If you have actually used the app, you'd understand that the author's point is valid. It is certainly misleading that the "Tip" section (which defaults to 0%) is hidden entirely under the "Service (10%)" line item at checkout, which used to have an arrow but now has a button which says "Edit". Why would you click on a button next to "Service 10%" to find out how to tip, or even know whether tipping is a part of this service model?
It's also unclear how the "Service" fee is distributed. There is an explanation which states that "Unlike a tip, which can only go to the shopper delivering your order, a service amount allows us to pay all shoppers (including those, for example, that also pick out ordered items at the store)".
This implies that it's a "Shared Tips" model as in some restaurants, where tips are distributed evenly amongst the staff that worked that shift. But could also be interpreted that they just collect these "optional" service fees centrally in order to pay all nationwide workers, which simply amounts to corporate revenue unless they are actually distributing 100% of the service fee to Instacart contract employees.
Instacart, as with all "sharing economy" apps, seems to be making quite a bit of corporate revenue on the backs of workers by misleading users.
> If you have actually used the app, you'd understand that the author's point is valid.
That may be true, and I'll take your word for it. However, if I have to have used the app to understand the author's point, it's a poorly written article. Catching this kind of thing is why newspapers have editors. It's bad writing and it weakened whatever point the author had.
Agreed about the ambiguous wording and whether this goes to the company or directly into worker pay is unclear.
Have had one since November and this mirrors my experience. YMMV, but I find that the 2016 MBP charges quite a bit faster than the 2015. For me, I prefer the faster charging over the slight increase in overall battery life, with the added bonuses of the '16 using a standard charging cable. Anyone with a newer Android phone (and soon, airport shops and convenience stores nationwide) can hook you up with a spare MBP charger in a pinch. External USB-C batteries are also easily available and add as much portable charging capacity as you want to buy. Anyone serious about needing to travel with their laptop will probably find it easier to keep a '16 MBP charged than before.
> I should merely have a right to my property being as smell, noise, and shadow free as it was when I bought it. I should /not/ have a right to anything more than that.
I feel like the other commenters are missing that this is the debate. If you choose to move in next to a concert venue, that's your prerogative. If one opens next door, this is when NIMBYism kicks in. Cities need to evolve, and existing owners speaking out against loud businesses or view-blocking skyscrapers or whatever it may be prevent this from happening. Whether this is virtuous or not is up for debate, but it's certainly a limiting factor.
Considering the median salary in the USA is $51939, which is the equivalent of 5.1% return on $1M cash, I would say the plenty of people who consider that more than "upper middle class" are correct.
5.1% return above average but still reasonable. However, inflation is ~2.5 - 3%. So, unless your spending principle that's 21k/year ignoring taxes. Also, many people get discounts on health insurance and other benefits that don't apply.
Sure, you can burn down your principle based on life expectancy. But that's only really useful if your old. At 40 even 1% in your first year will probably cause you to run out of money.
Long term returns on the S&P 500 have averaged ~7% real returns including dividends. In personal finance there's a "4% Rule" which is supposed to be your target annual withdrawal if you're living off the money as a retiree. The 3% spread allows for market crashes, long periods of stagnancy in returns and a small increase in living standards as you age, however, if you're young I do agree a smaller 2-3% withdrawal level is appropriate.
Good point, though the S&P has not averaged 7% annual returns if you consider reverse cost dollar averaging. There where two decades when the S&P went negative in real terms including dividend reinvestment. It's actually tricky to find what percentage you could take out every year from 1950 to now and have the same amount adjusted for inflation at the end, and that's assuming things don't get worse.
Basically, you take out a lower percentage of your money on good years than bad. Further, you need to take taxes out to cover inflation. Aka, you pay taxes on 7% even if your real return was only 4%.
PS: There is a reason many institutions are ok with a very steady 3.5% ROI there is a lot of risk going for more.
You're not putting 100% of your portfolio in equities if you're living off its cash flow [1]. ZIRP means your fixed income can flow is weak. Things to consider when allocating as a retiree.
[1] imo it's okay to do this while you're in the workforce since you're salary effectively acts as your fixed income portion of the portfolio.
My prior comment may not have been 100% correct. I believe the specific research that lead to the so called 4% rule did include a mix of stocks and bonds. As you point out, you would tend to roll back your risk tolerance as you reach retirement. Here's more on it for anyone interested:
I keep seeing this as a reason not to use Telegram, but here is what I want to know:
As a user who doesn't care about my chats being 100% encrypted, but does want the convenience of multi-platform messaging, is Telegram a better alternative to Facebook Messenger, Google Hangouts or Whatsapp? My messages on Telegram may not be encrypted, but are they actively used to siphon information from my messages to contribute to my non-anonymized (or poorly anonymized) advertiser profile, and freely passed or sold to third-parties as they are with those platforms?
I've only seen hardline stances on "If you don't care about privacy, Telegram is great!" or "If you care about privacy, Telegram is awful garbage". What about the grey area in the middle? Where does it fit?
The PC Mag link claims that this is alleviated on routers with shielded USB 3.0 ports while using shielded cables. Are the ports unshielded on the new Macbooks, or are the people reporting the issue using unshielded cables? Is Apple shipping these with unshielded cables?
I've had Windows touchscreen laptops for ~2 years and the only time I even remember it's there is when trying to point at something in conversation and accidentally clicking on it. Are there really use cases that matter for a touchscreen on a standard laptop? I understand it on a convertible, but not your standard clamshell.
I don't know how common these use cases are, but I find touch support useful while doing some web dev stuff. For instance, in Chrome, pinch to zoom is more precise than ctrl-scroll / ctrl-+. It preserves the existing screen dimensions (ctrl-scroll / ctrl-+ makes the actual font size larger and alters dimensions).
I'm not so vision impaired that I need to do this on a day-to-day basis, but it's great for zooming in to see if I need to adjust a CSS border by 1px or something.
I haven't tested this thoroughly but I believe Chrome also supports the same set of touch events it does on Android. So if you want to make sure the mobile version of your site is touch-friendly, having a touch screen is less clunky than trying to emulate it with a mouse.
The use case that matters for me is: when I'm using them as laptops. Most of the time, my Windows laptops are connected like desktop machines: external monitors, mouse, keyboard. When I take my devices off the desk and go to a cafe or my living room, I use the touchscreen all the time. I don't reach for my mouse to click a button when I have a finger to do it. I probably don't go more than two minutes without touching the screen in that scenario, even while writing code. Scroll up/down is much easier with a finger. Pinch-to-zoom is obviously easier.
I have little experience with vertical touchscreens. Some friends cheap PCs and my tablet attached to a Bluetooth keyboard.
I discovered that I was naturally touching the buttons in dialogs and web pages and the checkboxes and radio buttons in forms. It's faster than reaching for the mouse or the trackpad. With the trablet it was the only way and it was good. No gorilla arm.
Touching links in browser can be fast too, but the target must be big enough. HN is particularly bad at that.
Basically everything that is easy to do with the touchscreen of a phone and a tablet is easy also with the screen of a laptop. But the screen must not move when you touch it.
I think the low travel keys will fit much better with the touch function key bar. Hitting flat glass will probably feel less jarring than with the current Macbook keyboards.
