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Ira Smolowitz, Ph.D. Professor of Finance and Dean, Bureau of Business Research and Program Development at the American International College, Springfield, MA.

Ramifications of the 24/7 Economy
A Half-'DUH’zen Examples of Poor Organizational Practices

3) The pet population is changing.

Consider the following table:

Pet population (in thousands)

“The increased pace of life has led Americans to choose less time-consuming pets such as cats and reptiles over the more traditional choice, man's best friend.” 3

4) The fast food business will change.

These changes include:

(a) more restaurants will operate around-the-clock. *Dunkin Donuts at the X in Springfield is open 24 hours/day 7 days/week.

(b) To accommodate the 24/7 economy, restaurants will become less specialized and more eclectic. Consider the following: Allied Domecq, the owner of Togo sandwiches, Baskin-Robins ice cream, and Dunkin Donuts, is engaging in “complementary daypart branding”. The company will combine all their brands and associated menu items under one roof. The company believes that “combining our complementary brands under one roof is a powerful strategy to attract customers, from morning until evening.” 4

(c) Consider the case of Seth Klingerman, a 26-year-old medical student who was observed “downing his second double cheeseburger -- and it isn’t even 8 a.m.” Mr. Klingerman is part of an unusual breed of customer that some restaurants are trying to court: the breakfast burger eater. The group includes people who work unusual hours, such as night-shift factory workers, and may crave dinner-type fare when their workday ends in the morning. In Mr. Klingerman’s line of work, meals -- like work hours -- can be erratic, “You’re never guaranteed a meal when you work at a hospital,” he says.

In Chicago, 275 Burger Kings now offer burgers for breakfast, rather than waiting until 10:30 a.m., when the menu typically is switched over to lunch fare. Results have been impressive: Breakfast sales at these restaurants have increased 4% to 7% since they started offering early-morning burgers in 1997. And with a new radio and print advertising push behind them, burgers now make up to 35% to 40% of all morning sales. 5

5) Cell-phone usage will increase.

To accommodate the 24/7 employer the following will become more commonplace:

(a) While waiting to tee-off, a member of the foursome will activate his/her cell-phone to be updated about his/her business activities. The concept of using golf as a vehicle to get-away from the office will become increasingly less viable as an option.

(b) Cell-phone usage will increase in movie theaters, continuing-education classes, etc. Perhaps restaurants will offer patrons a choice of three seating options: 1) smoking, 2) non-smoking, 3) cell-phone section.

References
1) Lenkowitz, Eric “Dental ‘Spa’ Has Patients Smiling” New York Post – May 14, 2001 p. 24.
2) Levine, Hallie “1-Armed Bandit is a 2-Leg Workout” New York Post – June 3, 2001 p. 25.
3) “Observations” Regional Review – The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston – Volume II – number 2-Q2 2001 p. 1.
4) Downloaded from http://www.dunkin-baskin-togos.com 1/4/02 p. 1.
5) Spurgeon, Devon “Hold the Oatmeal: Restaurants Now Court the Breakfast Burger Eater” The Wall Street Journal – September 4, 2001 p. B1.

DUH#1
Warren Sargent of Avon ordered a set of U.S. coins from the numismatic division of the U.S. Treasury. He ordered the set of freshly minted quarters, dimes, nickels and pennies in 1968. The set of coins arrived in 2003. "For 34 years, the little package drifted in postal limbo, perhaps forgotten on a high shelf or stuck in the crease of an old mailbag."…"Postal officials say it is possible that the package was shipped back to San Francisco and has been stuck somewhere between here and there ever since. It also could have lingered in Willimantic, or even at the Hartford and Wallingford distribution centers." 1]

DUH #2
A distraught Long Island family is taking legal action against a Florida cemetery after they discovered another women's body inside their mother's casket just minutes before her funeral --- wearing the burial garb they had picked out for her. Brothers Alan and Robert Alcabes made arrangements to bury their mother, Anne, 86, along side her dead husband, Bernard, in Fort Lauderdale after her death in December. But when the brothers were asked to identify their mom just before a graveside ceremony at Menorah Gardens cemetery on Dec. 6, they were stunned to see a strange woman in her simple wooden casket, wearing her burial shroud. 2]

DUH #3
Boston's potholed streets and pockmarked highways are the ninth worst in the country, according to a new study ranking the road condition of major metropolitan cities.The annual highway survey by The Road Improvement Program said motorists in Boston pay an average of $606 a year operating their vehicles because of shoddy road condition. That's compared to $396 for the average urban motorist. According to the survey, 42 percent of Boston's 2,200 miles of roadway are considered unacceptable and only 5 percent are rated as good. 3]

DUH #4
Consider the following - New York City DUH: The city has spent more than $200,000 on scaffolding put up around a Brooklyn school four years ago - but hasn't even begun work to fix the building's crumbling roof. While the city spends $6,000 a month to maintain the erector set-like tangle of steel beams and wooden planks that shrouds Public School 222 in Marine Park, the roof continues to deteriorate - pushing up the repair price tag."They got to be nuts!" exclaimed Jose Santiago, 50, a building superintendent, as he dropped off his 4-year-old son, Brandon, yesterday at the Quentin Road school. "It's so simple, it doesn't make any sense. That money should have gone into fixing the roof. It's disgusting." 4]

DUH #5
AS PROMOTIONAL STUNTS GO, this one couldn't have backfired any worse for Microsoft. The software giant's British Internet unit, MSN, UK, dreamed up the idea of putting Web kiosks inside portable toilets to promote the online service at music festivals this summer. The group even put out a press release that detailed the "iLoo," complete with a schematic of what the portable potty would look like. Almost instantly, the bathroom humor flowed. The project was dubbed the Pee-C. And wags wondered if this is what Microsoft meant when its ads asked: "Where do you want to go today?"... 5]

DUH #6
Although dated, this DUH is rather prescient. A recently published book about the father of quality control, W Edward Deming, titled The Deming Management Method, claims to tell how "Made in America" can once again become "a guarantee of quality." Apparently, the book, written and published in the U.S., is missing pages 173 to 204, and some copies were defectively bound. 6]

References
1. Reitz, Stephanie "Itinerant Coins Finally Reach Home" The Hartford Courant - March 12, 2003 p. B1.
2. Crowley, Kieran "Where Mom" New York Post May 27, 2003 p.15.
3. Hanchett, Doug "Survey: Potholes Take Bite Out of Motorists' Wallets" Boston Herald May 23, 2003 p.15.
4. Hays, Elizabeth "Ps Roof Left Hanging" Daily News May 7, 2003 p.5.
5. Greene, Jay " NO Windows-Wiper Jokes, Please" Business Week June 2, 2003 p.8.
6. Howard, J.D. "The Effect of the Defect" International Business June 1992, p.98.

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Articles printed with the permission of Dr. Ira Smolowitz, Professor of Finance and Dean, Bureau of Business Research and Program Development at American International College, Springfield, MA.