The Twitter feeds of most big companies are littered with gripes from customers trying to get someone to resolve their problem. Thing is, some companies either don’t monitor their Twitter feeds for customer service complaints, or only only respond to these Tweets during certain times. A new Twitter feature is intended to let businesses be more transparent about if and when they handle customer service on the social media platform.
[More]
businesses
Twitter Now Lets Businesses Show When They Monitor Customer Service Tweets
By 9.15.16
Pokemon Go: Some Businesses Embrace The Craze, Others Just Want It To Go Away
By 7.12.16
Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’re probably familiar with the Pokémon Go craze currently sweeping the country. But not everyone is amused by this new digital obsession: some businesses are banning patrons from playing the game inside — even if it means missing out on capturing the virtual creatures — while others are turning the popular game into a way to drum up business. [More]
Facebook Launches Feature That Lets Users And Businesses Message Each Other
By 8.5.15
After Facebook announced in March that it’d be launching a pilot program with a few brands that would let customers and companies communicate privately, the social media network said Wednesday that it’s expanding the rollout of Messenger for businesses. [More]
Google Can Now Show You The Best Time To Pick Up Your Dry Cleaning
By 7.28.15
Waiting in line is often an annoying, but unavoidable aspect of everyday life: grabbing lunch, picking up a prescription, cashing a check, just to name a few. Now instead of just telling you how much time it will take to drive from one place to the other, Google has used its skills (all that data it collects) to create a new feature that gives a little more insight on just how busy the coffee shop is at 8 a.m. (busy). [More]
Here We Go Again: Bakery Owner Selling Business For $75, An Essay & A Cupcake Recipe
By 5.11.15
There’s a new bandwagon rolling through the country and it’s only gaining more riders: After the owner of a Maine inn became the darling of the viral news cycle by offering up her establishment to the winner of an essay contest, a goat cheese farm and now a bakery have chosen to use her method of finding the ideal person to take over their business. [More]
How iPads Might Crush Offices' Wireless Networks
By 2.24.12
As iPads continue to grow in popularity, their prevalence in the office could not only sap productivity but push WiFi networks to their breaking points. Because the tablets are less efficient at picking up signals than laptops, they tend to put more of a tax on networks. As the iPad 3 release looms, researchers say businesses may need to triple their WiFi coverage in order to handle an an office iPad influx. [More]
Has Your Office Encountered The Online Yellow Pages Scam?
By 7.24.09
Patten seriously wants the purported “Online Yellow Pages” to stop calling his office. They call once per day, looking for information on the company, but Patten is suspicious. Rightly so, as it turns out—this is a scam, and companies who respond receive a hefty invoice for “advertising” that they never authorized.
By 6.1.09
../..//2009/06/01/want-to-see-the-top/
Want to see the top 10 biggest bankruptcies in U.S. history so far? [Fortune]
Would Practical Wisdom Improve Customer Service?
By 4.28.09
Barry Schwartz spoke at TED this past February about “practical wisdom,” a classical term that Schwartz redefines in a modern context as knowing when and how to make exceptions to every rule, and when and how to improvise. His point, largely, is that a lot of modern life would run more efficiently, and more justly, if people would stop blindly following and enforcing rules when they become absurd.
The CEO Of Delta Reveals His Secrets
By 4.27.09
Richard Anderson, the CEO of Delta Air Lines, was interviewed by the New York Times and shared his tips on hiring (ask about their family life), running meetings (no Blackberries!), and dealing with customers: “I find myself, more and more, writing hand-written notes to people,” he says. “I must write a half a dozen a day.” These are apology notes, we’re guessing.
Find Out Where Your Money Goes When You Buy Gas
By 10.7.08
Want to know where your fifties go when you fill up your car with gas? GOOD’s latest chart breaks down the assorted costs, and compares them with other places around the globe. You can grab a free printed copy at any Starbucks, or go here to check it out in bright RGB goodness.
Travelers Leave 12,000 Laptops In Airports Every Week
By 7.5.08
Absentminded travelers flummoxed by airport security leave 12,000 laptops in airports every single week. Only 30% are ever recovered.
United To Require Minimum Stays Starting In October
By 6.21.08
Sorry travelers, as expected, United Airlines will require minimum stays on all flights starting in October. Gone are the halcyon days of jetting away for a business meeting after breakfast with time to spare before returning for dinner. Most United fares will now require a three-night or weekend stay, but it “will depend on the destinations involved, the price of the ticket and the length of the flight.” And, yes, you will still be charged $15 to check your first bag.
Wachovia Opens Bank Account Without Permission, Starts Charging Fees
By 4.20.08
John can’t understand how Wachovia charged his startup $12 in fees for failing to maintain a minimum balance when his company never opened an account with Wachovia in the first place. Apparently, his former bank manager decamped to Wachovia and, without his permission, opened a new account “to ensure certain money rates,” whatever that means. John isn’t mad, and the bank manager agreed to close the account, but John is a little worried because a collections agency has started calling and the account now lists $24.05 in fees.
By 4.14.08
../..//2008/04/14/blockbuster-has-offered-to-buy/
Blockbuster has offered to buy Circuit City for a little over $1 billion, with the goal of creating “a chain that could sell portable devices and entertainment for them, much like Apple Inc.’s stores.” [Chicago Tribune] (Thanks to everyone who sent this in!)
Want A Thriving Coffee Shop? Open Next To A Starbucks
By 12.29.07
The funny thing about Starbucks is it’s helped to create a coffee culture filled with a significant number of people who don’t actually like Starbucks—which means that, despite conventional wisdom, it’s actually a good thing to be a mom & pop coffee shop with a Starbucks nearby, writes Slate.
The Year's Top Business Screw-Ups
By 12.19.07
Fortune recently published a list of 2007’s 101 Dumbest Moments in Business, and then the Seattle Post-Intelligencer cooked that down to just 9 really good ones. Now we’re summarizing the Seattle PI article. (If you’d like to play along, pick just a couple of business blunders from our summary and write them on a sticky note—we’d like to get this down to a six-word fortune cookie by December 31st.) Some of the Seattle PI’s picks include the rats at the KFC in NYC, the GHB toy beads, Best Buy’s in-store kiosk version of its website with higher prices, Jay-Z’s dog-fur coats, and that time when SkyWest wouldn’t let that passenger pee, and so he had to go in an air-sickness bag, which led to him being questioned by the police when he finally got off the plane.
