How Can Outsourcing Work When You Can't Understand Bob, AKA Rajeesh

How stupid can management be? I understand cost savings, but I don't understand saving expense when it causes loss of customers and sales. Unfortunately, that is what Indian outsourcing does. Moving backroom functions may make sense, but customer contact is a huge mistake.

If customers, or potential customers, can't communicate with the call center then sales are affected negatively. If my call is a service call I MAY stay on the line and attempt to learn the cadense of the telemarketer so that I can solve my problem, but I will then look for an alternative vendor. If I'm called, or I initiate a call, and I can't understand the telemarketer, I say goodbye as I really don't need the impulse item and don't want the aggrivation.

Wake up management. It's your job to grow sales and maintain customers. You do neither with outsourcing that you can not understand.

Why Do Wives Clean For The Cleaning Lady?

Today we will be visited by our two cleaning ladies, maids, or housekeepers, whichever is politically correct. I have difficulty staying up to date on proper terms that do not offend. I have almost mastered Asian instead of Oriental after years of being chastised for my insensitivity.

Anyhow, back to the maids. Contrary to common perception, they have the best job in the world-at least at our house. First, the kids have been long gone so no one goes up to the top floor, but we still clean it. We vacuum, dust, and scour basically nothing. The same is true for our lower level as it is rarely used and therefore not in need of heavy cleaning. But we do clean it anyhow. The main floor is where we sleep and live and it does need some help. That's where my wife, and others I'm told, set the process in motion.

Before the cleaners arrive everything has to be picked up and put away. That includes anything upon a kitchen or bathroom counter, desktop, or coffee table. Wastebaskets are even emptied and bathmats put into the washing machine. The house looks immaculate for the people who have come to clean. I've asked my golf buddies if this happens at their homes and to varrying degrees it does. I don't get it. It would be similiar to me applying some shoe polish to my golf shoes before I leave them for the shine guy because I don't want him to think that I hit the ball into places other than the manicured fairway.

The only good news in this weekly soap opera is that the price we are charged never goes up. They know a good deal when they see it and it evidently makes my wife feel good.

NO EXCUSE FOR POOR BUSINESS PRACTICES

We've been having some home repairs done lately and all of the contractors and service providers did excellent work. I'd have no reluctance deciding to call them again in the future or recommending them to others. But I'm not sure they will be there to receive the calls.

I can count on the HVAC guy and the plumber to have an invoice in my mailbox within two days. They understand business. They performed a service and deserve to be paid promptly. They aren't being pushy, just business like. Now the pool service people and the landscaper are in danger of going out of business or needing to overcharge since they don't understand accounts receivable management. We've had to call the landscaper in the past and ASK for an invoice, and it still took days! The pool guys have been out three times and we still haven't seen a bill. How do you stay in business without being paid for your services?

Good service and bad management makes me upset almost as much as bad service. I hope they learn their lesson before they go out of business in this recession as cash will continue to be king.

We Need More Voluntary Taxpayers

Some people think purchasers of vanity plates are wastrels and egomaniacs. I could care less. They certainly aren't something I'd ever consider buying, but I'm glad those fools are out there and only wish there were more. Voluntary tax payers lessen the burden on the rest of us.

Government should look for other areas where a tax can be assessed upon vanity. People evidently like to see there persona in print so lets consider some additional possibilities. Those roadside signs telling us who is picking up the trash in the culvert this mile is perfect. Charge for the privelge to pick up soda cans. VNTYPL8 would buy that idea. The possibilities are endless.

Personalized license plates may be a minor additional tax in states like Florida where tags are modestly priced, but in other states, like Nebraska, where a luxury car costs $1000 per year for tags, it's insane to fork over another $100 for special plates. but, I'm glad they do it. Now if government would just put that windfall from stupidity to productive use.

Two Disruptive Products That Will Buy Lots Of Lunches

If a person didn't have scrooge tendencies before the downturn, it's time to learn how to spend wisely. That means getting value for most products and services and using the careful spending to subsidize life's luxuries. Recently I've improved upon my thriftiness with two new products.

I opened a checking account at a local credit union. Not highly original, but very renumerative. The account, government deposit insured, pays 4.01% up to $25,000. All you have to do to earn the rate is have one ACH transaction a month and one debit card transaction. Both do-able. This is a great deal. A friend in Cedar Rapids, Iowa says there is a credit union there that pays 5.01% with similiar terms. I intend to look for more of these credit unions and park more cash at 4-5% government guaranteed. Beats the hell out of commercial banks.

The second item of interest is Magic Jack. MJ is an internet telephone product. It costs $20 per year for local and long distance phone calls. The call quality is as good as the cable company and the cost much less. You just plug your phone into the MJ and then the MJ into your computer. You take the MJ with you when you travel. It will move with me back and forth between Nebraska and Florida. $20 a year doesn't even touch all the taxes on regular phone service. The savings will pay for a lot of meals. That makes a thrifty man happy.

Now if we could only get our elected representatives, city, state, and federal, to look for better deals we could really make progress.

Where Does The Money Really Come From?

The Omaha World Herald recently ran a story about the renovations to the Thurston County Court House, touting its new handicapped accessability and the array of funding that didn't cost the local citizens a penny. The article read like a TV ad for a power chair where the old biddie says "and I didn't have to pay a dime for my new power chair". It's time we start thinking about who does the paying because nothing is free and government doesn't create money [ oops that's another coming problem ], it just confiscates.

The county in question is a very small area in Northeastern Nebraska with probably more cattle than citizens. I don't know for a fact, but there probably wasn't a groundswell movement to improve the courthouse. Certainly if they had to pay for the addition. Here's how the OWD reported the funding sources: $396M of federal earmarks, $165M of community development block grant funds, and finally, $350M from Thurston County. $912M to add a three story elevator shaft and restrooms that are accessable for the handicapped.

Aren't there better uses for $912M? I have no idea how many handicapped people there are in Thurston County, but it's not a huge number. I also don't know which offices or courtrooms are on the top floors. But I do know that it would be more financially sound to have the clerks come downstairs and meet the few handicapped residents than spend 900Gs. The cost per trip is insane.

People we need to start thinking. Would we spend the money if we wrote the check? Well the government, and all of its programs, is us and we need to start acting responsibly.