Saturday, September 24, 2005

An online Volunteer opportunity database...

I set out looking on the internet for an online volunteer opportunity database to see if one exists for Bangalore. Didnt quite land where I wanted to, but stumbled upon a couple of hitherto unheard sites:

Here's one that caters to the US - http://www.volunteermatch.org/. Equally interesting are the profiles of the people behind this initiative.

Isn't it time India, at least, Bangalore, to start with, had a similar one?

Certainly, the way to go...

Cheers!

Saturday, September 17, 2005

Right or Wrong this time around?

Continuing from my previous post........
I got the books I'd ordered in around 10 days
(against Amazon's estimate of 30 days.)

Now, the question is:
When Amazon said 5-7 Business Days, was Amazon right/wrong?

The point I'm trying to make is this:

Amazon messed up it's reputation first by giving me a wrong estimate and then sent me the books a couple of days off 7 business days.

If this were to happen to a large number of customers, Amazon would end up with a lot of confused first timers.

mmmMMMmmmMMM

Thursday, September 08, 2005

Sloppy Sloppy Amazon!!!





The American Online Retail Darling has got a long way before it's viewed by worldwide consumers the same way as it's american counterpart.
(This page is shown to the customer while choosing an International Shipping Option, WHILE placing the order.)

Check the image above and compare it with the shipping estimates on this page.
(This is their International Shipping Options, Pricing and Delivery Estimates Page)

Ask Amazon about it and the answer is sloppy customer service, with standard canned responses without an answer and a lot of junk amazon links!

Sending them feedback doesn't seem to work as well!

Amazon: Get your act together soon, or else you'll lose out to the local players, who offer much better service, it's only a matter of time before they broaden their range of offering. You've got such intelligent systems, that you can let the consumer know the delivery estimate before completing the order, so the consumer can make the choice, based on that!

An NGO that deals with Money Management...

To think of it, the fact that there isn't a decent course in school or college that deals with simple, fundamental rules of money management is very shocking!!

I was wondering why there isn't an NGO/NPO/Social Benefit Organization out there that deals with the education of this aspect, considering the difference they can make to people from various sectors of the society.

Many economists propose that the path to eradication of poverty is not by mere education, nor by providing subsidies, but by economic development that creates jobs and supports rural entreprenuerial activity, in very very small steps.

I propose that the best way to take the first step to progress towards that goal is by helping educate people on how to manage their money and credit better!

Here's an example, for a start:

# 1: Inflation erodes your money; implies (among other important things remember this is just one example), that the return on your FDs (Fixed Deposits) works out approximately to between 0 to 2% (Assuming current Indian Tax Laws and an average Inflation of 4-5%, considering the last 2 years).

You see what I'm saying? I'll wage a bet that a greater percent of even the middle class bread winners do not know this fact! How shocking!!!

Can you guess what's #2, as related to your SB A/cs?