Cingular's 2Q profit triples...

know1know1 Posts: 6,794
edited July 2006 in A Moving Train
http://www.bizjournals.com/atlanta/stories/2006/07/17/daily33.html

"...record quarterly profit..."

If this were an oil company, there'd be a lot of people crying foul!
The only people we should try to get even with...
...are those who've helped us.

Right 'round the corner could be bigger than ourselves.
Post edited by Unknown User on
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Comments

  • floyd1975floyd1975 Posts: 1,350
    http://www.adweek.com/aw/national/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002801716

    The do have some problems. I know that when I switched over from AT&T, the service went down and the fees rose.
  • inmytreeinmytree Posts: 4,741
    yeah, I was super pissed when I went to fill up my car with cellphone minutes...the cost was outragous...not to mention how the cost of my cell phone effects the prices of food and home energy costs...
  • know1know1 Posts: 6,794
    inmytree wrote:
    yeah, I was super pissed when I went to fill up my car with cellphone minutes...the cost was outragous...not to mention how the cost of my cell phone effects the prices of food and home energy costs...

    The costs of phone service do have an affect on other businesses and people...
    The only people we should try to get even with...
    ...are those who've helped us.

    Right 'round the corner could be bigger than ourselves.
  • RockinInCanadaRockinInCanada Posts: 2,016
    I cannot stand cell phones...people wonder why they never have time for anything...well one thing is that little machine in your pocket ringing all the bloody time...

    Sorry I prefer to not carry one, so I cannot br reached at any minute of the day...its like people on vacation from their job levaing their cell phone # for messages as a contact while they are away...seriously your on vacation keep it that way...sorry for the rant...just personally I never carry a cell.....however I do have one but it only comes with me when I travel...and still it is turned off....
  • know1know1 Posts: 6,794
    I can't stand landline phones. The concept seems so archaic to me. I just have a cell (from Cingular coincidentally) and I do not have the landline. I think that's going to slowly become the norm.
    The only people we should try to get even with...
    ...are those who've helped us.

    Right 'round the corner could be bigger than ourselves.
  • inmytreeinmytree Posts: 4,741
    know1 wrote:
    The costs of phone service do have an affect on other businesses and people...

    I know, the cost of a gallon of milk is outrageous...
  • RockinInCanadaRockinInCanada Posts: 2,016
    know1 wrote:
    I can't stand landline phones. The concept seems so archaic to me. I just have a cell (from Cingular coincidentally) and I do not have the landline. I think that's going to slowly become the norm.

    Call me crazy but heavy cell phone useage I view as bad...the same applies to fluoride toothpaste, aluminum laden deodorant/anti-persparent and articifal sweeteners laced with aspartame....with landlines I don't deal with GHz of electro-magnetic energy in my ear (plus no one can listen in too my calls, call me paranoid but I had a serious conversation with a friend who had a cell phone and the next day the entire town knew of it b/c of someone picking it up on their scanner) , I hate the idea of ingesting fluriode, aluminum application to one of the most porous areas of your body, and aspartame ingestion which I cannot believe is still allowed after I read the clinical studies on it scary stuff...so I use primarily a land-line (like I said away from the house for a reason...not for people to bug me with nonsense), natural deodorant/toothpaste, and natural food products.....call me paranoid...but since switching up the deodorant and toothpaste I feel better on a regular basis and more happy....
  • Jammin909Jammin909 Posts: 888
    inmytree wrote:
    I know, the cost of a gallon of milk is outrageous...

    Yeah I heard the dairy industry is outsourcing to Mexico bc the American cows often complain and demand too high of a living standard.
    The less you know, the more you believe.
  • How dare someone earn money for providing a service that makes someone happy when someone else, somewhere, is unhappy?
  • Jammin909Jammin909 Posts: 888
    How dare someone earn money for providing a service that makes someone happy when someone else, somewhere, is unhappy?

    As corporate profits soar; wages have remained stagnant as inflation has risen.
    The less you know, the more you believe.
  • blackredyellowblackredyellow Posts: 5,889
    know1 wrote:
    I can't stand landline phones. The concept seems so archaic to me. I just have a cell (from Cingular coincidentally) and I do not have the landline. I think that's going to slowly become the norm.


    ya, I haven't had a landline for about 5 years now... i don't miss it at all.
    My whole life
    was like a picture
    of a sunny day
    “We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.”
    ― Abraham Lincoln
  • Jammin909 wrote:
    As corporate profits soar; wages have remained stagnant as inflation has risen.

    Care to explain why "corporate profits" should rise or fall at the same rate as wages or inflation? If, for example, Cingular's profits had fallen, would you be demanding that every Cingular employee should take a pay cut?
  • inmytreeinmytree Posts: 4,741
    I've heard Clark Howard talking about Cingular and how they have been signing up new subscribers in areas that does not have service and charging them when they try to end the contract....

    that's one way to raise profits...
  • floyd1975floyd1975 Posts: 1,350
    inmytree wrote:
    I've heard Clark Howard talking about Cingular and how they have been signing up new subscribers in areas that does not have service and charging them when they try to end the contract....

    that's one way to raise profits...

    They've been doing that for years. When someone tries to cancel, they tell them that there will be a tower up within a year.

    When I switched from AT&T, my plan rate rose , my incoming text message rate rose by $0.10 and my per minute charge rose by 2.5 cents. All of this happened after two people had told me that it would all stay the exact same.

    I still have a good enough deal to continue, obviously, or I would have left. These practices all contribute to a tripling of profits though.
  • inmytreeinmytree Posts: 4,741
    zstillings wrote:
    They've been doing that for years. When someone tries to cancel, they tell them that there will be a tower up within a year.

    When I switched from AT&T, my plan rate rose , my incoming text message rate rose by $0.10 and my per minute charge rose by 2.5 cents. All of this happened after two people had told me that it would all stay the exact same.

    I still have a good enough deal to continue, obviously, or I would have left. These practices all contribute to a tripling of profits though.


    I'm a cingular subscriber, by default...my service is with Suncom, which was part of AT&T and now Cingular...

    luckily for me, I had the "Unplan"...one price, unlimited minutes, long-distance, the regular stuff...I know what I pay is sweet compaired to many....so, I'm sticking with them until a better deal comes along...

    which is a nice thing, unlike gas and oil prices, there is competition...
  • know1know1 Posts: 6,794
    Call me crazy but heavy cell phone useage I view as bad...the same applies to fluoride toothpaste, aluminum laden deodorant/anti-persparent and articifal sweeteners laced with aspartame....with landlines I don't deal with GHz of electro-magnetic energy in my ear (plus no one can listen in too my calls, call me paranoid but I had a serious conversation with a friend who had a cell phone and the next day the entire town knew of it b/c of someone picking it up on their scanner) , I hate the idea of ingesting fluriode, aluminum application to one of the most porous areas of your body, and aspartame ingestion which I cannot believe is still allowed after I read the clinical studies on it scary stuff...so I use primarily a land-line (like I said away from the house for a reason...not for people to bug me with nonsense), natural deodorant/toothpaste, and natural food products.....call me paranoid...but since switching up the deodorant and toothpaste I feel better on a regular basis and more happy....


    You don't have a wireless phone in your house attached to a landline? I actually do not use the phone all that much anyway. I think I spend an average of 5-10 minutes on my personal phone per day.
    The only people we should try to get even with...
    ...are those who've helped us.

    Right 'round the corner could be bigger than ourselves.
  • floyd1975floyd1975 Posts: 1,350
    inmytree wrote:
    which is a nice thing, unlike gas and oil prices, there is competition...

    100% agree with you here. The problem with oil is that it is a fixed commodity. There is no room for competition in that industry. Alternative energy is one thing but, so far, we still need oil even for that.
  • inmytree wrote:
    which is a nice thing, unlike gas and oil prices, there is competition...

    The cost of a gallon of gas, roughly, is determined by the following thing:

    PRICE OF CRUDE: 40%
    PRICE OF REFINEMENT: 20%
    PRICE OF TAXES: 30%
    OTHER: 10%

    Since 70% of that total is determined in the relative absence of competitive forces, it completely stands to reason that prices will be similar.

    If you want to introduce competition in gas prices, you're going to have to eliminate the taxes and eliminate the conglomerates that control the crude.
  • floyd1975floyd1975 Posts: 1,350
    If you want to introduce competition in gas prices, you're going to have to eliminate the taxes and eliminate the conglomerates that control the crude.

    That's the key to this whole thing. I don't know that there is a way to eliminate these conglomerates.
  • zstillings wrote:
    That's the key to this whole thing. I don't know that there is a way to eliminate these conglomerates.

    Of course there is. Stop paying them.
  • floyd1975floyd1975 Posts: 1,350
    Of course there is. Stop paying them.

    You've got me there. I have nothing to come back at that with that is logical.
  • zstillings wrote:
    You've got me there. I have nothing to come back at that with that is logical.

    You could always just try this:

    http://news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=654402006

    My favorite part:

    "But he has also said that nationalisation will not mean a complete state takeover, because Bolivia lacks the ability to tap all its natural gas on its own."
  • qtegirlqtegirl Posts: 321
    Care to explain why "corporate profits" should rise or fall at the same rate as wages or inflation? If, for example, Cingular's profits had fallen, would you be demanding that every Cingular employee should take a pay cut?

    Seriously?

    When corporate profits fall, no... they don't ask employees to take a paycut, they just lay them off.
  • zstillings wrote:
    100% agree with you here. The problem with oil is that it is a fixed commodity. There is no room for competition in that industry.

    There is room for manipulation of the supply though.
  • qtegirl wrote:
    Seriously?

    When corporate profits fall, no... they don't ask employees to take a paycut, they just lay them off.

    But that makes sense, right? Since the argument is that if profits go up, so should pay, it would stand to reason that if profits go down, so should pay. So if profits triple, average pay should triple. If profits are cut by 2/3, then so should average pay, right?

    How come I don't see posts here saying that people should lose their pay or their jobs if profit disappears? But I see tons of them saying that people should get increases when profit rises. Why is that?
  • But that makes sense, right? Since the argument is that if profits go up, so should pay, it would stand to reason that if profits go down, so should pay. So if profits triple, average pay should triple. If profits are cut by 2/3, then so should average pay, right?

    How come I don't see posts here saying that people should lose their pay or their jobs if profit disappears?

    Because that already happens.
    But I see tons of them saying that people should get increases when profit rises. Why is that?

    There is an inefficiency in the system where those that benefit most when profits are up are burdened disproportionately to those that suffer most when profits are down.
  • Because that already happens.

    But when it does happen I see those same people complaining, not saying "this is as it should be".
    There is an inefficiency in the system where those that benefit most when profits are up are burdened disproportionately to those that suffer most when profits are down.

    GM lost roughly $10B in 2005. Yet they still continue to employee tens of thousands at exactly the same pay scale they had beforehand. Shouldn't all of those people have been given massive pay cuts so that GM wouldn't have had to lay anyone off?
  • inmytreeinmytree Posts: 4,741
    The cost of a gallon of gas, roughly, is determined by the following thing:

    PRICE OF CRUDE: 40%
    PRICE OF REFINEMENT: 20%
    PRICE OF TAXES: 30%
    OTHER: 10%

    Since 70% of that total is determined in the relative absence of competitive forces, it completely stands to reason that prices will be similar.

    If you want to introduce competition in gas prices, you're going to have to eliminate the taxes and eliminate the conglomerates that control the crude.

    do you have a source for this information...? Not withstanding, I disagree....if companies wanted to compete they would find a way...

    I would think a CEO would not be so quick to give out a free pass....;)

    I do agree with splitting up the current monopoly...I still have to wonder what all was discussed at those Energy Policy back in 2001...
  • But when it does happen I see those same people complaining, not saying "this is as it should be".



    GM lost roughly $10B in 2005. Yet they still continue to employee tens of thousands at exactly the same pay scale they had beforehand. Shouldn't all of those people have been given massive pay cuts so that GM wouldn't have had to lay anyone off?

    GM made roughly $6B in 1999. Their CEO salary was $4.8mil. In 2005 their CEO salary was $8.5mil. 2+2=5 for G Wagoner. This is inefficiency.
  • inmytree wrote:
    do you have a source for this information...?

    http://www.eia.doe.gov/bookshelf/brochures/gasolinepricesprimer/eia1_2005primerM.html

    All of that depends on your nation, region, and time, but the numbers hold roughly true.
    Not withstanding, I disagree....if companies wanted to compete they would find a way...

    Companies don't want to compete. Why would they?
    I would think a CEO would not be so quick to give out a free pass....;)

    A free pass to what?
    I do agree with splitting up the current monopoly...I still have to wonder what all was discussed at those Energy Policy back in 2001...

    Monopoly??? Do you think crude oil prices are set by the oil companies?
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