My love-hate relationship with Amazon

This morning I read in the Times that Jeff Bezos has pledged $2.5M in support of same-sex marriage in Washington State. I wanted to let Amazon know that I'm happy about this support by its CEO, so I clicked on over to amazon.com to find their "contact us" link.

Without success.

Unless I'm just hopelessly blind this morning, Amazon doesn't seem to have a mechanism for receiving general feedback.

And so goes the ongoing saga of my relationship with Amazon. for example: I'm a long-time Kindle user; I own every model of the Kindle so far, except the DX. Obviously I like reading on the Kindle. It's great to be able to carry a whole library with me in a small, light-weight package that can go a week without recharging, and my eyes appreciate the ability to change font sizes to accommodate changing reading conditions. Being able to sample a book before buying has made me a more adventurous reader.

But -- the DRM periodically drives me crazy. Subscriptions are especially painful. I was delighted when the New York Times Kindle Edition finally became good enough that we could cancel our paper subscription to the Times; I hated putting out pounds of paper each week in the recycling. But I can only have the Times delivered to one of my Kindles - making it impossible for Katy and I to share the Sunday Times. We can sort of work around this by using the digital access that comes with a Kindle subscription to read the Times on an iPad, but it's not the same.

Then there is Amazon's stance on sales tax. It's just utterly bogus to claim at this point in the history of the Internet that requiring online retailers to collect and pay state sales taxes is "too onerous" or would "suppress online sales." Many online retailers manage this without any problems; surely Amazon could as well. Yet Amazon continues to lobby against this.

Ah, well. Thanks, Jeff, for the good; can you try to do something about the bad?

SmileTrain - a protection racket

For literally years now, I've been getting mailings about every 2 weeks from SmileTrain, a charity that helps children born with a cleft lip or palate get the repair surgery they need to lead relatively normal lives. A worthy cause, yes? I suppose - but their fundraising strategy amounts to a protection racket. I quote:

"Make one gift now and we'll never ask for another donation again."

 Right. According to a report by CharityWatch, this is a lie. Further, in 2009 SmileTrain had an overhead rate of about 30%, while claiming that "100% of your donation goes to program - 0% goes to overhead." Part of that overhead was the $678,058 that President and Co-Founder Brian Mullaney received in compensation.

 I hate to see scumbags making money off unfortunate children.

"We can barely defend ourselves."

Today's New York Times has several articles regarding the apparent debt ceiling deal, and this one contains this quote from Republican representative Bobby Schilling, member of the Armed Services Committee. He was expressing concern over the "automatic cuts" that would engage if certain legislative milestones are not met.

Mr. Schilling whipped out a little chart that showed a reduction in bombers and other weapons programs over recent years. He said the proposed cuts to the military if a new Congressional committee should fail to come up with a deficit reduction plan that passes muster with Congress “really scares me,” he said. “We’re on the fringe right now. We can barely defend ourselves.” (emphasis added)

Really??? We can barely defend ourselves???

OMG. What is this bozo doing on the House Armed Services Committee?

The Bottle Bill

Tonight I walked over to my local beer outlet in Davis Square, Downtown Wine and Spirits, to return empties and buy more beer. I really like the selection at Downtown, but they are a pain to deal with regarding empties. Like many liquor stores, they have gone to the freakin' redemption machines that turn what should be a really quick transaction into a drawn-out process of shoving in bottles one...at...a...time. Downtown is also slow to update the machines when they add new brands, with the result that you have to return some bottles outside and then get on line to return the rest inside - where they take them rather grudgingly.

Tonight, the machine was just flat-out down, and when I took the bottles inside, the guy behind the counter tried to tell me that I'd have to come back once the machine was repaired. I got pushy and got him to take my bottles - but the confrontation sucked.

SO - when I got home, I checked on the law. Here's a part of what the Massachusetts state government site has to say about the bottle bill (I've added some emphasis at places):

Where can I return empty beverage containers?

Residents can return empty containers to any redemption center that agrees to accept the containers, or any retail outlet that sells or sold within the past sixty days the same brand, type and size of container. Retail outlets must redeem containers for their full redemption value. 

What obligations do retailers have in accepting containers?

Retailers must redeem empty containers during all of their business hours. There is no similar restriction on redemption centers. Restaurants charging a deposit on containers for off- or on-premise consumption must redeem empty containers. Restaurants do not have to redeem empty containers if they sell beverages for on-premise consumption and do not charge a deposit. Vending machine operators must redeem containers at the location of the vending machine, or post a conspicuous notice on the machine stating where and from whom a refund may be obtained. The notice does not have to specify how close the refund location is to the vending machine. If you encounter a business that is not complying with any of these requirements, you may register a complaint by calling the MassDEP Bottle Bill Hotline at 617-556-1054.

Is there a limit on the number of containers that can be returned at one time?

A retailer is only required to accept 120 containers in one day from any one person, but may choose to accept more. There is no similar restriction on redemption centers.

Stop the self-check-out madness!

This morning I walked into my local CVS to buy tissues. As I approached the check-out area, my heart sank; there was one register open (with 4 people already in line), and a nice young woman was directing customers to use the shiny new self-service check-out machines instead.

An older woman in front of me was convinced to try the machines, and then got more and more frustrated as the machine clearly had trouble dealing with her cash purchase. She eventually asked the attendant, "Isn't there something you can do about this?" When the response came -- "No, I'm sorry, ma'am, there isn't." -- I loudly observed, "Yes there is. You can hire more cashiers."

It was like lancing a boil -- the whole check-out area erupted in cheers! I continued, stating that these machines take away entry-level jobs and essentially outsource the company's labor costs to its customers. The people around me were nodding and muttering support, and eventually the store supervisor opened another register, to another round of cheers.

Note to retailers making customers take over cashier positions: We don't like it!


If you don't like it, take action:

• Refuse to use self-service check-out machines.
• If you have to wait in line because there aren't enough cashiers, complain! Doing it loudly, in the store as I did, is good (because it lets other people vent along with you), but you should also complain to the highest management person on-site (typically a shift supervisor) and lodge a complaint at the company's web site. Be specific: be prepared to provide the time of day, a rough idea of line length (a number, not just "long"), and the store location.

Here are links to customer feedback pages for some of the stores aggressively pushing self-checkout:

• Shaws
• CVS - This astonished me, but CVS doesn't seem to have any sort of web-based feedback page. You have to call or write a letter:
  
  CVS Corporation
  One CVS Drive
  Woonsocket, RI 02895
  1-800-746-7287
• Publix
• Kroger

I'm not the only person unhappy about this:

• Consumer Reports
• The Consumerist
• Self Check Out Lanes Kill Jobs Facebook group

Another time waster from Microsoft

I'm trying to get a new laptop at work up and running, using Windows 7 (gulp). After the initial system install, Windows Update downloaded over 60 updates; I told it to go ahead and install them. Everything seemed to be cooking along fine; the updates installed, the system rebooted - and then I got a screen saying "Step 3 of 3 - Preparing To Configure Windows. Please Do Not Turn Off Your Computer". And waited. And waited.

Over an hour later, with no evident disk activity or anything else, I decided something was actually wrong, and started Googling. I found this thread at Microsoft with many users complaining of the same thing. Microsoft never provided a useful response.

Luckily, though, some valiant soul tried Ye Olde three finger salute - Ctrl-Alt-Del - and, voile! The system put up a login prompt and everything was fine. This worked for me,too.

Wake up, Microsoft! Things like this really upset people! Would it be so hard to at least put a sticky comment at the top of the forum providing the workaround, so we don't have to wade through thousands of lines of rants to get to the solution?

Untangled

Katy and I decided to go out and see a movie this evening, and settled on the 7PM showing of Tangled at Fresh Pond Entertainment Cinemas. This movie theater is never my first choice; the theaters are small, the sound insulation between them is poor, and they're expensive. Usually I try to go to one of these:

• the Somerville Theater (walking distance, relatively cheap tickets)
• the Capitol Theater in Arlington (same owners a the Somerville; cheap tickets, not far away)
• the Kendall Square Cinema in (duh!) Kendall Square ("art" films, close to Flat Top Johnny's for pre-movie pool and darts)

But Fresh Pond was the closest place we could find with Tangled, so off we went - only to return home without seeing the movie. The sound level was extremely low (as opposed to the usual ear-splitting over volume...) and the image jittery. As soon as the previews started and the problem became apparent I went out the lobby and notified a theater employee; nothing happened. Eventually the actual movies started, and we walked out.

The manager was very polite, and refunded our money without any hassle, but it just seemed so pathetic. Evidently there is so much automation that the one "projectionist" they have was unable to actually do any troubleshooting.

The price of two adult tickets is $18.50; that's about the price of most Blu-Ray movies on Amazon (plain old DVDs are even cheaper). With this kind of experience, how long do the movie theaters think they can stay in business?

Doesn't anyone care?

This morning I was out in the lawn raking leaves at about 10:30 when I spotted delivery truck preparing to turn the wrong way up our one-way street (from Miller to Orchard). I yelled to him that it was a one way street, but he kept coming - and in the process tore down the phone lines that cross the street at that corner. He stopped the truck, and I yelled to him that he had taken down wires, but he ignored me, backed his truck down Orchard, paused, and then turned down Blake and left.

I went inside, discovered that among the lines he took out were our phone lines, and called the Cambridge police to report the incident. The Cambridge Fire Department promptly sent a truck out to inspect the downed lines and get them off the street.

I then called Verizon to report the downed lines, a real exercise in frustration. They force you to listen to ads for FIOS before giving you a chance to enter any options, and you're then forced through a voice response system that never offers you a chance to talk to a human. I tried contacting them on the web; that was just as fruitless. I wonder if Verizon has any clue how infuriating their customer support is.

Finally, I called back the Cambridge police department to see if they wanted any of the information I had, so they could follow up with the driver and/or trucking company. There was no interest at all.

SO - since it seems there will be no official action, I can at least publish what I have. First, the raw information:

• License plate: MA 248 0924
• DOT 949278
• MC 640842
• The truck was labeled DB Schenker and QTX, Salem, NH, and was a white box truck.

The U.S. Department of Transportation provides a lookup page for DOT/MC numbers, which provided these details on the trucking company:

Legal Name	QUATIERI TRUCKING INC
DBA Name	QTX TRANSPORTATION
Physical and Mailing Address	ONE LISETTE DR SALEM, NH 03079
Phone	(617) 201-0897
USDOT Number	949278
MC Number	MC-640842

I got a good look at the driver, since he got out of the truck before driving off and asked me, "Is there a problem here?" in a threatening tone. He's a bit shorter than me (maybe 5'6"), mid 20's to mid 30's, black mustache, a little heavy. This was one time I regret not having a cell phone camera.

I'm still trying to figure out who, if anyone, I can report this incident to. It doesn't seem right that a guy can deliberately turn the wrong way on a one-way street, tear down phone lines, and just drive off.

Update: I filed a complaint (ID 100045255) with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Admnistration.

Update, early January 2011: I got a response from the DOT, stating that they have opened an investigation.

Update, March 2011: I got another letter from the DOT; they are preparing an "enforcement action." Who knows what that means, but it should at least get the attention of the trucking company. Sometimes the system does work!