There was a time when I never thought that people would need to pay for software, since it was readily available for free (but not legally) on the public Internet. Tougher copy write laws and smarter copy protection has since helped to combat software piracy. Next, I never considered that people would actually pay for digital music, since it, too, was readily available for free on the Internet. Again, tougher copy write laws and smarter copy protection has given rise to iTunes, Amazon Music, and other similar fee based subscriptions or purchasing models.
The next hot topic of discussion is whether online users are willing to pay for news content. The current ability to search 1000s of online news sources with news.google.com and receive this information free of charge would seem to indicate that a pay-for-usage model, even using micropayments or monthly subscriptions, would be doomed for failure. Yet, the Rocky Mountain News in Denver, Colorado attempted to create a fee based online newspaper site INDenverTimes.com after the print edition of the paper fell victim to the poor economy. Their initial goal of obtaining 50,000 paying customers seemed ludicrous given the ubiquitous and free sources of online news that Web 2.0 technologies have created. As such, it was recently reported that only 3,000 people created accounts, and the online paper must explore alternative revenue streams.
Personally, I have come to expect that information, such as news, should always be freely available on the Internet, since I feel that part of the core tenet of the Internet is to provide a medium to freely share and exchange information. It is important to note that I consider news, and not software, music, copy protected media, etc. to be information. Even if a large number of online news sites began to charge for content, the power of world wide searching would enable users to still find access to freely available news articles. It will be interesting to see how successful other newspapers are, such as the New York Times, with developing a pay-for-content model.
I am not completely off base with my views, as they are similarly reflected in the following article.
Friday, April 24, 2009
Two Favorite Presenters
There were two presenters this semester, Gretchen Klebasko and Mike Abbaei, that really grabbed my attention, since they discussed how Web 2.0 technologies fit into their overall, but very different, job responsibilities. I liked how the focus of each of their presentations stayed away from defining the differences between Web 1.0 and Web 2.0 and instead spent more time providing concrete and personal examples of how Web 2.0 technologies have enabled cost reductions in their jobs.
Gretchen's personal stories of hunting down Intellectual Property thieves by using freely available information on the Internet highlighted how Web 2.0 technologies have increased the access to information that in the past was unavailable to the general public. I mostly knew about each source of information that her company used – Google, Google Maps, Domain Name Lookups, phone directories, etc. – and understood the types of information that each source provided. However, it was rather exciting to hear about a specific example where all of these sources were actually used to provide credible information that was leveraged to catch an 'evil' person whose mission was to financially harm her company. Another part of Gretchen talk focused on specific cases that detailed the various new Intellectual Property threats that that companies face in a Web 2.0 world. Hearing concrete examples from industry leaders, instead of just within a classroom setting, further exemplified true Web 2.0 dangers that companies face.
I also found Mike's talk was intriguing, since it highlighted the point in the SDLC where Web 2.0 technologies come into focus – the actual implementation stage. I had never considered that while Web 2.0 technologies can drastically reduce software development time and costs, they don't necessarily help with each and every phase of the cycle. In other words, using Web 2.0 technologies for a software development project is not a magic solution that allows a team to skip through the initial steps (requirements gathering, high level architectural design, etc.) of the SDLC.
I also liked how Mike focused on the bigger picture of how Web 2.0 technologies can be used to form a single community that can tie together various Web 2.0 technologies that a single company might employ. I had always thought that investing funds into building an online community that seamlessly combined all of their various communication applications together could have a very low ROI. What Mike taught me, was the power that a combined community environment could provide in terms of establishing simple and shared access points to information. In turn, this information could be shared to other online communities. This large circle of trust could then be used to help seamlessly connect people with information in order to dramatically reduce the time required to get information and increase the ability to share useful information with the larger online community.
Gretchen's personal stories of hunting down Intellectual Property thieves by using freely available information on the Internet highlighted how Web 2.0 technologies have increased the access to information that in the past was unavailable to the general public. I mostly knew about each source of information that her company used – Google, Google Maps, Domain Name Lookups, phone directories, etc. – and understood the types of information that each source provided. However, it was rather exciting to hear about a specific example where all of these sources were actually used to provide credible information that was leveraged to catch an 'evil' person whose mission was to financially harm her company. Another part of Gretchen talk focused on specific cases that detailed the various new Intellectual Property threats that that companies face in a Web 2.0 world. Hearing concrete examples from industry leaders, instead of just within a classroom setting, further exemplified true Web 2.0 dangers that companies face.
I also found Mike's talk was intriguing, since it highlighted the point in the SDLC where Web 2.0 technologies come into focus – the actual implementation stage. I had never considered that while Web 2.0 technologies can drastically reduce software development time and costs, they don't necessarily help with each and every phase of the cycle. In other words, using Web 2.0 technologies for a software development project is not a magic solution that allows a team to skip through the initial steps (requirements gathering, high level architectural design, etc.) of the SDLC.
I also liked how Mike focused on the bigger picture of how Web 2.0 technologies can be used to form a single community that can tie together various Web 2.0 technologies that a single company might employ. I had always thought that investing funds into building an online community that seamlessly combined all of their various communication applications together could have a very low ROI. What Mike taught me, was the power that a combined community environment could provide in terms of establishing simple and shared access points to information. In turn, this information could be shared to other online communities. This large circle of trust could then be used to help seamlessly connect people with information in order to dramatically reduce the time required to get information and increase the ability to share useful information with the larger online community.
Saturday, April 18, 2009
The Digital Food Store
Digital Price Tagss
Back in 2001 I ran across a food store that used digital price tags instead of the usual paper tags. Since the tags are all tied back to centralized computer, prices can be changed all at once, drastically reduce the need for human labor to change the tags throughout the store each time a sale starts and ends. Since the cost to change prices is almost zero, these tags now provide stores the options to have special one day, half-day, one hour, half-hour, and an unlimited number of unique sale time periods. I never understood exactly why these tags did not catch on and become more prevalent throughout subsequent years. I did notice that Khol’s started to use these tags on their shoes. I am not sure if it was due to their ever-changing prices and sales on shoes, or if it was just a more durable method over paper.
I recently took a spin on Google to research where digital price tags stood in the market place. I found that the Altierre company has recently developed a low cost long lasting digital price tag that claims - among the usual cost savings - to be capable of improving communications with its customers. For example the digital tags can also display recall information reducing the need for employees to hang up prints outs around the store. This system would have helped reduce the confusion during the recent peanut butter and peanut recall, as individual products could have been marked – via the digital price tag – about its relevancy to the recall.
More information can be found here. Go here for a video describing the technology and its cost savings capabilities.
Personal Price Scanners
The person price scanner concept has recently been introduced into one my local food stores. At first I was skeptical about using the hand-held scanners, as I could not comprehend how I would benefit, nor did I understand how they would benefit the store. After completing my first shopping experience with them, I can fully appreciate their utility for both the consumer and the store.
(1) Using the personal scanner eliminates the need to ask for price checks, since the price is displayed on the scanner.
(2) Random sale information is displayed on the scanner when it is not being used, which entices its user to seek out these items. I would not put it past the device to be geo-located within the store such that the items that are shown to be on sale, are either close in proximity and/or at the other end of the store.
(3) My total purchase price is easily shown helping me to stay within my budget.
(4) Random items are reduced due to being scanned by the personal scanner, which turns the shopping experience into a game where you always wonder if the item you select will one of the lucky ‘bonus savings’ items. By changing the experience from shopping to a cost savings game environment it shifts the focus from spending money to saving money.
(5) Clearly, if I have scanned all of my items before checking out, I can breeze through the checkout – self or assisted – line saving me time and the store money.
(6) Finally, I am sure all of this information is - similar to tracking cookies, banner ads, targeted e-mails, and other web based tracking devices – collected, analyzed, sold, and is used to market me future products.
The future?
I do wonder if there would ever be a time where digital price tags would be coupled with personal digital scanners to produce a fully digital food store. This type of environment could almost operate autonomously since very few humans would be needed to support the operations of the store, since the shopper would be doing all of the work – scanning, price-checking, bagging, and paying.
Back in 2001 I ran across a food store that used digital price tags instead of the usual paper tags. Since the tags are all tied back to centralized computer, prices can be changed all at once, drastically reduce the need for human labor to change the tags throughout the store each time a sale starts and ends. Since the cost to change prices is almost zero, these tags now provide stores the options to have special one day, half-day, one hour, half-hour, and an unlimited number of unique sale time periods. I never understood exactly why these tags did not catch on and become more prevalent throughout subsequent years. I did notice that Khol’s started to use these tags on their shoes. I am not sure if it was due to their ever-changing prices and sales on shoes, or if it was just a more durable method over paper.
I recently took a spin on Google to research where digital price tags stood in the market place. I found that the Altierre company has recently developed a low cost long lasting digital price tag that claims - among the usual cost savings - to be capable of improving communications with its customers. For example the digital tags can also display recall information reducing the need for employees to hang up prints outs around the store. This system would have helped reduce the confusion during the recent peanut butter and peanut recall, as individual products could have been marked – via the digital price tag – about its relevancy to the recall.
More information can be found here. Go here for a video describing the technology and its cost savings capabilities.
Personal Price Scanners
The person price scanner concept has recently been introduced into one my local food stores. At first I was skeptical about using the hand-held scanners, as I could not comprehend how I would benefit, nor did I understand how they would benefit the store. After completing my first shopping experience with them, I can fully appreciate their utility for both the consumer and the store.
(1) Using the personal scanner eliminates the need to ask for price checks, since the price is displayed on the scanner.
(2) Random sale information is displayed on the scanner when it is not being used, which entices its user to seek out these items. I would not put it past the device to be geo-located within the store such that the items that are shown to be on sale, are either close in proximity and/or at the other end of the store.
(3) My total purchase price is easily shown helping me to stay within my budget.
(4) Random items are reduced due to being scanned by the personal scanner, which turns the shopping experience into a game where you always wonder if the item you select will one of the lucky ‘bonus savings’ items. By changing the experience from shopping to a cost savings game environment it shifts the focus from spending money to saving money.
(5) Clearly, if I have scanned all of my items before checking out, I can breeze through the checkout – self or assisted – line saving me time and the store money.
(6) Finally, I am sure all of this information is - similar to tracking cookies, banner ads, targeted e-mails, and other web based tracking devices – collected, analyzed, sold, and is used to market me future products.
The future?
I do wonder if there would ever be a time where digital price tags would be coupled with personal digital scanners to produce a fully digital food store. This type of environment could almost operate autonomously since very few humans would be needed to support the operations of the store, since the shopper would be doing all of the work – scanning, price-checking, bagging, and paying.
Internet Start-Up – Reloaded for the Web 2.0 world
I have come up with some very bizarre ideas that I have always wanted to turn into an Internet business.
Idea #1
My first plan was to create www.ilovemytoyota.com. The point of this site would be to provide users a location to document how many miles their Toyota cars and trucks had and post pictures. The idea would be to document and track the obscenely large number of miles Toyota vehicles can obtain. As a growth plan, the site could turn into a framework to provide a community for Toyota loving people. The general hurdle I faced with turning this idea into a reality was the time investment and effort it would take to develop the code, since I already knew how to create this environment and knew of many cheap web hosting sites. (I am, of course, glossing over the point that this site would either be a repeat of an existing site and/or just not a good idea at all.)
Idea #2
My next claim to fame idea was to create a clothing line called “Whiptastic” based on the MBW copyrighted phrase “Whipstastic Handling”. The idea was born when I took the “Whipstastic Handling” decal out of a magazine and stuck it on my friend’s plain colored tee-shirt. I thought I could create shirts, shorts, pants, and other “Whiptasitic” inspired/branded apparel. My initial challenge here was the BMW owed the copyright to “Whiptastic Handling”. Then, of course, I needed actual designers and access to a clothing source.
Idea #3
I like to look at the food store sale ads online, and I thought that it would be great if there was a single site that mashed-up food store sale ads and the location of these stores. This idea would create a single site that would drastically reduce the amount of time people spend search through various sale ads from numerous food stores. The challenges that I face here are similar to idea #1.
A common problem with all of these ideas was the cost to actually attempt to turn them into reality.
However, all is not lost, as I recently read an article in Time Magazine titled “Get Rich Slow – Surprise: there’s never been a better moment to bootstrap your own Internet business. All you need is a laptop, a broadband connection and a great idea. Inside the new statup-boom”. This article details various success stories of individuals who, with less than $10,000 were able to outsource the development and outsource the web hosting to worldwide locations. Since most of these ideas are old news to me now, I found an interesting point made deep in the article that the new barriers to entry are getting your site recognized in the vast sea of the Internet, and not financial, technical, or regional. Another interesting point was that in this new economy, it is OK to fail, and to fail many times, when trying to develop an online business, given the fact that it is so inexpensive to try in the first place.
It is nice to see how Web 2.0 technologies have now given the average person even more tools to become a successful Internet entrepreneur.
Maybe one of my hair-brained ideas has a chance...
Idea #1
My first plan was to create www.ilovemytoyota.com. The point of this site would be to provide users a location to document how many miles their Toyota cars and trucks had and post pictures. The idea would be to document and track the obscenely large number of miles Toyota vehicles can obtain. As a growth plan, the site could turn into a framework to provide a community for Toyota loving people. The general hurdle I faced with turning this idea into a reality was the time investment and effort it would take to develop the code, since I already knew how to create this environment and knew of many cheap web hosting sites. (I am, of course, glossing over the point that this site would either be a repeat of an existing site and/or just not a good idea at all.)
Idea #2
My next claim to fame idea was to create a clothing line called “Whiptastic” based on the MBW copyrighted phrase “Whipstastic Handling”. The idea was born when I took the “Whipstastic Handling” decal out of a magazine and stuck it on my friend’s plain colored tee-shirt. I thought I could create shirts, shorts, pants, and other “Whiptasitic” inspired/branded apparel. My initial challenge here was the BMW owed the copyright to “Whiptastic Handling”. Then, of course, I needed actual designers and access to a clothing source.
Idea #3
I like to look at the food store sale ads online, and I thought that it would be great if there was a single site that mashed-up food store sale ads and the location of these stores. This idea would create a single site that would drastically reduce the amount of time people spend search through various sale ads from numerous food stores. The challenges that I face here are similar to idea #1.
A common problem with all of these ideas was the cost to actually attempt to turn them into reality.
However, all is not lost, as I recently read an article in Time Magazine titled “Get Rich Slow – Surprise: there’s never been a better moment to bootstrap your own Internet business. All you need is a laptop, a broadband connection and a great idea. Inside the new statup-boom”. This article details various success stories of individuals who, with less than $10,000 were able to outsource the development and outsource the web hosting to worldwide locations. Since most of these ideas are old news to me now, I found an interesting point made deep in the article that the new barriers to entry are getting your site recognized in the vast sea of the Internet, and not financial, technical, or regional. Another interesting point was that in this new economy, it is OK to fail, and to fail many times, when trying to develop an online business, given the fact that it is so inexpensive to try in the first place.
It is nice to see how Web 2.0 technologies have now given the average person even more tools to become a successful Internet entrepreneur.
Maybe one of my hair-brained ideas has a chance...
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Vacationing without the web
A flip side to observing where the Web and its derivatives appeared on my trip, it was nice to reflect back and see what the paucity of the Web, Internet, and computers provided me.
(1) At the start of the trip, I felt that I had lost the ability to find and research information and/or questions that across during conversations. A simple example was when i ran across words that I did not know, I was forced to look them up the "old fashioned way" and use a dictionary. Other simplistic examples included the inability to research potential items to purchase in the foreign countries. I was forced to make my own decisions about the goods without the input from the "general better informed public".
(2) I felt that I had lost connections with my friends, family, and work associates. This could be viewed as a positive experience, since vacations are about getting away, but at the same time, I missed the interactions that could be achieved with e-mail and instant messaging.
(3) On the flip side, I was 'forced' to make conversation with my eating companions and not stare at computer screens during meal times. This, in turn, allowed each of us to actually talk with each other and hold real conversations. I felt as if I formed deeper connections with these individuals. The conversations were more lively, and were filled with more stories, instead of abbreviated conversations interrupted by looking things up on the Internet and/or sending e-mails. Perhaps I will try to disconnect myself during mealtimes when I get home to continue to foster the relationships with my mealtime friends.
(4) Without the Internet, I had no real access to the News and it was interesting to slip back into the sheltered live where I was only aware of the on goings on the ship and no where else in the world. It was an odd feeling, since I was used to being knowledgeable about world wide events. Again, I felt cut off, but at the same time I was enjoying the naiveitivity and "ignorance is bliss" feelings.
My time package has run out, so I must end this post.
--Update - Fixed the spelling errors, as I am back home.
(1) At the start of the trip, I felt that I had lost the ability to find and research information and/or questions that across during conversations. A simple example was when i ran across words that I did not know, I was forced to look them up the "old fashioned way" and use a dictionary. Other simplistic examples included the inability to research potential items to purchase in the foreign countries. I was forced to make my own decisions about the goods without the input from the "general better informed public".
(2) I felt that I had lost connections with my friends, family, and work associates. This could be viewed as a positive experience, since vacations are about getting away, but at the same time, I missed the interactions that could be achieved with e-mail and instant messaging.
(3) On the flip side, I was 'forced' to make conversation with my eating companions and not stare at computer screens during meal times. This, in turn, allowed each of us to actually talk with each other and hold real conversations. I felt as if I formed deeper connections with these individuals. The conversations were more lively, and were filled with more stories, instead of abbreviated conversations interrupted by looking things up on the Internet and/or sending e-mails. Perhaps I will try to disconnect myself during mealtimes when I get home to continue to foster the relationships with my mealtime friends.
(4) Without the Internet, I had no real access to the News and it was interesting to slip back into the sheltered live where I was only aware of the on goings on the ship and no where else in the world. It was an odd feeling, since I was used to being knowledgeable about world wide events. Again, I felt cut off, but at the same time I was enjoying the naiveitivity and "ignorance is bliss" feelings.
My time package has run out, so I must end this post.
--Update - Fixed the spelling errors, as I am back home.
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Web 2.0 on vacation
I'm on a ship, so this post will be fast, un-cut, un-spellchecked and un-edited (more later as to why).
While going on vacation I had the opportunity to have interesting experiences with Web 2.0 and how it can help and hurt a vacation.
Our journey with Web 2.0 started when we booked our tickets on airtran.com. This airlines uses Web 2.0 to enable it to nickle-and-dime its passengers. Get this...$4 extra per flight if I wanted to pick my seats on the plane. What a crock! But, it is amazing to see how technology can enable companies to charge for each and every type of service that they provide on line. Can you imagine an e-mail system that charges to send e-mail per word?
The next interesting experience with Web 2.0 was when we boarded the plane. The machine to check in passengers was broken, so we had to give up our home printed boarding passes when we walked onto the plane, and needed to remember our seat number. This, of course, caused great confusion especially with people who have trouble remembering things. Gone are the days of the multiple paper tickets that would have helped to alleviate this problem.
While it is great to have Internet access on the ship, it is overly expensive. Here we go (remember nickle and dimming?)....There are 5 different pre-packaged Internet pricing plans ranging from $0.35/min (500 min for $175) to $0.55/min for 100 mins for $55. There is also a pay as you go for $0.75/min. These prices are totally crazy and inflated. Don't forget the $4 fee to setup the account and the $0.50/page to print. Gosh, just printing out your boarding pass (on a slow satellite link) is $4 + $2 (printing) + 10 min @ $0.75/min = $13.5. Ugh. I got the 55 minute plan, but for other reasons.
We had a major noise issue on the ship, and during the many lengthy conversation with the front desk, I dropped the line "...and you can bet I'm going to post about this horrible experience, in detail with pictures, as soon as I get home on travelocity.com, crusiecritic.com, tripadvisor.com, just to name a few...". I am not sure if that line worked, but at least the expression on the desk attendants faces changed as if shocked that I'd do something like that. I felt empowered to be able to share with the word about how horrible this cruise line was. (In the end, it was all worked out, and we got a nice sized on-board credit [which I used to buy time to post]).
One of the ports that stopped at was extremely poor, crime ridden, rundown, and just plain scary. But, they had a huge sign that said, "Business center with Internet." I just found it funny, that the Internet was available even in very poor locations in the world, and that it would enable travelers to remain connected with the world.
In another country, our tour guide remarked that even poor and impoverished families had cell phones. I thought that this was interesting and was a nice example of how wireless technology is an excellent enabler and how it can help leapfrog the problems with installing hard wired lines. Similar thinking can be applied to bringing Internet access to remote locations that are in ecologically protected areas.
It was also interesting to see a poorly dressed elderly street peddler whip out cellphone while he was pushing his goods. I never expected him to have a cell phone.
Finally, the Australian born cycling instructor was showing me his music, and I realized later that he did not use iTunes to get his music. And he can't, since Apple does not allow access outside of the US. I am not sure about the validity of this statement, but it was interesting to see how user limitations that I had found odd, actually impact other people. ...Update - I just found out that he can access iTunes from the AU, but the pricing is in AU dollars and not US dollars. The conversion rate is about 77 AU dollars for each US dollar. Since the iTunes cost 1 AU dollar, Apple makes more than one US dollar for each song. It is interesting to see how the Internet can enable a company to make additional money based on the currency rates.
Time is ticking away, and I must save my time for my next post (least I get hit with more per-minute-charges...)
...Update - I forgot to mention two of the most interesting Web 2.0 items. (1) While traveling through the Panama Canal, I found out that our progress was visible real-time via www.pancanal.com. If I had known about this website prior to my departure, I would have alerted my family to watch us cross into the canal. (2) There was a wedding that was held on board the ship, and was being broadcast simultaneously via a web cam so that their friends and relatives could also watch. It was really interesting to see how technology can continue to connect people in real-time even when the subject matter is in the middle of the ocean.
While going on vacation I had the opportunity to have interesting experiences with Web 2.0 and how it can help and hurt a vacation.
Our journey with Web 2.0 started when we booked our tickets on airtran.com. This airlines uses Web 2.0 to enable it to nickle-and-dime its passengers. Get this...$4 extra per flight if I wanted to pick my seats on the plane. What a crock! But, it is amazing to see how technology can enable companies to charge for each and every type of service that they provide on line. Can you imagine an e-mail system that charges to send e-mail per word?
The next interesting experience with Web 2.0 was when we boarded the plane. The machine to check in passengers was broken, so we had to give up our home printed boarding passes when we walked onto the plane, and needed to remember our seat number. This, of course, caused great confusion especially with people who have trouble remembering things. Gone are the days of the multiple paper tickets that would have helped to alleviate this problem.
While it is great to have Internet access on the ship, it is overly expensive. Here we go (remember nickle and dimming?)....There are 5 different pre-packaged Internet pricing plans ranging from $0.35/min (500 min for $175) to $0.55/min for 100 mins for $55. There is also a pay as you go for $0.75/min. These prices are totally crazy and inflated. Don't forget the $4 fee to setup the account and the $0.50/page to print. Gosh, just printing out your boarding pass (on a slow satellite link) is $4 + $2 (printing) + 10 min @ $0.75/min = $13.5. Ugh. I got the 55 minute plan, but for other reasons.
We had a major noise issue on the ship, and during the many lengthy conversation with the front desk, I dropped the line "...and you can bet I'm going to post about this horrible experience, in detail with pictures, as soon as I get home on travelocity.com, crusiecritic.com, tripadvisor.com, just to name a few...". I am not sure if that line worked, but at least the expression on the desk attendants faces changed as if shocked that I'd do something like that. I felt empowered to be able to share with the word about how horrible this cruise line was. (In the end, it was all worked out, and we got a nice sized on-board credit [which I used to buy time to post]).
One of the ports that stopped at was extremely poor, crime ridden, rundown, and just plain scary. But, they had a huge sign that said, "Business center with Internet." I just found it funny, that the Internet was available even in very poor locations in the world, and that it would enable travelers to remain connected with the world.
In another country, our tour guide remarked that even poor and impoverished families had cell phones. I thought that this was interesting and was a nice example of how wireless technology is an excellent enabler and how it can help leapfrog the problems with installing hard wired lines. Similar thinking can be applied to bringing Internet access to remote locations that are in ecologically protected areas.
It was also interesting to see a poorly dressed elderly street peddler whip out cellphone while he was pushing his goods. I never expected him to have a cell phone.
Finally, the Australian born cycling instructor was showing me his music, and I realized later that he did not use iTunes to get his music. And he can't, since Apple does not allow access outside of the US. I am not sure about the validity of this statement, but it was interesting to see how user limitations that I had found odd, actually impact other people. ...Update - I just found out that he can access iTunes from the AU, but the pricing is in AU dollars and not US dollars. The conversion rate is about 77 AU dollars for each US dollar. Since the iTunes cost 1 AU dollar, Apple makes more than one US dollar for each song. It is interesting to see how the Internet can enable a company to make additional money based on the currency rates.
Time is ticking away, and I must save my time for my next post (least I get hit with more per-minute-charges...)
...Update - I forgot to mention two of the most interesting Web 2.0 items. (1) While traveling through the Panama Canal, I found out that our progress was visible real-time via www.pancanal.com. If I had known about this website prior to my departure, I would have alerted my family to watch us cross into the canal. (2) There was a wedding that was held on board the ship, and was being broadcast simultaneously via a web cam so that their friends and relatives could also watch. It was really interesting to see how technology can continue to connect people in real-time even when the subject matter is in the middle of the ocean.
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Web 2.0 forcing the decline of snail mail?
Over the past few years, as utility, credit card, and financial institutions have upgraded their web based interfaces I have slowly switch from receiving my monthly bills and statements in my physical mail box to my electronic inbox. (It is too bad that I never received a discount from the utility, credit card, and financial institutions for electing to use e-mail instead of physical mail.) I have enjoyed the dramatic reduction in mail volume and physical paper. Additionally, I have also added my name to lists that reduce the volume of credit card offers. The general state of the current economy has reduced the volume of other junk mailings. The cumulative effect is that our mail volume is so low, that when we go on vacation we have no need to stop our mail.
While I a have dramatically reduced the volume of incoming mail, I have also almost eliminated my outgoing mail. I pay my bills online. I make my charitable donations online. I register for events online. Facebook, MySpace, EVite, and other Web 2.0 (not to mention plain-old-eMail) technologies offer even greater options to reduce the need for others (and me) to send physically mailed letters and invitations.
USPS historical statistical mail volume data generally backs up my empirical observation that these days fewer pieces of all types of mail are being sent through the system.
Unfortunately, it seems that speed with which mail volume is declining roughly matches the percentage increases in the cost to send mail. For me, the more it costs to mail an item, the more likely I am to find alternative - and usually free - methods to send my information. Additionally, raising the cost to send mail does not seem to be working since the USPS is requesting financial help.
I wonder how long the USPS can continue to increase the price of mailing items before it prices itself into a steady unstoppable state of declining volume.
I wonder too, if e-mail and the berth of Web 2.0 communication technologies caught the USPS off guard as to how these technologies would impact their bottom line. It is too bad I can not find valid and reliable data on the projected impact that Web 2.0 technologies have had on mail volume.
Will there be a time when physical mail will cease to exist and everything will be transmitted electronically? I do not think mail will ever go away, but it will be interesting to track the mail volume over the next few years to see if a more well-defined trend appears.
While I a have dramatically reduced the volume of incoming mail, I have also almost eliminated my outgoing mail. I pay my bills online. I make my charitable donations online. I register for events online. Facebook, MySpace, EVite, and other Web 2.0 (not to mention plain-old-eMail) technologies offer even greater options to reduce the need for others (and me) to send physically mailed letters and invitations.
USPS historical statistical mail volume data generally backs up my empirical observation that these days fewer pieces of all types of mail are being sent through the system.
Unfortunately, it seems that speed with which mail volume is declining roughly matches the percentage increases in the cost to send mail. For me, the more it costs to mail an item, the more likely I am to find alternative - and usually free - methods to send my information. Additionally, raising the cost to send mail does not seem to be working since the USPS is requesting financial help.
I wonder how long the USPS can continue to increase the price of mailing items before it prices itself into a steady unstoppable state of declining volume.
I wonder too, if e-mail and the berth of Web 2.0 communication technologies caught the USPS off guard as to how these technologies would impact their bottom line. It is too bad I can not find valid and reliable data on the projected impact that Web 2.0 technologies have had on mail volume.
Will there be a time when physical mail will cease to exist and everything will be transmitted electronically? I do not think mail will ever go away, but it will be interesting to track the mail volume over the next few years to see if a more well-defined trend appears.
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