To save cost and mind you physical exhaustion of the Post personnel we are forced to put up a mail box, which is an extra box, since I have one through the door. That's a waste.
But it also bothers me that I have to pick up my snail mail in the morning. OK in the Summer, but quite annoying in the winter. Of course I don't walk around naked (it did spark a conversation with the neighbour though), but I have to "dress up" every morning. And of course the newspaper guy he has also decided to save 5 steps. But don't feel sorry for me.
We should feel sorry for the thinking that we add extra cost to a transaction, not only financially (the mail box cost 1700 DKK = 320 US$), but also reducing the attractiveness of the product (snail mail) by making it a hassle to consume (also a transaction cost in my mind). That can't be the right solution although Danish Postal or somebody else convinced the government to issue a new legislation.
If it has become more expensive to distribute the letters and other traditional mail the Danish Postal needs to increase the postage. And yes it may lead to less mail to distribute, but that is a basic value/cost consideration. But don't throw it at me.
It all becomes even more bizarre, when I in the newspaper (picked up in the box 5 steps away) see the same Danish Postal try to convince me that real letters offer so much more than a @, tweets or FB almost next to an article focusing on the new Mail Box law. That's another waste - of marketing money.
By the way, a good thing in recession, just in my close neighbourhood the law has generated a 300.000 DKK business to the producer and installer of the Mail Boxes. And we have app 1,1 million houses in Denmark. If 25% of these need Mail Boxes at let's say 1.000 DKK a piece it's a 250 million DKK industry. Waste generated business?
And yes, I know, I shouldn't have skipped the last weeks of spinning.
Great post, Jens. And thank you for the picture. A great CEO is never afraid of the naked truth!
ReplyDeleteAnother industry that have a hard time dealing with reality is the newspapers.
Although I still prefer the physical newspaper, and love my Berlingske it puzzles me how complacent they are. Every night at precisely 4 pm a paper boy on a noisy scooter drives all the way up to our front door. NO paper is worth that!
I've ask Berlingske if they could deliver the paper a little later or do it more quite. The answers was. As long as the scooter is legal there is no problem. No problem except insomnia that is!!!
They are doing a really great job convincing me to cover my update cravings with twitter on my Ipad....