Decrease of Negative Percentage

It’s been awhile since I had an official blog post and I’ve been meaning to blog about my new Zune HD and my new contacts and maybe even purchases I made on Black Friday, but life’s been busy.

Also I hurt my shoulder from lifting weights, which puts a dud in doing any arm related exercises (meaning no push ups, no pull ups, etc.) Though after several physical therapy sessions, I have to say my shoulder’s doing much better. Well, it doesn’t hurt anymore when I turn my head.

I’ll end this blog post with a letter I received from Allied Waste Services (my garbage collection service):

Dear Residential Customer,

Effective January 1, 2010, the rates for recycling, yard debris, and garbage collection services will decrease approximately -1.85% to -2.07% depending on your level of garbage service. A typical residential customer will pay $17.28 per month for 32 gallon toter service in 2010, a decrease of -1.98% over the current rate of $17.63. This decrease covers normal inflationary operating costs experienced in the provision of service. Inflation in the Seattle Metropolitan area was -0.7% between June 2008 and June 2009.

[…]

I believe I’m on the 20 gallon toter service where I’m paying ~$14.xx / month. Anyway, I think their letter template was never tested with a decrease in pricing as you’ll notice they say decrease of a negative percentage throughout the letter. In fact, what they really mean is a decrease of a positive percentage OR an increase of a negative percentage. Decrease of a negative percentage like a double negative, just negates the change.