FunnyBusiness: Everything About Business Except The Bottom Line

Criminal Recycling: Thieves Target City Manhole Covers

A friend of mine recently took all of her old gold jewelry and sold it for a couple of hundred dollars. She did it because business is bad, she needed the cash, she doesn't wear the jewelry.

She is not the only one who has recycling metals for cash on the brain. Seems that with the soaring price in steel , there is now a real problem in cities throughout the country where criminal recyclers are helping themselves to city manholes covers. Recycling a manhole cover brings in about  $20 at the scrap yard. They cost cities about $200 to replace.

The New York Times,  USA Today ,and several cable outlets and many local papers  have all done stories about this trend.
The NYT article brought the ire of the Institute of Scrap Metal Industries who were not happy with the Philadelphia city worker quoted in the article  who impugned the integrity of the scrap metals owners by saying,

“These guys here,” Mr. Sergeant said, pointing at one scrap yard, “They’d buy a police cruiser and melt it down if we brought it in. The prices for metal are just that good these days.”

The Institute sent a response to the NYT sharing all the action steps the institute has taken to help cities prepare for possible thefts. They took issue with the story for a couple of reasons. First, they said they were the ones in the spring who sent out an alert to city government  warning them to be on the lookout for thieves  targeting the manhole covers. They were also not too keen that the NYT used the politically incorrect term " junkyard."

while maybe a matter of semantics, the repeated use of the term “junkyards” to
refer to scrap recycling centers seems to be both pejorative and overtly negative for no
apparent reason. Today’s recycling centers are a far cry from the old “junkyards” of
yesterday, processing more than 150 million tons of recyclable materials in 2007 and
providing major economic and environmental benefits in the process. The scrap
recycling industry is a $71 billion industry in the U.S. alone, supplying raw material
feedstock to steel mills, foundries, paper mills, refiners, and other industrial consumers
worldwide.
The scrap recycling industry proudly works everyday to strengthen local economies,
providing jobs for our neighbors and raw materials for manufacturers here and around
the globe, while contributing to an industry that is in fact the world’s largest and oldest
environmental industry. The scrap recycling industry has been and will continue to be
committed to working with law enforcement, community leaders, and affected
businesses to help stem the problem of materials theft, and ensure the safety and
success of all communities.

How much has the price of steel increased ? From the UK's building construction blog, wnibi.com,

Iron ore increased by 71% in 12 months. Since 2004, iron ore prices have risen by a huge 300%. 
 
Coking coal has risen by 240% in 16 months, mainly attributed to falling output from Australia. 
 
Scrap prices in the UK have risen by 75% since March 2008 - so don’t throw your scrap away, sell it! 
 
Once these raw material cost increases are taken in conjunction with the rising cost of freight and energy, then the inevitable result is an increase in price of steel wire and steel derivatives right through the supply chain.
 
The effect of the above has seen steel billet prices rise by 100% since 2007. The knock-on effect has seen a 50% increase in finished products such as nails, screws and other fasteners. There are further increases forecast for the coming months and so these industrial commodities look likely to rise and keep on rising.

Global demand- particularly from China and India are sited as main factors for the price increases.

In doing some research for this story I learned that a favorite job interview question has to do with manhole covers. Since I haven't been on a job interview in a lifetime I never knew. Here's the question, did anyone ever ask you?

"Why are manhole covers round?" is a now famous interview question considered anywhere from thought provoking to downright stupid by people on the receiving end.

Why do interviewers ask it? Well, it's so well known now that they shouldn't anymore but originally it was to see how interviewees responded. It's a way to get a sense for an interview candidate's ability to think on his or her feet outside of their area of expertise. The way the candidate approaches the problem, thinks of and presents potential solutions, defends them, or discards them are all relevant to the interviewer.

In case you want to know some of the explanations, you can Ask Leo! who  shares that he is talking about the manhole cover as part of his marketing effort to  plug  his new ebooks on interviewing tips.

 

Minimum vs. Livable Wage

Last week, about 2 million workers got a salary boost -- the Federal minimum wage increased from $5.85 an hr to $ 6.55. Predictably groups advocating for small businesses say the increase will mean that workers will get fewer hours, some people will get laid off, customer service will decline, and prices will increase.

Last week, the Labor Department reported the fastest inflation since 1991 - 5 percent for June compared with a year earlier. Energy costs soared nearly 25 percent. The price of food rose more than 5 percent. ; So the minimum wage hike is ''a drop in the bucket compared to the increases in costs, declining labor market, and declining household wealth that consumers have experienced in>the past year,'' Lehman Brothers economist Zach Pandl said.
    The new minimum is less than the inflation-adjusted 1997 level of $7.02, and far below the inflation-adjusted level of $10.06 from 40 years ago, according to a Labor Department inflation calculator.

And for all the potential economic hardships that the increase will have on small businesses, there is a greater issue. What does it say about a culture where there is such a significant gap between the minimum wage and the livable wage?

That is a topic  tackled on BlogHer this week.

When I asked my 19 year old daughter about the minimum wage increase -- as a barrista she brings in more than the minimum, she had this to say. " The minimum wage should be a livable wage."

TSJohnson agreed saying:

Your daughter has it right

Well your daughter said what I was going to say. That basically sums it up. People can't live on it, so quibbling over it is just pointless.

If you are a small business owner, is the bump in the minimum wage really going to be a hardship. And, if it is, what strategies are you going to implement to adjust to this additional cost?

Is Twitter Becoming A Customer Service Hot Line

Click Here to see ABC Twitter Story

Adele McAlear, a marketing consultant who blogs at Marketing Monster has been tracking Twitter Traffic since ABC ran its story about Comcast having digital detectives reading Tweets to find and resolve issues of unhappy customers.

UPDATE 07/22/08: A manual search in search.twitter.com conducted 6 hours after the piece aired in the East, revealed more than 100 Tweets attributed to new users as a direct result of the ABC report. This does not account for new users who have signed up and not yet posted or have made their updates private (which, in itself presents a customer service issue for companies on Twitter who won’t see those tweets). In the search, I discovered a tweet from none other than Jack Dorsey, CEO of Twitter welcoming the new users. And to their credit, despite the reservations of users, Twitter did not go down as a result of the coverage.

Not to be left out of all the fun, The New York Times has a Twitter Story today.Griping Online? Comcast Hears You

Comcast is not the only company trying to reach out to customers online. Using the social messaging service Twitter, Southwest Airlines answers customer questions about ticket prices and flight delays, Whole Foods Market posts details about discounts, and the chief executive of the online shoe store Zappos shares details of his life with 7,200 “followers.” Many other companies also monitor online discussion groups.

But Comcast is going an extra step by talking back, contacting customers who are discussing the company online.

Odds are they are complaining about Comcast. The company was ranked at the very bottom of the most recent American Customer Satisfaction Index, which tracks consumer opinions of more than 200 companies. Hundreds of customers have filed grievances on a site called ComcastMustDie.com.

Comcast says the online outreach is part of a larger effort to revamp its customer service. In just about five months, Mr. Eliason, whose job redefines customer service, has reached out to well over 1,000 customers online.

More on Twitter and Business Tweeting on BlogHer.
You can talk to me on Twitter.

Increase Productivity With Online Meeting Scheduler: When Is Good?

Trying to schedule a meeting when the people involved are not all on the same calendaring system is usually an exercise in un-productivity.

A couple of weeks ago my friend Janet asked me to help facilitate a brainstorming session. She asked  a simple question, "When are you available in August?"

For the next five minutes we both looked at our calendars and bantered about some dates that worked for the both of us.

Janet then contacted the client and shared our dates. The client then sent out a message to everyone on her team to see if they could attend on the dates we provided.

One person had a conflict.

The client contacted Janet saying the dates we selected wouldn't work for the organization.Janet contacted me to see if I could attend a date selected by the client. Fortunately, I was available.

What's wrong with this picture? Everything! We had to coordinate via phone. It took a ton of time and we had to redo everything we  agreed to did because we weren't able to coordinate with every one who needed to be there.

We should of had  When Is Good. It's a service I discovered reading Geekmommy

1) Click the grid for all the times that are good for you - you get a link to email to your invitees.
2) They see your proposed times and click on when they are free.
3) You visit your results page and see when everyone can do.

No sign-up form. No password to choose. No fuss at all.

And when you’re done marveling over how easy it was to find a time that everyone can get together this time - you’ll be sending the link to everyone who ever asks you ‘When is good for you?’

Oh, and its free.

Would You Blow Off A Meeting With The CEO To Get A Haircut?

Sitting at a reception at BlogHer08 a woman that I did not know asked the question that BlogHers ask each other at these kinds of conferences. 

"What do you blog about?"

"Businss Culture," I said.  Realizing that I needed to elaborate I said,"For instance, I blogged about Best Buy's Results Only Work Environment where you don't have to go to meetings you don't want to. "

It touched a nerve. This is a woman blogger who is also an executive at a major consumer products corporation. She said, "speaking of missing meetings, I told my boss that I couldn't go to a meeting with the CEO last week because I had a hair appointment." She added, " I knew I was coming to BlogHer and then would not be able to get my hair cut for several weeks. I just couldn't do it."

Thinking this was a very unusual business culture I double checked, " You really told your boss that you were skipping a meeting to get a hair cut."

"Actually," she said, " I told her I had a doctor's appointment."

Turns out she was able to move up the appointment and because the CEO got lost trying to find what room the meeting was in, she actually beat him to it. But still, she was willing to risk missing the meeting for a haircut.

So I want to know, what appointment would you be unwilling to change if your CEO called a last minute meeting?

Jimmy Kimmel's Head Writer Latest Woman Accused Of Sleeping Her Way To The Top

Want to start a believable rumor about a successful woman?

Suggest that  the real reason behind the woman's meteoric career rise is because she's putting in some couch time with the powers that be.

Earlier this week, a rumor hit the celebrity blogs that there was another woman involved in the Sarah- Silverman/Jimmy Kimmel split. It wasn't just any woman. It was the head writer at the Jimmy Kimmel show.

Why  was this a rumor that "respected" gossip blogs chose to run -- using the woman's name?

Turns out their "evidence" for the rumor was that she had been promoted rather quickly. Couldn't have been talent. Couldn't have been leadership. Nah,it has to be couch time.

The item appeared on a very popular gossip blog, Gawker.

we're told by an anonymous tipster that he has already taken up with a new lady. And not just any lady. Her name is Molly McNearney (Holly Johnson's just a character she played in a skit) and she's been promoted all the way (with one stop in between) from assistant to head writer for Jimmy Kimmel Live! by the sex problem-having former Man Show (ugh) host.

That little ditty was picked up by Defamer which had the decency the following day to write a retraction.

A Defamer tipster who knows McNearny wrote us to say this couldn't be further from the truth:

She is absolutely NOT banging Jimmy Kimmel. She was promoted from assistant to staff writer, and then from staff writer to head writer. Where's the controversy there? That's kinda how it works in this biz.

Also, as a matter of interest, Molly has been with her boyfriend for 3 years, and believe it or not was in Africa ministering to orphans when this story broke (that's not sarcasm, I swear). The truth is that one of Jimmy's BFFs works as a writer on the show, and Molly and another writer tried to let him go. He complained to Jimmy, got his job reinstated, and then sought a little revenge via the interwebs. The sad thing is that this is tearing Molly up.

How about an apology  to Molly McNearney?  So far no comment from Gawker. Don't expect to see one.

 

While speculating about the reason for  Jimmy Kimmel and Sarah Silverman's breakup may be endlessly entertaining given their unusual five year anniversary gifts to each other, it is not funny that Gawker chose to run an item simply because in their misogynistic minds it seemed like such a plausible story.

Note to Gawker: Sometimes, occasionally women are promoted because of talent, ambition , oh and work ethics.

It's bad enough that co-workers may quietly gossip and wonder whether the reason a   woman received a promotion was a result of  being an employee with benefits -but to throw it out for millions to read is unconscionable.

So how about that apology?

Alaska Airlines Uses Flip Charts To Reduce Flyer's Stress

Under the category that passengers  get stressed out because they can't always hear the messages in the gate area,  Alaska Airlines is  conducted  an  experiment to see if having visual cues about boarding process will enhance the boarding process.

The hearing issue may not relate so much to the quality of an airport's loudspeaker system but more to the fact that baby boomers are now having some challenges with their hearing and no matter how good the speaker system is, they still aren't going to hear what they need to hear.

The experiment was conducted in the gate area of  SEA-TAC. I was on flight 302 to San Francisco. When I got to the gate area I definitely  noticed  the flip chart and since I am not a regular on Alaska Airlines, I thought the flip chart was there to prevent passengers from nagging the personnel about the status of the flight -- which was a bit late.

To conduct the experiment, the airlines brought in a flip chart, giant post it notes to personalize flight information, a person assigned to do the flipping(would that make him the flipper?), and  a bunch of plain -clothed employees to observe how the passengers responded to the experiment.

In all there were five pre-printed messages on the flip chart. Part of the experiment was that Alaska didn't explain to us why the flip chart was there. It definitely got our attention..

The first message  let us know that our flight would start boarding in 10 minutes. That was good to know because they had earlier announced our flight was going to be slightly late.

From there it was a series of messages about who should get up and board.

After I took my picture, a couple of the Alaska Airlines started chatting with me about the flip chart experiment. They were there to specifically observe how the passengers were responding to the visual message. They were looking to see if passengers cued up to board faster than if we were getting  cues from the loudspeaker.

As  I was standing chatting with the Alaska Airlines staff who were there to observe us, another passenger came up to them to thank them for the flip chart.

He said he had some hearing issues and having the information written out on the flip chart was very helpful.

Too soon to know  if the visual cues will be implemented in a gate area near you but if they do, we won't have the charming flip chart guy. Instead it will be the electronic message board variety.

Business 101: How Not To Write A Job Opening Ad

This ad for an Ohio Pizza restaurant was submitted to Passive Aggressive Notes.

Wonder if they've filled the spot yet?

Obviously, the job doesn't require the ability to spell.

Giving The Lowly Coupon A Second Look

After 15 years of steady decline, the coupon seems to be making a comeback and with it personal coupon consultants to help the non-educated maximize their couponing opportunities.

Last year, consumers  redeemed $2.6 billion coupons--a far cry from the $7.9 billion redeemed in 1992. But, what is significant, is that it was the same amount that was redeemed the year before. And this year, manufacturers are anticipating as new venues for coupons become available -- the coupon biz will see an uptick.

Marketers issued 302 billion coupons in 2007, a 6% increase over the previous year.  However, that increase belies the fact that manufacturers reduced the number of promotional offers by over 8% while increasing the circulation of those offers by nearly 5%.

“Last year, brands saw coupons as more of a mass advertising media,” said Tilley.  “Instead of issuing a lot of finely-tuned, targeted marketing efforts, brands tended to use coupons to support competitive messaging or new product launches.”

New products and competitive messages require richer offerings to get the attention of potentially less receptive audiences.  Therefore, the broader messaging brought a significant increase in coupon values. Average values increased 10 cents per coupon to $1.28, marking the highest level seen to date.  At a nearly 9% increase, 2007 also saw coupon values outpace price increases for the first time since 2004.

A week ago I bought the Sunday paper specifically for the coupons. Cost of the paper: $1.75. Potential savings from coupons clipped. $ 1.00. Oh, and I still have those coupons in my handbag. If I don't use them by the end of the month I will forego the potential $1.00 savings on my Cascade and Crest Toothpaste.

My friend Janie says I need to give it time. A devout couponer she has an entire folio in her handbag divided by types of coupons. She absolutely loves when she can use a coupon and save a few cents. For her, it makes running errand more of a sport.
Okay, I wasn't taking notes when she was explaining her system but it had something to do with how the products are packaged . Maybe that's the point, I shouldn't try to replicate Janie's system, I need to create my own .

In case I feel I need some extra help, there are now coupon consultants.

CouponCrissy is an uber couponer. She is also a media favorite and has been featured in many publications because of her mastery of couponing. On one trip to the drug store she picked up $140 worth of stuff --her out of pocket costs $5.00
In interviews Crissy has said she treats her couponing as a part time job -- by doing it well she was able to be a stay at home mom. But now, given her level of expertise, Crissy has links on her blog for appearances and classes.

The CouponMom is a more established coupon community.-- Provides education and links to online coupons

There is also a trend to have coupons delivered to cell phones and shoppers would just have to show the merchant their phone to get the credit. While still in its infancy, marketers have big hopes for the mobile coupon.

Juniper Research estimated that almost 3 billion mobile coupons will be issued to mobile users by 2011, with just under $7 billion of discounts redeemed. Mobile coupons are becoming an increasingly important tool for brand owners and retailers to provide a “push to purchase” capability for mobile marketing and advertising campaigns.

 

Factors behind this growth include cost savings on campaigns, an increase in average revenue per user (ARPU), one-to-one marketing opportunities, an increase in customer retention for mobile operators, higher conversion rates, the expansion of mobile value added services and reduced fraud.

Desktop Rage: Real Trend or Just a Bunch of Hooey??

When Reuters reported last week saying that Desk Rage was on the rise, traditional media outlets and the bloggers embraced it with the enthusiasm of casual Fridays.

There was just one minor problem with the report. It was recycled. Relying on old data. Very old data. Research from 2000 and 2001. There article doesn't come out a specifically say its a growing trend, but its written to lead the reader to that conclusion. Here's the lede sentence: Get out of the way, road rage. Here comes desk rage. This is followed up with, "Anger in the workplace -- employees and employers who are grumpy, insulting, short-tempered or worse -- is shockingly common and likely growing" ( bold and italics added for emphasis_

How can Reuters say anger in the workplace is growing if they are relying on old research.

One of the clues that there was something amiss about the story was the lack of references to source of the research. Instead of saying who conducted the research, the article simply said,

Nearly half of U.S. workers in America report yelling and verbal abuse on the job, with roughly a quarter saying it has driven them to tears, research has shown.

Other research showed one-sixth of workers reported anger at work has led to property damage, while a tenth reported physical violence and fear their workplace might not be safe.

   

A quick scan of Google uncovers the research on desk rage.
In 2000, Caravan Opinion  Research wrote about the issue.
In 2001 The Monitor on Psychology wrote about the issue.
It was picked up yet again in 2004 by CNN.com and Careerbuilder

While there is nothing wrong with revisiting a topic, to rely on old data is wrong. The fact is since 9/11 corporations have increased their zero tolerance policies. There is a heightened awareness that yelling, screaming  and being rude  are non acceptable behaviors. If there is a trend, it's to an awareness that desk rage is not acceptable.

In 2007, Bob Sutton, a professor at Stanford wrote The No Asshole Rule-- a book providing guidelines on how to create a civilized work environment It's a best seller.

On his blog, Sutton provides a No Asshole Honor Role for companies that don't tolerate this kind of behavior and lots of other great information for managers and employees who don't want to deal with desk rage.

Desk rage seems to be a universal experience. In 2006, a Russian promotions agency created a desk rage video to promote a nutritional drink Actimel. The concept was that Actimel provides the the nutrients to help employees deal with the stress of work.
From You Tube

May your week be filled with joy and fun.