I hate the official Facebook app.  The thing’s huge, slow, and buggy as all get out, at least on my Android phone.  I haven’t heard kind things about the iPhone version either.

So when I saw FriendCaster mentioned on Lifehacker a few weeks back, I figured I’d give it a try.

I like it!

It’s a lot faster than the official app, it updates better and doesn’t break nearly as much.

But here’s where they were able to pry the $4.99 out of my wallet: they listen to their users.

Crazy, huh?

I ran into a problem where the input text box for the status update wasn’t showing the text.   The text was there, but you couldn’t see it unless you press and hold the box, not ideal.   So I went to the developer’s website and was able to file a service request where I made sure to mention the OS I was using and detailed the problem.    They wrote back, and quickly at that.

The fix was rolled into an update that came out today and it works.   I had mentioned in my request that I liked the app enough I might shell out for the paid version if we can get it sorted, and true to my word, I downloaded the pay version tonight.

So thank you to One Louder for being responsive to your users, it gained you a customer and some free advertising.

Now, I’m not fond of Wal-mart, but not for the usual reasons.   There’s the whole race to the bottom situation, driving manufacturing jobs out of the country, putting smaller stores out of business, etc, etc, etc…sure.  But honestly it’s just generally a god awful shopping experience.   The store’s are generally cluttered, imposingly large, and tonight’s topic, poorly staffed.

I’ll preface this by saying, I don’t work there.   What follows is based on various bits of information I’ve run across over the years regarding their impressive operations.  And yes, I did just compliment them.   Wal-mart’s known in IT circles for their impressive inventory and tracking computer systems.   Yes, WM’s got a reputation for lean mean operating budgets, but here’s the problem; we’re all paying for that.

Tonight I was number 6 in a register line, there were at least 10 people behind me, and from what I could see, of the around 30 registers, SEVEN were open.  Three nights before Christmas, with a steady customer flow, there were 7 registers open.   Here’s the conversation I wish had taken place with the cashier.

Cashier: Sorry for the wait.
Me: No problem.   It’s not your fault.  But if you could point out your manager around here, I’d be happy to yell at them.
C: *nervous laughter*
M: It’s true you know.   Consider, your manager is likely under pressure to drive the operating costs of this store lower and lower each quarter, and this time of year, is probably trying to earn something like a $500 bonus.  But do you know who pays for that? Both you the employee and me the customer.

From my end, I’m stuck standing in a longer line.   It’s three nights before Christmas, it’s not unreasonable to expect extra volume, why not up the staffing?   Why?  It’s nearly the end of the quarter, you need to keep operating costs low.

But from the employee end you pay for it too.   You’ve got over 10 people here in your line, all getting agitated, wanting to just go home, and who do they take out their wrath on when they finally get up to your register?  You.    So your job satisfaction drops.   You might start your evening in a good mood, but the constant pounding has to wear on you.

Look at how you’re set up too.   The store has to lock up more merchandise in those little boxes, but they didn’t equip your station with one of the keys to remove them.     So you’ve got to walk away from your register, go about a quarter of the length of the store down to customer service to unlock, then come all the way back.    All the while, your line’s worth of customers are wondering where you’re wandering off to.

And why do you not have the tools to do your job?   Because your boss has a boss who likewise is trying to drive down the quarterly operating costs.   Those key’s cost about $10 each retail.   $5 if you buy in volume, and if you’re WM, you design your own, send the manufacture overseas and dictate the design so that the unit cost is under 2.00 per key.    But there’s a problem, that regional operations manager is trying to save costs.   So even if your store manager asked for more keys, one for each station, it’s easy to say no shaving a few more dollars off the regional operating budget and making that manager eligible for their bonus.

The hidden cost?  Your manger takes the heat from customers and employees.   The employees take on the heat from the customers, and people like me wind up praying they never have to come back to your store.

So that, that is why I’m not yelling at you, Mr. Cashier.    It’s simply not your fault.   You’re merely the face on the problem, and that’s not your fault.    Happy holidays good Sir.   In a bad economy you’re lucky to have a job, I just wish it could be a little better for you.    Evidently, however, the good will generated by staffing an extra 5 registers at a busy time of the year just comes at too high a price.

C: Umm…happy holidays to you too.  Good night.

For what it’s worth, I was nice to the guy, because I honestly do recognize it’s not his fault.

Would you like to help create one that’ll make YOUR life easier?

I know, you’re probably saying, “Pish Posh, not going to happen.”

Well not with that attitude it won’t, but read on!

Let me to introduce you to the Artisan Craft Page, a page being set up to allow oodles of people to advertise while simultaneously raising some money for the AGLF.

Feel free to consider this wonder page your cork board to the handmade world.   “How so?” you wisely ask?

Consider this, this page doesn’t have to be just glass workers.   In fact, we’d love nothing more if it wasn’t just glass folks.  We’d love to see basket weavers, metal smiths, jewelers, candle makers, scrap bookers, sign makers, wood workers, printers, and a host of other artisans on this page.   There’s a massive benefit of such a mix, particularly when you need a service of one of these craftspeople.    Need stands? Find a wood or metal worker.  Banners and business cards?  Printer.  How about a scarf to keep warm at that October art festival?  Look for a crocheter or knitter.

Google’s good for searches.  But you get everybody in the entire world.   On our page, each ad has keywords associated with it, and we encourage folks to use them.  This means that if you were to search for:

welder site:artisancraftpage..com

You would find only the welders on that page.  Since every ad needs to be approved (at the moment…) we’re making sure that MegaConglomerate Welder Inc* isn’t getting an ad on the page.  But Bill Jones Welding most certainly would be welcome.    I’m sure the folks that work for MegaCon are nice and all, but we’re looking for the smaller workers of the world.   Folks who take the time to put an individual attention to detail into their work.

And right now, you can get into the site at a fantastic price.   We’re running and introductory sale on ads.    Through 6/7 you can get your ad (good through 2014!) for 75% off, or just $25.00.

Next week you can get it for 50% off, or $50.
The following week?  25% off, not bad, not bad.
After that we’re back up to $100.00, which is still a deal for an ad that’ll be up and searchable until April 2014.

So spread the word, sing songs in the mountains, invite your artisan friends and sign up for an ad.  It’s quick, fairly painless, and helps support a group of artists that were just looking out for their own rights.

*If this is a real company, and it’s yours, feel free to get in touch and I can change it.  I was attempting to make up a company name.

The man in the black coat.

Now for most folks, the man in black has bad connotations, but not this time.  This is the guy that got me 4 years worth of online advertising for $100.00.

He sidled up next to me, “Hey, does your friend need to advertise his web business?”

“Well sure,” I replied.  ”We all do.   But they just cut back his hours, I don’t know if he can swing the cost.”

“Well, Tom’s friend,” he said with a smile, “today’s your lucky day.”

“The fine folks who are maintain the Artisan Craft Page site are running a sale during the month of June.    Like a lively barn dance, it’s a stepped affair.

Act during the first week, and you can get that same 4 years of advertising for $25.
Put it off, and during the second week you can still get it, but for $50.
Slack a bit more, and during the third week you’ll be paying $75.

After that..and you’ve missed the opportunity for the great price and it’s back to the still phenomenal deal at $100.”

Bob was grinning like an idiot at this point and reaching for his checkbook.

I on the other hand was reaching for the man in black’s neck, “You charged me $100 last week!”

In between undulating motions of his head he squeaked out, “I’ll adjust it for you!” so I stopped.

Don’t throttle the man in black, act now and get the bargain basement introductory price now.  But act fast.   Get your ad in place, complete with it’s SEO goodness until April 2014 for just $25.

Starting June 1, head over to artisancraftpage.com to sign up at the special pricing.   It’s quick and easy and the money raised benefits the AGLF.

This is by far one of THE most well run shows I do all year.   The crew that puts it together does a great job from organization to advertising to the actual day of operations, right down to helping coordinate the load out in an orderly manner.   With nearly 200 vendors and street closures involved, this is no small task.

My wife helped me out immensely today, getting up early with me and driving all of us over to drop me and my stuff off, then hanging out for a bit to set up.

Once I got everything set up, I realized I have less on hand than I thought, but it was still a healthy mix of old inventory and new stuff, including a lovely ladybug plate I made a while back, and my new back scratchers.    Tent went up, glass was put out and then…..well, not much of anything.

To start with, it was downright chilly today.  Sixties all day and overcast, so not quite gloomy, but not sunshine either.    I was wearing shorts and a t-shirt, but luckily had the good sense to bring a jacket.   I really should have brought a hat too, particularly since ultimately I ended up with a sunburn.

Despite the weather, however, the event was well attended.    I’m horrible at estimating people counts, but I’d say well over a thousand people filtered through, very likely more.

But, of all those people, I had one sale.   One.   For a whopping $4 and the state gets 6.25% of that.   The upside is that the booth fee was only $40, but still, not good.

I don’t know about the entire show’s results, and according to my neighbor at the end of the day she had a good day, but it appeared that there were far more people not carrying purchases than those that were, it didn’t look like a banner day for most.    The attendees for these show tend to be fairly ecologically minded, so it’s possible a lot of purchases were pocketed, pursed, etc, but really, it didn’t seem to be going well.   In fact, from what I was told, one of the vendors a couple stalls down was actually in tears over the poor sales.

The one seller I know had a good day was the kettle corn guy.    I can’t say I blame anyone there, it smelled heavenly.

The highlight of my day, cold, tired, a little sore, was that I happen to carry chemical warmer packs in my travel boxes and was able to stash one in each pocket to help take off the chill.

Most of the customers were perfectly lovely.   Polite, having a look, oohing and ahhing, picking things up, occasionally asking questions.    And in case you’re wondering, my prices really aren’t too horrible.   My pendants I had listed for $30, and those were strung on a nice, though low cost, chain and clasp.  My hair sticks I put out for $20 a piece, and they had a pretty decent amount of fondling, so the price may not have been a key deterrent.    Even my marbles…I had then ranging from $5-$80, so something for everybody.

But there was one customer attendee that really got on my nerves.   She pointed out that if I sold my pendants for $10 each I’d likely sell much more of them and seemed quite delighted to give this free economics lesson.  By way of example she pointed to the cheap piece of jewelry she had on her wrist (colored aluminum perhaps) and pointed out that she can buy those for $2 and sell it for $10 making a tidy profit.   Even after explaining that one of my pendants took about an hour to make, she still seemed to think that I should sell my pendants for only 10 dollars each.   I was as polite as I could be, though given I was about 3.5 hours into the 5 hour show and a little defeated already, I was less than pleased to have this discussion with her.   So while I nodded politely, what I should have said was that if I wanted to sell soulless mass imported crap I’d open a big box craft store, but I held my tongue.   I’m tempted to print up cards with a QR code leading to my post on costs to hand out to folks suggesting discount store pricing.

Given the way the day went, I’m not sure I even want to do any more shows this year.    I’ve pre-paid for the fall edition of the Start event, however, and there’s at least one other that is also a music festival, so at least I get entertainment for the day.  But given my bang up sales, you have to wonder if it’s really worth it to load the car, inconvenience my wife by sticking her with the kids solo for the day AND returning to give me a lunch/bio break, spending the day away from my family for a loss on the day, and then doing the break down.   They say you can’t make any money if you don’t take the risk, but really, with the down economy and competition from imports, I’m starting to feel that an up tick isn’t anywhere on the horizon yet.

So that was my day.   Precious little upside at all today, though I did run into the owner of a store I have glass in on consignment.   I need to make up some stuff to bring out to her to swap out sooner than later.    This really is an upside since she was concerned about her own shop’s sales in general last time I was out.   The fact she’s still in business is a glimmer of hope.

The one here in town isn’t necessarily consistent either, but it’s not typically out and out bad.    So when I pulled in and found only one person ahead of me, I figured I was looking at maybe 30 minutes.    I swear I was out in 12 once, so I was optimistic.

Well, the folks working on the other customer’s car managed to damage his transmission oil filter, and mucked it up bad enough they had to send a runner to the dealer for a part.

“Wow, sucks to be him, good thing the other two bays are open, they should pull me right in.” I thought to myself.

Yeah, no.   Probably 30 minutes later, after the door was up and down a couple of times, they finally pulled my car in and took care of it.    In the mean time, my car was outside in the drizzling rain with the window open.

While they did at least apologize for the wait, they didn’t offer to take any off the total, but even that’s not my complaint (I had a coupon anyway).    I really want to know why they didn’t just pull my car into the other bay at the first sign of trouble.

Was it the low staffing level?  (I think there were 4 people on, including the guy they sent to the parts department)  Was it a lack of common sense and a complete lack of customer service acumen?  Or is there some strange policy in the franchise manual against bumping a customer ahead?  Is there something in the corporate edict against taking the initiative?    I find it hard to believe that out of the folks in there, it didn’t occur to someone to make use of the other bays.

There’s really no way to know for sure without writing or calling, but frankly I’m surprised no one thought to consider the other customers.    If nothing else it would have been an efficient use of the time and made for a winning customer experience.    Instead they now get an angry blog post flung into the ether for the next customer to find.

If it was a strict policy against bumping the customer order, I’d sorely encourage them to empower the franchisees to go off the map a bit in the face of strange circumstances.

There’s no excuse for poor customer service folks.  Look out for your customer and they’ll look out for you.

Now I’m no country bumpkin, I know to be wary, but I was intrigued.  He was suspiciously devoid of the black turtleneck and blue jeans generally worn by the web barons.

“I’m listening,” I responded quietly, looking around furtively for the search advertising executives sure to bust out of black vans at any moment.

He pulled back his coat and revealed a tablet computer, on it was The Artisan Craft Page.   A curious page with tiny little images.

I scoffed, “I ain’t so stamp collector, bub.”

“Kid, think outside the box, watch.”  And with that, he swiped over one of the images and magically it expanded to a larger size, revealing an ad for Renee Wiggins Design.

“Ok, you figured out javascript, big whoop.   What am I missing?”

He grinned wide, “Opportunity.   Pure opportunity.   These ads, they’ll be here on this page for 4 years and it only cost the business owners $100.  Their names are out there, the search engines can find these ads, and this community cork board full of ads reaches around the world.   What?  Are you putting up flyers at the grocery store?  Phht.  Think globally, my friend, think international.   And, if you think 20×20 is too small, you can just buy a bigger box.”

I was sold, and I asked how to sign up.   He quickly showed me that I can set it up and manage my account all by myself from the page.

Have a look for yourself over at artisancraftpage.com.   The page is based on the Million Pixel Project, but we’re giving you twice the space for the same cost.

In the coming week or so I’ll still be cleaning LLC’s out of the nooks and crannies, so bear with me.

Sure, that’s the outside bit that we convey to people, that we work with the primitive forces of nature to bring you a pretty or useful something or another, but have you ever looked behind the curtain?  Occasionally I share some of the behind the scenes bits of the craft with you, hoping it doesn’t ruin the magic, but I find it’s good to help the customer’s understanding of what goes on, as well as provide some information for folks just starting out.

So today we’re going to talk a little about supply prices, in particular, gas.

Not the stuff we put in our car, though wooooo-boy, it’s expensive, but rather the stuff that runs the torch.   In my case, my torch runs on propane and oxygen.   The propane is pricey, but I find it lasts me a lot longer than the oxygen.   It runs at a far lower pressure so the tank goes much further.

But oxygen…who would have thought air would be so expensive?   That’s part of the problem though, it’s not “air” as we think about it.   That contains oxygen, but also nitrogen, various particulates, etc., etc.   This is just the oxygen, and it’s about 98% pure.   In my case I bring it into my shop in 5 foot fall canisters called K tanks.

Over the years I’ve stuck with the same supplier and my price has crept up quite a bit.   I started around $22.00 per fill (plus tax and fees) and most recently was paying $45.00 a tank, plus tax and fees, bringing it to around $51.00.   Mind you, I’m a cash and carry customer, not on a contract, but I’ve also been with the same supplier for about 4 years now, don’t mess up their equipment, and usually haul the tanks myself.    So I was a bit dismayed to hear what other folks in the industry were paying for for their oxygen, and I found another supplier.   The other supplier offered me $15 per tank.

$15.

This was without negotiation, no contract, I didn’t have to harangue them or talk them down, that’s what they offered me.   Hells yeah!

Normally, since I’m a part time glass blower, I go through about 2 tanks a month during the non-holiday season, but because of a variety of other things going on in my life, I haven’t been in the shop as much as I’d like to be, so for over a month I had 4 tanks (my old ones I was still burning through and the two from the new supplier) in my shop.   Finally, this week, I finished off my old suppliers tanks and took them over to terminate my lease on them.

I’m going to pause for a moment and say that, while I won’t name the company here, the crew at my old supplier is awesome, a nice bunch of people in general; helpful and knowledgeable to boot.    So my closing of this contract wasn’t a personal decision, it was simply financial.  In all honesty, my new supplier’s FAR less convenient, particularly since they don’t have Saturday hours.

I’m happy to say that my old supplier offered me a better price.  Not as low as the new supplier’s price (the old guys are regional, I don’t fault them on not being able to match), but far better than my old $45 price.    I still said no.

I have the bottles from the new supplier already, and there was one thing that irked me.    Though my old supplier apologized (which I do deeply appreciate in this day and age), the problem is that someone really should have caught this earlier.  Like I said, I try to be a good customer, but my price crept up so high that my friends were insulted for me.    I have to wonder if everyone is paying that higher price from this vendor or if it was some intentional…I hesitate to say sleight since that’s not really the right word, but if it was an intentional attempt to just gouge a little guy.  I wonder that because as a cash and carry customer, it’s not like there was an automatic delivery and billing in effect, each time a human being had to see that price on the screen and charge me that amount knowing full well what other customers pay.    Again, to his credit, the employee I talked to when I turned in the bottles apologized and said that this should have been caught before it got to this point.    He even offered to cover my tank lease for the next 2 years.

Who knows?  If the new supplier doesn’t work out because of the timing issue, I basically have to run tanks on a lunch break, I may go back, and I most certainly left that door open when I dropped off the empties for the last time, but for now, I have a new oxygen supplier.   Business decisions aren’t always fun.

**************

Hey, just a quick comment.  Someone asked me the other day, “Hey Tom!  Why do you moderate the comments on here?”    Well, the answer is simple, spammers.   I think I’ve only ever swatted down one comment that wasn’t an out and out spammer, and that one was essentially just directing someone to another site as well.   But, it’s never for a disagreeing opinion (unless you were to be out and out rude or obscene), but just to keep the spammers at bay.    So sign up, feel free to leave a comment and rest assured that you won’t be dashed merely on opinion.

But besides that, the idea of dragging a razor across my face is just a chore.   But, I get itchy if I don’t, so I do.

Normally I use a Gillette Mach 3 razor.  While I think the multiple razor concept is silly over all, this razor works fairly well, doesn’t clog too much, and is easy to clear when it does.

So when we got a coupon in the mail for a free Schick Hydro 5 razor, I figured it wouldn’t cost me anything to try it so we got one.

Spoiler alert: I didn’t care for it.

Frankly, the experience of shaving with this thing was about what you would expect in dragging 5 razors over your face: awkward.  The razor face is tall enough in this case that it’s hardly what I’d call nimble.  Plus, there’s a lubricating strip at the top and skin guards to the sides adding to the mass of the cutlery store you’re dragging over your face.

Granted I had a fairly heavy growth built up on my face, but no worse than I throw at the other razor, and in this case I found that getting into the under jaw areas was more difficult that it normally would be because of the shear size of the cartridge head.

In addition, I found I cut and nicked myself more with this razor than the other one.   Maybe it’s just a matter of getting used to it, but it wasn’t a comfortable enough experience that I wanted to spend any more time using it.

I didn’t read the literature that came with the razor, so I didn’t realize there’s a “flip trimmer” built into the head, but it also didn’t occur to me to miss having such a feature.    Even after looking at the site, I’m not really sure what this would be used for.   Perhaps I’ll revisit this at some point to see if it’s useful to hit the ends of my sideburns, but given the stack o’ blades, I’m not really sure how I’d do a clean job of it using this thing.

So, while I didn’t pitch it into the trash, I don’t think I’ll be abandoning my current razor any time soon.

* no compensation was rendered or solicited for this review.

UPDATE:   In the interest of fairness I gave this another try with a less aggressive growth to tackle.   I was all ready to say something moderately nice until I did my neck and it’s now all nicked up.

If any other companies would like an honest opinion of their product, feel free to give a holler.  I don’t imagine there’ll be much of a line though.