Issues Involving The Weather and The Country This Week

From: Lance (News and Stuff)
Remote Name: 66.82.48.1
Date: 27 Jan 2004
Time: 22:52:19

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Issues Involving The Weather and The Country This Week. How about that weather? Yes that is what we thought. Since our business is weather related to the daily outcome in terms of profit, we pay attention and sometimes we do not like what we see, this winter in North East is a tough one, North Mid West, cold but not too harsh, North West is not too bad a couple of storms. We never forget years past when discussing the treacherous weather; http://www.carwashguys.com/0021303_2.shtml We got an email from one of our crews saying it was so cold that they were making ice on the ground and slipping away? So we thought this picture would sum up the problem for your viewing pleasure? http://gpclan.girlpower.dhs.org/graphics/stuff/car%20wash.jpg . We have also seen the weather is changing consumer buying behavior for all wheel drive vehicles on passenger cars as well as SUVs, so people will not be bothered with putting on chains on their cars. Do to the desire by car buyers to have a “go-anywhere, do-anything” capable car after the recent SUV trend we see that consumers have developed an affinity for this freedom in all their car choices. Automakers are also seeing this it appears and are ready to satisfy the shift in preference by selling more cars that transfer engine power to all four corners - commonly called all-wheel drive, not four wheel drive although that too is way up in demand, all-wheel drive also shifts control around the car as you drive and is a SmartCar Technology. By 2006, car buyers who want All- wheel drive will have their choice of some 42 models, according to Industry Analysts and the htto://www.WardsAuto.com website Gurus? This a 2/3 increase from the 2003-2004 model year. We have even heard estimates that by 2008, the number of all- wheel-drive cars on the road will double by today's count, well at least this is what Ford’s Visteon Corp., unit is saying and of course they hope so since they are a supplier of all- wheel-drive technology and other SmartCar electronic systems. For automakers, the rising demand for all-wheel-drive cars means greater profits and higher costs on cars for such options. All-wheel-drive systems now cost up to $1,500 as optional equipment. The growing interest in all-wheel drive is obvious after checking out the Detroit Auto Show prototype cars. All these cars will have superior handling and better cornering for those 10 PM to midnight canyon burner runs at Mach 2, which if you are a real car lover you fully understand. Automakers with only rear-drive models cars may find this a challenge since the consumer now has a choice of All-wheel drive as well as manufacturers who have bee spending years convincing consumers that front-wheel drive is better on bad roads. Now consumers can have it all, those confused consumers will most likely opt for the both or All scenario. All-wheel drive essentially offers the best of both worlds. Just over 50 percent of American women and 55 percent of their male counterparts surveyed said they prefer All wheel for safety and/or performance, along with the obvious benefit of better traction. Smart Cars are making friends and influencing people and the safety benefit to all is very incredible. SmartCars and Intelligent transportation: http://www.parthe.net/_cwg1003/0000005e.htm and of course the Flow of Transportation: http://www.parthe.net/_cwg1003/00000020.htm . If we look at the history of smart car type technologies we will see that this is always how it starts. It wasn't more than a decade or two ago that we sought and anti-locking braking systems, or ABS. At first, this was the safety benefit and only an option and only available on the high-end cars. Recently we've seen GPS navigation systems available as an option, now many the luxury cars, it comes standard. We're seeing this trend also on midrange cars and SUVs. It wasn't too long that airbags came onto the seen at first a safety item and an option later became standard on most of midrange and high-end vehicles, now airbags are on nearly every car, at least for the driver. So is we watch these trends I think it is very safe to say, then Richard Dean will in fact drop out of the race, not only because he has little experience running the state of < 500,000 people, but also he is ill-equipped to drive this modernization and technologically advanced a society into the future utopia that his party thinks it deserves. It takes a lot to drive a car correctly, it takes brains, innovation, integrity and smart systems. This is why you will see in the future that the brains running such vehicles whether it be electronic or organic will have to the state-of-the-art, top-of-the-line, bleeding edge and non-linear in it’s thinking. So you can count out Richard Dean and the former two-wheel drive components in future all-wheel drive races. Well at least one company understands intelligence? Microsoft joins the RFID Revolution in a big way, you thought they would not; RFID, Microsoft Style It has launched pilot project to incorporate product-tracking RFID technology within the supply chain of snack maker KiMs. http://update.informationweek.com/cgi-bin4/DM/y/eeyM0EgZvs0V20CK3D0AI And Microsoft goes after the search engine giants? Yep that too; http://www.in-sourced.com/article/articleview/1226/1/1/ and if that is not enough as Sir William Gates III said at Comdex in further showing his vision for the road ahead, which now appears to be a runway, he has only half begun the journey. Microsoft’s future road map expands; http://entmag.com/reports/article.asp?EditorialsID=56 . Surely worthy of a Knight hood? Honorary Knighthood For Gates? Bill Gates has been called a lot of things, and now he can add to the list Knight Commander of the British Empire. http://update.informationweek.com/cgi-bin4/DM/y/eeyM0EgZvs0V20CK3I0AN . So apparently the British are able to give him an award for all he has done for humanity and in our country, our government attacks him like a bunch of rabid scoundrel-ized dogs. Speaking of course at the worthless FTC. Surely they should know which way to shoot when pissing in the wind. Instead they have made us look bad and attacked our own great entrepreneurs, who has given more to humanity than any other person in the history of mankind, yet we are to instead find our idol in the FTC case worker, who could not make it in the real world and therefore takes up a job for the government? And of course their super hero who takes it upon himself to destroy the US markets, yes Mr. “Crash and Burn” Elliot Spitzer wannabe politician running for governor. Surely we should enlighten him that if he destroys the US there will be nothing to run anyway? Doesn’t Elliot Spitzer remind you of Richard Dean? Standing at the podium hooting and hollering about something that only they understand? Yelling so loud trying to be heard and making a complete spectacle of themselves in the process? Meanwhile Microsoft goes for the RFID technology which is the answer to tracking crazy cows and employee theft, thus saving us from disease and higher prices? Microsoft, IBM, Philips to back RFID. RFID (radio frequency identification) tagging technology continues to gain in inventory tracking uses of everything from Military equipment to Wal-Mart products and from airline baggage to container shipments and from Mad Cows to lost children? http://www.infoworld.com/article/04/01/26/HNmsrfid_1.html . Why do we attack the solution solvers of our day and then listen to podium pushers who destroy our best chances for a better tomorrow for all humanity. FTC? “F” - The Citizenry? I do not know if this is in fact what that stands for, but their have been rumors also heard round the world. RFID that. Over regulation and petty bureaucratic sissy spitefulness is destroying our nation from within and dividing our people and separating our classes into two categories and as the Have-Nots grow from the destruction of the middle class we are all to blame for allowing over bearing agencies who are run by the clueless brain of the BLOB to infiltrate our strongest believers in freedom and free enterprise. No, Lance tell us how you really feel? I would but the tirade would last for days, believe me, I can tell you stories from every state and every agency of the federal government. Who is in charge of this mess anyway? No one; it is a runaway cluster Schmuck of which no one or group can even conceive, how on Earth did we go from a free people to a nation of lawyers and bureaucrats, paper work and forms, victims and accusers, debtors and politicians? Hmmm? What you cannot answer that? Un willing to live in reality, unwilling to think? “Go with the flow” syndrome even if it is headed for Niagara Falls, because this is always how it has been done before, because that is how we do it, because I only work here, because this is how I was told to do it, because what, you can’t be serious and expect a thinking man to buy that garbage can you? Something must change here for us to enjoy the freedoms we have paid for through the blood, sweat and tears of our ancestry. Look, now here is the deal, Lance Armstrong cannot win the Tour de France without breaking away from the pack once in a while. Wasted breath, they just don’t get it do they? We attack Bill Gates and set his company, back a ways, yet without his company and vision we would not even be this far along? What on God’s green Earth are we thinking? Oh heck is it even worth the breath, pearls to swine. Sound and Fury, human beings, what should I expect, intelligence from the government? Thank God Gates is looking out for us. Next subject. We see that the changes at Boeing and their Prime Contractors and the 7E7 Composite structure is going to cause serious issues. Now a rumor in Wichita, employees very worried about job losses. http://www.bizjournals.com/kansascity/stories/2004/01/26/daily1.html?f=et65 . The CEO says there is nothing to it and it is only a rumor? Hmm? This will not affect us, but everyone one is on edge as most areas cringe at the thought of anymore manufacturing jobs that could be lost. http://www.JetWashGuys.com Wichita has had some issues with some excellent growth only to find many jobs left in the last three years, causing problems with the middle class neighborhood property values. Yet we see other areas of hyper growth and hyper home prices as they keep climbing. San Diego home prices continue to move up, http://www.sandiego.com/sdbusiness.jsp . North and North East County in San Diego keeps going along with property values in Las Vegas area with some neighborhoods hitting a 19% per year price raise for the last two years. In some neighborhoods out side Sacramento, Riverside and Phoenix all cooking along between 8-25% per year there are some happy homeowners as the newest home owners learning about equity valuations and the value of owning real estate. For us we see issues with all these new homeowners: http://www.parthe.net/_cwg1203/0000004b.htm And we see the issues with water, which is at issue in all the areas just mentioned. Water is the key without it growth stops and that could be devastating or could drive up property values due to the decrease in supply. http://www.parthe.net/_cwg1003/00000014.htm “Water the Wild Card of the West” – Lance Jan. 2004. Speaking of water; President of NADA speaks on the issues concerning the Flow of Technology in the Auto Dealership Industry and says the waters have calmed. Have they? He says so and online ordering for cars have used these services to drive customers to the dealerships rather than selling direct: “2004 NADA: Peaceful Waters” - These are flush times for the National Automobile Dealers Association. Several trends that threatened dealers sales in recent years proved to be a Dot Com scare. Automakers no longer talk seriously about selling cars and trucks directly to consumers, if you will remember GM planned an assault starting in CA buying up all the Dealerships or canceling the franchise contracts and having one giant dealership in the San Fernando Valley, they were going to use the Internet to drive sales and have giant hub dealers owned in-house. The Internet has evolved into a sales tool for dealers - not a substitute. And publicly traded dealer groups, Like AutoNation, CarMax, Lithia, Sonics, United Auto, Auto One and others did not wipe out the traditional family dealership, in many cases they helped the transition by way of sale for those family dealerships without a torch passing plan to the next generation, isn’t that the consolidation game after all? That's not to say that incoming NADA Chairman Charley Smith will have nothing to do or worry about. Smith will have his work cut out for him as the transition starts to alternative fueled vehicles. As CA takes the lead and works to help pav th way for tax incentives for Gas Stations to switch to alternative fuel stations. He will wrestle with a variety of changing technology issues along with the future lawyer bashing to put class action lawsuits back at bay as these trial lawyers like Edwards (Presidential Pretty Boy) take a back seat. But Smith can deal with these headaches from a position of strength. NADA is one of the nation's largest trade organizations, and its members are well informed and highly motivated and they better be since the Automotive industry has carried this country during the 9-11 Recession bite down hard on the American People. http://www.autonews.com for a full view of Charley Smith w/resume. Let’s face it, the Big Three have been invigorated to design some new cool cars, some 60 new models for 2004 and another 45 so far announced for production year 2005, and their factories run better than ever. Learn more about the efficiency of the robotic factory: http://www.carwashguys.com/081402_3.shtml In 2003, Detroit lost again in the Domestic-Import wars, this time only 1.5 percentage points of the domestic market to foreign competitors. It now accounts for only 60.2% of vehicles sold in the U.S.--the lowest percentage ever. Of course there is nothing new here. Detroit's market share started declining when the Beatles were still together and has been falling ever since. So what is in the future, another lost market sector? Maybe not and hopefully not for many cities in Detroit, OH, IN, etc. Other cities like SC, AL, TX, TN are down side protected as many of these foreign models are made here. With the dollar low, that should not change anytime soon, more factories being built now. Detroit is mounting a comeback, judging by the car shows lately. The Big Three think that their new models which are winning praise at auto shows and exciting customers and browsers that the larger variety of models at a broad range of prices, will stop the hem raging and get them in the pole position, could be, looks good to us as many of these sleek looking models also look easy to wash. GM and Chrysler expect to gain market share in 2004. Ford's leaders are confident that they will hold steady despite fewer sales to rental-car fleets. Chrysler's Zetsche had lots of very special motivating hype to expound at the last auto show? Anyone buying it? We shall see: "2004 is no fluke. We're going to continue to launch new and exciting vehicles at a fast pace--and attack virtually every segment of the auto market." Wow, sounds like fighting words, sure he is not Irish? Give the Motown guys credit staying in the game and weathering the storm and getting pounded like rocky, but will they last till the 10 TH round? They finally realized that the old cars with new names is just not exciting anyone. Detroit's reputation among consumers for spitting out dull clunkers won't be reversed in a year, but already Ford moves up a notch or two with the new F-150 which seems to be different enough to at least get people into the dealerships, which is good news for us. But look at the Big Five imports--Toyota, Honda, Nissan, Mercedes, and BMW, they do not appear to be letting up on the accelerator either. In the past few years the Three have closed plants and product lines like Oldsmobile and Plymouth, and streamlined operations. What does it all mean. It means whatever the hell people are driving, we will be driving to them to wash; The Dealership Wash Guys: http://www.carwashguys.com/dealershipdiv.shtml Speaking of our favorite companies we see AutoNation with a CEO/Spokesman and that ought to help their mission; Mike Jackson, CEO and chairman, AutoNation, Inc. is hitting the speaking circuit pumping up the troops and industry with a positive outlook he writes in the Wall Street Journal; http://www.WSJ.com “Throughout our post-millennium, post-9/11 recession, sales stayed relatively steady, despite predictions that bad times were here again. From peak to bottom sales have only declined by 5%. Why? Well, to read the headlines it's all due to "Massive Incentives." Yes, incentives are part of the story, but not the whole story... Having exciting new products on the showroom floor combined with a compelling value equation is the powerful combination that finally broke the industry's feast-or-famine cycle. Retailers embraced the concept that a consumer informed and empowered by the arrival of e-commerce provided an opportunity to transform the sales process from a tedious and painful negotiation into a convenient and transparent experience to acquire a wonderful product. The time it takes to complete a transaction has been reduced by 50%. As a result, customer satisfaction for the automotive industry has soared past the airlines, computers, utilities and telecommunications. What about the distribution costs of the franchise system to the consumer? The figure that is recklessly thrown around by "industry experts" is that 30% of what a consumer pays for a vehicle is distribution costs. Rubbish. I doubt it was ever that high, but it's certainly nowhere near 30% now. With it's extraordinary effort to offer the consumer engaging products with a positive retail experience, a tremendous effort was undertaken to make distribution a benchmark of efficiency for the industry... How on earth do these "experts" arrive at 30%? With a through-the-looking-glass logic that adds retail discounts and manufacturer incentives to distribution costs. This is, of course, ludicrous. It not only defies common sense, it violates the most basic accounting principles of GAAP. The consumer does not pay for discounts and incentives. These are price reductions... The franchised auto retailer of today is efficient, effective and innovative. Combine that with today's great products and the incredible pipeline to come, and I can confidently say that a new era in automotive retailing has begun.” ---- Yes we agree and glad to hear him discuss the reality and the future in a way everyone can agree. Yet when we or at least I hear the words “product pipeline” in this age of real-time inventory, I get scared because the pipeline can be shut off if the water fauset holders decide the hose should be kinked a little so they can get more. Yes speaking of the Union Problem in America cutting off the hand that is feeding them. And it is not just hear, South Korea is having problems, Germany, UK and look at Range Rover last week still on strike, and the Chinese saying we can build those? When employees destroy companies by haphazard strikes it takes a while until things can return for instance the good luck for Raleigh, NC as John Deere says give us some more warehousing and factory space, the only good news there this year? And we must mention South Africa too, strikes, disease, starving and low on water, do not seem like a good market mix in the midst of social revolutions, AIDS and Malaria. Alabama says give us more automotive, we won’t strike here, we want the jobs and allot monies for Automotive Technical research at their University System. But if you talk to people in PA, WV, OH or Louisville area of KY they will tell you it is their God given right to make lots of money for only showing up on time. Obviously these Union workers are becoming the minority like their bright Shiny shooting – falling star Gephardt? Don’t cry guy, the world changed you wouldn’t? Couldn’t. Or are we moving back towards the methodology of Friedrich Winslow Taylor? Probably some of that also as the IT people working with manufacturers and keying off comments at Davos discuss a “Universal Man Hour” little does anyone know this is like the universal idea of Horse Power. Well even at the statue out front of the FTC, the horse is losing and the man too, neither is going anywhere fast without working together thus bureaucracy gridlock as the lawyers run to chase the ambulance to pick up both the tired fallen horse and the crushed steroid freak of nature statue representing a man. Hey Bush said he does not like steroids in athletes then get rid of that statue. So what is a “universal man hour” anyway? Well it is a term emerging in the robotic, sensor and IT white papers to represent what an average man can complete in one hour. So far there are robots, which can perform 55 man-hours in manufacturing per 15 minute period in automotive sector. It is not an evil issue, it is simply a way of dealing with Union Terrorists, getting out of hand. A way of comparing markets for labor and stabilizing the world’s labor supply. It is about ROI, it is not personal, union members say they are stealing jobs? No, their behavior is not acceptable anymore, the days of Union Thugs is gone. The days of Union harassment, spitefulness, company destruction by labor, E-mail viral marketing to trash the brand name of those who oppose are coming to an end, we have seen these things in the past, here we go again, this stuff has to stop. Look what is happening now? Labor Unions are out of control and the government needs to step in now; http://www.bizjournals.com/eastbay/stories/2004/01/26/daily4.html?f=et62 . Gangs when they get into groups do really dumb things it is huge fact of life and an innate characteristic of mankind, beware, the destruction and civil unrests the unwind civilization start like this, mean while these issues along with the need for corporations to trim costs and survival of the corporation with all the over regulations is the driving force. Speaking of driving forces, what do you get when you merge Fed Ex with UPS? Fed-Up? Are you? Well what do you expect, it does not make sense to have multiple delivery vehicles duplicating deliveries and if you want to do well with the economies of scale some say “Don’t compete, co-operate” well whoever made that famous quote has some efficiency modeler fans. We see this happening with the military too. US Navy delivering the US Marines. Now we have Fred Smith going from Hub and spoke to point to point and brown out? May as well makes sense and drives the other competitors like DHL nuts. Some of the larger trucking and LTL carriers who have been able to compete up until now with Fed Ex are going to scream at this one. Just when everyone settled in after Consolidated Freight went belly up, Roadway and Yellow merged, Swift Transportation bought a Mexican carrier and Wal-Mart decided to outsource some and buy another 240 trucks to work through the 10 hr. DOT laws we see diesel prices rising, bad news for inflation to come and on-going recession as oil moves past $30 a barrel and airlines take a hit during recovery as Continental and American move backwards on price spike fuel surcharges and need additional cuts just after American announced buy another smaller US Airways and Continental announced hiring back laid off workers in the middle of increased Patriot Act security issues on homeland security causing less people to even want to fly. Airlines and trucking is all about fuel right? So is small package delivery, how do you trim costs? USPS deals? Owning the border electronic custom clearing services? Using the Internet, high tech call centers and independent contractors? Avoiding union carrier mergers? Moving next day by ground? Tapping into custom critical markets? Yes all that, so what is next? Well how about turning the board game on it’s head? Surely that ought to razzle the competition and lower costs for consumers and increase revenue right? Of course especially after UPS bought Mail Boxes Etc. and uses its corner stone as outlet centers, brilliant? Yes. Like Fed Ex power play for the Kinko’s Chain after cash poor disaster AOL, lost it’s butt which owned 30% of Kinko’s through a subsidiary all of which was totally obvious and predictable as a Corporate Culture crash with the human capital like good old “out of the box, such a soo’ch Sam, I am” the latest victim of the Trump reality series? You’re fired Sam. You may go onto to do great things, but not here, the easiest decision Trump has made yet, just like Ted Truner and Company ditching the AOL guy, the FTC’s favorite pet against their big BS grandstanding case against Microsoft? Now that fed Ex has done everything in the world to streamline it is going for the gusto and may even be able to go with hydrogen cell trucks to deliver to the UPS terminals which will have hydrogen fuel stations soon for it’s inter-station carriers, thus cutting out the fuel costs associated with the Fed Ex model which is a huge cost. How can any competitor compete against a company using latest technology of fuel cells by Eaton in their trucks? Hard to say if it is possible. I talked to the Airfreight Division Heads in Chattanooga today with Covenant Transport and they were having a bad day with the news on the newswire and story in the online version of Transport Topics. Scary stuff after dealing with the changes and chaos in the 10hr. DOT rules, then like a ton of bricks this news? “FedEx, Postal Service in Delivery Venture” FedEx Corp. is offering large customers a cheaper delivery option that uses the U.S. Postal Service to carry packages the final mile to homes, Bloomberg reported late Friday. Under the venture, FedEx can deliver parcels to any of 38,000 post offices, which transport the packages one mile to homes. FedEx is offering the service to high-volume shippers as a national four-day delivery option at prices less than its typical rates, Bloomberg said. The company, ranked No. 2 on the Transport Topics 100 list of the largest U.S. and Canadian trucking companies, said two large retailers and currently involved in a test program using the service and a decision on its future could come by May 31, according to Bloomberg. This service is similar to an existing venture UPS Inc. has with the post office.” ------ So it looks like more executives from the trucking industry will be political casualties of that falling ladder they were so busy climbing. In any case looks as if the government in SF City/County Socialist State will need to buy more shopping carts for those homeless trucking execs with all the mergers, lay offs and closings (BKs). Most companies cannot even afford the attorneys to file the paperwork for re-organization in the first place? It is too cold in Denver for the homeless this time of year and realize that many non-profit groups have quit business, like this one. A great idea for a non-profit has problems in Denver, they helped people who did not have means barrow proper attire to go and get a job. Dress for Success; http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/stories/2004/01/26/daily5.html?f=et61 of course trucking is not the only place we will see lay-offs. Trucking is doing well actually unless you were in a merger company or an independent truck driver and lost every thing in the last sector downturn go around? We have also see many of the Internet Logistical Start-ups fall by the way side and ran our of cash. Turns out there is much more to this logistics than a smart IT guy behind the scenes. Speaking of the smart IT guys behind the scene, computer issues? This new virus going around is rally slowing down the Internet; “New virus comes after SCO, via your in-box” -- “A new mass-mailing virus started making the rounds through in-boxes across the Internet yesterday, but its ultimate destination appears to be SCO Group's Web server on February 1. Known as the MyDoom virus (and a few other names), the communicable agent comes in many forms and features an executable file that will trigger the infected PC to bombard SCO's server with data on February 1, according to an anonymous virus researcher interviewed by CNET. SCO has angered many in the open-source community with its lawsuits and claims that Linux illegally contains portions of its copyrighted Unix code. SCO's Web site was shut down several times last year by denial-of-service attacks.” -- Maybe your logistics and shipping room really is “DOOMED”, like the commercial running on TV for Fed Ex, Doomed>? http://www.doomed.co.uk/show.php3?t=shipping Whatever happens we are there to wash for those who move the world. http://www.truckwashguy.com

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