Prius Envy

I received this letter from a car dealer today (a mere three months since I placed my deposit):

The Prius has been and will continue to be an incredible success for Toyota. It has been one of the top turning vehicles in Toyota’s line up for several years. When a vehicle has this kind of success any variance in supply becomes immediately noticeable. It is for this reason we are relaying our latest supply information regarding this fantastic vehicle. [Doubt it. More likely, you are relaying this information because you know I'll read about it elsewhere anyway]

Due to the start up of the new 2007 Camry Hybrid during this first quarter of 2006, The Prius production will be constrained through March, this reduction will be less than the 2005 Prius units built during the same time period. Toyota is experiencing an increase in orders as well for the 2006 Prius. Thus, supplies will be limited nation wide while Toyota rolls out the 2007 Camry hybrid. [Wait, production is constrained through March? When did this start? It's always been constrained. How will things change in March?

But why should this matter to me - you told me my car would be here by the end of January, so it should either be there, on your lot, or at least on its way to your lot. Otherwise you would have called to tell me, right? Wait, it's not, is it? And this bulk e-mail is the means you've chosen to break the news to me. Nice, personal service.. NOT!!

The 2007 Camrys will be out in September or October, right? Are they really making them now? How is production of Prii only impacted through late March? Is another factory coming online? I don't understand. Are we waiting for the ground crew to load a few more bags on the plane before departing? Is this just another lame excuse that I'm supposed to hear, and then "believe?" Are we playing "pretend"?]

We anticipate a leveling off on production of Prius and Camry Hybrids in late March. Due to the very high demand for this technology, Toyota is doing everything it can to assure the high level of dependability that is expected. [Dependability? You mean I can depend on not getting a Prius any time in the near future? Yup, you're right, they are. Or maybe you are, I don't know which of you f*cked this process up, but one of you certainly did.]

We here thank you and look forward to updating you as soon as more information is confirmed. In the mean time, if you have any questions, comments or concerns please contact me at the e-mail address or phone number below. [Thank me for what? For being patient? I haven't been. I just gave up calling you because it forces you to make up lame excuses (have you considered a career as a supreme court justice - you'd do fine in the senate confirmation hearings)]

And I don't understand what you mean by "updating me" - am I downlevel? Do I need some security patches? I thought you might have meant "giving me updated information on the status of my order," but that can't be right - with the exception of this e-mail, you've never given me any sort of update unless I called or wrote to you and asked for it. Certainly you're not going to start being communicative now, are you? But what will we talk about? You'll say "nope, still not here" and I'll say "what's your lame-assed excuse this time?" - that's not much of a conversation, huh?

Maybe you can just find me the freaking car (e.g. get off your ass, call a dealer or two in the area and say "listen, I have a customer who's been waiting for an unusually long time, he wants x, y, and z; do you have one in stock that maybe we can swap for" - I know, I know, Prii are so popular that dealers don't do that. That's because you have no common sense. Do the math - if you swap cars with other dealers, even more people will be happy (ok, maybe not, but I would be happy, who cares about everyone else!)]

Why-fi

I heard a story on the radio the other day - the city of Fresno hopes to revitalize itself by providing citywide free wireless Internet access. They're hoping that it will attract a younger crowd (I bet attaching PSPs to parking meters will attract an even younger crowd).

Nice idea, but it seems a little misguided. Sure, the idea of free wireless appeals to me as much as to the next person, but I'm pretty sure there are other things that are more important to potential Fresnians - you know, little things, like community, restaurants, bars, shopping, a major airport.

But Fresno is not alone. Many other cities are proceeding along the same path. San Francisco and San Jose have jumped on the free citywide wifi bandwagon. And let's not forget Mountain View, CA (home of Google). Google's even offered to foot the bill for wireless there!

Revitalization isn't the only reason cities want wireless. Apparently it's a great solution to providing highspeed Internet access to the impoverished masses? Sounds great, I'm all for it, but, uhm, do these impoverished masses have computers? That seems like a pretty important bridge to be crossing, no?

I did a quick search of the Internet, and found a bunch of cities that either already have wireless access already, or are planning on getting it soon:

• Chandler, AZ
• Dubuque, IA
• Grand Haven, MI
• Grand Rapids, MI
• Hartford, CT
• Miami, FL
• Minneapolis, MN
• Philadelphia, PA

Phew, Chandler AZ made the list - that's a relief. What about Chandler Bing?

I wonder if anyone has done a study to see what happens to businesses that provide free wireless access. In my travels, I've seen quite a few cafes that offer free internet access. Typically most of the tables are occupied by people who have their entire e-life spread out in front of them (one guy I saw actually had a printer with him), sipping the same coffee for hours on end. Unless these places are selling really expensive coffee, I don't think the cafes making out so well.

I don't know - I can't help but think that this push towards citywide wireless access is the result of some overzealous marketing people and some desperate/misguided city managers, with a dash of "me too" syndrome thrown in for good measure. It will be interesting to see how it all plays out in the end.

Some Day My Prius Will Come

Like apparently most of the residents of the San Francisco Bay Area, I put a deposit (two actually) down on a Toyota Prius. I did it for all of the usual reasons - it's good for the environment, gas prices are too high, "a Toyota" is a palindrome, and so on. But I also decided on a Prius because I'm a geek and it's got a bunch of cool gadgets - a display showing graphics on the engine, bluetooth, MP3, GPS, and even a rear camera in the 2006 model (wouldn't it be cool if that could become a webcam?)

I put my first deposit down at a dealership in August. A few days after doing so, the dealer called and said there probably wouldn't be any more 2005 models coming in, so I should expect a 2006. He also spent quite a bit of time (car dealer time is relative - five minutes in this case) explaining why the 2006 was much better (the rear camera, the grey interior, and a yellow smiley face painted on the airbag were all new for 2006). He must have seen right through me on my first visit and known I was a geek and that the rear camera would get me hooked. What's the difference if I wait one month or two, right? So I decided to wait for the '06 model.

He called me two weeks later to tell me an '05 was coming in matching my specs. No. I don't want an '05, I want an '06 - remember all that time we spent in your office when you convinced me that the '06 was better, and worth waiting for? Did our time together mean so little to you? I remember it like it was yesterday. I think I became the first person to turn down a Prius. I want an '06, and I'm going to wait for one.

But I'm not very good at waiting, so I called another dealer in the area - he said he was the largest (he meant ego, I think) dealer in the area and as a result he got a larger allocation of cars with each shipment, so I'd inevitably get my car sooner. Against my better instincts, I gave him a deposit too (refundable, of course). I thought he was a little sleazy when I first met him, and he's done nothing to change my opinion.

Hindsight being what it may, if he's the largest, it means he has more customers, so even if he gets more cars, he has more customers to deliver them to, so size doesn't matter. It's a detractor in fact - more customers means less personal service - he's forgotten who I am several times ("oh, sorry, right, I got you confused with my other 2701 customers").

In the mean time, the first dealer called me back to tell me that an '06 had come in that had everything I wanted except the grey interior. I said I didn't want it, but he wanted me to come take a look at it anyway. He must have thought if I saw the car, sat in it, pretended to drive it even, that I'd take it. Ha, it didn't work - it almost did, but it didn't! I sat in it, made "vroom vroom" sounds (even though a Prius doesn't make "vroom vroom" sounds), played with all of the gadgets, and then decided "nope, it's the wrong color interior - I'm going to be sitting in the car, so that's what I'll see, every day." The dealer was disappointed, and so was I. And I had turned down my second Prius.

For kicks, I called the sleazy dealer (I think I was hoping he would have the car I wanted and I could maybe get the good dealer to get it from him for me). I reintroduced myself to him, and asked how things were going. Grrr! When I first placed my deposit, I was 35th in line, and would receive a car at the end of December. This time, I had moved to 40th, and was looking at a delivery date at the end of January. Whoa! I can see the delivery date changing - maybe Toyota's having issues with production, but my place in line should never increase - line's just aren't supposed to work that way. We had a long discussion about his magic numbers, why my position changed, where his number came from (perhaps a Toyota-branded magic 8-ball?) and my delivery date magically changed to early January and then mid-January - I should've quit while I was ahead!

About two days later they called me back though - my car was in (ha, I've fallen for that before!) We discussed "my car" - it had the wrong exterior and interior colors, but other than that matched exactly what I wanted. Thanks for playing along, good bye Prius number three (this has to be a record by now, no?)

I've decided that I don't want a car from the sleazy dealer, and am not quite sure what to do with my deposit. I'm currently leaning towards selling my place in line there on eBay - my 6 weeks of waiting must be worth something to someone, right? Someone who is just interested in the car and not in forming a relationship with the dealership. Anyone interested?

To bide my time while waiting for my Prius to arrive, I've written a song entitled "Some Day My Prius Will Come" - it's sung to the tune of "Some Day My Prince Will Come":

Some day my Prius will come, some day I'll get my car
And how thrilling that moment will be
When the dealer fin'lly calls me
He'll say your car is near, and I'll jump up and cheer
Though it's in LA, it'll be here one day
Some day when my car gets here

Air travel - it's for the birds

For the holidays, my girlfriend and I went to Austria (the one in Europe, not the one in the southern hemisphere) for a working vacation (more on that later) and to spend some time with family. The trip was great, except for two small parts - the beginning, and the end.

The Beginning:

As suggested by TSA and the airlines, we arrived two hours early, as did the other 2000 people who were flying out of San Francisco on United Airlines flights that afternoon. About the only people who didn't arrive two hours early were the United check-in agents - there were roughly ten people checking in 2000 international travelers.

Needless to say, the check-in process proceeded slowly. We stood in line for an hour before someone realized the lines were exceedingly long and tried to readjust things a bit. We were taken out of the line we had begun to call "home" along with eight or so other people and brought to a new, "special" line. Since it was only us and a handful of other people in the special line, we expected we'd be through check-in in a few minutes.

It was not to be. To earn a few extra dollars, airlines are now charging people for overweight luggage ("overweight" meaning luggage that weighs more than 50 pounds, not luggage with clothing for large people). One couple in front of us didn't want to pay the charge, so they started repacking their bags, right there at the counter. To make matters worse (or more amusing, depending on whether you are a passenger or a random spectator), they actually couldn't adjust their bags/belongings to come up with bags that weighed under the limit (two bags, 120 pounds total, 50 pound limit, you do the math), so the gate agent went off to find a box for them to put their extra stuff in. That was a very nice gesture on the agent's part, but...

Here's the thing - the overweight people were certainly happy about getting a box, avoiding the excess baggage fee, and so on, but what about the rest of us? Were we expected to just sit there and wait patiently (and wait and wait)? The agent could have let them slide with their slightly overweight bags or sent them elsewhere to repack, but instead she irritated everyone else in line - appease one customer, annoy ten - that's not good business. If this was the post office, they would have been sent elsewhere to do their repacking while the rest of us checked in, and then rejoined the line somewhere near the beginning when they'd finished - maybe this approach would work for airlines too?

And, of course, because we had all stood in line so long, there were now people stuck in line who were on flights that were leaving "soon" so they were shuffled in front of us. We started out fifth in line, but didn't move for 30 minutes - there's just something wrong with this system.

Adding insult to injury, we waited in lines for so long, we didn't have enough time to get food at one of the local places, so we were forced to eat the food on the plane. The food itself wasn't so bad really, but there's something inherently wrong with paying $1000 for a plane ticket and then having to pay $5.00 a beer (note: only US airlines seem to charge for alcohol on international flights, it's free on European carriers).

I thought about that for a while - sure, the plane food wasn't that bad, but wouldn't everyone have benefited if we had a chance to eat and shop at the airport? We wouldn't have had to eat food on the plane,the store/restaurant would have gotten my business, the airline would have one less meal to serve, and so on. So isn't it then in the best interests of the airlines to get passengers through the check-in line quicker, so they can then visit airport shops and restaurants? I'm not an economist, but sure makes sense to me.

And then there was the end:

Our return flight arrived into SFO at 8pm, as scheduled. We shuffled off the plane with everyone else, and then made our way to the baggage claim area. And there we stood - exhausted after 20 hours of traveling, waiting for our bags. We waited, dozed off, waited some more, etc. Roughly an hour after our plane arrived, our luggage came off the belt.

Why? I don't know. I can see there being a delay if our plane had arrived early or late - the baggage crews no doubt have schedules - offload plane X at time T, plane Y at time T2 and so on, so if we arrived at the wrong time, there wouldn't have been a crew to handle the baggage, but we arrived at the right time.

Maybe the person who schedules crews read the first half of this rant and thought "maybe I can help airport businesses by making people wait for their luggage"? Or is it just another case of "we'll save money by having only two guys unloading all of the planes that come in." That seems more likely.

I wonder if I can get back the extra $1.00 that I paid for long term parking while we waited for our luggage?