to be the ideal way to power these vehicles... people with solar panels are going to be fighting for the sunny spot rather than the shading parking lot.

I have noticed an almost negative approach to solar power because people are concerned about this "industrialized tariff" ...but in reality ...lets face it ...solar panels are gona be the way forward ... just like electric cars... building infrastructure to charge and store batteries is gona be massive... now is a good time to be in this industry.

Thank goodness i am already in the electrical industry... i am gona start focusing my energy on solar and electric cars etc... start learning everything i need to know about solar power installations ....where to source battery components to build battery banks... inverters grid tie and hybrid... and everything else related to it.

[adrianh]

I personally think that electric cars are a big joke (especially in this country). Imagine all our cars running on electricity supplied by ESKOM......

Lugging 500kg of Lithium around is also completely ridiculous - The stuff is downright dangerous and firefighters don't know what to do when those battery catch fire and burn for hours on end.

Electric cars are no different to CFL and led lighting - its just an excuse to create another new replacement market of obsolescent products that really don't have much value when one looks at them on a cradle to grave basis. All that they do is shift the energy used to the manufacturer and thus the consumer is duped into believing that this "new" technology is the answer to the world's problems.

The bottom line is that the problem with transportation lies in our notion that each and every person on this planet need 1 ton of "new" technology to lug them around.....unless we move to remote offices and mass transportation we are just going around in circles feeding the obsolescent wasteful economy of "new tech is better"

[Dave A]

it seems with solar power comes a new tariff ... already in the pipeline or in some cases already implemented... I keep hearing this new phrase "industrialization tariff" a fancy word for a tax you gona be paying on solar/ self generated power ... you will be given 60 or 6000 amps and charged for that amount of power supplied not consumed... I suppose they have to start considering how they will generate revenue from you when all the power stations are sitting idle... you would think it would be encouraged ...but it isnt because someone is gona loose a lot of revenue... i mean the entire drag net ...coal suppliers ... transport etc etc.

Indeed, you would think it would be encouraged. And if you want to know why, the answer is Eskom debt. R450 billion of it and climbing...

We are the only country in the world that financially discourages embedded PV generation. In Durban the infrastructure availability fee for a single phase residence if I put in rooftop PV at my house is higher than my current electricity bill! It is insanity. The only financially viable installations in Durban at the moment are 3 phase installations which pull a large load... So I'll put in solar for my geyser at my house (which doesn't attract a punitive tariff (yet)) and stop there at the moment.

And yes, Eskom is our greatest obstacle to widespread electric car adoption. There is absolutely no way that we have the required capacity from the existing grid, even mindful of the development plan, for a rapid switch from fossil fuel fired engines to electric for our national automobile fleet.

The significance of the Eskom financial disaster cannot be overstated.

[ians]

I am busy with a project (cant talk too much about it...due t privacy consent etc ) what i can tell you is people sure know how to milk the tax and rate payer.

Do the maths ...if you have a 3000 amp power supply from a transformer... the estimate done by the electrical consulting firm ...then they add in 2000 amps of solar power... at peak... but the max load consumed by all your tenants is 350 amps during peaks hours... what would the return on invest be? ... Then offer a solution... the solution is to upgrade the power to the tenants who dont require the additional power but you can make another R10 mil in revenue installing an upgraded system... just because nobody is auditing your services.

[ians]

I personally think that electric cars are a big joke (especially in this country). Imagine all our cars running on electricity supplied by ESKOM......

Lugging 500kg of Lithium around is also completely ridiculous - The stuff is downright dangerous and firefighters don't know what to do when those battery catch fire and burn for hours on end.

Electric cars are no different to CFL and led lighting - its just an excuse to create another new replacement market of obsolescent products that really don't have much value when one looks at them on a cradle to grave basis. All that they do is shift the energy used to the manufacturer and thus the consumer is duped into believing that this "new" technology is the answer to the world's problems.

The bottom line is that the problem with transportation lies in our notion that each and every person on this planet need 1 ton of "new" technology to lug them around.....unless we move to remote offices and mass transportation we are just going around in circles feeding the obsolescent wasteful economy of "new tech is better"

I dont agree... electric cars are already here... the catch is the cost ... just like LED TVs ...they were so expensive only the rich and famous could afford them... i own 2 LED TV's and 4 monitors ...soon to be upgraded to one in each room of the house...because they have become so affordable... (free if the truck stops long enough for it be looted)

I take it you dont follow DIY electric cars etc on youtube... the reality is that those old medical batteries which were being dumped after period of time ...where a huge disposal issue... since the DIY revolution... those packs are now on a waiting list... people paying upfront for them to secure the next batch... I am even considering getting a spot weld to link batteries and building battery banks in my workshop... you can buy plastic modules to link which dont require a spot welder... anyway my point... it is already happening.

A couple years ago the 1650 battery were the one to get ...now you can get batteries which look like a flat foil pack... which is being used to install in the chassis of the car... take your old man blinkers off and see what the future holds... i can see parking bays having a section of the floor being the non contact charge station ...so you drive in ...tickets and boom will be a thing of the past ... you will park in a bay which will top up your power and debted from your account... as they mention ...these cars will be online 24/7 ..there will no keys...the car will detect your presence and allow you to drive it ...in fact i dont even think people will own a cars.

Us old folk need to get out more and take not of what is happening around us... another example is cctv ...home automation etc ... every man and his dog has cctv and home automation... why because it has become affordable.

Eskom will never recover from the debt ...it will get milked for as long as the people throw many at it ...eventually it will be replaced by a private institution... just like telkom... it was a sinking ship ... telkom land lines and adsl are already being phased out completely ... the new super powers have installed new fibre networks in the majority of SA... paying their dues for now...watch carefully what happens in the future.

[ians]

Indeed, you would think it would be encouraged. And if you want to know why, the answer is Eskom debt. R450 billion of it and climbing...

We are the only country in the world that financially discourages embedded PV generation. In Durban the infrastructure availability fee for a single phase residence if I put in rooftop PV at my house is higher than my current electricity bill! It is insanity. The only financially viable installations in Durban at the moment are 3 phase installations which pull a large load... So I'll put in solar for my geyser at my house (which doesn't attract a punitive tariff (yet)) and stop there at the moment.

And yes, Eskom is our greatest obstacle to widespread electric car adoption. There is absolutely no way that we have the required capacity from the existing grid, even mindful of the development plan, for a rapid switch from fossil fuel fired engines to electric for our national automobile fleet.

The significance of the Eskom financial disaster cannot be overstated.

I agree with regards to the PV generation... they cant afford to let us go solar... think about it ...back when load shedding started ...the thought of having to invest in a generator was just too expensive ...load shedding came into affect ... within days we were unloading R100 000 generators by the dozen... to add salt to the wound ...generator prices doubled and some withing a days... we couldnt even bring them in fast enough to keep up with the demand... a lot of people lost a lot of many back then... we had container loads of generators sitting in the harbour waiting to be cleared suddenly the load stopped ...just like that ... thank goodness it was other peoples money ... eskom cannot afford to allow us to go solar ...The only thing holding people back from covering their roof in solar is the "industrialization tarriff".

A few things with regards to solar

Covering your roof ... saves you having to fill it with thermal insulation...creating a cooler roof space.

Use the solar panels in place of an awning ...now you have a car port which produces electricity.

Get smart and adjust your power requirements :

Simple things like running the pool pump during peak sun period...instead of at night.

make your fridge freezer smart and turn the temp cooler during peak sunny period and even switch it off at night... if you dont open the door during the night it should stay cool.

there are so many ways to make use of the energy rather than wasting it on a grid tie system which has no benefit/ROI.

It we werent such tight a$$es ...we would get smart and share our power ...ie get one person to install units go off grid which would result in no tarrif... and share it with the houses on either side ...then they offer electricity at night... everyone wins... but unfortunately we are such a tight a$$ bunch... too worried someone might get more than someone else.


I dont agree... solar power could ease the grid in a short period of time... it is just not in their best interest (financially) for us to ease the load on the grid.

[ians]

We are the only country in the world that financially discourages embedded PV generation. In Durban the infrastructure availability fee for a single phase residence if I put in rooftop PV at my house is higher than my current electricity bill! It is insanity. The only financially viable installations in Durban at the moment are 3 phase installations which pull a large load... So I'll put in solar for my geyser at my house (which doesn't attract a punitive tariff (yet)) and stop there at the moment.

http://www.durban.gov.za/City_Services/electricity/Generation/Pages/Forms-and-Guidelines.aspx

It seems you only need to register your system with the municipality if you are connecting it to the mains power.

[Derlyn]

make your fridge freezer smart and turn the temp cooler during peak sunny period and even switch it off at night... if you dont open the door during the night it should stay cool.

Another easy way to make your fridge and freezer more efficient is to fill your fridge as much as possible with bottles of water.

A full fridge uses less power than an empty one. ( less volume of air needing to be cooled )

The cold water bottles also help to keep the inside cool during extended periods of power outages.


Derek