I had this month that I wanted to share with everyone.
It was a Saturday afternoon. I was home alone and getting bored since no one was at home to amuse me. I decided to play poker for few hours at a casino half way between my house and San Diego.
When I sat at the $1.00 - $2.00 poker table, I noticed a lady who was sharply dressed, wearing expensive jewelry. Since she appeared to be rich and upper class, I assumed she would be snobbish. After playing a few hands at the same table, I observed everyone was having fun and talking while playing. I realized how pleasant and down to earth this lady was. She joked and laughed and made us all feel comfortable. It seemed everyone else at the table and the casino knew her. I discovered she and her younger sister live south of San Diego, and for the past year they have been making the 45 minutes drive to the casino every Thursday. They stay at the hotel close by, play poker for several days, and leave for home each Sunday evening. I thought to myself they would be prime candidates for Gamblers Anonymous. I was to learn how wrong I was, and I had judged them prematurely.
When I had a chance to take a break and sit out of the game for a while, she decided to do the same. We started taking in general, and I found out she was 72 years old. She was in top shape and looked as if she took good care of herself. Her make up was just right, and she was the most pleasant person to talk to.
She revealed the story for their weekly travel to play poker. Her younger sister who lives with her is dying of cancer. She does not want to stay home and think about dying, so they pack every Thursday and check into the hotel. They play poker, shop, and dine. They get to meet new people and see old friends they have made at the casino, who have almost become like family. On Sunday they drive back to their home. On Monday the sister stays in bed resting. Each Tuesday she gets her treatment and stays in bed on Wednesday to recuperate. Each Thursday they are on the road again to enjoy life.
She told me she loved her sister and would do anything for her. Since this is what she wants to do, this wonderful lady does it with her. She takes care of her on a daily basis, and is at her beck and call for anything she wants. She told me, “Since my sister will be gone soon, I want to be with her every minute, so I don’t miss a moment.” While the younger sister plays at the $4.00- $8.00 table, she plays at the $1.00 - $2.00 table to pass the time and be close to her.
It touched me so much that I related this experience to my family. I wanted to share this with you as well. There are always “life lessons” to be learned, and in some cases, to be re-learned. First of all, judging people by appearance is unwise and unfair. Secondly, and most importantly, family and friends are very dear. We should enjoy them all of the time and not wait for unfortunate circumstances to rob us of missed events and relationships. We need to realize how quickly time passes, and realize that the opportunity to make memories will be missed if we don’t take advantage of making them.
The younger sister has one daughter. This wonderful classy lady has four children, two grand children, and two great-grand children. How proud they should all be of this wonderful lady.
Showing posts with label MAY 1. Show all posts
Showing posts with label MAY 1. Show all posts
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Hidden costs are polite stealing
Hidden costs are polite stealing
Hidden costs are increasing our daily expenses on a regular basis. Phone companies, cable companies, credit cards, banks, and yes….our company suppliers are all guilty.
Company suppliers/vendors now call it “FUEL SURCHARGE”. I call it stealing.
Let me give you an example, and it might lead you to examine your personal bills more closely to see charges you have overlooked in the past.
We are a printing company so the major part of our purchases is paper. As the prices of paper constantly increase, we try to find suppliers who would offer lower prices in order to stay competitive in this tough market of “price cutting.”
One of our major suppliers of pressure sensitive paper is a prime example of disguising costs. They had been giving us good prices and their service has always been excellent. A few months ago Raflatac visited our Calico, North Carolina plant and offered all our facilities a lower price which included freight if we ordered on line. We told our original supplier that we had an offer of lower prices. As a courtesy to them for being such a great supplier in the past, we told them rather than eliminating them completely, we would like to utilize both suppliers if they could offer us the same price as Raflatac. After reviewing the information we furnished to them, they offered us the same price. At this point, everything seemed agreeable, and everyone appeared to be happy with the arrangement.
When I received the invoice from Raflatac, they had charged us the price they had quoted with freight delivered and no extra hidden charges. We were billed exactly as they had promised. But when I received the invoice from our former supplier, it was a different story. They had the price they had matched with Raflatac, but there was one additional line: “Freight surcharge”. This was not only agreed to during our conversations, it wasn’t even mentioned by them. That is what I call blatant stealing. Matching the price and then finding a way to stick it to you right in front of your eyes crossed the line of business ethics.
I crossed out the fuel surcharge on their invoice and will not pay it. This is a new scheme by all the companies who are adding fuel surcharges. We have found trucking companies who give us discounts, and then they add a line called fuel surcharge to take back a portion of the discount. I call this unethical. All companies have energy expenses, including ours. We do not charge our customers for it. When we issue a quote, that is exactly what our customers expect to be charged. If our vendors want to have an extra charge, they should also include it in their unit price rather than be sneaky about it.
I would suggest that you look at your personal bills. I am sure you will find charges that are almost a joke the way they describe it. The charges may look and sound impressive and many times cryptic or vague, but what it should be listed as is “STEALING CHARGE”.
My hat is off to Raflatac for being honest and transparent in their business practices.
Hidden costs are increasing our daily expenses on a regular basis. Phone companies, cable companies, credit cards, banks, and yes….our company suppliers are all guilty.
Company suppliers/vendors now call it “FUEL SURCHARGE”. I call it stealing.
Let me give you an example, and it might lead you to examine your personal bills more closely to see charges you have overlooked in the past.
We are a printing company so the major part of our purchases is paper. As the prices of paper constantly increase, we try to find suppliers who would offer lower prices in order to stay competitive in this tough market of “price cutting.”
One of our major suppliers of pressure sensitive paper is a prime example of disguising costs. They had been giving us good prices and their service has always been excellent. A few months ago Raflatac visited our Calico, North Carolina plant and offered all our facilities a lower price which included freight if we ordered on line. We told our original supplier that we had an offer of lower prices. As a courtesy to them for being such a great supplier in the past, we told them rather than eliminating them completely, we would like to utilize both suppliers if they could offer us the same price as Raflatac. After reviewing the information we furnished to them, they offered us the same price. At this point, everything seemed agreeable, and everyone appeared to be happy with the arrangement.
When I received the invoice from Raflatac, they had charged us the price they had quoted with freight delivered and no extra hidden charges. We were billed exactly as they had promised. But when I received the invoice from our former supplier, it was a different story. They had the price they had matched with Raflatac, but there was one additional line: “Freight surcharge”. This was not only agreed to during our conversations, it wasn’t even mentioned by them. That is what I call blatant stealing. Matching the price and then finding a way to stick it to you right in front of your eyes crossed the line of business ethics.
I crossed out the fuel surcharge on their invoice and will not pay it. This is a new scheme by all the companies who are adding fuel surcharges. We have found trucking companies who give us discounts, and then they add a line called fuel surcharge to take back a portion of the discount. I call this unethical. All companies have energy expenses, including ours. We do not charge our customers for it. When we issue a quote, that is exactly what our customers expect to be charged. If our vendors want to have an extra charge, they should also include it in their unit price rather than be sneaky about it.
I would suggest that you look at your personal bills. I am sure you will find charges that are almost a joke the way they describe it. The charges may look and sound impressive and many times cryptic or vague, but what it should be listed as is “STEALING CHARGE”.
My hat is off to Raflatac for being honest and transparent in their business practices.
I’M LOVING IT
BUT DOES MCDONALD’S LOVE ME?
Slogans are meant to be remembered. They are meant to mean something to the individual/group to whom they are directed. McDonald’s has us all saying, “I’m loving it!”
McDonald’s is an international institute which is loved by all. It is a representation of fun and freedom throughout the world. We all love to enjoy the taste of food we have known from childhood.
BUT!! AMERICA IS GETTING FAT. McDonald’s could help by being a friend to it’s customers by giving us an awareness of our OVER-eating, which is why the population is getting heavier by the year. We usually have no idea what we are eating. I realize that the bottom of the McDonald’s boxes have the food nutrition/fats listed, but does anyone look under the box? I don’t think so.
It is time to print the numbers where we can see them and make us conscious of our food intake calories. McDonald’s could be in the forefront of this movement.
One simple way is to update each McDonald’s cash register by having each entry print the calories for each food item as you order it, and giving us a running total. This concept would be similar to when we go to the grocery store where as each item is entered, a running total appears on the cash register along with the individual prices. In the case of fast food ordering, as the items are entered by the cashier, the calories for that item with the corresponding price would brought up so you could see how many total calories you will actually be consuming. These figures would also appear on your written receipt in case you are a calorie counter. Maybe if we had this information at the time of ordering (before we pay the bill), we might think about “deleting” the fries, or changing our order to a “regular size” rather than a “super-size”. (See sample receipt attached).
In this way, the receipt would document McDonald’s concern regarding it’s customers health and well being so they can stay healthy and longer to “Love it” longer.
LET THEM SHOW THEIR LOVE.
I think other fast foods would follow, which would indicate that they all LOVE us too.
TERMINAL 1 CON B OHARA
CHICAGO, IL 60604
THANK YOU
MCDONALDS TEL#(773)686-1130
02 KS#04 FEB. 03, 09(TUE) 17:47
STORE# 17277 S#2
Order #402 TO GO
CALORIES PRICE
AC 540 $ 3.75
1 QRT POUNDER 410 $2.49
1 DBL CHEESE BRGR 440 $1.00
1 SMALL FRIES 209 $1.25
I LARGE FRIES 500 $2.19
SUB TOTAL $10.68
TAKE OUT TAX $1.25
TOTAL 2,099 CAL $11.95
CASH TENDERED $20.00
CHANGE $8.05
BUT DOES MCDONALD’S LOVE ME?
Slogans are meant to be remembered. They are meant to mean something to the individual/group to whom they are directed. McDonald’s has us all saying, “I’m loving it!”
McDonald’s is an international institute which is loved by all. It is a representation of fun and freedom throughout the world. We all love to enjoy the taste of food we have known from childhood.
BUT!! AMERICA IS GETTING FAT. McDonald’s could help by being a friend to it’s customers by giving us an awareness of our OVER-eating, which is why the population is getting heavier by the year. We usually have no idea what we are eating. I realize that the bottom of the McDonald’s boxes have the food nutrition/fats listed, but does anyone look under the box? I don’t think so.
It is time to print the numbers where we can see them and make us conscious of our food intake calories. McDonald’s could be in the forefront of this movement.
One simple way is to update each McDonald’s cash register by having each entry print the calories for each food item as you order it, and giving us a running total. This concept would be similar to when we go to the grocery store where as each item is entered, a running total appears on the cash register along with the individual prices. In the case of fast food ordering, as the items are entered by the cashier, the calories for that item with the corresponding price would brought up so you could see how many total calories you will actually be consuming. These figures would also appear on your written receipt in case you are a calorie counter. Maybe if we had this information at the time of ordering (before we pay the bill), we might think about “deleting” the fries, or changing our order to a “regular size” rather than a “super-size”. (See sample receipt attached).
In this way, the receipt would document McDonald’s concern regarding it’s customers health and well being so they can stay healthy and longer to “Love it” longer.
LET THEM SHOW THEIR LOVE.
I think other fast foods would follow, which would indicate that they all LOVE us too.
TERMINAL 1 CON B OHARA
CHICAGO, IL 60604
THANK YOU
MCDONALDS TEL#(773)686-1130
02 KS#04 FEB. 03, 09(TUE) 17:47
STORE# 17277 S#2
Order #402 TO GO
CALORIES PRICE
AC 540 $ 3.75
1 QRT POUNDER 410 $2.49
1 DBL CHEESE BRGR 440 $1.00
1 SMALL FRIES 209 $1.25
I LARGE FRIES 500 $2.19
SUB TOTAL $10.68
TAKE OUT TAX $1.25
TOTAL 2,099 CAL $11.95
CASH TENDERED $20.00
CHANGE $8.05
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