Originally published in
Reader Weekly
April 26, 2007
I meant to write about the General’s sister Globa L,. but several articles, including in the Reader Weekly, made writing about the General seem more timely.
Generalization is taking something specific and applying it to many other situations that might not have any relation to the original event or idea. One of the worst examples is calling Jews “Christ killers” because a mob called upon Pilate to crucify Jesus. But does a mob in one part of one city represent all the people of a country? Is every child in that country responsible for the actions of a mob? Should these children’s descendants be responsible for something they had no say in?
We certainly don’t like certain Muslims deciding all Americans should die because of the actions of governments that we can’t always control.
One of the most frequent generalizations is “the media is liberal”, seen most often in the letters to the editors of daily papers. These letters are often written by someone who has a “conservative” agenda and doesn’t want to see anything published that contradicts his or her viewpoint. Ironically, the publication of these letters proves the writers are correct; publishing many different viewpoints is a liberal action.
On the other hand, many so-called liberals complain that the media is conservative. The Reader Weekly publishes the views of two columnists who often level this charge. I long ago gave up on reading Norman Solomon because he derides “the media” for not covering news as he thinks it should. Jim Hightower recently complained about media bashing Democrats for investigating the Justice Department using two publications as an example. Then he uses a poll by USA Today to show popular support for continuing the investigation. (1) The papers that I read, all called “liberal”, report that even Republicans are dissatisfied with Attorney General Alberto Gonzales’ testimony.
“Mallard Fillmore”, the conservative duck drawn by Bruce Tinsley, bashes liberals and government mercilessly. One of his favorite targets is the U.S. Postal Service. One of his recent strips was a reply to an “irate postal worker” asking when Mallard would stop bashing the Postal Service. Mallard’s reply was “When they stop bashing my packages.” My question is when is Mallard going to bash UPS or other package carriers for bashing his packages. (2)
I’ve probably received more damaged packages from UPS than I have from the Postal Service. Does that mean UPS bashes packages more? No, I have to take into account that I probably receive more packages from UPS than any other source.
Ad hominem arguments are a form of generalization, that is, an idea is not very good because a certain person said it.
I would suppose that the income tax is a bad idea because Marx and Engels called for it in “The Communist Manifesto”. Oh, but conservatives in Britain imposed an income tax in 1799. The British Government needed all the revenue it could get in its struggle against Napoleon’s France. Despite income and property taxes going from 1.67 million pounds in 1799 to 14.6 million pounds in 1815, the British economy prospered. (3) Napoleon had to rely on indirect taxes because the French were resistant to more direct taxes. Guess who won the war.
Many conservatives seem to use ad hominem thinking to formulate their positions. They see global warming as a liberal cause, and therefore they must oppose it. Some of these global warming skeptics use generalizations to support their arguments. Many letter writers say the cold weather in March proves there is no global warming, mixing up meteorology and climate (weather today and weather trends spanning decades and centuries).
Global warming skeptics also use “positive” ad hominem thinking. If someone who seems to have some scientific stature supports his or her viewpoint, then that person must be correct. (Like all those liberals who are praising Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth, which I haven’t seen and don’t intend to.) One of these global-warming skeptic documents was supposedly signed by 17,000 (or was it 20,000) scientists stating “There is no convincing scientific evidence that human release of carbon dioxide … is causing, or will, … cause catastrophic heating of the Earth’s atmosphere and disruption of the Earth’s climate.” (4)
But who are these 17,000 scientists? Are they all climatologists or chemists employed by oil companies? Are there even 17,000 climatologists in the world? It turns out that these scientists are anybody with a degree who signed a certain petition. (5)(6) I think I would rather go with the opinion of people who regularly study weather and climate. (7)
If climate change is not happening, why is the corporation liberals love to hate, Wal-Mart, going green, saving itself and its customers money? (8)
Generalizations about conservative and liberals certainly don’t always work out as expected. Truth takes a bit more work.
P.S. Do your own search on "17,000 scientists" and "Marshall". I did and found the "Global Warming Petition Project". I looked for a unique name in the A section and found "David Acerni" and did a search for him. There is only one "D Acerni" at whitepages.com. He lives in Kittaning PA. According to a Department of Energy spreadsheet from 1999, he was the contact for the Rosebud Mining Co. of Kittaning PA. I can find no current professional reference to him.
(1) “NYPD’s ‘intelligence’”, section titled “Why media companies get no respect”, Jim Hightower, Reader Weekly, April 12, 2007
(2) “Mallard Fillmore”, Bruce Tinsley, Star Tribune, April 13, 2007
(3) The Rise and Fall of the Great Powers, Paul Kennedy, p. 130
(4) “Gore causes lobal warming in area middle school brains”, Budgeteer News, April 15, 2007
(5) “What the skeptics don’t tell you”, Woods Hole Research Center
(6) “The denial industry”, George Monbiot, The Guardian, September 18, 2006
(7) Climate Change: An information statement of the American Meteorological Society, Feb. 1, 2007,
(8) “The Power of Green”, Thomas Friedman, New York Times Magazine, April 15, 2007
See also "General Ization's power grows".
©2007 Melvyn D. Magree
Showing posts with label UPS. Show all posts
Showing posts with label UPS. Show all posts
Sunday, February 07, 2016
Thursday, July 17, 2014
Good Service
Good service is something we often take for granted. If we get bad service we often don’t return. If we get good service, if convenient, we return again and again.
Many almost make a career of bashing government. Government is “bloated” and “inefficient”. Little do they consider all the ways that government makes their lives easier.
Two favorite targets of government bashers are the Postal Service and the Internal Revenue Service. So effective are these government bashers that others parrot their complaints without considering how necessary and effective these services are.
Five days a week, our mail carrier Sarah comes to our door and deposits mail in our box. She almost always has a smile, whether she trudges through knee-deep snow bundled up for minus twenty or she easily strolls across mowed grass in shorts. This attitude is found throughout the Postal Service, at least in Minnesota. If you stop at a Post Office with a long line at Christmas, the clerks treat each customer as if they were their only customers. When they have finished with your request, they ask, “Anything else?”
Filing taxes is a chore most of us dread. Why so many details to note? Did I remember every donation? Did I remember every dividend check? And on and on. As we plow our way through all these details and curse that we still owe money, we curse the IRS. But the IRS didn’t create all these rules except at the bidding of Congress. And Congress created a complex tax code to satisfy thousands of lobbyists. To top it off, Congress doesn’t fund the IRS sufficiently to do all that it is required to do effectively.
A few weeks ago I received an IRS letter. Oh, boy! Did I screw up some calculation or miss an item? Do I owe even more money? I opened the letter to get the pain over quickly and found that I will be receiving a refund check! I used a wrong percentage for a calculation and have less taxable income than I reported.
I know most of this is automated but real people had to be involved to double check and order the refund. As all large organizations do, the letter said I would receive payment in four-to-six weeks. I think I received it in a week or ten days.
But that same Congress that bashes the IRS bashes the Postal Service. It saddled the Postal Service with the requirement to fully-fund future pensions, farther out than many corporations are required. For example, as of the last letter I received about my Unisys pension, it was only funded at 77 percent!
The result of this pension burden on the Postal Service is that it has to cut services. But if the Postal Service cuts services then what costs will be incurred by the public? When rural post offices are cut, how many people will have to spend time and money to drive thirty or more miles to the nearest post office? If the Postal Service consolidates sorting centers, how much longer will it take for businesses to provide service to their customers?
For example, Netflix has a Duluth distribution center. Instead of two-day turnaround for a DVD, turnaround from the Duluth center could be four days. That means, Netflix would probably close its Duluth distribution center, taking jobs direct and indirect with it.
UPS often uses the Postal Service for the “last mile” for small packages. I’m not sure exactly how this works, but if the Duluth postal sorting center closes, then USPS will have to change its procedures to have its center nearest the Postal Center handle these “last mile” packages. That will take a major reworking of UPS’s operational procedures.
I did not expect to write so much on government service. This leaves me less space to praise all the businesses local and national, big and small that provide good service.
I’ll start with a few that know me by name or at least recognize my face.
Every so often I buy something from Denny’s Lawn and Garden, but more often I come in with a question or a broken something. Tom is always ready to answer my questions or explain what has to be fixed.
Across the street at Denny’s Hardware, Yvonne always has a smile and is ready to point me in the right direction or to the right person. Even when the person is new to me, they seem to know where what I want is located.
Whenever I want to buy a book, The Bookstore at Fitgers can quickly tell me if its in stock or if it has to be ordered. Northern Lights Books provided the same service.
I buy boots and jeans every few years at Minnesota Surplus, but Rick and others recognize me and cheerfully serve me. Similarly, I buy a couple of shirts every few years at Mainstream for Men, and maybe a belt. Doug and Tom always treat me as if I were their favorite customer.
Oh dear, the word count is going up too fast. I have some favorite corporate places, but I’ll just end with a bit about Menards. Often a clerk will walk half-way across the store to show you where an item is. The king of service at Menards was Roy. People sought him ought for advice because he always seemed to have the right answer. He’s been retired for many years, but many still remember him.
Mel buys both local and corporate; he drinks Duluth beer and Italian wine. And he forgot to mention Brandon and crew at Mt. Royal Bottle Shoppe.
Originally published in the Reader Weekly, 2014-07-10 at http://duluthreader.com/articles/2014/07/17/3739_good_service.
Many almost make a career of bashing government. Government is “bloated” and “inefficient”. Little do they consider all the ways that government makes their lives easier.
Two favorite targets of government bashers are the Postal Service and the Internal Revenue Service. So effective are these government bashers that others parrot their complaints without considering how necessary and effective these services are.
Five days a week, our mail carrier Sarah comes to our door and deposits mail in our box. She almost always has a smile, whether she trudges through knee-deep snow bundled up for minus twenty or she easily strolls across mowed grass in shorts. This attitude is found throughout the Postal Service, at least in Minnesota. If you stop at a Post Office with a long line at Christmas, the clerks treat each customer as if they were their only customers. When they have finished with your request, they ask, “Anything else?”
Filing taxes is a chore most of us dread. Why so many details to note? Did I remember every donation? Did I remember every dividend check? And on and on. As we plow our way through all these details and curse that we still owe money, we curse the IRS. But the IRS didn’t create all these rules except at the bidding of Congress. And Congress created a complex tax code to satisfy thousands of lobbyists. To top it off, Congress doesn’t fund the IRS sufficiently to do all that it is required to do effectively.
A few weeks ago I received an IRS letter. Oh, boy! Did I screw up some calculation or miss an item? Do I owe even more money? I opened the letter to get the pain over quickly and found that I will be receiving a refund check! I used a wrong percentage for a calculation and have less taxable income than I reported.
I know most of this is automated but real people had to be involved to double check and order the refund. As all large organizations do, the letter said I would receive payment in four-to-six weeks. I think I received it in a week or ten days.
But that same Congress that bashes the IRS bashes the Postal Service. It saddled the Postal Service with the requirement to fully-fund future pensions, farther out than many corporations are required. For example, as of the last letter I received about my Unisys pension, it was only funded at 77 percent!
The result of this pension burden on the Postal Service is that it has to cut services. But if the Postal Service cuts services then what costs will be incurred by the public? When rural post offices are cut, how many people will have to spend time and money to drive thirty or more miles to the nearest post office? If the Postal Service consolidates sorting centers, how much longer will it take for businesses to provide service to their customers?
For example, Netflix has a Duluth distribution center. Instead of two-day turnaround for a DVD, turnaround from the Duluth center could be four days. That means, Netflix would probably close its Duluth distribution center, taking jobs direct and indirect with it.
UPS often uses the Postal Service for the “last mile” for small packages. I’m not sure exactly how this works, but if the Duluth postal sorting center closes, then USPS will have to change its procedures to have its center nearest the Postal Center handle these “last mile” packages. That will take a major reworking of UPS’s operational procedures.
I did not expect to write so much on government service. This leaves me less space to praise all the businesses local and national, big and small that provide good service.
I’ll start with a few that know me by name or at least recognize my face.
Every so often I buy something from Denny’s Lawn and Garden, but more often I come in with a question or a broken something. Tom is always ready to answer my questions or explain what has to be fixed.
Across the street at Denny’s Hardware, Yvonne always has a smile and is ready to point me in the right direction or to the right person. Even when the person is new to me, they seem to know where what I want is located.
Whenever I want to buy a book, The Bookstore at Fitgers can quickly tell me if its in stock or if it has to be ordered. Northern Lights Books provided the same service.
I buy boots and jeans every few years at Minnesota Surplus, but Rick and others recognize me and cheerfully serve me. Similarly, I buy a couple of shirts every few years at Mainstream for Men, and maybe a belt. Doug and Tom always treat me as if I were their favorite customer.
Oh dear, the word count is going up too fast. I have some favorite corporate places, but I’ll just end with a bit about Menards. Often a clerk will walk half-way across the store to show you where an item is. The king of service at Menards was Roy. People sought him ought for advice because he always seemed to have the right answer. He’s been retired for many years, but many still remember him.
Mel buys both local and corporate; he drinks Duluth beer and Italian wine. And he forgot to mention Brandon and crew at Mt. Royal Bottle Shoppe.
Originally published in the Reader Weekly, 2014-07-10 at http://duluthreader.com/articles/2014/07/17/3739_good_service.
Thursday, August 16, 2012
Why do people pick on the Post Office?
For some time it has seemed the fashion to claim the United States Post Office is a bad example of government services, that it is run by the greedy mail carriers' union, and that it should pay its own way.
From my experience, the United States Post Office has been run effectively, provided friendly and courteous service, and provided an essential public good.
I have often found that mail deposited one day is often delivered the next day within the state and often delivered within three days within the lower 48. It almost always arrives in the same condition as it was deposited.
A case in point is the delivery of DVDs from Netflix. I put a DVD in a box on Sunday, next scheduled pickup was 12:30 on Monday, at 2:00 a.m. on Tuesday Netflix sent me email that it had received my DVD, and on Wednesday around 10:00 a.m. I had my next selection.
Granted the return address for Netflix is Duluth. But what would happen if the processing center was closed in Duluth and all local mail had to first make a 300-mile round-trip to the Twin Cities?
If the Post Office is so inefficient, why does UPS use USPS for the last-mile delivery of small packages? Several times I've gotten small orders delivered by our mail carrier, but the shipper had originally given the order to UPS. This hand-off happens because it is inefficient for UPS to deliver such small packages door-to-door.
Some have complained about surly counter service at the Post Office. My general experience is that counter personnel treat every customer as the only customer. They give alternative shipping costs and conditions and always ask "Anything else?"
The Postal Service seems to be the only government agency that Congress expects to pay its own way. Is Congress going to insist that every Interstate highway be a toll road? Is Congress going to insist that every homeowner whose house has been saved by U.S. Forest Service firefighters pay a fee?
The U.S. Constitution states: "Congress shall have the power … to establish Post Offices and post Roads." The Constitution mentions nothing about how post offices and post roads should be paid for. In fact, in recognition that newspapers were important for an informed populace, an early Congress determined that newspapers should be sent at a lower rate than letters.
The benefits and the costs of the Postal Service should not be examined as a direct cost/benefit problem but as a system cost/benefit problem. It is not a question if the revenue of the Postal Services is meeting its costs, but it is a question of what benefits would not be realized if postal service were cut back. For example, if all Duluth mail had to go to the Twin Cities to be processed, would the Netflix office in Duluth close, putting some local people out of work?
From my experience, the United States Post Office has been run effectively, provided friendly and courteous service, and provided an essential public good.
I have often found that mail deposited one day is often delivered the next day within the state and often delivered within three days within the lower 48. It almost always arrives in the same condition as it was deposited.
A case in point is the delivery of DVDs from Netflix. I put a DVD in a box on Sunday, next scheduled pickup was 12:30 on Monday, at 2:00 a.m. on Tuesday Netflix sent me email that it had received my DVD, and on Wednesday around 10:00 a.m. I had my next selection.
Granted the return address for Netflix is Duluth. But what would happen if the processing center was closed in Duluth and all local mail had to first make a 300-mile round-trip to the Twin Cities?
If the Post Office is so inefficient, why does UPS use USPS for the last-mile delivery of small packages? Several times I've gotten small orders delivered by our mail carrier, but the shipper had originally given the order to UPS. This hand-off happens because it is inefficient for UPS to deliver such small packages door-to-door.
Some have complained about surly counter service at the Post Office. My general experience is that counter personnel treat every customer as the only customer. They give alternative shipping costs and conditions and always ask "Anything else?"
The Postal Service seems to be the only government agency that Congress expects to pay its own way. Is Congress going to insist that every Interstate highway be a toll road? Is Congress going to insist that every homeowner whose house has been saved by U.S. Forest Service firefighters pay a fee?
The U.S. Constitution states: "Congress shall have the power … to establish Post Offices and post Roads." The Constitution mentions nothing about how post offices and post roads should be paid for. In fact, in recognition that newspapers were important for an informed populace, an early Congress determined that newspapers should be sent at a lower rate than letters.
The benefits and the costs of the Postal Service should not be examined as a direct cost/benefit problem but as a system cost/benefit problem. It is not a question if the revenue of the Postal Services is meeting its costs, but it is a question of what benefits would not be realized if postal service were cut back. For example, if all Duluth mail had to go to the Twin Cities to be processed, would the Netflix office in Duluth close, putting some local people out of work?
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
The fallacy of paying by "productivity"
Many claim that more productive workers will get paid more. That may be true of sales representatives who work on commission, but what about other workers who have several constraints on their "productivity".
I thought of this as I was driving on a weekday on the dirt road in Brimson on the way to our cabin. In front of me was a trash hauler. He stopped to pick up one neighbor's trash, and while he did so I passed him. He continued behind me and I knew his next stop was not for another mile.
When I drove back to Duluth a couple of hours later, the same driver, or at least the same firm, was in front of me on the main highway. I thought he has over an hour's drive to get to the landfill.
It would take him a lot longer to fill his truck than it would for a driver with a city route. Should this first driver be paid for his "productivity"? Or for his time?
Possibly his lower "productivity" is partly compensated by a higher pickup rate for rural customers.
The same holds for UPS and FedEx drivers, and as far as I know the rate for the senders of packages are the same for a given large area. The sender pays for the terminal-to-terminal distance, but not the local distance. Should these drivers be paid for packages per hour or be paid for hours worked?
I had the same situation when I drove for a school and transit bus company. I was paid by the hour no matter what I did. And I got a premium for seniority. Many was the charter on which I read, slept, played chess, ate, or went to the same event as the customer. I had one charter for a theater company where not only did I not drive for the two-to-three hours of the production, the production manager gave me and wife very good tickets for the last performance.
So, what was my "productivity" on this charter. Showing up on time, getting the passengers to their destination on time, driving safely, and being friendly.
I can't end this without mentioning another "productive" kind of employee who is often overlooked - the schmoozer. This is the employee (or even owner) who takes time to know customers and make them feel welcome. During this time they provide no goods or services. But they certainly increase return business. Think of places where the sales staff is on commission and you can hardly stand doing business with them. They are know-it-all fast talkers who want to close a sale as fast as possible. You may wind up buying from them, but only because of the salaried or hourly support staff who act like you are the only customer they have.
I had a vehicle for 13 years and for the last six I kept going to a certain dealer because the service department was good and the front guy was a schmoozer who always acted glad to see me. They had a really good salesman who kept kidding me about buying a new vehicle from him, another schmoozer. Well, by the time I decided to trade-in that vehicle he had retired. A friend told me she bought a truck from him because all the other salesmen were jerks. I found out she was right. And so, I went to the guy who sold me the truck in the first place, also a schmoozer. He was now selling another make of vehicle. He schmoozed, listened to us, and had a selection of vehicles ready for us to test-drive. We bought one of those vehicles.
For those not completely familiar with colloquial English, a schmoozer is someone who makes other people feel at ease with friendly, non-intrusive, conversation.
I thought of this as I was driving on a weekday on the dirt road in Brimson on the way to our cabin. In front of me was a trash hauler. He stopped to pick up one neighbor's trash, and while he did so I passed him. He continued behind me and I knew his next stop was not for another mile.
When I drove back to Duluth a couple of hours later, the same driver, or at least the same firm, was in front of me on the main highway. I thought he has over an hour's drive to get to the landfill.
It would take him a lot longer to fill his truck than it would for a driver with a city route. Should this first driver be paid for his "productivity"? Or for his time?
Possibly his lower "productivity" is partly compensated by a higher pickup rate for rural customers.
The same holds for UPS and FedEx drivers, and as far as I know the rate for the senders of packages are the same for a given large area. The sender pays for the terminal-to-terminal distance, but not the local distance. Should these drivers be paid for packages per hour or be paid for hours worked?
I had the same situation when I drove for a school and transit bus company. I was paid by the hour no matter what I did. And I got a premium for seniority. Many was the charter on which I read, slept, played chess, ate, or went to the same event as the customer. I had one charter for a theater company where not only did I not drive for the two-to-three hours of the production, the production manager gave me and wife very good tickets for the last performance.
So, what was my "productivity" on this charter. Showing up on time, getting the passengers to their destination on time, driving safely, and being friendly.
I can't end this without mentioning another "productive" kind of employee who is often overlooked - the schmoozer. This is the employee (or even owner) who takes time to know customers and make them feel welcome. During this time they provide no goods or services. But they certainly increase return business. Think of places where the sales staff is on commission and you can hardly stand doing business with them. They are know-it-all fast talkers who want to close a sale as fast as possible. You may wind up buying from them, but only because of the salaried or hourly support staff who act like you are the only customer they have.
I had a vehicle for 13 years and for the last six I kept going to a certain dealer because the service department was good and the front guy was a schmoozer who always acted glad to see me. They had a really good salesman who kept kidding me about buying a new vehicle from him, another schmoozer. Well, by the time I decided to trade-in that vehicle he had retired. A friend told me she bought a truck from him because all the other salesmen were jerks. I found out she was right. And so, I went to the guy who sold me the truck in the first place, also a schmoozer. He was now selling another make of vehicle. He schmoozed, listened to us, and had a selection of vehicles ready for us to test-drive. We bought one of those vehicles.
For those not completely familiar with colloquial English, a schmoozer is someone who makes other people feel at ease with friendly, non-intrusive, conversation.
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Who does "snail mail"?
Ever since the Internet started, many people have dubbed postal mail as "snail mail". It may be a cute phrase, but I think it is grossly unfair.
In general, despite the detractions of many, including Grover Norquist, the U.S. Postal Service gives very good service. Within a city and sometimes even within a state, deliveries are often the next day. If it takes longer, it is often because the sender didn't put it in the mail on day the letter was dated.
When I worked for Univac years ago, a standing joke was that one could put identical pieces of mail in a company mail tray and in the U. S. Postal Service box outside. If the mail was addressed to one's home address, the mail put in the box outside would arrive the next day and the mail put in the tray inside would arrive sometime later.
As for customer service, I've always found that carriers and counter clerks do all they can to provide cheerful and helpful service. No matter how long the line, counter clerks offer a choice of rates and always ask "Anything more?" At least this is true in Minnesota.
Today I saw a great irony in service. I ordered a small item from Amazon and was told it would be shipped via UPS. Today if arrived in my mail box!!??!! The postage section of the package was labeled "US Postage Paid/UPS Mail Innovations". In other words, the "superior service" private company is depending on the U. S. Postal Service to do its job efficiently.
In general, despite the detractions of many, including Grover Norquist, the U.S. Postal Service gives very good service. Within a city and sometimes even within a state, deliveries are often the next day. If it takes longer, it is often because the sender didn't put it in the mail on day the letter was dated.
When I worked for Univac years ago, a standing joke was that one could put identical pieces of mail in a company mail tray and in the U. S. Postal Service box outside. If the mail was addressed to one's home address, the mail put in the box outside would arrive the next day and the mail put in the tray inside would arrive sometime later.
As for customer service, I've always found that carriers and counter clerks do all they can to provide cheerful and helpful service. No matter how long the line, counter clerks offer a choice of rates and always ask "Anything more?" At least this is true in Minnesota.
Today I saw a great irony in service. I ordered a small item from Amazon and was told it would be shipped via UPS. Today if arrived in my mail box!!??!! The postage section of the package was labeled "US Postage Paid/UPS Mail Innovations". In other words, the "superior service" private company is depending on the U. S. Postal Service to do its job efficiently.
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