Talent 911

Can’t we all just get along (or at least collaborate)?

I have been watching Verizon and AT&T begin to punish their customers for using too much data by eliminating unlimited data plans, even going so far as to slow down your device if you use too much data.  Mind you they have been spending millions marketing all these devices and doing everything in their power to get everyone in the world to buy and use these devices and now they are complaining about how much it is costing them and using this to raise prices.  I look at that industry and it reminds of something I see a lot these days.  What a serious lack of collaboration.  Why in the early days of cell phones did the companies not work together to come up with a standard to build the network out with?  With a service that is basically a utility does it not make sense to work together for the infrastructure and then compete on price and service?  Instead we have multiple formats with different technologies that are not compatible with one another and you have areas with spotty coverage.  It would be similar to having three power companies and each one of them running a set of power lines to every house.  It is duplication of effort and wasteful. 

 In this time of shrinking departmental budgets, deficits, and shrinking revenues I would love to see more organizations working together and collaborating.  Maybe that can be the positive that will come out of this recession is a new spirit of cooperation and leaner thinking.   Hear any stories of collaboration that you can share, please do, I want to hear something encouraging!

Volt of Reality

I love the concept of the Volt so I want to see that type of vehicle succeed.  Having said that, from the beginning when I saw the sticker price on it I knew it would not fly.  Today I saw a headline that they are temporarily shutting production down because of low demand and laying off 1200 workers.  You did not have to be Nostradamus to predict this.  

Here is some basic math to see the problem.  The volt costs $40,000.  It is a fairly small car.  I compare this from a cost standpoint to the $11,000 Hyundai accent I drive.  It gets about 34 miles to the gallon.  I drive 15,000 miles a year.  That means I use about 450 gallons of fuel a year.  So in a $4/gallon era that is about $1800/year I spend on gas.  To justify the $29,000 difference that is a lot of years.  Assume I never went over the 35 mile electric only range of the volt so I never used a drop of gas.  Even with that unrealistic assumption that would mean it would take me over 16 years to cost justify the difference in initial cost.  Not to mention the fact my car hasn’t been in for a single repair since I have owned it, with new technology there are bound to be maintenance issues as well.  

The only people who are buying the Volt are those trying to make a statement and ignoring the math.  Until there is a more reasonably priced alternative this type of vehicle will not be widely accepted by the consumers.  Maybe if fuel costs shoots up to $8 or $10 a gallon it will start to make sense but for now I think these are basically prototypes and GM is trying to find that next breakthrough technology.  I just think it needs to not be packaged as a production vehicle if it is not ready for prime time yet from a market standpoint.  I love the idea of taking chances and trying to think outside the box but at the end of the day there needs to be a product that you can price competitively and something that makes some sense for the consumer from a cost standpoint, at least for most consumers as we are seeing with the low demand for these vehicles.  Can’t we just skip to the Jetson style hovercrafts already?  Who is working on that?!