BJ's Solicitor - 4/16/2014
HKTWN peeps - one of my informants tells me there is a solicitor in town hawking BJ's Memberships - if you see them before I do, please ask for their solicitors license. It is required in HKTWN!
If they do not produce one, please send them to town hall.
I have emailed HPD to let them know.
Wendy @ Hkt BID People going door to door selling BJs? That's a new business model for the worlds oldest profession, lol
iPhone-imal He nabbed me at the mini mall last year when I was having my hair cut at Sharons. Very nice man. I signed up for the great deal. I forgot all about that. A year goes by so quick. If I run into him I'll check out his lisence. Very hard to believe that bjs would send someone around with out a lisence! He was indeed very professional
just the facts maam If they tell you any special deals get it in writing. We had one come to my job and promised all these specials. Found out later it was all lies to get people to sign up. When I called to complain, the sales person had already been fired. BJ's was good and did refund our membership.
Sunshine 
botheredbyuu
Mark Mc. 
MeisterNJ The first month's supply of Alimentum baby formula came to $700.44. A guy's gotta do what a guy's gotta do, lol...
Ian - do you have insurance?? Please tell me that is not really how much you paid this month!!! If it is - you seriously need to call Edgepark medical supply. Insurance covers my twins' similac Neosure formula ($17.99/small can!!). They work w/your insurance to get it covered!! My triplet mom friend also has hers covered. They carry a lot of specialty formulas...hope that helps!!
Lizinhtown Holy crap ianimal! My grandson is on a different formula also but they don't pay that much!
Christine It's through the insurance company, but we have to reach the deductible before they start paying their 70%. And we have to go through a specific pharmacy in Edison who charges more for it than we can get it for at the supermarket. It works out to about $56 for a 1 lb can of powder through them, when it's only 36 or so at the store. But once the deductible is reached, it's only $16 a can for the rest of the year. I did the math and this way will be cheaper overall.
OUCH! Hope the little guy is ok. I never knew how much formula was until I had grandchildren. Its ridiculous.
Hoe much is your deductible? Mine is $3,200 and the 80/20 after it's met. Already $2,200 out of pocket and it is only the middle of April. One trip to the ER and your paying through the nose. There needs to be a serious discussion on how to reign in these costs and not the typical bs that they talk about in Washington.
kb2755 Yikes!! Ours is a 13oz can for $17.99 in the store - but somehow insurance pays $56/can when going through the medical supplier... Can't quite figure that one out!! Luckily they didn't hit us w/a deductible for ours... Glad you figured out a way to get it cheaper eventually!!
Since the thread went totally awry, can I comment on the lady from the BID who continually refers to the hip marketing feel of "HKTWN".
It is trendy, not catchy, and I hope goes away very quickly.
The Rhyme Animal It screams "Hicktown", IMO. I also disagree that it's a positive branding message.
As for the other OT aspect, our deductible is $1,500 for the boy. We'll meet that with the next batch and have about a third of it subsidized already and for the rest of the year, it'll be $16. Plus, our monthly prescription is currently for 13 pounds and he only went through about 7 or 8 pounds, so I hope to stockpile enough this year so I don't have to pay the deductible next year before we get him on real food. Wishful thinking, I'm sure... But we'll see.
is this a special formula for a medical condition?
i don't recall buying expensive formula for our kids, the regular tuff was no hwere near that expensive,
is mother's milk an option?
man, glad we are past those days.
and yes, HKTWN is just god awful, sets a bad tone and leaves a bad taste, the BID should stop using it immediately.
BrotherDog Sing it, The Rhyme Animal! Or rap it, whatever. I hate this vowel-less rebranding so much I named it my current one thing I'd change about Hackettstown. It screams Hicktown, yes, but worse, what charming Victorian town calls itself by capital consonants?? Ugh. Can't go away soon enough for me.
Aquarius Way off topic but it was mentioned above and I could't resist - you want to know whats cheaper than all that formula? Breast milk. Its whats best and its free. I know not everyone can do it, but had to throw that out there.
Natalie Breast milk is great... unless it's contaminated with bladder medication that isn't good for a baby. Then, it's not such a great choice. The standard formula made him overly gassy and constipated; he's doing much better on this formula. It's expensive, but I would gladly spend every dollar I have as well as every dollar I could borrow when it comes to his health... so, it's simply a matter of minimizing the cost as much as possible. Thankfully, we're in a financial position where the cost isn't all that prohibitive in the short term (looks like I'll have to get one more year out of my TM irons) and eventually the insurance coverage will help a lot.
Tracy, try not to get defensive. It is best. You can't argue that, it is proven. 99% of people who do not breastfeed, don't because they do not want to deal with it, not because they can't. It is very hard (and I mentioned I know that not everyone can do it).
I am not on here to debate breastfeeding with people. I would have better luck debating abortion, death penalties, and gun control. Not something I want to do.
Pertaining to the topic of BJ's, I am simply stating that breastmilk is free and doesn't require a BJ's membership to purchase very expensive formula. It's a viable free alternative. That's it.
Natalie, not for nothing, but not everyone can physically breast feed, nor does everyone want to. Reminding people that it's "best" is unnecessary and patronizing. It is also hurtful to people that tried everything they could and had it not work out. Do you really think that people don't know about breastfeeding? If that's what worked for you, fine. Good for you. Less judgment about people that don't breastfeed is more important than your little reminder.
Tracy iPhone, the most important thing is that your wife and baby are healthy...glad to know that they are doing well!
darwin 
Calico696 If you saw the way weeanimal attacks a bottle, you'd reconsider breast feeding too. He's like a large mouth bass on a hellgrammite, lol.
Uh, Natalie, the point is...you don't need to mention it. People know that breastfeeding is free. And it's your opinion that it's best. I won't debate this with you either. Try not to be so judgmental with your beliefs, that's all. Stop the mommy wars.
Tracy, I am ot judging. Dont be so defensive. Lets drop it so we can get back to talking about soliciting BJs memberships.
For the thousands in attendance, and the Millions reading at home. Ladies and Gentlemen.................LETS GET READY TO RUMBLLLLLLLLLLLE
Clyde Potts Oh and regarding the original post - I agree with you all that HKTWN is dumb. I have no idea what the BID is or does, but using the word 'peeps' is not very professional sounding and conveys (to me at least) that the organization is not to be taken seriously.
i am just running into the fact that my insurance company,
aetna will, like the medical supplier, pay their people much
much more than you or I could get it if we comparison
shopped.....i get monthly igg infusions....in NY the whole
thing, medicine doctor, costs about 3200. aetna is
not willing to pay the doctor 67 dollars an hour.
but if i use aetnas contract with hackettstown hospital..
because they want me to go to one of their in plan
cronies, the whole thing will cost 10,000 dollars?
what can we do to stop crap like this....it is not
managed care....it is runaway greed.
aetna's ceo mark bertolini makes 36 million dollars
a year. you say you want a revolution...how?
BONNIE HAYNES aetna's ceo mark bertolini makes 36 million dollars
a year. you say you want a revolution...how?
Well not exactly. He made $34mill last yr from stocks options exercised. He makes about $13million a yr. Which puts him on par with a Pro Bowl QB or an over the hill outfielder.
http://articles.courant.com/2013-04-08/business/hc-aetna-ceo-bertolini-pay-20130408_1_aetna-ceo-magellan-health-services-inc-aetna-inc
Wait, you can get baby formula covered by insurance? Is that due to the new law: ObabyCare?
So you can't get male contraception covered, we debate whether female contraception is appropriate to be covered, but formula ---- no problem?
That sounds like we are putting the cart before the horse :>)
And why do you need baby formula from BJ's, Bill Clinton said those don't even count.
mistergoogle The topic is BJ's Solicitor- can I apply for it?
How much can you get from BJ's door to door?
Times are tough - :)
Stock options where the executive purchases at prices outside of the current year is just plain old corruption, just like the public pension system.
For example, Company A stock is trading at $50 per share and had a low for the 2013 year of $40. Stock options should be bought at $40 not something like $15 which is being done now; options are purchased at prices often years back and often before the executive even came on board...
iJay not really, many large companies give their employees stock options as form of bonuses instead of cash bonuses. Employees have to hold it for a certain number of yrs and then they can execute them. They are given at a discounted price
sadly Lucent was know for doing this and for most of their employees the stocks were usless once they were able to execute them
darwin - ESOP's and the executive compensation options are quite different. You can't compare an option for stock of 10,000 shares at $20 to one of 100 shares at $42 when the current price is $45. One has a potential upside of a quarter million dollars vs the other at $300. You're correct that plans did exist for many companies, and Microsoft is a big issuer in that area. But they're nothing like what the executives are given to get around "salary" and NQPP issues.
GC GC, you aright they are different.
The employees are given actual stocks at a cost basis of what they are worth they date they receive them. Execs are given call options. If they price of the stock is higher than the strike price of the stock the Exec can exercise his option which is what the Aetna CEO did.
The issue that arises from this is the CEO may try and manipulate the stock price so it rises right before his settlement date so he can exercise his option. He is not given actual shares, he is given the OPTION to buy shares at the strike price and then sell them at the market price. If the price never exceeds the strike price his options are worthless.
Anyone can do this on their own all you are doing is buying a call option.
Not sure I would want to be a BJ's solicitor.
Reminds me of an old joke about British law were the lawyers are broken into two groups Barrister's (prepare briefs, argue in court, i.e court-side), Solicitors (assessment, research, etc.. i.e. client-side)
The joke is:
One day on the way to court, a comely Barrister in a short skirt and six inch heels suddenly dropped her briefs and became a solicitor.
Darwin - Even though you mention stock manipulation on the executive side, it's even worse than that. Companies that play that game have to go out and buy the stock, give the executives options far below the price the company paid, and give out large blocks of stock. The only way to compensate the executives for sure is the price is so low the company loses *large* amounts of money every time. Typical strike prices are under half the current market. That's just hidden salary.
It is different Darwin. I see executives exercising stock options at price 3-5 or more years earlier. Many of these executives were not even employed at that time...
In a nutshell, just hidden salary as GC mentioned.
Commenting is no longer available.