Auren Hoffman's Summation Push for the week of January 23, 2000

This issue:

* Telecom Taxes are Outrageous
* Kozmo's Y2K Problems
* Open a PayPal Account
* Summation Mentioned in Fast Company
* Response: Watch Wearing
* Summation Push Pick Links
* Hoffman Reading List

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TELECOM TAXES ARE OUTRAGEOUS

By Auren Hoffman

Do you know how much you are paying in taxes on your telecommunications needs?

Take a look at your phone bill -- you'll find lots and lots of taxes. There have been months where I paid more in taxes than I paid for my local phone calls.

My cell phone charges are even more outrageous. I have Sprint's 500 minutes for $50/month plan. Great deal, but my monthly bill is over $58.68 per month -- that means I pay $8.68 in taxes -- or 17% tax!

The taxes break down as follows:

Cal 911 tax: 0.37
Cal PUC tax: 0.05
Cal Teleconnect Fund Surcharge: 0.03
Cal Relay Service Device Fund: 0.10
Cal High Cost Fund Surcharge: 1.90
USA Federal Universal Svc Fund Surcharge: 0.40
USA Federal Tax: 1.58
San Francisco City Utility Tax: 3.75
San Francisco City 911 Tax: 0.50

Notice that I have to pay the lion's share of these taxes, $4.25, to the City of San Francisco. Is the city really providing me with that many more added benefits? If I lived two miles away, in Marin or in South San Francisco, I would be able to forgo half of my tax bill.

I think these little consumption taxes -- whether on telecom, the Internet, or on our restaurant bill, are going to be one of the big issues in the next few years.

And by the way -- many of the federal taxes on our phone bill were proposed and championed by Al Gore.

(Are you paying too much? Write auren@summation.net)

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KOZMO.COM HAS Y2K BILLING ERROR

Kozmo's system upgrade in late December created a lot of unhappy customers. Thousands of customers were accidentally billed $3-$5 in the last few days of December for no reason -- including myself.

The problem is that Kozmo has no idea who they incorrectly billed. Now thousands of people are tying up Kozmo's phone lines (1-877-GO-KOZMO) trying to get their credit card charges reversed. Even worse, the operator told me that Kozmo is having system trouble reversing the charges!

And if that's not enough, when I called I got the serious run-around. They wanted to give me the name and phone number of a guy in accounts receivable -- and of course he could only be reached from 9-5 EST. I finally settled for 1000 Kozmo which might get me a free video or two.

(Your thoughts on Kozmo? Write auren@summation.net)

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OPEN A PAYPAL ACCOUNT

PayPal is a cool company that allows you to beam money to your friends via the web or through your Palm Pilot. I highly recommend the service.

They are currently giving away $10 free when you sign up -- and $10 free to any person that refers you.

I told you that free stuff is going wild -- but this is $10 cash, gratis.

You have to register a credit card with them, but it is worth your time. Click on this link to sign up and see for yourself:

https://secure.paypal.com/refer/pal=hoffman@bridgepath.com

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SUMMATION MENTIONED IN FAST COMPANY

Remember Summation's Free Houses? That was an article a few months back about giving away a free house.

Fast Company mentioned Summation's Free Houses in last month's edition:
http://www.fastcompany.com/online/30/rftf.html

Thanks to Dave Visschedyk for pointing it out to me.

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RESPONSE: WATCH WEARING

Regarding last Summation's article about wearing a watch, Larry Kahaner, author of the well-reviewed book Competitive Intelligence, writes:

"About your watch. I find that I don't need a watch at all because I see the time everywhere: in my car, on my computer and on my cell phone (when I carry it). But.... I wear a Timex datalink cause it has all my phone numbers and I use it as a wakeup alarm when I travel. It's the best gadget cause, since I don't own a day-timer, I can still have all my phone numbers available. As you probably know, it's the easiest thing to move phone numbers from computer to watch."

(Got a good idea? Write auren@summation.net)

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THIS WEEK'S SUMMATION PUSH PICK LINKS:

* Thomas Weisel Partners (http://www.TWEISEL.COM) - some of the best financial research is located here.
* PayPal (https://secure.paypal.com/refer/pal=hoffman@bridgepath.com) - great service that lets you beam money to your friends.
* SF Girl -- (http://www.sfgirl.com) -- Great place to find parties in San Francisco.
* Get a Free House now! -- (http://www.summation.net/freehouses/) -- Is free stuff getting ridiculous? Get a free house.
* What am I reading? The Hoffman Reading List (http://www.summation.net/reading.html)

NOTE: Auren Hoffman works for BridgePath.com but the opinions expressed herein are solely those of Mr. Hoffman.

NOTE: You may reprint in full or in part (for free) with permission from author.

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