China Crisis

Trying to get my head round this Chinese import problem. It seems the focus of the newsmen’s ire is the fact that there won’t be as much cheap tat on the shelves at Asda, Tesco and Primark as there should be because Peter Mandleson and his Euro cronies are being a bit mean and not letting Chinese goods in because they’ve made more than their import quota. The point is (and for once I’m right behind the French on this one) we should be protecting the fragile European textile industry.

[hypocrisy warning: this post might contradict some elements of this one]

Here in the Kingdom of the East Angles (that separate state that Jade referred to as East Angular) there is evidence all around of the boom years in the textile industry. You only have to look at the grand buildings of Lavenham and Norwich to see what a bit of wool and factory labour could do. I’m not saying that these were great times for everyone in society and I’m no historian but I see no reason as to why we couldn’t force ourselves to produce more stuff in this country. The way I see it, impounding half a billion pounds worth of jumpers, bras and trousers isn’t going to derail the Asian economy but this emerging wave of cheap imports could substantially damage Europe’s. Everyone seems to hate the US these days but their economy has grown, in part, due to their clever use of quotas. Look at the efforts made to protect their steel industry. If Europe is to survive as a trading bloc it needs to be clever in the same way, ensuring member states’ economies can provide for each other without having to rely on Asian goods to fill the ‘budget’ market.

That is not to say we shouldn’t trade with the East or the West but that we should leverage our position in the world to ensure we get the best of both. What’s the alternative? We’ve replaced traditional primary and secondary industries (mining, fabrication etc.) with low-level tertiary ones (call centres) and yet these are now leaking out to the Indian sub-continent. Whilst nature abhors a vacuum and the sensible answer is to assume ‘something’ will fill their place, it’s difficult to see what. For my part I think a few more intelligent industries, high-tech cost-efficient production (of which textiles could be one) and such like would be a good start. Agriculture is another one. With the climate apparently shifting toward a Mediterranean one for Northern Europe, is now the time for us to re-visit our agricultural leanings? We could become a net exporter of food to the developing world and the rest of Europe, improving our own health with a supply of locally grown produce at the same time. The knock-on effect of greater scientific research into cost-efficient, sustainable high-tech agriculture could benefit us all too. I’m not advocating a return to the ecologically damaging deforestation and hedgerow removal of the last 30 years, but more of the intelligent organic farming (c.f this debate) that, at the moment is too low volume and costly.

I risk verging on to topics I don’t quite understand but that’s the beauty of blogging. You rarely get challenged! I just think that instead of moaning about the likelihood of paying a few more quid for a jumper (which I conceded in an earlier posting might actually be keeping our inflation in check) could be offset by a general boost in our economy by an emphasis on more home-grown production. I know Clarkson always bangs on about the fact that it’s British engineering that we should be proud of and that ingenuity in this area is being ignored, I would add that this woeful neglect of our own national potential has a great opportunity to shine in the next few years as we move towards becoming an international showcase. After China in 2008 will flex its muscles as an (emerging) superpower we have a chance to show, in 2012, what a traditional superpower once was and that in the first decades of this millennia, there’s more to a nation than sheer weight of numbers, that democracy, human rights and the environment are more worthwhile than the numbers of jumpers you can produce in a year.

I really would be interested in comment on this. Feel free to add comments by clicking the ‘comments’ link at the bottom right of this post.

Abercrombie & Fitch store in London: Details

OPENS MARCH 22nd 2007 CONFIRMED

Thanks to the (honestly) thousands of people that have viewed and the tens of people that have emailed or commented on this post. The wait is over.

MOST RECENT UPDATES AT THE END OF THIS POST (AND IN COMMENTS)

-----original post follows-----

An update on my Abercrombie & Fitch posting (currently the most popular posting on this blog) … A&F are set to take-over the Jil Sander store at Burlington Gardens in London with plans to open more stores across the UK.

At present it’s anticipated that these will be the only outlets – i.e. Not through wholesale agreements and in-store franchises. Presumably they still want the brand to keep a level of exclusivity in the UK.
10th November 2005 ... read about some problems they appear to have had with recruitment
The Burlington Gardens store was anticipated to open in 2006 if this letter regarding recruitment of London Abercrombie & Fitch staff is to be believed.

:: Update 25.November.2005
This post continues to draw traffic from Google and so I'm duty bound to update it. According to Kiplinger's Personal Finance the Abercrombie & Fitch London store is due to open in 2007. This information is repeated on PR Newswire. and seems to have stemmed from their official Q3 2005 fiscal annoucements.

Old Sources
There’s an article in Vogue, “The Fitch Pitch” And on Fashion United

Update 11.FEB 2006
Here's an application for planning permission to Westminster City Council to amend the current Jil Sander store in Burlington Gardens for the use of Abercrombie and Fitch. I don't know the status of this application however.

Update 24.MAR 2006
Another bit of detail on the applications for planning permission to Westminster City Council, there are a range of applications that have been submitted. This is the most recent one to change first floor use at 1 Old Burlington Street from class B1 (Offices) to class A1 (Retail) and perform interior refit. This was submitted on 17th February 2006 by their appointed architects, Househam Henderson. If anyone knows more about this, please let me know.

Update 05.SEP 2006

Michael Page posted this ad for a payroll manager at the new store. There are additional planning applications lodged with Westminster City Council too...

Update 13.NOV 2006

March 2007 is the most likely date for the opening of the Abercrombie & Fitch London store according to an email I received recently and this response on Yahoo Answers. If anyone from A&F wants to invite me to the opening for being the top blog search response for A&F london they can contact me here. Added the image of the hoarding from Bello on Flickr, thanks very much!

Blogging at 115MPH

Sat here on GNER's Mallard service to Leeds and blogging as the train departs Doncaster ... amazing really as I'm fully connected through the wonders of wireless. GNER were the first people in the UK to offer this service on the move and it's fantastic ... now, if only I could access the work network through VPN, then that'd really be something. Will just have to do some 'offline' work instead ...

Piano Man 'Sham'

As if to confirm my assertions that this part of North Kent is a bit of a peculiar place, the Piano Man ‘mystery’ was solved today when it turned out the guy was a German, never played more than one note on the piano and simply discharged himself and flew back home to a family farm. Great. The only mystery now is the West Kent NHS and Social Care Trust’s sudden insistence on patient confidentiality when previously it was more than happy to let the media print what they liked about the whole daft affair. I also have absolutely no idea why the Mirror thinks it’s relevant to mention the fact he’s homosexual. There’s an element of venom in their sentence that he’s ‘a gay German’

Various sources
:: The Mirror’s ‘exclusive’ .. Piano Man Sham
:: The Times takes a more considered approach and
:: BBC News post their first effort around mid-morning today which lacked any of the Times’ detail.

Technorati Tag: piano man

Nuts, Gillette build on the Everyman momentum

Like most men I need to shave regularly and, like most men in their twenties, I need to check for lumps regularly too. I’d never put the two together but Gillette have. Opened a pack of new blades this morning and a little leaflet feel out from Cancer Research. What a great idea. Now, I consider myself pretty well-informed on the issue, as an educated rational male I don’t see the sense in being all coy about such things but here was a great way of pushing the issue into something routine. A piece of advice (sadly left to the back of the leaflet) suggested checking yourself when you refill your blades on your razor. What a neat little idea. The leaflet wasn’t patronising, was positive and contained all the stuff you’d want to know and links to more if you’re a little more curious.

There have been some great successes in breaking the stigma of testicular cancer in the last five years:

:: Lance Armstrong. The book, the success, the wristbands. No-one epitomises human victory from testicular cancer the way Lance does.
:: Robbie Williams’ cinema/TV ad which aired a few years ago. No-nonsense and raised awareness, first outing for the Everyman group.
:: Rachel Stevens … a personal favourite and another Everyman idea … take a look at her cheeky ad

As far as I was concerned, the message had got through, “check yourself” but this Gillette idea really made me think about keeping up a regular pattern of examination and for that to come from such a simple device is particularly impressive.

Sunday Supplement

Excuse me for filching the title of Parkison's show on Radio2 but a long journey back from Reading this morning got me thinking about plenty of things to blog about and MP was nattering on in the background. Thought it was odd that he uses his TV show theme to introduce the show. Would have to assume from that that he's got the rights to it. He did play a new track from Cullum’s album ‘Catching Tales’, it was ‘On Day Will Come’ and I wasn’t much impressed I have to say. At least he'll get in the charts which is something that appeals to Jamie who's a bit less cynical and peculiar than Madeleine Peyroux who's gone missing just as he album sales climb.

Anyway, I'm going to do these in bullet points as I remember ...

1. Read an interesting article on using MindJet's MindManager to blog ... not got round to it yet, assume things flow by typing (see previous post regarding scepticism about MindMapping)

2. Started to read THISISVILLE! and realised my posts aren't always as cerebral as they could be. Lead me to some interesting stuff on Britishness which is worth a read if that sort of this interests you. Not sure on his slating of Michael Buerk by the way, from what they were saying on the radio this morning it seems his RT interview has been misquoted. I think gender debates are fascinating though, I really do. Having been at York and now being engaged to someone who studied under de Groot and Rendall there, I have to listen to an awful lot of gender politics and I always try and think of this stuff in relation to my interpretations of Sacha Baron-Cohen and some of my evolutionary Psych reading, it's not always easy and the only certainties are that such debates will continue ad infinitum. THISISVILLE! also one of many sites around the web praising Mo Mowlem. How weird that we've lost Mo and Robin Cook in one month? Two labour stalwarts and (particularly in the case of Mo) two politicians that were as shrewdly aware of their plublic image and how to play it as Tony himself. The only two that could match this in the Tories were Ann Widecombe and Boris Johnson though notably neither has had the same governmental success. Perhaps their excentricities went too far.

3. Despite my optimistic postings, it seems that the demolition and development on the waterfront in Ipswich isn't quite progressing as nothing's been done since the banners went up. In cyberspace (eugh!) this is mirrored by the fact that a cheeky lifecoach has registered the url http://www.ipswichwaterfront.com to cash in on his business. You have to wonder why? If someone's looking for leisure and entertainment on the Ipswich Waterfront or accommodation etc. why would they then think 'oh, a life coach, actually let's have a look and book up some sessions?' this sort of URL hijacking is idiotic. No doubt he'll now expect the council's marketing department to stumble across this URL and pay him 000s for it out of our council tax. Pillock.

4. Had a trawl through some bookmarks today in my browser. I've got loads of the damn things and many of them link to things I was planning on looking at again but I can't for the life of me remember why. It's a revelation looking through them to see what, at various browsing stages, interested you. Why not have a look through yours in a spare moment.

5. The economy. Why is it that petrol prices are going sky-high, my electricity bill is significantly more than last year and eating and drinking out seems to cost a ruddy fortune ... yet inflation is peanuts? well, it's because other prices are sinking and cancelling out these rises and we're all getting paid more too. The cost of clothes, consumer electricals and furnishings are all sinking at a ridiculously fast rate due to the emerging economies of the East being able to produce these items much much cheaper. In tandem with this, their demand for resources - coal, oil and financial services - are pushing those costs higher and higher. These economies (and I'm thinking particularly of China and India) have grown so quickly that they either don't have the material required (oil) or haven't had time to put it in place (services) hence the need to import these in massive quantities. In the developed world this is pouring money in to financial centres inflating wages and keeping price rises in energy in proportion. Perhaps this is an over-simplified model but it helped me to understand why - when I feel that I'm pouring more than I should be away in petrol and bills - I do not seem to be significantly worse off because of it. (Read this and some comment on another site)

6. Lost. Should finally get round to watching these this week on tape.

7. Danny Wallace, I will blog about this eventually...

Right, all done. If I remember more stuff I was supposed to blog about I'll let you know below...

Technorati Tag : ipswich waterfront

XFactor Heralds Month of Nonsense

Sat here on the train on the way back from antoher Friday drinks session with Anna, Chris, Helen and Anthony and the easy thing to blog about would be our conversatios about the Norwich accent and the general ephemera of life around Norfolk’s country town. But I’ll dare to be different. This time I’ll get cerebral. The prose might not be the best I’ve ever produced but the benefits of a few pints and a bit of iTunes shuffle should mean there’s some coherence to my rthoughts.

Laura mentioned today at work that the new series of Xfactor starts on Saturday night. Worryingly I had no awareness. I prided myself on the fact that I’d avoided Big Brother this year. Don’t get me wrong, having watched four seasons of it, I was b ound to pick up an idea of what was going on and who the major players swere but I had no real understanding of each member of the house. I was amazed really at my own nonchalence. This was only ever challenged at the vweekends duering the eviction shows. Anyway, I watch Xfactor only for the voyeuristic enjoyment of watching peculiar Britons exposing there tragic lack of talent in a faceless conference room at a second-rate hotel. That’s what’s so appealing about Saturday’s show. Not the thought that we’ll stumble across some amazing vocal talent or the glitzy production and backstage gossip but the feeling that your watching someone hurl themselves at the pages of Closer/Heat/Now with everything they’ve got. You see the thing is these woeful wannabees used to be a sideshow as we romped towards the reveal of the final contestents. These days the tragicomic warblings of the socially outcast are the main attraction for the first few weeks. Surely we can expect literally minutes of ITV2 and GMTV footage to be devoted to the poorly costumed, vocally challenged and socially inept of society in the next few weeks.

These shows invariably now take a turn for the worse as we tumble inexorably toward the Christmas climax in a studio of Coke-addled pre-teens presided over by a perma-tanned Kate Thornton. You ended up pinning your colours to the mast of one act in the vain hope that it will say something about your musical taste and social class at the the coffee machine in the office on Monday. “I like Steve, he can hold anote and seems to be quite diverse in his output”. Bollocks. You can’t identify with the camp-as-christmas interior designer from Hitchin and the urban funk of Chantelle from Streatham seem to have passed you by, the middle class nu-soul of Steve is safe and at least you recognise some of his act.
By Sunday we’ll have an idea of where this show is headed. Is it destined to be the awkward second series or does the amount of dross.

one opportunity to shine ... missed

Another bit of dialogue between myself and one ...

---

Email to Customer Relations
customer.services@onerailway.com

Dear Sirs,

A quick enquiry as to your revenue protection strategy, otherwise known as fare enforcement.

For the past two weeks I’ve noticed a particularly irritating trend. Passengers boarding the train at Ipswich without tickets and then waiting for the conductor to ask them for a ticket before buying a single to Stowmarket … as the conductor takes time to do the rounds they are being asked to pay for their tickets just as the train arrives in Stowmarket. They then concoct a story about ‘are you sure that’s the price’ or similar and as this takes enough time they have to leave the train for their stop before a ticket can be issued. Even if they get their ticket, I can’t help but feel that should be charged a penalty fare.

I always understood that you need a ticket to travel, in fact, you should need at least a ticket-to-ride before stepping on to the platform (a so-called ‘compulsory ticket area’). On commuting lines in the south east and in many other areas there are revenue protection barriers – Colchester seems to be the last point on the one line where these are used. Surely improving your revenue protection will increase your income and enable you to invest in more station and service improvements? Why is it that idiots like those doing the shuttle-run to Stowmarket are so able to get away with cheating you out of revenue and (by implication) increasing the need to raise standard fares to compensate.

I know there is a cost implication for barriers – as a commuter on the South Eastern lines from Kent a few years ago, Connex produced a figure to show the cost per barrier and per member of staff to supervise these barriers. This cost I recall seemed more than manageable when taken into consideration with the fares being lost by customers evading them at unmanned stations or by duping the conductors such as is happening daily on one.

The occasional ‘show of force’ that one put in place every couple of months with inspections at Norwich and Ipswich stations does little to deter people. Again, the public know they could arrive at the station and just pay the fare with no penalty. If we all just ‘took a chance’ then we’d only ever have to pay 50% of the time and, even then, only to/from the nearest stations.

One is lagging far behind in modernising its practises. A new ‘virtual assistant’ on the website is going to do nothing to improve journeys on the line, more money in your coffers from dishonest travellers definitely would.

Please explain.

Yours sincerely,
John Gibbard

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Email from Customer Relations
customer.services@onerailway.com
reference: 143988

Dear Mr Gibbard,

Thank you for your recent email.

Ticket inspection is carried out by Revenue Protection Inspectors (RPIs) on a 'spot check' basis - both at stations and on trains.

We do not aim to have an RPI on every train: indeed, it would not be cost effective to do so. However, the fact that we operate a Penalty Fare system and have automatic ticket gates at eight of our busiest stations is sufficient to deter a substantial amount of fraudulent travel. However I have passed you comments to the Revenue Protection Team based at Norwich who are responsible for this service.

Since 1992, the level of ticketless travel has been reduced from approximately 4% to about 1.2% - although this still represents a significant loss of revenue on an annual turnover of over £300m.

Although I am sure you will appreciate it is not possible to eliminate fraud altogether, all revenue protection data is analysed by computer so we can identify and target specific trains and stations where there is a higher risk of revenue loss. Also, we are always willing to follow up on specific reports from passengers who have believe that someone is travelling fraudulently. Such information is, of course, treated confidentially.

I hope these comments reassure you that we do make serious efforts to protect our revenue.

Yours sincerely,
xxxx, Customer Relations Advisor

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Email to Customer Relations
customer.services@onerailway.com
Reference: 143988

xxxx, I'm afraid your response is rather disappointing. It appears you only read my email in a cursory manor and sent something like a stock response which read more like a corporate statement than an attempt to address specific concerns.

You, rather optimistically state: "the fact that we operate a Penalty Fare system and have automatic ticket gates at eight of our busiest stations is sufficient to deter a substantial amount of fraudulent travel" However my issue in the original mail was that the penalty fare was not being charged. When the conductor on the service discovers someone without a ticket they are invited to pay the standard open single fare and allowed to continue their journey. Whilst this is the most expensive fare it is, in the case of the travelers to Stowmarket I mentioned, just £3.20 and therefore hardly a deterrent. Likewise, there is little to stop me traveling to Norwich from Ipswich without a ticket and, on arrival at Norwich if presented with a spot-check, simply paying the price of a single from Diss. Granted I may be approached by a conductor on the train but it would pose no problem for me to ask for a ticket from the most recent station. The point I am trying to make is that every passenger should have a ticket before travel. If it is discovered they do not have one when already traveling they should be charged a penalty fare on top of the ticket price.

How much would it cost to install barriers at the mainline stops at Ipswich and Norwich? Ipswich has one major platform exit and that could easily be served by 6 barriers in the ticket hall. Norwich could have 4 or 5 per platform. As most people North of Colchester are traveling to these hub stations it makes perfect sense to install barriers here. Doing so would be a highly visible deterrent and make the opportunistic fraudulent traveler almost extinct. Granted, it would not solve the short-trip fraud I've witnessed in recent weeks between Ipswich and Stowmarket but it does send the signal that one are more serious about ticketless travel.
Sincerely,
John Gibbard

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Email from Customer Relations
customer.services@onerailway.com
Reference: 143988
Dear Mr Gibbard

Thank your for you email, although I am sorry if you were disappointed with my response.

Although my reply was certainly the company stance regarding Revenue Protection, I can assure you that we do take concerns such as those you raised very seriously. I also stated in my reply that I would send a copy of your e mail to the Revenue Protection Team at Norwich responsible for the route.

You are right when you state that to travel, a valid ticket should be held (with a few exceptions applicable ie unmanned stations). As a company it is certainly in ours and fare paying passengers interests to maintain a constant revue as to how effective our current methods of revenue collection are. Although any alteration in the scheme that we currently operate would have to be agreed by the Strategic Rail Authority.

Once again. I can confirm that your concerns have been forwarded to the relevant department and thank you for contacting me.

Kind regards
xxxxxx

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Email to Customer Relations
customer.services@onerailway.com
reference: 143988

xxxxx,

Once again I appreciate you taking the time to write to me and once again I have to smile at your complete avoidance of the issue of penalty fares. My point is simply that your policy (which, if you are unfamiliar is available on your website at http://www.onerailway.com/contents/download/penalty-fares.pdf) states that you'll be charged a penalty fare "if you travel on a penalty fare train from a penalty fare station without a valid ticket for your entire rail journey, ‘Permit to Travel’ or other authorisation." I have since discovered from this that the section from Ipswich to Norwich is not a penalty fare route. This answers my question and would have been the simplest way to rebut my response. Of course, it does raise another question, "why is this route not a Penalty Fare route?" and I believe you may have answered this in a previous email with some reference to statistics on fare avoidance/evasion.

It might surprise you to know xxxx, that you can not know how many people are travelling without tickets on this section of the line as by virtue of the fact they are avoiding fares they avoid any opportunity for 'one' to collect statistics - no-one from 'one' is standing at Norwich or on the train saying "no ticket? Ok, thanks for letting us know, I'll note that down for our statistics".

So, to finish up, I re-assert that 'one' are incompetently missing a trick by not being diligent with revenue protection in the apparently 'lawless' wilds of North Suffolk and Norfolk. Combine this with my earlier correspondence surrounding a fire on the train in May, the broken air conditioning, regular delays and rolling stock from the 1970s and you've got an over-priced shambolic regional train operator that no-one in this region has any right to be proud of.

Don't worry xxxx, I'm not after a response as I think I've pretty much exhausted the talents of your customer liaison team and will revert to writing to other people to moan about why the burgers in McDonalds don't resemble the pictures and why my Blue Nun comes with a screw top and not a cork. I'm sure you'll understand how busy this keeps me.

Lance in the Bush

Well, technically, ‘Lance in the Bush Ranch’ but then that doesn’t make a good headline. What does make a good headline is “Rabid Rabbi Runs Amok” which was what a paper in Dunstable recently ran with after, surprisingly, a rabid Rabbi did indeed run amok. But I digress, whilst that headline may have written itself, this blog will not.

I opened my pocket (if it was a clown’s pocket) sized Times today to find a story about (multi Tour-winning) Lance Armstrong spending some time at the Bush family ranch in Texas. It’s hardly a revelation to me that a fellow Texan is being invited to share campfire stories and herd cattle but what is a revelation is the President’s apparent level of fitness. Having heard about his mountain biking accident at the G8 and various mishaps in the past I was shocked to discover he has a resting pulse of 47 and can run 3 miles in under 20 minutes. I used to be reasonably fit and strong and am hoping to regain that and more in the run-up to our wedding in 2007 but I’m fairly sure that reaching those levels of fitness could take some considerable work … and I’ve got 31 years on the President. Ok, so he might be a bit clueless at times but you can’t dispute those figures. He must ensure his security team have similar levels of stamina to keep up … unless he supplies them with horses. (aside: more about the Prairie Chapel Ranch)

Oddly, the article goes on to describe that Lance is actually a bit left of centre. How odd that we are even made aware of a sportsman’s feelings on abortion, the Iraq war and so on (more about Lance's political aspirations)… does this affect the ordinary man? It says more about the long hours spent in the saddle pondering the Big Questions than it does about the political aspirations of sporting champs. In the UK I can’t imagine asking Paula Radcliffe, David Beckham, Ellen McCarthur or Steve Redgrave where they stood on such issues. But it’s not unlikely that a tabloid paper could discover and discuss Tony Blair’s resting heart rate. I’d wager that our premier isn’t in quite as rude health as his Cowboy chum. Best he gets Paula round to Chequers post haste.

Cottage Industry Teaches 'Customer Experience'

I’ve had a bit of a mental drought in regards to what to write about. Which is peculiar really as there’s been plenty going on in my life and the wider world. There’s a desire of mine not to say much about my own career or mention much of those closest to me so I guess whilst I have felt personally busy, they’re not things I’d necessarily blog about.

To some extent there’s a desire of mine not to expose myself by commenting on wider political issues either. Whilst I’ll happily talk about the London bombings, I feel less informed and secure in commenting on the Israeli pull out from the Gaza Strip for example.

Which is all academic really as the blog should be about (web) usability and customer experience. I won’t embarrass myself by linking to the last time I wrote on one of these topics because it’s a bit too long ago so I’m resolved to start getting a bit more informed again. After all, putting articles on the blog about the ephemera of daily life is all well and good but doesn’t really serve a purpose other than to ‘brain dump’.

As a customer I’ve experienced a couple of new online things recently, selling stuff on Amazon and eBay. It dawned on us one Saturday morning that we had loads of unread and partly read academic books, some CDs that were redundant after being copied to iTunes and a couple of unopened presents from Christmas, I even had some old PC and consumer electrical products too. I knew you could shift stuff through Amazon so we set about listing items. This is a relatively straightforward process. You register your details and literally input ISBN or bar-code references into a search field and Amazon picks up the details, asks you how much you want to list the item for and then simply emails you to dispatch once it’s handled a transaction.

Where their system falls down is not identifying before you list the item what the prices that other people have listed their items for are. It does show you the lowest price, but that might be for a tatty old copy and yours could be ‘like new’. This is where Firefox’s tabbed browsing is a boon, open a new tab and search for the item in question and work out who’s got what prices for each quality. But how much simpler would it have been for Amazon to serve up a table saying ‘Like New’ = £x, ‘Good’ = £y and so on? eBay is worse though. There are so many boxes to complete when you go to sell an item, so many options and listings choices (many with associated costs) that frankly I can’t be bothered to list anything other than things that Amazon won’t.

This overly complicated option selection and form filling isn’t long forgotten before your items sell and you realise that eBay / Amazon have taken a big cut from your earnings. At the small end of the market where books and CDs are selling for a couple of pounds each, you almost pay more in admin than you get back. The postal charges levied on your behalf by Amazon are generous for small items – particularly if you post same day second class and thereby meet the delivery obligation for the minimum cost – but start posting larger books and you really need to be selling books at £10 or more. Everyone’s got the same idea, so popular items are listed several times and American services are offering them at discounted rates – you’re forced into listing at uneconomic prices or risk them never selling.

That said, it has been a revelation in terms of providing excellent customer service. As an embryonic cottage industry, I’m fastidious in making sure the item is in as good a condition as possible before dispatch, it’s packaged neatly but safely and simply (to avoid higher postal costs) and the item is sent with a compliments slip promising a full refund if the buyer is unhappy. Items are sent as soon as physically possible and I often email the buyer on dispatch to let them know it’s on its way. All of this is done with the intention of getting great feedback scores and yet, despite this, only two people have left feedback on Amazon for their purchase. This does make me wonder whether people:

.: Just expect this level of service – it’s nothing exceptional
.: Can’t find the Amazon feedback link
.: Can’t be bothered with leaving feedback
.: Are unaware of feedback and its importance to the seller.

In all seriousness it has affected my interpretation of the consumer experience. Just because I work in this field and, when I’m out and about fill in surveys to help other businesses improve, doesn’t mean others will. People, when pushed, say they care about the customer experience but do they really? If you’re buying through Amazon, even through the used ‘Marketplace’, you probably just want the item at the lowest price and service will only be an issue if it’s shocking. Ultimately, as a low volume seller, customers aren’t going to return to purchase more from me as I’m unlikely to be selling their next purchase with such a small stock and range.

However, my own sense of duty and ethics means I’m unlikely to revert to a simple stuff-n-post style of service, it might be a drop in the ocean but I’m learning so much more about the demands in customer experience from it.

That said, feel free to buy something from my Amazon Marketplace shop!

Shittingbourne: David Baddiel Slates Sittingbourne

A geographical theme to this posting I think. Got sent some cuttings from two former local rags earlier this week, firstly the Kent Messenger and secondly the East Kent Gazette. Both were covering the same story, David Baddiel’s comedic slating of Sittingbourne. Having been invited to open the Rodmersham School fete (my old primary school), Baddiel launched into a routine of material that served up a few home truths for this shambolic little town. He then used this material again in his Unplanned show with Frank Skinner.

Let’s be fair, Sittingbourne is a dump. In the 60s the town showed genuine promise. A linear settlement along the A2, a busy Roman Road between the Kent Ports and London, Sittingbourne was a short commuter ride to the capital. Trains reached the town in under an hour and my parents along with many others left London to set-up home. Unfortunately business never followed. The major development and chains that populated towns like Maidstone, Canterbury and the Medway towns (Gillingham, Chatham and Rochester) shied away and the town has – through the next 40 years – continued to lose trade to nearby commercial centres and out of town developments. The regional charm of the High Street with a range of independent shops has been eroded by the proximity of major supermarket chains and the rise in car ownership. Meanwhile, train times have worsened and it now regularly takes over and hour to reach the capital, forcing commuters to look further up the line to Chatham and the emerging residential areas around the Thames estuary and high-speed rail link.

Sittingbourne is little more than a North Kent joke. Not quite as desperate as Sheerness and possibly not as down-at-heel as (potential birthplace of the ‘Chav’ phenomenon) Chatham. Baddiel described it as “a terrible dump” and, quite controversially, suggested Miss Sittingbourne, Lucy Bakerfield, should have corrected her sash to read “Miss Shittingbourne”. Incredulous residents have expressed surprise at his outburst, insistent that he has been seen shopping in the town. I’m not sure this constitutes the seal of approval they think it does – they only mention his presence in Sainsburys and McDonalds for instance, hardly a glowing indictment of the town’s commercial cache. The residents named in Lizzie Cook’s tongue-in-cheek article hardly make a strong case and fail to see the comments for what they really are. Baddiel clearly used poetic licence in his act as many comedians do, so to argue that their daughter was older than he suggested and was laughing and not crying is missing the point. People laughed at his material because it’s true. Sittingbourne is undeniably a (local) joke. A small band of forum posters would like to persuade you otherwise

As it happens, Baddiel lives in a remote part of the village of Rodmersham, happily far enough from the bustling metropolis of Sittingbourne but close enough to know that passing through it on the way to somewhere else is about all he, and the Romans before him, would ever wish to do. There have been claims to a few other 'famous' residents but, once again, they variously live in the surrounding villages.

That said, I was schooled in Sittingbourne, a town with two impressive Grammar schools and two half-decent comprehensives and my observation is that this says more about youngsters’ desperate desire to achieve greatness and move away than it does about a generally astute population. Indeed, it says much about the Borough of Swale that the most prevalent local story of recent years has been the wandering ‘Piano Man’ of Sheerness. Baddiel even made reference to this in suggesting the disorientated mute wandering dishevelled in the streets is a common site at the weekends. Again, he’s not far off.

Baddiel described the town as a place where you feel “overdressed with two ears” it’s fair to say that if residents did have two ears they may have been more likely to hear the message that was being communicated. Sittingbourne is horrible and bordering on pointless, observational humour is funniest when it’s at its most true and reflective.

Coming up next time, reflections on Danny Wallace’s “How To Start A Country” (a viable option for residents of Sittingbourne?)

MonsterMob's Unethical Unsolicited Marketing

For the second time I received a message in my WAP Push Inbox on my phone. I’m no expert in this technology but I set my phone to ‘prompt’ me before receiving these messages after I got the first a few weeks ago and yet this one still got through.

The reason I asked for the prompt is simple. I was intrigued by the message and clicked through only to discover that I’d probably just signed up for some ridiculous download club for ringtones and other teen phone nonsense.

The message I got today read: “FREE> Music Downloads!” and was linked to an opt-in page on http://www.mob.tv/ A browse on their website shows their address to be MonsterMob, 76 Church Street , Lancaster , LA1 1ET.

Thing is, I’ve subscribed to the telephone preference service and had assumed this protected me from this sort of intrusion. When I find the time I shall be contacting MonsterMob to demand an explanation as to how they can do this. Full correspondence on this will be maintained on this blog. A Technorati search doesn’t really yield much on this company other than suggesting it’s a burgeoning and successful business.

I just don’t like these tactics. You click on the link and suddenly you’re signed up … little T&C messages whilst hinting at some kind of compliance actually do nothing to signpost the fact that you’re about to haemorrhage money through your phone bill for a load of gimmicky and smutty junk. £3 per week might not sound much but that’s nearly £160 a year and for what,”full track music downloads 2 ur moby” apparently. Well, for £0.79 I can download full tracks to my iTunes and don’t need a subscription. I can port these over to my phone, if I wanted, using a bit of Bluetooth trickery, so what’s the point? On the 3rd August I sent a STOP command and was told this had “been processed and you have been unsubscribed from THEMOB” … is this different to MonsterMob? Why do T-Mobile have no apparent control over this crap?

Harvey's Potato Pile-Up

Not sure what I make of Brian Harvey’s claims today that his pelvis-crushing accident was the result of excessive spud-consumption. Previous reports had hinted he had be trying to commit suicide in the weeks before his death, quite why you’d choose this bizarre staged car accident is beyond me. I do, however, like the detail around this story … we know his heel ended up above his head, that his pelvis was crushed and that he had been filling up on jacket potato that evening, yet no-one is any the wiser as to really what on earth actually happened. I’m sure the promised TV/book deal will reveal all at some point. Amazed Emma B is staying with him though and I have to admire his determination to walk again.

Technorati Tag Brian Harvey

Demolition Day

Noticed on my walk home last night that progress seems to be being made at The Flour Mill in Ipswich. Having been derelict for something like six years (I only moved to Ipswich in 2003) and held by developers since at least April 2003 there have been various articles promising developments in Ipswich’s second-rate press, The Evening Star.

Back in June (council’s decision and the discovery of 15th buildings on site. I received a series of emails from Wharfside Regeneration’s Spencer Style in May (before the section 106 development agreement) in which he made reference to the delays in starting work. He was expecting an 8 week delay in mobilising contractors. Anyway, all that aside the demolition contractors are moving their banners into position and – presumably – beginning the slow and painful process of stripping out the machinery, asbestos and decaying remnants of this crumbling building. As far as I can tell from the images around the web, a lot of the original building is being demolished, including the giant 1950s concrete silos. As much as people might like to see these stay – for reasons of architectural heritage – they would serve no purpose and would instead be vacant monoliths. The proposals, amongst which is the flagship Dance East studios, should do much to enhance this neglected corner of Ipswich

However, there’s still much work to do along the exisiting waterfront. The regeneration that begun at the start of this decade has had some tangible effects. A quick list of developments so far: Cardinal Lofts at the Burtons factory (ongoing), Neptune Marina (completed, Redrow homes), Orwell Quay (Persimmon homes), Neptune Square (Bellway), Stoke Quay (Bellway), and in the 1980s, the Stoke Bridge Maltings. This piecemeal development has left areas apparently unloved and uncared for. Along the road in front of these developments by the quay, the weeds grow up from the council’s neglect. There are precious few bins and no trees. Planting of any kind is scarce and left to individual properties to maintain. Street furniture is damaged and patchwork-repaired.

The ‘vibrant’ waterfront itself is not quite what it seems either. There are two restaurants, another, The Salthouse Brasserie as part of a four-star hotel, a friendly independent café, a pub, hairdresser and that’s it. The remaining units are let by various 9-5 businesses (although there is a breadth in these from yacht companies to social care and from picture framing to property development). Major commercial units are vacant in Neptune Marina and the Orwell Quay development has only a faded and seedy pool hall and absolutely nothing else. Whilst commercial units are promised in the remaining developments, it’s a wonder why no-one significant has wanted to catch the worm by booking an early spot on the waterfront. The council is quick to sing this area’s praises but it just isn’t the vibrant commercial and residential melting pot they think it is.

Maybe the proposals for Mint Quarter and St. Peter’s Port can add fuel to a barely smouldering fire of regeneration but unless the council get stuck in and attempt to beautify the area, thinking about environment, heritage, arts and social dynamics then all that will be left at the end of 2010 will be empty steel and glass structures and a whole lot of vacant residential lets. The demolition flags signal some progress, I’ll await the true transformation with more than a degree of scepticism.

Finally, I’ve noticed that Mortimers, a previously independent and rather successful seafood restaurant in a former electricity building on Duke Street, has been bought and redeveloped as part of the Loch Fyne chain. I never got the chance to eat there before it was bought-up, I only hope that this doesn’t mean I’ve missed the boat wth regards to quality seafood and a restaurant with real character…

Technorati Tag : ipswich waterfront

Murders Unsolved As Debate Rages On

Following on from my entry yesterday in reference to the increase police presence on the streets in London, today’s Metro (that bastion of journalistic integrity) features a piece bemoaning the apparent slowing of progress on non-terrorist related high profile murder cases. Presumably at some point we’ll see a return to detective activity in these outstanding cases but as to when I guess we just don’t know.

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Anyway Metro seeded the other element to this entry. The fertile letters section of the paper (why it occupies such a small spot is beyond me) once again attempts to debate the explanation and justification for the bombing campaign in the capital. As far as I can tell the debate is polarised thus:

The bombing campaign can be attributed to British involvement in Iraq:

YES: The apparent invasion of an Islamic state and the unwarranted deaths of muslims can be considered justification for Jihad. The manifestation of Jihad in this instance are the suicide bombings in London. Had we not been involved in Iraq, our sanctuary and tolerance of radical Islamists would have protected us from attack.

NO: The attacks on the USS Cole and the World Trade Centre pre-date the military action in Afghanistan and Iraq and indicate that Jihad was in operation before any clear attack on an Islamic nation. The presence of US troops in Saudi Arabia following Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait cannot be considered an invasion as it was with Saudi Arabia’s permission.

Of course, the debate is not this clear cut and therein lies the problem. Christianity was historically used to justify the Crusades, puritanical Witch Hunts and all manner of other intolerances. If one takes the bible literally it is perfectly possible to explain and justify numerous immoral and contradictory behaviours. The Koran, as far as I can tell, can also be interpreted many ways. The sheer variability of the messages of Islam – as typified recently by the different messages emerging from different Islamic groups and the tribal fractions in Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan – means that it is nigh-on impossible to identify a single objective or agenda for the current terrorist campaign.

Just taking a view of the backgrounds of all the terrorists committing crimes under the banner of Islam shows a significant diversity: Jamaican, Somalian, Eritrean, Ethiopian, British and Pakistani, white American, Chechen, Sunni, Taliban, Indonesian, Algerian, Palestinian and many others. There is inconsistency here, as well as in their agenda.

With no clear direction, no tangible group to engage in dialogue and negotiation, it’s apparent that the only places where we can seek any kind of answers is on such letters pages, blogs, late night TV debates and, of course, in moments of personal reflection.

The Invisible Met

Our 'cycling correspondent' (who's gleefuly been sending me pictures of his new Penny Farthing adorned with red tyres and yet - illegally - no bell or reflectors) alerted me to an article in today's Times by Janet Daley.

'Coppers out of thin air' raises the valid point that the recent increased Police presence on the streets of the capital implies that the manpower we were always assured was too costly to deploy, is in fact available and able to burn shoe leather on the pavements, platforms and in the parks. This perambulating deterrent has been gloriously absent during the increase in violent crime, the stabbings and shootings, the drug dealing and vandalism. Yet now we're treated to assault rifles on the train to Paddington.

What I expect will happen is that a gradual scaling down of non-essential duties will occur until someone realises this and officers will be recalled back to desks to clear admin backlogs and generate some speeding-fine revenue. Anyway, she puts it far more eloquently, read her article.

Ring of Plenty

Following a disappointing trip to Hatton Gardens, some disappointing emails with a bespoke designer, disappointing diamonds from a High Street chain in administration and finally an impromptu drop-in to an independant jewelers in Ipswich, we now have an engagement ring. Wonderful service, wonderful quality and we both feel much happier. Wasn't quite the customer experience I had expected (originally had expected us to go for a Mappin & Webb purchase with lengthy consultations and fawning staff...) but the benefit of this is that we feel we've been involved and involved with people who genuinely care about producing an engagement ring that lasts a lifetime. This wasn't sales, this was about (ahem) realising our wants and needs.

Intelligent Gathering

Saw this article about how the security services used IMEI tracking on Hamdi Isaac’s (previously Hussain Osman) mobile to trace his movements across Europe and, ultimately, track him down. What was disappointing however was the Italian Carlo de Stefano’s decision to post this information which will now mean that future criminals will know to switch handsets and SIM cards.

This has called me to reconsider another couple of issues that have bothered me in recent days regarding the international efforts to track down the people behind the terror attacks. Leaving aside the issue of whether the security services identified meaningful chatter amongst the communities responsible for the attack before the event (and thereby inferring something about their efficacy) we should be looking at some idiotic press releases in the aftermath.

First there is the US intelligence agency leaking classified images of bomb equipment to the TV networks. A gross misjudgement and indicative of the ineptitude of certain people involved in the relevant agencies. This sort of imagery does nothing other than spread the design plans of such devices and produce poster artwork for every budding martyr to display on their wall.

Second there is the Italian legal system happily leaking all manner of details of what has been said in custody awaiting extradition. In our country, for all its failings, the defendant – once in custody – is protected from further speculation in order to avoid prejudicing their right to a fair trial. By publishing this information (which I accept the British Press are guilty of) they add fuel to the defence lawyers claim in Italy that in extraditing this man to the UK they would prevent him receiving. All the information that Antonietta Sonnessa [above right] has revealed in an unnecessarily extrovert way (we saw pictures of her in a spaghetti-strap camisole outside court, highly sensitive to her Islamic client…) could have been effectively reported at trial. On the BBC 10 o’clock news tonight we rather pointlessly saw her inside the self publicising lawyer’s glamorous gilded office during an interview with Jeremy Bowen.

Thirdly our ‘cycling correspondent’ writes in reference to French passport control (which reputedly failed to check any relevant documents for ) “I passed through 4 times (i.e. 2 return trips) with an 8 month out of date passport, and nobody said a thing until the very last one, who took a scan of it and then let me through anyway.” First there was Sangatte and now there is this, why are the French so cavalier about their borders? Of course there’s some argument that the British should check passports at London but my understanding is that from the gates at Waterloo, security and immigration is in French hands? The Evening Standard tonight has suggested that Labour cuts in 1998 led to the removal of outbound border checks in cost cutting exercise.

The British police – and in particular the oft-maligned Metropolitan Police – have done an amazing job. The Spaniards did well to secure their suspects but the British have worked on two separate events with (to begin with) less forensic material and have detained numerous suspects including all of the attempted bombers from the 21st, alive and unharmed. Our terrorist correspondent writes: “the police have done fantastically well. I’d love to be at the centre of the investigation and see the true power of the police and intelligence services full resources thrown at a problem.” He continues (somewhat optimistically) that once nations work together on tracking down a suspect you can’t: “communicate, purchase anything unless with cash, withdraw cash, travel through ports or even use public transport. … unless you have suitcase full of cash and the French are manning the immigration controls for Eurostar.”

Whilst the vast majority of us abhor the tragic events of 7th July and the ‘near miss’ of 21st, many of us simply wish that we demonstrate an effective, moral and ethical process in bringing the perpetrators to justice. That, in the strongest terms, sends the signal to the extremists that they will be defeated by fair and due process. That democracy and justice is alive and well.

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In other news..

Oh, and maybe bloggers will be interested in this article. And for those of you reading this where I work this piece on Boardroom Bloggers might seem relevant if unduly cynical.

Visual Envy & The Power of Mind Mapping

Am growing a bit tired of the appearance of this blog. It’s basically set-up from a blogger template and as my interests before all this started were in aesthetic usability design it seems a bit rich to present an awkward and ugly blog. I’ve seen some amazing blogs recently and love Chromasia with a passion. If only I could code (think he uses Movable Type) and run something similar. If I ever get a substantial period of free time I’ll do something like that probably. I also wonder whether I should put a counter or some metrics on here as I have no idea how many people read this. Does anyone read it who's never actually met me? If so, add a comment..

That said, simple sites work well too. A director here at work runs a blog on our intranet and his is bereft of images and typographic design – save for a lonely (if cheerful) mugshot at the top. The difference being his content is always engaging in both the corporate and personal sense and as such it speaks for itself. Hadn’t thought it before but perhaps he’s another Jakob Nielsen fan?

I spent some time looking around for blog entries on one of my favourite conversation topics – Simon Baron-Cohen’s theory of the systemising vs. empathising brain – and I stumbled upon PsyBlog (in reference to BBC Secrets of the Sexes) and MindHacks, two others to add to my blog watch list. PsyBlog is a simplistic design but no poorer for it and it featured an article on Mind Mapping too – another interest of mine. Read some related critique of this software-supported brainstorming but it hasn’t put me off using my recently acquired copy of Mindjet's MindManager – a piece of software I am nowhere near utilising to its maximum.

With that in mind, it’s off to mind map some ideas for new site designs. I’d wager ‘ideas’ is as far as they’ll get. As long as I don’t do as I’m tempted and rip-off the design of Adaptive Path.

Vive Le Tour: French Press Reaction A Bit (Arm)Strong

I got sent a series of articles today from our cycling correspondent which referred to the end of Le Tour from a French perception. I’m not naïve enough to believe that the French press represents the populist view of the French public but it does, nevertheless, give one pause for thought.

If we look back on some of the world’s undeniable sporting greats (and this list might suffer from a gender bias and recency effects): Steve Redgrave, Michael Schumacher, Michael Johnson, Pete Sampras and Lance Armstrong, they are roundly criticized for being (variously) obsessive, stubborn, arrogant, control-freaks, miserable and selfish. Is it not obvious that this commonality demonstrates the side effects of being a champion? These personality traits are a corollary to success and represent the abilities these (admittedly male-brained) athletes use to control the environment around them to suppress the variability, to focus on the system of winning and be acutely in-tune with cause-effect-implication. Their performances are so magnificent simply because they have learnt to limit their exposure to anything that is apparently unconnected to their next event.

Lance’s illustrated his contempt for the ephemera of press opinion about his inovlvement with drugs and the sheer unhelpfulness of it to his race preparation. His relationships were formed not with the PR men and journalists that parasitically cling to Le Tour but to the riders in US Postal or the Discovery Channel and his rivals in the peloton. These were relationships worth understanding and, in some cases, exploiting.

In 1998 Le Tour had hit the wall. No amount of food sachets and isotonic fluids seemed to lift its broken body. The Festina team had been riddled with doping scandals and the press equally riddled with the fallout. Lance, the cancer victim in the maillot jaune, provided hope, a rebirth and vision of human endeavor against scientific certainty. That this spirit of competitiveness then proved itself a subsequent 6 times is without equal in the sporting arena. However, the reasons for vilifying this achievement are numerous and complex.

As The Times writes: “…you will not find too many bemoaning his departure. Indeed, they will be queuing up to drive him to Charles de Gaulle airport and breathing collective sighs of relief to waft his private jet back to Texas for the final time…”

Chris Boardman, evidently smarting from the recent loss of his 1hr record and the knowledge that he never made a serious impact on the world’s greatest cycling event, has said he wants to see more of a race. This nonsensical viewpoint is borne of our questionable desire to maintain that “it’s the taking part that counts”. Witness the middle-class hysteria for Tim Henman’s valiant struggle to reach a Wimbledon final. Surely a race in Le Tour is guaranteed, does Boardman believe that second, third, the green jersey and King of the Mountains are all just handed out? There are races and victories daily, sometimes hourly, on those French roads. Because one man dominates the ultimate prize does not mean the rot sets in around him.

Armstrong’s legacy is not just a sporting one. TV rights have increased five-fold, sponsorship and Tour visibility is on the rise, the momentum he created that lifted the race from its nadir will Livestrong in the mountains and flatlands of Europe. The peloton is peppered with new nations and old and one senses a great deal of bitterness stems from the disappointment in the French achievements.

This great malaise, the Gallic sulk has deeper origins. From the defeat in the Olympics, back to the no vote in the referendum and the fallout over the Iraq war, France is feeling a bit sorry for itself. The president himself personifies this bitterness and although he’s not commented on the twenty years of French failure in their flagship cycle race it’s pretty evident that there’s a collective resentment amongst certain sectors of French society that other countries seem to be getting all the good stuff. Sad as this is, it will pass. The French demonstrated in the Solent that their military might still regularly eclipses ours and their foreign and immigration policy, championed by the likes of the enigmatic and eloquent Dominic de Villepin has kept them largely free of Islamic terrorism. Before we feel too sorry for the French and their sporting endeavors, let’s not forget their rugby and football team - now dispatching us with consummate ease in games we invented.

In short, let us acknowledge Lance Armstrong as one of sport’s greatest achievers, as a consummate professional, a human being and a staunch advocate of one of the finest endurance races in the world sensitive to the European way of life. Accept that Lance Armstrong’s domination was both awe inspiring in its persistence and gloriously effective in it’s ability to heal a damaged event. The race lives on without him and lives stronger because of him.