Touting

Source: Wikipedia

In British English, a tout is any person who solicits business or employment in an importune manner (generally equivalent to a solicitor in American English).

A ticket tout is someone who engages in ticket resale for more than the face value of the ticket. In recent years some British ticket touts have moved into Internet ticket fraud.

According to the American Bar Association, touting is where a person advertises, promotes, or otherwise describes a security for sale without disclosing that the person is being paid to do so.

An example would be a person who frequents heavily touristed areas and presents himself as a tour guide (particularly towards those who do not speak the local language), but operates in on behalf of local bars, restaurant or hotels, being paid to direct tourists towards certain establishments.

In a similar fashion a tout could be someone who, acting upon his own initiative, loads or unloads the baggage from a bus, then demands payment for his services from the passengers.

In gambling parlance, a tout is a person who sells sports betting information to bettors.

Illegal to tout and overcharge

I read a newspaper report that taxis now put up a sign "It is illegal for electronic stores and tailors to tout and overcharge".

What is touting? Are financial products being marketing at MRT stations considered as touting?

What is over-charging? Many financial products have excessive charges that give poor value to consumers.

Will it be illegal for financial institutions (i.e banks and insurance companies) to tout and over-charge for their financial products?

Why only go after electronic stores and tailors, when the overcharging in financial products is 10 times or more?

Investing in Foreign Currency

A few readers have asked my views about investing in AUD due to its recent drop. It is difficult to make a judgement on the trend, due to its volatiity. Even foreign currency traders find it difficult.

Here are some general tips about investing in foreign currencies:
http://www.tankinlian.com/faq/foreign.html

Premium buses

Some people are willing to pay a higher fare to get a better seat in an airplane. They are called first class and business class. We can have the same arrangement for a bus.

Read more about this concept in:
www.singaporepublictransport.blogspot.com

Joke: Passed by the manager

Notice in a foreign hotel: The water in this hotel is hygienic. It has been passed by the manager.

Freely negotiated fees

To: Consumer Association

The Competition Competition has mandated that fees should be freely negotiable. The apply this requirement to doctors and property agents.

The Commission think that this is to the benefit of consumers. It is likely to work the other way. If fees are freely negotiated, and the standard and scope of service is not clearly defined, consumers can be put to a disadvantage. The industry players (i.e. doctors and property agents) are more knowledgeable about the playing field and will be able get away with higher charges, as consumers are not aware about the market.

A better approach is for the Commission to get the industry association to define a few standard services and require the providers to advertise their fees for these services.

I hope that the Consumer Association can look into this matter.

Taxi without driver

Imagine that you can board a taxi that is driven automatically (i.e. without a driver) and take you quickly to your destination, without any traffic congestion.

This is called a PRT. Read about this concept in
www.singaporepublictransport.blogspot.com