Dear Target,
I’ve been a customer of yours for decades, like most Minnesotans. I estimate I likely spend well north of $2,000 a year at your stores, counting groceries and clothing.
And like about 180,000 Minnesotans, I have a permit to carry a firearm.
Minnesotans with carry permits are nearly three orders of magnitude less likely to commit a firearm crime than the general public; we are literally better safety risks, per capita, than your employees are.
Now, a group called “Moms Demand Action”, which is an astroturf pressure group owned and operated by billionaire ex-mayor Michael Bloomberg, is putting a lot of media pressure on Target to bar all firearm carry at your stores, nationwide, after the intemperate actions of a few “open carry” activists in Texas.
While your...
Business
Dear Boss Who Was Recently Fired,
I want to begin by offering my condolences. I know that your recent firing was an unexpected blow. To you. Because the rest of us in the office saw it coming. From a frickin’ mile away.
Regardless, the job market is currently quite difficult, especially if you’ve just been fired. In the interest of burying the tension between us that you were totally unaware of, I would like to offer a few suggestions that will help you procure, and keep, new employment.
1) I would pick a single hair color and stick with it. Though your current combination of black, brown, and blond is a bold choice, I don’t think it projects the right image to potential employers. Rather than an image of constant professionalism, it tends to project that you can’t commit. And...
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Dear Mr. Mayer,
As you can imagine, we read your open letter to IWC on HODINKEE with considerable interest. We couldn't help but feel we owed you a reply and before saying anything else, we must thank you not only for your long support of our brand but also for the obvious passion for our work that is reflected in your letter.
For some reason we kept thinking of the title to a song of yours called, "I Don't Trust Myself With Loving You," as it sounds as if that's how you feel about IWC. As we’re sure you know, there are many IWC fans who, like you, continue to love the brand but wonder what happened to what they, and you, think of as the "good old" IWC.
You write that "the [old] IWC ... had all but disappeared." We assume you feel that we have gone from being a wonderfully...
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Dear customer, now that I have been candid, I will also be vulnerable.
I’m terrified you’ll find out I don’t know your name. You remember mine – an awesome compliment. And yes, I remember we met in that one class. But when you order a coffee, which doesn’t require a name, rather than a pumpkin spice latte, which does, I am profoundly relieved.
But if you do order a latte and look even vaguely Caucasian, I will cross my fingers and write something vaguely resembling “Caitlin ” on your cup. I tell you, I have my fingers on the pulse of whatever baby names were trending among 1990s Irish Catholics, and Caitlin tops the charts. I will also be worried for you, because the amount of syrup that goes into pumpkin spice lattes fills about one quarter of the cup – that’s a lot of sugar,...
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Dear Matt,
Can you write something about people who don't tip??? I see you've posted about people who are rude to customer service and people who leave their carts in the parking lot... what about people who don't leave tips. I'd like to tell you about what happened to me. I'm a waitress at a steakhouse in a different state from you. Myself and my coworkers get stiffed all the time by people. Especially older people who drive expensive cars to get here then order expensive drinks and expensive entrees and leave a 5 percent tip. It's so infuriating!!! This is how I feed my kids ... I'm a mom... recently divorced.. and I take care of my family through tips! Yesterday a couple came in, stayed at a table for two hours, ordered appetizers, entrees and desserts... I took good care of...
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Dear Brand,
Recently, there has been a lot of talk about some competition to your business, something which you haven’t experienced since 1985 when Cantel joined the wireless revolution. This threat of competition has put your company under a great deal of scrutiny and has served as a lightning rod for dissatisfied customers to hail the potentially competitive environment as a triumph of business. Your reaction was to write an open letter to your customers to tell them how wrong they were for feeling that way.
You didn’t seem prepared for the negative responses from both media and consumers which resulted from both your letter, and a sound bite given by one of your competitors to the press to say that Canadians pay a fair price for their wireless services, when many respected...
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Mr Buckely,
I have left BT because of the way the company treats its customers. I am now with another provider that not only deliver what they promised but more and they are so much cheaper than Bt.
I received your letter dated 19th October threatening to hand my final bill over to a debt collection agency and I do congratulate you on your speedy threatening letter, however my final ebill which is dated 21st October shows that not only do you treat your customers with total disregard you also expect them to be physic and pay the bill before they receive it.
As I have now left the joke that you call a company due to the way that you treat your customers, I was going to pay the final bill and forget all about Bt, but as you have once again shown that BT...
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We all know that innovation is key to long-term business survival and success, and yet most companies don't proactively manage it. You can quickly assess your own level of "innovation management maturity" by answering the following questions:
Have you clearly and precisely articulated the type of innovation that you seek and shared that information with your partners and employees?
Have you defined the exact criteria you would use to evaluate competing proposals for innovation?
Do you have a clearly defined process for harvesting, evaluating, developing, and implementing innovative ideas?
Are employee roles and responsibilities for innovation defined?
Do you have a budget for innovation, or at least a general sense of what you could/would spend if...
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Dear Valued Customers:
Recent developments in the North American sodium sulfate market have impacted supply volumes for the remainder of 2014 and 2015 and have led to an increased early demand for our sodium sulfate production. Due to this, Saskatchewan Mining and Minerals Inc. (SMMI) is announcing, effective immediately, a $30USD-per-short-ton increase in both packaged and bulk deliveries of sodium sulfate on all volume that is currently not under contract for 2014 and 2015.
SMMI expects to be fully sold out of production through 2015.
While we are anticipating being sold out, we are still committed to you and to seeing that your needs are met as we work together through this market. To that end, we will focus on renewal business exclusively through November 17, 2014. Your...
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Dear Customer,
So glad you like the stuff! We do make great toothpaste and laundry detergent and we really appreciate your loyalty. We’re really glad the food is good and the car works well. But, we’re worried about you. The fact is, we don’t know why you buy, and we don’t know what the triggers are. We would love to figure that out.
TrustedHonestly, we don’t mean to stand in your way and trick you into clicking on stuff, but if we didn’t we’d have no idea how we would get our products in front of you. You’re wiley. You make erratic decisions. Sometimes you buy from the end cap, and other times you don’t. How are we supposed to interpret that data? If we could find a way to know what your intent was and when you were ready to buy, we would be happy to get out of your way and maybe...
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