Archive for the ‘Business’ Category
Smoking retail associates
Posted in Businesson May 30, 2009
Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve been checking out a number of stores which I have never been to before. I’ve noticed that when I can smell cigarette smoke on the sales associate, I feel less comfortable with shopping at their store.
A few months ago, I was shopping at a local Kay Jewelers, and from the second I stepped in the door of the store, I could smell stale cigarette smoke. Even the hint of smoke made me less comfortable in the store, and made me less inclined to shop there.
I was also shopping at a Crate & Barrel, and there was this one male associate on whom you could smell smoke every time you spoke to him. It made me not want to talk to him, or for that fact, to ask any associate for help.
I don’t know if it is legal for stores to discriminate based on the smell of their employees, but they should be aware that a bad smelling associate can hurt sales.
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- Tags: smoking
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President Obama wants to spend taxpayer money (to the tune of $8,000,000,000) on Amtrak to improve and expand the American passenger rail system. I hope the money is spent well, because right now there are seious problems with traveling by train.
Suppose I wanted to travel from Denver to Salt Lake City. There is a route, the California Zephyr, that travels once a day between these two cities. I would have to leave Denver at 8am, to arrive in Salt Lake City 15 hours later at 11pm. I would also have to pay $65 dollars to do so.
In comparison, I can drive at 25 mpg and at $2.50/gallon gas from Denver to Salt Lake City, 545 miles, for $55 and only take about 8 hours to drive that.
Even better, I can find a $49 flight on Southwest that will get me to Salt Lake in only an hour and a half.
Why would I want to spend more money and more time traveling by train, when I can travel faster and cheaper by both car and plane?
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- Tags: Obama, travel
Ordering ice cream online
Posted in Businesson Feb 10, 2009
Did you know that you can buy ice cream online that is delivered to your home? IceCreamSource.com does just that, selling the more expensive brands. To ship, they put the ice cream in a freezer box, and add the right amount of dry ice for it to be delivered frozen and fresh. It comes at a price, because shipping costs start at $30/order.
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- Tags: food, ice cream, web sites
Ford wants over $100k per employee from government
Posted in Businesson Dec 2, 2008
Quick Sanity Check!
Today Ford Motor Company asked for $9 Billion in loans from the government, and promises to return to profitability within two years. According the the Ford Wikipedia article, Ford employees 87,700 people.
Doing just a little bit of math, dividing $9B into the number of employees, the Ford bailout is equal to $102,622 per employee. It seems a little excessive.
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- Tags: bailout, economy
Auto execs show up in luxury jet to beg for money
Posted in Businesson Nov 20, 2008
Yesterday the CEOs of the big three US automakers showed up in Washington DC to ask the federal government for bailout money. How did they show up? In private luxury jets.
Rich Wagoner, CEO of General Motors, flew in a $36 million jet to ask congress for money, some $10-12 billion. The flight alone is estimated to cost around $20,000. Meanwhile, I used Orbitz.com to find a next-day first class flight on Northwest airlines to cost only $1,385.
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- Tags: airplane, bailout, economy
The fate of trendy brands
Posted in Businesson Nov 11, 2008
Today I read a news report stating that Starbucks’ profits are down 97% over the same quarter last year. Such a steep decline must be caused by more than just a bear market.
Trends can be fun an exciting, but they are hard to keep going. Gourmet coffees have been very trendy for quite a while. I’m sure many people (not me) consider going out with friends to get some expensive coffee to be an energizing lifestyle.
But trends attract trendy people who are always looking for the next big thing. This means when other things come along, they abandon their old brands for newer, trendier brands. Especially with market downturns, expensive trends are the first to get cut. Read the rest of this entry »
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- Tags: economy
Last June, Google and Yahoo announced a partnership where Yahoo would use Google Advertising on its site to increase revenue. Yahoo would raise some much needed cash from the more effective advertising, while Google publishes its ads on a very large site. Currently Yahoo uses its own advertising framework which is less effective.
However, today we learn that the deal is going bust because too many government regulators and advertisors had concerns that this agreement would give Google too much of an advertising monopoly. Read the rest of this entry »
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- Tags: adwords, Google, monopoly, Yahoo
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