Business Ventures and Teleportations
The average price for tropical fruits here in Japan (canteloupe, watermelon, strawberries, pineapple, melon, etc) is enough to make one wonder just what kind of soil they must grow these things in. Take for example that the price for canteloupe in America usually ranges from $0.69 to $1.45 per pound, depending on the distrubtor, the supermarket, the wholesale price, and so on. A typical canteloupe generally weighs between 4 to 6 pounds, so let us assume a 5 pound canteloupe for simplicity. This means that in the U.S.A. the range for canteloupe prices is between $3.45 and $7.25. Now let's compare that with a canteloupe in Japan.
Take a look at this:
This is an average-sized canteloupe on display at the local supermarket across from my apartment. If you are unfamiliar with the currency conversion, the New York Federal Reserve posts a 106.74 Yen per U.S. dollar exchange rate on their website. This canteloupe (which is not a magic canteloupe) costs exactly ¥3,500. Converted into USD it is approximately $33. Here is my proposal: send me as many fresh canteloupes you can buy from street vendors in your town, and I'll sell them to people in my town for a bargain price of ¥3,000, or about $28. This is a net profit of around 400%, an unbeatable business strategy.
Before you head out the door in a hurry to start postmarking packages of canteloupes to Japan, I must remind you that there are certain trade restrictions that prohibit this kind of enterprise, and your melons probably wouldn't make it through U.S. and/or Japanese customs. In case any of you happen to perfect the art of teleportation that's an entirely different issue.
In the circumstance that you were to somehow invent a teleportation machine my first reservation would be that there are more pressing issues at hand than the prospect of you and I carving a comfortable niche in the global economy. For instance, if I possessed a machine with the ability to transport objects across vast distances of space with relative ease, I would teleport myself to the island on LOST and rescue everyone so that there will no longer be a need to continue producing those hyperdramatic, confusingly boring episodes.
What would you do?
Take a look at this:
This is an average-sized canteloupe on display at the local supermarket across from my apartment. If you are unfamiliar with the currency conversion, the New York Federal Reserve posts a 106.74 Yen per U.S. dollar exchange rate on their website. This canteloupe (which is not a magic canteloupe) costs exactly ¥3,500. Converted into USD it is approximately $33. Here is my proposal: send me as many fresh canteloupes you can buy from street vendors in your town, and I'll sell them to people in my town for a bargain price of ¥3,000, or about $28. This is a net profit of around 400%, an unbeatable business strategy.
Before you head out the door in a hurry to start postmarking packages of canteloupes to Japan, I must remind you that there are certain trade restrictions that prohibit this kind of enterprise, and your melons probably wouldn't make it through U.S. and/or Japanese customs. In case any of you happen to perfect the art of teleportation that's an entirely different issue.
In the circumstance that you were to somehow invent a teleportation machine my first reservation would be that there are more pressing issues at hand than the prospect of you and I carving a comfortable niche in the global economy. For instance, if I possessed a machine with the ability to transport objects across vast distances of space with relative ease, I would teleport myself to the island on LOST and rescue everyone so that there will no longer be a need to continue producing those hyperdramatic, confusingly boring episodes.
What would you do?
posted by Alex Cruz at
5:35 AM
4 Comments:
I ABSOLUTELY HATE THAT STUPID SHOW "LOST"...HOW MUCH FREAKIN SUBPLOTS CAN ONE WEAVE INTO AN OTHERWISE BORING, ANTI-CLIMACTIC SHOW AS "LOST" CERTAINLY IS.....BEFORE OUR TECHNOLOGY WAS EVEN A FRACTION OF WHAT IT IS TODAY, THE NAVY FOUND THE "THRESHER" SUBMARINE THAT IMPLODED AND SANK IN ABOUT 30,000 FEET ATHE BOTTOM OF THE ATLANTIC OCEAN FLOOR...AND YET, SOME SURVIVORS OF A PLANE CRASH CAN'T BE LOCATED EVEN THOUGH THE WHOLE WORLD IS SEARCHING FOR THEM......MY GAWD.......WHAT IS TELEVISION COMING TO ????
OH....I WROTE THE COMMENT ABOVE THIS ONE...I JUST FORGOT TO SIGN IT.
DAD
thanks dad. am i the only one who read that entire comment and heard someone shouting inside my head??
just a suggestion, toggle the ALL CAPS button in order to not appear so bellicose.
.....(screaming) POOR, POOR DAD.....(normal) Just though I would add a less bellicose comment to this group. I love your writings. I am truly entertained. I can't access this at work anymore, but I have yet never watched the show "LOST". I think I have, though, watched every episode of "Law and Order"....
Love you, Big-bellied sister.
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