After having the experience with Clove regarding ordering a Pixel 4 XL then finding out that they none in stock I resigned myself to the fact that I’ll probably never get a Pixel 4 XL. Well, as they say, it all works out for the best in the end and in the case of my unsuccessful attempt to buy a Pixel 4 XL it allowed me to hold off and as a result I’ve ended up saving over NZ$600 by buying it from Amazon thanks to the sale that they’ve got running.

I’ve got my domain setup with G Suite along with all my music backups being backed up to the cloud – 1TB total storage available is more than enough for not only now but also into the future as my music collection expands further. Everything is working reliably with the uploading of my music backup being an overnight process which, at the time of this post, has just finished.

When it comes to my finances – things are going well particularly now that ASB have finally realised that, “hang on, we’re a bank so why are we getting involved with our own payment platform” so the net result has been not only ASB supporting Apple Pay but also ASB also supporting Google Pay as well. Along with that ‘change of heart’ they’ve also finally modernised the app on Android so it no longer looks old and out of date look which is a nice change.

Regarding the Pixel 4 XL – the case, earphones and phone will arrive next week some time which is around the same time that the new GST rules kick in. What I will find funny is whether retailers will get the expected ‘windfall’ after claiming for years that the reason why they’re struggling is because overseas retailers have an unfair advantage because stuff bought from overseas slipped under the allowance (the allowances’ removal comes in effect on 1 December 2019) so it was artificially cheaper because no GST was charged (the rate of GST in New Zealand is 15%). I’m sorry to say this but they aren’t going to see a sizeable uptick because those who buy things from overseas fall into one of two categories 1) The product is considerably cheaper when buying it from overseas even if you were to include the cost of postage and packaging along with the GST being charged as it has come through customers and/or 2) The product simply isn’t available in New Zealand such as me having to order a Pixel 4 XL from Amazon because no New Zealand retailer sells it.