In These Trying Times…
(Is anyone besides me sick of that kind of phrasing?)
*ahem* Back to our Tip of the Week.
I’m making out holiday cards right now. Lovely things, all blue and silver and wintry. Not over-the-top expensive, but not cheap either. They came with lined envelopes, which, after getting the cards ready, I began to stuff.
The cards got caught on the lining, pulled it out partway in some cases, caused all sorts of difficulty.
Turns out that in an apparent cost-cutting measure, these envelopes are only partly lined. Just on the flap where you can see it, and a little ways down. That’s why I’m having trouble.
These are no less expensive than last year’s from the same company, with fully lined envelopes, so I’m paying the same for cheaper stuff.
Nowhere on the box does it say, “partly lined envelopes.” “Lined,” it says. I think I’ll call that lying.
They’re a big pain in the tush. If you don’t want me to notice your cost-cutting measures, or at least don’t want me to complain about it, it better function like it used to.
What’s the solution?
Unlined envelopes.
Pass along a little of the savings to me, save a little for the company. Make a splash about it on the back of the box—”saving you a little money to make your holidays bright!” You could even spin it pleasantly and call it a green initiative. Then I wouldn’t think about your profit motivations, which are really none of my business. If you’re in business, you have profit motivations. So do I. Fine.
In these trying times, all the old rules apply.
Don’t cheap out on your customers and ask them to foot the same bill, or your times are going to get a lot more trying next holiday season.
Partly lined envelopes may save money, but unlined envelopes save customers.
I won’t buy from them again.
We all know that times are tough for business. Got any “cost-cutting measures” that you’d like to see companies trying out?
What cheats bug you, and what can concerned businesses get away with?
Grow and be well,
Kelly Erickson
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6 December 2008, 10:13 am
How about having a three-hour department Christmas Lunch? (sorry, scratch that….HOLIDAY lunch). Held in the middle of the week, during work hours…
that the director encourages everyone to attend….
…where you PAY for your own meal…?
Oh, and you’re told it has to be on your OWN TIME. (i.e. you’re to use up your extra hours of banked time, or take up some of your vacation time).
Oh, that’s rich. That’s just REALLY rich.
God Forbid, DO NOT (under any circumstances) give the staff even three lousy hours off work, once a YEAR…in which to mingle and socialize and (gasp) possibly team-build.
You gotta admit, it WILL cut costs, though. Just like the crummy envelopes you mention.
Because the customers (i.e. staff) might get so irked, they’ll eventually leave, and then the company wont’ have to pay their salary anymore.
(Makes you wonder…maybe this is what they’re trying to do in the first place!)
Friar’s last blog post…Happy Blog Day To Meeeeee.
6 December 2008, 10:25 am
Friar,
I hear a lot of businesses of all sizes are doing away with the holiday lunch altogether, so I guess it could be slightly worse.
I want to tell you that you’re too hard on The Factory, but I can’t seem to say it. Maybe pay for your own meal if times are tough blah-blah, but not dock you for the time you spend there! Are they trying to encourage you to go or discourage you? Come on! That is one draconian place you work for. Time to find out if nuclear engineers in other Factories have the same problems, and find a Factory that needs a brilliant Friar to speed them forward?
Yeesh.
That’s cheats that would bug ANYONE.
Regards,
Kelly
6 December 2008, 10:50 am
@Kelly
Exactly….I’d understand if they wanted to save money and made us pay for our own lunch. Fair enough.
But what really, would it cost them to give the staff three hours off? It’s not like an assembly line would stop and there would be less product to sell. It’s all just paper-pushing work we do. A few hours is NOT going to kill anyone.
In the long run, taking a little break like this would probably HELP productivitiy, by giving people a Time-Out to relax. It would build up work relationships, let the managers have a beer with their staff and get to know them better, it would build up morale.
Am I the ONLY one who sees this? (Surely, the higher-ups would realize this too).
No..I don’t think they’re worried about losing money. I think it’s all about someone High-Up trying to prove a point, and show they have control.
Bah Humbug. Watch how fast I accept the invitation to the “Holiday Lunch”
Cheaters never win.
Friar’s last blog post…Happy Blog Day To Meeeeee.
6 December 2008, 6:12 pm
Hm, lumps of coal. Sounds like lumps of coal holiday dinner….
I hate cheap ribbon. Or cheap wrapping paper. I’ll go to gold or silver tissue if I need to cut corners a bit, but I won’t do super cheap wrap…unless it’s the funny papers. I am usually wrapping art work as gifts. So I try to do the wrap as inexpensively, but as lovely as I can. I actually use print making paper for the silks. You see the costs of making the gift are just the costs of the materials and the doing it, but the value of the gift…well, it’s hand made by someone who really cares. They need to “feel” that.
I understand economy, but sheesh HALF lined?
Janice Cartier’s last blog post…Sugar and Spice
6 December 2008, 9:51 pm
Friar,
Well, it is nukes… perhaps they’re concerned that a few hours off *would* kill someone.
“It would build up work relationships, let the managers have a beer with their staff and get to know them better, it would build up morale.”
If I didn’t know you better I’d swear some of what I write here was rubbing off on you. I like your conclusion, though, and “in these trying times” I think a lot of folks will discover how true it is: Cheaters never win.
Now somebody had better find you some happy juice, and fast!
Janice,
Oooh, I hate cheap wrapping paper too. How many people make their gifts, as you do? Most folks buy them in a half an hour, with as much thought as the time it takes to drive to the mall. You couldn’t put in some time and wrap the blasted thing well?
Me, I try to make at least one of the gifts for everyone on my list, not just to “show” I spent time thinking, but to spend the time thinking about people (try, mind you, nobody’s perfect). It’s for me as much as for them.
No matter whether it’s handmade or purchased, though, I love to go nuts with beautiful wrapping, which doesn’t have to cost a ton. Just thought, and a reasonable eye. I love the look on people’s faces when they don’t want to open a gift from me, he he! Whatever’s inside is made more memorable by that first minute of glee.
Half lined. Unbelievable. That’s the kind of economy that puts you right out of business if a lot of other folks come for the beautiful cards they remember from another year and are shocked by the cheapness of the envelope.
Until later,
Kelly
7 December 2008, 12:17 pm
The partly lined envelopes would have irritate me too! I definitely prefer honesty over cheap tactics. Other cheats that bug me – food packaging! You get less but pay the same with tricky little packaging tactics that are only discerned upon close inspection. I get that prices go up but don’t try to trick me. I also hated the sneaky trick of gas stations charging more per gallon for non-cash paying and not letting you know in advance.
@Friar, I can remember working in Corporate when they eliminated the lavish nighttime holiday parties in favor of lunch. I do think it is insulting to require employees to pay for it with both dollars and time. It seems to me it would have made more sense to have it be a minimal cost to attend that counted as “working” hours rather than vacation time.
Karen Swim’s last blog post…Is It Far Better to Give than Receive?
8 December 2008, 5:12 am
I don’t buy a whole heck of a lot, so I haven’t noticed any cost cutting measures. That being said, the things you all mention would irk me and like you Kelly I would not buy from that company again.
Alex Fayle | Someday Syndrome’s last blog post…A Lab-Rat Looking for Paris: Carrie McK Interview
8 December 2008, 7:01 am
Karen,
Ooh, a pet peeeve. Food and soap. My laundry soap gets smaller and smaller but the packaging stays the same—splash the words “New Formula” all over and add air to the top of the pkg and no one’s the wiser! Grrr..
Even way, way,… way back when, I don’t think I ever went to a nighttime holiday shindig. I must have been with the wrong companies. I’ve held them, but not gone as an employee. Hmpf.
Alex,
He he, I hear you on not buying a lot. So much goes over my head unless I’ve got to look into it for work, or unless it’s an industry I feel like I should keep up on. I call it “keeping fresh perspective.” That’s spin for “I don’t like to sweat the small stuff so I ignore it when possible.”
Ooh, Spanish cost-cutting measure: I went to Spain in the mid-80s and developed an incurable addiction to Nocilla. Incurable in the sense of, I brought some back in my trunk and have hankered for it ever since that last jar ran out, three months after I got back. I even kept the jar as a pencil holder all these years.
Recently Amazon started working with a U.S. importer who gets Nocilla. I ordered the instant I found out. Tick tick tick, in comes my little box, I open it with great fanfare in front of the kid, who knows about my strange affliction, and—
A jar that’s only a third the size of my “pencil holder” pops out of the box. Cost about what a large peanut butter does, just as it did when it was properly sized. But itty-bitty. *big sigh*
On the other hand, it was simply wonderful; unlike most childhood food tastes, it held up to adult scrutiny quite well.
Until later,
Kelly
8 December 2008, 9:48 am
Nocilla? Is that like Nutella? Have to look it up.
Janice Cartier’s last blog post…Sugar and Spice
8 December 2008, 12:18 pm
I recently had a letdown with — of all companies — Consumer Reports.
I was at the grocery store the other day and saw the Consumer Reports – Canadian Edition in the rack. The feature was on cell phones and providers, and since we’re thinking of getting a new cell phone, I picked it up.
Well, I was very disappointed. Part was my own fault — US magazines sold in Canada with Canadian advertisers have to feature Canadian content, and although I don’t know all the ins and outs, basically they repackage the same content. In other words, I should have realized that most of the articles would still be US-centric.
So it took me a minute to realize that these “new federal regulations” I was just hearing about were actually in the States. Of course, there was rampant US spelling (which always irks me in a “Canadian” magazine), and no real attempt to change measurements or pricing. Of course the reference to the “new” Smart car was also a put-off — they’ve been in Canada for years, and are hardly new.
Again, likely my own fault here, but I had higher hopes for the “Canadian” content section. I was to be let down once again.
The four-page Canadian insert used a rougher stock, and still continued with US spellings. And their “complete” coverage of Canadian cell phone service providers missed at least two providers I know of, including one in my area.
But the real kicker was that in this, the “Canadian” section of the magazine, written by the “Canadian” editor, it talked about the poor state of cell phone service “north of the border”. The only thing north of the border is the North Pole, except for a few places where you might hit the US (Alaska) or Denmark (Greenland).
It made me realize how highly I regarded Consumer Reports, with my assumption that it would at least make an effort to truly make its magazine a “Canadian Edition”. My regard has declined somewhat, as you may have suspected…
Thanks for listening — and good luck with your search for a new Christmas card provider!
~Graham
Graham Strong’s last blog post…John Lennon
8 December 2008, 1:44 pm
What the Frak is Nocilla?
8 December 2008, 2:00 pm
Janice,
Yes, but much much better. Much much much…
Graham,
That is sad, yet I laughed. My goodness, how can they call it a Canadian edition? I assume they’ve been around quite a while in Canada?
I mean, if they just fell off the turnip truck a letter to the “Canadian” editor might do some good, but jeez, if they’ve been around a while then not only have they heard it all before but they’ve decided to ignore it.
For a mag I really admire, neanderthal-spelling and all
, that shocks me.
Friar,
Hazelnut butter, with a lovely hint of cocoa. Make the most amazing morning toast on 7-grain bread… mmm.
Until later,
Kelly
8 December 2008, 2:02 pm
@Friar
Here’s the site: http://www.nocilla.es/
I can’t eat it because for me it’s waaaaay too sweet.
Alex Fayle | Someday Syndrome’s last blog post…A Lab-Rat Looking for Paris: Carrie McK Interview
8 December 2008, 2:31 pm
Ooh Thanks Alex… might have to see if Central market happens to have some, or Whole Foods. Or, sheesh.. another reason to go to Barcelona…..;-)
Nocilla crepes….we use the Nutella to spread on our crepes here.
Janice Cartier’s last blog post…Raspberry Twists
8 December 2008, 2:41 pm
Alex,
Once upon a time I was so dying for “El Sabor Más Delicioso” (I don’t think they use that tagline anymore, do they?) that I even wrote to corporate to suggest a few U.S. places that might carry it, or beg for shipping from Spain. Never heard back, not even a Muchas gracias. Pfft.
Janice,
If Whole Foods carries it I’d be surprised. There’s got to be some serious preservatives in it, I suspect.
Yum anyway, say I.
Later,
Kelly
8 December 2008, 3:37 pm
@Kelly and Alex
Nocilla sounds good….I suspect it’s similar to Nutella.
@Janice
I still love just plain old icing sugar wrapped up in my crepes (well, at least the pancake-crepes my grandma used to make). You eat 2-3 of those and you lie down and bloat. You aren’t required to eat for the rest of the month.
Friar’s last blog post…Friar’s Revised Zodiac Signs
8 December 2008, 4:00 pm
Friar,
Like a snake?
Not sure I’d want that feeling!
8 December 2008, 4:30 pm
Ahhh, comfort food…..Kelly, I can see a Friar Toon like the Little Prince hat drawing only it’s Friar as an anaconda full of Grammy’s crepes. LOL…with a huge smile on his face.
Janice Cartier’s last blog post…Raspberry Twists
8 December 2008, 5:51 pm
@Kelly
Grandma cooked like that all the time. “War Food”, Brett and I call it. Butter, sugar, flour…ingredients that are easy to find, and fills you up. That’s probably how she helped keep her family alive through WWII and German occupation of Poland.
Only I DID find some of her food hard to digest. The crepes are okay. But her Pound Cake? Or Christmas cookies? Holy crap, you take ONE bite, it’s so heavy, it plummets into your stomach (KABOOM) and you’re done for the night.
PS. Janice, as a kid, I always HATED the Little Prince (never did understand the appeal!)
Friar’s last blog post…Friar’s Revised Zodiac Signs
8 December 2008, 6:26 pm
Ahh, Friar, it’s an acquired taste probably, but Exupery is a magical kind of guy… maybe take your Bear and the Little Prince out under the stars one night and read it to him,see it through Exupery’s eyes…. grog , would require grog… and a flashlight… and gramdma’s crepes for the bear.
Janice Cartier’s last blog post…Raspberry Twists
8 December 2008, 11:04 pm
Friar,
“War food.” I’m well-acquainted with it, and a bit queasy just thinking of it. My mother’s mother would butter anything that wasn’t nailed down, better still if she could boil it until it was a lovely shade of grey first. Oh, dear, did I say that?
Ah, well. Everybody’s grandma did it, probably.
Janice,
My daughter and I hadn’t read the little dude in years, and we picked it up and read it together again this summer. She cried for the little fellow. That’s saying as lot, b/c she is not the sentimental one in our house.
The buttoned-up ol’ Capricorn has a mushy spot. Or a few… but I held on to read about that magical Little Prince with her, once again. The enormity of life… the choices.. the sacrifices… that one, great love… *sniff*
Later,
Kelly