Consumer News and Links for Feb. 18th (Early Edition)
From the Free (sort of) Shipping department:
Everyone knows that if you order more than $25 worth of merchandise from Amazon.com, you can get most items shipped to you free of charge. Well, what about when you want that DVD that sells for $24.99? Now you can get free two-day shipping on almost anything Amazon sells if you simply pay a yearly fee of $79.00 and enroll in Amazon Prime. Does anyone out there actually order from Amazon enough to make this a good investment? I can see if you are a business that uses Amazon to keep you stocked, but individual consumers? This just seems like a needless added expense to me, but it doesn't seem that way to Ed Kohler over at the Technology Evangelist. (Technology Evangelist)
From the You Will Be Happy Little Workers, Dammit! department:
Gem Plumbing and Heating, located in Providence, has paid a happiness consulting firm to bring "Plork" into their business plan. What is plork? It is tightly orchestrated "Play at Work." These people come in and basically advise the heads at Gem on how to make their workers happy! This reminds me of the company I worked for who would throw mandatory pizza parties for a staff of over 200 people and only order 10-15 pizzas. I guess it is a good thing that "Plork" doesn't simply mean "Plumbing at Work." That would be redundant... but a bit more logical. (Providence Business News also Douglas Rushkoff's Thoughts on This Story)
From the Discount Eugenics department:
Wal-Mart has been ordered by the Massachusetts Board of Pharmacy to carry the morning after pill after three women sued the company to carry it. Should government tell private businesses what to carry on their shelves? I say no. Though I do believe that the morning after pill should be widely available, I don't think that three women who want their emergency contraceptives with a yellow smiley face stickered to them should be able to force a company to provide them with it... However, the prospect of people who frequent Wal-Mart putting a halt to their breeding is an appealing prospect to me. (MSNBC)
Everyone knows that if you order more than $25 worth of merchandise from Amazon.com, you can get most items shipped to you free of charge. Well, what about when you want that DVD that sells for $24.99? Now you can get free two-day shipping on almost anything Amazon sells if you simply pay a yearly fee of $79.00 and enroll in Amazon Prime. Does anyone out there actually order from Amazon enough to make this a good investment? I can see if you are a business that uses Amazon to keep you stocked, but individual consumers? This just seems like a needless added expense to me, but it doesn't seem that way to Ed Kohler over at the Technology Evangelist. (Technology Evangelist)
From the You Will Be Happy Little Workers, Dammit! department:
Gem Plumbing and Heating, located in Providence, has paid a happiness consulting firm to bring "Plork" into their business plan. What is plork? It is tightly orchestrated "Play at Work." These people come in and basically advise the heads at Gem on how to make their workers happy! This reminds me of the company I worked for who would throw mandatory pizza parties for a staff of over 200 people and only order 10-15 pizzas. I guess it is a good thing that "Plork" doesn't simply mean "Plumbing at Work." That would be redundant... but a bit more logical. (Providence Business News also Douglas Rushkoff's Thoughts on This Story)
From the Discount Eugenics department:
Wal-Mart has been ordered by the Massachusetts Board of Pharmacy to carry the morning after pill after three women sued the company to carry it. Should government tell private businesses what to carry on their shelves? I say no. Though I do believe that the morning after pill should be widely available, I don't think that three women who want their emergency contraceptives with a yellow smiley face stickered to them should be able to force a company to provide them with it... However, the prospect of people who frequent Wal-Mart putting a halt to their breeding is an appealing prospect to me. (MSNBC)
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