Friday

Friday might work as a Free day. That is, a day where the topic is open for the choosing.

I did have the additional thought overnight that another usage for the word "travel" is as an adjective (?) to describe fan support on the road for an athletic team. For instance, among college football bowl sponsors, it is generally acknowledge that Iowa "travels" well.

I made another concession to convention this week by acquiring a Kohl's credit card. My shopping habits are fairly predictable, and Kohl's tends to be the first place I stop for golf shirts, sweaters and shoes. It bugs the heck out of me to have another electronic trail out there documenting my activities, but the siren of recurring discounts finally won me over. With a Gap card and now a Kohl's card, in addition to my other Amex and VISA cards, I am now among the crowd in credit card excess.

The MasterCard and VISA card issuers are the big villains in our nation of credit enablers, but these individual store chains that push customers into their own cards should share the ignominy. Their pushing their own cards is not really an effort to benefit the holders, but rather a more insidious choice to further ensnare the user and to gather more specific data on their customer base.

Another major participant in the credit card boom is the generic affinity card concept. Sports teams, colleges, business associations, and fraternal organizations, among others, often have their "own" MasterCard or VISA card. I'm guilty. I have an ND card issued by a VISA bank. And an AICPA MasterCard. The affinity organization does nothing except collect a little fee from each transaction or balance. Again, the cards are not offered because the prospective user needs that specific card. It's a way for the issuer to get another fish on the line, and it's free money to the affinity organization.

I think my first credit card was a Gulf Oil Company card that I acquired my first year out of ND. Gulf Oil stations were commonplace along the Indiana Toll Road and all the way out East, where I was stationed in the USAF, and I think that they had a deal with Holiday Inn. I remember a couple of trips back to South Bend that first year in Dover, and I could use the one card for both gas and hotel. The high life. (Wikipedia states that Gulf Oil was merged into what is now Chevron in 1984.)

Free advice to all readers: ALWAYS pay off your credit card balance each month. On time. The interest and fees that you can otherwise pay makes SB's coffee appear cheap in comparison. The credit card companies are unconscionable when it comes to these charges. That $29 (0r maybe even higher) late fee is just pure profit to them. Don't get caught. And don't be seduced by the "0" interest transfer fee. There's no free lunch.

OK. My pal Roy and I are headed out for dinner. Maybe some Tuscan red.

Have a great weekend.

BCOT