ETD: 803 DHL: will they make it?; Cultural Faux Pas; Retailers
not ready for Sunrise?
E-Tailer's Digest
etd_post at gapent.com
Thu Jul 22 01:36:27 GMT 2004
E-Tailer's Digest --- Everything for the Retailer
Issue #0803 July 22, 2004
George Matyjewicz, Moderator mailto:georgem at gapent.com
Published by: GAP Enterprises, Ltd. http://www.etailersdigest.com
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CONTENTS
[1] Greetings
[2] DHL: will they make it?
[3] Cultural Faux Pas
[4] Retailers not ready for Sunrise?
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[1] Greetings.
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Hi All:
Seems a lot of people have been experiencing poor service from DHL. Our
list members share their experiences.
Risk Management Magazine published some cultural faux pas that I found
interesting, especially for those of us who travel. Any others that you know?
Are you ready for Sunrise? What is Sunrise? On Jan. 1, 2005, the Uniform
Code Council (UCC) has asked that all North American retailers begin
scanning the EAN codes in addition to the traditional 12-digit UPC bar
code, in an effort to harmonize labeling operations for global
manufacturers and improve global trade. Now if only they can get cell
phones to be compatible, eh?
Tell us about your business which will remain for posterity at
our "Members: Who Are You?"
site. http://etailersdigest.com/resources/members/index.htm And we have a
form there for you to tell us about you. As I said when I first proposed
this idea, we have "known" each other for a long time, yet we often don't
know anything about each other. So, tell us who you are and what you do.
Now, let's get to everything for the retailer.
Sincerely
George Matyjewicz, PhD
Chief Global Strategist, GAP Enterprises, Ltd.
mailto:georgem at gapent.com
http://www.etailersdigest.com
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[2] DHL: will they make it?
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>Has anybody else found issues with DHL?
>On the side of the DHL truck, it says "Operated by Airborne Express." And
>at their site you will find they are part of Danzas the Deutsche Postal
>Service. And they are spending a fortune on advertising.
>How about you? Who do you use for global delivery? For local? Does it
work?
DHL bought Airborne and has been converting their logo's etc. I do know
for a fact that they are using a lot of "non-employee" labor. My DHL rep
is a Worldwide Express franchisor. (in NJ)
I have two sides to my story. On a professional level, we've been using
DHL for the last six months at my employer. They've done pretty well and
they beat our negotiated rate with Fedex by 61% for ground service (which
is 90% of our corporate shipping load). And from experience, I will tell
you that I've used them for a long time for overnight delivery to
Europe. We had one problem where something got delayed in customs but
that was the fault of the person who filled out the airbill.
HOWEVER, on a private level, I'm really aggravated by them and here's why.
I sold an item on Ebay for over $200. It was going to Canada. The buyer
paid quickly and I shipped it DHL to take advantage of the corporate rate
and also because I wanted to take advantage of the insurance and because I
was going to be out of town for a week and didn't want to worry about
it. WRONG!
1. They picked it up on June 22.
2. On June 24th it cleared customs and on June 25th they attempted
delivery. No such address (I'd made a typo that went unnoticed). Did they
call me? NO.
3. They found someone in the phone book with the same last name who lived
in a different town called him, got his address and delivered it 40 miles
away from where it was supposed to be.
4. On the 27th, my bidder emailed and said, where's my thing? I said, you
signed for it yesterday! no reply. On the 4th of July emailed me again
and said, where's my thing? So I started tracking it down. I managed to
find out all the data in items 1 & 2 above but couldn't find out what had
happened to the package. Eventually, I called the phone number listed in
their shipping record and found a gentleman who admitted getting the
package. He thought he'd won a prize but he agreed, on the phone to call
the buyer and arrange to transfer the package. That never happened. He
knew I was in the US and wasn't going to drive to western Canada to get
him. So I guess he figured he was home free.
5. I gave the number to my buyer who looked him up on a cross-directory,
got on his motorcycle and went and knocked on his door. He got his package
back.
6. DHL billed me $55 for the delivery. Which I am contesting now. It would
have cost me $43 thru the post office.
So guess who's never using DHL for my Canadian mail again. My 2 cents for
what it's worth.
Beth Cherkowsky
eBay id = woadieland
My eBay Store http://stores.ebay.com/Action-Figure-Alley
My website http://members.aol.com/cougartoys/index.html
+++ [Next Post] +++
A few years back during the Dot-Com boom, a new client sent a crucial,
already late payment overnight via Airborne. When it did not arrive, we
stopped work on their client's project and moved on to other
things. Several days later, the Airborne man delivered it. When asked why
the delay, he replied it was their policy not to make delivery runs till
they had several packages to deliver in an area. For crucial overnight
packages? I asked. He replied it didn't matter. When notified, ur
ex-client replied that it was their policy to use Airborne because they got
a better rate, and they weren't going to change how they delivered our
payments. One delivery, three companies screwed.
You may recall that back in the 1700's, the British troops wore red coats
in battle. They felt the reputation of their empire, both in visible
presence before enemies and in their willingness to spend the cash for a
then widely known as very expensive dye, was important. No matter many of
those troops were contractors (mercenaries). That kind of high visibility
impact helped them build a bit of an empire.
The medium IS the message. Then as now, the man who delivers your message
embodies your reputation. I like the crisp bold look, the clear positive
slogan, and the dedication Fed Ex has shown to doing it right even when
everything else is stacked against them, as it usually is in remote rural
deliveries.
Which brings up two important e-tail points.
A lot of mail-order and web-order buyers are that because they are rural.
That often means low baud rates; so it is worth trying to build lightweight
pages as some phone vendors, like Verizon, don't do DSL or even modems well
in rural areas. (I went microwave / VOIP when I moved last month.)
In some areas, often rural, winding boundaries and changing road names can
create "service islands" customarily served as if in a different town. (My
last address had three different service towns, depending on who's service
you were using, and I grew up on a street having a US Postal name and a
very different county map name.) Increasing use of automated Global
Information Systems to validate addresses can cause these phantom addresses
to be rejected as invalid.
Yet if mail is sent to the technically correct addresses for those
location, many delivery services, be they the US Post Office or UPS, will
simply reject delivery and return the item.
Out here, or anywhere else I've been, "When it Absolutely, Positively has
to get There: FedEx!" (But put the recipient's phone number on the package!)
-javilk-
Today's Photo: http://www.mall-net.com/today/
------------------- IMAGINEERING --------------------
--------------- Every click, a vote. ----------------
----- Do people vote for, or against your pages? ----
-- What people want: http://www.SitePsych.com/free --
-----------------------------------------------------
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[3] Cultural Faux Pas
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Risk Management Magazine published some cultural faux pas that I found
interesting, especially for those of us who travel. Any others that you know?
--
Don't give the “A-Okay” sign in Brazil. It is the Brazilian equivalent of
giving the middle finger in America.
Holding up two fingers like a peace sign with your palm facing inward, for
example, is similar to the American middle finger or the Brazilian “A-Okay”
in Britain and many English-speaking countries.
In the Muslim world, the sole of the foot should not be shown because it is
seen as dirty. In America, we often sit casually with our foot crossed
over our knee, but this is seen as insulting in most Muslim cultures.
In Bulgaria, many American executives get confused as they think that
everything they say is taken negatively. But there, shaking your head “no”
means that the person is listening, not that they disagree with you.
In many Asian cultures, beer, liquor or warm sake is usually shared at
social business events. Because of the group-oriented nature of these
cultures, people refill each other’s glasses—often very frequently—and if
someone fills your glass it is generally a sign that they wish you to do
the same. If you are a light drinker, it may be wise to leave your glass
full so nobody can top it off.
In Hungary, glasses of apricot brandy are often served at business meetings
even early in the morning and to refuse is seen as being rude or even
untrustworthy. Common advice is that the smaller the glass, the more potent
the drink, therefore the more cautious one should be.
When conducting meetings, businesspeople should be aware that “punctuality”
means different things in different countries and should be prepared to act
professionally in the face of unexpected tardiness, no matter how
unprofessional it may seem. As a general rule, people in Germany and Sweden
are usually on time, but in Spain, Costa Rica and especially Italy, people
tend to be late. Because of this, it is often best not to jam-pack one’s
schedule with appointments.
Gift-giving at meetings can be an important part of successfully conducting
business in much of Asia, particularly in Japan. The gift should always be
wrapped in red or gold paper and it is a sign of disrespect if it is not
given with two hands. Gifts should also not be opened in front of the
presenter, as it is seen as disrespectful.
http://www.rmmag.com/Magazine/PrintTemplate.cfm?AID=2270
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[4] Retailers not ready for Sunrise?
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On Jan. 1, 2005, the Uniform Code Council (UCC) has asked that all North
American retailers begin scanning the EAN codes in addition to the
traditional 12-digit UPC bar code, in an effort to harmonize labeling
operations for global manufacturers and improve global trade.
The UCC announced the deadline in 1997, but according to AMR Research
analyst Scott Langdoc, some major retailers won't be ready on time.
Langdoc says he has talked to several major retailers with "thousands of
stores between them" that won't be ready by the January deadline, and
expect their suppliers to accommodate them.
"Nobody's saying they won't do this, but they have bigger, grander plans
that they're working on," says Langdoc. "The breadth of this project is so
wide, they won't make the January deadline, even though they have had seven
years to prepare for this."
In a February report, Langdoc noted that of 18 retailers surveyed, 15 were
not yet Sunrise compliant. Around 60% of non-compliant companies did have a
Sunrise project in place, however. Many of these companies were confused
about what was mandated within the Sunrise initiative and what was simply
recommended. They were also hard pressed to identify hard-dollar benefits
of expanding GTIN support across their technology infrastructure.
The UCC is also concerned about Sunrise compliance, but among mid-sized and
smaller retailers.
Slow compliance could stymie manufacturers efforts to eliminate re-labeling
of product for North America. Since the EAN codes are used throughout the
rest of the world, EAN-13 support in North America would allow
manufacturers to use one package standard.
As more EAN-marked product reaches U.S. retailers, non-compliant retailers
could see errors in their information systems or at the point of sale, and
may have to re-label product themselves with UPC codes.
What's taking so long?
Part of the problem has been confusion in the UCC's marketing message over
the years. To accommodate EAN, retailers must expand their 12-digit
databases to 13 digits. The UCC has recommended--but not mandated--that
they take the additional step of supporting the 14-digit Global Trade Item
Number.
Most of these companies are actively working toward Sunrise and/or GTIN
compliance. The GTIN is required for using both UCCnet's Global Registry
for item data synchronization and the Electronic Product Code (EPC)
standard for radio frequency identification (RFID).
The hype around UCCnet and, in particular, around the EPC movement has
stolen some of the thunder from the Sunrise/GTIN project, with many
companies moving ahead with RFID before finishing up database projects.
Until recently, the link between these three initiatives was not made
especially clear by the industry, the technology vendors involved, or even
the UCC.
Those who have started Sunrise projects often find that they've
under-estimated the number of IT systems affected by the change.
Estimates on cost and complexity vary. According to AMR, the average
Sunrise project takes 13 months from project start to completion, and can
cost anywhere from $150,000 to $2 million. For a 500-store grocery chain to
become GTIN compliant, AMR estimates it could cost $2.5 million to $4
million, depending on the number of systems affected.
Resources:
www.amrresearch.com
www.uc-counil.org
Details at...
http://www.frontlinetoday.com/frontline/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=103838
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