The Robots I Love (and can afford) UPDATED

70+ years of robots in science fiction have failed to yield anything
similar in real life. Our movies and books feature human companions,
even substitutes. The robots we have today still resemble machinery
and are best suited to completing singular tasks. Even in the field of
academic robotics we see robo snakes for inspecting pipes and other
non humanlike robots.  It is clear that people won't be "copied" or
replaced anytime soon.

But we do have simple robots that can do work for us which ease our
burdens. These are the robots that are taking hold, filing niches and
being built by the millions. Their simplicity and mass market
application make them affordable.

Our first robot (or the first one I recognized) was the cruise control in our car, able to maintain a constant speed while driving, suitable for ensuring that long road
trips stay on pace and that flatland travel uses fuel efficiently.

Our second robot was the motion sensor light which would faithfully
watch to see if light was required, and then turn it on, ensuring the safety
of people and even the occasional cat.

Our next robots were a pair of dehumidistat that could detect when air
In our house was too moist and activate a fan to vent the humid air. This allowed
fans to run automatically ensuring the health of our house's air
without running too long. This balance helps prevent venting too much
heated air during the winter. So they help us be healthy and save us money.

Perhaps the most obvious robot we have is Roomba a vacuuming robot
whose enthusiasm for vacuuming more than makes up for its wandering
approach. Roomba may only get 85% of the dirt but that is
85% I didn't have to clean, and it isn't always the same 85%, meaning
that repeated runs achieve a higher rate of cleaning. Apart from the
cleaning, Roomba puts itself away when it is finished and recharges
itself so it is ready to clean at the next scheduled time.

Maybe The most primitive of robots is the alarm clock which counts the time
And could wake you up at a predetermined time. Something that is difficult to do yourself while sleeping.

The washing machine is a robot with muscle, vigorously scrubbing our
clothes, rinsing the soap out and then squeezing out most of the water
by spinning. Along with its partner the dryer, these two machines
process many pounds of clothing each week, making our lives cleaner
and healthier.  I regret that in over 50 years we have not observed a
variation on these machines which would allow the dryer to eject its
load into a waiting basket in order to receive a load which would in
turn be ejected by the washer.   I think we have an opportunity here
that we are missing. A laundry processing system where the clothes
enter the chute upstairs and appear clean and dry in the basket
downstairs.


The dishwasher saves us countless hours by washing and rinsing and
drying dishes we would otherwise have to pile and wash by hand. There
is still the trick of getting the dishes in and out but overall it
saves human labour.

The automated lawn sprinkler system can obey restrictive watering
restrictions while keeping your lswn green and in some cases by
monitoring rainfall. Ranging from $100 these systems allow you to
remain on schedule (or in bed) without performing mundane
"hose management".

Thermostats - central or "zone" keep the temperature "right". This
May not be apparent until you try a wood fire and feel the room heat and then
cool beyond the range of comfort.

These robots take an incremental approach to serving us, often unnoticed and understated. These are the robots I love (and can afford)..

Update; lights lights lights lights. 

 Home Depot sells a $30 Leviton light switch that has an astronomical calendar in it. In a nutshell it can accept latitude longitude, time zone and more in order to accurately determine when the sun will rise and set so that your outdoor lights turn on a few minutes before sunset and turn themselves off again when the sun rises. 

And on a slightly sheepish note when wiring the lighting for my garage I didn't put the light switch within reach of the door.  So I installed a $20 motion sensing light switch that "sees" when I am entering the garage and switches on the lights. 

Ok, if you are like me you detest banging your shins in the dark. So I took a radio shack sound activated wall plugin, attached a string of white LED Xmas lights and threw them under te bed. Now when milt feet hit the floor in the morning I am greeted by the soft bite glow from under the bed illuminating my path safely. 

And finally when I get up in the dark winter months, I get dressed in the dark so I don't wake my wife with the light. IKEA sells a wonderfull $18 motion sensing light I have mounted in the closet above the door. When the door opens the small led light comes on for 15 seconds which is just long enough for me to differentiate the different shirt colours in the closet so I make a better choice!

Cheers I hope that helps someone. 

Why I've given up on rechargeable batteries.

I feel cheated and betrayed.  For years I've made small efforts to be responsible in purchasing rechargeable batteries.  I wanted to reduce the number of batteries going to a landfill, I wanted to be responsible with money by not having to re-purchase batteries.  I wanted to do the right thing.    But I feel like the promises made and prices charged by battery manufacturers weren't genuinely intended to support the widescale adoption of rechargeable batteries. Its been a long process but for now I've finally given up. :-(

The Math and Myth of Outsourcing

Math in a quote
"Simple logic should tell us it's impossible for the private sector to deliver the same service for less and make a profit as well."
— Ellen J. Dannin, Professor of Law, Wayne State University Law School

The Myth of private industry's inherent efficiency
There is this myth out there that private industry is exceptionally efficient when compared to government.  It may be efficient, and in some cases that might hold true, but beware the trap of all or nothing, black and white  thinking.  Just considering how individual contractors have their own equipment, licensing, insurance, payroll, buildings, vehicles etc, starts to show a duplicated cost in private industry that is quite wasteful.  So I think we can agree that private industry isn't exactly waste free, and perhaps quite inefficient as each private enterprise has to "re-learn" how to chase contracts perform work and satisfy the customer... or at least take the customer's money.  So private isn't necessarily more efficient and if the money is being wasted on inefficiency it isn't necessarily available to provide value to the customer.

Add a Layer, save money and miss the point
Everyone I know has at some point had a disappointing experience with "outsourced" call-centers.  You phone a number in North America (where English is the primary language) and you expect to get an English speaker because you need help.  And... you get someone from a foreign country who is very interested in "registering" your problem (so they get paid) and reassuring you, but they keep missing your meaning because English is not their language, it is an acquired job skill, one they polish and polish, but will never truly understand the way a native speaker understands it.  The whole point of customer service is to.... Serve the customer.  Seems to me that making the customer speak to someone who doesn't quite understand their language is going in the wrong direction.  What could lead to such insanity?  Could it be corporate cost cutting?  Ever notice the sales guys are from your country and native English speakers, but as soon as you sign on the line and they get your money, you are put off to people in a foreign land who don't even understand what you are talking about because they are probably trying to answer your question from a set of scripts. Going to a third party at arms length just to save money can certainly compromise the quality and the value you get out of that service.  Notice the "outsourced call center" isn't needed until we try to save money, then we look smart to the accountant and foolish to the customer. (who are you trying to impress anyways)

My Outsourcing experiment
I tried outsourcing once for my software company, and I spent so much time explaining, re-explaining, documenting, defining, paying, reacting to their lax security and adapting their half solution to meet my simple requirements, that any savings I thought I would experience were "Lost in Translation".  On the receiving end, several years ago I bought a Dell laptop, and when I had trouble, Dell saved a dollar or 2 by paying someone in another country to answer my call.  They weren't much help, and were hard to communicate with. The English was flawless but the meaning was lost. So I made sure that the next computer I purchased was not a Dell. Dell! Are you missing $200?  I gave it to your competitors because of your stupid Cost cutting, cost avoidance, whatever, I call it bad service.

So Leaders! Are you listening?  Stop flirting with the guy in accounting and consider the REAL cost to outsourcing before you go down that road and convert your customers into haters.

Cheers, what is your experience with outsourcing?
Greg.

Is "Made in China" a bad thing?

My friend Pete has decided to avoid (as much as possible) purchasing items made in "that bad place". He is jokingly referring to items made in China. It is becoming increasingly difficult to find items that are not made in China, from tools, to toys, to household appliances, exercise equipment and other day to day items. Lots of the items we purchase are coming from China. More and more it seems. Let me be perfectly clear in case any of you are having a bad day and are tempted to infer things that aren't here. I am not talking about "people" I am talking about "products" and business practices. China is the location of origin specified on the products under discussion. Ethnicity is not under discussion here.

Quality
My friend's objections to buying goods imported from China have to do with safety and quality. In his opinion there have been too many cases of low quality controls resulting in a measurable health hazzard. The list of problems includes deaths from bad pet food, melamine contamination in human food, and lead paint in toys. But clearly those examples don't mean every product is defective. Just because a product is from China doesn't mean it is poor quality. In many cases products we would consider to be of high quality are manufactured in China. Apple's "iphone" and "ipod" are manufactured in China. So while the design may be North American, the manufacture and assembly is handled by companies in China. Several dimensions of quality must be considered;

• Design (is it similar but inherently flawed?) 
• Materials (are half the parts not galvanized to protect against rust?) 
• Workmanship (is it slapped together or carefully built) 
• Documentation (Are the instructions intelligible, well translated, useful?) 
• Environmental (are toxic or banned materials used in the product or its manufacture?) 

Comparison with Japan
There was a time when products from Japan (like the tin wind-up toys that were popular in Canada) were considered "junk". Now Japanese quality is considered among the top in the world. Following World War 2 Edward Demming and others introduced statistical process control. A number of Japanese manufacturers applied his techniques widely and experienced theretofore unheard of levels of quality and productivity. The improved quality combined with the lowered cost created new international demand for Japanese products. Japan even began exporting expertise with programs like the Toyota Production System. The point should be made that significant improvement of quality came through deliberate action, not a "natural" process of industrial maturation.

Cost
How can a product that is manufactured overseas, AND SHIPPED here cost less than a product built here with no shipping? I don't get it. I understand that shipping a 40ft container to the US from China costs about $8,000US.  How could the production cost be so significantly lower that after shipping and import taxes the companies involved are actually saving money? Could it be that manufacturers in China understand how reducing margins a little wins them the contract over North American manufacturers who "can't be bothered" to make a product unless they make $x.xx per item?

Overpriced wall-tap example
At my local Home Depot store I found an orange plastic wall tap (a plug expander) for grounded plugs. Home Depot wants $6.98 + tax, but the Dollar(.25) store down the street wants $1.25. We are talking about a block of orange plastic with metal wires embedded in it. There is no way it is WORTH $6.98 + tax. Given my limited knowledge of how injection molded plastic objects are created, and my understanding of how the dollar store and their suppliers insist on making a profit (not a loss) on every sale, it is safe to bet that the cost of materials, manufacturing and shipping for the orange wall tap are less than $1.25. So if getting the wall tap made and shipped to the store is less than $1.25, why is Home Depot charging us an extra $5.73?
I have a theory and it has to do with markup. Assuming both stores want a 100% retail markup the cost for each becomes $2.88 and $0.625. Lets assume HD goes through an extra "distributor" who also has 100% markup. Now we're looking at $1.44 and $0.625. If the North American Manufacturer needs to make $1.00 per item and has a $0.44 "cost", we start to see how the manufacturer in China still has $0.185 of room per item for profit and shipping. So thats my theory, I'm sure you have your own which I welcome in the comments section.

Labour practices
Does the low cost for some products made in China necessarily mean that the people making them are being treated unfairly? Sometimes this is the case. In 2006, the Mail on Sunday alleged that sweatshop conditions existed in factories in China, where the contract manufacturers, Foxconn and Inventec operate the factories that produce the iPod. The article stated that one iPod factory, for instance, had over 200,000 workers that lived and worked in the factory, with workers regularly doing more than 60 hours of labor per week. The article also reported that workers made around $100 per month were required to live on the premises and pay for rent and food from the company. Living expenses (required to keep the job) generally took up a little over half of the worker's earnings.[154][155][156] Immediately after the allegations, Apple launched a full investigation and worked with their manufacturers to ensure that conditions were acceptable to Apple.[157]

The standard for "fair treatment" needs to be both acceptable to the people designing and purchasing the products. (Nothing to hide) as well as acceptable to the people performing the work and running the companies. Working for $x per day may sound awful in North America where the cost of a house is very high. Folks in other nations may be thankful for $x per day and could conceivably be raising their standard of living at those wages. So we can't have an overly paternal response where we need to control, nor an overly naive response where we leave the manufacturer to their own devices. The discussion of what is "fair treatment" is a larger discussion better handled separately, but I'd be cheating you if I didn't draw attention to the issue. 

Assuming the question of "fair treatment" is defined reasonably. If an offshore manufacturer can offer better prices by "mistreating" their workers, they are being unethical. If a company contracting work out to the manufacturer knows this, or turns a blind eye, they are acting unethically. Respecting the people involved must always come first. The response by Apple to ensure that the people assembling their products are treated ethically is commendable whatever the motivations. This blog has discussed "Fair Trade" products in the past. There is no reason this model couldn't work for manufactured goods as well.

Outsourcing our Manufacturing Base

I've seen ships piled high with logs.  Logs bound to go overseas where they will be milled and transformed into consumer goods. I've wondered why we wouldn't build those consumer goods here and take the associated jobs and the associated profits.  Seems weird to me that someone can ship logs half way around the world because it is a better deal.  Maybe companies overseas pay a bit more for logs to keep the jobs and profits for the finished goods.  Here in British Columbia I keep hearing news about mills closing.  I see a risk if North American corporations decide to continue this trend of "outsourcing" their manufacturing.  We'll have fewer factories, fewer trained factory workers, less equipment, and less capacity for manufacturing.  To think a dark thought for a moment.  What happens in a widespread armed conflict that spans continents if North America has "outsourced" it's manufacturing capability.  Before we could produce equipment, we'd need to first plan and construct factories, source and deliver raw materials.  Maybe we're past that point and all the new wars will be fought with dollars.  Lets hope we don't make shortsighted decisions that shoot our feet off.

Conclusion

I think in looking at this issue we need to fight our way through a lot of stereotypes like the arrogance of assuming North American design is superior.  In a world where the true costs are not transparent its hard to know where the money is going or why choices are being made. The long and the short of it demands that we treat everyone with respect, and that we identify hidden costs that might not be apparent.  I think there is the potential for a global community driven project that aims to divulge the "True Cost" of the products we purchase on a daily basis.  As explored above some of the health and safety costs may not be worth paying even though the "sticker" (retail) price looks attractive.

Cheers,

Greg. 

Rotten Rebates. When a Rebate isn't a Rebate

I've had some bad experiences with "rebates" lately.  They have left me irritated, disappointed and basically wishing they didn't exist.  As I think about it, I think my disappointment boils down to 3 things;

• Companies are complicating the customer experience.
• The hassle of getting what you've been promised.
• Broken promises

Lets start with a basic definition of "Rebate" from the free dictionary

re·bate ¹ 

n.

A deduction from an amount to be paid or a return of part of an amount given in payment.

tr.v.  re·bat·ed, re·bat·ing, re·bates

1. To deduct or return (an amount) from a payment or bill.

Complicating the Customer Experience
Back in college, I remember my first accounting professor making us repeat back to him in the manner of a rally slogan.  "WHAT DO WE WANT?"  "CASH"  "WHEN DO WE WANT IT?" "NOW!"  The point of the exercise was that anything less than cash wasn't as good. (less flexibility) and anything other than now, brought all kinds of constraints in terms of timing etc.  So the point was that not all payment is equal.  With cash you can purchase anything anywhere, with a cheque, you can put it in the bank and hopefully there is money to cover the cheque, with credit card, there are processing charges and delays in payment. With gift cards, you are constrained to purchase in only one location.

By the same token not all "discounts" are created equal.  Remember the accounting rally slogan?  Lets modify it a bit. "What kind of discount do you want?" "CASH!" "When do you want it?" "NOW!".  So the best discount is the one you don't have to pay for in the first place.  Instead of the price being $150, its $100, you only pay $100 and thats the end of the story.
What about those offers where you spend $150 and they'll give you a $50 Gift card?  Well it fails the "cash test".  You can't buy gas for your car or food for your family with that, or make a charitable donation, you have to spend it at that store.  Sure if it's a store that stocks necessities you would otherwise use a grocery store etc. That might be fine, but chances are its a store that stocks some luxury item you wouldn't buy otherwise, and now you've got your choice of stores limited to 1.
Several years ago one of the local electronics retailers switched form mail-in rebates (we'll discuss those in a minute) to "instant rebates" these were processed at the till and got the customer the discount right then.  Well, is it cash? (did it reduce the price you paid out of your pocket?) YES,  did you get it right away? YES.  Good deal.  Those rebates sound OK.  We've seen store rebates, manufacturer's rebates, and the similarity to "coupons" is pretty minor at that point, apart from perhaps filling in all kinds of personal information to get yourself on junk-mail lists...  Make sure you NEVER SHARE PERSONAL INFORMATION.  They don't need it.  Make stuff up, skip the question, whatever.

flickr credit: philosophygeek

The hassle of getting what you've been promised.
Normally the hassle of getting what you've been promised in a rebate is related to you taking some action "after the sale" to get your discount.  It might be "providing a valid product UPC"   (ever seen a product with multiple UPC codes?  which one did they want???)  It might be "providing an original sales receipt", it might be "including the rebate form".  Essentially you gave your money away, (the money you are going to have them send back to you).  Now you spend your time (your employer pays you money for your time...) and you use an envelope and postage to send papers to the "rebate company".  They say it will take 6-8 weeks (8+)  And after 8 weeks you inevitably dig up their contact information and ask them about the status of your rebate.  They will say one of the following;

• It's in the mail (hmm...)
• What was your rebate tracking number? (huh?) 
• Oh yes, I see here you were missing your;
• original receipt
• UPC code
• Rebate form or rebate form details
• Your product doesn't qualify.  You bought model ABCDEFG-1  not ABCDEFG-2
• (sometimes retailers play with model numbers so they don't have to match competitor prices, so sometimes the retailer advertising the rebate is actually complicating your rebate collection process).
• The offer has expired
• "Sorry this rebate processing center has gone out of business. (they got arrested for fraud)

flickr credit: Brendan Shigeta

You will re-send (because you did everything right the first time) whatever they ask for and they will tell you it will take another 6-8 (8+) weeks.  Assuming you have an above par experience you'll get your rebate as promised on a cheque that mispells your name, but your bank will allow you to deposit it because they probably don't actually look at the names on the cheques you deposit ;-)

So the "rebate processing center" had your rebate money for 16 weeks.  They couldn't spend your money (unlike the rebate guys who got arrested for fraud above) because they had to pay you eventually, unless you gave up on your rebate and let them keep the money...  Its not like the retailer actually checks to make sure you got your money.  If they cared about you getting your rebate that much, they'd just do it themselves.  As far as they are concerned, as soon as you leave the store your rebate is someone else's problem.  The rebate processing center can collect interest on your money until you cash the misspelled cheque they send you at the end of your ordeal.

Broken promises
Companies sometimes offer rebates to get you to sign up for their programs (contracts).  Contracts are always written to favour the company, not to protect you.  So read that fine print and don't believe Xavier the sales guy who tells you he can waive a clause for you. He won't record it and you'll be on the hook when the foreign call centre doesn't have a record of Xavier's promise to you.
Watch out for "conditional rebates"  These are the rebates they want back from you if you decide to cancel their service, or similar evil.  Sure if you dig through the fine print, there will be some mention of this, but the sales person won't draw it to your attention.  It's a trick, don't feel bad, just get angry.  Remember you are the customer, you are the person making their job possible, and you should not be tricked, you should be honoured and treated with appropriate respect.

There was one deal where there was a rebate for some VOIP phone equipment that enabled me to become a customer of a popular VOIP phone company.  Essentially they wanted me on the monthly payment plan (which is reasonable if there is good service)  I had to purchase this overpriced piece of electronics which was designed to only work with their service, and then to make me willing to pay for this I was offered a "rebate".
 I was all excited about becoming a part of the "experience" and tried it out.  Most of the time it was great, but sometimes just really poor quality.  Not suitable for the way I use phones, so I cancelled the service.  While cancelling, Von... oops, the VOIP company told me I was going to have to pay them $150.  A cancellation fee and a "REBATE RECOVERY FEE".  After wasting a hour of my life arguing with the guy on the phone I had the cancellation charges reduced to $33, but not without a fight.  Funny enough I probably would have blogged on how that company had really good service (except when talking to people on cell phones).  But in their corporate greed they turned an optimistic potential spokesperson who might once again have become a future customer, into someone who will speak out about their greed, service failures and absolute disrespect for their customers.

Free Advice
Let me encourage you to memorize the "Accounting Rally Slogan"  "What kind of discount do we want?" "CASH" "When do we want it?" "NOW".  Don't go into these "offers" blindly.  Don't settle for "gift cards" if you can get cash.  Don't settle for "Later" if you can get it "now".  And maybe most important, don't buy it because of the rebate.  Buy it because you need it.

I'm a big fan of customer rights.  I think it boils down to honesty, to respect and honour, to treating your customers the way you would want to be treated.  Unfortunately people may have consciences but corporations, outsourced divisions and shareholder meetings do not necessarily have a conscience. As we introduce greater layers of separation between customer, decision maker and employee, we create the potential for great injustice.

Cheers, I hope what I've written here saves your bacon, and protects you from the "headaches" of Rotten Rebates.
Greg.

Corporate Greed and Upselling - Trialware On Your Computer

None of us has made it this far in life without hearing McDonald's famous "would you like fries with that?" upsell.  Whether its the "extended warranties" that put electronics retailers in the dubious position of convincing us that their products are subject to highly likely and frequent failures, or the person in the restaurant asking "did you want cheese with that?" or "anything to drink", we are constantly surrounded by upselling.  It is the corporation's attempt to extract more money from our wallets than we have decided to give them.  They have a captive audience and are greedy for a little more of our after-tax money.  Sometimes its sneaky like a well placed food-bar at the exit of a big box retailer, other times it is more overtly evil like additional charges on your restaurant bill for items you thought were included in the posted price.  Sometimes it is putting the customer in a situation where they have to work hard and spend their time to avoid paying money.  I have been seeing the same thing happening on the last few computers I have purchased.

When purchasing computers in the last couple years, it has become difficult to ignore the seriously large amount of  CRAP software that is loaded onto the desktop.  It is software loaded onto the computers that promises to disappoint in one of the following ways.  The software;

• will stop working after a time period
• will allow you to create documents in a proprietary format before locking up.
• will offer a narrow range of functionality with enough limitation or irritation that upgrading seems like the only way to make the pain stop.
• offers a service you never would have sought out on your own.
• is ad supported and to make the annoying ads stop you must pay.
• (mcafee) is stuck in a half installed state that is only solved by creating an account on their website.

When did it become OK for some corporation to put something on our computers without our permission, particularly something that advertises at us, or promises to frustrate, or slows the computer to a crawl by starting when the computer starts...  For example there was some DVD software that came installed on a net-book that ran 2 executables at boot time, each of which used several Megs of RAM (you caught that it was a netbook and had no DVD drive right?...

My best guess is that companies like HP and Acer are being paid to install this software on your computer. ($15/computer etc) knowing that a certain percentage of suckers will simply obey the computer and type in their credit card number to continue.

So I am technically savvy and have no problem recognizing these "special offers", but I truly pity the older generations and the less astute who may not understand their computer software is going to "stop working" in 60 days.  To prey on the ignorance of the ill-informed is reprehensible behaviour.  These corporations seem to think nothing of taking actions that will lead to confusion and frustration and disappointment on the part of their customers, as long as they get their $15 per computer sold.  Ok, so they make money by making their customers experience frustrating while bloating their computer's RAM and cluttering the start menu and desktop.   I would suggest that the term "free-trial" is the other meaning of "trial"  the one that means the same as "ordeal" and not a "test-drive".  There is an arrogance with these software manufacturers in that they seem to believe the following about their software;

• that it is so important it should take up space on my desktop where I will see it constantly
• that it is ok to use up your RAM on startup to keep "helpers" and "startup assistants" in memory even if you don't use their software that day.
• that it is OK to hijack file associations and make themselves the default software for use with files of those types
• that your data (audio/text etc) should be stored in a proprietary format that only their software reads/writes

When we recently purchased a computer for my parents, we uninstalled (or modified the behaviour of) the following crap trial-ware; Adobe Reader (does not need to load on start), cyberlink DVD software (does not need to load, this is a netbook), Microsoft Works (ad supported? really Microsoft you are sounding more desperate each year), 15 time limited games, Mcafee antivirus software (60 days).

MS Office student edition 60 day trial, carbonite online storage.

There are lots of excellent and free software packages out there that surpass those listed above, so I've loaded these onto the computers to replace the advertising, crippled trial-ware and deceptive marketing.

Many of these were in my list of free software earlier this year.

Hey Manufacturers....  My next computer will be Linux or Google-OS.  Stop treating your customers like a "market to be exploited" and start putting yourself in their shoes and asking "how would I like to be treated?"

Software vendors.... Your software isn't as good as you think it is.  People aren't delighted to "TRY" your software "FOR FREE".  Get out of the 80s.  Deliver real value to people with no strings attached and you will have a loyal following (anyone heard of Google or open source software).  Stop trying to trap the customer into your profit center.

People...  Use free open source software.  It works, its better, its less of a headache, it costs less.  Be free.

Cheers,

Greg

P.S.  Acer you owe me 8 hours of my life back.  I bill at $60/hour, I think you owe me a laptop.  Email me to arrange delivery.

Save Money - Give your things away!

I'm going to let you in on a little secret...  The beauty of this secret is that it scales really really well, so the more people you tell, potentially the more people who can contribute and benefit.

[caption id="attachment_538" align="aligncenter" width="360" caption="freecycle logo"][/caption]

I'm talking about free-cycle.  You probably have a free-cycle group operating in your area.  The concept is really simple.  If you want something, you ask for it, and if somebody wants to give you that thing, they will contact you to come and pick it up.  If you have something you want to get rid of, you post it and people will contact you to come and pick it up.

Our family started with a micro-wave stand.  We probably could have got $15 bucks for it, but really... I don't want to operate a garage sale, I don't want to fight with someone over whether I'll take $12.50 rather than $15, and well I really just want to get rid of it so it doesn't waste my space.  My "interest" is unloading something I don't want to keep in my house.  The other person's "interest" is in getting a free microwave stand.  The environment's "interest" is that a piece of furniture did not need to be manufactured, stored, shipped and sold. (We've previously talked about "The Story of Stuff") The object's "interest" is that it becomes useful rather than just wasting space.    Sound "interesting?"  

This truly is "re-cycling" something useful to another person.  Because there is no exchange of money or other consideration, the opportunity for fraud / theft etc is super low (making this safer than other systems where money is exchanged for goods).

It works quite well, and I'm really pleased with the free wooden rocking chair I'm looking at across the room.  Not everything you ask for will be given.  "Lego" is a hard sell.  Nobody wants to give up their "Lego"!  It is an email group.  So don't use your work email. use a "junk email" that can receive a steady stream of offers.  

Getting started with free-cycle.

1. Chose a "junk" email address to use, because you are going to get lots of emails.

2. Find a group in your area by visiting free-cycle.org and typing in your city

3. Read the "rules" (guidelines) so you learn what kind of behaviour fits with free-cycle

4. Start reading and respond to items that interest you.

 

It is better to give than to receive.  Freecycle helps you do both in a way that is responsible; socially, fiscally and environmentally.

Cheers! Enjoy the free stuff.

Greg.

Good Design and Open Design

I'm speaking generally in this article and not attempting to show too much favouritism, but I am painting history with a pretty broad brush so I appreciate your accomodation of that. 

 

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IBM PC vs Apple Hardware

Until recently the "IBM PC" has absolutely killed more proprietary hardware (like Apple products) in affordability. 

Our family owned a Laser 128 apple clone, but apart from that we have over the years owned 1 TRS80, 2 386s, 1 486, 2 Pentiums, 1 Celeron, 1 Athlon64, 2Athlons, 1 zeon  AND zero apples.  Now this is with all the exposure to Apples in the school system (hence the Laser 128)

There was only 1 "Apple" computer company making hardware, but there are many many computer companies building "IBM clones".  We could purchase a 386 for $1500 or we could purchase the same computer from Apple for double the price.  IBM decided to "open" the form-factor for their IBM PC so that low cost manufacurers overseas could "clone" or copy the hardware without paying licensing fees or battling an army of lawyers.  Suddenly this meant there were 5 -10-15-20 soundcard manufacturers, and 20 video card manufacturers, and 10 hard drive manufacturers and 40 Motherboard manufacturers all able to design compatible products and compete on features and price.  While Apple design has remained compelling, it is like Ford's model T. "Any colour you like as long as it is black".

I attended a wedding a few years ago and listened to a man chatting at a table who had worked for IBM for years comment; "It's really too bad that IBM opened up their PC design, they could have made a killing if they had just held onto that and not let others use their design and build components".  He missed it.  He didn't understand that it was precisely because others could have the blueprints that we had commodity computers and incredible demand.  (Understand there is high demand for affordable computers, and very little demand for unaffordable computers) 

Open Standards let us cooperate and work together

There are lots of smart people out there.  They don't all do things the same way, we have chaos or war unless people can agree on how to work together.  that is why we have "standards".  Those attempts to get everyone playing by the same set of rules so we can work together.  Some examples;

• A green light in traffic means...?


• In my country we drive on which side of the road?


• A Meter is exactly how long?


• Do you use POP3 or SMTP for receiving or sending email?


• Are you reading an HTML web page right now transferred by HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol)?

So standards are smart right? They allow people who are willing to negotiate or compromise to choose a common method (often it is not the "best") but it is reasonable for the greatest number of people who are willing to collaborate.

Open versus closed design

Some silly companies think that cooperating with others reveals "weakness".  They think that they are smarter than everyone else.  They think everybody should do things their way and they work hard to avoid cooperating with others.  Lets call them "big brothers" because they like to be in charge of the customer and remove choice.  Here the 2 philosopies collide.  The collaborators and the "big brothers.  Collaborators try to make things like software and file formats work with others including "big brother's.  The "big brothers" work hard to obscure and continually update their formats to make them difficult to copy.  Big brother is all about control.  Ironically Apple chose imagery from 1984 for their 1984 Superbowl ad where they were urging people to break free from the IBM PC. ROFL!  OK, when it comes to file formats, there are many "big brothers" out there.   Kudos! It was a brilliant Ad anyways Apple! (as was this um... "modification")

 

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Office document formats and the battle for useability

For years, Microsoft's office formats have been the only game in town.  MS Word, MS Excel etc.  If you try exporting to another format, they you "lose features" and the docs never did look quite right.  Microsoft is no longer the only game in town, but they are holding on hard to the idea that they know best, that cooperation is not as good as being uncooperative inovation.  Every version of Microsoft office introduced new formats that would not work with the old versions of the program (or would not work well).  In order to make things work, you would have to "upgrade" to the new version.  (Now there was nothing wrong with the old one, its just that Auntie Sue bought a new computer that had the new version and now  you can't read what she writes..)  So pull out your wallet and pay money every year to be able to continue doing the same things you did last year.  That is how the "big brothers" make your life. Expensive and difficult.

Enter the giant killers.

Open Office has been looming on the horizon for years.  Their converters for MS Office documents have been getting better and better.  Now you can use free software that works pretty much as well as the MS Office programs, and it can convert to and from those formats.  Open Office saves you paying hundreds of dollars to Microsoft, and new versions address the version issues Microsoft creates.



Google has created an online system called Google Docs that allows you to create, upload, edit and download documents online. No software other than your web-browser is required, and there is a a high level of compatibility with other office formats.  

These companies are making your life easier, more affordable, and are being open and transparent about their formats so that  you have fewer hassles.  Their "open design" is translating into "Good design" and putting money back in the wallets of people who have been paying "rent" on their software for far too long.

The Value Proposition - Being content with the price you pay

I grew up in a world where the price on the price tag was the price you paid.  Being a shrewd consumer involved shopping around for the same product with a lower sticker price.  Although I did attend an auction or two in my childhood, that was an experience far removed from our weekly shopping trips.  I grew up learning that price was important, but quality was also important so the product would last and not need replacement or repair.  So sometimes paying a little more for better quality meant conserving money in the long run.  I want to pay the least and conserve my money for use elsewhere, but with a growing understanding of where our products come from, I won't knowingly choose a low price at the expense of others or the natural environment.  In this journey from fact to face negotiation, to automated Internet transactions and corporate marketing strategies, It is easy to lose sight of the people on the other sided of the transaction whose welfare must remain a part of the equation.

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In married life, the Internet has allowed us to compare prices without actually having to visit stores (much like the telephone allows), in fact we can compare prices without actually interacting with another person.  It feels like a safe anonymous inexpensive activity.  Ebay started introducing us to live on the wild side by bidding for things at "less than" the asking price.  Until recently this was the extent of our financial education until I met my friend Cindy at work and she introduced me to the idea of "asking for a better price".  "The worst they can say is no" she explained.  So in small ways I began to assert my desire for fairer prices.  Saving $200 on fees associated with buying a car, saving $15 off the price of a pair of shoes.  Spotting inconsequential defects and asking the cashier for a deduction.

Experience has eroded my confidence that retail prices accurately reflect value

I remember being shocked to observe retail markup first hand when i worked at the garden centre.  I saw two things that forever changed my view on pricing. 

1. The first was observing products coming in at a wholesale price and immediately being marked up to a retail price that was 2 times the wholesale.  The $4 items became $8 items, and the $40 items became $80 items.  I was alarmed that at the garden centre 1/2 of every price was basically profit.

2. The second was re-potting plants.  When a plant outgrew its 1 gallon pot, we would pull it out and place it in a 2 gallon pot surrounded with fresh dirt.  So on Friday the shrub was a 1 gallon plant for $4 and on Saturday it was a 2 gallon plant for $7.  In some cases the re-potting would only be half complete, and customers would pass over the 1 gallon shrubs to purchase a 2 gallon shrub (the plants were identical).

I think you will share some of the other experiences I've had; 

• Gas wars where 2 gas stations compete on price and the cost of a litre of fuel drops and drops to ridiculous prices (like 1cent for a litre).

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• Electronics where the retail price drops month after month, while other electronics like the Wii where the retail price remains constant for years.


• Recently crude oil prices plummeted while gasoline prices remained at record high levels for over a year.

Clearly the retail price is not a reflection of value in all cases.  The prices rise and fall despite constant demand and identical products.  The prices you see are not the direct result of a "market effect" but rather the contrived price of marketeers.  In some cases, nobody pays the same price, such as in the case of "yield management" where the airlines use complex formulas in their attempt to extract as much money as possible from each customer for a seat on the same plane.

Very recently on a trip to Mexico, I saw how a silver right for $80 could be purchased for $35.  How? by haggling.  A bead bracelet for $5 becomes 2 for $7 at a cost of $3.50 each.  Now there are the long faces and the sad stories of large families at home in need of money, but don't tear up, it is a game.  In the 5 minutes it took you to pay $7, you supplied 1/3 of the average Mexicans daily wage.  This whole process of haggling over prices felt uncomfortable to me.  As someone accustomed to paying sticker price.  I feel awkward haggling or arguing over price.  Because the "price tag" is what the man asked, I feel compelled to pay it.  After the face I am faced with the tension (maybe unhappiness) that results from having options in the price I pay.  My joy at "finding a good price" is robbed from me when I realize that I could have negotiated a "better price".  When I do haggle for a "better price" I wonder if I got he best price, or did I settle too high?

 

[caption id="attachment_494" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="(flickr credit: Pandiyan)"][/caption]

 

The only solution I have found to this unhappiness with the prices I've paid is the value proposition.  What is the value of this to me and given this value am I content with the price I paid for this product.  For me the value proposition includes; the price I must pay, the quality of the product, the level of customer service I receive and the social impact of the product through its manufacture and associated labour and waste (explained clearly in "the story of stuff").    If I am content, then it does not matter that someone else got a better price or that the price dropped the next week.  I am content, I make my purchase and (unless there is a deal to refund my money when the price drops) I walk away secure that I made a choice and paid a price I was content with. 

I wish you success in leveraging the "value proposition" for your own peace of mind in purchasing.

Greg.

3 Options for Free Higher Education

Don't have a trust fund full of cash sitting around to send you to the finest universities?  Don't have 4 years of your life to throw at a degree?  Want be educated by top schools and experts in the field without the typical investment of time and money?  I've discovered 3 options to get you started on Free Higher Education.

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1. MITOpenCourseware

Several years ago,MIT introduced Open Courseware, which was the sharing of some MIT courses so that anyone with an Internet connection could have access to lectures exams and videos.  Scanned in notes plus lectures allowed anyone to recieve an MIT education (minus the credentials and the long lineups to get into courses you want.)  I studied a little bit of queueing theory out of my own interest in the efficiency of traffic flow.  Now I wasn't pursuing this learning seriously, so I was just "browsing" so to speak.  If someone was disciplined enough to study and do the reading and assignment they could really benefit from MITOpenCourseware

2. Personal MBA

This last year I learned about  "Personal MBA" and began pursuing this myself.  Over at http://personalmba.com/, in a nutshell the claim is; "Business schools don't have a monopoly on worldly wisdom. If you're serious about learning advanced business principles, the Personal MBA can help you master business without the baggage of b-school. "  Surveyed MBA program graduates sometimes share that the greatest benefit of the MBA came from the reading list and interacting with "some of the finest minds in business" through the reading list.  Check out their "Manifesto" here: http://personalmba.com/manifesto/  For those of you eager to cut to the chase, here is the link to the reading list.

3. AcademicEarth

And even more recently I have discovered http://academicearth.org/  There you can watch videos of lectures from the following universities;

• Berkeley


• Harvard


• MIT


• Princeton


• Stanford


• Yale

on the following subjects;  Astronomy, Biology, Chemistry, Computer,  Science, Economics, Engineering, English, Entrepreneurship,  History, Law, Mathematics, Medicine, Philosophy, Physics, Political Science, Psychology, Religion

 

I've always found it sobering that I will not live long enough to learn everything that I would like to learn, or read everything that I would like to read.  These options offer the same challenge in that there are many good things you could pursue and learn, so you must choose well and ignore the rest.  I love that these three options truly level the playing field in terms of learning.  You may not get a degree from these options, but you can certainly use these tools for accessible quality education.

Happy learning!

Greg

Carpooling Etiquette

Carpooling makes sense, you've been enjoying the benefits of carpooling for a while, you've adjusted to sharing commuting space and what seemed like a brand new adventure now seems normal.  Overall it has been good and you want your carpool to carry on, but there are these "minor annoyances" that are making carpooling a little bit tougher.  It started with the really strong perfume that made your car smell like... really strong perfume, then there was the coffee spill on your uphostery.  Life happens you know it could easily have been you, but then there were those surprises where some in your carpool just didn't show up without letting anyone know.  You waited patiently at first, now its almost a running joke that the carpool does not leave at the time you all agreed to.  You have put up with these annoyances, ascribed them to personal style or just plain ignored them thinking that maybe the behaviour would improve.  It hasn't...

Does this sound familiar?  I hope not, but for thousands of carpoolers, that is the reality of their carpool.  The carpool finds itself held hostage to bad behaviour, rudeness, inconsideration and the ambiguity of unclear expectations in order to retain the benefits of carpooling.  With the possible exception of a cement truck with no brakes, nothing will kill your carpool faster than carpoolers who don't respect each other. Let me encouage you to prevent that situation through the following approach to carpool Etiquette;  

[caption id="attachment_428" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Bono Holds the Door (flickr credit: dpnash)"][/caption]

Clearly outline your carpool's rules

It is only fair.  Otherwise one person's high standards and another's low standards could be in conflict even though nobody is actually intending disrespect or breaking a rule.  By letting everyone in the carpool know about the expected standard of behaviour, everyone can be absolutely crystal clear when they are not respecting the group.  Writing things down tends to make things much more clear than just chatting about them in the carpool lane at 110km/h.  Since carpooling is optional, a member of the carpool who doesn't want to abide by the rules can either negotiate, or find a carpool with more lax rules.

Abide by and enforce your carpool's rules

The strongest teacher is example.  If you are always "running a couple minutes late", you shouldn't be surprised if the others in your carpool also "run a couple minutes late".  If you can't follow the rules, then don't have them.  Rules are actually there to be followed.  On the other side of the equation, if there is no consequence for not following the rules, or the group is so fearful to point out infractions, then you might as well not have rules at all.  If the carpool feels free to point out violations, it sends a clear message that disrespect is not accepted by the group.

Carpool Etiquette - Rules you might choose for your carpool


So what rules should you have for your carpool?  maybe your carpool is composed of like minded individuals who share the same values, or perhaps there is a real diversity of backgrounds, and what means respect to one person is completely optional to another.  I've been hunting online for a list of carpool rules and drawing from my own experience to give you the following selection of rules to strengthen your carpool and improve everyone's experience.

• Be prompt.  Perhaps you think 5 minutes is nothing, but when it happens twice a day and 3 other people are waiting you just wasted 30 minutes of other people's time.  In our carpool, we wait up to 5 minutes then we leave. Leaving work on time after work is as important as being on time in the morning.  That providential meeting in the hallway at the end of the day needs to end before carpool is scheduled to leave.  If carpool leaves at 7:30, then 7:32 may be fine for everybody getting settled and buckled in, but 7:39 is clearly not "on-time".


• Don't run errands when you are driving the carpool.  This includes not stopping at the gas station.  Always have your car full of gas so you don't make your carpool sit at the gas-station while you fill up.  The point of carpool is getting to and from work effectively.


• Safety first. Everyone should feel safe, so the whole carpool adjusts towards the driving style of the safest driver (not the most hesitant driver).


• Avoid strong fragrances; perfume, hairspray, scented hand lotions all have fragrances which the others who are enclosed in the air-tight vehicle may not choose.


• If your work requires you to sweat or otherwise get dirty, respect your carpool by covering their seats with towels to protect the vehicle.


• The car should be reasonably clean and odour free in preparation for the carpool.  Clean seats give your fellow carpoolers confidence when they sit down in their best business clothes for the commute.


• Be sensitive with the choice of music.  No music is easier to manage.


• Life happens.  Call if there is a problem.  Communicate early! Lots of warning lets people plan. Remember they are counting on you. So have everyone's contact information.  Yes you can phone my house at 6AM if there is a problem.  Getting to work is important enough for my phone to ring.


• Let the driver drive.  His job is to keep everyone safe in traffic by paying attention and using his judgement.  Backseatdrivers need not apply. (imaginary brake pedals for the passenger are fine, call it a reflex).


• Set food rules;  Is coffee or food allowed in the car? (each car may have different rules).


• Don't have long cell phone conversations while you’re in the carpool.  It says something if you are ignoring the person beside you while having an enthusiastic conversation with someone who is not present.  Short calls to check in at home, leave reminders and take care of telephone errands are usually acceptable. (remember your audience includes those present).


• Avoid discussing controversial topics like religion or politics unless you know your fellow carpoolers well. While some people enjoy debating the issues, others may prefer a quieter commute.  Depending on the enthusiasm of co-workers in your carpool, you may want other rules to limit the amount of "work" conversation that occurs en-route.

Carpooling is about relating with others.

Rules are useful and necessary for bringing order and predictability to your carpool, but be sure to employ them with flexibility for maximum impact.  

• Think in terms of equity, fairness and putting yourself in the other person's shoes.  


• Discuss carpool costs together. If members agree to rotate the driving equally, then money doesn't have to change hands. But if only one person drives the carpool, passengers generally chip in to cover the costs of gas and parking.


• Compromise where you can - They want to leave at the crack of dawn, you want to leave 30 minutes later.  Try leaving at 15 minutes after the crack of dawn. 


• Realize that not everyone in a carpool has the same degree of flexibility.  While some members may be leaving a "spare" $23,000 SUV in their driveway, others may be single car families with much less flexibility since the rest of their family may have plans for the car when it is not driving the carpool. 


• Keeping money out of the equation may move you from a transactional carpool which is interested in the exact dollars and cents owed towards a relational carpool where you focus on giving and receiving a benefit.


• Consider seating arrangements.  Those needing more space or prone to car-sickness up front, and the most compatible or compact folks in the back seat where there is less room.

It is my hope that the tips I've shared above make your life and your carpool better.  If you have tips or carpool experiences to share, hit the comments below.  Thanks! Greg.

8 Suggestions for Starting to Carpool Successfully

So you are interested in the idea of carpooling but you aren't sure it will work for you.  Don't worry, you aren't alone.  Most carpoolers have stood in your shoes and wondered about the benefits and costs of carpooling.  With some encouragement and a little experimentation you can make carpooling work for you.  The following tips are born of my experiences and are provided to help you increase the success of your first foray into carpooling.

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1. First of all, take "Baby steps" and "try before you buy".  Rather than committing to carpool full-time right away, test-drive the idea of carpooling.  With some of the friends from my office, we started with carpooling a couple days a week.  This meant that 3/5 of the days were business as usual, but 2/5 were trying out carpooling.   Even if you only end up carpooling a couple days a week, you realize many of the carpooling benefits which might include; saving money, less stressful driving, carpool lanes, less wear and tear on your vehicle.  Pick a duration for your carpool trial and re-evaluate at the end of that time.  Say; "Well, I'm just not sure how I will feel about not having my own space on the commute, but I'd like to give this a try to see how well I do with this.  For the next month, lets carpool on Mondays and Tuesdays, and evaluate at the end of the month." Did you notice how the language was around your own experience, and not around the other person's driving or conversational skills?  This way you can easily say "No" without anyone feeling judged.

2. Pick good people, set yourself up for success.  Try carpooling with people you know.  Sharing a common office environment and of course knowing the people increases the safety of the situation.  You might find it harder (and probably should) to drive off with a stranger in their car. Sharing an office also improves the chances that you share common working hours and will have very little conflict regarding when the carpool arrives and leaves.  Choose people you are comfortable with, people you can get along with who you won't mind having in your commuting space.  Good people make all the difference in the world.

3. Schedule driving days in advance.  Unless it is Christmas, nobody likes surprises.  If the people in your carpool are forewarned about which day they are driving, they can; have gas in the car, have the car clean, and not promise the car to their wife that day.  Having members of the carpool drive on certain days, (I always drive on Mondays) gives a rhythm and predictability to the carpool routine that reduces stress. Naturally you will want to keep things fair so on some days there will be variation in who drives. (Wednesdays could be Greg, Jen or Mo) That variation should be predictable too, so break out your favourite spreadsheet tool and build a schedule (to keep at your desk, on the visor of your car, and on the back of your door at home) so everyone can avoid being "surprised" when it is their day to drive.

4. Clearly agree on how the carpool will work.  Will it be like a carpool bus-route, where the driver goes to several houses to collect people in the morning and drop them off at night, which requires only one vehicle to be in motion on a given day.  This is the most car efficient, but depending on driving direction and distances, may not be the most time efficient.  Will your carpool meet centrally so everyone is responsible for getting "down the hill" to the rendezvous point?  This could mean adding a couple minutes of buffer to everyone's schedule prior to rendezvous so they don't keep anyone waiting.  Will your carpool meet at the house closest to destination with cars left on the street or in a driveway?  It means a lot less hassle for the person with the handy house, but uses more cars and may mean those furthest away may be commuting many more minutes a day just to make the carpool work.

5. Be flexible.  Life happens.  Communicate early! Lots of warning lets people plan. Remember they are counting on you, so if something comes up lead time is really valuable.  Chances are you are carpooling because of the benefits you will receive or because you recognize the opportunity to make a positive impact through how you commute.  Keep this in mind when your carpool has complications.  Refuse to be "high-maintenance"  Did someone miss a day because of medical appointments? Relax, adapt, next time you might be the one requiring grace.  The need to keep a running total of how EVEN everyone is may be a sign that your carpool is headed for trouble.  That being said, it must be fair and feel fair. 

6. Drive well.  You just found some people that were willing to trust you with their lives on the morning commute. Honour that trust by keeping everyone safe.  In fact strive to raise the safety of your driving to match the safest person in your carpool.  Nobody should be scared in the carpool, and if someone expresses their fear, say "Thank you" and take it as a compliment that they felt you would be open enough to receive constructive criticism. Drive "Silky smooth". Richard in our carpool coined that term and we look forward to a "Silky Smooth" commute every time Richard drives.  This helps everyone feel comfortable, saves fuel and helps those prone to motion sickness to not feel seasick after the commute.

7. Bulk up your carpool for resilience.  If you have a 2 person carpool and 1 of the 2 people can't make it, the carpool is dead for that day.  If you have a 3 person carpool and one person can't make it, the carpool lives on.  3 and 4 person carpools are very resilient and able to continue on even if one person is sick for a week and another person has random work schedule changes...  You carpool when you can, and your carpool extends benefits to whoever can carpool on a given day.  Some days our carpool saves $10 in gas, other days it saves as much as $30 in gas.

8. Enjoy yourselves.  It's about community and it's much more than a business transaction.  If  you are social with carpool, after a short while you will find yourself  looking forward to the time you can spend with friends on the ride home.  Some of the tools to improve your carpool's enjoyability include; agreed upon audio books, baking or coffee in the morning, carefully selected music, the odd DVD movie (back seat only), and the normal exuberant conversation that comes after a long day at work. You'll have inside jokes and your own secret carpool language in no time... Well OK maybe just some inside jokes.

Carpooling is about achieving something together that you could not on your own.  With the 8 suggestions above you will greatly increase the chances that you can start carpooling successfully.  Then you get to enjoy the benefits that brings.

I hope that helps!  Leave your suggestions in the comments below so others can benefit from your experiences.

Greg.

The Cause of the Credit Crisis Explained in Pictures

There is a really informative video by Jonathan Jarvis at Vimeo which provides an overview of the credit crisis. 
If you have found yourself struggling to understand how everything could get so messed up, you might find this video to be quite enlightening.  

 

[caption id="attachment_368" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="The Credit Crisis Explained"][/caption]

Check it out The Crisis of Credit Visualized

Thanks Jonathan for the excellent explanation which was quite easy to listen to!

Carpooling puts CA$H back in your pocket

By carpooling I probably save over $1500 a year in after-tax dollars.  I think there are other advantages to carpooling that you should know about which you may not have considered.

Let me start by saying that I never thought I would carpool.  The idea was fine for other people but, I liked the convenience of being able to come and go as I pleased, even though I arrived at work and left work like clockwork.  I thought I was probably a better driver than anyone I would carpool with, so from a safety perspective I didn't want to put my life at risk.  I also didn't really want total strangers in my personal space yet worked in an office that probably had 20 people I knew driving the same commute.  So I had objections which no longer apply at this point.

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In commuting all year with 2 other people on a 1 hour commute, we have gas costs of about $10 per day and the mileage driven is roughly 100km/day.

I have discovered the following benefits when carpooling;

• Less wear and tear on my car because I drive about 15,000 kilometers less per year


• Less parking costs when we are able to use one parking spot for all 3 of us


• We have personally reduced congestion in traffic by taking 2 cars a day off the road


• Saving about $1500 a year in gas


• By removing 2 cars per day from the road we have each reduced our contribution to air pollution by 2/3rds


• By reducing our gas consumption by 2/3rds we are reducing North American dependence on imported oil and conserving existing fuel stocks


• By leaving my car at home 3 days a week, my wife can use it to run errands, and we can operate our household on 1 vehicle rather than 2 (Save $1500/year on insurance, Save $2300+ per year on the capital cost of purchasing a car + financing)


• Since I drive only 1/3rd of the time, I am less exposed to an accident in my vehicle (which would be on my insurance).


• I've become a better driver through closely observing how the other drivers drive.  Jen calculates an optimal route and sticks to the plan.  Claudiu does not sweat the small stuff in traffic and maintains his cool etc...


• I experience "debriefing" time on the way home which allows me to get work out of my system with people who will listen, before I get home which benefits my family.  Along the same lines, conversing with my co-workers outside of work improves my perspective on things that happen in the office and gives an opportunity for me to solicit input outside of formal work channels.


• Those in our carpool have benefited from increased sleep time (mornings only), video time (backseat only), cellphone, reading and crocheting time and "staring out the window" down-time.  All of these are best done while someone else is driving.


• Improved safety in traffic because there are extra sets of eyes in the car which can help spot hazards earlier.


• A team dedicated to getting me home quickly and safely who work together to scan radio and websites for traffic and routing information when traffic get congested.  (Reading websites on your phone is not recommended while driving)

Others may realize additional benefits like:

• Access to carpool lanes which may reduce commuting time, stress and gas consumption/cost.


• Reduced car insurance costs if the number of kilometers they drive and the number of days they drive qualifies them for a reduced premium.

I think this list is pretty impressive, and I never would have seen all of these benefits if I hadn't started carpooling.  In a future post I plan to address carpool etiquette, and getting a successful carpool started.  I hope you find some of these reasons compelling to start thinking about whether a carpool could benefit you in your situation.

Leave your comments below if you have any questions or if you have realized other carpooling benefits.

Cheers!
Greg.

Are Myths about Clean Energy Hindering Innovation?

I have been observing clean energy since 1999, and since then I've watched some pretty amazing advances, and some pretty pathetic progress. Technology is making advances, but the practice and social aspects of change are not keeping pace. I live in North America, and here we use more energy per person than anywhere else in the world, something like 5 times as much per person as other industrialized nations. We are wasteful, affluent and often appear to not care about the impact that our “lifestyles” have on others around the globe, and on the environment. Looking to the future, it seems that this cannot continue forever, and that it would be better for us to change while we have the choice, rather than waiting until we are forced to make a drastic change.



[caption id="attachment_303" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="coal power plant Flickr Photo Credit: Velaia (ParisPeking)"][/caption]



Energy is required to manufacture, to transport, and even to consume what has been manufactured. Currently much of the energy we have is produced by large corporations in a polluting, unsustainable and inequitable fashion that by definition of corporation and free market, has as its primary goal “making corporations money” and as its secondary goal “maintaining the status quo of those making the money”. Neither of those two goals will necessarily; Protect consumers from unfair profiteering, protect the natural environment, promote innovation, or allow for sustainable development of energy infrastructure.



[caption id="attachment_304" align="aligncenter" width="300" caption="Clean energy from wind power, flickr photo credit: kilobar"][/caption]



I propose that we are stuck in this place because of some of our beliefs. I don't claim to have a complete picture, but I'd like to suggest that there are a number of myths that support the status quo and thereby hinder us from moving towards cleaner energy. Lets debunk some myths that are commonly circulated:

Myth: There is a shortage of energy:

Actually every hour, the sun showers the earth with more energy than the world’s entire population consumes in a whole year. (source: Sesci.ca)

Myth: Clean energy will result in a loss of jobs.

Recently I heard a statistic that more Americans are employed by the US wind industry than the US coal industry. I think we will see a shift in jobs. New jobs might include designing, producing, selling and delivering parts for; solar cells, geothermal systems and heat exchangers, bio-gas facilities, wind turbines, hydro turbines, power storage and regulating equipment. Research and development to improve the efficiency and quality of these systems.

Myth: Clean energy costs too much money

From a consumer perspective, in British Columbia, the residential rate for electricity is 7.2 cents per KWH and 85% of our power comes from hydro dams. In keeping with Moore's law, solar cells are becoming about twice as efficient every year (as solar cell manufacturers purchase the technology no longer needed by the likes of Intel and AMD). A Geothermal system installed at a cost of $10,000 when a house is built can provide heating AND cooling at about 1/4 of the cost of conventional methods. So if $275 / month is normal, that means $825 in annual savings and a breakeven point of about 12 years. (Those with better numbers are welcome to comment). So likely a case by case comparison depending on what options are available and what energy costs are needs to be done. Certainly some forms of cleaner energy production won't be available in all locations. When we start factoring in "health" and "social justice" (no blood for oil etc) it quickly becomes apparent that there are some costs not fairly represented on the balance sheet.

Myth: Clean energy is only for granola eating hippies or tin-hat wearing wackos

Since utilities buy and sell power using the infrastructure of electrical transmission lines, your power could be purchased from anywhere. Without you knowing, your utility could purchase some power from a coal plant or a wind farm, and that clean energy would seamlessly appear in your house's electrical system. As stated earlier, in British Columbia, 85% of electricity used is from renewable (rainwater powered) hydro dams. So clean energy is something any of us could be using, whether we enjoy granola or not.

Myth: Clean energy is experimental or in its infancy, not ready for serious commercial use

Despite the persistence of solar energy displays and fuel-cell displays at local science fairs, these technology are actually well developed. Consider early designs of the steam engine which used "wet ropes" to ensure a seal for the piston. We have much more advantage now. In Denmark, the last time I checked, 20% of the nation's electricity was being generated via wind turbines. Denmark with it's shallow coastal areas realized that 7km offshore, the wind farms have nothing blocking the breeze and they are essentially silent and invisible as far as humans are concerned. Solar found a boost near its inception with the space race of the 60s if I recall correctly, and so represents a technology that has received barely 50 years of serious development. Perhaps solar finds itself in an awkward adolescence where we can see the potential, but we aren't quite ready to turn over the reins. Solar is a de-facto standard for remote installations like track side railway equipment in the Rockies, marine equipment marking channels, roadside traffic signs and solar calculators. So it seems the technology is there, the adoption however is wanting.

Myth: Coal energy is cheap

Not really, you need coal mines, transportation infrastructure, generating plants or furnaces to burn the coal, lots of air land and water to receive the sooty pollution and CO2. There has been the human health cost of mining and breathing that dirty air. An amazing amount of effort has been invested in coal energy, some of the excavators have buckets as big as a house. Leaving giant scars on the surface of the earth. Since the mining of coal and burning of coal are centralized activities, this concentrates the energy in the hands of a few (those who own large coal generating plants), now there is the added cost of distribution, such a system puts a wealthy few in a place to set the price of electricity for the people who purchase it. Coal is a non-renewable resource, which means once it is used, there is no more coal to replace it. Much like the dinosaurs who contributed to the coal, it will soon go extinct.

Myth: All energy needs to be generated using one method (All wind/ All hydro etc)

All or nothing thinking makes it very easy for a person to dismiss clean energy. However, a diversity of generating methods allow for a lessened impact on the environment and resilience in the event of a shortage of any one kind of energy generation (a shortage of rain one year might reduce the power that can be generated using hydro dams, when the wind stops blowing wind turbines are idle, when there are no waves, wave generation produces no power, when it is nighttime, solar generation isn’t effective.

Myth: Energy production must be entirely clean.

While that is a worthy goal, it isn't immediately attainable by most of North America. The myth is an error in thinking, a false dichotomy that says a half way solution, or a marginal improvement is worthless. This flies in the face of experience that teaches us that most real improvement is incremental and continuous. In other fields marginal improvements are celebrated and embraced, like the medical discovery that consuming baby aspirin fights the chance of strokes and heart attacks occurring. If we can even REDUCE our dependence on unsustainable dirty energy generation, we are moving in the right direction. So lets not throw the baby out with the bathwater, when we see improvement. Lets embrace any move in the right direction. One encouraging tidbit I have to share is that according to the Danish Wind Association (sorry if I got the name wrong guys). A wind turbine cancels out it's own environmental impact (refining the steel, machining, transportation, installation, access roads etc. in 2 months of full-time operation. 2 months is a fantastic payback for erasing ones own tracks so to speak.

Myth: Doing the right thing must provide higher profits than taking the lazy way out.

Somehow many of us have adopted the moronic thinking that somehow doing the right thing should be cheaper. We hear things like "Gee that wouldn't pay for itself for 10 years, I'm not interested", or "Gee that has a $10,000 initial capital cost" (as the guy signs a 30 year mortgage for the $500,000 house...) Sometimes doing the right thing will be as expensive or more expensive than doing the thing that will potentially poison the air.

Myth: Higher efficiency stoves/ furnaces / etc will allow us to be responsible while still using carbon based energy

While it's true (and commendable) that efficiency for gas furnaces and other items are improving, this is really little more than damage control. (putting the filter on the cigarette and claiming it's healthier to smoke). Carbon based fuels are not renewable, meaning we can't sustain their consumption. Carbon based fuels release CO2, CO and other pollutants into the air we breathe, risking our health. It is telling (and not commonly understood) that many furnaces burning "natural gas" may expel 20-30% of their heat energy up the chimney where it does not benefit the homeowner. "Higher efficiency" generally means cleaner more complete combustion so you are wasting less energy. We need to move away from dirty unhealthy unsustainable methods and start seeding the clean sustainable technologies that will outlast carbon. (Anybody know how much longer the Sun is expected to last?)

Myth: North America is innovative in energy production.

If Green-wash were a clean energy innovation, this would be true. It would seem that GM killed the (EV1) electric car despite people offering to buy out their leases. Many subdivisions in attractive neighbourhoods have covenants on the properties preventing people from putting up clothes lines or solar installations on their roofs because they are "unsightly". North Americans consume more energy, more products and more packaging than anyone else in the industrialized world. Most jurisdictions in North America have been very slow to permit/encourage net-metering and other progressive measures which would encourage de-centralized independent power production. North America keeps proposing "carbon offset credits" and other measures which essentially permit some fancy accounting and transfer of money without fundamentally addressing how the power is created. (Essentially it is purchasing the "right" to pollute by putting money in the pockets of folks who are doing the right thing.) Did you catch how the goal isn't to improve, its to "offset"? North America has incredibly skilled labour, good working conditions, lots of money and.... we are not showing anywhere near the leadership that is required to turn energy production around and get it pointed in the right direction.

Myth: If I can't buy it at Walmart it isn't really "available" (yes I heard this one)

Somewhere along the line we lost our spirit of invention, our willingness to risk, research and investigate. Anyone reading this, has the most powerful research tool (Google?) and the most powerful shopping network. (Ebay?) at their fingertips. Don't wait for Walmart to stock the $10 home fusion generators. Take some initiative and be the first on your block! :-)

I hope...

that if we could clear the air by addressing more of these myths, by getting the green-wash out of the room, by recognizing how bad the situation is, by encouraging government that would promote innovation that ordinary citizens could participate in. That we would see noticable progress. (Note: this is not the same as us sitting around watching our big TVs, waiting for government to "fix it".) Then we could find ourselves in the environment that nurtured the Renaissance of clean energy. Lets hope! Actually, join me and lets get out there and start making a difference. Anyone want to start an "at cost solar system/ geothermal system" mail-order charity?" :-)

Are there some other myths you've been observing? Add them in the comments.

Greg.

Quality Checks - Why doing them economically is necessary

 Recently we had a problem with our web site’s “feedback form” (details later) which got me thinking about quality checks in manufacturing and how they can be done in a way that is economical.

We need to double check the work we do because often the result we produce is not the result we intend to produce. It is true that if we double checked everything we did, we would be very unproductive. I can imagine as I type this out, double checking that I have located the correct key before pressing it, checking that the key I pressed appears on the screen before continuing on. Stopping after every sentence to reconsider my spelling, my punctuation and my grammar. Pausing after each paragraph to consider whether what I just wrote was in fact what I really wanted to say. It is ridiculous.

There was a time when everything was double checked. The first time I typed I was uncertain of what I typed. I had to find the letters… Now my fingers press words without me even needing to think about the letters in those words. I string ideas together and present them with thought to the content, but not much thought to the mechanics of my writing. This is how learning works for us humans we get better at something and our minds are freed from having to concentrate on the details. Amazing how our brains were constructed this way. Our brains can watch for exceptions and ignore the majority of our activity. Most people will observe themselves doing this while driving. They will say “I don’t remember that part of my commute today, I remember getting on the freeway and I remember getting off, but I don’t remember spending 30minutes on the freeway..”. As a driver when the brake lights come on in front of you, that is your brain’s queue to start paying more attention. The thoughts of your planned California vacation fade and thoughts of reacting appropriately in traffic start forming.

The same is true in manufacturing. We can’t afford to quality inspect every widget we produce (unless they are expensive enough). At the same time we must know if there is non-conformance in our products that needs to be addressed. Much like the typing example we may have QA staff shadow a new hire until they start learning what to watch for. After a while the production workers will be performing their own less official but important QA functions.

But how do we balance the cost of increased quality assurance with the attention QA requires? We can start with some best practices based on experience. First-off testing examines the first piece produced for defects and deviations, what better place to catch these than with the first piece. Additionally we can set up a sampling rate that allows us some coverage for the produced product. If the variance on an operation is increasing during the production run, this can be detected and corrected before it becomes unacceptable.

Also, remember to perform QA on your QA. If everything keeps coming up roses, then your diligence with suppliers, production equipment and staff training and quality ownership are paying off. You can be less intense in inspecting. If however a product or operation shows reduced quality you can be more vigilant.

Now for that personal example that started this train of thought. Much like the driver who is convinced everything is fine on the freeway, I was convinced that the feedback form on GreenTree Software’s website was working fine. I had done a first-off test when it was first set up which worked fine. We had been receiving some spam through the form which sent us form submissions with SPAM content (probably sent by automated scripts). So when we started receiving completely blank form submissions (the brake lights on the freeway) we just ignored them. On a whim the other day I retested the form and promptly received a blank email. Whoops. So to everyone who tried sending us a message I apologize. We did not receive it and have no record of who you are (or we would apologize personally). The broken form has been taken out of service (everyone has email these days). Again I’m sorry. If I hadn’t tested the other day we would still be losing your messages and receiving blank emails. If you tried to contact us using the form, drop us a line via email and we’ll try to make it up to you.

Thanks Greg.