Gregory Gab

There’s an economic law that states, A Business will make a profit until they reach a certain number of units (stores, factories, etc.) and beyond that number (which depends on the business), their returns will decrease. This law is called The Law of Diminishing Returns.

If a business expands beyond their individual number of units, they may see lower and lower profits in the short-term but in the long-run, they will mount losses.

Say a business called The Store of The Economy, a wholesale Grocery Store chain made a profit in each of its 4,500 stores and have been doing so for 2 years. They build 20 more stores, 15 of them in terrorities already served by existing Stores of the Economy. This chain starts to see a gradual drop in the stores in terrorities in areas where new stores were built to augment them and then the drop becomes a long-term dive in profits for the entire chain, which forces them to layoff employees, close underperforming stores in an effort to stop the decline, but … they lose so much money, they are forced close all their remaining  stores.

Nightmarish, isn’t it? I am doing writing this because I’m concerned for a business I’m familar with who despite outsider advice, seems to be on a similar course. It is my hope they reverse it before they hit A ROCKY ROAD.

Below is the text of a letter I’ve sent to the editor of one of my community’s newspapers regarding a noise problem: 

I wonder how Millville City Comissioners Shannon, Derella, Quinn, Finch & Vanaman, the owners and operators of the NJ Motorsports Park, et al turns blind eyes and deaf ears toward certain complaints than face the hard-to-swallow but too true fact: A collective noise problem.

This was what the group Track Racket and citizens concerned with the prevailing track noise was trying to bring to your attention at some of your previous City Commission meetings. Instead of doing what a Mormon advertising campaign of long ago stated-”Listening is the beginning of understanding”-those in power and their associates, in and out of government are treating these concerns with ill feelings that border on boneheadedness.

There is nothing unreal or boneheaded about racetrack noise and that it bothers a lot of people like artists who need peace and quiet to concentrate on painting, people who chose to live here because of the natural beauty and/or peace and quiet this county offered before the NJMP opened its gates. I’ve remained here because of the latter for example.

In several sections along Interstate Highways like Route 695 around Baltimore, Maryland, there are sound barriers (actually, thick walls) that act as noise buffers. Maybe folks like Mr. Savaro and the other NJMP principles don’t want to undergo building these sound barriers because they are very expensive.

That might be understandable but consider long-time residents like Michelle Post, who spearheaded the Track Racket group, needs their peace-and-quiet or at least, a reduction in the massive noise pollution she and others experience when this racetrack is open. Sometimes you have “To lose money to make money” and this situation is one of those times when this principal would actually apply.

The NJMP may have created jobs and helped spark interest in this area, but one of the downsides is a loss of the peace-and-quiet that has been part of the character and appeal of this county to some. And estabishing the right type of noise barriers along the Street sides of your road courses may soften the blow of the noise that comes from the thunderous roar of the race cars and motorcycles that will race there.

No matter how you slice the dice, this is no time to bury your heads in the sand over this and shelve the noise complaints in places where the sun don’t shine.

GREGORY L. LANE

The title of this blog was shortened to Gregory Gab by Gregory Lane. It is my own personal blog and using my own first name (as opposed to Gregorius Gab) was more me, if you will. There are other changes such as my comment policy (which calls for pointed comments related to topics I bring up in posts). This is not intended to limit your responses, I just enacted it because of spam included in comments that cane to my email inbox for my approval.

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The winter of 2009-2010 has to be the snowest and most windy of all the winters I’ve ever encountered in the Bridgeton-Millville-Vineland, NJ area in my 50 years. We had a December 19 snowstorm which gave us as much as 16 inches, another snowstorm on February 2, 2010 which gave us between 1 and 2 inches and a blizzard later that week that gave us a total of 16 inches plus. Not to mention the numerous days with single-digit dew points (a measurement of dryness in the air)-meaning it was very dry and very cold days-and the most number of extremely windy days of any winter season in my lifetime.

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I am thinking seriously about ending a habit I’ve been doing for more than 30 years-voting in elections. I have lost interest in electing the least of the two evils for political offices, the feeling that both parties are acting in self-serving and dysfunctional manners and the straw thart broke the camel’s back for me, Cumberland voters reelected Lou “Mr. McGoo” Magazzu, a freeholder I totally hate for his controlling and domineering ways (a quality in some human beings that I relate to what I regard as the lowest form of humanity, those who act like feared German leader Adolf Hitler).

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On Feburary 5 2010, I’ve reached my seventh year of employment with Walmart. Though it is not a big deal to any of you, it is for me. I’ve spent more time with Walmart than with any other employer over my adult lifetime.

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That’s all for now. Until next time we meet, so long. 

 

 

The following is a letter that was published in The Reminder (Millville NJ: January 15, 2010, p. 20) concerning a different type of wage.

A living wage is slightly different than a minimum wage.

A living wage is what an indvidual worker would need to make, in terms of a hourly wage, in order for his or her family to meet their everyday needs and expenses.

Living hourly wages vary in the seven South Jersey counties—based on data from livingwage.geog.psu.edu

Atlantic $10.78

Burlington $10.27

Gloucester $10.27

Salem $10.27

Camden $10.26

Cumberland $9.91

Cape May $9.83

There is a surprising difference in the living wages required for many Cumber­land County communities. Here is a list of LWs required for many of our county’s muncipalities:

Bridgeton $9.38

Fairton $10.13

Cedarville &

Laurel Lake $10.13

Millville $9.38

Port Norris $10.13

Rosenhayn $10.13

Seabrook $10.13

Shiloh $10.13

Vineland $9.38

There are several cities in the U.S. and one state, Mary­land, that have passed living-wage legislation, according to livingwage.org

Maybe they are realizing that in order to make ends meet, a minimum wage is very inadequate.

Needed is a wage that when totaled over 40 hours a week helps workers meet the mandates of life—a very ex­pensive mandate, I might add.

Before I go, a word to the Dittoheads, O’Reilly Factor and Glenn “Beck Beak” fans and other conservative followers—this is not a far-left-wing, right-wing or any kind of -wing idea.

It is a matter of what the ghost of Thomas Marley said in A Christmas Carol:

“Mankind (or human­kind) should be our business.”

-Gregory Lee Lane

Hopewell Township

The day I’m writing this, December 19 2009 is supposed to the busiest shopping day of the year as last-minute shoppers crowd the stores. But the worst December snowstorm/blizzard in 43 years in the Philadelphia, Pa. area, according to several sources, is blanketing us with a potential White Christmas might lower customer traffic (well, maybe not much) but it certainly will put a damper on traffic potential as a foot or more is forecasted all over New Jersey, especially in the Southern portion of New Jersey, where I live.

Now a few other short-shorts:

Congratulations on your divorce, Jon and Kate Gosselin. Though I thought Kate was a domineering and controlling figure, a battleax to me and I stated so(I think of those types as unhuman). Truth be told, Kate is showing more class than Jon is. Jon, you acted like the immature one (I hope you enjoy paying alimony and child support, for they deserve it. I believed you and I see now I was really wrong (maybe I should give myself ten lashes with a wet noodle, as Ann Landers once said). I’m truly sorry, Kate. Good luck with raising your kids and your life in general.

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After former DEP Comissioner Christopher Daggett’s attempt to become New Jersey’s first Independent Governor was marred in part by a NJ law reserving Ballot Columns A and B for the two largest political parties in the state and putting Independent or non-major-party-aligned-candidates in Columns C through G, it is now necessary to end this dysfunctional restriction and replace it with a law similar to this Louisiana law (which should include not allowing registration of those political parties who favor the abolition of Capitalism [our current economic system] like Socialist parties):

“Act 889 of 2004 (R.S.18:441), which became effective January 1, 2005, authorizes a political party to be recognized 90 days prior to the opening of the qualifying period for any election if:

• There are at least 1,000 registered voters in the state registered as being affiliated with such party;
• The political party has filed a notarized registration statement with the secretary of state; and
• The political party has paid a registration fee of $1,000.00 to the secretary of state.”

(Infomation on the Political Party registration Law culled from website of the Secretary of State of Louisiana, www.sos.louisiana.gov)

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Could the media lay off Tiger Woods please?  He may be a Public Figure, but he has a private life. Sure he cheated, his wife moved out and divorced him (or at least, on the verge of doing so). His life isn’t news, it doesn’t fit my JUST THE FACTS definition of real news. It is just squeezing apple juice out of dead apples.

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And sorry to disappoint Eagles fans, but GO CARDINALS or if don’t get into the Super Bowl, the Saints.

Or any team but the Philadelphia Eagles.

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To all my readers, Happy Holidays.

Until next time we meet, so long.

A group of employees at a Delaware-based web hosting company came up with what they call “The Pillars of Customer Service,” which appears below. They were estabished because they thought it would lose the customer service focus when it grew to a large entity. But they also reflect what “treating customers right” means to me.

 » Compassion-It means having a degree of caring for the customers or guests that walk through the door of your store or who you approach for the purpose of selling a product or service to. It could mean something as little as greeting a customer or helping find what they are looking for to a more complex issue like checking their purchases and accepting payment for it. Every little thing done along the way plays a big impact in a customers’ feeling about their shopping experience or first impression if you will.
 
» Credibility-This means you need to show a sense of being reliable. That you are willing to help your customers. Credibility, a factor in establishing a reputation, can make or break any business (or business relationship).
 
» Exceed Expectations-How many of you have heard the phrase “going beyond the call of duty?” That’s what exceeding expectations means-going beyond the course of your normal routine in handling your customers. Exceeding customers’ expectations is a way of what Dr. Forest Shaklee, founder of Shaklee products once stated: “If you put Service first, the profits will follow.”

» Never Say No-to opportunities to service your customers. Having bad days or because you are busy are no excuses for a lack of service. Your customers should be your main focus, not just a passing fancy.
 
» Ownership-It means taking the initiative. “When you see a mess, you clean it up,” as my Mom once indicated, is a good example of ownership.
 
» Reliability-Another word for this is Dependability. If you show you can depended on, that is showing reliability.

» Respect- It means treating your customers the way you want to be treated, but not snobbishly.

» Empowerment-This means giving your employees some limited authority to serve customers, etc.
 
» Communication-Channels or other methods used to discuss ideas, possible solutions and related information.

  “I thought you let the sunshine in,” a female customer once said to me. While the comment was meant to be offbeat (it was mentioned because the sun was beaming through the massive sunroof in Boscov’s court [in the Cumberland Mall, NJ]), it was representative of the effect a pleasant disposition can have on a customer or colleague.

     Most of us probably never stop to think of our attitudes as far as other people are concerned. When I was a telephone solicitor, I approached people in a personable manner, talking to them, not above them. As a result of these dealings, the rate of returns for me (the total amount of contributions actually received divided by the amount of pledges made to me) was 33% on the average, higher than the other solicitors in the firm I had worked for. An oddball example it may be but when you treat people like people and not dollar signs, pleasantness and courtesy can go a long way.

     “When you get uptight, you get everyone else uptight,” one of my former bosses once told me. In telephone sales work, the unpleasantness shows up in a voice. Being coarse or rough-sounding is one example. When we’re working in the mall, add the body in there and attitude enters into the picture. Not only how we speak to customers, but how we deal with them. Do we make eye contact when we are speaking? Do we speak to them slowly and clearly? Or do we rush through the process of giving information? Your own approach in dealing with this type of scenero can be as important as a sales clerk or salesperson selling a product or service.

     In a sense, you are selling yourself and this mall (or your store/business) by the way you project your attitude toward customers. Being very harsh or grumpy or projecting a similar disposition can put you, and all of us to a degree, in a bad light.