Understanding and Outrage From Air Travelers (NYT)
It’s been interesting to hear the reactions from travelers and folks we’ve talked to about AA’s new policy of charging $15 to check a bag on a plane. You can probably guess, but we like it. The problem though is how they positioned it. They should’ve just said anyone who doesn’t check their bag will get $15 knocked off the ticket price (of course, at the same time, raising all ticket prices across the board by $15). On the other hand, while that would’ve come off as less outrageous, perhaps their headline fairs would then look too expensive, compare to their peers, kind of like the way cable and wireless operators like to make the headline number low, before tacking on all kinds of charges. Anyway, we will like the idea either way, and we wouldn’t be shocked to see others follow suit.
High gas prices drive farmer to switch to mules (AP)
Obviously, this link comes courtesy of Drudge. Notice the headline is “farmer” not “farmers”. Yes, one farmer in McMinnville, TN found it economical to buy a pair of mules rather than some gas guzzling farm equipment. That’s our economy today folks. Well, that’s one little anecdote in today’s interesting economy.
Bush tests Cuba by easing embargo (FT)
Bush is obviously in the “reclaiming whatever’s left of his Presidency” stage of his Presidency. Regardless of what happens to the economy, or how things play out in Iraq, he will go down as the President that allowed people to send mobile phones, as gifts, to Cuba. Presumably this is some little overture to Cuba with Castro I having stepped down, but really, given the destabilizing power of communications technology, shouldn’t this have been done ages ago?
UBS to Sell Shares at 31% Discount in Rights Offer (Bloomberg)
Get ‘em while you can. UBS is selling shares at a 31 percent discount, so it can take on another $15.1 billion in cash. And current investors will have the right to buy 7 new shares for every 20 that they own, so it’s very democratic… not some sweetheart sale to a well-connected investor. Meanwhile, several folks noted an interesting data point yesterday, that the financials are no longer the biggest sector in the S&P 500. It’s now tech. Not sure what that means
PC maker Lenovo quarterly profit up 133 percent (AP)
Here at the O’Bell we steadfastly refuse to jump on the Mac bandwagon, like so many in our industry. We’re Lenovo fanboys all the way and that’s how we like it? Macbook Air? Meh. Give us a Thinkpad built like a tank and we’re happy. So glad to see things on the up and up there. Quarterly profits jumped 133 percent. Sales in the US jumped 9 percent to $1 billion (modest, but not bad), and China revenue was up 18 percent.
Say-on-Pay Doesn’t Play on Wall Street (WSJ)
Can’t say this comes as a surprise. Say-on-Pay has not proven to be particularly popular among investors of Wall St. firms. Even if the financial industry in doing poorly, and even if there’s some view (emanating from the business section of the NYT) that financial executives are robbing their shareholders blind with outsize salaries, say-on-pay votes have received support from 37 percent of voters. On the other hand, that’s not that small. It’s small, but it’s not nothing.
Cow Size – A Foundational Issue (American Cowman)
This article came out like a week or so ago, but none of you will be able to deny the timeliness of the content: “As the search for grass and feed continues, one needs to reflect on research regarding cow size. The simple answer is that one size does not fit all operations.” Read the whole thing.
i think the AA baggage fee is a great idea if, IF, they better enforce the carry-on limits. the amount of crap people bring onto the plane is already obnoxious, and i could really see this making it worse.
haha..so UBS has to resort to giving away shares..wait…the fed forced bear to do that already….so, nothing new here..move along..
All Industries are starting to look at high profit customers and keeping them happy. The Elite AA members will get priority boarding and are free to take up all overhead bins. The rest of low-profit customers will have to put up or travel with another equally ungrateful airline. They are only following the Best-Buy ‘purge the devil customer’ method.
http://www.mcphee.com/resources/april/items/bacontux.html
By waiting until Castro I stepped down, Bush’s cell-phone policy change goes a little way to soil Castro I’s image to his people. That’s why Bush didn’t do it before.
A bacon tuxedo? How freakin’ awesome is that?
AKA The Thinking Man’s Tux. Chicks dig it-
I dare say, that tux would compliment my poached egg dress quite nicely
Why don’t airlines do the real effective thing and start charging people based on their weight, since that is the single biggest determinant of fuel consumption (i.e. their biggest variable cost).
Maybe then the fat slob taking up 2 seats (but only bought 1 ticket) smooshing you into the window would think twice about that 2nd BigMac pre-flight
There’s a good opinion piece in the journal today that offers some historical perspective on the recent tumult in the credit markets:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121141155101312315.html?mod=opinion_main_commentaries
Liked the comment made by girl that the bacon tux would compliment her poached egg dress.
If you think the $15 dollar charge is a good idea I suggest you get on a plane around the holidays and see how long the flight is delayed by people saying they are not going to check their bag because they got there an hour early and refuse to pay if they are forced to check it. Also should be fun to see all the billing they will have to do in an attempt to get the fee from people who are forced to check on the return leg.
Just spent 20 minutes arguing with a secretary about the AA pricing structure. She kept stressing how “unfair” it is that “poor consumers” have to pay for bags, which aren’t “luxuries”.
God i hate people.
1-2, surely you have better things to do than argue with secretaries?
slow market today.. plenty of time :-)
-mrp
@ 1-2
assume you’re hungover if you’re out roaming for a futile battle like that
what the hell is with this Moveable Type business
er, what I meant to say was, 1-2, never argue with an idiot, they bring you down to their level then beat you with experience
@ Anal_yst – “beat you with experience”. Clever.
@ 1-2
I agree with Anal_yst. You should point out to “The Poors” that the fairest way for the airlines to charge passengers is based on weight. The more you weigh the more you pay. Why should a 100lb woman with a 30 pound bag pay more than a 300lbs women with no bag?
I am begining to think that financial incentives are the only thing that actually changes behavior.
Girl, you are your date would be the toast of the town.
cheerio(s)!
@12:04 are => and
here’s the actual cow story link
http://americancowman.com/cowman_commentary/0513-cow-size-body-weight/
Mr. Pink – glad you are back complaining about slow market days.
What all you unfeeling, logical bastards are forgetting is that being fat is a) considered a medical condition in the US and therefore fat people are a de-facto protected class, and b) the fat people have you outnumbered, and if you try to start penalizing them for being fat, you will be sorry. You cannot equate a big fat person to a small person with a big heavy bag and try to charge them the same. If you’ll pardon the pun, that won’t fly.
Besides, this could get out of hand in a hurry. You big strapping Anglo-Saxon stockbroker types with your large, highly-dense muscular bodies and huge honkin’ laptops would be at a serious economic disadvantage to wiry, scrappy Asians and their palmtop wondergizmos. Aren’t America and Europe in *enough* of a competitive hole?
Fees for service are great, but the problem is that the people paying the $15 are doing everyone else the service; they are not getting one. Even without a fee, I resent checking my bag only to have the flight attendant hand me back my coat and small laptop from the overhead bin because somebody has to put all of their worldly goods up there instead. Now, why should I pay $15 to be more polite than everyone else?
@ 2:54
I think what you’re missing is that (most) fat people are that way because they:
a)eat too f*cking much
b)don’t f*cking exercize
sure genetics plays a role, but when you eat 3500 calories/day for 20 years and haven’t ran a mile since highschool, you have aboslutely no god-damn right to complain about your genetics and your bullsh!t “medical condition”
This is completely indisputable btw, don’t even try.
*disclosure: I do not look like prince william