There's a rumor out today of a test going on at one McDonalds in the US (in San Diego as the story goes)....where they intend to take a number of breakfast items on the menu and just keep them up all day long.
Over the past year.....McDonalds has hit some business peak and gone a step backwards. The CEO was let go a month ago and they are in the mind to take aggressive steps to regain business. But this gimmick of breakfast all day?
I have had breakfast at both McDonalds and Burger King over the past few years. To be honest.....it's my absolute last choice. Other than the sausage biscuit at both.....it's a one-star breakfast in my mind. There's no real taste and the quality just isn't noticeable. I might give a thumbs-up on the pancake menu but that's a marginal thumbs-up.
Making a difference? I'm guessing around some retirement communities....there might be some interest in this idea, but I doubt if you'd sell some breakfast item after noon to more than twenty people.
The other day here in Germany.....I walked by a Subway location and they had introduced a breakfast menu.....an odd selection but there were a dozen people standing there....sipping coffee and eating some kind of egg-sausage combo.
Threatening the business angle of Waffle House? No....it's hard for McDonalds to meet the greasy quality, salty texture, and fatty nature of my favorite breakfast enterprise. I admit....it doesn't matter....6AM, noon or 6PM.....I'd still order the breakfast menu at Waffle House. Maybe McDonalds figures you'd eventually get addicted to their gimmick.
Tuesday, 31 March 2015
Monday, 30 March 2015
Fixing the Unbroken Thing and Then Fixing the Fix
Years ago, I made a simple decision (without a lot of forethought) of joining the Air Force. There was a ten-minute video that the recruiter played of basic training....to ensure that I understood the six-week training episode.
The goal in the mid-70's for Air Force basic training was simple. Teach the overall idea of obeying a standard of work ethic. They structured the barracks life, the folding of t-shirts and underwear (along with socks) into part of that work ethic. Clustered around this....was the art of marching. The icing on the cake was physical activities which got you into fairly decent shape within a six-week period. If you weren't in shape prior to arrival.....you were by the sixth week.
There were around a dozen hours of training structured into mental things....like racism and sexism. It was a basic introduction to behavior modification.
Then you left and went off to some technical training school.
To be honest....all of the folding of t-shirts, underwear and socks came to an absolute end. Lights out or curfew basically ended. The mental stuff on racism and sexism? That continued on as you arrived at each new base.....you had a half-day reminder thrust upon you.
I'll be honest....it's hard to modify an eighteen-year-old kid in six weeks. Even if you had nine weeks...it's difficult to modify someone. Basic Training is just a brief orientation course to get you up to a certain level.
Occasionally.....roughly every decade....the generals and chiefs meet and resolve to fix a "broke" Basic Training situation for the Air Force. Folks kinda laugh about this. After the Vietnam War, I came into the newer structured Air Force....no push-ups, more emphasis on avoiding sexism and racism, and gentle reminders by the instructors instead of harsh 'yelling'.
In the eighties, they resolved to fix Basic Training again. In the nineties.....another new repair job. And a decade ago came what I'd refer to as "Strike Force" training.....making the Air Force appear slightly more Army than the previous Air Force.
To accomplish the new agenda....they needed to roughly two more weeks. This meant more physical challenges....more compound-like scenarios....sandbags...guns....etc.
This all came after 9-11 and the Air Force slowly got drafted into handing young airman, NCOs and junior officers over to ground units in Afghanistan and Iraq. Convoy and guard duty. Not of the jobs fit into the previous Air Force structure or training. So they actually had to invent another class for everyone to attend and learn how to act "Army". I know.....it was fairly amusing. If you wanted to be "Army"......you would have joined the Army.
The generals and chiefs took some criticism and rebuilt Air Force Basic Training into this "Strike Force" idea (my term for it, not theirs).
The odd thing with the two extra weeks added to the training schedule.....not one single extra training was added to the manpower listings. Yeah....it was amazing that they actually accomplished this without any extra help.
Oddly, within five years.....various sandals started to erupt out of Basic Training. Most of it was because instructors were caught doing stupid stuff.
Blame? Well....they eventually decided that there just wasn't enough character-building in boot-camp. So another new fix is being prepared and introduced (the next version of Air Force Basic Training), and it's all about older officers and instructors (not necessarily NCOs) instructing on character-building. The program name? "Capstone".
What CAN you teach in eight to nine weeks to radically change some kid out of high school? Basically, you are asking for the impossible. This might come across to a quarter of the folks there, but the bulk probably need an entire year of character-building.....to have any measurable results. Then the odd thing is that you'd turn those young folks loose onto the corrupted Air Force world and watch them ask stupid questions of older NCOs and officers in general.
I came to a radical point in the 1990s before retiring from the Air Force....where I questioned anyone who said something was 'broke' and needed fixing. I often had found that solutions were often the trigger of a consequence, and actually made a situation much worse than it already was. Rather than revamping an entire program.....if you marginally made one simple change....the effect of the change solved the entire problem. Rather than million-dollar solutions....I came to realize the nickel-solution was often more practical.
The problem with nickel-solutions is that no one gets medals for them or promotion brownie-points. Everyone wants mega changes that revolve around entire new manpower solutions or costly structural changes.
A decade from now.....the Air Force generals and chiefs will meet again....some new scandal....some newly created problem, and fix up another massive change. In forty years....I expect Air Force boot-camp to be an entire year in length. No one will be able to explain why, but they will discover that character-building is not a one-week phase of life introduction. It requires something that classrooms can't deliver upon.
Just my two cents of humble observation.
The goal in the mid-70's for Air Force basic training was simple. Teach the overall idea of obeying a standard of work ethic. They structured the barracks life, the folding of t-shirts and underwear (along with socks) into part of that work ethic. Clustered around this....was the art of marching. The icing on the cake was physical activities which got you into fairly decent shape within a six-week period. If you weren't in shape prior to arrival.....you were by the sixth week.
There were around a dozen hours of training structured into mental things....like racism and sexism. It was a basic introduction to behavior modification.
Then you left and went off to some technical training school.
To be honest....all of the folding of t-shirts, underwear and socks came to an absolute end. Lights out or curfew basically ended. The mental stuff on racism and sexism? That continued on as you arrived at each new base.....you had a half-day reminder thrust upon you.
I'll be honest....it's hard to modify an eighteen-year-old kid in six weeks. Even if you had nine weeks...it's difficult to modify someone. Basic Training is just a brief orientation course to get you up to a certain level.
Occasionally.....roughly every decade....the generals and chiefs meet and resolve to fix a "broke" Basic Training situation for the Air Force. Folks kinda laugh about this. After the Vietnam War, I came into the newer structured Air Force....no push-ups, more emphasis on avoiding sexism and racism, and gentle reminders by the instructors instead of harsh 'yelling'.
In the eighties, they resolved to fix Basic Training again. In the nineties.....another new repair job. And a decade ago came what I'd refer to as "Strike Force" training.....making the Air Force appear slightly more Army than the previous Air Force.
To accomplish the new agenda....they needed to roughly two more weeks. This meant more physical challenges....more compound-like scenarios....sandbags...guns....etc.
This all came after 9-11 and the Air Force slowly got drafted into handing young airman, NCOs and junior officers over to ground units in Afghanistan and Iraq. Convoy and guard duty. Not of the jobs fit into the previous Air Force structure or training. So they actually had to invent another class for everyone to attend and learn how to act "Army". I know.....it was fairly amusing. If you wanted to be "Army"......you would have joined the Army.
The generals and chiefs took some criticism and rebuilt Air Force Basic Training into this "Strike Force" idea (my term for it, not theirs).
The odd thing with the two extra weeks added to the training schedule.....not one single extra training was added to the manpower listings. Yeah....it was amazing that they actually accomplished this without any extra help.
Oddly, within five years.....various sandals started to erupt out of Basic Training. Most of it was because instructors were caught doing stupid stuff.
Blame? Well....they eventually decided that there just wasn't enough character-building in boot-camp. So another new fix is being prepared and introduced (the next version of Air Force Basic Training), and it's all about older officers and instructors (not necessarily NCOs) instructing on character-building. The program name? "Capstone".
What CAN you teach in eight to nine weeks to radically change some kid out of high school? Basically, you are asking for the impossible. This might come across to a quarter of the folks there, but the bulk probably need an entire year of character-building.....to have any measurable results. Then the odd thing is that you'd turn those young folks loose onto the corrupted Air Force world and watch them ask stupid questions of older NCOs and officers in general.
I came to a radical point in the 1990s before retiring from the Air Force....where I questioned anyone who said something was 'broke' and needed fixing. I often had found that solutions were often the trigger of a consequence, and actually made a situation much worse than it already was. Rather than revamping an entire program.....if you marginally made one simple change....the effect of the change solved the entire problem. Rather than million-dollar solutions....I came to realize the nickel-solution was often more practical.
The problem with nickel-solutions is that no one gets medals for them or promotion brownie-points. Everyone wants mega changes that revolve around entire new manpower solutions or costly structural changes.
A decade from now.....the Air Force generals and chiefs will meet again....some new scandal....some newly created problem, and fix up another massive change. In forty years....I expect Air Force boot-camp to be an entire year in length. No one will be able to explain why, but they will discover that character-building is not a one-week phase of life introduction. It requires something that classrooms can't deliver upon.
Just my two cents of humble observation.
Saturday, 28 March 2015
Bergdahl's Defense Strategy
Late yesterday, the news folks got ahold of Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl's chief defense strategy. Apparently, he will say in court....that he was intending to get up and go out the front gate.....walking to the nearest Army post nearby.....to report his commander and unit for discipline issues and wrongdoing. He apparently didn't trust his commander or unit, and felt that by going to the next unit down the road.....they'd take his report and actually act upon it.
Somewhere in his thinking....he felt he had sufficient survivor skills to handle this "walk" from his days of youth in Idaho.
The general problem with this defense?
Imagine this scenario with yourself. You are married and live fifteen miles west of Memphis. The nearest cop station is fifteen east of Memphis. A thirty mile distance. Your wife has clobbered you with a bat, dumped all your beer, and even stabbed your shoulder. She took away your car keys and your gun. Your chief priority? Oddly, rather than just walk away or call your buddy to get you, or just apologize for your 'mistake'.....you decide to walk to the cop station thirty miles away....through the heart of Memphis, gang territory, and hoodlum activity. The closer you get to Memphis....the more stupid this idea gets. You do all of this....without a gun in your possession. The odds of making it? Fifty-fifty. Someone will rob you.....assault you.....or kill you before you get to your destination.
Bergdahl wants you to believe that this was a brilliant idea on his part and the only way to solve the situation in the unit. How will a jury of military peers (combat-hardened gentlemen and ladies) take this strategy? It won't work. If he had taken his weapon with him, this suggestion of some 'walk' might come across to two or three members of the jury as possible. But he didn't take his rifle with him. He had no intention of protecting himself once he left the confines of the compound.
By suggesting this.....there's probably another three days of court activity involved because now the whole unit will be examined for minor details and red-flags over their morale and discipline. Rather than making the case against Bergdahl....they now have to investigate the unit itself. The problem will be that almost every single person in the unit will come to the stand and defend the unit, the Sergeant Major, and the Commander. It'll be impossible for Berdahl to find anyone to back-up some part of his gimmick strategy.
The better strategy? Just say you had PTSD and weren't able to comprehend your situation. Maybe half the jury members will buy into this episode.
I won't blame Bergdahl for this strategy....his lawyer is the one pushing on this idea....but if you were up for life in prison, this 'walk' strategy is the weakest idea possible.
Somewhere in his thinking....he felt he had sufficient survivor skills to handle this "walk" from his days of youth in Idaho.
The general problem with this defense?
Imagine this scenario with yourself. You are married and live fifteen miles west of Memphis. The nearest cop station is fifteen east of Memphis. A thirty mile distance. Your wife has clobbered you with a bat, dumped all your beer, and even stabbed your shoulder. She took away your car keys and your gun. Your chief priority? Oddly, rather than just walk away or call your buddy to get you, or just apologize for your 'mistake'.....you decide to walk to the cop station thirty miles away....through the heart of Memphis, gang territory, and hoodlum activity. The closer you get to Memphis....the more stupid this idea gets. You do all of this....without a gun in your possession. The odds of making it? Fifty-fifty. Someone will rob you.....assault you.....or kill you before you get to your destination.
Bergdahl wants you to believe that this was a brilliant idea on his part and the only way to solve the situation in the unit. How will a jury of military peers (combat-hardened gentlemen and ladies) take this strategy? It won't work. If he had taken his weapon with him, this suggestion of some 'walk' might come across to two or three members of the jury as possible. But he didn't take his rifle with him. He had no intention of protecting himself once he left the confines of the compound.
By suggesting this.....there's probably another three days of court activity involved because now the whole unit will be examined for minor details and red-flags over their morale and discipline. Rather than making the case against Bergdahl....they now have to investigate the unit itself. The problem will be that almost every single person in the unit will come to the stand and defend the unit, the Sergeant Major, and the Commander. It'll be impossible for Berdahl to find anyone to back-up some part of his gimmick strategy.
The better strategy? Just say you had PTSD and weren't able to comprehend your situation. Maybe half the jury members will buy into this episode.
I won't blame Bergdahl for this strategy....his lawyer is the one pushing on this idea....but if you were up for life in prison, this 'walk' strategy is the weakest idea possible.
Friday, 27 March 2015
A Bold New and Unsafe World
There's a point in the evolution of society where you can imagine a bunch of children being given a process....a tool....a great step in society, and they simply can't handle it.
This past weekend in Denver....a family came up to Denver (from Tulsa) and were going to have a long ski-week. Somewhere in the midst of this....one member of the family has decided to have an experience with weed...since it's legal now in Colorado.
The young guy (23 years old from what the news folks say)....had a college education and probably was fairly smart....at least on the books.
He ended up buying around $75 of marijuana and edibles.
There are precise written instructions on the packets that you buy. Each is packed into a box or plastic baggy that says each is one unit (10 mg of the active ingredient of marijuana). Then it notes....you need to give it some time (like 60 to 120 minutes). It kinda hints....don't react stupidly and try two or three edibles....expecting a bigger reaction or faster reaction.
With family members around.....the guy does one unit of edibles. He's expecting some high. It's not coming like he expects.
So he does another edible. Nothing. He will do five edibles (five times the normal dose of marijuana). The family simply notes that around an hour later.....he's a bit different. Eventually, the family will leave the hotel and think he just needs some time alone.
He will pull out a pistol and end up shooting himself.
What the local doctors will say is that he 'overdosed' on the edibles.....five times the normal dose.
Toxicology results will be a month away. The authorities will wrap up the death certificate then, and simply note an overdose leading to his own actions.
Generally, one joint is one unit, and one unit is one high. Once we entered into this modern era with all types of possibilities and no legalized control....it was wide-open. A dimwit could walk into a weed-shop....buy a dozen edibles and in two hours find himself in a fallen mental state and deduce the need to kill himself or others over some mental fantasy or worry.
The world is a bit less safe than we'd like to admit.
This past weekend in Denver....a family came up to Denver (from Tulsa) and were going to have a long ski-week. Somewhere in the midst of this....one member of the family has decided to have an experience with weed...since it's legal now in Colorado.
The young guy (23 years old from what the news folks say)....had a college education and probably was fairly smart....at least on the books.
He ended up buying around $75 of marijuana and edibles.
There are precise written instructions on the packets that you buy. Each is packed into a box or plastic baggy that says each is one unit (10 mg of the active ingredient of marijuana). Then it notes....you need to give it some time (like 60 to 120 minutes). It kinda hints....don't react stupidly and try two or three edibles....expecting a bigger reaction or faster reaction.
With family members around.....the guy does one unit of edibles. He's expecting some high. It's not coming like he expects.
So he does another edible. Nothing. He will do five edibles (five times the normal dose of marijuana). The family simply notes that around an hour later.....he's a bit different. Eventually, the family will leave the hotel and think he just needs some time alone.
He will pull out a pistol and end up shooting himself.
What the local doctors will say is that he 'overdosed' on the edibles.....five times the normal dose.
Toxicology results will be a month away. The authorities will wrap up the death certificate then, and simply note an overdose leading to his own actions.
Generally, one joint is one unit, and one unit is one high. Once we entered into this modern era with all types of possibilities and no legalized control....it was wide-open. A dimwit could walk into a weed-shop....buy a dozen edibles and in two hours find himself in a fallen mental state and deduce the need to kill himself or others over some mental fantasy or worry.
The world is a bit less safe than we'd like to admit.
Thursday, 26 March 2015
The Bergdahl Story
A simple take on Bow Bergdahl....the Army guy who paid five Islamic terrorists for and some cash via the middle-guy....who yesterday was announced on the short list for court martial. Charges? Desertion and misbehaving before the enemy.
If convicted on desertion....he gets five years max.
For misbehaving before the enemy? This is an odd charge and rarely if ever used. You'd basically have to have some evidence of a sort that indicates that he cooperated with the enemy and helped them in some fashion. For this....you get life in an Army prison as the max.
For those who might think this is like the OJ case and the court episode will take weeks and months....no. This entire court case will likely wrap up in seven to ten court-session days (two weeks or less).
The prosecution merely needs to show that on X-day....Bergdahl is reported missing, and indications are that he walked out....leaving his weapon behind. Enough bits of evidence exist (mailing his gear back to the state the week or two prior was the big hint with months left to go on the tour) to show his intention.
Around twenty members of his unit will testify and it'll go fairly negative for the defense. There are few questions that can trip these guys up.
Then we come to the defense moments....Bergdahl was crazy. He was crazy when the Coast Guard discharged him from boot camp. He was crazy in high school. He was crazy when the Army granted him a waiver to join after the mental issues were noted on the Coast Guard paperwork. He was crazy when he deployed and he was crazy for the whole time that the Taliban guys were holding him.
The Army response will be that they have 500,000 crazy folks and none of them ran off to the Taliban.
For the jury, the crazy factor will help on the one charge of misbehavior with the enemy. If he was nuts....he couldn't be held responsible for his actions. The desertion thing? Oh, that's acceptable and he'll do the five years for that. At that point, the jury will wrap things up....convict him on one charge and he quietly does four to five years.
Upon release? Well....it's just me talking here.....but I'm of the mind he'll board a plane and make his way to the Pakistan, where he'll be captured again. Yeah.....he IS that crazy and stupid enough to do something like that.
A movie on this? Maybe....but it's going to be hard to make him look anyway....but plain stupid and crazy.
If convicted on desertion....he gets five years max.
For misbehaving before the enemy? This is an odd charge and rarely if ever used. You'd basically have to have some evidence of a sort that indicates that he cooperated with the enemy and helped them in some fashion. For this....you get life in an Army prison as the max.
For those who might think this is like the OJ case and the court episode will take weeks and months....no. This entire court case will likely wrap up in seven to ten court-session days (two weeks or less).
The prosecution merely needs to show that on X-day....Bergdahl is reported missing, and indications are that he walked out....leaving his weapon behind. Enough bits of evidence exist (mailing his gear back to the state the week or two prior was the big hint with months left to go on the tour) to show his intention.
Around twenty members of his unit will testify and it'll go fairly negative for the defense. There are few questions that can trip these guys up.
Then we come to the defense moments....Bergdahl was crazy. He was crazy when the Coast Guard discharged him from boot camp. He was crazy in high school. He was crazy when the Army granted him a waiver to join after the mental issues were noted on the Coast Guard paperwork. He was crazy when he deployed and he was crazy for the whole time that the Taliban guys were holding him.
The Army response will be that they have 500,000 crazy folks and none of them ran off to the Taliban.
For the jury, the crazy factor will help on the one charge of misbehavior with the enemy. If he was nuts....he couldn't be held responsible for his actions. The desertion thing? Oh, that's acceptable and he'll do the five years for that. At that point, the jury will wrap things up....convict him on one charge and he quietly does four to five years.
Upon release? Well....it's just me talking here.....but I'm of the mind he'll board a plane and make his way to the Pakistan, where he'll be captured again. Yeah.....he IS that crazy and stupid enough to do something like that.
A movie on this? Maybe....but it's going to be hard to make him look anyway....but plain stupid and crazy.
After Watching Breaking Bad
I'm one of those guys who generally misses big-name TV shows and catches up months and even years later. Seinfeld, The Seventies Show, Law and Order, Friends? Most I ended up watching three to five years after they ended. That's mostly because of life overseas.
Today, after an entire month....I've finally watched all of Breaking Bad. It ended around two years ago. Yeah, it just wasn't on my must-watch list at the time.
So my five observations after turbo-viewing the sixty-two episodes?
One. It is probably one of the best written and epic stories that TV ever produced. I should point out....it wasn't the big three (CBS, NBC, or ABC) or the Cable thugs (Showtime or HBO). It was an AMC production. They didn't go over the top or hire four-star actors....they knew they could get decent actors....give them a great script....and they'd turn in four-star performances.
Two. From the first ten episodes....I was all bought into Walt's idea and mission in life. I was all connected to Jessie maturing and getting clean one day. By the final ten episodes....I hated Walter White immensely....his character was no longer a likable guy. As for Jessie....somewhere along the bitter end....he wised up. They leave you with a mystery on what happens to Jessie next. Maybe in five years.....Jessie turns up somewhere in another show.
Three. Breaking Bad is a great tool to lecture people on the business side of drugs. There is a distribution system, a manufacturing system, an advertising system, a regulatory commission of sorts, a customer complaint system, and rich guys at the top who act as CEOs.
Four. By the end...with about six exceptions....virtually every single character that you met along the way is dead. Saul, the crappy but dependable lawyer? He survives, and one might suspect him turning up one day....maybe in Mississippi or Jacksonville. My favorite short-term character? Jessie's heron girlfriend. You could tell in the first five minutes upon introduction.....she just wasn't going to be around for more than five or six episodes.
Five. The big three (CBS, NBC, and ABC) have a problem. They can't produce shows like this. The public will eventually figure this out.
After you sit and watch fifty-odd hours of this....you have a good idea of the meth world.....the characters involved...the business connection....and marginal amount of time you have to make money, then lose money. Maybe in some way.....there's a great business side to Breaking Bad....showing the decision process and how a company can fail quickly on bad decision-making.
Worth watching? Yeah. Just don't get attached to any characters.....some get whacked pretty quick.
Today, after an entire month....I've finally watched all of Breaking Bad. It ended around two years ago. Yeah, it just wasn't on my must-watch list at the time.
So my five observations after turbo-viewing the sixty-two episodes?
One. It is probably one of the best written and epic stories that TV ever produced. I should point out....it wasn't the big three (CBS, NBC, or ABC) or the Cable thugs (Showtime or HBO). It was an AMC production. They didn't go over the top or hire four-star actors....they knew they could get decent actors....give them a great script....and they'd turn in four-star performances.
Two. From the first ten episodes....I was all bought into Walt's idea and mission in life. I was all connected to Jessie maturing and getting clean one day. By the final ten episodes....I hated Walter White immensely....his character was no longer a likable guy. As for Jessie....somewhere along the bitter end....he wised up. They leave you with a mystery on what happens to Jessie next. Maybe in five years.....Jessie turns up somewhere in another show.
Three. Breaking Bad is a great tool to lecture people on the business side of drugs. There is a distribution system, a manufacturing system, an advertising system, a regulatory commission of sorts, a customer complaint system, and rich guys at the top who act as CEOs.
Four. By the end...with about six exceptions....virtually every single character that you met along the way is dead. Saul, the crappy but dependable lawyer? He survives, and one might suspect him turning up one day....maybe in Mississippi or Jacksonville. My favorite short-term character? Jessie's heron girlfriend. You could tell in the first five minutes upon introduction.....she just wasn't going to be around for more than five or six episodes.
Five. The big three (CBS, NBC, and ABC) have a problem. They can't produce shows like this. The public will eventually figure this out.
After you sit and watch fifty-odd hours of this....you have a good idea of the meth world.....the characters involved...the business connection....and marginal amount of time you have to make money, then lose money. Maybe in some way.....there's a great business side to Breaking Bad....showing the decision process and how a company can fail quickly on bad decision-making.
Worth watching? Yeah. Just don't get attached to any characters.....some get whacked pretty quick.
The Radio Shack Listing
As Radio Shack proceeds through bankruptcy (yeah, it's been a written goal of theirs for two decades to fail)....they've come to announce that they intend to sell their customer database as part of the proceedings.
The list? 117-million customers.
Various parties are hostile about this customer database being sold and don't think it's ethical. Some folks have pointed out that everyone had the chance to say 'no' and just not give the information. Some will say that the list has value and might be worth in the range of five-million dollars (on the high side, if you ask me....I'd value it at $200,000 max).
I've sat and pondered over this. It's an odd thing. If you really had 117-million active customers....you wouldn't be going bankrupt.
So I pondered upon this. I can remember in 1976 walking into the Radio Shack of the town where I grew up and buying an item, and they collected the customer data even then.
I'm only suggesting this because they certainly won't admit it.....but this list of 117-million names probably is every single customer they've had since the mid-1970s. I would even go a step further.....that twenty-percent of the listing are simply dead people. And I'll even suggest that twenty-five percent are people who've moved in the past twenty years.
I've used Radio Shack on fifteen-to-twenty occasions since 1977 when I joined the Air Force. They've probably got my name down, with at least six different addresses.
Actual value, if proven true? Maybe $10,000 because you just don't know how accurate it really is.
This brings me around to the long-term strategy plan of Radio Shack. I'm one of those people who saw the writing on the wall in the 1990s. Whatever strategy they had....it was simple and limited to probably a three-by-five inch card. Once we emerged into the technology era of the 1990s....they should have picked up the hint.
They could have put a new look onto the stores. They could have been at the front of the cellphone sales era. They could have aimed more gadgets at kids. There should have been a Xmas gift catalog every single year with emphasis on guys.
Instead....they just stayed with the 1970s scheme...a shop for geeky guys. It lasted fifty years and it was simple. Lets face it....before Ebay or Amazon came along.....if you wanted some hard-to-get electronic items....Radio Shack was 'it'. You usually couldn't find another special store like this within 300 miles of your home. They just didn't figure out the strength of the on-line competition until it was too late to fix anything.
Amazon buying the 117-million customer list? No. I'd lay down a good bet that they don't have any interest. In fact....it's hard to think of a name-brand company who'd like to lay out hundreds of thousands on this type of listing.
Bottom line? Radio Shack spent thousands of hours collecting this stupid data, and never knew how to really utilize it. Now? They think they have something of value? It just doesn't make sense.
The list? 117-million customers.
Various parties are hostile about this customer database being sold and don't think it's ethical. Some folks have pointed out that everyone had the chance to say 'no' and just not give the information. Some will say that the list has value and might be worth in the range of five-million dollars (on the high side, if you ask me....I'd value it at $200,000 max).
I've sat and pondered over this. It's an odd thing. If you really had 117-million active customers....you wouldn't be going bankrupt.
So I pondered upon this. I can remember in 1976 walking into the Radio Shack of the town where I grew up and buying an item, and they collected the customer data even then.
I'm only suggesting this because they certainly won't admit it.....but this list of 117-million names probably is every single customer they've had since the mid-1970s. I would even go a step further.....that twenty-percent of the listing are simply dead people. And I'll even suggest that twenty-five percent are people who've moved in the past twenty years.
I've used Radio Shack on fifteen-to-twenty occasions since 1977 when I joined the Air Force. They've probably got my name down, with at least six different addresses.
Actual value, if proven true? Maybe $10,000 because you just don't know how accurate it really is.
This brings me around to the long-term strategy plan of Radio Shack. I'm one of those people who saw the writing on the wall in the 1990s. Whatever strategy they had....it was simple and limited to probably a three-by-five inch card. Once we emerged into the technology era of the 1990s....they should have picked up the hint.
They could have put a new look onto the stores. They could have been at the front of the cellphone sales era. They could have aimed more gadgets at kids. There should have been a Xmas gift catalog every single year with emphasis on guys.
Instead....they just stayed with the 1970s scheme...a shop for geeky guys. It lasted fifty years and it was simple. Lets face it....before Ebay or Amazon came along.....if you wanted some hard-to-get electronic items....Radio Shack was 'it'. You usually couldn't find another special store like this within 300 miles of your home. They just didn't figure out the strength of the on-line competition until it was too late to fix anything.
Amazon buying the 117-million customer list? No. I'd lay down a good bet that they don't have any interest. In fact....it's hard to think of a name-brand company who'd like to lay out hundreds of thousands on this type of listing.
Bottom line? Radio Shack spent thousands of hours collecting this stupid data, and never knew how to really utilize it. Now? They think they have something of value? It just doesn't make sense.
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