Japanese Movers ~ Brilliant Service Ethos!

UD spots Japanese Movers...

Transportation Trustbuster ~ WSJ on Uber Leader

WSJournal's Andy Kessler interviews Travis Kalanick, the Transportation Trustbuster and co-founder of Uber, the disruptive limo service that's sticking it to the taxi cartels by providing quality private driver transit experiences...

"Uber launched as an iPhone app in June 2010. The cars that iPhone users summon are typically town cars owned by a limousine company but not on a call. Instead of idly waiting for work, the nearest available driver answers the app call. Other cars are simply privately owned vehicles whose drivers have been vetted by Uber. The idea worked. How could Mr. Kalanick tell? Four months after the launch in San Francisco, Uber was served with a "cease and desist" order from the California Public Utility Commission and the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency. "Given my background," Mr. Kalanick says, alluding to being sued at Scour.com, "this was like homecoming." He verified with his lawyers that what Uber was doing was indeed legal, then the company took its case to the public through Twitter and email. [...] there's been so much corruption and so much cronyism in the taxi industry and so much regulatory capture that if you ask for permission upfront for something that's already legal, you'll never get it."

Read the rest. Fantastic!

MIT 24/7 ~ Saluting our Essential Operators!

Nice Labor Day salute from MIT to our essential operators who ensure smoothly running campus systems 24/7!

End of Mail? ~ BW on USPS's Big Challenges...

The U.S. Postal Service Nears Collapse writes Devin Leonard in Businessweek coverstory...

"The USPS is a wondrous American creation. Six days a week it delivers an average of 563 million pieces of mail -- 40 percent of the entire world's volume. For the price of a 44¢ stamp, you can mail a letter anywhere within the nation's borders. [...] It may be the greatest bargain on earth. It takes an enormous organization to carry out such a mission. The USPS has 571,566 full-time workers, making it the country's second-largest civilian employer after Wal-Mart Stores. It has 31,871 post offices, more than the combined domestic retail outlets of Wal-Mart, Starbucks, and McDonald's. Last year its revenues were $67 billion, and its expenses were even greater. Postal service executives proudly note that if it were a private company, it would be No. 29 on the Fortune 500. The problems of the USPS are just as big. [They are...] ubiquitous, relied on, and headed off a cliff."

Surely this is an organization and service asset that can be reinvigorated. With more reasonable union agreements, more rational pricing, and competitive and vibrant delivery practices, much more should be possible.

Prostitutes as Perks ~ German Sex "Incentives"

Frank Patalong sheds light in Der Spiegel on the role of Prostitutes as Perks: Sex Incentives 'No Exception' in German Business World...

"Germany has some 400,000 prostitutes, estimates the Berlin-based sex worker advocacy group Hydra. Each of them caters to a number of clients, which means millions of men are buying sex -- even if few of them will admit it. Germany legalized prostitution in 2001, giving sex workers the right to job contracts, social security and public insurance. But the profession remains taboo. Sex as an "incentive" or means of bribery in the business world -- such as the corporate prostitution party for German insurance salesmen organized by Mannheimer International -- is incompatible with western values. A businessman mixed up in red-light parties can't be tolerated -- at least not officially. [...] Sex as a business incentive is "widespread," confirms Mechthild Eickel, who works for a sex worker educational association called Madonna. "It's in every branch, it's just that not every company can afford it." [...] corporate orgies have grown in popularity. There are agencies that specialize in organizing events similar to the Mannheimer International sex party in Budapest. Larger escort services will also make such arrangements."

You learn something new every day. In fact, 'Corporate Sex Parties Are Commonplace' writes Julia Jüttner in a related piece...

"Companies routinely hire call girls to spice up excursions and parties, say two Berlin prostitutes following a furor over last week's revelation that a German insurance firm organized a sex party for high-performing salesmen in a Budapest bathhouse. The men start out coy -- but usually jettison their inhibitions after a few drinks, they say. [...] corporate bashes with prostitutes are commonplace. "Many large firms have an extra budget to fund such parties in such a way that they don't show up in the official accounts," [...] "These days you've got to motivate your staff."

Indeed.

Snow Go ~ Competent Cleaning Tools & Methods

These tools and methods for vanquishing snow are worth emulating...