Rain part 2

Well, the storms hit about 4 this morning, spectacular lightning and thunder. We received almost 1/2 inch of rain! Still some light rain in the area so may get a little more.

Definitely worth washing your truck! Wonder why that works?

Rain

Just got back from washing the truck - trying to bust the no rain bubble. Hasn't rained for the last 21 days - threatens almost every day and then goes around/drys up.

Worth $5 if I can get it to rain!

Brand Recognition

Read this yesterday about FedEx changing the name of Kinkos to Office. Kinko's was founded in 1970 by Paul Orfalea in his garage making class notes for the University of California at Santa Barbara. Expansion followed to other university towns continuing to make class notes as they grew. The model was perfect for the time, 24 hour shops manned by college students and serving college students. Many a student has spent a sleepless night printing, collating and binding their final report just in time for class.

Being in the  copy industry, Kinko's was one of our biggest competitors and helped us develop our model of customer service. One of my favorite sayings during orientation was "Anyone can make you a copy, but we provide a service and solve problems". This philosophy was developed because it made it us different than the Kinko's, Print 'n' Copy and other copy stores in a university town. We're celebrating our 20th anniversary this year and have seen  a lot of stores come and go. 

But I hate to see Kinko's changing like it is. FedEx has a model in mind that discards the student base that built the company. When the purchased occurred in 2004 I was anticipating they would be combining Kinko's name recognition in the copy industry and FedEx shipping capabilities, really defining print on demand anywhere in the US. But FedEx headed for smaller, corporate centered stores that were "Your office away from the office" concept.

They are continuing with the concept but changing the name from FedEx Kinko's to FedEx Office. What I find interesting is the discarding of the brand name Kinko's. The name had built itself over the last 38 years to become synonymous with copying. Nearly everyone has been in a strange town and if they needed a copy started looking for a Kinko's.  I assumed that FedEx bought Kinko's because of the brand recognition, but after only four years they have determined the brand did not get them what they wanted, so are quickly discarding it.

I don't know what the future holds for the printing industry, Lord knows I've seen quite a change in my short 15 years in the industry, but to toss out a well known brand that took over 30 years to build seems a little short-sighted to me. I expect the FedEx Office store will start disappearing from the smaller university towns and relocating to the large cities to service the corporate client.

Coupons and Vacation

A quick tip - when traveling (or spending money at home?) go to the internet and look for coupons. We just finished our trip to Corpus, before we left we planned our daily outings. Went to the Chamber of Commerce site and started searching for each of the places we were visiting. Each of them had coupons for $1 off for admission - included adults and kids. We saved somewhere in the vicinity of $20 for admissions. The internet is a wondrous place!

Restocking fee

Do you remember when it all started? During Super Bowl Weekend, it became common for some people to go purchase a new large screen TV to watch the big game, then return the "used" TV the next week for a full refund. Stores began to see a trend and decided because they had the added expense of reboxing, reinventory, and loss of revenue for "open box discount" they needed to charge a restocking fee (normally 15%).

I received an email earlier this week from an friend who purchased something of higher than normal price from Best Buy, paying cash, and then decided to upgrade to a different model. He had an interesting story which included a $45 restocking fee even tho'  he wanted to increase his purchase on a newer model; additionally, the local store could not refund his money as it was over $200 and he would receive a check from corporate in 2 - 3 weeks. He was somewhat upset and felt if he had used a credit card he could have canceled the transaction and not been charged 15% and the credit would be immediately back in his account.

This week Apple unveiled the 3G iPhone, something that was anticipated. Additional news included AT&T increasing the monthly charges for data billing and a change from Apple's business model for the phone. What I found interesting is that if you purchased an iPhone since May 27 you could return it for a new one, with a new handset charge and a restocking fee.

I understand that stores have some expense in returned merchandise and consumers may take advantage of their pricing policy. I wonder why in this circumstance the customer is assumed to be "ripping off" the business, particularly when an upgrade is involved. It would seem there should be a waiver of the fee if an additional purchase is involved.

I doubt this will change but be aware anytime you're working with a "corporate" environment, policy outweighs customer satisfaction. First I would recommend shopping locally where possible (even for national brands), use a credit card for large purchases (cheap insurance if there is any problem) [btw - pay the account off when you get the bill, it's easier to get behind on credit card payments than you think], and be aware of fees that will be charged if you're unsatisfied with your purchase.

need a vacation

Read one of those truisms the other day - no one needs a vacation nearly as bad as someone who has just finished one.

Miss the beach this morning!

One of life's lessons - a Murphy's Law Corollary

Never place a can of shaving cream in your luggage without a cap - something will find the button (and the can will empty).

vacation

Well, it's been some time since I've had something to say, or had time to say it.

I am on vacation in a motel room in New Braunfels Texas, watching my granddaughter watch TV and getting ready to head out for a "special" dinner.  As I have mentioned we have four grandchildren, 3 boys and a girl. The oldest will be 14 in December and the youngest will be 10 in July, so they're nicely spaced with a year in between.

When the oldest was 8 we opted that on our summer one-week vacation we would take one with us.  First we decided it would be nice to take them to a lake, teach them a little about fishing and driving a boat. In 2006 we completed the first round when the youngest turned eight and each year spent with them was a blast.

We wondered what to do next and decided that when they were 12, we would take them to one of our favorite destinations, Padre Island. This year it was the granddaughter's turn. We start with a ferry ride at aransas pass and then a ride down island to the el constante right on the beach.

We have an agenda but it is very loose and it's up to each grandchild to determine where we go and when we go. We make it a point to visit the texas state aquarium, the USS Lexington and the natural history museum. We try to teach them a little about history, both Texas and the US and some information about the natural world.

A lot of time is spent on the beach, looking for sea shells and playing in the surf. The real fun of the vacation is for us to watch the learning and playing processes that occur. We have gone to the island twice and have twice more to go, but the first thing we learned is they all have their special occasions. Last year, it was body surfing, this year it was playing in the pool. But they always enjoy the entire trip and learn a little in the process.

But for us it's the time spent with the grandchild individually and hopefully giving them memories for a lifetime. They have us!