Category: Uncategorized
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Southwest Airlines: Just a little worse every year
Southwest recently announced the retirement of “bags fly free”. But in my view the news isn’t just about baggage fees. While legacy carriers pursued byzantine fare structures and nickel-and-diming, Southwest won customers with its refreshing simplicity: low fares, simple fare structure, open seating, no change fees, and “bags fly free.”…
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Self-checkout is dead. Yay! Boo!
There have been many articles recently about the end of self-checkout at supermarkets and other retail. Naturally, Self-checkout of course was meant to be a way to reduce labor costs, but this would only make sense if losses from “errors” were manageable. (I’m giving shoppers the benefit of the doubt…
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Your wait is now personalized
I recently visited Panera in the middle of the lunch rush. Though I had ordered ahead, the order was not ready yet. Along with a dozen other hungry folks, I stood impatiently by the pick-up counter for them to call out my name. Then I noticed a screen above the…
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’til next year, Staples
Every year, around back-to-school time, I wonder how Staples is still in business. The pandemic gave them a brief boost as WFH took over. But the long-term trend is undeniable — both consumer and businesses prefer to buy online, and that means mostly on Amazon. But for this short period…
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$tarbuck$
The Starbucks experience has gone downhill, especially since the Pandemic. No more self-serve. Starbucks popularized the ability to customize your coffee the way you wanted it that day. During the pandemic, they removed the cream/milk and sugars from the self-serve station for safety. And it seems that these have yet…
Consumer Musings 