No, You Print It!

For the past few years, in addition to magazines and newspapers discontinuing print subscriptions (especially free ones), many companies also stopped sending out paper coupons and such.

For example, Rogers stopped sending VIP customers coupons with the bill and instead sends a link to a web page where you can print one yourself. I recall hearing about the airline Delta requiring passengers to print their own plane tickets when they book online instead of issuing them one themselves.

Of course they explains this as being green and environmentally-friendly, but the truth is that they just don’t want to spend the money on paper and especially ink, which as anyone with a printer knows is expensive.

But Why Do They Have 24×7 Support

I saw a Dell commercial the other day where—as usual—they made a big deal about how they provide support to customers 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. I couldn’t help but wonder WHY they make sure everybody knows that they do that. Is it because their product is so shoddy that people will be calling in all the time? Is it because they think that their customers are so stupid they won’t even know how to turn the computer on? When you think about it, it’s a lose-lose situation. If they provide constant support people will wonder why and it will be bad PR, if they do not provide constant support, when people do need help they will be very upset. No matter what they try they’ll end up losing.

The moral is never try.