1/6 in the Shirts Game

Recently I wrote about a clothes shopping trip where I bought an impressive six shirts— a record for me— and a few other items. As I noted in that blog I knew I'd be returning some of them for poor fit. The question wasn't if but how many.

Well, after a trying-on spree yesterday afternoon I now know how many. Five of the six got returned. Only four of those were for poor fit, though. One fit great but it turned out I already owned an exact copy of it from last year!

BTW, it wasn't just one shirt I bought or saw that was a dupe of shirts I already own. On the shelves were several models I bought at least a year ago. It seems the pandemic may have knocked the fashion/retail industry off kilter a bit. Fashion that used to move to the clearance racks after 6 months is now staying on the main shelves for a year or more.

Along with returning 5 out of 6 shirts I'm returning 1 out of 2 shorts. The shorts I'm returning are an exact dupe of ones I already own, too! They're a solid color in a classic style so it's no surprise to see them remaining on the shelves for several years. The shorts I kept are a dupe of ones I own, too, but they're hiking shorts that I'm keeping to replace a set that got torn on rocks last summer.

Bottom line, the returns are in, and I'm batting 1/2 on shorts and 1/6 on shirts.

I Went to my Bank... but my Bank Was Gone!

I've written before that I rarely visit ATMs anymore. What used to be a twice-a-week ritual to withdraw cash has slowed to once, maybe twice, a year as I've moved to largely cashless behavior. I proclaimed "RIP ATM" in 2014. After spending a bunch of cash last week at a store that doesn't accept credit cards I went to the ATM to refill my wallet. Call it my once a year ATM trip. But when I went there my ATM was gone!

The credit union I've done my retail banking with for the past 25 years closed its branch near my home during the pandemic. I saw that when I visited the branch 5-6 months ago to deposit a small dragon's hoard of coins. I had to go to the next branch 5 miles away. But now the nearby branch has been closed permanently. And the ATM has been removed!

Time for a New Bank?

Losing the branch near home got me questioning whether it's time to switch banks. I've been considering a move for several years. The credit union I'm with doesn't particularly excel at the things credit unions are supposed to do well— better rates and fees than traditional banks offer. It's only on par with traditional banks in that regard. And it's a small institution so it's, like, 10+ years behind on digital tools.

I've tolerated these uncompetitive aspects of the CU by combining my basic checking account there with accounts at other banks. I basically just use the CU as a direct-deposit target for my paychecks and for the convenience of a branch office the once a year I need it. I keep most of my cash in an online bank that pays me a high interest rate and has great digital tools. Oh, the CU refunds me the fees charged when I use other banks' ATMs. That's very convenient when traveling. But the thing is, the big banks offer that feature, too, when you've got enough money with them across all your accounts. Plus, the big banks— Chase, Citibank, etc.— have plenty of branches and ATMs in their own networks.

The Power of Small

While the big banks have a certain power of size with plenty of locations, the CU I've banked with for 25 years has a power in its smallness. Because they're small they still focus on the retail banking customer. Those one or two times a year I've needed to go inside a branch they've always taken care of me well. The tellers are polite, capable, and empowered. The handful of times I've needed something beyond what a front-line employee can do, a specialist or manager has always taken over quickly. Even when I call their toll-free number I get to a real employee quickly— within business hours.

Compare that to the online reviews I checked for big bank branches in the area. I saw lots of complaints of indifferent tellers, having to make appointments well in advance for special service only to have the specialist not show up, and hostile branch managers who blame everything on the customer. Seeing that, I've decided to stick with Small.

LA, SF in the Yellow

It's "Tier Tuesday" in California. That means an update to the state's Covid-19 risk assessment chart. The headline news this week is that the counties of Los Angeles and San Francisco have entered the yellow tier, the lowest risk level.


[See full report at https://covid19.ca.gov/state-dashboard/]

These two counties pull the state's population in code yellow from being just a fraction of a percent, as of last week's tier update, to 28% now. Most of that is L.A. County, which has a population just north of 10 million.

Edited to add: It's a pleasant surprise that LA has reached yellow tier ahead of most of the state. I mean, I'm happy for SF, too, but SF reached yellow once before, in October before the winter surge, and has routinely been one of the lowest-risk counties in the state. Meanwhile last fall and winter LA was one of the hardest hit. LA leaders and residents have really turned things around. Especially with a population of 10 million that's significant!

What's new with Yellow Tier compared to Orange Tier? As I review the state guidelines most of the changes are differences of degree. Business that were allowed to open at, say, 25% capacity in Orange Tier are allowed to operate at 50% capacity in Yellow Tier. Significant change will come when the tier system is retired. The governor still estimates that will happen June 15, and the continued weekly progress in these statistics supports that. California's new case rate is currently the lowest in the country and has been among the lowest for a few months.