gila

Thinking more about it, rather than getting something like a suorin edge, you'd be better off just getting a backup pod system of whatever type you already have/enjoy.

Pod devices are essentially just a battery in a hard case as it is. To go a more hot-swappable method than they already are would involve compromises you might not have considered.

Suorin have some user-replacable battery models

Who do you think is buying the carbon credits? ICE manufacturers.

They do so to be in compliance with offset programs in states like CA without actually changing what cars they make. Because that's cheaper.

That's exactly what happened when it was first started on GoFundMe, now it's on something called GiveSendGo. I imagine they're using it like an ad for their platform instead

Also refers to a time management method, although only as a marketing vehicle to sell tomato-shaped timers

Having had some experience working in logistics in that time, I've realised that there are a huge amount of potential factors. It doesn't have as much to do with the origin/destination countries so much as where the origin/destination addresses are in relation to the respective points of entry/exit, as well as other circumstances that may be specific to that point of entry/exit.

Online shopping now represents the majority of retail trade so this will have a general impact, planes are costlier to fly than they used to be and the scheduling has never really recovered to pre-pandemic levels.

It also varies a lot by service. DHL for example flies their own planes, Mainfreight leases space on DHL flights (which DHL can decide to deprioritise at any time).

Auspost was corporatised in 1989 and we are still experiencing new flow-on impacts from that, e.g they mostly just fill up empty space on passenger flights to save money. With that comes high variance of actual shipment capacity compared to what was planned, and it's very normal for things to be delayed.

If you're a retailer sending high volume and it's important that your goods are received quickly, the shipping companies will work closely with you to establish fast lanes (e.g NZ to Perth in 1-2 biz days). Often the retailer will often subsidise their shipping options to be competitive. But the list of shippers that can afford this (and do the volume where it's warranted) is short.

You could probably ring the company and find out more details about the lane you're shipping on and strategies to reduce transit time, but if you're not sending big volume it'll most likely come down to shipping on a particular day of the week etc.

All that said, I remember ordering US to Australia 10 years ago and paying out the ass for economy shipping, it would take an actual month and was completely untracked.

Tl;dr it really just depends

I want a Derek

Garage Project were at most local liquor stores as I recall before I left NZ in 2021. I grabbed a pack of them last weekend in regional Western Australia. The local offerings are no less expensive these days.

Yes, for a loading method which takes time to complete the conversion rate will generally be locked in from the time the transfer was initiated. You can always preview the received converted amount. Although the transfer method may vary depending on availability in the recipient account country, the various timeframes and fees (where applicable) have always been previewed accurately.

For myself I have set up MFA for payments via the app, so I will routinely be required to use the app to authenticate a payment. However other MFA methods are available. I can't think of any other function the website itself doesn't do.

Given there is no additional fee for converting at a foreign point of sale, I just load up in my home currency as there are free/instant methods available and convert to whichever destination currency at point of sale, ensuring to select not to have the balances converted by visa/master at terminals which have that function.

Hope you enjoy your time in Japan!

I'd recommend searching about their fees this because it's going to vary a bit based on your local currency. Their documentation on the topic is easy to read and answers your first two questions better than I could put it.

I've rarely had to interact with support so I couldn't give a useful response about that in earnest. They do have local support in the two major countries in which I've interacted with them and it's been fine.

The KYC process is standard for a digital money account AFAIK. I signed up in 2017 originally to handle a one-off transfer between local bank accounts in different countries, so I'd not have bothered investing much time in it if it was a hassle. I haven't had to re-identify myself or think about it since, despite migrating across several countries, starting to use the physical card etc. I imagine I gave them my government ID though.

Definitely noise cancelling has improved significantly within the last decade, and it's been super handy for me. I love being able to just turn off the noise when I'm on a plane, or the loud person on the bus or train.

Mics on the same headphones seem much better too; in all the cases where i'd previously need to check on the phone "can you hear me!?", now they just always can.

That's a good approach, I just don't have the patience for it & won't have time to binge anytime soon. Have you watched S1 recently? I'd highly recommend it; the 3-year gap + immediate continuity had me forgetting some important stuff.