CVS follow-up: Plastic bags

To Whom It May Concern:

On June 17, 2007, I sent the below e-mail to CVS customer service, bringing to their attention a widespread practice that I've noticed at CVS stores, namely, the unnecessary double-bagging of items. On June 26, 2007, I received what appeared to be a standard response e-mail from a CVS customer service representative, who told me that the "appropriate department" was advised of my comments.

Although I appreciate the e-mail back, and understand that CVS can't always be expected to provide detailed responses to each e-mail it receives, I can't, in good conscience, let the matter be.

So I'm just writing to get more clarification on what reforms, if any, CVS is undertaking to make its business more environment-friendly. Does CVS already have a policy that addresses waste reduction?

I ask this because, however small a problem unnecessary double-bagging may seem, it is still a problem and, as far as problems go, it's very easily remediable; any costs from undertaking this reform would no doubt be offset by costs saved from using fewer bags.

If something this costless and easy to change isn't taken seriously, I can't help but be concerned about how CVS might treat environment-friendly business reforms that would require more sacrifice.

Thank you,
Christopher W.

P.S.
Please note that the contents of this letter are being made publicly available as a main article on the website http://www.grouserblog.com.

New Domain!

Dear all,

The Grouser has switched hosts! We're now at the easily remembered http://www.grouserblog.com. Don't worry, the old URL (http://thegrouser.blogspot.com) will still work fine and redirect you to the current site.

I'm still working some kinks with the domain name change (I'm an idiot with computers), so forgive me for any minor problems that you may have with the site in the coming days.

Yours truly,

Chris W.

MTA Bus Schedules

To the MTA:

This letter has been ten years in the making. Back in 1997, when I first started taking city buses regularly, I'd hop on the Q30 to my high school in the morning and take it back home in the afternoon. Although I haven't ridden the bus on a daily basis since then, I still ride it often enough, now mostly within Manhattan.

One gripe I've had with nearly every busline I've ridden, throughout the five boroughs, from swerve of Shore Road to bend of Bay Ridge, is the complete and utter uselessness of the bus schedule.

Sure, a bus schedule looks good on paper: there it shows buses arriving at fixed times spaced out throughout the day. But if you manage to actually ride the bus, you realize that the times listed on the schedule are wholly unconnected with the times at which the buses actually come. The buses come when they come, regardless of the schedule. The schedule times don't even seem to reflect the amount of buses that come during a particular time period. For instance, I've noticed that the Uptown M4 schedules seem to list about twice as many buses arriving each hour than actually arrive.

Maybe I'm wrong for consulting the schedules in the first place. Typically mounted on a crooked bus stop sign, they tend to be faded to near illegibility and covered in Dinkins-era scratchitti--all signs that seem to scream, "I AM UNRELIABLE." But I'm not the person I'm writing this letter for. I'm writing for the millions of tourists and transplants who come to this city and decide to take the bus, only to stand slack-jawed when they see that their bus hasn't come, even though the schedule says that two should have. For these people, the system needs to be fixed.

Now I'm not going to suggest that the MTA have its buses run on time. In this town, it's hard enough to approximate how long it might take to walk two blocks in midtown, so I don't expect a bus driver to be able to stick to a specific time table for a 20-mile route. And after all, we're not some fancy-pants European city. We're not Tokyo. We're New York, goddamit, and crowded streets and hectic mass transit systems are part of our way of life. I wouldn't dream of changing it.

Instead, I'm writing to recommend one of two simple solutions:

1) Rather than listing specific times, simply list the number of buses that come during the hour, and state when they generally show up (e.g., Sunday: One around 2:00, one about 2:30, and then two right after each other around 2:45).

2) Add a general disclaimer about the unpredictability of bus arrival times. (e.g., Please note that bus arrival times cannot be predicted with any reliability. The times listed on the schedule should therefore be understood to represent only approximate arrival times).

The above are just two ways of telling Joe and Jane Tourist that the bus system isn't exactly a Swiss clock. Or a Swiss bus.

With such a change in place, the bus schedules might actually become more than just a scratchboard for vandals.

Thank you,
Christopher W.

Non-angry follow-up: Sharebuilder System Error

Ms. W.,

Thank you for your response to my e-mail of July 2, 2007 concerning the difficulties I had been encountering when trying to access the Sharebuilder website. I'm happy to say that I am no longer running into any problems. I can only conclude that my strongly worded letter prompted Sharebuilder to quickly fix their site... well, either that or your advice to add "www" to the start of the URL was spot on. But let's not point any fingers. All I know is that I can now access my account and am again content with Sharebuilder.

Thank you again for your help.

Very truly yours,
Christopher W.

Heather, you haven't heard the last of me...

Dear Christopher,

I do sincerely apologize for your frustration. You should not have this issue every time that you log into the account. How are you accessing the website? Are you using a saved favorite or an email link? You may try accessing the website by typing in www.sharebuilder.com (the www's are critical). If this does not work, please let me know a good contact number for you and I will give you a call to discuss this further with you.

Sincerely,

Heather W.
Customer Care Agent
ShareBuilder - Build your Future

Response: Häagen Dazs

Dear Mr. W.,

Thank you for your email requesting nutritional information on HÄAGEN-DAZS(r). In an increasingly health-conscious society, we are always pleased to respond to our consumers' questions regarding our products.

Most dairy products will be able to declare level of TFA (trans fat) as 0 (14 g milk fat/serving = 0 trans fat, 15 g milk fat = .5 g trans fat). Because Häagen-Dazs(r) has much higher butter fat some of our flavors will show .5 g trans fat. We have also added a note to these flavors near the nutritional panel stating "All Trans Fat in this product occurs naturally in dairy."

We appreciate the time you have taken to contact our company and share your concerns. We hope that you will contact us again if you have further questions or comments.

Sincerely,

Stefanie B.
Consumer Response Representative

Sharebuilder System Error

To whom it may concern:

Is there a good reason that I get a "System Error" nearly every time I log in to check my Sharebuilder account? Nine times out of ten I get the following message:

"We’re sorry, but an error has occurred while processing your request. Please return to the home page and try again at a later time.
If you continue to experience this error, please contact Customer Care. Be prepared to describe the action you were trying to complete when encountered the error."

Okay, Customer Care, here's the "action" I was trying to complete: logging in. I've tried it on different computers, with different browsers, and at different times, but almost without fail I get the above error message. But wait, it gets better. If I click on the "Customer Care" link, I get the exact same error message. I had to use Google to find out the e-mail address that I'm sending this letter to.

This is a serious problem. What if I had a whim to make a sudden real-time trade? Well, I wouldn't be able to, because your site is down almost all the time. I could end up missing my chance to make a trade, consequently losing money. It's not like your website sells Girl Scout cookies; the ability to log in without problems at any time is an absolute necessity for your e-business. (Okay, so maybe Girl Scout cookies was a bad example).

But it's really ridiculous. Like ridiculous enough to make me take out the few bucks I have in my account. Well, if I could log in.

Annoyed customer,

Christopher W.

A Note on Future Letters

N.B.: from this point forward, I'm going to be including the header "AN OPEN LETTER" on all of my complaint letters, though it will be omitted from the blog posts. Exactly what "open" means is deliberately left vague. I'm hoping--probably deluding myself--that the thought that a complaint letter is being made public might make a company take a less formulaic tone in its response. It may in fact prompt them to use their innocuous stock response all the more. In either case, I feel that it's in plain ole' good faith to let a company know that the letter they receive is an "open" letter.

And if the inclusion of the header gives companies more reason to think I'm a crazy person... well, so be it.