no more cheap tickets
Scott McCartney, who writes the WSJ's Middle Seat column, says that airlines are starting to use these newfangled things called "computers" to work out all their scheduling demons — and while it's good for business, travelers should expect fewer "off peak" cheap seats.
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stupid shipping gang
Earlier this week I ordered a part from Canon USA Service for one of my Canon cameras and it arrived today. I am impressed for the fast shipping but not so much by the efficiency of the packaging.
Additional photo inside.
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efficiency
This is just madness, I tell you:
I would like to add another story to companies using boxes to send small items or in this case, boxes to send a catalog. I recently ordered a free catalog from NFLShop.com. I was thinking like any catalog, it would come as is with my name and address printed on the back. This morning I got a knock on the door from a Postal Worker holding a cardboard box with my name on it. Funny, I wasn't expecting any packages in the mail. I opened up the box and yup, it was the NFLShop catalog I had requested online. It seemed odd to put a free catalog in a box. It also came with a packing slip and a return label.
Another thing, when I was filling out my address online to receive the catalog (last week), it's almost like I was purchasing merchandise. After filling in my shipping info, the site goes to a Payment screen and asked for my credit card information. I wasn't about to give them my credit card info for a free catalog and somehow by refreshing the page or going back, the credit card screen disappeared and my 'order' was confirmed. I don't really know how I bypassed it.
Anyway, I've attached a couple pictures. One of the catalog in the box as it arrived and one of the packing slip. FYI - the catalog is only 24 pages and it's dated October 2007...so very thin and outdated. Not what I expected.
The best part about the packing slip is that it had a return shipping label so that you could send the catalog back if you didn't like it.
packaging
A reader writes, "As part of our Christmas shopping; we ordered several DVD's, video games, and a phone card from Wal-Mart's website." The items trickled in over several days, then "this showed up. A 10X11X5 inch box, an air-filled air bubble, and one thin phone card taped to the bottom of the box."
Companies, this has got to stop! It's wasteful and annoying. It's
stupid. It can't cost that much to hire someone to put together a shipping program that uses different package sizes for different types of products.
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news from the swamp
The Bush administrations fuel economy plan was rejected by 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Thursday. The court ruled that National Highway Traffic Safety Administration "failed to address why the so-called light trucks are allowed to pollute more than passenger cars and didn't properly assess greenhouse gas emissions when it set new minimum miles-per-gallon requirements for models in 2008 to 2011," according to the Associated Press.
The court ordered the White House to examine why it continues to consider light trucks differently than cars. Regulators made a distinction between cars and light trucks decades ago when most trucks were used for commercial purposes.
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efficiency
The suspense is over. After two years filled with action-packed consumer research, suspenseful public meetings, and frank discussions with advocacy groups, the Federal Trade Commission is finally ready to tag dehumidifiers, dishwashers, freezers, refrigerators, air conditioners, and washing machines with a new and improved EnergyGuide label.
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complaints
Reader Nick Denton sends us word that the taxi lines in laissez-faire America are rubble. However, in the fascist dictatorship of London, the livery runs with a ruthless efficiency that would make Fredrick Winslow Taylor cream his galoshes.
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Consumerist
