t 'n t luoma

My brother writes:

Just had to share this with you, after all your posts on this and related subjects (feel free to share this, if you like, special guest post?).

I was expecting a package from UPS yesterday. I was already a little impatient for it. It was just $20 in comic books, but I'd ordered it last Wednesday before noontime (and the business I ordered from, Midtowncomics.com, told me that was a sure way to get it shipped later that afternoon). Well, according to UPS tracking, it shipped Friday afternoon. This was past the "we will ship every order within 48 hours" policy midtowncomics.com has, so I complained. Midtowncomics.com assured me it went out Friday morning, no matter what the UPS tracking said. So, I'm already a little steamed that I'll have to wait until Monday, which is when UPS's tracking says it will arrive.

No package was delivered Monday (yesterday). I checked the site this morning to see that there's been trouble delivering the package because of an incorrect address. I notice there's a voicemail message for me. It's UPS. They left a message saying, "we could not deliver the package because it was addressed to 94 Charles Street, and there is no 94 Charles Street.(!) Charles Street, according to our driver, only goes up to 36 and a half. Please call 1-800-p-i-c-k-u-p-s."

Great. Charles Street is divided in half by a park. One half only goes up to 36 and a half. We're on the other side of the park, where the street runs from 75 through 100 or so. I've had packages delivered to the house by UPS for years without trouble, but all of a sudden their driver can't find his way around town. So... I'm beginning to get annoyed.

Then I called 1-800-p-i-c-k-u-p-s... and really started to get pissed off. First off, I hate dialing letters, and my phone has a bunch of things besides just "abc" on each key, for some reason, so that was in itself a pain. When I got through, an automated voice answered and thanked me for picking ups. I was then offered the following options: say "more details" if you need info on shipping effected by Hurricanes Katrina or Rita. Or say "Track a package", "send a package", shipping information" or "order supplies". Nothing about problems with shipping. [TjL writes: Of course not! They don't want to imply there might be problems with their shipping!] So maybe track a package. The voice recognition software takes 2x to recognize my tracking number, then tells me there's no information on it. Great. So I try shipping information, and it's all about rates and times and such... another dead end.

Now I'm getting angry. I start saying "Help Me!" into the phone, over and over, as it at first doesn't recognize my command, then finally gives up and transfers me to an actual, living person. [TjL writes: I usually start pressing * or 0.]

I complain about the voicemail system, tell him my problem, and he says please wait. SO... I'm on hold for about 3 minutes. Not too bad. Then I get some woman who asks for my tracking number. Again. This is the third time I've given it over the phone. I give it to her. She tells me, it's a bad address, there is no 94 Charles Street, and I had to then explain to her all of the above. She tells me, "well, we can get it out to you tomorrow..."

I almost lost it. "That's UNACCEPTABLE!" I nearly scream. This is a package that's already been delayed due only to their driver's incompetence, and you're telling me I have to just keep waiting?

SO I get "Donald" her supervisor, and once again explain the entire situation. I went off on him for the incompetence of the driver, the impossible to navigate voicemail maze they have, and also take him to task for the inability to get directly in touch with the local UPS center , which probably would make this all much easier. He promises to get in touch with the local center and have them call me to "see what they can do". I even give DIRECTIONS to the house, because they ask. At this point, I'm all ready late for work, so I give them my work number.

After about a half an hour, I'm at work and the local UPS center calls back. "I'm calling from UPS. You got a postcard from us for a bad address?" Oh, the complete lack of logic! Where would they have delivered this postcard to? "No, it's not a bad address, your driver was incompetent!" I think I said. We clear that up. I think. "We can deliver it to you tomorrow," she says. "This is UNACCEPTABLE! Blah blah blah..." I went off again, just barely keeping my voice from getting louder. "We'll see what we can do," she tells me, "I'll call you back."

She calls back in about 45 minutes. I'm beginning to think radio fame might have paid off here, for her message is, "we're so sorry, Mike, we can deliver it to you there at the radio station today, if you'd like." What could I say? Great! Send it on over! And so, I'm waiting for it here at work. We shall see... But if I hadn't been the guy on the radio, would I have seen my package at all today? Makes me wonder.

Just had to share this with you, after all your tales of trials and tribulations with other shippers. [the end]

[TjL writes: So there you have it... we now have FedEx.com problems, and more problems with FedEx.com (and yup more problems with FedEx.com, and yes would you believe even more problems with FedEx.com but also problems with USPS.com and now problems with UPS too. See also: “WHen will it get there?” A guide to USPS postage terms]

Update: "Well, there is a happy ending. I received my package here at work at around noontime. But I'm still not sure UPS knows there IS a 94 Charles Street...

Posted by TjL at 01:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Here’s another little difference which makes Mac OS X better than Windows XP. Take a look at these two context menus. The first is what I get when I right click on my iPod d Shuffle (named, uncreatively, “Shuffle”) but it would be the same for every removable drive.

Here is what I see in Windows XP when I right click on the Shuffle:

Here is what I see in Mac OS X when I right click on the Shuffle:

OK, so what’s the first thing you notice?

The first thing I notice is that the Mac OS X version is much wider and the letter are much taller. For mouse-based action, larger means easier to hit what you are aiming for not to mention easier to read in the first place. (Yes it’s also longer, but that’s also due in part to the fact that I have PathFinder, Toast, StickyBrain, and “Make Copy In” and “Move Item To” extras installed. A default installation would not have any of those. (Yes, the Windows XP menu shows a context menu for AVG, but how many people do you know who run Windows without anti-virus software?)

The second thing I notice is that the OS X version shows “Shuffle” in the context menu. Why is that important? Well, imagine I had clicked just a little higher and hit the DVD drive instead of the iPod Shuffle:

Those Windows menus look very similar, almost identical (especially if you are only looking at one at a time). OS X gives you visual feedback as to which one you have selected.

But let’s ignore those two usability problems in XP (or usability advantages of OS X, whichever you prefer to think about it).

Did you notice the big flaw in the Windows context menu? No? I’ll give you a hint:

Windows XP has Format right next to Eject!

Q: If you are using a USB memory stick (which are rapidly replacing floppy drives), how often are you going to need to use “Eject”?

A: Every single time.

How often are you going to be millimeters away from Format instead of Eject? Every single time.

Now, granted, Windows does prompt you with Format settings before it wipes away your drive (of course if you were to accidentally hit Enter...) but still, it begs the question: how often will you really want to format the drive? Once? Twice? Yet it’s that close every single time you go to eject it.

This is one of those “little things” which will never sell a computer. Nobody will buy (or not buy) a computer based on the right-click context menu. But these design decisions do effect the overall user experience.

Posted by TjL at 12:44 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

As usual, lots of good post-game analysis by DaringFireball regarding the 2005-10-12 announcements by SteveCo regarding new iPods, iMacs, and iTunes.

$1.99 for each TV show, in only 320×240 resolution, doesn’t seem like a good deal to me. I already get these shows with my cable TV; paying for them again in a crummy low-res format strikes me as a bad deal ’ like if you had to pay for songs you already own on CD. Of course, I think ringtones sound like a bad deal, too, but people buy billions of them.

“Good deal” is a relative term, of course. “Oh crap! The TiVo didn’t record Lost!!” leaves you with a few options:

1. Skip the episode and rely on next week’s “Previously on ‘Lost’” to catch you up on what was important. Cost: free. Time needed: 0. Satisfaction level: 0
2. Try and get the episode on some sort of file-sharing network. Yeah, hard to believe, but people actually do this. Cost: free. Time needed: Unknown. Satisfaction level: 0 (if you can’t find it) to 100 (if you can find it and have the time and bandwidth to download it) to 0 (if you find yourself at the business end of an investigation by the MPAA)
3. As of Wednesday, spend $2 to download a copy of it.

No one is going to buy a season of Lost at $2 an episode. They would have to be a High Priest of Stupid. Last season there were twenty-four episodes of Lost. That’s $48. You could buy Lost: Season 1 on DVD for $38. No one is going to cancel their cable/satelite subscription for this.

But to catch this week’s episode that you missed: $2 is a deal. Go to iTunes, click the show you want, “set it and forget it”

I’m totally with you on the ringtones thing. What are people thinking?!?!

On the other hand, I can see a lot of people buying music videos. After all, there’s nowhere to see those on television anymore. If only there were some sort of TV station that might be devoted to playing music videos. Now that might be something.

(No, I’m kidding, I can’t imagine anyone buying music videos either, but then again I’m nearing the edge of marketing usefulness for such things. Sure, soon I’ll be able to run for president, but I also have to check that next age-group box...)

One thing I'm very curious about: How do you get your own video onto the iPod, and can you put better quality on there? I realize that the screen dimensions are set, but if I have a higher resolution video already on my computer, do I have to change it to match the specs of the iPod or can it “Just Work” somehow?

Posted by TjL at 12:41 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)