Extra Value

I watch DVDs with my brother every week. We also grab some dinner while we watch the movies at my house. More often than not, we just head to McDonald's. They are really quick. The food is adequate. The prices are not bad. My brother usually treats as well.

Every so often, my brother will bring over a coupon booklet from McDonald's. This allows us to get some free items with our order. Sometimes we walk into the store so we can both use the coupons. He leaves the coupons with me.

I like a McDonald's breakfast every once in a while. Previously the coupons I used were for a free large soda. Now they have changed the coupon to be a free large soda with purchase. To maximize my value, I buy a sandwich off the dollar menbu. I couple that with the coupon for a free drink.

Here is my question. Why is McDonald's providing the coupons? They can't be making that much money off me. Maybe they are trying to attract new customers. Or perhaps they are trying to get some goodwill from me. It is working. But I do not think they are getting such a great return on investment. We already go to McDonald's and pay full price for more expensive food without them sending us coupons.

Steve Jobs Resigns

Today Steve jobs resigned his position as Chief Executive Officer of Apple Corporation. He plans to stay on as chairman of the board. He also recomended that the board name Tim Cook as his replacement. We knew this day was going to come sooner or later. Well not it has come.

I am thinking about buying some Apple stock. But the thing I like to think about is the time when Jobs and Wozniak started Apple the company. They had some other jobs. But they had a vision. The story is that they started the company out of a garage. They were plugged into the tech community back then (Homebrew Computer Club).

You had to know early on that Job and Woz were going places. Their company growth was hot just like another start up Microsoft. Bill Gates already retired. And now Jobs follows in suit.

This Web Host

There was some recent ruckus about some accounts being deleted from ThisWebHost. Some dude had a PayPal issue. His friend got involved. Both of them had their accounts deleted by an admin. The administrator also let them have it over Twitter. Normally this would be just another customer service dispute.

Today I saw that the administrator was being repurposed from customer support to just technical issues. A new administrator blogged about being the new voice for ThisWebHost's customer support. So far so good. Then the blogger dropped the bomb. He asserted that abusive e-mails to the company were illegal. WTF?

I understand the company is getting blasted over the inappropriate tweets from the former customer support. But declaring that e-mails are illegal is just the wrong way to go. They were making a good comeback with the new admin dude. Why try to assert the strong hand of the law? It is almost comical. These guys need to bring in some real PR damage control. Fail.