Some of the most run-down, delapidated waterfront homes in Portland along that stretch of Johnson Creek. Incredible potential for some developer to make a huge profit.
For their first dozen years or so COSTCO had no store employees shorter than 6 feet in height. Nationwide. The average height was probably about 6' 3". And at least 80% were male. Made sense from a variety of points considering it's a warehouse with tall stacks obscurring vision, but pretty clearly involved discriminatory hiring practices.
Good idea. Or we could just have them deliver to your house in the ghetto. Same purpose, same effect.
http://www.examiner.com/article/after-christmas-sales-start-earlier-with-huge-discounts After Christmas sales at retailers like Amazon, Best Buy, Macy’s, Walmart, and Sears are starting earlier than expected, according to a Dec. 24 CNBC report. With the shopping season moving slower than expected and inventory stacking up, consumers should expect bigger after-Christmas sales before Dec. 26. “Promotions have already crept into the irrational zone — north of 50% off,” says Brian Sozzi, CEO of Belus Capital Advisors. “The season so far was a full-on Debbie Downer. After Christmas a black plague of promotions will sweep throughout the malls and stores — 50, 60, 70% off.”
BTW, very cool of UPS not to make their employees work Christmas day. The day is not about gifts; it's about spending time with your family, friends and loved ones. The delivery companies are taking a lot of unnecessary grief in my opinion.
They are a delivery company not a fucking elementary school. Its their business to deliver packages with timed delivery and accuracy, hence the premium price you pay over USPS.
And they should not charge shipping for violated promises (not force majeure). I'm just saying, if management wrote a check its employees couldn't cash, then that's on management.
The real cost of missed delivery on time sensitive material is higher than the shipping charge. UPS places an emphasis on their workers and they are highly visable, so of course people will blame them if they don't get their christmas presents that were "guaranteed" to be delivered. All it takes generally is one fuck up for people to write off a delivery company and to use alternatives in the future. You can't be so casual about these things.
I get it. However, the fuck up was management overpromising from what I can gather. That error shouldn't be borne by the employees, in the form of working on Christmas. UPS and FedEx may have to do something radical to make it right. The best example of management saving a brand (although that's not yet the case) is Johnson & Johnson's handling of the Tylenol poisonings of 1982. The best move is to take full responsibility, explain the error and fix it so it can never happen again.
The only real solution was to have UPS and Fed Ex workers work on Christmas, which you applauded that they didn't make them do. The other option was to shut off and stop taking orders which is basically the same as not delivering items on time since it will turn customers off to them and make them seem like some bush league operation that can't get its shit together. Like I said, they are in the guaranteed delivery business. They cannot "overpromise" because their business is delivering things urgently. They can't shut off and tell people "we're too busy to delivery your stuff, try again in 2 days". Consumers don't care that these workers have christmas off or are working 20 hour days, they just want their stuff delivered at a time for which they paid a premium price for.
Another solution was for management to accept responsibility, say that workers would NOT be working on Christmas because of the corporate values they hold, apologize profusely, give each customer a certain dollar amount in free shipping and advertise their solutions so it doesn't happen again. They're going to lose customers regardless. The question is how to lose the fewest.
That's a horrible solution. Like I said, delivery customers would give a shit about "corporate values". No one anywhere cares that UPS and FedEx employees get to stay home on Christmas when there are outstanding packages to be delivered. They just want their kid's Xbox on Christmas and to see the smile on their face instead of a printed picture of one saying "IOU an XBOX360". Basically its akin to saying "We don't know how to run our business. By the way, if you have time sensitive delivery needs just remember we'll fuck you over so our employees can have the day off". It screams inefficiency.
Meh. Give it a couple weeks and people will forget. This Xmas was a regional problem anyways. Very few missed packages around here. I was off by 7 on Xmas eve
