Best Buy will probably follow CompUSA into Outer Darkness
Much hullabaloo has been made of the supposed ’shocking’ news that CompUSA was closing all its stores and officially going out of business. To quote Jane’s Addiction, “Nothing’s Shocking”.
I wrote a complaint letter to CompUSA several years ago before they closed their Melbourne store (along with dozens of others) to let them know about the shenanigans going on at that store. In it, I discussed nearly every pitfall and problem that the store had, and what they needed to do to turn it around. I wish, for the life of me, I could find that letter, but I think it was on a laptop whose hard drive I since reformatted. I had virtually predicted its inevitable decline and, yes, I would like credit for that now that they have been crushed under the weight of their stupidity.
Fast Food Drive-Thru Ordering
I’m hardly a Seth Godin. If you want ideas for the small little improvements in business, Seth is definitely who you need to read. In fact, I’d argue that if you aren’t reading Seth, and you run a business, you are seriously impairing your ability to get that little percentage of an improvement which could reap huge dividends in the long run.
However, I don’t think Seth has talked about this yet, so I’ll give it a shot.
Two parts here: The first part below is how you can make your life easier when ordering from a fast food drive-through. The second part is how fast food resturants can improve their drive-through process.
Why you Should or Should Not Hire Me
You should hire me if…
- you are looking for someone who is talented and a quick learner.
- you are in need of a technical minded person.
- you appreciate ideas and creativeness as much as you appreciate quality work.
- you want a person you can trust to get a job done - someone you don’t have to watch every minute.
- you want an employee who cares about his work and what it represents to the firm.
- you are looking to grow a quality team with more quality people.
The $39 Experiment
Under the “Why didn’t I think of this?” category, I found about this guy, Tom Locke, who decided to use a roll of stamps and mail letters to 100 different companies asking them for free stuff. He has received all sorts of things back, but what I find typical of mis-managed companies is what some of the companies wrote back in their rejection of his request. Amazing. Tom includes all the text of his letters, each individually tailored to each company he wrote to. My favorite letters of Tom’s are the ones he wrote to Energizer (hysterical), Subway, and Industrial Tool & Die. While some cool companies sent him a few coupons or a free product sample, a special few sent him some big time stuff. Fellowes sent him 4 cans of compressed air! What? I pay through the nose for that stuff. It’s like crack to a techie.
The foibles of Blockbuster’s monthly plans
As we all know, we will be solicited by Blockbuster employees to join a monthly payment plan. The fact that we are in their store, money in hand, checking out videos is no longer good enough for Blockbuster. To offer a monthly payment plan for those who like that sort of thing is understandable. But apparently, the corporate monkeys at the top of the Blockbuster empire have instructed their employee to spare no customer the simplicity of just “checking out”. We are to be harassed. I probably go to Blockbuster over 100 times a year. When I have money. And check out a DVD or two (or more). But in the eyes of Blockbuster corporate, I’m scum. Pond scum. Rebel scum. Here’s why.
Where’s the Old Blog?
I’ve had a few emails about why I started a new blog, what happened to the old blog, etc. Yes, in a moment of shining clarity I deleted the old blog - forever. I can’t seem to recall the exact clarity anymore that led me to do that, however. I think it had something to do with the overall focus that the blog had strayed toward. You can still see the excerpts of the postings by using Google’s Blog Search and typing “MelbourneLawrence” which was the name of the old blog. I think you’ll see what I mean.
