Applepie

How competitive is the shipping business?

We do 90% of our Christmas shopping via the web, from electronics, to camera gear, to toys, and even clothing. Shipping is a big part of the whole online experience, and we make heavy use of free shipping programs and discounts such as Amazon's Prime program (free 2 day shipping, or next day for $3.99).

I never really thought much about how competitive and crowded the shipping business is until this morning.

Today 3 different packages from 3 different merchants arrive at my office - each package was shipped via a different shipping company. UPS, Fed-EX, and DHL - and they all got delivered within minutes of one another - pretty funny!

Sony - truth in advertisement

Why do I keep torturing myself with Sony products? Sony designs what I consider to be the best looking "Windows" laptops. But for the past few years Sony has embarked in a series of mistakes that have greatly hurt their image - proprietary and buggy software, proprietary memory stick, intrusive obnoxious and probably illegal DRM technology on their music CDs, the list goes on.

Two days ago I purchased and then quickly returned the Sony DSC-N1 photo camera because of what I consider a flawed design. Earlier today I called Sony Style to purchase a Sony Vaio TX 670 laptop for my sister. I actually picked up the phone and called Sony instead of purchasing it via the web because I need to ensure that the laptop would arrive by Wednesday. The salesman assured me that it would as long as I paid extra for the shipping. With his assurances in place, I went ahead with the purchase.

As the day come to a close, I got concerned that I had never received the confirmation email from Sony regarding my order and the shipping information. Checking for my order information online listed a status of On Hold. I called Sony again to see if they were having problems with my order. This time, the person who answered my call said that I should have never been told that the order would ship today or that it would arrive on Wednesday. She said that they typically take 2 days to process an order, and that it would take a further 2 days to deliver the product. At best I would have the laptop on Friday - 2 days after I needed the laptop.

Is there no end to Sony's self-inflicted troubles?

I would tell my sister to walk over to her nearest Apple store and pick a 15" Powerbook, but unfortunately Columbia Business School does not support/allow Macs in their business school program.

After Sony's latest mistake, we are now left with the daunting tasks of find a great sub-notebook laptop within the next 48 hours.

I have an idea - I wonder if she will go for a swap :-) I will fed-ex her my 6 months old T350P laptop so she can have it by Wednesday and I will keep her new TX 670 machine! Let's see if she goes for it!

Only in Seattle

It took the folks in Seattle 17 years to figure out that the monorail track they built is too close together - causing the trains to crash into one another - brilliant.

That just about says it all for the same transportation group that is in charge of building a light rail system from Seattle to near the airport. The point here is that the new, multi-billion dollar project ($3.6 billion was budgeted for it), will not take you to the airport - that would make too much sense. Instead, busy business travelers that opt to take the light rail system will have to de-board the trains and take a bus or taxi for the final 1-2 mile ride to the airport. Guess how many airport bound passengers will make use of this new light rail system?

It must be the water

The joy of living in WA state. I have lived in this state for 15 years now, and the thing that bothers me the most, even more than the rain, are the local sports team. Take a look at the results for this past weekend.

Seattle Seahawks - Lost
Washington State Cougars - Lost
Washington Huskies - Lost
Seattle Mariners - Lost TWICE.

And if basketball season was on, the Seattle SuperSonics would have lost as well.

If the Boston Redsox can win a championship, one would think that any one could...

Oh well, at least hope is always the last one to die.

Pies and the Internet Age - yummy!

My wife has recently found a couple of bakeries that will ship a freshly baked pie to your front door via next-day federal express (my daughter heard about them on The Food Network).  So far, we have eaten an authentic key-lime pie as a celebration for completing the Seattle to Portland bike race.  And last Tuesday a delicious mud-pie arrived 5 minutes before I had to leave for the airport. 

Staying in the pie theme, I couldn't resist posting this entry with 32 Apple Pie recipes from the MSN Lifestyle web-site.   

One of my favorites is the "Old Fashioned Apple Pie", and I gotta try the Apple Walnut Upside-Down Pie. 

Hum, maybe we will a family "bake a pie weekend" when I finally return from my business trip.

The Cost of a Proprietary System

I made use of my Honda’s run-flat-tire technology today.  I noticed that one of my tires was flat on Sunday, but knowing that I had run-flat-tires, I decided to deal with it after the holidays were over.  This morning I drove to Les Schwab Tires to get my tire fixed.  When I got there, Les Schwab told me that they could not help me.  Apparently only Honda dealers can repair the run-flat-tire system used in the 2005 Odyssey.  Fantastic, isn’t it?  I can’t get a 3rd party tire supplier to fix my tires, I have to go to a Honda dealer. 

 
What happens if I get a flat tire during my Yellowstone National Park trip?  Will there be a Honda dealer nearby?  It seems I didn’t make a wise decision when I opted for the Touring package, which included this proprietary run-flat-tire package.
 
I left Les Schwab and headed to my dealership - Honda of Kirkland.  The Honda service manager told me that Honda’s run-flat-tires use a unique and proprietary system that requires the wheel and run-flat system to be replaced when you get a flat. On top of that he said that the dealership hasn't had much experience replacing these tires as the system is new this year.  None of their technicians working today had replaced one before.  Great, not only is this going to cost a small fortune, but it may not get done properly. 
 
The good: to my surprise, run-flat tires are covered by Honda’s warranty, so it didn't cost me anything!  That’s cool, and it helped offset my frustration with the need to go to the dealership to get a flat tire replaced.  45 minutes later, I was headed to work with a new left-front tire, and no out-of-pocket expense. 

The bad: the repair cost for the flat tire was $535.29 for the tire and $46 for the labor, for a grand total of $581.29! To replace a single flat tire. Ouch.
 
I am very unhappy with the fact that I need to go to a Honda dealer to get a simple flat tire problem fixed. And I am horrified that it costs nearly $600 to repair one flat tire.

This Honda policy will leave me with no choice other than to sell my Honda Odyssey the day before my warranty runs out - 3 years from now.

Happy Anniversary - September 4th, 2005