Tuesday, January 5, 2016

Tuesday Globe Delivered on Time

“I should be grateful I am getting any paper at all.”

I'm sure some readers might have something to say about that.

"Globe considers adding second delivery firm" by Mark Arsenault and Dan Adams Globe Staff  January 04, 2016

Boston Globe officials are discussing a plan to divide the newspaper’s distribution duties in Greater Boston, bringing in a second company after ACI Media Group failed to deliver tens of thousands of papers in its first week on the job.

The Globe is seeking to fix an embarrassing and potentially expensive debacle that so angered readers last week that the company’s phone lines were sometimes overwhelmed by complaints.

On Monday, several Globe truck drivers who typically bring bundles of papers to retail shops were called in to deliver directly to readers who hadn’t received their papers. Still, about 5 percent of daily subscribers, or nearly 6,000 homes, did not receive papers, according to ACI data. 

OMG! 

Was that in the contract? 

I don't want unhappy truck drivers.

Globe executives said they could not independently verify all of ACI’s numbers.

ACI did not return calls Monday seeking comment.

Globe chief executive Mike Sheehan said Monday in an interview the biggest problem areas for ACI have been those served by distribution centers in Newton and Pembroke. He said he expects improvements as this week progresses, and more improvement next week.

Sort of seeing why it is such a big flap now.

The Globe already has existing partnerships with companies that could take over some deliveries in the Boston area, including Publishers Circulation Fulfillment, which was replaced by ACI on Dec. 28. Publishers Circulation Fulfillment continues to deliver the Globe in some areas farther from Boston, and delivers other publications within the Interstate 495 belt.

Must be why there has been no disruption on my end. Globe is there on the rack nearly every morning and is somewhere in town by the end of my ride. 

So they are going to call the old service providers back, huh?

ACI officials acknowledged Sunday that after a week on the job they still did not have enough drivers to cover all the routes. The company said it was aggressively trying to hire more. ACI’s president and chief operating officer, Jack Klunder, faulted the Globe for not properly preparing its readers about the disruptions that would come with the switch.

With the adult labor force at a decades-low employment level that would seem to be easy. WTF?

Globe executives pushed back, saying ACI never warned the paper that vast numbers of readers would go without service day after day under ACI’s watch.

I'm not interested in any more finger-pointing or rehashing at this point.

This past Sunday, on the largest newspaper distribution day of the week, Globe staffers from news, advertising, and other departments volunteered to make deliveries on some of the unstaffed routes. Despite that effort thousands of newspapers went undelivered.

Sheehan has said the newspaper undertook the switch to ACI for cost savings and in an effort to reduce subscriber cancellations by improving service.

Subscribers continued to inundate the Globe with calls and e-mails Monday, with most just wanting papers that weren’t delivered, but some writing to say they wanted to cancel their subscriptions but couldn’t because the phone lines were jammed.

Newspaper circulation experts said that transitioning to a new delivery vendor is enormously difficult and takes careful advance planning.

HA-HA-HA-HA! 

Then whole $y$tem $ucks! 

What's the excuse this time?

Rich Schnars, a circulation manager with 32 years’ experience at the Palm Beach Post, said, “The industry is watching to see what the Globe does here. How are they going to get themselves out of this? It was done to save money. But they’re going to have to spend their way out of it.”

John Henry will have to get out his checkbook -- after paying that $tar pitcher a hefty Price!

--more--"

The base upon which the Globe is built:

"The Globe can’t take its base for granted" by Joan Vennochi Globe Columnist  January 05, 2016

Shortly before midnight Saturday, I tweeted out my heroic plan to do some heavy lifting instead of the usual thumb-sucking: “Heading out soon to help deliver @BostonGlobe.”

Globe reader Jim McClure was unimpressed. “[W]hy are you taking a bow?! 5 days no paper in 02131,” he tweeted back.

He’s right. For one night, I got ink on my hands and knew what it meant to be cold, miserable, lost in Peabody, and desperate for a bathroom.

But now I’m back at my keyboard. McClure, who lives in Roslindale, got his Sunday Globe, and his paper was delivered Monday — after he left for work. As a subscriber since 1994, he’s losing patience. 

I've been out of it for quite some time when it comes to the agenda-pu$hing propaganda pre$$.

Journalists know how to tell a “warm and wonderful,’’ like the story of a newspaper family pulling together in time of crisis. But McClure said he cares little about that tale.

He just wants his newspaper on a consistent basis.

In politics or business, you should never take your base for granted.

Yeah, you lose presidential elections and then you get Trumped.

The Globe’s decision to switch carriers did so by accepting there would be “some” service disruption. Globe executives contend they expected that to mean some late and missed deliveries, and some “displaced” newspapers (tossed instead of gently placed). They say they weren’t prepared for a worst-case scenario.

No, that is what they peddle to keep the rest of us in perpetual fear while supporting underlying narratives meant to trigger emotional and rote reactions to certain generation-searing events.

Neither were readers. When major disruption occurred, a flawed customer service operation couldn’t handle the flood of disgruntled callers. The corporate response lacked a personal touch and the true mercy-begging demanded by the situation. 

Related(??): The Death of Corporate Governance 

Too bad it killed labor first.

But let’s face it. We were also counting on some customers to accept “minimal” disruption. At the same time we published reports about a FedEx failure to deliver two wool caps in time for Christmas, we accepted a few missed newspapers as part of a larger business strategy.

What a crock of....

According to Globe chief executive Mike Sheehan, the switch to ACI Media Group was supposed to improve service and reduce cancellations due to service complaints. It was also supposed to save at least $3 million, to be reinvested in the news operation.

Then what is with the layoffs?

Is John Henry.... gulp.... gutting the Globe?

An ACI executive told the Globe that service will be back to normal in four to six months and, after that, service will continue to improve. If it takes that long to resolve, there could indeed be better service — because there likely will be fewer newspapers to deliver.

About 75 percent of Globe revenue comes from print products, including Globe circulation and the printing of other publications. So of course the Globe is pledging to fix the problem quickly.

Still? That runs contrary to the narrative I've been fed all these years regarding reduced circulations and migrations to the web and other technologies by millennials, etc., etc. 

So which is it, and could the endless contradictions and mixed messages -- along with the outright lies -- be part of the problem?

At midnight at the Peabody distribution center, there were many uncovered routes. Flyers around the room offered drivers a “fee of $250 by coming back and throwing another route. Earn another $250 by throwing another route on top of that. Recommend a friend and earn an incentive of $100 if your friend signs a contract and earn another $200 on top of that if your friend stays on the route through April 3rd.” How did ACI get to start a newspaper delivery contract without enough drivers to deliver newspapers?

Good question there, and you know, maybe I'll give 'em a call. I wanna work. No one wants me.

Our subscribers are the victims. McClure, 54, said he turned to Twitter out of frustration. On the first two days of the new delivery service, he received two Globes each day. Trying to be helpful, he called the customer service line to report it and said the person on the other end told him, “I should be grateful I am getting any paper at all.” That left him “seething,” he said.

That's the attitude over there, huh? 

Yes, I should be grateful for all the diversions, distractions, lies, obfuscations, distortions, and outright fictions that are presented to me on a daily basis to further some $tatu$ quo set of cho$en $pecial intere$ts, yup.

Now the eighth-grade history teacher is unmoved by first-person accounts of a night in the life of a newspaper delivery carrier.

“It sounds like people wanting applause for helping the Globe out,” he said.

They did. It's the self-internalized conceit that comes with being part of the ruling apparatus, and it came with a dollop of condescension, too. 

Forgive them, father, for they know not what they are doing.

He’s a tough critic — but so am I, when someone other than the Globe messes up.

--more--"

Here is another reason there may be no delivery. No ride:

"Tesla buyers who put $40,000 down for a Model X are still waiting, three years later" by Drew Harwell Washington Post  January 05, 2016

WASHINGTON — Jay Arbetter is one of the many Tesla pre-buyers left in the dark about when he’ll get the key — and increasingly frustrated by the celebrated automaker’s customer service, which he calls ‘‘the worst I’ve ever received of any company.’’

He is obviously not a home subscriber of the Boston Globe.

Since missing its first shipping date in 2013, the Model X has been beset by repeated delays, raising tensions among Tesla fans who paid up early.

Tesla’s billionaire chief, Elon Musk, has called the Model X ‘‘the hardest car to build in the world.’’ It features space-age wizardry Tesla has become famous for: ‘‘falcon wing’’ doors that open up instead of out, lightning-fast acceleration, and an air-filtering ‘‘bioweapon defense’’ mode that Musk said could prove helpful ‘‘if there’s ever an apocalyptic scenario of some kind.’’

So what does he know that we don't?

But getting all that road magic ready for the masses has proven to be a challenge....

The ETD is now ‘‘the latter half of 2016.’’ 

Maybe they don't want you to have bioweapon protection, masses.

--more--"

RelatedTesla ships 17,400 autos in quarter

Believe it or not, they missed some shipments.

Judging by the dwindling hits on this blog it is plain that you don't need me so I'm not going to deliver anything else today. There has to be something better to do with my time and my arms can literally use the break from this painful punishment. Sorry. You should be grateful you are getting this pos (ha-ha).

UPDATES: 

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  • BlackListed News


    Altho News


    That's all I had time for this morning.

    For later: 

    Out with The Old and in with The Temporarily New

    There are a Lot of Rocks in Pandora's Box 

    I would open that up if I were you.