How Safeway lost a customer over a donut

Ranting and raving gets things off your chest.  I feel that it does help to write things down so they don’t keep swimming around in your head.  You don’t have to worry about someone listening to you because, if they want to read about it, they will, if not you will never know.  I was amazed at the different sites there are about rants on many different topics. 

In reading the article, it made me think of the donut incident I had at Safeway.  There was a sign on the outside of the glass donut case that said 3.99 per dozen, so I rounded up 2 dozen donuts for my employees and went to the register.  The guy rang me up and said, “that will be $15.98″  I said that there was a sign on the case that said 3.99.  He told me that was only for stores that had in house bakeries and did not apply to his store.  How was I to know this and why would they put up a sign that did not apply at their location. He refused to give me the price and I asked for the manager.  He gave me the same runaround.  I tried to show him the case but he said he knew the sign was there and was not going to remove it because it does not apply to his store.  I argued and said that it was false advertising which he sidestepped but would not give them to me at the reduced price.  UGH!!!  I said a few choice words and went down the street to QFC where I paid the price on the sitcker of 6.99.   I will never go into that store again. Looking online I found many hate sites for safeway but thought this one to be very amusing  http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=safeway  on how they defined safeway.  ANother site that I actually put into my favorites when I was searching was http://www.retail-sucks.com/index.php

I think that these sites are a good way for people to let off steam as long as it is factual information and not slander.

On a side note from the second article, I have a remote for the tv, dvd, cable, sound system, sound for the home computer, the ceiling fan in our bedroom, the window above our front door that we need a ladder to reach, and a large universal prank one I got for my husband because he kept losing them all.  When does it stop?

Questions-

Do you believe that these “hate” sites are beneficial to others or are they more for amusement?  Have you ever contributed to one of these sites?  If so which ones?

“video killed the radio star” Do you think that internet will kill the use of TIVO or DVD recorders?  Why?

“We haven’t become more like machines. We’ve made the machines more like us. “  Do you agree or disagree with this statement?  Give examples in your own life to support your statement.

Why did the internet connection cross the road?

Wireless networks scare me.  I don’t know if it is the complexity of how they work but all of the jargon and specialty terms overwhelm me. The WLAN pictures give me anxiety and flashbacks of the hours and hours that I have spent trying to get them to work everytime we have moved.  The great thing about them is that everytime we move, it is cheaper to hook back up with another company because of the decresing prices.

 It seems as quite a bit has changed even from 2003.  The units are getting smaller and less expensive as well as “sharing” is more common even if it is considered a crime.  The pictures of the equipment from other countries looks outdated and as if it should be in a bad horror movie wrapped with tinfoil.  Do I think that everyone should have access to internet?  Absolutely.  I don’t think that there will ever be a standard or a way to make sure it is affrodable for everyone but there have definitely been great strides in that direction.  Everyone is still out to make a profit and unfortunately a lot of the time that does not help out the rural areas because it is ultimately not as profitable to the business.  I think that there will be some help given to these people, but even in rural parts of the United States, you can not get a connection or better yet, cellphone service.  Until there is a system that will encompass the entire earth all at once, this will alway be a problem of someone being left behind. Why did the internet connection cross the road?  To get to the other side of course, but it usually only makes that attempt if the other side of the road has larger opportunites, or is that the saying, the grass is always greener?!

Questions-

Explain how wireless technology has increased our resources adapted to rural areas of the world? Do you think that there will ever be an equality in the services in rural areas?

Do you think it is ok to “steal” a wireless internet connection from another business or person if it is not secured?  Why or Why ont?

Do you think internet connections should be standardized?  What are the posititive and negative connotations to this idea?

The Pride and Joy of branding

Working in the retail industry has given me some good insight on branding and what it means to companies.  If you don’t adapt to your situation and your client, in this environment, you will not survive.  Unfortuately the cliche of survival of the fittest is the mindset of the current economy and business model.  The ideas given to adapt your business to the internet and the ability for a small company to handle large business like models and clients is a great concept and gives the little guys a chance to survive.  

My parents own two organic dairy farms.  Recently they chose to get their raw milk license to start selling milk off the farm and to buying clubs.  From looking at their website, (prideandjoydairy.com) you would think that they may be a small company,  but you would never imagine that they have one room filled with bottles and my dad does the bottling and my mom does the paperwork and the website, simplistic but functional, has been up for less than six months and they are getting more orders than they can handle.

Customer service, this day and age, is key to success.  People don’t ask for much but if you go above and beyond, people will come back for your products.  Amazon is a good example of this model.  If you have an issue, they will take care of you.  Whether it be, calling on the phone or contacting customer support on the web.  There is always someone who will respond to your questions fairly quickly.  People expect good customer service on the phone, in person and over the internet.  I was suprised at the statistic of 88% of people would not accept lower customer service levels online than in person.  I think that this statistic is pretty high, but I can understand with so many choices out there, if companies don’t live up to the standards of their clients, you can go someplace else.

 

Questions- 

Describe a time when you had a bad customer experience with an internet company and how it was handled?

What are the advantages and disadvantages of ordering products online, from a catalog over the phone, and in person?  Which method are you most likely to use?

Explain the importance of a website when ordering from a particular vendor, how important is a professional looking website when ordering online?

Politics on Politicians

I had never really thought of the differences in websites and how they are set up spacially to be easy on the eye.  I do agree that the easier a site is to navigate, the more likely I am to return.  I just recently noticed at my work, as the article talks about, the inconsistency in the highlighted links that have been visited.  I look for and often wondered how long a certain link that you have clicked on will show up as highlighted or clicked on.  I often try to return to a link that I know I used a few days earlier and sometimes it shows up as used and other times as if I had never been there.

The word “Breadcrumb” is new to me, but the concept is something that I use quite frequently as I navigate or usually get off track from what I was originally looking for.  

One thing that I find very fascinating is the difference between these websites from 2004 and how the 2008 presidential campaign used the internet to their advantage.If comparing the 2000 campaign to the 2008 campaign, there would be a world of difference in the past 8 years in how digital media is used to the advantage to the canidates.   Obama went as far as using youtube to give messages to the public and promoting his website to gain voter approval.

I tried looking at the McCain website and it has been taken down and only has a letter thanking people for their support and congratulating Obama on his win.  This shows that even though he lost, there is still enough of a media focus that he needs to continue to pay for the site, even though he lost. 

Going back to the 2004 election, the Bush site is not user friendly with an unconventional setup with backwards breadcrumbs. I thought it to be quite amusing that even their websites, like most politicians, consistency was hard to find.  I wonder if Bush could navigate his own website?  I highly doubt that he even knew how to connect to the world wide web. 

Questions-

Do you think that websites are a reflection of how a president will deal with their positions on issues and how they will react to an ever changing dynamic of how people communicate? 

Explain how bloggers have changed the presidential dynamic in the 2008 election?

Describe the differences between republican and democratic views and how this may play into the content of their webpages?

Oprah introduced me to the podcast

What are the implications of blogging technology on established media?  This statement can have so many different meanings, in what respect?  I am going to take the approach of blogging being used to adapt their business model to the future.  I feel like the established media does not care for the blogging technology and has taken too long to embrace it.  There are some organizations that at the end of the article, they allow you to blog on the concept of the article but more often than not, there is no place for the public to give their feedback on what is reported.  Talk radio does have the same sense of blogging in the respect of callers being able to call in and give their opinions but even that model there is some selection about whose opinions are actually aired on the radio.  Radio is, in most cases a one way street where they are giving you information and you can not respond back.

I find it fascinating that the pod casts do so well.  I guess I am a little behind the times because I did not know what a podcast was until about 3 months ago when I was on Suzeorman.com and she had done a piece with Oprah and they said that it was available in a podcast.  I thought that you needed an ipod in order to use a podcast up until that point.  Oh what have I been missing?  If the established media can learn how to use podcasting as their new model, some of the ones that are struggling, may actually be able to survive in this new age world.  Being ableto use blogging to incorporate with podcasts to market different interests and let people rate them, just as Amazon lets people give feedback and reveiws on products. 

Questions-

Why did Berners-Lee not patent his idea of the World Wide Web?  Describe how this changed the internet.

“The goal of Stallman’s work, then and now, was to ensure that users of computers always had free software programs for the most basic and important tasks.  Free, in this case, was more about freedom than about cost.”  What do you think people value more, the freedom or the cost?

Do you think that the events of September 11th were the turning point in this debate?  Why or Why not?

Marketing Strategies: Records for Sale

The Longtail article talks about how the access to digital media has expanded what we would normally be able to read, listen to, and buy.  It can make suggestions based on what other customers with similar tastes have purchased.  They also cover the dynamic of controversy of internet downloading and appropriate pricing.  The Cluetrain chapter focuses on the different methods of marketing and how the dynamic has changed over the years.  The conversations between salesmen and potential buyers has become almost non-existent because of new media technology. 

Both of these readings focus on how digital media has changed the concept of the consumer.  It has changed the concept of the market and what is readily available to the shopper. They also both focus on music and how the entire dynamic has changed focus and if businesses don’t adapt, they will not be able to make the transition successfully.

The Longtail article reminds me of my husband’s record collection.  He is a DJ and over the past 20 years, he has acquired thousands of records.  They were worth quite a bit of money in the 90′s even in the early 2000′s.  Then came the invention of what is know as the Serato.  It is a digital machine that scratches just like a record.  You need the turntables but you hook them up to your laptop and instead of carrying around crates and crates of records, you can have the mixing abilities of records with a library larger than ever thought possible.  My husband was very excited because he no longer has to move large quantities of records to his DJ gigs but we have an entire garage full of vinyl that we can not give away. 

 

Questions-

Describe what Clutrain calles the “Anti-Conversation”. Do you agree?  Why or why not?

Why do you think Amazon.com is mentioned in both articles?

One of the six clues that a company is having an identity crisis was, “Is the company able to admit a mistake? Can employees admit they disagree with management decisions or the latest marketing mantra? Or must they always explain why everything is perfect in this, the best of all possible companies? “  How does this tie into our current economic situation?

Computer love

How have these readings changed your view of the man-machine relationship?

 

When I read the Norman’s article, he makes so many points that are valid, it is hard to know where to start. I agree about everything that we are bad at, we develop technology to be good at, I instantly thought of my phone/pda/organizer/mp3 player/note taker/address book/internet connection/camera. It tells me where I need to be, when I need to be there. When my assignments are due, who’s birthday it is and when I need to wash my dog, all while taking pictures of the accident that I was in because someone was on their cell phone. This is my “digital” phone for a “dialog” person. As I read on it became apparent that the point was to show the inequalities of both sides yet understand how we are in need of each other to become the ultimate productive machines that compliment each other to be more resourceful.

The Sterling article was definitely interesting in the point of view of the early 90’s and what the future may have and in most cases did hold. Our scope of what is capable and normal is changing very quickly as we progress through the stages of internet discovery.

I have started accquiring traits of ADHD person due to the push to get things done from our society. I find myself using the tools that have been given to us to get more done and yet, I get less done from being interrupted by other things. The way that the question is formed, even indicates to the man-machine bond as a relationship. As if this was a human relationship, showing how they have become such an intricate connection that we do not know the difference between a human bond and “computer love”. We will eventually become one unit and not even notice or remember the day it was controversial.

Questions-

How would the Sterling article change if it was re-written two years from now?

Describe the relationship between management, procedures, and employees.

Will our brains ever work like computers? Explain your reasoning why or why not.

 

 

Smoke, mirrors and exhaustion?

Use these readings to explain how your life is affected by information (too much? too little? just enough?)

I definitely agree with the Nelson article about information overload.  All day long I hear and read about all of these different sites and then when I get home, I stare blankly at my computer. What was the name of that site again and what did it have to do with?  There are so many sites and so little time.  At work we are given memo after memo and I could spend my whole day reading and not get anything done, but then I would be informed about everything that I am now behind on.  Picking out what is most important is difficult and more often than not, I choose to not read the supplemental info and wait for a co-worker to email me about something that they read that was REALLY important.  I actually think that I save time this way instead of getting wrapped up in facts that have no effect on my job.

Another thought that comes to mind with the second article is wikipedia.com  How do you know how reliable the source is?  You can find 1,000 different versions of the same story of Cinderella with 1,000 different endings.  Which one is the original and how do you know?  To a certain extent it is good to have people thinking outside the box and coming up with new interpretations of things.  I know I would get very bored if there was not always new movies to watch and revisions of old classic storylines but there has to be a balance somewhere.  I keep thinking of the conversation that I had back in class last Monday about being responsible for your use of time. I think that these articles depict a black hole of useful and useless information to drown in.  Managing that abyss and being aware of these pitfalls will not make make it go away, but atleast you will know when you have just spent your entire Sunday watching tv online.

Questions-

Describe a typical session that you would have on the internet.  What do you look for and research?  How often do you research or find out about new sites and how often do you actually go back to them?

What do you think would be the outcome of information overload for our children of primary school age versus an adult?

Describe what “information overload” and “mirrors” means to you in the context of the internet.

First weekly assignment blog

Two “ah-ha’s” from these readings. Plus … how does Vannevar Bush’s 1945 description of “Memex” compare with today’s personal computers and Internet? How do you envision the Internet of 2045?

The steps of photography hit close to home with me as when I was little, I would develop film in pans and count the seconds that it stayed in each pan with my grandma.  She would go to the store and specifically buy a roll of slide film or black and white film if she wanted to do something specific.  Now I can go into any drugstore or walmart and with the click of a button, have any size, color or black and white at the touch of a button in less than an hour.  This technology has changed so fast in the past 20 years that a digital camera that I bought for $200 less than five years ago is obsolete and I can buy something four times as good at less than half the price at any store I choose.

I guess my second ah-ha is also part of the memex question.  The first thing I thought about when he was describing memex is google.com.  How it stores the searches and makes a list and categorizes more facts than anyone of us can comprehend.  Memex also touches on something like our “favorites” section that we book mark.  When we come across something that we like or have searched and feel it will be used in the future, we file it under favorites so that out of the millions of sites, we will be able to easily find it.

It is hard to say what the internet will look like in 2045 but I imagine there will be more than a few real Universities online, some jobs will be eliminated because the internet will do the work for them.  Television will have a backseat to on demand online and radio will be only for the poor.

Questions-

Do you think that the internet will be able to keep up the pace of new information present on it or will we eventually hit a wall of technology?

Do you think that we will still have television, paperback books and radio by 2045?

What aspects of the internet, with the current growth will end up having negative effects on our society?