Greed

Professur said:
Again, the amount doesn't matter. Almost all billing isn't even seen by human eyes.

Last attempt.

A computer sees an account as one of two things. Zero, or not-zero.
If zero, take no action.
If not-zero then
is amount more than 30 days old (yes/no)
if no, print statement and send
If yes, is amount more than 60 days old (yes/no)
If no, print statement, and warning letter and send
if yes is amount more than 90 days old (yes/no)
If no, print statement and final warning,and send and advise logistics to schedule a cut off during the next month, to be confirmed
If yes, confirm cut off, and print statement, notice of cut off, and send.


Where exactly in there is anyone going to give a damn about wether it's a penny or not?
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Williams, a
Social Security recipient, went to the Salvation Army, where she received $430.67, and Consumers agreed to match $430.66 toward the bill.

However, she was still one cent short.

A Consumers Energy spokesman said that the utility had no choice in the matter, though he was not aware of any similar incidents where service was stopped for one cent.
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obviously some person at the Utility company was looking at the bill and since I can assume they were matching so as to remove any amounts owing that the oversight was theres.

Scenario:

recieve bill for $1,662.08 and disconnection notice for (for argument sake may10)

HS pays the majority
SA pays more
power company kicks in the rest
lady figures it all dealt with
Company t fails to remember that computer always round up when they paid the part they did.
May 10th rolls around and there is still 1 penny owing.
disconnection
Prof said:
Where exactly in there is anyone going to give a damn about wether it's a penny or not?
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The CMS Energy Corp. subsidiary told Williams the power would not be turned on until the penny was received.
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They are just being anal at that point.
 
Professur said:
As I recall, SnP, you didn't understand HL's explaination of how not paying cash for a new car profitted him either. But then, you didn't hesitate to request his advice about your mortgage request. More than a little hypocritical there. That you don't understand it, fine. But don't go insulting it on that basis.

If PT and I start up a conversation about COBOL (that's an old computer programming language) you're not gonna understand it either. But it's kept electrical power to your house for the last couple of decades, and it keeps the 8:45 to Chattanooga on time. You benefit daily from that exactitude in accounting. You rely on it. It's what keeps those nickles and dimes from accidently getting rounded off when you pay for something.
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This from the man who never heard of apple butter either...

How this went from the absurdity of stopping electric service over a penny to the intricasies of accounting systems to COBOL is fascinating. Truly. But I'm fascinated out. Y'all continue counting your pennies, and I'll continue not counting them. Y'all justify shutting off electricity to the disabled. Keep on exonerating the internet perv because there was a cop instead of an adolescent on the other end of the keyboard, and then scream for the severed head of another child molester...and call me hypocritical because I'd pay the damn penny before I'd chase my tail for a week over it. Matters not to me. :rolleyes:
 
A.B.Normal said:
obviously some person at the Utility company was looking at the bill and since I can assume they were matching so as to remove any amounts owing that the oversight was theres.

Scenario:

recieve bill for $1,662.08 and disconnection notice for (for argument sake may10)

HS pays the majority
SA pays more
power company kicks in the rest
lady figures it all dealt with
Company t fails to remember that computer always round up when they paid the part they did.
May 10th rolls around and there is still 1 penny owing.
disconnection



They are just being anal at that point.
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Where exactly in your example did someone remove the entire account from the computer system?

SnP, I'll call your local IRS dept and let them know you're alright with paying round ups instead of round downs on your taxes. I'm sure they'll be tickled pink.
 
Professur said:
Where exactly in your example did someone remove the entire account from the computer system?
Click to expand...


Williams, a
Social Security recipient, went to the Salvation Army, where she received $430.67, and Consumers agreed to match $430.66 toward the bill.
Click to expand...

But if you notice the other guys paid a penny more ,so they didn't actually match did they ,seems we've figured where the penny went.




Prof said:
SnP, I'll call your local IRS dept and let them know you're alright with paying round ups instead of round downs on your taxes. I'm sure they'll be tickled pink.
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Never read the last page of your tax return have you ,it says something about amounts within a few cents will neither be charged or paid.

generally we do not charge or refund a difference of $2
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Actually, I never have. But then, I've never done my taxes either. I leave that up to people who have the time and skill to chase down exemptions, and sit on the phone to discuss cases with the tax office help desk. Don't forget, here in quebec, we have to fill in not one, but two different tax forms, for two different gov'ts with different rules.
 
chcr said:
Accounting has nothing to do with common or uncommon sense, it has to do with accounting. If you get it, you get it. If you don't, no amount of explaining will ever make it clear. As I say, it's a different way of looking at things.
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Precisely. That perspective demands a zero balance, and the computers are programmed accordingly. A penny or $100, it don't matter.

And yes, those pennies do add up. Just for the fuck of it, I looked up how many customers Bellsouth has. There's 63.1 million of of them (55.8 MM wireless, 7.3MM Long distance). Let's say word gets around that Bellsouth won't come after you for a penny a month. That's $631,000 per month, or $7,572,000 per year in lost revenue. Guess what? Their costs don't go down by that amount.
 
SouthernN'Proud said:
*SnP thankful none of you own utility companies*

It's an elderly woman on Social Security. You wanna cut her electric off over a penny, go right ahead. Take your penny. Sleep with it at night. Nurture it and cradle it to your bosom and gloat over its shininess and its incredible economic importance. It all comes back someday.
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She's a few years younger than I am. Unless she'd handicapped, WTF is she doing on Social Security???
 
Clearly she'd be better off dead
than being a drain on society.
I say euthanize her for the betterment of all mankind.
 
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