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Daily Archives: December 3rd, 2012

Retail Surveys


Many retailers (mainly the national outfits) hire and install a survey program. These programs are supposed to assess the customers thinking about the shopping experience, the company and its individual stores. These surveys usually do not really address the real issues ,just what the company wants to know about the stores and employees. The reason is to determine why the company is not doing as well as they would like and the sales predictions are not where they should be. These surveys never address the real problems. One is the seemingly increasing number of  product placement issues (resets) aside from the normally expected seasonal ones. The real information will only be obtained from the workers yet the folks hired by the companies at great expense to “read” the minds of the customers is used as a barometer and is flawed. Retailers to save money and improve the bottom line have increasingly used technology for that purpose but the tech experts who may have no retail experience to draw on are a poor substitute for hands on information. There was a time when the hiring process truly involved a new hire being trained  through a process of steps which brought them in contact with various stages of the company functions. This staging allowed for a clearer picture of the company processes and ultimately creating a better employee who can better serve the company along with its customer base.

Blasphemy or Just Callousness?


The Springfield Urban league has committed a seemingly planned slap in the face of its area of service and it’s Head Start employees. The annual Gala (now called anniversary) has as guest speaker  the U.S. Attorney of the central District of Illinois. The speaker is Mr. jim Lewis who in his career has been a civil rights advocate  and Head Start worker with a grand reputation for fighting for the rights of minorities. They (The Springfield Urban League) in my view have contrived to smear a coat of fresh paint on their faces to hide the evil deeds they have heaped on the community and it’s residents. Mr. Lewis’ background would make him an excellent choice for the speaker if the league were a better community based organization. Mr. Lewis’ appearance while not mitigating his accomplishments adds an  air of approval for the “League’s actions” of the past few years. I am sure if Mr. Lewis knew the poor track record of the Springfield Urban league, he would surely have declined this invitation.

Fiscal ?


The current debate on the fiscal cliff is at once confusing and practical. the confusion is the bottom limit on higher income folks and small business people are always mentioned. Unless I am mistaken, small business people do not necessarily personally make 250,000 dollars annually. Their business could generate that amount but after taxes, payroll and expenses it is no longer 250,000 dollars. My question is: how is the 250,000 dollar amount determined? The parties both throw out this number but no specific details ever follow.  The Dupublicans have thrown this figure out but only to garner support against the tax increase but in reality many small businesses will not be affected. The Scamocrats insist that this will not affect small businesses. Which is correct? This issue as far as I am concerned needs to be resolved in camera and not in the media. These daily reports serve only to confuse and infuriate the public. There are many offerings  from  well known third-party people and high profile business people but none of these have any effect on the problem. What if all of these ideas were to come together, could we devise a long term solution to the problem? Are we heading into 4 years of business as usual? Our political system has been broken for a long time and the party method is as obsolete as carbon paper. The party’s have firmly entrenched their beliefs in some draconian ways that do not relate to the modern world. It is fine to have a general party line but these “modern” planks are more self-centered and politically stagnant. If we as voters and citizens would dismiss our “party” sense we could then look at the overall effect of this “hardlinerism” and begin to remove these long term sitters to improve the “Congressional” blood lines.

Transportation and Trash In Springfield, ILlinois


I have watched and read the assorted stories and blurbs about trash pick up, rail line locations and where police and fireman  will live. All of this issues are important but let us look at them in order of importance.  There is no place in Springfield that cannot be gotten to in 20 minute or less. This is on the far end of normal emergency response time so any public servant in these two job areas would not be out of range of reporting for duty in an emergency. If any of these folks lived  any place beyond the range of Petersburg (for example) then there may be a problem but maybe only due to road and weather conditions (blizzard, tornado or the like). Trash collections, I live just outside the city limits but am still considered as living in Springfield  (except when local elections occur) and in my little area there are no less than 4 and as many as 6 trash haulers and if my neighbors are like me they pay monthly , quarterly or something similar. None of us have recycling (I  am not sure why not)  and we do OK. I would suggest that the city should if they need to assess a tax or what ever it is to be called on the trash issue , just do it and be done. The much talked about rail relocation is never going have a perfect solution but apparently Normal, IL.  was able to get it done (10 years in the making). Their solution seems to incorporate connections with the use of shuttles to the airport, on site parking for train and bus travelers. WE do not need much more than this and therefore need to resolve primarily the issue of train service rerouting. No doubt there will be some relocation but the solution is to decide and really have discussions with the folks who will be affected by the relocation. Town hall meetings are not the answer since the city really has no answers at this time, just guesses and by golly’s. My view is that these things need to be resolved and the city leaders should do what is required no matter how much screaming and yelling will come from the public, the public doesn’t trust you anyway so just get it done. Just remember NO ONE wants their status quo changed.