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June 09, 2006
Scenes from a shredder
For both housekeeping and mental break needs this afternoon, I shredded a box of old receipts, bills and checks from 1995.
To whom was I loyal in 1995?
* PicNet. It was my first ISP, whom I signed up with in 1994. Took me about two weeks to figure out how to connect to the Web. My personal web page that PicNet made possible caught the attention that year of Hong Kong's largest publishing company and a six-month consulting assignment in its beautiful city. PicNet was acquired by some company, which was quickly acquired by someone else, which later was acquired by someone else. I think the original PicNet was digested 5-6 times.
* Whole Foods. A steadying influence about WFM is a culture that continually reflects its value proposition of authentic organic. The funky and cool 20-somethings who work at the Chicago store near me today could easily have been working at the Whole Foods on Greenville Avenue in Dallas I shopped at in 1995.
* Barney's. You get what you pay for in clothes and shoes, and I still love Barney's today. I have 3-4 ties I bought 11 years ago, a few of which (I think) remain fashionable.
* American Express. While they've flirted a bit much with gotcha situations for raising interest rates the past year or two, Amex has always been my preferred card. I always prefer Amex to the cold money barons at Citi.
What was different about record-keeping in 1995:
* My Social Security number on so many records: old paychecks, myriad financial statements, doctors' bills. Tossing these old records unshredded into the trash could be devastating.
* My bank mailed me all canceled checks. That I hand-wrote checks for groceries and books. That merchants filled my personal checks with my driver's license info, the time and date, and re-wrote the check amount next to the amount I had written. That clerks, before completing the transaction, punched numbers into a Telecheck terminal to guard against fraud.
Today, of course, it's just hand over a credit card, push the green button, and sign the receipt. Eleven years from now, will we simply walk out the front door as wireless scanners automatically calculate the total amount and debit our accounts? God, I hope not.
Some things never change:
* Metrocel Cellular was my cell phone provider 11 years ago. It cost me about $50 per month, the same what I'm paying Verizon today. Some efficiency of market competition!
* Southwestern Bell included in a statement back then it will "no longer bill you the monthly charge for 'Improved Data Transmission.' " The nickel-and-diming practices of utilities, no matter the lofty promises of deregulation, promise to live forever.
Other blogs that reference Scenes from a shredder:
Has your cell phone service changed in 11 years, or is it still the same set of features for $50?
My cellphone needs are the same today as they were 11 years ago: Simply connect me to a another person within the continental U.S. I'm not a smartphone user, nor do I text message or have data needs.
The phones have gotten smaller, but not the bills.
Are you ready to part with 1996 now? :-)
Are you ready to part with 1996 now? :-)
LOL. I think I'm going to need a bigger shredder.
Funny post, Ben.
"Eleven years from now, will we simply walk out the front door as wireless scanners automatically calculate the total amount and debit our accounts?"
I'm waiting for the day when those scanners are at the entrance -- not the exit -- and they sound wildly and bar your entrance when your bank account indicates that you can't afford to shop at any given establishment. It's a logical next step to being buzzed into a shop in a ritzy section of town, isn't it? (LOL -- sorta.)
Here's one scenario, 11 years from now:
To complete your purchase, insert the index finger that houses your RFID chip into the store's biometric register/scanner.
Your information is zapped up to the NSA's National Asynchronous Zeroing Identity satellites circling the earth, which verify your identity and your security clearance to shop at that store. (Protected shopping zones had been mandated by Supreme Leader Bush two years after the dissolution of Congress in November 2008.)
Your purchase information is sent to the National Bank of Google, which debits your account. Thanks to the RFID chips, notations of your whereabouts and who was accompanying you are entered into the Specific Persons Yield national database.
Ben, you left out that we are all on trains, which run on time.
Oh yeah. And the flying cars!
Hi,
I suggest you a topic for a new post: how would you market the cervical cancer Gardasil vaccine? My opinion is posted on my marketing blog and you will also be interested by Seth Godin's opinion on the topic.
have a good day.
Link: http://collaborativemarketing.blogspot.com/
Might be worth a post. Thanks for the idea, Jean.
