Politics and Politicians
Here’s another reason that I remain so non-political. Former U.S. Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards told ABC News that he lied repeatedly about having an affair with 42-year-old Rielle Hunter, but said that he did not love her. How sweet is that?

The National Enquirer first reported on the affair in October 2007, and Edwards denied it, saying, “The story is false; it’s completely untrue, ridiculous”.

Edwards went on to say that he has not taken a paternity test but knows he is not the father of her child because of the timing of the affair and the birth. To add insult to injury one of his former campaign staffers claims he is the father. Who Can You Believe?
Will the real Daddy stand up please???

The story gets even jucier; In 2006, Edwards’ political action committee paid $100,000 in a four-month span to a newly formed firm run by Hunter, who directed the production of just four YouTube campaign videos, showing Edwards in informal settings as he prepares to make campaign speeches, talking about “who he is.”

More Annoying Airline Fees
American Airlines is changing Incentives into disincentives. They still call it their AAdvantage Awards program. A better term might be “Taking Advantage.”
They are discontinuing travel award tickets that require a miles plus co-payment, with Sept. 30 being the last date to claim such an “award.”
And get this, you can now “buy miles” with the airline’s buyAAmiles program.
There’s More:
-There is now a requirement of a nonrefundable co-payment of $150 to claim upgrade awards used with most discount fares when traveling between North America and Columbia, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela.
-A non-refundable co-payment of $50 to claim one-way upgrade awards with most discount economy fares when traveling between the continental U.S. and Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean, or when between North America and Central America
-A $350 non-refundable co-payment when claiming one-way upgrade awards on discounted economy fares when traveling between North America and Europe, India, Japan, China, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile and Uruguay.

It’s no wonder that the airline industry is in such disarray. Changes like this will alienate your best customers and drive them on to another carrier. Grabbing more money is not the answer; offering more services at a fair price is the way to get more money; it always has been.

It Gets You OUT THERE
“Branding” is a powerful form of marketing that makes your company recognizable, as it did domestic cattle roaming about in the Wild West. It is a cost effective way to make your logo visible to people that may not be reading your print ads or watching your television commercials. This is an especially good tool here in Hawaii where we have anti-billboard laws.

It Says Who You Are
When the marketing team at Foodland designed or approved these plastic bags I’m sure they did not want to say, “We don’t care about our environment and wildlife.” I stopped to take this photo this morning while walking around Ala Moana Beach Park. If I had tongs or gloves I would have picked it up and placed it in a near-by trash can, but even that would not make it safe.      
Our society is becoming aware of how destructive plastic is to our environment and wildlife. Now is the time for companies that are using plastic bags to STOP, and convert to cloth. I wonder who the first grocer will be to take that step.

Shop Green
UPDATE:
I have been so moved by the comments on this post that I have moved the whole thing up so that it doesn’t get missed. Please read the comments and feel free to add your own. We absoultely must put a stop to this!

In case you missed my daily quote link about the damage that plastic bags do to our environment, you can see it by clicking right here.
If you already know, great, but are you doing something about it?
If not, it’s easy, just get a shopping bag like this one and use it. The environment is more fragile than you may know. We need to respect it or lose it. You can get your own green bag (and much more) at Down to Earth.
Mahalo for caring!

No More Phone Books
Not only do I agree with hotels eliminating Phone Books from the room, but I’d like to see them stop stackng them at my front door as well.
I stopped using the Phone Book when 411 came about, and I stopped using that when I discovered Google.
Hyatt Hotels, Hyatt Place, Kimpton Hotels, and several chains operated by Starwood Hotels — Westin, Sheraton, Aloft and Element — no longer put phone books in the rooms. Hilton and InterContinental Hotels leave it up to individual hotel owners to decide if to use them. I would like that same option. I cannot help but wonder how many trees are wasted annually to print these monsters.

Greed Doesn’t Pay
My Dad drummed it into my head to, “Get a little bit of money from a lot of people”. He added, “If you deal with the masses you can live with the classes”. As tourism is dropping in Hawaii we see costs going up in order to get more money from those coming. This has become a vicious cycle. I’m all for selling more to the people who are here, but not by charging them more for the same stuff.
The airlines, restaurants and hotels are pricing each other out of business rather than making smaller margins on more people. Daddy used to also say, “Volume will make up for a multitude of sins”. 
While it’s true that you cannot be losing money and make it up in volume, you can make less money more times and do well with more volume.

PBN Survey
Pacific Business News just asked its readers how to get more people to come to Hawaii, and the overwhelming majority said to lower prices. When people feel like they are getting a good deal they will spend more. Las Vegas was built on this principle.

It Always Has
This article in today’s Honolulu Advertiser is right in line with the media’s reputation for fear mongering rather than solution reporting. If the concern is really to stop the drop in tourism, and tourist spending, then the negative talk must stop.

STOP IT!
Stop telling us how bad things are in general and start telling us specifically how good some people are doing in spite of the challenge of a few less customers. Focus on the 86% that are here rather than the 14% that are not. The negative news reporting creates an excuse for those doing poorly, their bosses begin to buy it, and things get worse. Before you know it the good customers (86%) are being ignored because of the ones (14%) who are not here. People coming to Hawaii for a vacation are not concerned about the price of gas! They want a pleasant memory of Hawaii; give it to them!
I have a computer chock full of positive evidence that opportunity is as good as it ever has been. Unless you are accustomed to doing business with 100% of the people here (maybe ABC Stores) your customers are still here; take good care of them!

Opportunity Abounds
This is the sort of e-mail that I love to get in the morning;

Aloha Ron,
Yesterdays total sale’s at Ala Moana was a record breaking total for a non Christmas day, and it appears this month’s total for the 3 stores could be as well.  Awesome!
Curtis

Hawaiian Accessories is a 20 year old company, so setting records is nothing to be taken lightly. For me this acheivement is especially rewarding haven taken this company “under my arm” personally just a few short months ago. Curtis started doing all of the things we suggest. In addition to the Morning Report, we started having monthly Success Rallies, Monthly Contests, and Opprtunity Shopping. We revised the compensation program, hired new people, and gave them the attention needed.
The next time that someone tells you that business is “slow”, just send him or her a link to this post, or better yet give me a call. This is a great time to stand out above the rest.

Light… But a Lightweight
I gave my new MacBook Air the “acid test” the past few days by taking it to Maui. Fortunately this was only a “one nighter”. There were numerous times that I was longing for my Sony Vaio. One was when trying to work with Excel. The Apple version just doesn’t work as well. Then came Internet connecting. Although I bought an Apple ethernet converter, it wouldn’t work in my hotel room. The Westin in-room wireless got me on line alright, and I was able to receive e- mail, but couldn’t send any out.

Three things saved the day; one was gotomypc, the others were my Sprint Wireless Card and iPhone; all products I had before buying the MacBook Air. I was also dissappoited by the lack of free wireless connections. The Island Air terminal at Honolulu Airport claimed a wireless service, but wanted $9 for a connection. Here again I used the Sprint Card.
It appears that about the only advantage I have found so far is the weight, and get this; the nifty keyboard light seems to have stopped working. Now that’s a bit soon for a three week old machine. I am off to the Apple Store to see what they say about that one. Stay tuned…

Maybe Mobileyou
As I continue to struggle with various aspects of Apple’s new Mobileme service I am reminded of just how critical a new product can be to a company’s success and reputation.
I found the iPhone to be such a wonderful tool that I spent $3,300 in the Apple Store for a computer that I don’t need (I already have four and I can’t even type). My thinking was that once I learned how to use it that I might switch over to Mac exclusively; that would mean thousands of dollars more for Apple and many strong referrals from me.
BUT, after spending several hundred dollars more trying to get a $99 a year add-on working, I now find myself sorry that I ever walked into the Mac Store. What a shame! In addition to the time and money I have spent with “experts” trying to make this thing work, I have also spent a great deal of time reading up on what others have to say about Mobileme. Mac Forums has a poll showing 246 users responing to the question, “Are you satisfied with Mobileme?” The results were, 127 (51.63%) saying “No”, and 119 (48.37%) saying “Yes”.
I had numerous people send me a link to this article by Walter Mossberg, who said, “If Apple does get MobileMe working smoothly, it could be a terrific service. But its way too ragged now.”
Then I got a link to this article written by David Pouge in the New York Times entitled, Apple’s MobileMess. This article talked mostly about the problems with Mobileme e-mail, which I haven’t even attempted to use yet.
Fortunately, my problems are pretty much behind me. I still have a minor issue or two, but nothing I cannot live with until the “Mobilemess” is straightened out, but I still have a bad taste in my mouth for the Apple employees at the “Genius Bar” that set it up wrong to begin with. Yes, first impressions are lasting impressions.