iPad – pushing the envelope

When you buy the latest gadget, you are expected to buy the accessories that make your cool item look totally radical (or whatever the kids say this week).

Got the latest hot iPad? You need a hip case to put it in and protect it from the big bad world. What you need is this;

Yes, for only £14.99 you can have an iPad case that lokks exactly like a tatty old padded envelope.

Or send me only £9.99 and I will send you the real thing – a genuine tatty old padded envelope to put your iPad in. And just like the one you can buy here; http://www.firebox.com/product/5238/Stealth-Tablet-Envelope?via=sfg

Is it waterproof? Yes – that bubblewrap is an effective waterproof layer.

Is it protective? Yes – that’s why it is called a padded envelope.

Will it fool people into thinking it is just an old envelope? Yes, it is absolutley convincing.

In fact, why not just put an old wooden chopping board inside and save the cost of an iPad?

Now that’s Elementary Thinking!

Religious Thinking (not)

Large chunks of the Anglican Church are getting their knickers in a twist about the possibility of having female bishops. Seems they just can’t stand the idea of having a woman in charge.

Shame that the Queen is the head of the organisation then, isn’t it?

Isn’t it abou time to stop tipping?

I was just reading an article in the paper about Christmas, which mentioned the practice of tipping all sorts of people – dutmen, postmen, milkman, paperboy ….. And I wondered why we tip anybody for just doing the job they are paid to do.

Now my mother-in-law tips her regular taxi driver when she goes shopping, but then he does bring all her bags in and put them in the kitchen, which is not a service included in the normal fare, so no problem there.

But think about a normal taxi service. Why do you tip a taxi driver who has provided transport from A to B for a fixed fee, and not a bus driver who has done the same thing?

Why do you tip a waiter who has just made a note of your order, then carried it from the kitchen to your table, and not the chef who has skilfully prepared the meal? In this context, it is worth bearing in mind that if you put the tip on your credit card, that money goes to the owner of the restaurant, who is not required to hand it over to the staff.

It is time to stop giving tips except for service “above and beyond” normal service, so that employers have to pay a proper wage, and charge the true cost up front in their prices and stop relying on getting an extra 10% out of you later.

Mary Portas

So, there a few possible ideas in her report, but one outstanding example of not understanding the business world.

She suggests that there should be a National Market Day, when all towns should hold their markets.

I don’t think she has ever shopped at a selection of markets in the same area, or talked to stallholders; if she had she would have found that the same stalls move from market to market throughout the week.

This is why local markets are held on different days in different towns.

Sell your success, keep your failures?

I was just reading today that HMVare in trouble. Nothing new there then.

The problem is that people are not going to their shops and buying music and videos, instead they buy them online, or download them (sometimes even legally). The people who buy physical media in shops mostly do so in supermarkets.

As a result the shops are losing shedloads of money, and its only going to get worse.

Now the one thing you can’t replicate online is the experience of a live gig, so HMV live music division is making a profit – not shedloads, but at least a coal bunker or two.

So, shops losing money, live venues making money. What do you do?

Well, what HMV are doing is selling the profitable bit, and keep the junk which is going to go bust in due course. WHAT ARE THEY DOING???????????????

I think they need to do some Elementary Thinking.

What are we going to do tonight?

What else?

Try to take over the World!!