I read an article written by John C. Dvorak posted on MarketWatch about Foxconn; I thought it was quite interesting and worth a read.
From what friends have told me and from most reports it is “essentially a steel mill on one end and computers come out of the other end.”
Read More: Foxconn’s troubles expose China’s woes
After visiting the Signature Lounge, part of the Signature Room, located in Chicago’s John Hancock building, I felt compelled to write this letter. Both the service and product were poor and left my friends and I greatly underwhelmed.
To Whom It May Concern,
A little over a month ago on May 22nd, my best friend and I were entertaining two friends from out of town. None of use had ever been to the signature lounge so we thought we could give it a try and see what all they hype was about.
Our first impressions while waiting in line were good; there were many staff members to direct customers through the lines and bring them upstairs, and they were all well dressed.
It wasn’t too long after we were seated that our server, Adri P., took our drink order. Even though the wait wasn’t too terribly long, it was still much longer than one would expect given the expectations a $15 drink would bring. Waiting for our drinks to arrive gave us the same feeling.
We were very underwhelmed when our drinks finally came. If you were unaware, the cocktails served at the Signature Lounge are quite low in alcohol content. The presentation was decent, but that doesn’t make up for the fact we received what many would consider $15 virgin drinks.
The other day I was at CostCo and realized they were scanning a barcode, that was affixed to the cash register, during each and every transaction. I inquired into what the purpose was. The cashier told me the barcode was scanned to verify they checked the bottom of the cart to make sure all products was scanned.
It turns out CostCo has a major problem; items in the bottom of the cart are frequently not scanned before customers leave the store. The cashier told me that they repeatedly discuss this problem in team meetings. I would agree that this problem could be very costly, and that it would be a significantly larger problem at CostCo compared to most other stores since there are so many large heavy items for sale at CostCo.
Last Saturday I was trying to print a simple postage label for a package I wanted to ship. All I wanted was a shipping label. I thought it would take me five minutes at USPS.com, but it turns out a pot-roast cooks in less time that it takes to print a shipping label! After using their sites, I have come to the conclusion that the United States Postal Service (USPS) and United Parcel Service (UPS) go through very little, if any, user acceptance testing. FedEx isn’t much better; I did get a label in 10 minutes, but their rates are significantly higher than I was willing to pay. Here are the pains I felt while navigating though the websites of the three major United States shippers.
While navigating my way around the Internet, I come across glaring errors all the time; calculation errors, typos, horrible formatting, etcetera. Errors are more common that I could imagine. These errors dilute my trust in a company’s brand and make me think twice before doing business with them. It is so incredibly vital to review everything before publishing content to the Internet; you never know who could be looking at it. Below are two examples.
The Grocery Game is a service that informs their customers on how to combine coupons and promotions, at a variety of grocery stores, in order to get the best deal possible. They distribute updates on a weekly basis to paying customers. Here is a screen shot from an E-mail they recently sent me encouraging me to sign up.
Since when does $2 divided by 3 equal $0.55? I would think their E-mail marketing would go through a more vigorous editorial review then their product. If their marketing is inaccurate, how accurate is their service I would pay for? Or if this is a screen shot of the actual service, I now know that I would be paying for something that was not correct. After seeing this, I could never trust the company.
Many of my friends and colleagues know I am a huge proponent of Wal-Mart’s and their Every Day Low Prices. I frequently have lively discussions about my love for Wal-Mart and their low prices. In mid December, I came across an article that discussed Chicagoland’s grocery chains and their battle for shoppers. The article got me thinking about how powerful Wal-Mart’s “Every Day Low Price” strategy is. Two lessons can be learned from the Every Day Low Price strategy: consumers don’t shop where they are unhappy, and innovative companies are profitable.
Grocery stores primarily use one of two different pricing strategies: High-Low, or Every Day Low Prices (EDLPs).
Stores with “high-low” pricing strategies price some products at low prices, while having other products at higher prices. These stores use promotional sales to lure shoppers into the store in order to persuade them to buy other high priced high margin items by utilizing other marketing techniques.
The competing grocery pricing strategy is “Every Day Low Prices”, or what I like to call, EDLPs. Wal-Mart popularized this strategy and uses it to this day. Prices are set low, and stay low. The only time a price changes is when supply or demand changes, or when the retailer forces the supplier to innovate. Furthermore, if prices do change, they usually go down. Remember Wal-Mart’s “falling prices” marketing campaign? EDLPs have helped Wal-Mart become the world’s largest retailer.
