It can be amusing when a corporation goes through an identity crisis. Usually a corporate name change stems from the board or owner’s desire to move the company in a new direction or to pretend that they know what the consumer wants. I suppose sometimes they actually do know what the consumer wants, but more often a name change on an established company makes customers go, “huh?” more than anything else.

I think that more often though, companies decide to change their corporate name to get out from under a dark cloud that they imposed only on themselves.

Here are some of the worst of the worst corporate name changes:

The Shack::Radio Shack. This was so bad that I had to write about it in a previous post. While I now know that the company isn’t completely changing its name to the Shack, I still am not quite sure what the company was thinking when they decided it would be a good idea to align their company with a rickety old building. When I think Hi Tech, I’m not thinking about shacks.

Xe :: Blackwater. Earlier this year Blackwater decided that it would change its name to Xe because the Blackwater name was tarnished thanks to a 2007 incident that led to the death of 17 unarmed Iraqi civilians. Thankfully, even after the name change the government did not renew the company’s contract.

Altria :: Philip Morris Co. When the company changed its name on the same exact day that the company was cleared of responsibility for a woman’s smoking related death in late January 2003, it obviously wanted to escape the bad PR it had been getting. However, all that ended up happening was a magnifying glass on the company. Every time customers are reminded about the name change, they are reminded that this is the same Philip Morris they knew and they only tried to change their name to escape responsibility.

SyFy :: SciFi. This one I can’t quite figure out. All the cable station did was change the spelling of the already abbreviated name.

You can read more about bad name changes as well as the worst offender, I’ll give you a hint, it has something to do about the company who changed the name of the Sears Tower, all at the SOURCE.

Wal-Mart is getting in on the prepaid craze. With AT&T offering a unlimited talk and text plan for $60 per month, someone had to come around and step up their game.

Wal-Mart is starting up it’s own “Straight Talk” service that will ride off of TracFone’s service. The service starts at just $30 per month and a user can get unlimited talk, text AND DATA for $45 per month.

The service goes on sale starting October 18th. It will offer not only nationwide coverage, but it will also offer unlimited 411 usage.

Of course, like most other prepaid carriers, the phone options will be quite limited. You won’t see any cutting edge phones avaiable for purchase on any of these types of services. That probably has something to do with how cheap the plans plus data are. If everyone had an iPhone or another more advanced phone on the plan, then it would eat data and Wal-Mart would likely be losing money. However, with the not-as-advanced phones, these are great options for text-happy teenagers.

With prepaid plans like these popping up, I can definitely see post paid plans taking a hit. These aren’t just regional plans, they are nationwide plans with great coverage. For example AT&T is one of the only carriers that have coverage at my parent’s house in rural Mississippi. I was completely in the dark when I had T-Mobile and went to visit them.

I would like to see more competition with post-paid plans because that’s where the more desirable phones are. That’s what I’m after in the end…I want good coverage and a great phone for a reasonable price. That’s why I’m with Sprint. The price really overcame the company’s phone selection and the coverage is awesome when compared to the T-Mobile phone I had previously.

Would you switch from your post paid plan to a prepaid plan to get in on the deals? How about you prepaid plan people…How do you like your service? How much does a more advanced phone matter to you?

An article written by Ethan Trex for Mental Floss brought up a few really interesting items that, over the years, Wal-Mart has banned from its aisles.

The first thing on the list was Midge, Barbie’s pregnant friend. Midge was part of Mattel’s “Happy Family” set. It’s not like she was trying to promote some kind of immoral family life either; Midge came with a husband and a son. When people started to complain that there was a pregnant Barbie, the doll got pulled.

A pair of underwear also found itself under fire when a cheeky saying on the pair “who needs credit cards…when you have Santa” got people fired up. Wal-Mart pulled the panties soon after they were released around Christmastime in 2007. With this one, yea, I can see how this could be particularly awful. Like the original poster said, this would be better on a t-shirt; harmless. But on a pair of Juniors’ underwear it’s a bit too much. It’s like seeing “sexy” costumes on Amazon for pre-teens (those get pulled as soon as people start noticing).

Even though 1995 was nearly 15 years ago, it’s not like it was before the Women’s Movement. In the Miami area, there was a shirt with Margaret from Dennis the Menace on the front. The shirt said “Someday a Woman Will Be President” and it was pulled from shelves of the Wal-Mart stores. Luckily, after some idiots got it right, the shirts were put back out on shelves, but not until they had been sitting in stock rooms for months.

Wal-Mart has always been known as a family-oriented store; or at least it has tried to be known as a family friendly store. So, it censors albums and even some movie titles (they required that Zach and Miri Make a Porno be shortened to simply Zach and Miri). Well, for reasons other than the movie being a bit raunchy, Wal-Mart did not sell the movie Superbad in Hawaii. Why? They pulled the movie from shelves after the governor asked them to because the movie came with a little fake ID like “McLovin’” had in the movie.

Wal-Mart really has some strange rules and while trying to maintain the company’s family friendly persona it has really made some interesting choices as to what it will and won’t stock. You can find some other really interesting things that the store has decided are too risque for its shelves at the source.
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Also, don’t forget how to learn the easy way to make fantastic posters for various occassions.

Your resume is the main way to market yourself to potential employers and now that jobs are scarce for some of us, it is important to play on your best skills, accomplishments, and why you would be an asset to the company.

Of course, there are a few ways to downplay some of your own pitfalls without lying on your resume.Yahoo’s The Savvy Networker had a list of tips on how to boost your resume, and I just thought it would be fun to revisit; especially because I know how hard it can be to get your foot in the door at any job.

First, eliminate resume gaps by taking out the month from your dates of employment. There are times in most people’s lives where they have been unemployed for some time or there were a couple of months where you were “between jobs” and gaps in employment make employers wary. However if you put 2004-2009 instead of May 2004 – March 2009 then the gap between March and now is gone.

Then, you should be able to describe your previous jobs. When you put on your resume where you worked and what you did, perhaps it would be good to tell your potential employer exactly what the company did or does. The reason for this is that not all companies can be a huge brand name that everyone recognizes.

For Example:

Global Supply Company
Inventory Manager 2006-present

Global Supply is the Midwest’s largest distributor of heating and cooling equipment to contractors. As Inventory Manager I was responsible for managing $1M in equipment and coordinating deliveries and outbound shipments among our 45 suppliers and 400+ contractor clients.

Also, don’t use corporate lingo in your resume. When you say something like “cross-functional collaborator” you are simply asking for your resume to be passed over. Yes, that may have been your actual job, but if you say something that you actually accomplished such as your ability to distribute your company’s product to resellers, then your resume will look a bit more practical than others that put some kind of lingo on their resumes.

Finally, make your resume sound human. Robots can spit out phrases and overused cliches like “attention to detail.” However, you can actually add something that sounds a bit more human. How much better does it sound to say that you are able to tackle office chaos and calm down your coworkers? Hmm…

Of course, these are all just boosters. Your real accomplishments are whats going to sell a potential employer on your resume.

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The people who fly with British Airways will have to do something that people who fly on other airlines will NOT have to do: Pay for a particular seat on the plane. If they want to sit somewhere in particular they will have to pay some kind of fee according to the airline. The extra charges will only affect those who want to sit next to the window or the aisle (SO I suppose, if you want to be stuck in the middle of two people you don’t know, you should be alright?).

The change will take place starting on October 7th. The lowest fee that will be assessed will be 10 pounds for those who are booking their seats on an economy flight throughout Europe. The most expensive seats will cost the customer sixty pounds for long trips in the business class. Those who are expecting a seat somewhere near the emergency exit will have to pay an extra fifty pounds a flight.

British Airways says this measure will give customers more control over their seating. British Airways currently allows customers to select their seat for free 24 hours prior to their flight. If customers want to book ahead of time, they can do it before 10 and 4 days before take-off.

“Customers frequently request specific seats, but in the past we’ve only been able to confirm them 24 hours in advance or on the day. We know people want to secure them in advance and have real control over their flying experience. This will allow them to do that,” said a BA spokesman.

With this new fee and probably others that will follow, BA tries recover after £401m loss last year. Earlier this year, BA decided to no longer offer free meals on short flights and cut luggage allowances.

It is really annoying when any company decides to take advantage of a customer when there is some kind of demand for a product. In this case, the airlines are trying to squeeze money out of the consumer because they are paying rock bottom prices for airline tickets. It’s a funny thing though because these customers are still waiting in airports for delayed flights and sitting on tarmacs waiting for their planes to take off. I should know, I spent over an hour on a tarmac in North Carolina waiting in the past few months. I hate flying on airplanes.
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Webloyalty, Vertrue, and Affinion are companies that charge your credit card tiny amounts. Usually when they show up on your card you’ll see the words “rewards” or “club.” Most people don’t recall paying for a service or signing up for one and now the Senate has finally decided to do something about these companies.

So, when exactly do you sign up for things like WebLoyalty? Have you ever purchased something online then found yourself barraged by popups for $10 off or some kind of rebate? That’s where they get you.

Webloyalty has been known to act like a company that had something to hide. It has grown to be a company that hides information from the public and buries negative stores to try to make sure people don’t see them.

Now, however, there is one person out there trying to get the company to talk about their shady business practices:

However, Webloyalty may have learned from past mistakes. Webloyalty’s corporate PR office e-mailed me after I Twittered that I was looking for former employees of these three companies — no luck, I probably would have done better hitting some of the bars in downtown Stamford — to ask if I needed anything.

I wanted to know: How is the company considering changing its practices in light of the congressional investigation? “Although the incidence of individuals who appear to have clicked through our process without reading what they were doing is quite small as compared to all of our members, even a few is too many,” Beth Kitchener, Webloyalty’s vice president of corporate communications, said in an e-mail exchange. “The class action lawsuit settlement as well as the issues raised by the Senate Commerce Committee put an exclamation point on the need to get this number as low as possible.”

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Southwest Airlines has made a spectacle of itself by proudly boasting that it would not be charging fees for what “the other guys” charge for; such as first checked bag with their “bags fly free” ad campaign. Those days might be over for the company though, as it is has had a money losing year and will have to start charging fees to help make up for some of the losses.

Soon, those who want to bard the airplane first or get a head start on boarding, called EarlyBird Check In, will have to pay an extra $10 for the convenience. While this isn’t something that all passengers will have to pay for, it was something that used to be free for everyone.

The fee will go into effect today and the move appears to be a desperate way for the airline to make up lost revenues. I don’t think that the company is having dire problems, it is just looking to make up some of the money it lost over the past year while people weren’t flying as much and during last summer while gas prices were so high.

EarlyBird Check-in means that you don’t have to wait and watch the time or set an alarm to make sure that you’re one of the first people to be able to board the plane according to marketing chief for Southwest, Kevin Krone.

Southwest has yet to do things like US Airways, who announced that it would, once again, be increasing baggage fees for the first and second checked bag to $20 and $35 when you pay for your baggage fees online. These types of fees are not only frustrating but can be misleading when you go to pay for your plane tickets on the internet. One of the worst parts, in my opinion, when it comes to paying for your checked baggage online is that you can only pay for it 24 hours before your scheduled flight is going to take off. That means that you have to be able to be at a computer and print your boarding pass sometime the day before you are scheduled to take off.

I don’t know if I would pay extra to be able to board an airplane first or close to first. However, since you are unable to pick your seat on Southwest, I may be willing to pay the extra $10 to be able to sit wherever I want and be able to sit there first.

There are a few steps that employees can do to make themselves known to employers to hopefully be promoted one day. Those same tactics are now being implemented by the workforce to not be fired when the next line of lay offs comes their way.

So what’s the secret?

According to BusinessWeek here are a few of the tips from the magazine:

1) Focus on the company’s success rather than your own. Most employers don’t have the time (or money) to deal with any potential problems you may have. When you’re at work, you are there to work and not create drag for you or your team.

2) You have to be more than willing to change. I don’t just mean use blue pens instead of black pens, you have to be ready and willing to change direction at the drop of a dime and be ready for it. If the company is looking to mix up the product lines or create a new mission statement for the company, its time to be the “yes man” and learn how to cooperate with the change.

3) Be great at your job and be useful in every aspect of the company. While this is a lot of work, it shows your employer that you have a commitment to the company by going above and beyond your own responsibilities.

4) Social hour should be after work, not during. The last thing a company needs is for its employees to be negative and do a lot of gossiping while on the clock. “No complaining, no blaming!”

5) You have to follow the rules, even the ones that may not have been written down. An example is to be at work early and be at least willing to stay late. When looking at this tip, now would be a good time to quit smoking and start bringing your lunch to work with you to avoid smoke breaks and long lunches.

6) You need to solve problems before they happen. If there’s a way to make the company more efficient (or make it more money), tell your supervisor. Of course, this means there will be some time away from the workplace and in your home where you may have to do some research about competitors and what they’re doing. Doing this ensures that you are seen as an asset to the company

7) Get to know people outside your department, especially those in human resources.

8 ) Social networking is important, if not crucial in today’s workplace. On the BusinessWeek article this tip is titled “Start Tweeting or Start Packing.” I think that this tip is more important to those in the marketing field than those in, say, the accounting department. Social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook are easy to set up and use. Here’s a warning: Don’t “Facebook” too much at work.

Will you boycott GM?

Question:

Some right wing conservative talk show hosts and commentators have been criticizing GM for accepting (and asking) for funds from the government. Now they are calling for a boycott of the company saying that any money you spend at GM is money against the free enterprise system.

Will you boycott along with these commentators?

Answer:

I, personally, will not boycott GM for this reason. I have my own issues with the company and I think right now if the right wing commentators want a free enterprise system then they should spend their money at GM so the company can pay back the government…it’s likely that won’t happen though.

The plan calls for a system to limit for the first time the amount of global warming pollution — mainly carbon dioxide from coal and oil combustion _that’s permitted from utilities, oil companies and large-scale industries, which make up 85 percent of the U.S. economy. They’d have to buy permits for each ton of emissions.

The total emissions amount would be lowered each year until it was 83 percent below 2005 levels in 2050. That’s the amount that science suggests will be needed as part of a global effort to prevent irreversible problems from steadily increasing warming.

If energy companies are paying more for energy by having to buy permits for emissions, you can almost be sure that they will pass the “inconvenience charge” to you. When gas was around $4 a gallon, my electric company was charging a gas fee on top of inflated per kilowatt hour charges. A gas fee…to offset the price of natural gas (so they say) for my electric bill…not my gas bill. If the electric company is making electricity from natural gas, aren’t they just the gas company? The gas charge also had something to do with gasoline prices to have the meter reader come out to our house…ridiculous.

I am all for providing and obtaining renewable energy, however, I don’t think that energy companies should be left to decide what they want to charge customers for their inconvenience.

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Some of the domestic banks had even received their own share of government bailout money.

Eighty percent of AIG is owned by the U.S. government and the taxpayers. It has received over $170 billion inn bailout money and was one of the firms that was “too large to fail.”

Some of the biggest recipients of the AIG money were Goldman Sachs at $12.9 billion, and three European banks — France’s Societe Generale at $11.9 billion, Germany’s Deutsche Bank at $11.8 billion, and Britain’s Barclays PLC at $8.5 billion. Merrill Lynch, which also is undergoing federal scrutiny of its bonus plans, received $6.8 billion as of Dec. 31.

The money went to banks to cover their losses on complex mortgage investments, as well as for collateral needed for other transactions.

Other banks receiving between $1 billion and $3 billion from AIG’s securities lending unit include Citigroup Inc., Switzerland’s UBS AG and Morgan Stanley.

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Ford said today that even with the loss, it will not seek government bailout money. Instead, it will be borrowing the remaining $10 billion of its secured credit line, not to be used for operating expenses.

It looks as though Ford is looking to the future pessimistically, which could be the key to survival in the long run. Ford, along with other car makers, thought this year would have a slow start and perhaps a recovery in the second half of the year. However, using the credit for something other than operating expenses makes it appear as though Ford isn’t as optimistic as it was when the 2009 outlook was posted.

If Ford can’t do something to turn the company around, it will be down to its minimum amount to operate the company of $10 billion by August…

Each automaker’s jobs bank varies, but at GM, laid-off workers could get 85 percent of their base pay, plus benefits, without reporting to work while the company tried to find them jobs elsewhere. Or workers could get full pay by reporting to a factory or union hall, where they could be called upon to perform community service or tasks around the plant.

Starting Monday the 1,600 people who are currently receiving the benefit from GM will be forced into the unemployment line. And while they have been able to stay in the jobs bank for years, unemployment usually only lasts around 48 weeks.

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The report found roaches, mold and what looked to be a leaky ceiling at the Peanut Corp. of America plant in Georgia.That’s not even the worst problem with Peanut Corp’s shady business practice:

The report also documented that the plant’s owner, Peanut Corp. of America, found salmonella in a dozen internal tests of its products during the past two years. But managers at the plant shipped the peanut butter and peanut paste anyway after getting new tests. The FDA said the company did not initially disclose the first tests to investigators trying to solve the current salmonella outbreak.

Peanut products initially found to be contaminated with salmonella were shipped as recently as last September. Health officials started picking up signals of the outbreak a month later.

The peanut industry is shunning Peanut Corp. I don’t blame them because now the entire peanut industry has to put a lot of effort into their own public relations just to cover for Peanut Corp’s mistake.

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The bill is a response to a 2007 Supreme Court ruling that said a person must file a claim of discrimination within 180 days of a company’s initial decision to pay a worker less than it pays another worker doing the same job. Under the bill, every new discriminatory paycheck would extend the statute of limitations for another 180 days.

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All cell carriers around DC experienced extremely high call volume today even when they were routing calls to less used towers. Even with calls having problems getting through, texts weren’t having any problems.

From NewsFactor Network:

The largest wireless carriers, AT&T and Verizon Wireless, had boosted capacity, with AT&T reporting it spent about $4 million. A Verizon spokesperson, Debra Lewis, told news media that mobile Web, e-mail and Twitter short messages were good uses of the bandwidth, and the company’s D.C. network was experiencing traffic up to five times its normal call volume. Even so, she said, most of the calls were going through on the first try.

I always thought that this kind of thing happens whenever there is a major event happening were as few as thousands of people are gathered. There were over a million in D.C. today…

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Fiat’s goal in taking over Chrysler is to have Chrysler produce one or more of its cars to be sold in the United States. Fiat would give Chrysler the parts to produce smaller and more fuel efficient cars.

I am guessing since Fiat wants to bring some of its smaller cars to the U.S., maybe they are also thinking about selling Chrysler’s cars in Italy and Europe? Seems like Europe loses in this scenario.

1. “What does your company do?”
This is something that should be researched before the interview process. “We need to show up for a job interview knowing what the employer does, who its competitors are, and which of its accomplishments (or challenges) have made the news lately.”

2. “Are you going to do a background check?”
When you ask this question, you’re saying “Please don’t do a background check…I have a shady past.” and it makes it more likely for your potential employer to run one on you.

3. “When will I be eligible for a raise?”
“Instead of asking about your first raise before you’ve got the job, you can ask (at a second interview) ‘Does your organization do a conventional one-year performance and salary review?’”

4. “Do you have any other jobs available?”

5. “How soon can I transfer to another position?”

6. “Can you tell me about bus lines to your facility?”
Again, this is something else that you should probably find out yourself.

7. “Do you have smoking breaks?”
“Lots of companies don’t permit smoking anywhere on the premises, and some don’t like to hire smokers at all. Why give an employer a reason to turn you down?”

8. “Is [my medical condition] covered under your insurance?”
You could ask to see a benefits pamphlet from the potential employer rather than flat out asking this question. Besides, an interviewer will not likely know the answer to this question either.

9. “Do you do a drug test?”
See #2

10. “If you hire me, can I wait until [more than three weeks from now] to start the job?”
If you ask for tons of time off before you start working — unless you have a very good reason — the employer may think, ‘How serious is this candidate about working?’”

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From the AP:

Playing up ketchup’s natural roots also feeds into consumers’ growing desire for more wholesome, natural foods, analysts and the company said. The new label includes the tagline “Grown not made.”

Heinz is also planning its largest marketing campaign since the 1980′s to get the news out about its new slogan.

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Circuit City was listed on the NYSE in 1984. Since then the brand has built equity and rose to the largest retailer of consumer electronics before Best Buy became the “top dog.”

It always seems like the electronics stores are the ones that fall the fastest. CompUSA was another example, however, in the end they found a buyer.

Now Best Buy really has no serious brick and mortar competitors. There was a class “review” where my professor split us up into 3 teams. One was Best Buy, then Circuit City, and the last one was Radio Shack…

Is that all we have left, Best Buy and Radio Shack??

From the AP:

SABMiller said lager volumes fell 1 percent in the three-month period that ended Dec. 31, compared with the same period a year earlier, because of the economy.

“Consumer demand has been affected by the current global economic slowdown, and has continued to weaken in many of the group’s markets,” the company said in releasing its quarterly trading update, which does not provide financials.

So I suppose this means that beer is not recession proof, however sales of beer haven’t declined as fast as sales of other consumer goods…and I don’t see Budweiser asking Congress for a bailout either.
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From the AP:

The company said the move will save about $700 million a year starting in 2009, and total $1.5 billion in annual savings when combined with the previous cut.

Most of the new layoffs will hit the mobile devices business, while about 1,000 jobs are tied to corporate functions and other business units.

There hasn’t been a lot of good news for Motorola recently. Even the popular RAZR has finally been outsold in the past few months.

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Apple’s shares seem to be tied to Jobs’ health concerns also, today shares fell 7%. Shares of the company have been volitile with rumors of his health in the past.

So, what would happen to shares of the company if Jobs were to leave or, worse, pass away? I think it’s time for him to start phasing someone else into the role of CEO. Apple investors need someone new to help keep the stock at a steady level.

Ford Chief Executive Alan Mulally, speaking on the sidelines of the Detroit auto show, said Ford had been in talks with several potential bidders for its luxury Volvo brand.

GM Chief Executive Rick Wagoner, meanwhile, told reporters that GM was also still seeking a buyer for Saab.- Reuters

Right now, they both need to make good decisions that will help the company survive in the future.

Well, Asus looked like the early winner with the touch screen netbook, but then Palm came out punching. Palm had the Pre and took center stage. The device was unlike anything anyone was expecting from them. After all, this is a cell phone company many had already written off as dated and ready to be “put out to pasture.” Palm showed that it wasn’t ready to go down without a fight. The Pre will likely be compared to the iPhone, but the Pre has all the newest technology in it (after all the 3G iphone is nothing but the regular iPhone that was made in 2007 with a faster internet connection).

I’m just sad that CES is over, it is my favorite trade show of the year and I would absolutely love to work a trade show like that.

Chris bought a bag of sour cream and cheddar Ruffles. The bag was, honestly, less than 1/4 full. I giggled at first because I was able to get a bag of Brim’s for the same price that had at least 6 times what the Ruffles bag had in it.

I know I shouldn’t, but I usually write the company to complain when I’m unsatisfied with a product or a service (like UPS just LEAVING a Playstation 3 outside in the rain), but tonight I just don’t want to. Instead I’m going to write about it in the blog, as word of mouth is an asset to any company.

I couldn’t agree more. When compared to ads like AT&T’s melting snowman or exploding turkey or even Alltel’s clay caricatures of the other cell company’s sales reps, Sprints ads of Dan Hesse walking through the street or sitting at a diner are boring. With him also saying very obvious or generic things like, this could be the only phone you ever need… There really isn’t a lot of draw to the ailing cellular company.

I think Verizon did a better job with a guy walking around asking “Can you hear me now?”At least it was memorable

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The china and crystal maker will be looking for a buyer and in the meantime will still be producing and selling its products.

From the AP:

“Waterford, Wedgwood and Royal Doulton are quintessentially classic brands that represent a high quality product which is steeped in history,” the administrators said in a statement. “The administration team will be working closely with management, customers and suppliers during this time to ensure operations continue whilst a sale of the business is sought.”

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From the AP:

Subaru’s December sales fell 7.7 percent to 17,287 units from 18,739 in December 2007, as a big increase in Forester sales failed to overcome declines in its remaining models.

But Subaru sales for all of 2008 rose by 0.3 percent to 187,699 vehicles from 187,208 in 2007, as consumers snapped up its top-selling Forester and Impreza models. The company is likely to be the sole large automaker to report higher sales for 2008, as the troubled economy pummeled new car sales across the industry.

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Together, they have 78 million subscribers.

Verizon is putting up $5.9 billion to buy out Alltel and will be assuming $22.2 billion in debt from the company.

The bad news is that Alltel’s Little Rock headquarters will likely lose most of it’s 3,000 jobs. Verizon says that it will keep a call center there, but the higher paying jobs will likely be lost.

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