Thinking Outside Pandora’s Box

Amazon (AMZN) has patented a new return process.

“So what” you say.

Well, consider the following:

What if I said you could not only find out what gifts others are getting you, but you could then “return” those gifts before they were ever sent!

Or, if you could set up some sort of rule that tells Amazon to always return or exchange for a gift certificate any gift that your dear old (insert random friend or relative here) happens to send you.

You could even set up a rule to send an ecard thank you note for the gift that was ordered but never received.

From a business perspective, this is great!

From a personalized “I was thinking of you and got you this gift because I like you” perspective, this is not so great.

After all, anybody who has kids, was a kid or even still is a kid, knows the importance of gift giving and making others feel good. You know, “it’s always better to give than to receive” and giving gifts helps show others that you care and are thinking of them. And this is a good thing.

But, according to some studies, up to 30% of all gifts are returned. This represents a huge amount of time, effort and expense that people and businesses have to deal with.

Imagine, from a financial business point of view, if you could come up with a way to save up to 30% of the costs associated with everyday business processes; From packaging, mailing, shipping and receiving, transacting and refunding; your bosses and stock holders would love you.

And probably get you a gift . . . 😉

But here is another financial thought. . .

Would those potential amazon stock holders continue to be so happy if they were also stock holders of UPS or FedEx?

If we are talking about 30% of all gifts returned, then it could be safe to assume, especially with large online e-retailers such as Amazon, that for every 100 gifts shipped via UPS and FedEx, 30 are shipped back. With this new process, we could be talking about a lot less business for the shipping industry.

Or back to the whole gift giving and return process. . .

What if you are like us and do a lot of online shopping and have the gifts sent to yourself so that you know it arrives in good condition, wrap it, and personally give the gift to your intended recipient? Would you want that person to know ahead of time? And stop the shipment?

Or if you saw that you were going to be getting a sweater you really did not like but knew that you would be at that persons house party next week and “the right thing to do” would be to wear it in a show of appreciation.

Would “returning” it before it even shipped be appropriate?

I actually like the fact that Amazon is thinking outside the box and being creative and looking for new ways to do things.

This new patented return process has a lot of good, and bad, potential. Like most new inventions, it will be all in the way it is used that will ultimately determine it’s usefulness and impact.

What do you think? Good, Bad or indifferent?

You can find out about Amazon’s new patented return process here.

The inspiration for this post can be found here at the Washington Post .

De Who Dats Will Set the Record…

For most Super Bowl Revenue Generated.

That is my prediction.

The Colts will ultimately prevail winning the actual game. After all, they have proven more than once that they only need 15 minutes to beat anybody.

I give the Saints 30 minutes of life. Tops.

The Colts, just like Gilbert Arenas, have too many weapons…
And the biggest and best is Peyton.

But, with all the hype I’ve seen and heard on the Internet about “Who Dat” and rights, and royalty, and Money, I believe that the Saints fans alone will solely responsible for setting a new revenue record.

The record for “Ad Revenue” (selling advertising slots) is approximately $206 million. Judging by the fact that the networks have had to lower their prices this year, I doubt that will happen.

However, I believe, the $125 million merchandise record is in jeopardy. You see, its not just the “Super Bowl” label, it is the aints New Orleans Saints going to the Super Bowl. Now we are not only talking, and buying, super bowl memorabilia, we are buying collector items.

A quick look on Ebay (EBAY)for “New Orleans Saints” produces over 20,000 items.
Amazon (AMZN) had nearly 14,000.

And this of course does not take count all the official NFL stores, and pop-up merchandise stands now populating the great state of Florida.

Who knows when this will happen again.

So enjoy it, buy the collector items now before the Super Bowl, because they will not be worth quite as much this coming Monday morning.

But hey, I’ve been wrong before, and if by some miraculous chance the Saints do pull this off, the prices and sales will go through the roof and all you true Saints fans better keep an extra collector item or two safely sealed inside the original wrapping.

But most importantly, turn on the game and enjoy the entertainment. If anybody can give the Colts and Peyton a run for their money, it is the defensive genius of Gregg Williams.

And don’t worry about the game being a dud, we all know that the super bowl brings out some of the more creative ads from various companies such as these two finalist clips from Doritos. So grab your drinks, food, and even some good friends, turn on the TV this Super Bowl Sunday and Enjoy!

I know I will be watching.