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The Friday Round Up From Sunny Montana
Over Commit, Under Deliver (or the Sky West/Delta Airlines mantra)
I got on a plane two hours late for Montana this morning. The flight was supposed to leave at 9:30. At 9:20 I went to the desk and asked if the flight was still going to be on time. The agent replied that the flight would board in 10 minutes. Forty minutes later I learned that the flight wasn’t even on the ground. We were then further delayed by fog in Montana but we weren’t told that until we got on the plane. It finally backed out of the gate at 11:30.
Note to Delta: We’re big people. We can take the truth. If its the fog, then tell us its fog. If the plane is late, then tell us the plane is late. Don’t BS me at every question when you know the truth.
I learned a long time ago to under commit and over deliver with the customer. Its a simple principle of business that keeps your customers coming back. Its obvious what the gate agent should have done. She should have told me the truth, under committed on the time we’d get on the plane then got me on the plane much earlier than she said she would. I think American’s would be much more patient with the airlines if they would practice this one simple thing.
Think about how this situation applies to your business.
Some Interesting Notes
The typical American spent $100.60 for every $100 of take home pay. Apparently some American’s think that’s a good thing. Apparently some American’s are stoned.
The average car wreck cost the economy $170k. Who knew?
ICE arrested 1200 illegal immigrant workers at Swift & Company meat packing plants. The result? Thousands of LEGAL American citizens have lined up to fill the Company’s open positions. So much for the idea perpetuated by the likes of George Bush, Bob Bennett and Chris Cannon that American’s “won’t work those kinds of jobs”. I always believed that was a lie and the aftermath of the Swift raid proves it.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year
I’m really looking forward to 2007. I think its going to be a huge year for me. I hope it is for you. Stayed tuned next week for my post on 2006’s best blog posts and for the winner of my jerk boss contest.
I totally agree with the main under-commit-over-deliver thought of your post.
One note farther down that I disagree with is about illegal immigrant workers. If all of the illegal immigrant workers were deported from my hometown (a farming community in Washington), there is no way even close to all of those jobs would be filled by legal workers. That is just one town in Washington. If you removed them all from all of the farming communities in Washington, you would not be able to fill even a fraction of the jobs because there simply aren’t enough people there to fill them (let alone people who actually *want* to fill them). If you project that situation nation wide……well, you get the picture.
There are jobs to be had in my home town, and employers definitely do not descriminate against legal workers. I was able to get a job whenever I wanted. The problem is that no legal workers step up to take them.
“So, the idea perpetuated by the likes of George Bush, Bob Bennett and Chris Cannon that American’s ‘won’t work those kinds of jobs’”.
I respectfully disagree with the assertion made. It is premature to draw such a conclusion based on one isolated, very small (relatively speaking) incident.
Are there some people who might now find work if all of the illegal immigrants are deported? Yes. However, I would wager that if those people had even a portion of the desire to work and provide for themselves and their families as the illegal immigrants do that we are deporting, those people would have no problem whatsoever finding employment.
Left by Sean on 12/23/2006I think in the instance you bring up you may be right. I grew up in Oregon in the 1980’s and I remember immigrant workers coming to Oregon for the summer to work in the strawberry fields. There is no way the work could have been completed with just the high school kids working those fields.
One summer (about 1990) they didn’t go back to Mexico - they stayed and took other jobs. I think we may have to look at the overall impact of illegal immigration on all industries.
Left by Chris Knudsen on 12/23/2006