Canadian Personal Finance Blog

What do you do in a country where 200,000,000 need eye care yet most can’t afford it? This fascinating talk from Ted entitled How Low cost eye care can be world class outlines how this is being done in India.

India’s revolutionary Aravind Eye Care System has given sight to millions. Thulasiraj Ravilla looks at the ingenious approach that drives its treatment costs down and quality up, and why its methods should trigger a re-think of all human services.

As usual it starts with a driving force, and it expands, but eyesight is something that folks in North America just assume you go and get fixed (for most folks), but in India that is not the case.

The business side is interesting too, about the economy of scale that can be put on a problem, is this model possible in North America?

Yes, it is Roll Up the Rim to Win (TM) time again at Tim Horton’s, a time as hallowed as Spring in Canada, causing normal folks to drink copious amounts of coffee to ensure they have a chance to win. What are these over-caffenated folks chances you ask? Just click here to have a look at the rules (that every Tim Horton’s is supposed to have around as well) and chances of winning.

If you read this document closely, you will learn:

• If you enjoy your Double, Double in Ontario, you have a chance of winning 50% of all the Rav4’s being given away.
• If you quaff your Regular in BC you only have a 6 in 17,364,000 chance of winning $10,000 (they will give away 6 prizes in BC and they figure to sell that many cups in BC).
• If you win a Rav-4 don’t hand your rim around, and when you try to claim your prize send it by Registered Mail (Timmy’s recommends that strongly)

It is always important to read the rules in these types of giveaways. It used to be they broke down the number of winners by cup size, but for some reason that data is no longer in the contest rules (it used to be Xtra Large cups had a better chance of winning).

I always thought that if a Condom maker wanted to make more better sales in Canada, they should license the Roll Up the Rim(TM) from Timmy’s and change it to Roll Down the Rim to Win (but don’t tear). Guess I think too far out of the box for most marketing companies. I suppose a Mohel could also use my idea, but I don’t think they advertise much. Remember, “The rabbi gets the salary, and the mohel gets the tips.”

My other idea, is that Tim Horton’s should sprinkle a few cups in there that say, “Haven’t you had enough Coffee?”, or “Ineligible to Win again this year!” amongst the cups for fun. They’d have to give out a small prize with them, but that would be funny.

Can advertising add value to a product? I think it can, if our perception of the value of the product is changed by the advertising, then it has added value, and this is the assertion of Rory Sutherland, a self-described “Ad Man”.

Ted.com comes up with yet another interesting video interlude with Rory Sutherland: Life Lessons from an Ad Man.

Advertising adds value to a product by changing our perception, rather than the product itself. Rory Sutherland makes the daring assertion that a change in perceived value can be just as satisfying as what we consider “real” value — and his conclusion has interesting consequences for how we look at life.

I think this is dead right, since many things have pretty much the same technical value, but why is it that iPods are so valued, when most other MP3 players can do most of the same things? Why do folks buy Pepsi instead of Coke (and vice versa)?

The Ted folks have got a fresh set of very interesting videos, and one jumped out at me, which is a talk by Temple Grandin about how the world needs all kinds of minds to thrive.

Temple Grandin, diagnosed with autism as a child, talks about how her mind works — sharing her ability to “think in pictures,” which helps her solve problems that neurotypical brains might miss. She makes the case that the world needs people on the autism spectrum: visual thinkers, pattern thinkers, verbal thinkers, and all kinds of smart geeky kids.

A very interesting talk, well worth watching (yes it has very little to do with Personal Finance, but remember if your child is diagnosed as having a different mind, you may be able to get a Disability tax exemption for them).

After watching the “interesting” opening ceremonies of the Vancouver Olympics, I remembered some of the great Canadian Olympic moments and managed to find a short vignette from the National Film Board about Kathy Kreiner and her surprise Gold Medal run at Innsbruck in 1976. Given we didn’t win any gold in Montreal (the FIRST Canadian Olympics (which was finally paid off a couple of years ago)), Ms. Kreiner’s victory sticks in my mind.

I wish all the Canadian Athletes good luck, and let the games begin! Hopefully it will snow in Vancouver, before the games are over!