Gas in California for $2.70/gallon!?
A few months ago, in the renaissance that seems to be engulfing Alameda businesses, the Bridgeside Center opened with just a few stores. Most of the spaces are taken now, and the centerpiece of the center, Nob Hill Foods, is alive and well.
I usually did my grocery shopping at Albertson’s, living pretty central to the center of the island and passing Marina Village on my way through the Tube home from work. But curiosity and a great marketing ploy have wooed my cart over to Nob Hill.
I mean, how can you pass off 25 cents off per gallon of gas?
The deal is that when you spend at least $50 on groceries (some items, like lottery tickers, don’t count towards the total) you get a bar code on your receipt. The Nob Hill also came with an Aisle 1 gas station, which despite the discount has the lowest priced gas in Alameda anyway. When you scan this bar code at the pump, the price per gallon is reduced by 25 cents. So I filled up at $2.70 per gallon. The added bonus of using the Aisle 1 station, besides it being brand new and everything in nice, working condition, is that they have a brush-less car wash. And it’s only $5.
It’s all about the Hamiltons, baby. $5 even for the super duper premium wash? I’m there. Especially since it doesn’t use those nasty rubber sponge things that could damage the precious new paint on my precious new car.
There was only one downside to this situation… the 45 minute wait to get into the car wash. By the time I’d decided that it wasn’t worth waiting anymore, I noticed that I’d pulled just far enough into the curbed off area and it was impossible for me to back up or get out.
So 45 minutes spent waiting for the car wash, but at least it go my car clean. And the moral of the story? Their marketing ploy worked.
Read MoreFever… in the morning… fever all through the night.
According to my handy dandy Weatherbug extension for Firefox, it’s a toasty 71.8° outside. And you have no idea how proud of myself I am that I remembered the HTML code for the degree sign without having to look it up online.
It’s that kind of afternoon here at the office… it’s quiet, a little too quiet. There’s some kind of big meeting going on in the conference room, which no doubt will somehow trickle into more work for us underlings. Because our conference room has the worst circulation of any conference room, they’ve borrowed my fan to help make it more bearable in there. No, I wasn’t using it, but I could use it about now. But that’s how it always goes, isn’t it?
Most of the projects I’ve been working on are either done or on hold pending someone else’s end of their bargain. In some ways it’s a nice place to be… I’ve done most of my share and the hard work. In other ways, it’s the worst… because I’d rather get this all taken care of and over with than be waiting on someone else’s contribution.
But then again, I never did like group projects in school… I was the kid that always got stuck with 90% of the work. I realized in college that most of the time I’d taken over a project, it wasn’t necessarily because everyone else in my group were slackers, it was sometimes because I just thought I could do a better job than them. So once, I sat back… I knew the best thing I could do for the project was write the paper that was turned in after the presentation. Instead, I let someone else do that and I took the easiest job there was… keeping the notes from our meetings that had to be turned into the professor too.
Every group in the class got an A. Our group got a C (which I’m tragically still plotting ways how to appeal 4 years later). The reason was that the person who wrote the paper was not a very adept writer, so almost all of the points we had deducted came from the paper part. Go figure… I learned my lesson that day.
I digress. Most of what I’ve been working on is standard management of the mailing services program here at PsPrint and making sure the affiliate program doesn’t implode upon itself. So far, so good! We launched new sales today… $100 off Brochures and 25% off Premium Business Cards. Launching sales doesn’t really have much to do with me though, beyond updating affiliates and giving them new creative to use, which again is one of those things I have to wait on someone else for.
Since it’s past time for me to leave, it looks like the waiting game shall continue until tomorrow…
Read MoreAre we too late for the boat?
Lots of industries are taking a long time to embrace web 2.0 and the blogosphere, and as we try to buy our tickets to the blogging dinner cruise, I can’t help but wonder if we’ve missed the boat?
I read an interesting blog written by Hugh MacLeod: Why we’re all blogging less. I admit that I have noticed a lack of fresh blogs to keep my entertained on my lunch break… so that has to mean there’s less serious content out there too. At work we’re just now working out our social media game plan, so reading blogs like Hugh’s makes me fear that we’re a day late and a dollar short to this party.
I hope not… I’m so excited about the blog and the social networking we’ll be doing in the coming months. Not only does it open up new opportunities for PsPrint, but it opens up new ops for me personally. As I said when I started this blog, it’s basically my thoughts on what I’ve been up to at work and what I’ve been learning while thrown to the lions.
In case I didn’t mention it, I don’t have a fancy marketing degree. I have humble roots with a Theater Arts degree, focusing in dramatic writing. Now you see why I’m so apt to blog. We’re starting to get some talk back from followers on Twitter, which is exciting even though it’s very casual at the moment. Hopefully it’ll open up some sales or marketing opportunities, but I’m not holding my breath.
Exciting, but a tad disappointing, is the fact the Shawn Collins over at Affiliate Marketing Blog has finally posted the session videos from Affiliate Summit East 2007. You have to sign up for the Real Deal summit newsletter, but it’s a good idea to sign up for it anyway. I was a bit disappointed to see that the interview we did with the wandering camera crew isn’t up, but I hope someday it will be. Just so I can point and laugh at myself 🙂
Read MoreSocial Media Marketing: The Wave of the Future?
I figured out a really nifty thing to do on LinkedIn today… creating an HTML email signature with a link to this blog, to the PsPrint website, and to my LinkedIn profile. I was, sadly, highly amused by this function and emailed a colleague to show it off.
Colleague: Oh that is cool…I am still not 100% comfortable with online communication websites but Linked In seems cool because it’s business connections.
Me: But it’s the waaaave of the futurrrrre. And we’re going to start social media marketing, so get used to it :p
That’s right, project 15927 to add to my daily agenda (okay not really but it feels that way) is a new project that we’ll have implemented by the end of the month. A full frontal attack on social media! I can’t say much yet since we’re still fleshing out the procedures and nitty gritty details, but I’ll be taking the lead on it.
So, in addition to the two and a half hats I already wear at work, I’ll be putting on a third. It’s exciting to get some new responsibilities and working on a new project now that our mailing services is pretty automated and our affiliate program is started to go places. I can’t wait to talk more about it, but mum is the word at the moment.
So I got to thinking about it… is social media and online networking really the wave of the future? What are your thoughts?
Read MoreDon’t Think About it So Much
I swear I think I’m addicted to these Dove Promises messages inside the candy wrapper. I blame Anne!
Speaking of not thinking about something, I completely pushed the Think Green cards out of my mind until this afternoon when they were done printing. They look GREAT! I wish we could use these as samples… they’re prime examples of the 13pt Recycled Matte paper stock. I know that they’ll be really happy with the cards and I hope they’ll think of us again for their future needs.
Simple hopes of a simple gal still at the office at 5 til 8pm on a Wednesday. Happy Hump Day Everyone!
Read MoreMy Special Place
My special place is where fields are green, trees grow back instantly, and I can see the Ikea wood grain of my desk instead of a sea of paperwork!
I finalized the details with the Think Green folks and got that project rolling today. We also discussed some take away lessons from the blogging and social media sessions I attended at the Inman Real Estate Connect show last week. All good stuff… I’ve yet to type up my notes for the benefit of my coworkers, but I’ll get to it right after I get to checking everything else :p
Finally late last week I was able to get the details all fleshed out over at AffiliatePrograms.com to have a directory listing for the PsPrint Affiliate Program. It was a bit harrowing due to our main contact being on her honeymoon, but it’s finally done! I’m proudly sharing the link with everyone since it ended up being such a chore to get it done, so check it out!
Other things we’ve been working on that I haven’t been so involved with is our deal with NAR, the National Association of Realtors. PsPrint has been actively reaching out to Real Estate agents, brokers, and other professionals in getting our name out there for printing. Our awesome business development manager, Chris Hendricks, was integral in making this happen. I leave you with the press release for the venture!
Go to http://www.psprint.com/about/pr/072607.asp
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