Mailbox

I was interested in the article [O+F Weekly Update, May 5, 2004] about Sen. Kerry’s proposals impacting sending jobs overseas as well as comments from other readers. I was, however, dismayed by the partisan bickering and the biased, if not downright uninformed, interpretation of economics.

Many readers indicated that tax-driven incentives are doomed to failure because they interfere with the market. If tax-driven incentives are so doomed to failure, why have we cut taxes on capital gains? These cuts increased the after-tax return on these investments. Likewise, if tax policy were used to reduce the cost of hiring U.S.-based labor (or conversely, increasing the cost of offshore labor by removing tax benefits), I would expect it to have a beneficial impact. I would further argue that eliminating tax incentives for moving jobs offshore, or increasing incentives to keep them here, is far preferable to assembling trade barriers. Deciding which type of interference in the economy you prefer is a value-based choice, but let’s admit that it is values and politics, not misinterpretations of freshman economics, that drive the argument.

Address letter to: Mailbox, Operations & Fulfillment Magazine, 11 River Bend Dr. South, P.O. Box 4949, Stamford, CT 06907. Send e-mails to: [email protected]. Published letters do not necessarily reflect the opinions of O+F and may be edited for length and clarity.

Mailbox

I was surprised that everything measured [in a recent study of online retailing] took place on the “buy” and “outbound” side of the transaction. For an online merchant, that is certainly the first set of touch points, but by no means the last, or the most important.

The return [of merchandise] is an absolutely critical touch point for direct retailers. A recent Harris Poll showed that 85% of consumers will stop buying from a brand that makes the return process inconvenient. In turn, the same survey showed that 95% of consumers will buy more if a direct retailer makes the process convenient. Yet, despite this, most retailers do not provide a best-in-class returns process. In fact, most of them simply tell their customers to return it themselves. You don’t need a Harris Poll definition to know there is nothing convenient about that.

As returns are such a critical issue for direct retailers, your publication would be doing the direct retail industry a great service by raising the awareness of this often overlooked (and often not measured) customer touch point.

Address letters to: Mailbox, Operations & Fulfillment Magazine, 11 River Bend Dr. South, P.O. Box 4949, Stamford, CT 06907. Send e-mails to: [email protected]. Published letters do not necessarily reflect the opinions of O+F and may be edited for length and clarity.

Mailbox

Per your brief, “Fulfillment Failures May Thwart Holiday E-Commerce” [O+F Weekly Update, Dec. 10, 2003), I had ordered 90% of my holiday gifts online, both business and personal, and received an e-mail from Amazon.com that the gift for my largest client would be delayed until Jan. 6. I had to cancel the order and find it at Powell’s.com.
Paul Entin
eprmarketing.com

We have just secured a three-year agreement with one of the largest e-tailers to provide a total landed cost to their customers during the checkout process. In the past, packages would be declined at the international destination due to the undisclosed (because of being unaware of them) taxes. As a result the item would either be returned, incurring additional shipping charges, or submitted to liquidation. Perhaps in the past the e-tailer did not feel it was necessary to expose the taxes up front, but now that has changed their business model. Just thought you might be interested in this aspect [of international e-commerce].
Name Witheld By Request

Address letters to: Mailbox, Operations & Fulfillment Magazine, 11 River Bend Dr. South, P.O. Box 4949, Stamford, CT 06907. Send e-mails to: [email protected]. Published letters do not necessarily reflect the opinions of O+F and may be edited for length and clarity.

Mailbox

Regarding the puzzle of “why not use American labor,” I believe the solution for our country is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Sounds like a strange and far-away proposition to your question, but true humility can only be found in its Author. And only He can give that humility to repentant folk. America needs the only substitute for our self-righteousness, and that is found in Jesus Christ.
Laif Salvadori
Las Vegas, NV

We have in our database certain cities and zip codes that [credit card] fraud is most prevalent in and we will manually call any customer in these areas. You are correct that the costs are high; however, once you get hit by frauds and they pull it off, you get in a call circle and all their scumbag fraud friends will start trying to get free product.

So the cost for us to do it manually is worth it, because we have a high average order amount. Thanks for bringing this up. It is a huge problem that law enforcement does not care about.
Dan The Lobster Man
President, The Lobster Gram

Address letter to: Mailbox, Operations & Fulfillment Magazine, 11 River Bend Dr. South, P.O. Box 4949, Stamford, CT 06907. Send e-mails to: [email protected]. Published letters do not necessarily reflect the opinions of O+F and may be edited for length and clarity.