No Coupons at Starbucks

Just before Easter I sorted through the unaddressed detritus in my mailbox delivered by the awesome posties at Canada Post to find some coupons courtesy of Starbucks.

I thought of using them last week on my trek via the Starbucks at the University of Ottawa but, upon reading the fine print, found they were only valid from April 1st to 15th.  So much for that idea.  Not sure who the dimwit was at Starbucks or Canada Post who thought of delivering the coupons about a week before they are valid instead of closer to the due date. At least this was one occasion where it helped to read the bolder fine print on a coupon and left the coupons in my coat pocket for later use.

Fast forward to today, I found myself wandering through downtown Ottawa doing errands and near a Starbucks (100 Elgin Street, Ottawa) that you would miss unless you fell over it. The address claims this Starbucks is located on "Elgin Street" but actually you enter off of Laurier Avenue.  To make matters worse, it is in the same building by the dominating historic facade of the Lord Elgin Hotel which directs your attention  to their impressively kept facade.   But I digress.

I visited at 11 A.M. and walked up the cash and duly presented my coupon before ordering.  The green aproned Barista took my order and typed it in.

The Order: 1 Mocha.

Next, she handed back my coupon explaining they don't accept them here as they are not a corporate store. I looked at her puzzled.  She explained that this location is not a corporate store and the coupon says "Offer good only at participating Starbucks stores in Canada."   I still looked puzzled and inquired where the closest location was.  She said there is one at Slater & Metcalfe would be more than willing to accept the coupon.

I left this location with nothing purchased.  I had gone in looking to try a Mocha drink which I normally do not order as I'm unsure what to put in it.  At $2.00 per Mocha I was willing to give it a try and get a little guidance from a knowledgeable Barista at a quiet store.  Sadly this wasn't so due Starbucks' incompetence.

Starbucks' incompetence? There has got to be a way for Starbucks franchises like this Starbucks to accept the corporate coupons and receive compensation from corporate for them. I believe McDonald's does this as I've used similar McDonald's coupons in the Toronto area, Ottawa and New York City without any refusals.  Not sure why Starbucks' couldn't facilitate this.  Good thing as well I didn't attempt to use these coupons at the University of Ottawa Starbucks either, I would have probably had the servers there flummoxed.

Overall, Starbucks has disappointed me.  I was there to try a beverage Starbucks had paid to promote through the printing and delivery of the coupons.  Starbucks' own corporately branded store refused the coupon upon some lame excuse of not being a "franchise store".  I left the store feeling puzzled and thought about working my way up Metcalfe Street to the corporate store.  But changed my mind, I decided to duck into the nearby Tim Hortons instead where they welcome you with open arms and no lame excuses. The only  dissapointment from Tim Hortons? I didn't win anything in the Roll Up The Rim contest.

Yellow Pages Detritus on my Front Porch Courtesy of Yellow Media & Bell

Yellow Pages Phone Book delivered in January 2012

Earlier this week, I received a phone book on my front door step.  This was an improvement over my previous experience of receiving an unsolicited phone book as it wasn't wrapped in plastic or buried deep in the snow after being delivered in the middle of the night.
I picked up the phone book to prevent a possible tripping hazard for the mail man who may come by later to drop off the mail I might want and may have asked for (i.e. like a card from someone who cares and actually knows I exist).

I flipped through the book with the nice little blue"Bell" logo on top with the Yellow Pages logo in the bottom left hand corner.  After a quick scan, there really wasn't anything I couldn't find online.  In fact, I would argue that Google does a better job in finding local businesses in my area. I normally visit Google Maps, find my address, then search for what I'm looking for.  Heck even Prime Minister Stephen Harper do this if he is looking for some "Za".  Even better, Google provides user ratings for the listings that are frequently updated.  Sadly, my Yellow Pages do not seem to have these updated user reviews on whether Uncle George's Pizza is a rat hole or provides piping hot pizza with delicious one of a kind toppings that you can rave about.  All I get with Yellow pages are black fingers, paper cuts and useless raves from restaurant owners about being "the most Italian Restaurant in the Byward Market".    I will hand it to Yellowpages and Bell, if you want the residential white pages now, you must request them.

I have had over 2 years to figure out when the last time I have to use a phone book:

Q:Open a phone book to look for a phone number or address? 

A:Nope, still got nothing. 

Q: Are you able to sell it? 

A: No bidders on the last one, not even at $5.00.  If something is useful wouldn't someone be able to use it as in  "One Man's trash is another man's treasure"?  No bidding, not even a contact to see if someone wanted it.  Thus, I don't even consider the phone book to be trash, it is lower than that as nobody seems to wish to treasure it. 

So how to rid myself of this tree killing tripping hazard that I still can't remember the last time I actually used it?  Let's go old school with the "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle"  to see if we can resolve this problem. 

Reduce

The easiest way to stop the slaughter of green trees that only end up causing your fingers to be discoloured and cut by poorly processed paper in the future is to not get the phone book in the first place. As well, Yellow media Inc. (owner of Yellow Pages in Canada) is trying to reduce it's humongous debt anyway possible.  The company is also trying to, according to Yellow Media Inc's President & CEO Marc Tellier in a Globe & Mail article, "...focus on our digital transformation" to be a producer of websites and feature results in cooperation with a partnership with Yahoo. I figure a couple of shekels could be saved to pay down Yellow Media's Debt and encourage them to focus on their "digital transformation" by not printing my phone book and many others.   Yellow Pages in fact encourages people to opt out by putting a blurb on the top of the front cover reading:

"To stop receiving this directory or to request a residential directory ypg.com/delivery or 1 800 268-5637" 

At least this time Yellow Pages made it easier to opt out of receiving their yearly printed piece of detritus...or so I thought. 

I visited the website link provided (www.ypg.com/delivery) to find a pretty simple step by step instructions on how to opt out of receiving the Yellow Pages.  The average person would have simply gone through the process and felt satisfied that they have done their part to save the environment, helping Yellow Media Inc. with their debt issues and moving forward the cause that online phone listings are much better.

But wait, there is the small print in a size 8 font that the average person would ignore reading "Privacy Statement".   My mouse clicking finger got a little antsy.  Of course I clicked the link and was taken to another webpage headlined "Privacy Statement" that looked about 3 pages long printed (yes you can print it, this is Yellow Pages after all!).  I skimmed through this web page reading about definitions of personal information, collection, what they can use it for and how you authorize Yellow Pages to use it.  All very interesting and took about 5 minutes to read and comprehend.

To save you the time here is in a nutshell what you need to know in our case:

If you fill out any form on the YellowPages.ca website (or anything remotely associated with the Yellowpages name online) you consent to giving YellowPages your information and authorize the company to use said information.  Use of your personal information may include:

"We will generally collect and use personal information to administer our contests, promotions, surveys, reward programs and other services, to understand our customers’ responses, needs and preferences, and to generally manage our business.

We may also use personal information to contact our customers or suppliers with marketing or promotional materials regarding our products, programs and services or to assist our front-line staff in providing tailored sales offers to our customers. We may exchange or merge personal information with data obtained from third parties for the same purposes."

Bottom line, if you fill in the opt out for your phone book, you will not receive a phone book next year, but you may be harassed with plenty of junk mail and phone calls asking your opinion or attempting to sell you crap you don't need.  Yup, YellowPages will sell or give away your personal information to telemarketers without your direct authorization.   So personally, I wouldn't fill out that form, a phone book delivered yearly is probably less of a hassle than telling Yellow Pages I don't want one. 

But still, how do I discard my phone book if YellowPages does not make "Reduce" of the 3 R's that convenient?  Let's move on.

Reuse

Some options I found while perusing on the internet seemed interesting possibilities but led nowhere.

Q: How about to use a book for another use, like to help others out?

A: Nope, the last time I gave a phone book to a granny to boost herself up to drive her car things didn't go so well.  I got nailed in the shins with her wooden cane and called some new words that are not listed in the dictionary (but funny enough are all over Twitter).

Q: Door stop?

A: Sorry, I got one of those that actually does the job better than a yellow coloured badly processed wood product.

Reusing it didn't seem like an option, what to do, what to do? There is still one more "R" to go, hopefully maybe?

Recycle

I guess I could merely toss my phone book in the blue box and let the City of Ottawa take it off my hands.  I am paying property taxes for the removal of recyclables and other trash.  But this seems hardly fair.  Why am I placing the responsibility of the City of Ottawa and their contractors to remove a phone book that could easily not have been left in the first place?  Right, because YellowPages' own "Privacy Statement" basically gives you the option to either not receive the phone book and be harassed or just receive the book and be done with it.  So I'm left with the queasy option: do I harass the City of Ottawa to remove something because YellowPages wishes to bully their customers into taking the book? or do I find another option?

At least "Recycle" does provide me with a viable option and the 3 R's have been exhausted. But it doesn't seem right that the bill for removal of unwanted phone books (like Canada Post and their unwanted junk mail) falls to the property taxpayer to pay.  There has to be a better way.  So just like in school, let's brainstorm! 

Return

There should be a "4th R" to the current 3 R's (Reduce, Reuse & Recycle), RETURN!  I guess I could travel around Ottawa picking up the unwanted phone books left by the litterbugs hired by Bell and Yellowpages and return it to them.  But sadly, the closest Yellowpages Offices there is listed is either in Montreal or Toronto and I don't have the shekels to rent a U-Haul truck and make a delivery like these two did.

I also don't want to be accused of creating a "fire hazard" or harm the nearby daycare centre children mentoned by Fiona Story, Yellowpages spokesperson in front of the Montreal office.

Another option?  Bell has their logo on the front of the YellowPages copy I did receive.  Bell also periodically sends envelopes with my address on it but without my name on it with flyers inside telling me how great their satellite television, internet and cell phone packages are.  I've learned to reduce amount of volume in the recylcing box and help Canada Post make money very easily. Anything Bell sends me, I  scribble out the address, write "Moved, Return to Sender" and drop it in the nearest Canada Post mailbox for Bell to get back.  After all, that does keep their junk mail out of my recycling box, gives Canada Post a reason to keep postal workers employed and increases the amount Bell has to pay in postal charges instead of myself.  An option would be to drop the YellowPages book in one of those red Canada Post boxes as Canada Post does love it's flyers and other junk mail.  But it seems unfair to the postal worker to handle a heavy phone book that presumably they did not handle or deliver.

A quick internet search shows more than 10 Bell stores within 5 Kms of my address. Ironically, one of the top search results is a YellowPages showing me the Bell Store at the Rideau Centre. I do have to pick up an OC Transpo monthly pass for February and am planning a lunch out in the downtown core, I think I will drop off the Bell / YellowPages phone book to the Bell store.  I'm sure after that if, as Fiona Story of YellowPages says "1 in 2 Canadians in a month is still using it" then Bell and YellowPages should be easily able to Reuse my copy of the book after all.  Or if Fiona Story is incorrect, then at least Bell will be responsible for the bill to recycle this product.  The product is recyclable after all by Bell, why else would the blue Bell logo be right next to a green recycling logo.  I think I will choose this option, I can drop off my trash (er...detritous) to Bell and pick up my OC Transpo bus pass at the same mall.

In the end, it seems YellowPages doesn't make it easy to be green.  They litter doorsteps everywhere with unwanted tripping hazards that cause dirty newsprint hands and paper cuts.  YellowPages then provides an underhanded option, via their "Privacy Statement", to not have a phonebook delivered to you but to continue to harrass you with unwanted marketing. No wonder Fiona Story's claim that "there is less than 1% opt out" is true, it's because people don't want to be harrassed by YellowPages. 

Thus, the only option is to anonymously return their books to Bell and YellowPages offices to show them that the following statements by Fiona Story do are incorrect: "Print still answers a need" and "The majority of Canadians use the YellowPages on a monthly basis".  Perhaps then YellowPages will get the message that Canadians' do not want phone books on their front porches on a yearly basis.

How Canada Post ruined Christmas

Back on November 22nd at the Aurora Santa Claus Parade I dropped off a letter to Santa Claus with the Canada Post letter carriers at the beginning of the parade. I had done this in years past as a youngster with hopes that Santa would provide a reply.

As a youngster within a week or two of the Aurora Santa Claus Parade I would receive a reply from the jolly old elf himself, or at least one of his elves from the Canada Post Letters to Santa program. As a little person it was quite an honour to receive mail and I always looked forward to receiving a reply.

This year I sent a letter to Santa with a reason. This year Yvonne and I were putting together some stockings for my parents for Christmas. Every year Santa provided stockings for my sister, brother and myself but never for my parents. So this time Yvonne and I were going to change this little Santa oversight.

I wrote a letter to Santa, on behalf of my father, posing as a youngster looking for a new tool set for Christmas. I was hoping Santa or one of his elves would provide a response that I could tuck in the pocket, labelled "Letter from Santa," on my Dad's stocking. I thought an actual letter from Santa in an official North Pole issued envelope and letterhead would be splendid.

But my dreams of a simple letter from Santa have been doused. As of today, the day after Christmas and a full month after the parade, there is still no letter response from the jolly old man himself or one of his elves.

Now I know Santa is a busy man this time of year for obvious reasons. But Canada Post on their website claim that:

More than 11,000 current and retired Canada Post employees, affectionately called Postal Elves, help Santa to ensure that every child's letter gets an answer in the language in which the letter was written, including Braille (emails are answered in English or French).

Now one would think a simple form letter back in English from one of Santa's posties would work for my letter. But apparently not. The Posties would rather be grinches than bring true a simple Christmas wish.

To Canada Post on this Christmas season...MERRY CHRISTMAS and a BAHUMBUG to you to!

gethuman - advocacy for high quality customer service for consumers

Finally an advocacy group I get behind. I, like others, am tired of talking to phones and getting lost in automated phone system hell.

Why is it so hard for a company to employ someone to pick up the phone and help out customers who have a question?

If, after placing a call and hearing the line ring, I still have to press buttons: I don't consider myself a customer of your business!

York Region Transit makes you sit on the phone through eight longly listed options before you can get talk to an operator. Press "0" you say? No luck as this just starts the options back over again. These options include: fare information, have a schedule delivered to you, phone numbers for TTC & GO Transit, yadda yadda yadda. Perhaps, after you have listened to the long winded options and waited for an agent to answer the phone, you might:

a) forget what your calling about.

b) had to drop the pay phone receiver, because the next bus after the one that closed their doors in your face, has arrived.

c) fall asleep or get distracted by something more interesting than staying on the phone.

The only thing worse than the above is, after working your way through the phone system gauntlet, poor customer service agents who answer the phone!

Canada Post probably takes the cake. As an Office Manager I have quite the experience in inquiring as to why some packages are claimed to be delivered by Canada Post and yet I hear from the recipient they haven't seen the package that was delivered.

So I call Canada Post's 1-800 number only to be greated by an automated system asking if I am a commercial or residential customer. Once I select one or the other category (really its your choice...trust me..I've tried both!) you can no longer press "0" to reach an operator. I get the usual options to track a package, to change my address, etc. etc.

So I just press "0" and hear the voice that "For quality and training purposes this call may be recorded" as well as the usual "All our representatives are currently on the line with other customers, please stay on the line for priority sequence." or some other bafflegab while waiting sometimes over five minutes to talk to a person.

Not only that the people that pick-up the phone are dummer and dummer. They don't start investigations into where the package may be, that is the job of a "tracking officer" or some other poor schmuck that I am not allowed to talk to. The operator who picks up the phone can only "send a message" and give me a seven digit confirmation number. Whats even better is this story that actually happenned at Canada Post one day when I tried to figure out where a package ended up (i.e. the Canada Post website said it had been delivered but the recipient never received the package):

1st call I talked to a customer agent who took my information (e.g. recipient's address and phone number, my address and phone number, etc.) said I would hear back in 10 business days. (Lets stop here...10 business days to investigate where a package is? Isn't it more likely that a package would be found the sooner you get on it? Perhaps if the package was delivered to the wrong address the delivery person might actually remember where he/she left it and be more able to go back and find it? Fedex, once they hear a package has gone MIA gets the closest depot right on the problem so that perhaps the package can be found).

2nd call (after 10 business days have gone past hearing nothing about the package from Canada Post) after another 5 minute wait on hold to speak to a live operator and then another 5 minute wait after I request to talk to a Customer Service Manager, I finally get to retell my story from call number one. The Customer Service Manager said the original customer agent was wrong and the time delay is actually 15 days in order to hear the results of the investigation into lost packages. She does send a message to the investigation branch to please call me about my inquiries into where my package is.

3rd call (after 15 days) the operator can only send a message a message to the investigation branch.

The following day the investigation branch calls me and say they have no idea where the package is. They also inquire as to why the recipient hasn't returned their calls to see if the package was even delivered! Hmmmm...maybe because they have told me the package wasn't delivered! Why else would I be calling incessantly three times? hmmmm....for fun? This is Toronto not Alert, North West Territories, I have better things to do than to harass Canada Post employees.

Then, after another ten days, I might see a cheque in the mail with a refund for the postage. Never mind all the time and aggravation of having to keep meticulous notes on the dates, times, names and phone conversations I have had with Canada Post representatives that has cost the company I work for in cash (and psychiatry bills!) for its employees.

Canada Post, and those who use the phone systems that say my call is "a priority", get rid of the phone system and give me a human to talk to! If my call was a priority give me a live human being that knows what is going on!

Which is the best delivery company that I deal with? FEDEX! Purolator is very similar to Canada Post in customer service (e.g. missed pickups, wrongly delivered packages, taking forever to actually talk to a live operator, etc.). But Fedex, if I have a question, will have an operator on the phone within thirty seconds of my call. Also that operator can do everything including delivery hot coffee if I need it! Congratulations Fedex! I appreciate you!

As far as this website? Hmmmm....I am totally behind it. Down with automated phone systems. If I call your phone, obviously your website doesn't cut it.

Guns came by mail ....and left by theft

As a contributing editor, I posted the following at the Bill Arends' Art of the Rant.

TheStar.com - Guns came by mail ... and left by theft

Bureaucratic nepotism at its best. You gotta read it to believe it....

--------------------------------------------------------------

Did you know you can order guns by phone and Canada Post will deliver them?

And did you know that if you are not home, Canada Post may leave them on your doorstep?

-------------------------------------------------------------

Hmmm....but might guns dissappear?

----------------------------------------------------

Well, that's exactly what happened last month in Oshawa.
And guess what?

The guns are missing and presumed stolen, leaving Durham Region police scrambling to retrieve a Remington Super Mag Combo 12-gauge shotgun, a Ruger Deluxe .22-calibre rifle, and ammunition-assembling equipment.

------------------------------------------

hmmm....but doesn't that mean Canada Post is responsible for the stolen guns? Why was Canada Post stupid enough to leave the guns with someone who didn't sign for them? hmm....

-------------------------------------------

Simply put, the transaction ran afoul of a strange catch-22 in the law: Canada Post is required to get a signature from the recipient when delivering weapons — but the shipper isn't required to inform Canada Post that there are guns in the parcel.

According to police, the guns were shipped from the Calgary store assembled and in the original manufacturers' boxes. They were wrapped in brown paper, then shipped as one package through the mail.

There was no label identifying the contents, nor is there a requirement to put one there unless the weapon is going across the border, according to the post office.

"We don't know what's in the package. There is no way for us to know what's in a package," said Francois Legault, a media relations officer for Canada Post.

----------------------------------

Query? Wouldn't these guns qualify as "dangerous goods" under Canada Post's policies? But I guess guns don't qualify in some round about way.

-------------------------------------------------------------

Canada Post usually refers queries about mailing weapons to the Canadian Firearms Registry for clarification, Legault said.

-------------------------------------------------------------

So Canada Post doesn't know how weapons are shipped and needs another government body to tell them how to ship something. So what exactly is Canada Post's supposed specialty anyway? RIGHT! Shipping items accross Canada and around the world. So why would the Canadian Firearms Registry need to provide clarification on behalf of Canada Post?

Because....Canada Post doesn't know how to ship firearms (not to mention several other things like golf clubs from Halifax to Ottawa, paperwork from Toronto to Vancouver, paperwork fromToronto to Markham....all I have experienced lost items in the mail just like the guns).

-----------------------------------------------

The question is, was it the shipper or was it Canada Post?

Federal regulations say Canada Post can handle gun shipments "only if the firearm is posted using the most secure means of transmission by post that is offered by the Canada Post Corporation that includes the requirement to obtain a signature on delivery."
According to police, that wasn't done in this case.

Legault says Canada Post will sometimes leave a package on a doorstep — called a "safe drop" — if the receiver requests it. But he couldn't confirm whether that happened in this case.
Det. Const. Steve Rhoden said the store did send the guns with a notice requiring signature on delivery. But Canada Post didn't follow through, Rhoden said.

-------------------------------------------------------------

Stop there. The Detective Missed a very important item. From the Canada Post Website guidelines on shipping items:

"Items requiring a signature will not be safe dropped,..."

Case closed, I think you know who screwed this one up. And it wasn't the receiver or the sender.

Man misses his own funeral

TorontoSun.com - Canada - Man misses his own funeral

Not to be too cruel to the family, but we all know things can get lost in the mail, so why would you trust Canada Post 100% to handle a package like this?

Just asking.

As for Canada Posts' $600 value on this package, is it possible to have it appraised again? It seems a little on the cheap side. Perhaps some government sponsorship money could be added. Right, this family is probably not a friend of the Liberals. :)