We have decided to attempt to move our store (Baby Mine Store) to Network Solutions’ Version 7 of their ecommerce package (now renamed nsCommerceSpace).  Apparently nsCommerceSpace has been enhanced such that it will now be capable of supporting Baby Mine Store.  Of course, the proof will be “in the pudding.”

Our move to nsCommerceSpace is scheduled to begin on 9/28/09.  In the end, we made this choice for several reasons.  First, as a Monster Commerce (which was purchased by Network Solutions) customer, Network Solutions provides a migration path to Version 7 that hopefully will be cheaper than moving to a competitor.  Also, Network Solutions substantially overcharges for the older version and has not provided any real support for at least 3 years.

I will say that the Network Solutions team has promised significant help in this migration, for which we are grateful.

We decided the time had come; one way or another, we have to get off the old version of nsCommerceSpace to reduce our cost and have a supported product.  Either we will succeed with the transition to nsCommerceSpace Version 7 or we will determine we cannot do so (in which case we will either be forced to shut down our store or pay $10K+ for migration to a different platform).

I will continue to post updates throughout the migration process to memorialize both the migration itself and our continuing assessment of the nsCommerceSpace Version 7 product.

Why is it so easy to get very high level information about prescription drug coverage to go with medicare and so difficult to get specifics?  Who knows what happens if your pharmacy sells generics at less than your copay?  Unfortunately, the sales people are trained to make sales, but they are terrible at answering specific questions.  The Medicare site gives the plans “star” ratings on a number of dimensions, but none of them do very well.

More updates to come…

Want to know more about the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver?  Check out all the latest on the games at travour.com.  We had the chance to attend the Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City in 2002, and the experience was great!  We also went to the closing ceremonies–what a show!

The venues are great.  They will be especially spectacular in Vancouver.

Not really on the other subjects in this blog, but my pharmacist told me a couple of months ago about a discount program offered by Pfizer at the Lipitor website.

Pfizer covers part of your copay ($15 per month, in my case).  Unfortunately, the discount stops when I (or anyone) makes it to Medicare.  I wish my pharmacist had told me about this much earler.

You can find a description of Medicare and a definition of the various “parts” of Medicare at Future Years and some more detailed information on the Medicare Drug Plans.

The Medicare site has a moderately useful tool to help you choose a drug plan.  You enter the drugs you are taking, and the tool returns a number of drug plans in your area, including a number sorted by expected cost of premiums and drugs.

While anyone may purchase a Medicare Drug Plan, there is a means (income) test that can effect the cost of the plan.  Largely, these plans divide drugs into three categories, ranging from generics (which have small or no copayment) through “non-preferred” (brand name) drugs, which may have substantial copayments.

Travour.com now has a micro blogging facility to allow and encourage travellers to share their experiences and profit from the experiences and knowledge of others using the site.  Check it out at http://shout.travour.com.

I note that there is also a Travour community building on Twitter.

I’m now a couple of months from Medicare age, so I decided it was time to find out more.  Here are a few important lessons I’ve learned:

You can apply for Medicare without penalty in a 6 month window (3 months before to 3 months after) around your 65th birthday.  For more information, click here.

Lesson 1: Apply for Medicare as soon as you are able.  Getting your Medicare card will take 30-45 days, and the Medicare card will come with lots of other materials that MAY be beneficial (not sure–I haven’t gotten mine yet).

Online registration for Medicare is not offered at this time; you can register for Medicare by calling 1-800-Medicare or by going to a local social security office.  You can register for supplemental drug coverage on line.  I went to the local Social Security office and was quite disappointed to find that the person with whom I met could register me for Medicare but could not answer ANY of my Medicare questions.

Lesson 2: Always make an appointment before going to the Social Security Office

Lesson 3: Assume the people at the Social Security office won’t know anything about Medicare.

Lesson 4: Register for medicare over the phone directly with Medicare.

Lesson 5: The Medicare.gov web site has lots of good information and a moderately useful tool for determining candidates for Part D (prescription drug benefits) plans you might choose.

Lesson 6: Supplemental medical plans are standardized into plans identified by letters (e.g., A,F, J, etc).  You should choose which plan best meets your needs and then look at insurers serving your area to compare costs and participants’ evaluations of the plans (available at medicare.gov)

Lesson 7: The choice of supplemental medical plans and drug coverage plans is much more difficult than it should be.

Lesson 8: Sign up for Medicare on time.  There is a lifelong cost penalty for not doing so.

I sent another email to Network Solutions asking for a commitment to provide our required features and functionality which were in the older version–but not the newest version–of Network Solutions’ Pro E-Commerce package.  I sent that email to the Pro E-Commerce Product Manager, and I copied Roy Dunbar, Network Solutions’ CEO.  My experience is that I get a response of some kind when I copy Mr. Dunbar, so I do believe he is listening, although it is not clear that he is aware of the magnitude of the problem.

This time, I got a response from Ntoh Etta who, it appears, may be taking over the E-Commerce business initiative at Network Solutions.  Ultimately, this resulted in a conference call among Mr. Etta, the Product Manager (J. D. Pohlman), and myself.

Mr. Etta and Mr. Pohlman acknowledged the main problem that prevents us from using the new version of Network Solution (that significant functionality associated with dealing with manufacturers was in the previous version, but not the current version, of Pro E-Commerce), but I still did not get a firm commitment that the problem would be fixed.

I was told that I could continue using the older version of the Pro E-Commerce software as long as I wished.  Since I had previously been told that same fact in a longer sentence that also contained the phrase, “but all support of the product will stop,” I asked about continued support and about the fact that the monthly price of the old software ($700+ for us) appears to be 2 to 3 times more than competitive packages.

I don’t believe any commitment was made to continue support of Version 4 of Pro E-Commerce or to make it price competitive.  In any case, constructive support (for example, fixing even critical and serious bugs) ended a couple of years ago; the only support in recent history has been answering, “how do I…” questions.

I’m encouraged by the fact that Mr. Etta’s responded at all, but I don’t see that any net new commitment to actually solve any of the problems came out of the discussion.

Time will tell…

I have a multi-faceted relationship with Google.

I use many Google products.  I’m a Google stockholder.  I’m a Google publisher (of AdSense ads)–likely bigger than most.  I’m a purchaser of Google AdWords.  So, in two different ways, I’m a revenue source for Google.

Given all of that, I’m enormously frustrated with Google.  I’m frustrated with the nearly total lack of communication with Google, the unpredictability of revenue streams from Google, and I’m frustrated that my Google stock could be worth so much more if Google behaved maturely rather than as a self-centered, egotistical teenager.

Like many others, I’ve found my Google revenue stream completely unpredictable.  I’ve had revenues decline by 90% for no apparent reason, stay there for a month or so, and then return to their previous levels.  Google provides no help or guidance as to why such an event occurs or how to deal with it.

The Google products (desktop search, etc.) are great ideas that are incredibly unreliable and which have a fatally broken support mechanism.  I’ve given up using most of these products because they simply don’t work.

So Google, please start behaving more like a real business so that my Google stock goes up and my frustration level from working with you goes down!

I read the October 2008 AARP Bulletin “Ask the Experts” column with great interest.  The final question in that column was from a woman (62) asking about receiving spousal benefits from her husband’s account (the husband was 64) while he continued to work.

The answer published in that column was as follows: “Yes, it is possible for a worker to sign up for Social Security and immediately ask to have the payment delayed until the year he wants to start receiving benefits.  This would allow you to receive the spousal benefit now while your husband, by suspending his payment, continues to allow the value of his future benefit to grow.”

This seemed to contradict information I previously received in a meeting at the Social Security office, which is detailed in an earlier post.  So, I called up Social Security and asked them about the apparent difference.

The agent with whom I spoke said that they had received a number of calls about the AARP article and that the response in the “Ask the Experts” column was largely incorrect (and specifically incorrect in the situation as stated).

The agent said that spousal benefits were only available when the other spouse had “retired” (i.e., started receiving benefits from Social Security), and that the deferral scheme would not work unless the primary spouse had already reached full retirement age (as defined by Social Security).  This, of course, is not the case as postulated in the question.

So, one can only get spousal benefits if the other spouse has already started drawing Social Security benefits or is beyond “full retirement age” and either draws Social Security benefits or files to draw and then defers benefits.

This might be a good strategy if the primary wage earner continues to work past full retirement age and the spouse chooses to draw spousal benefits before reaching full retirement age, but the strategy suggested in the AARP Bulletin appears not to work if the primary benficiary is under full retirement age and not actually collecting benefits.