I paid $100 six years ago to have the DCS installed. It was done by a plumber sent by the appliance store where I bought it. They have to hook it up and check the flames - that's about it. $250 seems a bit high - does that include delivery or is delivery a separate charge.

Get Form 1040-ES for 2009. It has what should be the correct tax RATES for 2009. Figure what is your yearly salary, estimated interest income, whatever else you may have. Self-employment, even, but then you have to include Schedule C and SE. Figure your personal exemptions and deductions as best you can based on either itemization or standard deduction for your filing status. Calculate what is the tax liability against the rates in 1040-ES and divide that by the number of pay periods you have. That tells you have much tax to withhold from each check. I've been doing this for years on a spreadsheet, correcting the numbers as the year progresses. Some things are difficult to estimate, such as dividends and capital gains for income, or unexpected medical expenses for deduction itemization and any last-minute changes to the tax code. I AM the payroll department at work, so I can adjust my withholding whenever I want. I purposely try to have a small balance due. One year I owed or was refunded (don't recall which) $26. For 2008 tax year I owe $115. 2007 tax year I got a $1,055 refund, tripped-up by some medical expenses for an incident in June that I couldn't predict if it'd all be settled by end of the year (which it was, by just a few days).

Update in case anyone is interested. lol. Mom and I went to Kohls today and I found these two Croft & Barrow night gowns originally $30, on sale for 50% off. The blue one is 100% cotton, the aqua is 60%cotton/40% polyester :( but it's pretty. Much better than paying $69, but some day I'll splurge. (where else but The Kitchen Table would I post a pic of my pj's? hee hee)

Now that we've settled the corporate issue, back to the toothpaste. They really wind up creating a problem for themselves. Making the box to match the tube size would save them money. However, the smaller size makes less room for the billboard advertising on the shelf. And the reason they don't put them on the shelf so the end only shows is the advertisement and eye catch ability of the package. I don't think I really agree that having the end show would save shelf space. The volume of space used is the same and the depth of the shelf allows for certain number depth in the stock. If they had it turned so the end shows, they'd need a certain, specialized shelf to stock it so they probably, in reality, couldn't stock as many items on the shelf, there'd be the dead space behind it. I don't begrudge companies making money. That's why they're in business and without profit they can't hire people, they can't subcontract to other companies, therefore, fewer jobs, less money funding smaller companies. I just have problems with them insulting my intelligence. Problem is, as said, people have price limits on certain things so they don't want the price for the same size to go up, they accept the smaller amount of product, which winds up making more money for the companies. Plus the smaller size often means more waste of product so you have to buy more product sooner. People are strange critters, especially with finances. I remember when P&G made the big push probably about 10 years ago to "compact" their laundry detergent. Essentially they took out a lot of the water in the liquid detergent and made "2x" so you get the same number of loads from a container but it was 1/2 the volume, nearly 1/2 the weight and smaller size and as I recall they dropped the price a bit too. A win in most any way you look at it. More product could go on the same shelf space. It weighed less so easier for employees to handle. Cheaper shipping meaning less fuel used to transport, and there's the water savings too. But at a big drug store chain one old lady was going nuts over it that the store was "cheating" her by making it smaller. She insisted she had to use her measuring cup and was upset. Nobody could get through to her. Some people won't allow themselves to learn.