Source: Steve Jurvetson – Flickr: Bezos’ Iconic Laugh, CC BY 2.0 Jeff Bezos is known as the founder and CEO of Amazon.com (AMZN). The stock for his company is toying with the $1000 level for the first time ever and is close to pushing Bezos past Bill Gates as the world’s richest man. Source: FreeStockCharts.com […]
Over three years ago, I wrote “Not Worth the Cost: A 17-Month Case Study of Congestion Pricing in the SF Bay Area” as an analysis of congestion pricing on the Express Lane for Highway 237 in Milpitas, CA. I concluded then that the opportunity for saving time was not worth the price of the toll […]
I have several beefs with Uber and its ilk. One beef I do NOT share with some is the controversy over Uber’s surge pricing. Surge pricing sounds exotic, but the pricing process is relatively basic in operation and in principle. It comes from the economics of bringing supply and demand into balance when demand surges […]
On November 29, 2013, I wrote a piece titled “Not Worth the Cost: A 17-Month Case Study of Congestion Pricing in the SF Bay Area.” In that piece, I presented data I manually collected on toll costs for the westbound Express Lane on Highway 237 (running from Milpitas to Sunnyvale, CA) versus the drive time […]
On March 20, 2012, the Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) implemented congestion (or dynamic) pricing on a critical San Francisco Bay Area thoroughfare called Highway 237 that primarily connects commuters from the East Bay to the South Bay. This change converted an existing car pool lane into an “Express Lane” which now allows solo drivers access […]
On August 18, Hewlett Packard (HPQ) announced its earnings and dropped the following bombshell: “HP will discontinue operations for webOS devices, specifically the TouchPad and webOS phones. The devices have not met internal milestones and financial targets. HP will continue to explore options to optimize the value of webOS software going forward. “ My first […]
My wife recently relayed to me an odd story told to her by a car rental agent. This agent told my wife about a woman who for months has rented the same Escalade over and over, renewing her rental agreement for a few weeks at a time. Escalades are considered premium/luxury rentals, so the bill […]
AirTran Airways provides multi-tiered pricing for advance reservation of seating in its coach class. AirTran differentiates its pricing by positioning vertically in the plane, but not horizontally. That is, for some reason, AirTran charges the same price for a middle seat in the same row as an aisle and middle seat. AirTran does not charge […]
{Spoiler alert! This post reveals the story of a previously aired episode of “Undercover Boss“} After watching this year’s Superbowl, I left the television remain turned on and discovered a CBS show called “Undercover Boss.” On this show, top executives disguise themselves as lower level employees to review company operations from the perspective of the […]
I intended to write a detailed examination of Amazon’s pricing problem with e-books. However after doing just a little research, I found there are plenty of people who have already provided excellent opinions and recommendations. So, instead of providing my classic unsolicited advice, I am posting links to the two most insightful pieces I found […]
