Dr. Pete,

Do you think the amount you pay for a service (no, not that kind of service. An honest-to-goodness service like a moving company) is directly related to the quality of service you get? Typically, one tends to go with the lowest bidder or even the middle-of-the-road bidder. So, is it surprising that the quality one gets in return for these low-to-mid-priced dollar value is mediocre at best? -- Damn the Middle Man

Dear Damn: You should congratulate yourself on taking the frugal route and paying less to mediocre movers rather than more to good ones. Paying too much money to movers, or to anyone in the lower-rung service industries, only gives them false hopes of a better life through easy profit, when the real tragedy is that most of these honest working-class people will always be poor no matter what, and they need to learn better how to struggle if they are to survive. Realize also that these laborers probably would have blown the extra money on paying the cable bill or buying toys for the kids at Christmas. Rather than watching TV or playing with toys, they should be more concerned with how to put the next meal on the table. Especially the families who have kids with diabetes.

So sit back and use a few of those dollars you saved to enjoy an iced raspberry cappuccino on your new wraparound porch! And feel good knowing that you own enough stuff to make it worth paying someone to move it all -- probably more "stuff" than is owned by all the working-class people put together in an entire apartment building in Mobile, Alabama.