Comments on: Incentives And Unintended Consequences… http://blog.bodybuilding.com/admin/2008/09/29/incentives-and-unintended-consequences/ Thoughts from the CEO of BB.com Tue, 10 Nov 2009 09:02:41 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=0.32 by: vqxagkcrupest lapwings http://blog.bodybuilding.com/admin/2008/09/29/incentives-and-unintended-consequences/#comment-11108821 Wed, 23 Sep 2009 12:33:15 +0000 http://blog.bodybuilding.com/admin/2008/09/29/incentives-and-unintended-consequences/#comment-11108821 &amp;#60;strong&amp;#62;vqxagkcrupest lapwings...&amp;#60;/strong&amp;#62; vqxagkcrupest stem builders goths circuits show wagers mountains knights islands hoodlums academics princes trucks developers tennis satellites courtiers brush hammers courtesans capons keys choughs flowers prose tasks bullets angels ladies... <strong>vqxagkcrupest lapwings…</strong>

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]]> by: lavidjio http://blog.bodybuilding.com/admin/2008/09/29/incentives-and-unintended-consequences/#comment-9459452 Thu, 22 Jan 2009 06:11:33 +0000 http://blog.bodybuilding.com/admin/2008/09/29/incentives-and-unintended-consequences/#comment-9459452 lavidjio lavidjio

]]> by: j http://blog.bodybuilding.com/admin/2008/09/29/incentives-and-unintended-consequences/#comment-3496302 Sat, 11 Oct 2008 19:50:52 +0000 http://blog.bodybuilding.com/admin/2008/09/29/incentives-and-unintended-consequences/#comment-3496302 Our family recently flew AA, who tried to ding us 15 bucks for the first bag and 25 for the second. Even though the spousal unit was pretty sure we shouldn't have been charged. We carried everything on, and decided we'd start flying SouthWest from now on. In short, screw AA. There's your unintended consequences, Mr. Arpey. Our family recently flew AA, who tried to ding us 15 bucks for the first bag and 25 for the second. Even though the spousal unit was pretty sure we shouldn’t have been charged.

We carried everything on, and decided we’d start flying SouthWest from now on.

In short, screw AA.

There’s your unintended consequences, Mr. Arpey.

]]> by: bodbug201 http://blog.bodybuilding.com/admin/2008/09/29/incentives-and-unintended-consequences/#comment-3467782 Fri, 10 Oct 2008 13:37:26 +0000 http://blog.bodybuilding.com/admin/2008/09/29/incentives-and-unintended-consequences/#comment-3467782 realist, Jealous much? What's stopping you from unionizing to get a wage you deserve? You know, instead of whining about other people's good fortune. Besides, you're also wrong about airlines. Profitable Southwest is the most unionized airline in the industry. They were smart enough to have bargaining agreements tailored to their own workers and operations, instead of relying on a national scheme. realist,

Jealous much? What’s stopping you from unionizing to get a wage you deserve? You know, instead of whining about other people’s good fortune.

Besides, you’re also wrong about airlines. Profitable Southwest is the most unionized airline in the industry. They were smart enough to have bargaining agreements tailored to their own workers and operations, instead of relying on a national scheme.

]]> by: realist http://blog.bodybuilding.com/admin/2008/09/29/incentives-and-unintended-consequences/#comment-3454982 Thu, 09 Oct 2008 22:53:09 +0000 http://blog.bodybuilding.com/admin/2008/09/29/incentives-and-unintended-consequences/#comment-3454982 the reasons airlines aren't profitable in the us is that they must pay unreasonable wages because of the unionization of their employees. You should not make 14.00 an hr. to load bags from a trailer to a conveyor belt. the reasons airlines aren’t profitable in the us is that they must pay unreasonable wages because of the unionization of their employees. You should not make 14.00 an hr. to load bags from a trailer to a conveyor belt.

]]> by: Jeff http://blog.bodybuilding.com/admin/2008/09/29/incentives-and-unintended-consequences/#comment-3451372 Thu, 09 Oct 2008 19:22:42 +0000 http://blog.bodybuilding.com/admin/2008/09/29/incentives-and-unintended-consequences/#comment-3451372 Southwest can afford to be more innovative like that because they hedge their jet fuel prices at a flat rate to avoid the negative implications of fluctuations in the price of fuel. Southwest has lucked on speculating on fuel costs. Everyone likes them because they have good profit margins and therefore don't need to bother with silly cost-cutting gimmicks to increase revenue. Unfortunately, if they screw up and fail to lock in a good fuel price or fail to get one locked period because they are raping their energy suppliers, Southwest's public image may turn into the typical image of most airline carriers. Southwest can afford to be more innovative like that because they hedge their jet fuel prices at a flat rate to avoid the negative implications of fluctuations in the price of fuel. Southwest has lucked on speculating on fuel costs. Everyone likes them because they have good profit margins and therefore don’t need to bother with silly cost-cutting gimmicks to increase revenue. Unfortunately, if they screw up and fail to lock in a good fuel price or fail to get one locked period because they are raping their energy suppliers, Southwest’s public image may turn into the typical image of most airline carriers.

]]> by: AG http://blog.bodybuilding.com/admin/2008/09/29/incentives-and-unintended-consequences/#comment-3450392 Thu, 09 Oct 2008 18:31:04 +0000 http://blog.bodybuilding.com/admin/2008/09/29/incentives-and-unintended-consequences/#comment-3450392 The central problem with creaking old legacy carriers like United and American is that they're run entirely buy operations guys who measure success mostly by what they can trim from costs. It's 6 Sigma on steroids. They can't quantify how much money is made by keeping customers loyal and happy, but they can quantify how much is made from luggage fees, or how much is saved by removing pillows and blankets. What they don't get (and what carriers like Southwest and Jetblue do get) is that they are in a service business. Which means providing... you know... service. www.anonymousadguy.com The central problem with creaking old legacy carriers like United and American is that they’re run entirely buy operations guys who measure success mostly by what they can trim from costs. It’s 6 Sigma on steroids. They can’t quantify how much money is made by keeping customers loyal and happy, but they can quantify how much is made from luggage fees, or how much is saved by removing pillows and blankets.

What they don’t get (and what carriers like Southwest and Jetblue do get) is that they are in a service business. Which means providing… you know… service.

www.anonymousadguy.com

]]> by: groBes http://blog.bodybuilding.com/admin/2008/09/29/incentives-and-unintended-consequences/#comment-3285832 Mon, 29 Sep 2008 23:59:57 +0000 http://blog.bodybuilding.com/admin/2008/09/29/incentives-and-unintended-consequences/#comment-3285832 Yeah, you’re dead on! I don’t fly NEARLY as much as I used to, and that might be a good thing! Not only are airlines playing the nickel and dime game with luggage &amp;#38;amp; food, you also have to deal with disgruntled flight attendants who (no joke) have “I have no idea why I work here” LITERALLY pinned on the front of their uniform (http://bbilanich.typepad.com/success_common_sense/2007/11/upbeat-and-posi.html - talk about projecting negativity!!!); being an MVP of an airline which is supposedly second only to Southwest in quality of service (Alaska) and STILL waiting for over a month to get a response from customer service; and being told by Northwest Airlines that they COULD get me to Chicago to make the Internet Retailer Conference on time (on American Airlines) after my Northwest flight got canceled but that they WOULDN’T because bad weather in the Pacific Northwest is what caused my plane to be late (and ultimately canceled). Luckily, an airport agent didn’t follow the NWA policies to the letter, and he put me on a fairly empty American flight &amp;#38;amp; I got to Chicago in time for the conference. I didn’t want to write in and commend his service, though, b/c I knew he broke the rules and would probably get in trouble. Sick, isn’t it? There is only one reason for all of this – these companies REFUSE to look beyond the upcoming quarter. There really is no reason an airline can’t be profitable, even with the price of fuel being what it is (hasn’t it been this high or higher in Europe for quite some time, and Virgin Atlantic is trying to expand service!). The reason they aren’t is, like you said, they have lost the customer focus (if they ever had it to begin with), but also, they are so foolishly tactical in everything they do. Be honest with yourself, though – do you blame them? They have millions of shareholders to whom they have to report every quarter. If they are losing money, they’ll lose shareholders, the value of their company will go down, and they’ll be bankrupt in no time. For all the talk investors do about sticking with investments for the long term, they sure are pretty impatient when it comes to looking beyond quarterly results! If an airline came up with sure-fire a plan to fix all of this, would make the company more profitable, etc., do you think they’d do it? You would think yes, but what if they know it’s going to take two years and that they’ll incur quarterly losses until then. . . do you think they’d survive beyond Q2 if they went forward with it? I don’t! However, keeping our customer focus as our top priority NOW will keep us out of that no-win situation so that if and when we do decide to go public, we won’t HAVE to spend two years (or more) rebuilding our business with the customer in mind. We’re already there! So wow – never get me started on the airline industry, Ryan! And just for the record, Alaska Airlines DOES have some of the best customer service out there. They just don’t have enough people working in customer service, unfortunately. Keep the customer (not the customerS) in mind, always!!!! Yeah, you’re dead on! I don’t fly NEARLY as much as I used to, and that might be a good thing! Not only are airlines playing the nickel and dime game with luggage & food, you also have to deal with disgruntled flight attendants who (no joke) have “I have no idea why I work here” LITERALLY pinned on the front of their uniform (http://bbilanich.typepad.com/success_common_sense/2007/11/upbeat-and-posi.html - talk about projecting negativity!!!); being an MVP of an airline which is supposedly second only to Southwest in quality of service (Alaska) and STILL waiting for over a month to get a response from customer service; and being told by Northwest Airlines that they COULD get me to Chicago to make the Internet Retailer Conference on time (on American Airlines) after my Northwest flight got canceled but that they WOULDN’T because bad weather in the Pacific Northwest is what caused my plane to be late (and ultimately canceled). Luckily, an airport agent didn’t follow the NWA policies to the letter, and he put me on a fairly empty American flight & I got to Chicago in time for the conference. I didn’t want to write in and commend his service, though, b/c I knew he broke the rules and would probably get in trouble. Sick, isn’t it?

There is only one reason for all of this – these companies REFUSE to look beyond the upcoming quarter. There really is no reason an airline can’t be profitable, even with the price of fuel being what it is (hasn’t it been this high or higher in Europe for quite some time, and Virgin Atlantic is trying to expand service!). The reason they aren’t is, like you said, they have lost the customer focus (if they ever had it to begin with), but also, they are so foolishly tactical in everything they do.

Be honest with yourself, though – do you blame them? They have millions of shareholders to whom they have to report every quarter. If they are losing money, they’ll lose shareholders, the value of their company will go down, and they’ll be bankrupt in no time. For all the talk investors do about sticking with investments for the long term, they sure are pretty impatient when it comes to looking beyond quarterly results! If an airline came up with sure-fire a plan to fix all of this, would make the company more profitable, etc., do you think they’d do it? You would think yes, but what if they know it’s going to take two years and that they’ll incur quarterly losses until then. . . do you think they’d survive beyond Q2 if they went forward with it? I don’t!

However, keeping our customer focus as our top priority NOW will keep us out of that no-win situation so that if and when we do decide to go public, we won’t HAVE to spend two years (or more) rebuilding our business with the customer in mind. We’re already there!

So wow – never get me started on the airline industry, Ryan! And just for the record, Alaska Airlines DOES have some of the best customer service out there. They just don’t have enough people working in customer service, unfortunately.

Keep the customer (not the customerS) in mind, always!!!!

]]> by: P-DUB http://blog.bodybuilding.com/admin/2008/09/29/incentives-and-unintended-consequences/#comment-3285092 Mon, 29 Sep 2008 23:03:04 +0000 http://blog.bodybuilding.com/admin/2008/09/29/incentives-and-unintended-consequences/#comment-3285092 Look how annoyed the people look sitting down waiting for this poor guy. And all he is trying to do is save a couple bucks by squeezing his oversized bag in the overhead compartment. Looks to me like I am flying Southwest from now on! Sorry ignorant airline companies I don’t give my goods and services to poor business ethics. Look how annoyed the people look sitting down waiting for this poor guy. And all he is trying to do is save a couple bucks by squeezing his oversized bag in the overhead compartment. Looks to me like I am flying Southwest from now on! Sorry ignorant airline companies I don’t give my goods and services to poor business ethics.

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