Bells toll for the death of customer service at online companies both big and small, including Carvana, Raymour & Flanigan

CARVANA DISAPPOINTS: In mid-November 2021, I sold my 2016 Tesla Model S 75D, above, to an electric-car dealer in Nebraska for $10,000 more than I was offered by Carvana, the nation's biggest online used car dealer, which twice cut its offer to me. 

 

Ease of shopping

from your computer

doesn't always bring

special treatment

By VICTOR E. SASSON

EDITOR

HACKENSACK, N.J. -- What a difference 2 years can make when you are trying to sell a Tesla to Carvana, said to be the fastest growing online used car dealer in the United States.

In November 2019, I quickly made a deal with Carvana to buy my low-mileage 2015 Tesla Model S 60, and pay off my remaining loan.

Then, on the morning I was going to take delivery of a used 2016 Model S from the Tesla dealer in Paramus, Carvana reps showed up at my home, handed me a check for $39,000 and drove the older electric car away.

Two years later, in November 2021, my original offer of roughly $43,500 for the 2016 Tesla was cut twice -- to $41,500 and then $39,500.

He said, she said

The fly in the ointment was the car's title, which took more than a month to get. I had to take a photo of the title and post it on my Carvana account before the purchase would go through.

The credit union that financed my loan -- which was paid off in October 2020 by my local bank -- said the title was sent to Spencer Savings, but bank officials insisted they didn't have it.

Motor Vehicle Commission offices in New Jersey no longer take walk-in business, and it took two appointments weeks apart, in Wallington and Jersey City, before I got the title and uploaded a photo onto my account -- on the eve of the expiration of my second, lower Carvana offer.

Sour milk

Still, Carvana's original offer of $43,500 expired like the fresh milk you left on the counter overnight, and was cut first to $41,500 and then to roughly $39,500.

I called Carvana headquarters in Tempe, Ariz., many times, but never got to speak to the same person twice. 

Finally, one told me my seeking three offers for my Model S, which had less than 13,500 miles on the odometer, led to two cuts in what Carvana would pay.

I went online and looked for another site that wanted my Tesla, and quickly got an offer I couldn't refuse from FindMyElectric.com -- $10,000 more than Carvana's twice-trimmed bid.

EXPENSIVE TOWEL HOLDER: A $1,900 built-in GE Microwave Oven from AppliancesConnection.com was delivered 2 days after I placed the order online the week of Thanksgiving, but we couldn't use the appliance except to hold dish towels before the free installation was completed nearly 2 weeks later.

Mattress woes

Last week, I placed an online order for a queen size platform bed with storage and a new mattress at Raymour & Flanigan, the furniture retailer, which offers free removal of your old mattress.

My total purchase was $2,680, including about $800 for the mattress, but when the latter was delivered the next day, the men who carried it into the house refused to take the old one away, despite repeated requests.

Finally, the delivery men said there was no room on the truck for the old mattress, a ridiculous claim since the new mattress was delivered in the very same vehicle.

All of this was related to me by my son (I wasn't home).

I called Raymour & Flanigan delivery and the woman I spoke to hung up on me. Calls to customer service haven't been returned.

I'm thinking of cancelling the order for the platform bed, and finding another one elsewhere.

OXO coffee maker refund

In early 2021, I had to pay about $30 in postage to return an expensive, difficult-to-operate 9-cup coffee maker I bought from OXO.com, and I didn't get the refund for about 8 weeks.

The coffee maker looked great on the counter, but the 9-cup capacity was on the low side, and I couldn't even figure out how to set the clock, so I returned it and resumed making coffee in an old 12-cup Farberware electric percolator.

In effect, OXO tells customers, How dare you dislike our coffeemaker?

The company made the return and refund process as difficult as possible. That's terrible customer service.

DAMAGED AND A POOR MATCH: The wood panels for our built-in Monogram refrigerator-freezer I ordered from The Home Depot in Hackensack at a cost of $1,977 were chipped badly and a poor color match for our kitchen cabinets (see photos, above and below).

The Home Depot

I went to The Home Depot in Hackensack to order wood panels for a new Monogram built-in refrigerator installed in our kitchen in July (the panels cost $1,977).

About a week ago, I got a call to pick them up, but when 2 of the 7 cartons were too big for my car, I was told I could pay $80 to have all of them delivered to my home less than 3 miles away or rent a truck.

I rented a small truck (final cost was under $30), but when I returned to the store to get a refund because two of the main panels were damaged and the color match was completely off, I was again told I would have to pay $80 to have them picked up or rent a truck to bring them back.

Finally, after the employee who rents truck called a supervisor, the store agreed to send a truck and pick up the panels from my home on Saturday.

We waited all day, but then got a call that the truck wouldn't get here and that the pickup was rescheduled for Monday.

READ: As Tesla's value soars, 

buyers of EV complain

 about poor customer service

Why didn't most Democrats bother to vote on Nov. 2? They're apathetic, lazy, stupid or offer your own explanation or excuse

EASIEST WAY TO VOTE: The postage-paid, mail-in election ballot is by far the easiest way to vote, and if you don't want to take it to a drop box, like this one in Hackensack, you can leave it or give it to your mail carrier.

By VICTOR E. SASSON

EDITOR

HACKENSACK, N.J. -- Scores of apathetic or lazy Democrats didn't vote on Nov. 2, and the next day the news media reported the contest between Gov. Phil Murphy and his Republican opponent was "too close to call."

Murphy eventually prevailed by 73,814 votes over Republican Jack Ciattarelli, a former state assemblyman who is an ally of Donald J. Trump, according to updated results published by The New York Times on Nov. 10.

Murphy was the first Democratic governor reelected in New Jersey in 44 years, The Times said, and "his aggressive approach to controlling the [Covid-19] pandemic became a focal point of the bid to unseat him."

Voter affiliation

As of Oct. 1, there were 2,577,698 registered Democrats, who far outnumbered the 1,505,265 registered Republicans in New Jersey, according to state officials.

The election should have been a slam dunk for Murphy, even though governors in New Jersey aren't  elected in the same year as the presidential election.

Murphy received a total of 1,304,954 votes with more than 95 percent of voting precincts reporting -- or about half of the registered Democrats.

Ciattarelli got 1,231,140 votes of the 1,505,265 Republicans registered -- a much bigger turnout by the challenger's party than by Murphy's party.

Registered voters unaffiliated with a party totaled 2,396,910.

What happened?

So, why didn't Democrats step up and give Murphy another 4-year term in a decisive fashion?

Was the governor's Covid-19 mandates really to blame or were Democrats once again beset by apathy, stupidity or downright laziness?

Ciattarelli's TV commercials during the campaign claimed local property taxes had "skyrocketed" in New Jersey, but didn't explain what the governor could do to cut them.

One of the biggest components of the property tax bill  in Hackensack supports local public schools, so was Ciatterelli saying he would slash state aid to local schools, if he were elected, to lower property taxes?

Where was the media?

I never heard any reporter ask that question to the Republican candidate for governor.

If, in fact, local property taxes rose -- "skyrocketed" is more of an allegation than fact -- that was due to the superheated housing market during the pandemic, when "home prices nationwide have risen by an astonishing 24.8 percent since March 2020," The Times reports.

 

COPPING OUT: There are more than 265,000 registered Democrats in Bergen County, compared to 150,811 registered Republicans. But Governor Murphy received only 140,654 votes in the county on Nov. 2, according to this graphic from The New York Times, which updated the numbers on Nov. 10. Murphy was reelected, but his winning margin in Bergen County was only 14,230 votes.

Hot topics: We make room for a new EV; lazy Democrats and a nail-biting election; The Record again stiffs its wretched staff

A NEW EV IN OUR GARAGE: Our new 2021 Tesla Model Y, above, has all-wheel drive and a maximum range of 330 miles. We charge it overnight in our garage when the battery is down to about 30 percent of capacity.

OUR OTHER TESLA: I bought this 2016 Tesla Model S 75D, left, in November 2019, when the luxury, all-wheel drive, 4-door hatchback had only about 7,600 miles on the odometer. It's the best car I've ever owned, and faster than my first EV, a 2015 Tesla Model S 60, which had a smaller battery and rear-wheel drive.

Trump's coup failed, but country

seems more divided than ever

By VICTOR E. SASSON

EDITOR

HACKENSACK, N.J. -- When I turned 77 last week, I thought life is good:

I'm healthy, I get plenty of exercise food shopping and volunteering at a hospital a total of 4 days to 5 days a week, and we have a new zero-emissions Tesla in the garage.

But then I muttered, "What the fuck?" last Wednesday as I read the news that the election for governor in New Jersey was too close to call.

This with Democrats having a registration edge in the state over Republicans of more than 967,000, according to New Jersey Globe, so I should have been cursing Dems too lazy to get off their asses to vote or fill out a mail-in ballot.

Voter apathy

Did the apathy that paralyzes voters in Hackensack spread statewide, as Governor Murphy sought election to a second term, which a Democrat hadn't accomplished since 1977?

Could Murphy's opponent -- a former, not even a current Republican state assemblyman who lied like Trump during the campaign -- actually take the State House and wreak havoc in a nightmarish scenario recalling the 8 miserable years we experienced under that GOP thug, Chris Christie?

Yes. I buy cars painted red, but always vote blue.

MAIL-IN BALLOTS: On the day before the Nov. 2 election, I took the last of our 4 mail-in ballots to a drop box at the Bergen County Administration Building in Hackensack. Although the mail-in ballot is still a challenge to fill out, we have been using them to vote in every election, big and small, for many years, long before the pandemic.

New Jersey and Virginia

Well, eventually, Murphy was declared the winner in New Jersey, but in Virginia, a Democrat was defeated by a Republican for governor, as Richmond seemed to be reclaiming the title of "capital of the Confederacy."

"Save your Dixie cups, the South will rise again," my high school art teacher used to say. Indeed. 

News coverage of the New Jersey and Virginia elections was short on issues and long on polls and opinion writers trying to predict the future.

So, I was shocked to read a New York Times story about Murphy's narrow victory that reported the Democrat's "aggressive approach to controlling the [Covid-19] pandemic became a focal point of the bid to unseat him."

The TV and radio news had said little, if anything, about Murphy's Covid-19 policies during the campaign leading up to the election on Nov. 2. 

The pandemic

So, now we can add pandemic policies -- as well as anti-vaccine and anti-mask zealots in Trump counties asserting their right to die in droves -- to gun rights, abortion and racism as among the forces dividing us under President Joe Biden.

As hard as it is to believe nearly a year after Covid-19 vaccines first became available, the virus still kills more than 1,200 people a day in the United States, nearly all of them unvaccinated, according to The Times. 

I LIKE HATCHBACKS: The Model Y is a 4-door hatchback, one in a long line of hatchbacks I've owed -- from the forgettable Mustang II to a 1986 Toyota Celica to a 1988 Toyota Celica All-Trac turbo to 4 Toyota Priuses, one of which we still have, and the Tesla Model S.

SEXY CURVE: No design feature in our new Tesla Model Y or any other car I know can match the elegance of the curved door pull on each of the 4 doors in my Tesla Model S. I keep an eyeglass cleaning cloth in the space in the driver's door, but there is room for a pair of glasses or loose change for tolls.

PESCATARIAN'S DELIGHT: Jumbo Shrimp, above, and a beautifully composed Mahi-Mahi Ceviche with avocado, tomato and cilantro, below, were just 2 of the courses in a lavish lunch my wife and I enjoyed at The Hill in Closter to celebrate my birthday last week.

AN EMPTY DINING ROOM: The Hill is the best seafood restaurant in northern New Jersey, when price is no object. But we were the only customers seated in the large dining room for lunch last Thursday.

The Record's wretched staff

The staff of The Record complained in a tweet last week that they have been denied raises by Gannett, the newspaper conglomerate that bought the former Hackensack-based daily along with the other papers and (201) magazine from the Borg family.

Calling themselves The Record Guild, they said they formed a union along with the staffs of two other newspapers, but that apparently has given them little muscle.

They refer to The Record, where I worked for more than 30 years, by the antiquated name of "The Bergen Record."

The daily newspaper also was called "The Wretched" by many critics.

Sold for $40M in cash

In the years before the July 2016 sale, then-Publisher Stephen A. Borg executed the biggest downsizing in The Record's history, moved the staff to Woodland Park, froze raises in the newsroom and then laughed all the way to the bank with the nearly $40 million in cash handed over by Gannett.

By March of 2017, Gannett had laid off more than 350 NJMG employees.

Borg became a partner in the construction of hundreds of luxury apartments being built along River Street after tearing down The Record's landmark Hackensack headquarters and a diner.

"OK, so where are our raises?" The Record Guild tweeted the other day in response to word Gannett is making progress in growing digital subscriptions -- more than 1.5 million across the chain, according to Poynter.org.

My advice to the dwindling number of staffers at The Record: "Suckers, don't hold your breath."

And those who formed a union -- notably Columnist Mike Kelly -- clearly waited much too long before doing so -- like 3 years too long.

READ: Many readers say Gannett 

turned The Record ino a rag

A winding 2-lane road, a beautiful fall day and a stroll through a large, lush garden

A WARM WELCOME: You can find the New Jersey State Botanical Garden, above and below, on the grounds of a once-grand estate, the 1,119-acre Skylands, now a part of Ringwood State Park.

 

By VICTOR E. SASSON

EDITOR

HACKENSACK, N.J. -- We went exploring on Columbus Day.

For some reason, I woke up last Monday, a national holiday, thinking of upper Passaic County, where my first beat as a reporter at The Record in 1980 was covering Ringwood and West Milford. 

My wife had the day off, and the weather turned out to be perfect for shorts, with a temperature of around 72 degrees.

I planned to drive north on Route 208 and take Skyline Drive to Ringwood, and I'm glad I did.

The twisting, 2-lane road was smooth and fast, perfect for my Tesla Model S, and a reminder of how much fun driving can be.

Also known as County Road 692, Skyline Drive is a 5.84-mile asphalt ribbon between Route 287 in Oakland -- an interstate favored by fast-moving tractor-trailers -- and Route 511 in Ringwood.

Skyline Drive passes through Ringwood State Park, home to the New Jersey State Botanical Garden, Skylands Manor and Ringwood Manor (see photos below).

             AN 'ALLEE' OF CRABAPPLE TREES

NOT THAT DIANA: A statue of Diana, the Roman goddess, above, and the imposing stone manor house, below, now a popular wedding venue and hotel, which has gotten some terrible reviews.

RINGWOOD MANOR: Our first stop last Monday was Ringwood Manor, which was closed for renovations, but we took this path to a series of small cemeteries. The Ringwood Manor web site says iron mine partners Peter Cooper and Abram S. Hewitt turned the home into a summer estate (see cemetery photos below).

SOHO NEW JERSEY: The tombstone for John Hewitt, who was born in England and arrived in America in 1796, refers to "Soho New Jersey" and the construction of the first steam engine built in the United States.

THE FORGOTTEN GENERAL: Robert Erskine, a geographer and surveyor general for the American army during the Revolutionary War, died in 1780 in Ringwood. The plaque calls him a "friend in need for [George] Washington."

A school election in November, an empty Main Street and other Hackensack views

A DESERTED MAIN STREET: Last Tuesday around 9:30 in the morning, I dropped off our 2010 Toyota Prius at the dealer in Hackensack for a synthetic oil and filter change, and walked over to Main Street. There were few cars and fewer pedestrians on the street. 

CLOSED TO THE PUBLIC: Cap Diner at 240 Main St. is on the ground floor of one of the luxury apartment buildings that was completed and occupied, as part of the city's downtown building boom. A total of about 3,500 apartments are being added. On Tuesday, a sign in the window said the diner was closed temporarily.

NO CIGAR: The diner's play on the phrase cup of joe -- coffee, which originated on U.S. navy ships -- caused me to wince. "Cap O' Joe"? Really?

SIGNS OF THE TIME: Above the awning of Sara & Sophia, an Ecuadorian restaurant at 287 Main St., you can see the sign of Bohemia, the Colombian restaurant that once occupied the space. Below, photos of Ecuadorian specialties.

 

Voters lose say on size of tax levy

to support local education 

By VICTOR E. SASSON

EDITOR

HACKENSACK, N.J. -- With the move of the April school election to November, the more than 22,000 registered voters in the city are losing their chance to accept or reject the proposed budget for the city's schools that is funded by nearly half of their local  property taxes.

Such a rejection would send the proposal to the City Council, which could review it, and accept it or make cuts.

Never mind.

There are an overwhelming number of stupid, lazy and apathetic voters in Hackensack, and many of them don't even know they once had a right to challenge the spending plan of the city's Board of Education.

As a result, since I first started voting in Hackensack school elections in 2008, the proposed school budget has usually been approved by only a few hundred registered voters every April.

Shockingly low turnout

Here's what I reported about the 2020 school election:

The actual number of ballots returned in the May 12, 2020, Hackensack school board election totaled 3,071 and 3 more were blank.

Still, that was far more ballots than was cast in the 2019 (1,915 ballots) or 2018 (1,638 ballots) school board elections, when voters could go to the polls or vote by mail-in ballot.

The May 12, 2020, election was by mail-in ballot only, and that apparently raised the turnout significantly. The election was delayed by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The proposed 2020-21 Hackensack school budget was $125.8 million before federal and state aid, grants and entitlements. 

The $85 million tax levy to support the school budget passed, as it has in all of the years I've lived in Hackensack, as residents again seemed to say we want to pay higher property taxes to support our local schools, 1,189 yes votes to 693 no votes.

School taxes are roughly 45% of your local property tax bill. 

School officials said the 2021-22 budget represents an increase of only 1% for taxpayers. 

 

2021 SCHOOL ELECTION BALLOT: The official mail-in ballot for the Nov. 2 general election contains not one but two ballots listing candidates and two public questions, above and below. Hackensack school board candidates are listed on the flip side of the ballot listing candidates for governor and lieutenant governor, state Senate and Assembly, Bergen County sheriff, and county clerk and commissioners, once known as freeholders and often derided as "freeloaders." 

EARLY VOTING: Registered voters in Bergen County may vote early from Oct. 23-31 at locations in nine communities, including the county administration building at One Bergen County Plaza in Hackensack. Click on the state's Voter Information Portal for more information.

Is that all there is?

As a resident of Hackensack, my stroll last Tuesday along Main Street and then to my home in the Fairmount section was a bit underwhelming.

Yes. Apartment construction seems to be everywhere on or near Main Street, which has finally been converted to 2-way traffic, but few of the buildings have been completed, there hasn't been much change in the local dining scene and foot traffic on Main Street is low.

I noticed a new restaurant on State Street -- Shami Falafel -- and my wife said she saw a spot for ramen preparing to open toward the border with South Hackensack.

El Turco Grill, a Turkish restaurant, opened on Main Street next to the Johnson Public Library last year, replacing an Argentinian spot.

Print House development

One of the bigger apartment projects in Hackensack is going up on River Street, replacing the landmark headquarters of The Record and North Jersey Media Group, and former Record Publisher Stephen A. Borg is a partner in the development.

I'm not sure if Borg was responsible for marketing the project as "Print House," which is a textile-printing factory.

"Printing House" would have been more accurate, given the history of local journalism and the many years The Record was printed there.

Nevertheless, the development's website says it is "designed to make headlines" and represents a "new record in Hackensack living."

I'm laughing out loud.

The Borgs ditch journalism

As publisher of The Record, succeeding his father, Stephen Borg's journalism credentials were suspect, but as a bean counter, he engineered the biggest downsizing in The Record's history in 2008 and the move to Woodland Park in 2009. 

In 2016, the Borg family sold The Record and the rest of North Jersey Media Group's daily and weekly newspapers and (201) magazine to Gannett Co. for nearly $40 million in cash.

But they retained ownership of nearly 20 acres along River Street, including The Record's headquarters and a nearby diner, both of which were torn down.

The Borgs had the last laugh -- all the way to the bank.

After Gannett took over, more than 350 employees were laid off or took buyouts.

Click on this Eye on The Record post from July 2020, when construction of the Print House apartments began. 

Costco's rotisserie bird is glaring exception to Kirkland Signature label's quality claims

ADDED SALT, SUGAR AND SODIUM PHOSPHATE: The label of Costco Wholesale's wildly popular Kirkland Signature Seasoned Rotisserie Chicken, above, lists salt, sugar and sodium phosphate as ingredients. Sodium phosphate also is given to people undergoing a colonoscopy.

JUST OUT OF THE ROTISSERIE: A little after 9 a.m. on a Tuesday, when the Costco warehouse in Teterboro, N.J., opens for seniors, whole chickens fill shelves and rotisserie cases, above and below.

 

Story on private label omits

wildly popular low-quality chicken

 

Editor's note: This post includes a link describing Costco Wholesale's rotisserie chicken as good dog food, as well as more than 100 comments from Costco members describing their experiences eating the chicken and giving it to pets. 

 

By VICTOR E. SASSON

EDITOR

HACKENSACK, N.J. -- The Kirkland Signature Seasoned Rotisserie Chicken is missing from a cover story in the Costco Connection magazine praising products sold under the warehouse giant's private label.

Writing about Kirkland Signature products in the September issue, Editorial Director Tim Talevich says:

"We stand behind the quality of an item, that we feel proud of it, that it's trustworthy."

But this past April, The Humane League reported:

"In 2020 alone, Costco sold more than 100 million of its rotisserie chickens. That’s close to 300,000 chickens, on average, every single day. Its suspiciously cheap price tag of just $4.99 tells a deeper story—one that would ruffle the feathers of anyone who is opposed to the abuse of animals—dog, cat, cow, or chicken. You see, behind the low cost of this cheap meat, is a big cost—the painful suffering of smart, cuddly, and curious chickens. These abuses are among the worst in the poultry industry."

Salty chicken

In August, Consumer Reports said:

"But while roasted rotisserie chickens are convenient, tasty, and easy on your wallet, they’re often not so good for your health. As CR previously reported, a salt solution is often injected into the cooked chickens to enhance flavor and tenderness. 

"Costco’s rotisserie chicken has 460 mg of sodium per 3-ounce serving. That’s one-fifth of the maximum amount of sodium adults should consume in a day (2,300 mg). ShopRite’s Bowl & Basket chicken has even more sodium, with 490 mg per 3-ounce serving."

Antibiotics?

The label on Costco's Seasoned Rotisserie Chicken doesn't mention whether the birds are raised on antibiotics that are harmful to humans or fed a vegetarian diet.

So, you can assume the worst -- that they are raised with antibiotics and fed animal by-products -- bits of dead animals.

One of the ingredients listed on the label is sodium phosphate, which is also used to treat constipation in humans and clean the bowels before a colonoscopy.

'A label of quality'

The cover story in the September issue of the Costco Connection lists many high quality items sold under the Kirkland Signature label, including wine from Italy, health and beauty products, and even the 18-inch pizza that goes for only $9.95 at Costco's food courts.

I am a big fan of Kirkland Signature French Champagne, available at the Costco warehouse in Wayne, N.J., for about half the price of French brands, as well as Kirkland Signature XO French Cognac.

Kirkland Signature Bath Soap and Kirkland Signature Moisturizing Shampoo produce more lather than competitive brands for less money.

Officials of Costco have never explained what prompted them to slap the respected Kirkland Signature label on a low-quality rotisserie chicken that makes great dog food, not good human food, as I reported in Do You Really Know What You're Eating?

My message to Costco: At least offer a better quality, healthier rotisserie chicken as an alternative at a higher price, one that is raised humanely.  

READ: Costco members see red

 in bloody, undercooked chickens

MORE FROM KIRKLAND SIGNATURE: You can find Kirkland Signature products throughout Costco, and the vast majority of them are better than competing national brands and are sold at a lower price, including organic quinoa, above; California almonds, organic brown eggs, Italian Basil Pesto and water filter cartridges (see photos below).

PRICE HIKE: Costco's Kirkland Signature Free Range Organic Brown Eggs are $6.49 for two dozen, the first price increase I've seen since they were introduced at $5.99 a couple of years ago.

Can solar panels, three Tesla Powerwalls completely eliminate your electric bill?

THREE POWERWALLS: Each of the Tesla home batteries I had installed in March 2019 at my New Jersey home stores roughly 13.5 kWh of energy generated by my solar panels.

By VICTOR E. SASSON

EDITOR

HACKENSACK, N.J. -- When you purchase home batteries to store energy from your solar panels, Tesla doesn't promise you a rose garden.

In other words, Tesla says the Powerwall 2, as the latest version is known, allows you "to reduce reliance on the grid and run your home off solar day and night."

So far this year, I paid a service charge of $4.95 -- but nothing for electricity -- in each of 4 months to run a house of more than 3,000 square feet with central air conditioning and to charge my Tesla Model S roughly once a week.

You pay for 'delivery'

But in the other 3 months, my bill for electricity and delivery has totaled $90.02 (for Jan. 7 to Feb. 4, 2021); $181.08 (Feb. 5 to March 8) and $96.35 ( July 8 to Aug. 5, 2021). 

The most recent bill shows a charge of $65.57 for electric supply and $30.78 for "delivery."

Still, my batteries have kept my house running during every power outage in my neighborhood since they were installed in March 2019.

No night rates

We get a lot of rain and snow in northern New Jersey, and my solar panels often generate little or no electricity for my storage batteries, meaning I draw a lot from the grid.

My utility doesn't pay me for excess power or have lower rates for electricity at night. 

If I generate more than I use, those kilowatt hours go into a "bank" that I can draw on later.

Hooray for SRECs

In fact, the key to eliminating your electric bill in the Northeast is not just solar panels and Tesla batteries that store the electricity they generate.

I earn Solar Renewable Energy Credits or SRECs, which go only to those who, like me, own their solar systems.

I can sell those credits to my utility through a middleman.

The certificates are worth roughly $223 each (I recently sold 5), down from a high of $600 each after I had solar panels installed in 2009.

For a second, smaller solar system I had installed in 2012 with a loan from my utility -- PSE&G -- I am repaying the loan with SRECs that are valued at $400 each.

READ: The best and worst of Tesla

SOUTHERN EXPOSURE: My home has a southern exposure, meaning the sun shines on my solar panels through the day.

Watching TV, I have so many questions, but the media don't seem to have answers

WET BUT FAR FROM SEXY: The Claude "Bud" Lewis Carlsbad Desalination Plant on the California coast provides 50 million gallons of fresh water a day to San Diego, reports E360, an online magazine published at the Yale School of the Environment. (Photo from Poseidon Water) 

Conundrums: Drought, the U.N.,

cling peaches, invisible captions

By VICTOR E. SASSON

EDITOR

HACKENSACK, N.J. -- Night after night, the evening TV news reports about the drought in California -- claiming there isn't even enough water to fight the wildfires that destroyed an historic mining town and other property.

But in June 2019, there were 11 seawater desalination plants in California and 10 more were proposed, according E360, an online magazine.

Why have the media been silent about them? Why aren't more of these plants being built? 

Don't they hold the solution to this cycle of drought, fires and barren farmland?

BLAST SCENE: The explosion in the port of Beirut on Aug. 4, 2020, leveled many blocks of the Lebanese city and killed more than 200.

What does the U.N. do?

The other night, I saw an alarming TV report on the first anniversary of that massive explosion in the port of Beirut, Lebanon, with soldiers or police battling protesters in the street.

The report portrayed government officials as corrupt and refusing to investigate the explosion, which killed more than 200 people, or assign blame.

Meanwhile, motorists have to spend hours in lines to fill up their tanks with gasoline.

Lebanon is far from the only failed state around the world, so the natural question is what does the United Nations do?

Nothing, in Lebanon's case. Nothing, in Syria's case. Nothing, in the cases of so many African countries.

Does the U.N. merely call diplomats from around the world to come and live lavishly in New York, one of the most expensive cities in the world, and jawbone all day?

What's the good of a Security Council taking decisive action and moving against a failed, corrupt government, if Russia or any other member can veto the council's decisions?

Cling peaches

Is there any good reason cling peaches and nectarines are still being grown instead of all freestone, where the pit is separated from the flesh?

Try to cut them up for a fruit salad or even eat them out of hand without making a mess of the kitchen counter or your clothes or both.

I buy organic, and the peaches and nectarines I find at Whole Foods Market in Paramus, N.J., aren't labeled as cling or freestone, so you don't find out the bad news until you get home.

Are cling superior in any way? I doubt it. They just piss you off.

TV captions

Here is another infuriating oversight -- captions for documentaries that require translation are invariably in white and often blend into the background, so that they're unreadable.

Why not just render them in black? At least you wouldn't miss any words, and when the background is dark, then white captions would be justified.

One color doesn't fit all.

I noticed this recently when watching the PBS series, "Latino Americans."  

I loved the music, but much was lost in the translation when the captions appeared in white.