May 15, 2019
Welcome to another edition of RV Travel’s Daily Tips newsletter. Here you’ll find helpful RV-related, and small-space living, tips from the pros, travel advice, a handy website of the day, our favorite RVing-related products and, of course, a good laugh. Thanks for joining us. We appreciate your readership.
If you shop at Amazon, would you use one of the links below to do your shopping? The link in the blue bar above also works. Thanks.
U.S. shoppers: Shop at Amazon.com
Canadian shoppers: Shop at Amazon.ca
FEATURED TIP
No grunt, no sweat fifth wheel hitch moving
One of our readers, Rick Petzak, wrote this comment: “I recently bought a 5th wheel sliding hitch and discovered just how heavy it is to put in and out of my truck. A friend suggested an engine hoist or shop crane. Found the perfect deal at Harbor Freight on sale for $99 (regular $180). It has a one-ton capacity so can handle my hitch without even breathing hard. It’s on casters and is foldable if space is an issue. It can’t reach all the way into my bed rails, so I put down a small piece of plywood and slide it the rest of the way.” Great thinking, Rick!
And here’s another take: Consider an electric overhead hoist mounted to the rafters in your garage or shop. Drive truck under, lift out the hitch, drive out. Here’s one for less than $100.
NOW YOU KNOW
Mark Twain’s real name was Samuel Langhorne Clemens. “Mark twain” is a riverboat term measuring two fathoms (12 feet) in depth: mark = measure and twain = two. If a man checking the depth of a river were to yell out “mark twain,” it meant a depth of twelve feet, or “safe water,” for riverboats of the day.
MORE QUICK TIPS
Preventive maintenance versus emergency maintenance
The lack of preventive maintenance and/or scheduled maintenance will eventually result in emergency maintenance. If you don’t check the air pressure in your tires (preventive maintenance) the underinflated tire overheats and prematurely fails, resulting in emergency maintenance. Tip from Mark Polk, RV Education 101.
Don’t let floor vents be a catch-all
Don’t let floor vents be a catch-allFloor vents gather dust, dirt and dog-hair, plus the occasional wedding ring. Cover them during the summer months and save work later.
—From 100 RV Tips and Tricks (Mack’s RV Handbook).
Do you have a tip? Send it to Russ (at) rvtravel.com
WEBSITE OF THE DAY
Level Up Life
This fun game-like website lets you earn points for each goal you accomplish. Make an account and start posting! Create goals like “Clean the kitchen” or “Walk three miles” and earn points. It’s a great way to push yourself to get things done!
Check out the long list of great RVing-related websites from RVtravel.com.
Affordable tire tool will save you tons of trouble
What gives when you think your tires are “good to go” but down on air again the next day? Your valve stem valve probably isn’t tight enough. A loose, leaking valve stem can cause a tire failure due to low pressure under load at highway speeds. So do yourself and your vehicles a favor – pick up one of these very inexpensive tools and make sure your valve cores are snugly seated in the valve stem. Click here to order.
LEAVE HERE WITH A LAUGH
This hilarious story was submitted by user joelekane on Cracked.com
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RV Daily Tips Staff
Editor and Publisher: Chuck Woodbury. Managing editor: Diane McGovern. Contributing writers: Russ De Maris, Bob Difley, Gary Bunzer, Roger Marble, Mike Sokol, Greg Illes, J.M. Montigel and Andrew Robinson. Advertising director: Emily Woodbury. Marketing director: Jessica Sarvis. Financial affairs director: Gail Meyring. IT wrangler: Kim Christiansen.
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Everything in this newsletter is true to the best of our knowledge. But we occasionally get something wrong. We’re just human! So don’t go spending $10,000 on something we said was good simply because we said so, or fixing something according to what we suggested (check with your own technician first). Maybe we made a mistake. Tips and/or comments in this newsletter are those of the authors and may not reflect the views of RVtravel.com or this newsletter.
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This newsletter is copyright 2019 by RVtravel.com
At the storage facility we use I have noticed several folks unpin their fifth wheel hitch from the bed while still attached to the trailer and then use the landing gear to raise the hitch high enough to drive out from under. They just leave the hitch hanging there. I have a travel trailer so I don’t really know of any drawbacks to this method.
If I realize there is an error I will give it back. Most places don’t count your change back anymore they just hand you the money. If I am paying with a large bill and it is a small purchase I am more cognizant of the amount I get back otherwise I just stuff it in my pocket or drop it in my purse. I may be “under changed” and not know it for small purchases.
My wife & I volunteer at national and state park visitor centers/gift stores. When my customer is a youngster, I make a point of asking them how much change they should get back. Some know, many don’t; but I always count it back so they ‘get’ it. Parents love the interaction, and I feel like I’m contributing to the youngster’s fiscal education.
If the error is to my benefit, and the business is a “mom & pop” that I wish to continue to do business with, I will point out the error to the cashier. If it is a national chain, I don’t feel it is my job to train their employees in their basic job.
I was in everyone’s favorite store this week. Two men in front of me were paying for their items with cash. The clerk told them the amount, they gave her the cash in $20s, she could not add it up, kept asking for more small bills. After a few different tries, I finally paid enough attention to the problem to see that she could not correctly add up the value of the bills in her head.
I “helped” her recount the bills in front of her, had her return the excess funds to the customer. Then everyone was able to move on with their life.
She was not a young employee, nor a senior citizen. I would hate to balance her cash at the end of the day.
I did put several years into retail sales management.
Ha! for those who just shop with a credit card – just what the boss of us all is after. Losing sense of the meaning of purchase power and the dollar, so after awhile it means nothing at all. Could be why in Canada where I hail from more than 50% of the population at retirement age have a mortgage and carry huge debt. Yahoo! Victory for the state controling the dumb masses.
When my nephew was in college he had a job as a manager in a pizza parlor. One night, as he was walking past the cashier, he saw that she was about to give a customer more in change than he had tendered in the first place. I don’t care how poor your math classes, that is beyond lazy, it is just stupid.
Here in Florida teachers are not allowed to educate. They are to teach to pass the uniform tests that the State has set up. Congressmen have screwed up education. No more Home Ec, no more Shop, (both of which you need to learn to measure) no more Civics. I’m not sure what they teach. My daughter knew the value of each coin and bill before she even got an allowance – thanks to learning at home before going to school.
I think that this country has been dumb in letting our public education go to hell. It’s amazing how many people do not read. The ignorance is just infectious in this country and not turning around. The focus is only on the politicians making money and getting millions from organizations that are only hurting our country. For teachers, they can no longer be teachers. I still have the skirt I made and hemmed back in 8th grade. I still remember Mr Christianson teaching science. I remember the fantastic gym we had with many going further into the olympics. Home Ec was great learning about cooking and shop.
Civics? what’s that…So sad this country has gone down the tubes.
Not only do clerks not count back your change anymore but folks don’t even understand when you do it. My wife and I worked a local fundraiser fair and one after another patrons couldnt figure out why we were placing their cash on the counter and then counting up change from the purchase price to the cash we were given. Item with change physically next to their bill as a visual equality model. It was “magic” to them how we could make correct change so fast without any computer.
Counting change back?? No one does that anymore. However, I have shown many how to do it, but they don’t care. When I worked for Sears in Philadelphia in the catalog department we had huge cash registers and everything was counted to the penny backwards when giving change.
It was inconceivable not to do that in those days.
But these are not those days. Wish we could keep some of those days.
In FL I had a cashier short changed me $10 and swore she was right, I had to go to the service desk and they went out took the cash register drawer in to count the money compared to the register tape. Ten minutes later they gave me my money and I bet the cashier got reprimanded for causing the issue. I don’t know if she thought she’d make some extra money off a senior citizen or if it was a simple mistake but I handed her a $20 bill and she made the mistake of not leaving it out of the cash drawer until the transaction was complete. That’s one of the first things they used to tell a cashier in training was don’t put the money into the register until the transaction is complete.
Only once in a great while will I pay in cash….typically I use my credit card that provides cash rewards… in fact, I can’t remember the last time I paid for anything in cash.
Like you this is great way to save ( and I get a discount from the credit card company for doing it this way ) as long as I pay the bill in full each month then theres no interest to pay
There is only one time I kept the change, Clerk said “she doesn’t make mistakes”
I’d rarely even count change, just stick it in my pocket, and move on.
I watch very closely, when receiving change. The robots posing as humans doing the currency exchange haven’t a clue about money they just do what a machine tells them to do and if they make a mistake in the hand off, well folks you know who benefits, and it ain’t we!!
They don’t like it but take a moment in their presence to count your change, you’ll be surprised, like me, how often they get it wrong – IN THEIR FAVOR!! Draw your own conclusions on why!
Regarding the Harbor Freight portable crane:
I found that the 2-ton version of that crane ($179 on sale) has a longer reach.
It allows me to move my sliding hitch right over the mounting rails after putting the tailgate back up.
A really nice solution since I store my hitch in a local facility that has no way to hang a hoist.
This isn’t an issue for me, I always shop with a debit card.
Remember how cashiers USED to count back change? Now they just tell you what your change is because that’s what the computer cash register says. They really have no clue whether it’s right or wrong.
The change thing depends on when or if I discover it. If I notice while standing with the cashier I will correct the error, if I have left I would not go back to correct this is even if the error were not in my favor. Most of the time it is just not worth my time unless it is a huge sum of money in which case I would have verified before leaving.
Frankly this rarely happens to me. I am more frequently not charged for something that I have gotten, and yes, I do point it out if I notice.
Nobody counts change, they let cash register tell them how much to give back – unless it’s bills – never look at the change – when was the last time store person counted your change to you after a purchase!
I normally check change and give back or ask for a correction. Once, not too long ago, when I pointed out to the cashier that she had given me too much, I was called a stupid old woman “because the computer doesn’t make mistakes.” I pocketed the extra $20, picked up my purchase, and walked out.
I’d do a yelp review thanking them for the superior service and $20 for being called stupid and you plan to shop there in the future as long as they are paying you to.