OrangeYeti Blog by OrangeCoat

What If on the Cover of Greenville Business Magazine

Bear — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 17:59:09 +0000

This is a happy non-April Fool's day surprise. What If Greenville is on the cover of the Greenville Business Magazine for the month of April.

We're working hard to spread the word of What If. We believe there is real value in an easy system for collecting ideas and connecting people with similar ideas. A big goal for 2013 is to get more cities, organizations and companies using an improved What If system. Anyone who could see the value in something like this, let's talk. Anyone who uses the term, "ideas are cheap" as a pejorative then we should talk too. I've got a theory on that line of thinking.

Now, I'm off track. Back to the cover at hand. It was a very nice surprise to see this morning. Thanks to Lori Coon and everyone over at GBM for the support.

David Sedaris wishes you a Happy Easter

Bear — Sat, 30 Mar 2013 16:15:44 +0000

"He weared of himself the long hair and after he die the first day he come back here for to say hello to the peoples." -David Sedaris

Let's Blow Up Perfectly Good Bridges

Bear — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 16:00:11 +0000

At TEDx Greenville on Friday Mayor Knox White gave speech about building the Liberty Bridge. We’ve all heard parts of this speech before. Maybe every word in some shape or fashion. After all, we’re real proud of our bridge and we tend to go on about it. Still, a part of the story that never gets old and is always inspiring to me is the main line that those who opposed the bridge repeated often, “why should we tear down a perfectly good bridge.” Of course, doing so allowed for so much more. Sometimes forest fires are good and sometimes you need to tear down a perfectly good bridge.

Movin'

Bear — Sat, 02 Mar 2013 18:32:12 +0000

After six years on Stone Avenue we've moved to Main Street. There are couple of different reasons we're moving, but the main one is that when you're the only people in the room you're both the smartest and dumbest people in the room. We don't want to be either. The space we've moved to is called the The Forge and is part of the larger Iron Yard project. It's a space made up of artist, programmers, startups, videographers, photographers, architects, designers, successful long-term business people, and plywood. Here's to not being the smartest people in the room.

PS: We took the OrangeCoat sign off our building and have been trying to build anagrams ever since.

I am not a burglar? twitter.com/agautsc/status…

— Adam Gautsch (@agautsc) March 7, 2013

Rage on taco @carp12 twitter.com/agautsc/status…

— Adam Gautsch (@agautsc) March 4, 2013

Get a Corona ....for @thebrandbuilder by @allella twitter.com/agautsc/status…

— Adam Gautsch (@agautsc) March 2, 2013

Cartoon age via @carp12 twitter.com/agautsc/status…

— Adam Gautsch (@agautsc) March 2, 2013

Oreo cat nag via @b_croce twitter.com/agautsc/status…

— Adam Gautsch (@agautsc) March 1, 2013

O No Cat Rage twitter.com/agautsc/status…

— Adam Gautsch (@agautsc) March 1, 2013

A Cargo Tone twitter.com/agautsc/status…

— Adam Gautsch (@agautsc) March 1, 2013

A Carot Gone (it's a word. I looked it up) twitter.com/agautsc/status…

— Adam Gautsch (@agautsc) February 28, 2013

O Crane Goat twitter.com/agautsc/status…

— Adam Gautsch (@agautsc) February 28, 2013

The Bald and The Beardiful: A Celebration of Presidents

Bear — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 16:25:11 +0000

Here are the facts: there hasn’t been a President with facial hair since William Taft was elected 1909,1 and there hasn’t been one who is bald since Dwight Eisenhower was elected in 1953. These facts sadden us. We want more politicians unafraid to take a risk and willing to play the hand genetics dealt them.

We need more brave bearded men (and women) in office and fewer plastic department store clothing mannequins. Let’s face it, figuring out the solutions to the terrible unemployment numbers and the potential meltdown of the Euro is hard work. Even the smartest and most skilled politician might not be able to solve these problems.2 Nonetheless, we are sure a President who thinks while stroking his beard stands a much better chance.

Darwin, Einstein, and Santa Claus all prove that substantial facial hair leads to true genius. Barack, Mitt, and Newt: if you want our vote, throw the razor away and embrace the beard.3

What’s the Big Idea

For the month of February, the month of Presidents’ Day, we celebrate the bearded and bald Presidents of the United States. Evan and Roxy are going to take turns creating 10 minute4 pieces of art inspired by the 16 Presidents who were bald, bearded, moustached, sideburneded, mulleted, or any combination of those. We’ll share these drawings here and on Dribbble. If anyone else wants to join in with their own art, we encourage you to do so.

Which Presidents Make the Cut

George Washington (Art by Roxy | Dribbble)
John Adams (Art by Evan | Dribbble)
John Quincy Adams (Art by Roxy | Dribbble)
Martin Van Buren (Art by Evan | Dribbble)
James K. Polk (Art by Roxy | Dribbble)
Zachary Taylor (Art by Evan | Dribbble)
Abraham Lincoln (Art by Roxy | Dribbble)
Ulysses Grant (Art by Evan
Rutherford Hayes (Art by Roxy | Dribbble)
James Garfield (Art by Evan)
Chester Arthur (Art by Roxy | Dribbble)
Grover Cleveland
Benjamin Harrison (Art by Roxy | Dribbble)
Theodore Roosevelt
William Howard Taft (Art by Roxy | Dribbble)
Dwight D. Eisenhower

Footnotes:

Back in 2001 I worked in politics. Bob Peeler was running for governor. At one big event, someone came up to me and said, “I’ll never vote for Bob Peeler. He has mustache and men with facial hair have something to hide.” (Back)
That’s a lie. The jobs one is easy. Educate our damn workforce to be able to handle work at modern jobs. Now, figuring out how to pay for the education, that’s a little tougher.(Back)
Newt still probably won’t get our vote. Colonies on the moon are cool and all, but we can’t pull the lever for a man name Newt. (Back)
So far, they’ve all taken longer than 10 minutes, but we use our whole ass here at OrangeCoat and sometimes that takes longer than one would like. (Back)

Happy Halloween and RIP IE 7

Bear — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 02:33:17 +0000

It’s becoming a Halloween tradition that OrangeCoat writes a love letter to an out-of-date yet still widely used version of the Internet Explorer. This year, we were inspired by Mad Magazine and modern browser technology when creating our eulogy to Internet Explorer 7. Hope you enjoy. Happy Halloween.

The Truth About Filling 20 LB BBQ Grill Propane Tanks

Jimmy C — Sun, 02 Sep 2012 20:04:44 +0000

A public service announcement, in time for football season, about filling propane tanks, propane at Costco, and the quality of Weber grills.

Background

Few people know I was a mean propane filling machine in my high school days at Taylor Hardware. As a result, I know a few things about tank tare weights (an empty tank's weight) and other propane lingo.

For the last 7 years I had my trusty Weber grill hooked into a 500 gallon underground tank at the house in Taylors. When I moved earlier this year to an all-electric house I had to switch back to a standard 20 lb BBQ grill tank. I also considered 30, 33, 40, 60, and 100 pound cylinders, to avoid refilling as often. I found that new 30 or 33 lb cylinders are at least double the price of a 20 lb, and finding lightly used ones on Craigslist wasn't happening.

I picked up a new 20 lb tank at the Home Depot for 29.97, minus 10% off competitors coupon and a 10% discount on a gift card purchased on eBay. (Costco sells tanks for 28.99). Now, where to fill it?

A Little About Propane Tanks

These "20 lb" tanks are designed to take 20 pounds of propane. They can actually fit another 20% in the tank, but that extra space is designed for expansion as the temperature changes.

All propane tanks have a "tare weight" or "T.W." stamped on the collar of the tank. For a grill sized tank you simply calculate the tare weight + 20 lbs, and that's how much the tank should weigh when it's full. Most 20 lb tanks have a tare weight of +/- 17 pounds when completely empty. This means a "full" propane tank should weigh about 37 pounds.

There is also a month and year on the collar indicating the date the tank was made. For 20 lb propane tanks, you have 12 years from the manufacture date before the tank must be re-certified with a new date stamped on it. The re-certification only adds 5 years before having to re-certify again. The cost and inconvenience of re-certifying almost always outweighs the price of a new tank.

Brand new propane tanks come with air inside and it needs to be "purged" before the first fill. Purging requires a special adapter to allow a small amount of propane in. The pressure then pushes air out of a one-way bleeder valve. Purging may add another $3-4 dollars to a new tank, though some places don't charge, especially if you buy the tank from them.

The Math on Refills at Costco

Internet searches suggest the following:

1 gallon of propane weighs 4.2 pounds
A "full" 20 lb cylinder should have 4.7 gallons or propane in it

I called around and the local U-Haul place wanted $16 for a refill. I remember Costco has a sign for $9.99 refills. I thought I was getting a great deal, but it turns out I pretty much got no deal.

Costco in Greenville, SC is a bit deceiving because they first hand you a slip that says "20 lb cylinder". When you pay inside the receipt says "20lb PROPANE", and the filling print out says "Cylinder: 20S lbs." The only defense is that the filling print out is honest and says "3.6 gallons". However, nobody knows off the top of their head that a propane tank is supposed to have 4.7 gallons to be considered "full". By saying 3.6 gallons, they are masking the fact that they put in 75%. If they wanted to be upfront they'd say "we will put 15 lbs of propane into this 20 lb cylinder".

This means Costco puts in 15 lb of propane.

3.6 gallons / 4.7 gallons = 75% of the normal fill.

or, said another way

(4.2 pounds/gallons) * (3.6 gallons) = 15 pounds

The word on the web forums is that the Blue Rhino and AmeriGas similar exchange services put in 75%, or 15 lbs.

If you do the math on Costco, it's actually not a bad price. It's in line, if not cheaper, than paying $16 for a full 20 lbs. Though, Costco's use of the "20 lb" phrase is unfortunate. I think their motivation is to have a cheaper price, so members think they are getting a great deal. Plus, by only filling 75% they make members come back more often, and go inside to shop while they wait.

Conclusion

If you're looking for the best price, owning a propane tank and re-filling it is going to be cheaper than using an exchange service. As always, you pay a premium for convenience.
Ask how much propane is going into the cylinder. There should be 20 pounds going in for full capacity.
Weigh the tank when you get home and it should be about 37 pounds. If it weighs 31-32 pounds then you know they only put in 15 lbs of propane.
Costco's propane price is still fair when you do the math.

Bonus - Weber Grills

I also assembled the grills at Taylor Hardware. Weber Grills were by far the best we sold. Reasonable care and a cover will easily give your Weber grill 10-20 years of life. You can buy other cheap brands and they will have steel parts that rust out in 2-3 years. You can buy a fancy looking stainless steel brand from Home Depot and it will likely not rust, but it will cook unevenly or the handle or wheels will break off and you'll be back to the store in 5 years for a new grill.

Bonus - Side Burners

I also helped sell the BBQ grills. We sold a few with side burners, but we never pushed them. I recall many conversations with customers who had paid more for a side burner in the past and never used it, despite their best intentions. Chances are that you will use the side burner once or twice, so don't spend the money unless you are absolutely sure you're going to use it

Credit Card Processing Discussion at REST Fest 2011

Jimmy C — Thu, 16 Aug 2012 16:11:46 +0000

An 11 min video talking about credit card processing from a web developer's point of view. Also, lots of notes and links from the research process. Recorded at REST Fest 2011

REST Fest 2011 \ Jim Ciallella \ FiveInFive from REST Fest on Vimeo.

Overview of How the System Works

EXCELLENT explanation by Braintree
Merchant Banking System Simplified for the Layman
Diagrams - Cybersource and Authorize.net
The Players - Gateway, Merchant/Acquiring Bank, Processors (Front-end and Back-end), MSP/ISO, Card Associations (Visa, MasterCard, AMEX), CC Issuing Bank, Merchant's Business Checking Account

Gateway - interface between merchant and processors
Processors - History Banks found that it was not within their skillset to convince every small merchant to accept credit cards, and they began to outsource the selling of such services to small companies called ISOs (Independent Sales Organizations). They also found that massive scale helped reduce the cost of processing credit cards, so they began to outsource processing to a few giant processors. Carl at First Data said, "banks don't do credit card processing. they outsource it to processing companies but they keep their names on it"
ISO/MSP - reseller of processing services and merchant accounts
Member/Sponsoring Bank - hold a risk escrow account for ISO/MSP's
Debit Network - automatically selected by the processor based on the issuing bank

Gateways

BrainTree

Full Pricing, good API, combines gateway with Wells Fargo merchant acct
$99 setup, $35/month
Recurring Billing/Subscriptions

.10 per subscription per month
Requires the Vault @ $20/month + .01 per record

Vault - method of storing Payment Profiles - $20/month + .01 per record

PayPal

Payflow Pro - your own merchant account and charges are done through an API

Direct from Paypal - $249.00 - Monthly - USD $59.95 (Up to 1,000) $0.10 per additional transaction
Via Heartland - $199 setup, $35/month, $95 application, .08 per transaction
Recurring Billing/Subscriptions - $39.95 setup and $29.95/month

Payflow Link - a hosted solution that works with a merchant account
Website Payments Pro - over 10K/month - 2.2% + .30 -- $30 month. Gateway solution with no merchant account.
PayPal Standard Payments - hosted solution with no merchant account.

Authorize.net - $99 setup, $10-20/month, .10 per transaction. A helpful Step-by-step.

Customer Information Manager - CIM - method of storing Payment Profiles

Demo Videos - http://www.authorize.net/videos
Authorize.net Pricing - $20.00/month

Recurring Billing/Subscriptions - Automated Recurring Billing - ARB

Demo Videos - http://www.authorize.net/videos
Authorize.net Pricing - $10.00/month
Step by Step Explanation of ARB Integreation

Technical - SDKs, Sample Code, AIM Documentation, ARB vs CIM Explained

First Data - (formerly LinkPoint ) - $199 setup $10/month. Does recurring billing, has virtual terminal

Global Gateway Web Service API - Manuals, SDKs
Global Gateway Connect is the hosted solution with a merchant account, similar to PayPal Payflow Link

Beanstream
Orbital by Chase Paymentech - doesn't support PHP
PaymentExpress - PXPost works with PHP. Limited recurring billing and card profiles
Chargify - a service which sits between a site and a gateway providing advanced subscription-based billing. APIs or hosted-solution. Flat-rate based on customers.
GoEmerchant - $99 setup, $19.95/month, $29.95/annual, .10 per transaction
eProcessing - Authorize.net Emulation, POST method $10 setup and $5/month
Global Transport (by Global Payments) - SDK (SOAP, GET, POST)
Plug n Play
Partial List
TrustCommere - open-source APIs, a bit hookie looking
PC Charge - turns any PC into a payment-accepting device
Cybersource - seems to resell Authorize.net and PayPal, even though they are listed as a gateway. Visa owns CyberSource, who owns Authorize.net.
Payliance - (ACH/Check Gateway)
2Checkout - uses a Google Checkout model
QuantumGateway - hookie looking site
NMI - gateway emulator(s)

Processors

A list of processors from Authorize.net
First Data - largest in the industry. Works with Authorize. Has own gateway too.
Chase/Paymentech - works with Authorize, also offers own non-PHP gateway
Global Payments (LEPS preferred)
Heartland - Works with Authorize.net, thought website is vague and unimpressive.
Evalon (formerly Nova) - Works with Payflow - Primarily POS integrations
Vital (know TSYS) - works with PayFlow
MSI - Pricing, works with Authorize.net, 2.19% Discount Rate
Wells Fargo - Pricing, good information on the site
Bank of America
First Data Merchant Services - homepage doesn't even support FF or Chrome
Transfirst - medical, ISO+processor

Merchant Account Providers

Merchant Accounts Can be Sold Directly from Processor OR via reseller/ISO/MSP
Relationship is between the processor and the merchant - and merchant account is setup and #/username/password is sent from processor to the merchant's email address
Merchant Banks underwrite the risk of ISO/MSPs based on various factors and traditional banks also sponsor ISOs, but they don't actually do the processing.
Annual or month subscriptions are higher risk than one-time charges or monthly recurring.
A helpful list comparing Merchant Account Providers.
Becoming an ISO requires a substantial investment, like $5000 year to Visa and $5000 to Mastercard
Processors and ISOs have sales agent programs with lower barrier to entry. Processors will refer agent leads to larger ISOs . Gateways like Authorize.net have Resellers (large) and Reseller Agents who get commission of merchant account setup and recurring sales.
ISOs (a small sample for the sake of comparing prices)

PaymentMax - sells Authorize.net and GlobalPayments gateways
BluePay - ISO/MSP and reseller for Wells Fargo
NexCommerce - pricing
Dharma - pricing
GoEmerchant - $99 setup, $19.95/month, $29.95/annual, .10 per transaction

Fees

Explanation of some fees
Discount Rates - helpful example explanation

The discount rates include the Interchange Rates + the Merchant Services Providers (MSPs) and Processors markup and "Network Costs" which are a function of the MSP/ISO's risk (if using an ISO)
Interchange Rates vary by many factors, such as industry, credit vs debit, card brand, swiped vs card not present, signature vs PIN, and meeting rules like 2 day variance between authorization and clearing. These are published by Visa/Mastercard/AMEX and are the same regardless of the processor.
Many MSPs and processors will bundle Interchange Rates into Rate Tiers charge qualified or non-qual, others further split into mid-qual.
Qualified: regular cards with no rewards/miles/points
Mid-qualified: rewards cards and some business cards
Non-qualified: Most business cards and government cards. ex. First Data 2.99%
AMEX: ex. First Data 3.5%
Though AVS and CVV codes may not be required by the gateway the processor may charge a higher "non-qualfied" discount rates if these fraud protections are used.
AMEX and Discover don't do Interchange as they act as both the card issuing bank and the merchant bank, so they keep all the

ISO's Profit - LEPS .2%, $59 every February, doesn't normally charge a setup fee
PCI Compliance Fee - processor may scan the website, but no fees (LEPS) $39.95 (non-profit) $99.95 (for profit)
Gateway Fee - ex. $20/month Authorize.net
Gateway Setup Fee - ex. Authorize.net $99, First Data Global Gateway $199
Gateway Per-transaction Fee - ex. Authorize.net $0.10
Merchant Account Authorization Fee - ex. First Data $0.29 (range is roughly $0.24-0.35) $0.30 seems to be mode
Gateway Batch Fee - ex. Authorize.net $0.25 per batch
Merchant Account Batch - ex. First Data $0.35 per batch, waived for non-profits.
Monthly Services/Statement Fee - ex. First Data $10/month, waived for non-profits
Interchange Fee + Authorization Fee (is the money there) +Transaction Fee (charge the card) = $.24 to $.30
Monthly Minimum Processing fee - if variable transactions don't exceed this amount then you still pay it.

Client side validation can save on authorization transaction fees by preventing failed authorizations

Check length of card number 15 for AMEX and 16 for VISA, MC, Discover
This Luhn algorithm checksum is used by all major credit cards.

Fees Diagram - "For one example of how interchange functions, imagine a consumer making a $100 purchase with a credit card. For that $100 item, the retailer would get approximately $98. The remaining $2, known as the merchant discount [9] and fees, gets divided up. About $1.75 would go to the card issuing bank (defined as interchange), $0.18 would go to Visa or MasterCard association (defined as assessments), and the remaining $0.07 would go to the retailer's merchant account provider. If a credit card displays a Visa logo, Visa will get the $0.18, likewise with MasterCard. Visa's assessment is fixed at 0.0925% of the transaction value and MasterCard's assessment is fixed at 0.0950% of the transaction value. On average the interchange rates in the US are 179 basis points (1.79%) and vary widely across countries"

Our last three Dribbble updates

Bear — Sun, 12 Aug 2012 18:57:51 +0000

Though we don't post there often (or post here often for that matter) we are on Dribbble and some fun things have gone up recently.

Occupation Inspired Names

Bear — Tue, 17 Jul 2012 16:19:52 +0000

Last night there was a discussion about people who name their children names inspired by their profession. This can be as broad as Roger Clemens having each of his kids name start with a 'K' to as spot on as a lawyer naming her child Sue. Thanks to Josie waking me up at 2am last night I've had some time to consider this further. I've come up with some for the people in the discussion last night.

The easy ones:

Meg is a bioinformaticist so her child could clearly be named Gene or Jean.
Kristin is a grant administrator so obviously the child's name is Grant.

A bit more difficult:

Jim is a programmer. The easiest name would be Ruby, but that's not his language. Maybe something like Andrew Ray Ciallella and call me A. Ray for short. But that's a stretch. The most likely name for Jim's child would be #rt@!Xvz~00o!^p. And that would change every 30 days.
Mad is an email and content creator. Tough for several different reason, but, in a pinch, I'd go with Wright.