Yearly Archives: 2012

Death of Hostess Company And Possible Results

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First of, let me say that I think it’s foolish of the Baker’s Union to let the Hostess Company fail.  In my opinion reduced income is better than no income!

The Hostess company have filed for bankruptcy before back in 2004.  The cause of the previous bankruptcy was debt!  The debt was comprised of pension obligations, labor and a product that is falling out of favor with consumers (I use to love twinkies, but I haven’t bought one in years).

The Hostess company did emerge from bankruptcy in 2009 (with the help of money from 2 hedge funds), but apparently it wasn’t enough.

One of the unions (the Teamsters) already agreed to cuts.  Perhaps the Teamsters realized that the company was already in trouble financially and the extended strike would put it out of business (which it appears it now is).

It’s a shame the baker’s union didn’t talk to the Teamsters union about why they took the offer.  Perhaps this company would still be running today.  I think unions should understand finances before making demands.

What will happen to our Twinkies (Ho Hos and Wonderbread too)?

Basically, it will either be absorbed by other competing companies in the same industry, or an up-shoot will be created overseas and produce the same product that will be shipped here and sold.  The labor is so cheap overseas that it still might be worth it to build a plant over there, even with the shipping cost included.  Of course, there is always Mexico too, perhaps someone will setup a plant down there.  Anyway that you look at it, the Baker’s union workers are the ones that will lose.  This is a sad day for them, especially with a potential recession looming next year, and the flight of companies to countries with a much cheaper labor force.  I wonder when someone in the government will start to work on the currency issue and how it doesn’t make sense that working in the US workers get paid around $20 per hr vs less than $1.5 per hr is certain countries.

I know there aren’t any easy solutions, but until such financial inequalities are addressed, I can see more and more US companies closing. If a product cost $2.00 to produce in the US to make and put that product on a department shelf, and if a similar product only cost $1.00 from an overseas company to make and put on the shelf right beside the US one… Well, based on the success of Walmart, it’s kind of obvious which product will be bought by consumers.  After all, who want to pay more for essentially the same or extremely similar product?

On a lighter, more temporary note, I’m sure these Hostess products will increase store sales in the very short term as people try to get their one last chance to eat a Twinkie or whatever their favorite Hostess Product was…

Sad day, not only for the Hostess products, but also the 18,500 jobs lost!

Don

Getting Your Ideas Implemented

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Taking in account my personal history, I’ve been doing it wrong when it comes to getting my ideas implemented or my problems resolved.  You see, in the past, I would stop perusing an idea or problem once I encountered rejection (credit card companies bank on this… literally).  For instance, I’d have an incredible idea at work and I’d share it with a peer or boss, but because of lack of understand or because of the poor way that I communicated it to them, my idea would encounter a negative response and I would get discouraged and give.  Today I know better, today I politely take a different path in getting my ideas implemented

Oh sure, I’ve heard the old saying: “Try and Try again”, but for some reason I associated it with actually doing work after the idea(s) have been agreed upon.  Now, I realize that sometimes even the ideas need to be “Tried and tried again”, here’s why:

Over the past five years, one particular co-worker at work continues to make personal calls during work time (not lunch) to accomplish things.  While I don’t totally agree with the use of company time as much as he used it to accomplish his personal agenda, I have learned a few things be quietly listening to his actions and results that has benefited me greatly.  In addition, I’ve seen him use similar approaches with his work related ideas to get them implemented too!

Steps to Take to Get Your Ideas Implemented or Issues Resolved

  1. Be direct, but polite and confident in expressing your idea or issues.
  2. If you encounter an “A-hole” as the customer service rep., politely exit and call again.  Many times you will get someone who might be more agreeable to your concerns the second, third or sometimes even fourth time.
  3. If the person taking your call doesn’t have the authority to make a change, ask for someone who does, a supervisor, or customer retention specialist.
  4. If you have times (as is the case with an idea), if you encounter resistance, try writing or rewriting the idea and presenting the idea to another person next week.  Sometimes the problem is the way you are communicating the idea and writing it up in a document that is sent in an email helps present the idea in a more consumable format.
  5. Write the idea in a “lowest common denominator” like format (aka write your idea as simple as possible).  In other words, keep out the fancy words that doesn’t add value to the idea.  If you write your idea so that it’s a chore to read, it won’t get read.
  6. Keep you idea short and to the point, cut out the fluff.  You can always expand upon the idea later.
  7. Don’t be afraid of communicating your idea to more than one individual.  Just because cause one manager or person doesn’t understand, doesn’t mean that his/her boss won’t understand your vision.
  8. If you are sure the idea has legs (in other words it’s a great and doable idea), call a meeting with as many individuals that could support the idea.  Make sure it’s a solid idea though!
  9. Don’t take the rejection of your idea personal.
  10. Don’t feel like your idea is set in stone.  One of my favorite processes is evolving an idea that I might have to make it even better.  A side benefit is that the others helping to evolve the idea feels like they are part of the idea too.  Since they have time invested evolving your idea, they might champion it more.
  11. You idea may be improved upon, or you may have to compromise a bit on your vision just to get the idea agreed to be implemented.  Once the idea is accepted, you can always gently sway the vision back to your original thoughts if it makes more sense or makes more sense.  If it doesn’t though, then let your evolved idea continue instead.

No matter what happens to your idea, be polite and friendly about it.  Don’t let defensive or and negative forms of passion show or come out, even if you feel strongly about your idea/issue.

I hope someone finds value in this “Getting Your Ideas Implemented” knowledge, it took me too long to figure it out!

Bests,

Don

Will Google Calendar Save This Blog?

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Is this site slipping into neglect?

Can I use Google Calendar to save this blog?

It’s been five days since I last posted an article… Augh!

When I was posting an article EVERY DAY, it was both harder and easier to post.

Harder in the fact that there were some “late night”/”early mornings” where I was writing to rush an article for the next morning.  This created quite the challenge considering that I have to work a day job.

Easier in the fact that I had a natural schedule (all the time!).  Posting each and every day made it easy because I had no wiggle room for writing.  Each and every day made it incredible easy because there was no breaks in my schedule.

Google Calendar to the Rescue?

First, let me say that Google Calendar is free, and that’s awesome!  In fact, instead of viewing Google as a huge monopoly as most people do, being a user of Google, I love Google.  That said, as a shareholder of Google (which I’m not anymore, I was a few years ago though), I’m not as crazy about them…

I’m planning on using Google Calendar to plan out my posting schedule for Money Reasons.  By using the Calendar, I’ll be able to use my new android phone to see anything on my Calendar at any time.  And hopefully “that made all the difference” (a little paraphrasing of Robert Frost)!

So how am I planning on benefiting from Google’s Calendar app?

I’m going to set two re-occurring event, one on Saturday (for the post Monday morning), and one on Wednesday (for Thursday morning).

You might be wondering why 2 days for the Monday post?

The idea with the Saturday event reminder for Monday is that it will give me a change to be more creative with the Monday Post.  By creative I mean perhaps I’ll create my own podcast, or video, or just rockin content that has more than my typical post.  Of course other times, it will enable me to focus on programming and other development aspects of my sites.

I expect Google Calendar to become a more important aspect of my site growth from this point on (especially now that I have a smart phone)!

Here’s to Google Calendar… “Thanks”!

Don

 

Why I Want Rich People To Buy Things And Spend Money

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People are funny, many time people don’t see beyond the surface on matters.  For instance, I have friends that get mad (literally mad) when the see a “supposedly” rich person flaunt their fancy cars, diamonds and whatever else a rich person might own.  Not me though, I want rich people to buy things and spend money, and here’s why!

When the rich (or those with high incomes) spend money, it makes the market more liquid and gives people jobs.  Yep, their spending might just keep you employed, not that they take that into consideration!

The new fancy car that a rich person buys means that a sale person earned a commission, sales taxes were paid, car factory workers, office workers, the trucker that transported the car to the dealer, and all the peripheral companies that contributed parts to the car (tires, brakes, etc) all pay their workers with that money from that sale, again all of the above is oblivious to most rich people but there nevertheless.  You see, when rich people spend money, that means that money is injected back into the economy and people get paid!  Obviously (or hopefully) the rich person enjoys his/her spending so much that they keep on spending it (responsibly of course).  This is a positive thing folks.

Now let’s consider the miserly rich, those that die with tens of millions in a safe deposit box at the bank or worse still, in a safe at their home.

The money hoarding rich represents a constriction of money in the economy, making it illiquid.  They are like a huge money hole where the money gets tied up and a contraction happens because the liquidity of the money supply is reduced.  Can you image what would happen if the top 1% decided to save all of their money instead of spending it.  Remembering that the top 1% has 40% of the wealth!  Shoot, if they were to all, in unison, stop spending money on anything and practiced frugality, our country would be in a Great Recession, and possible a Great Depression.  And nobody want something like that to happen!

You think it’s not possible, but there are people like this.  Even one of my financial heroes (Warren Buffett) is tight with this money, too tight in fact, in my opinion!

Besides, if you have the money why not spend it to enjoy life at least a little bit?  Are you saving it so that when you die someday, you’ll have a coffin full of money?  Not me!  I’m not saying to go into debt, but a reasonable amount of spending by the rich is a very positive thing, especially during recessions!  In fact, even though I’m not rich, I actually tried to spend more money during the “Great Recession”!  While my spending alone didn’t make much of an impact, most likely there were others like me that also spent during the “Great Recession”, I’m sure my little extra spending when combined with other like me, had a positive impact!  So you guys own me (just kidding)…

Bests,

Don