BetCrooks | Financial Crooks

I’ve been giving a lot of thought to Trick or Treating during the last 5 minutes. It seems to me that there are many inefficiencies that we could fix to improve the quality of service, security, and economic benefits.

Why We Should Centralize Hallowe’en Treat Distribution

Right now, children have to travel from house to house to get their treats or perform their tricks. In many older established neighbourhoods this is a major drawback. The time taken to travel, on foot, from payout to payout by sidewalk, often having to trudge up long walkways and stairs, is excessive.

Imagine if instead the children could simply go to a centralized location to pick up all of their treats at one time. Quick! Convenient! Safe!

Savings in Manpower Costs for Centralized Hallowe’en Candy Distribution Are Substantial

Think of all the time that could be saved. That’s time that could be used more productively.

children could be studying for school or doing chores
parents would not have to leave work early in order to rush home to accompany their children from door to door
parents could reduce time accompanying children on their rounds—this time could be used instead for household duties or remunerated work

There are some other manpower savings too!

Instead of having to stay at home answering the door bell, candy distributors would just have to make a run to the depot to drop off their offerings and to work their “shift” distributing the treats.
Only one person would be needed to distribute the treats at the centralized depot. Short shifts could be used to optimize time wasted.

Decreased Nepotism and More Equitable Treats Distribution

There’s another benefit to removing the personal interaction from the distribution of treats. Some people give more treats to family members and close friends. This nepotism is undesirable in any purportedly democratic distribution of handouts. By having treats divided into equal portions at the distribution centre, this problem can be solved.

There will also be an overall reduction in the cost of treats distributed. After all, no one will know who is the ~~cheapskate~~ frugal householder giving only one Chicklet and who is the ~~showoff~~ generous one giving a family-sized Cadbury bar.

Savings in Specialized Clothing and Uniforms

If the children are just collecting their treats from a centralized depot, it’s not really necessary for them to have a new costume each year. After all, no one will be taking their photo or inspecting their costume and asking what they are trying to represent.

Eliminating costumes will also improve safety as masks and other elements preventing safe travel will be eliminated. The number of children shot by security officers who mistake their plastic weaponry for real armaments should also be reduced.

In fact, it is possible to eliminate the ‘uniforms’ of Hallowe’en entirely! Especially if the next suggestion is implemented.

Increase Hallowe’en Savings and Security by Implementing an Unmanned Treat Pickup Location

Now that I’ve given this more detailed study and analysis, I’ve concluded there’s really no reason to have anyone giving out the treats. Instead we could have an unmanned treat distribution and storage centre. Each child would get a key to their own treat box to open and retrieve their Hallowe’en goodies.

Having the treats in locked storage would increase treat security.

Treat losses would be reduced by having the transfer of treats from storage to pillowcase happening in a well-lit public area. Fewer treats would end up on the ground.
Because parents would not be needed to carry excessively heavy treat-filled bags hear the end of a Trick or Treating journey, “shrinkage” would also be reduced. (It has never been clearly established whether parents drop an excessive number of treats or whether they have been pilfering them while providing baggage-handling services.)
The risk of bullies snatching and stealing large bags of treats can be virtually eliminated.

In fact, there’s no particular reason why the children would have to pick up their treats on Hallowe’en at all! They could leave them securely locked up until a more convenient time; perhaps after the hockey game their Father is enjoying watching.

Bonus Idea: Amalgamate the Treats Distribution Centre with Other Systems Requiring Distribution

I’ve just had another fantastic idea! We could allow Canada Post to deliver mail through these SAME locked boxes at the centralized depot! Think of the savings! Think of the convenience! Think of the improved security!

Wow. I’m astonished no one else is writing about this.

Related Reading

Sometimes Spending More is Wiser than Getting a Deal

Join In
Are you a fan of unmanned centralized lock box delivery distribution centres? Or will you be standing up for a child’s right to ding doorbells and bang on knockers? Please share your views with a comment.

UPDATE: This article is historical, from 2013. I no longer invest with RBC Direct Investing.

I opened a RBC Direct Investing RRSP account this fall. I’ve been poking around inside it and I bought a GIC and parked some cash in a High Interest Savings Account (mutual) fund. Yesterday I figured out how to check the real time price for shares or ETFs. Now I want to use up one of the “free” trades I received for opening the account by buying either some shares of a company or some units of an ETF mirroring an entire stock market.

Buying Shares or Units of an ETF in a RBC Direct Investing RRSP Account

Sign in to your account/s.
From the list of tabs across the top of the screen, click on Trade.

Calculating How Many Shares or Units You Can Buy

On the Stock Order Entry screen, there is an online calculator to check how many shares or units you can buy. If you click on the Calculate Shares link, a window opens with this calculator.

In the Amount to Invest: field, type the amount want to spend
- for a Canadian stock in Canadian dollars; or
- for an American stock in US dollars
Note: The program does not offer to tell you how much it would cost to buy US dollars using CAD.
Select the radio button for
- a Canadian Equity or
- a U.S. Equity.
Type the cost in the Stock Price field.
Click on the Calculate button to determine how many shares or units you can get.

The calculator assumes you will pay a commission of $28.95 for the trade. You can’t adjust that.

Given the many constraints of the calculator, I’m not sure how much value it offers.

The Stock Order Entry – Step 1 of 3 Screen

From the drop-down list in the Account #: field, select the account for which you wish to purchase the shares or ETF.
Once you do, the screen will update to show you your Available Funds: for that account.
Remember it will not show the correct amount of Available Funds: if you have made a GIC purchase earlier in the day!
From the drop-down list in the Action: field, select Buy.
In the # of Shares: field
type the number of shares or units you wish to buy.
In the Symbol: field, type the listing symbol for the shares or ETF that you wish to purchase.
From the drop-down list for the Market: field, select CDN or US.
If you’re interested, click on the Show Quote button to see the current price, volume, bid and ask.
In the Price: section
- Select the radio button beside Market Price to enter an unlimited price order; or
- Select the radio button beside the Limit drop-down list to set up a limit order
  - If you do, select Limit, Stop Limit or Stop from the drop-down list; then
  - in the Limit Price or the Stop Price field, type the appropriate price.
  For an explanation of these choices, click on the Explain Choices link.
From the drop-down list for the Good Through: field, select
- Day
- any of the trading day dates for the following 19 days
In the Special Instructions: field, select the radio button beside either
- Any Part; or
- All or None
In other words, select whether you will accept a partial fill of your order, or want to fill it only on an All or None basis.
Strangely enough, I cannot select All or None for a Limit Price order with a three-day Good Through: date.
UPDATE: Ok I looked this up. On some US exchanges you can place All or None orders. On the TSX and TSXV Canadian exchanges you can’t. So you cannot place an All or None order on the TSX stock exchange.
Read the Important Notice advising you that you have to manually transfer the money from your other RBC sources into your account before the settlement date.
In the Contact Phone: field, enter the phone number you can be reached at while they are trying to fill your order.
Click on the Continue button.

Confirm Transaction – Step 2 of 3

Check the purchase order is for the correct account and verify the other details. In particular, check the name of the company or ETF you want to buy and check the Estimated Commission are both correct.

***IMPORTANT***
If you accept the information on this screen you will place your order!
RBC Direct Investing does NOT use a trading password.
This is your last chance to cancel the order before placing it.

Only if you are fully committed to making the order, should you click on the Confirm button.

Transaction Complete – Step 3 of 3

Your order has been placed. For reference, cut and paste the order ID: number, date and time, and other details and save it in a document.
If desired, click on the View Order Status link to check on your order.
If you are finished, click on the Sign out button.
For added security clear your browser cache and close your browser session.

How Buying Stocks and ETFs at RBC Direct Investing Differs Greatly from at BMO InvestorLine and CIBC Investor’s Edge

I was very surprised to find that RBC Direct Investing does not use a trading password.

Both InvestorLine and Investor’s Edge use a double password system. You need one password to access your account/s and another password to execute a trade. So I was a bit shocked to find I could enter an order to buy or sell an equity or ETF at Direct Investing without entering a trading password.

Frankly, I don’t like it. I’ll have to be doubly vigilant with my account access password. And I’ll have to make darn sure I don’t leave the account logged in when I go to turn on the rice cooker because the kids might suddenly decide to sell everything I hold! (Frequent readers will know most of my stocks are submerged 90% of the time; an unexpected sell would crystallize a loss I could do without.)

Did I Find a Snowy Yesterday?

And for those who were asking. Yes! I did find a Snowy yesterday. Of course it was a zillion metres away but that’s ok. I didn’t disturb her and I got some photos even if they aren’t razor sharp.