Filed under: lifehacking, Sustainable Living & Social Issues | Tags: advertising, conservation, cost benefit, cost to consumer, decluttering, effectiveness, environmental, flyer, GTD, improvement, incremental improvement, learning, lifehacking, money, newspaper, recycling, save money, social responsibility, sustainable living, tips, waste
I don’t like clutter. I know advertising works (which explains the billions spent on it) the question is… Why would I subject myself to advertising and allow my house to be cluttered just to give someone else my money?
Four times a week we receive a community newspaper. Now the paper is mostly ads, advertisements, paid advertising and ads. There are relevant local articles, but it hardly seems worth the “filtering” to get to the content. Out of 40 printed pages, I’d guess 4 or less actually contain news. Now I don’t believe in mindlessly reading advertisements (and don’t know anyone who will admit to this), but I must admit my relationship to the printed newspapers that appear on my mailbox has been undergoing a transformation.
I was curious what the impact was on my time and on the environment to handle all the paper associated with the unsolicited flyers and community newspapers I receive. To try and estimate the impact on my city, I’m assuming everyone in town does exactly what I do, and I’m believing the newspaper’s circulation figures (averaged to 40,000 per paper) which I found on the Internet. You will see some high dollar figures here, and this is because the cost to consumers is generally left out of the equation and ignored… Retailers don’t incur that cost, it is the consumer’s problem, so why would anyone bother to track or estimate that cost… This is only a rough but fair estimate. Now I’d love to make this more accurate, so if you take issue with the numbers, do us all a favour and contribute some research. Here is the transformation in chronological order:
Handling Flyers and community newspapers (original version 1.0)
Initially we would bring the paper in, sort through the flyers “in case there was something good there”, and put the papers on the coffee table to be read. Then I would flip from front to back through the paper making sure I didn’t “miss anything. So including all the “handling time” bringing in the paper, reading through it. Picking it up off the floor after the small children decorated the room with it. Recycling it. I probably spent 30 minutes per paper and ended up skipping half of the papers completely. The time spent “reading the paper” was time I didn’t spend with my kids etc, so I’m going to think of that cost to me as $20/hour for my like many people earn. The 150 grams estimated weight of the paper is based on Canada Post’s “weight restriction” for mailing community newspapers (mine is probably larger) and 37 grams of flyers. So 150 grams 4 times a week is 0.6 Kg per week or 31.2 Kg per year.
- My yearly time spent “handling” newspapers and flyers: 52 hours $1040
- My papers and flyers sent to recycling: 31.2Kgs (68.8 lbs)
- My city’s yearly time spent “handling” newspapers and flyers: 2,080,000 hours $41,600,000 (this is the cost of consumer’s time!)
- My city’s papers and flyers sent to recycling: 1,248,000 Kgs (2,751,369 lbs)
Handling Flyers and community newspapers (updated version 2.0)
Then I recognized the time I was spending “tidying up” these papers all over our living space and I wanted to get the papers re-routed to recycling at the earliest point possible. What I would do is “intentionaly” sit down and skim the newspaper articles for 5 minutes, if there was relevant content I save the paper for my wife and tell her what is worth reading, if not, I recycle it and all of the flyers stuffed inside before the paper even makes it up the stairs to our living space. (Sorry advertisers, your advertising budget was not effectively spent). But this skimming is still an interesting activity to me, I’m not doing it because I am (at that moment) interested in reading the paper or learning something specific, I’m “reacting” to the newspaper being delivered to my door. I’m voluntarily spending at least 20 minutes per week filtering out advertisements…. Hmm, how is it that someone else is “making me” spend time reading their paper…. That wasn’t my idea. Hey I could have used that time for something I WANTED to do.
- My yearly time spent “handling” newspapers and flyers: 17 hours $340 <reduced>
- My papers and flyers sent to recycling: 31.2Kgs (68.8 lbs) <No change>
- My city’s yearly time spent “handling” newspapers and flyers: 680,000 hours $13,600,000 <reduced>
- My city’s papers and flyers sent to recycling: 1,248,000 Kgs (2,751,369 lbs) <No change>
Handling Flyers and community newspapers (New Era version 3.0)
So I noticed that when those friendly guys from the “Globe and Mail” would call, I would answer. “Not really interested, I use the Internet.” and they would simply drop it and let me go with no more “sales”… hmmm.. Maybe I could just use the Internet and replace my local community paper… So I testsed this. What I could find online (in several locations) had all the information with much less advertising. In many cases it offered more than the news (videos and such). I bravely asked my wife what she thought and when I learned that she really didn’t use those grocery store flyers I’d been saving for years, our course was set. We put a “No Flyers or Newspapers” sign on our mailbox and suddenly our house is neater, our recycling is lighter, and I’m facing much less temptation to purchase things I would not have otherwise purchased. I’m estimating that I only spend 15 minutes per month looking for local news and information. Only God knows the value of the “impulse purchases” I’m not making.
- My yearly time spent not “handling” newspapers and flyers: 3 hours $60 (Internet time) <reduced>
- My papers and flyers sent to recycling: 0 Kgs (0 lbs) <reduced>
- My city’s residents potential yearly time spent not “handling” newspapers and flyers: 120,000 hours $2,400,000 <reduced>
- My city’s could potentially save 1,248,000 Kgs (2,751,369 lbs) of paper from going to recycling (or worse) <Join Me! It’s free!>
Adding back “The Internet”
Sure there is time spent on the Internet to find local information, but I don’t think it is the same as putting a paper on your doorstep. I think that when someone is actually pursuing information, and not just having it “forced” on them, they are able to dig deeper and learn more. Sure I will likely look up some local events using the Internet, maybe 15 minutes per month when I NEED to know something specific. But that is one of the major points I’m making. Newspaper delivery was someone else’s idea that consumed my time and wasted paper.
Other Resources for breaking your flyer addiction
- I liked the vision expressed by http://www.reddotcampaign.ca
We are fortunate to live in abundance where one of our major issues is TOO MUCH STUFF! And to keep us buying more, Canadians are inundated with $19 Billion worth of advertising each year. If the old adage is true, “half of all marketing works great, if only we knew which half” why don’t advertisers spend more resources understanding which half works and spend the other half supporting community?
- Another small but useful site is: http://www.iwilltry.org/w/index.php?title=Flyers_against_flyers_campaign which advocates convincing your neighbours to join you in giving up flyers. They had some great images you could print out and tape to your mailbox (download the originals from their site).
- The Canadian national “Do Not Call List” operated by the government of Canada promises to reduce phone based solicitation. https://www.lnnte-dncl.gc.ca/
- The “Canadian Marketing Association has a “Do not Contact Service” designed to get your name on a list their members might check before sending out mailed advertisements. http://www.the-cma.org/?WCE=C=47|K=224217
- A ?grassroots? attempt to produce a better “do not call list” http://www.ioptout.ca/ trys to overcome limitations with the “Do Not Call List” (charities are not restricted etc).
(Use the comments to evaluate the usefulness of these links).
Please comment to let me know what you think of all this. Do you have paper taming tricks? ways to find local information that work for you? Would you consider joining me with a simple “no flyers or newspapers” sign on your mailbox? Why or why not?
Cheers,
Greg
Filed under: lifehacking, Sustainable Living & Social Issues | Tags: cost benefit, environmental, free, lifehacking, money, save money, social responsibility, sustainable living, tips
I’m going to let you in on a little secret… The beauty of this secret is that it scales really really well, so the more people you tell, potentially the more people who can contribute and benefit.
freecycle logo
I’m talking about free-cycle. You probably have a free-cycle group operating in your area. The concept is really simple. If you want something, you ask for it, and if somebody wants to give you that thing, they will contact you to come and pick it up. If you have something you want to get rid of, you post it and people will contact you to come and pick it up.
Our family started with a micro-wave stand. We probably could have got $15 bucks for it, but really… I don’t want to operate a garage sale, I don’t want to fight with someone over whether I’ll take $12.50 rather than $15, and well I really just want to get rid of it so it doesn’t waste my space. My “interest” is unloading something I don’t want to keep in my house. The other person’s “interest” is in getting a free microwave stand. The environment’s “interest” is that a piece of furniture did not need to be manufactured, stored, shipped and sold. (We’ve previously talked about “The Story of Stuff”) The object’s “interest” is that it becomes useful rather than just wasting space. Sound “interesting?”
This truly is “re-cycling” something useful to another person. Because there is no exchange of money or other consideration, the opportunity for fraud / theft etc is super low (making this safer than other systems where money is exchanged for goods).
It works quite well, and I’m really pleased with the free wooden rocking chair I’m looking at across the room. Not everything you ask for will be given. “Lego” is a hard sell. Nobody wants to give up their “Lego”! It is an email group. So don’t use your work email. use a “junk email” that can receive a steady stream of offers.
Getting started with free-cycle.
1. Chose a “junk” email address to use, because you are going to get lots of emails.
2. Find a group in your area by visiting free-cycle.org and typing in your city
3. Read the “rules” (guidelines) so you learn what kind of behaviour fits with free-cycle
4. Start reading and respond to items that interest you.
It is better to give than to receive. Freecycle helps you do both in a way that is responsible; socially, fiscally and environmentally.
Cheers! Enjoy the free stuff.
Greg.
Filed under: Quality, Excellence & Design | Tags: cost benefit, format, free, office, open, open standard, save money, software, standard, tips
I’m speaking generally in this article and not attempting to show too much favouritism, but I am painting history with a pretty broad brush so I appreciate your accomodation of that.
IBM clone PC
IBM PC vs Apple Hardware
Until recently the “IBM PC” has absolutely killed more proprietary hardware (like Apple products) in affordability.
Our family owned a Laser 128 apple clone, but apart from that we have over the years owned 1 TRS80, 2 386s, 1 486, 2 Pentiums, 1 Celeron, 1 Athlon64, 2Athlons, 1 zeon AND zero apples. Now this is with all the exposure to Apples in the school system (hence the Laser 128)
There was only 1 “Apple” computer company making hardware, but there are many many computer companies building “IBM clones”. We could purchase a 386 for $1500 or we could purchase the same computer from Apple for double the price. IBM decided to “open” the form-factor for their IBM PC so that low cost manufacurers overseas could “clone” or copy the hardware without paying licensing fees or battling an army of lawyers. Suddenly this meant there were 5 -10-15-20 soundcard manufacturers, and 20 video card manufacturers, and 10 hard drive manufacturers and 40 Motherboard manufacturers all able to design compatible products and compete on features and price. While Apple design has remained compelling, it is like Ford’s model T. “Any colour you like as long as it is black”.
I attended a wedding a few years ago and listened to a man chatting at a table who had worked for IBM for years comment; “It’s really too bad that IBM opened up their PC design, they could have made a killing if they had just held onto that and not let others use their design and build components”. He missed it. He didn’t understand that it was precisely because others could have the blueprints that we had commodity computers and incredible demand. (Understand there is high demand for affordable computers, and very little demand for unaffordable computers)
Open Standards let us cooperate and work together
There are lots of smart people out there. They don’t all do things the same way, we have chaos or war unless people can agree on how to work together. that is why we have “standards”. Those attempts to get everyone playing by the same set of rules so we can work together. Some examples;
- A green light in traffic means…?
- In my country we drive on which side of the road?
- A Meter is exactly how long?
- Do you use POP3 or SMTP for receiving or sending email?
- Are you reading an HTML web page right now transferred by HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol)?
So standards are smart right? They allow people who are willing to negotiate or compromise to choose a common method (often it is not the “best”) but it is reasonable for the greatest number of people who are willing to collaborate.
Open versus closed design
Some silly companies think that cooperating with others reveals “weakness”. They think that they are smarter than everyone else. They think everybody should do things their way and they work hard to avoid cooperating with others. Lets call them “big brothers” because they like to be in charge of the customer and remove choice. Here the 2 philosopies collide. The collaborators and the “big brothers. Collaborators try to make things like software and file formats work with others including “big brother’s. The “big brothers” work hard to obscure and continually update their formats to make them difficult to copy. Big brother is all about control. Ironically Apple chose imagery from 1984 for their 1984 Superbowl ad where they were urging people to break free from the IBM PC. ROFL! OK, when it comes to file formats, there are many “big brothers” out there. Kudos! It was a brilliant Ad anyways Apple! (as was this um… “modification“)
Big Brother knows best!
Office document formats and the battle for useability
For years, Microsoft’s office formats have been the only game in town. MS Word, MS Excel etc. If you try exporting to another format, they you “lose features” and the docs never did look quite right. Microsoft is no longer the only game in town, but they are holding on hard to the idea that they know best, that cooperation is not as good as being uncooperative inovation. Every version of Microsoft office introduced new formats that would not work with the old versions of the program (or would not work well). In order to make things work, you would have to “upgrade” to the new version. (Now there was nothing wrong with the old one, its just that Auntie Sue bought a new computer that had the new version and now you can’t read what she writes..) So pull out your wallet and pay money every year to be able to continue doing the same things you did last year. That is how the “big brothers” make your life. Expensive and difficult.
Enter the giant killers.
Open Office has been looming on the horizon for years. Their converters for MS Office documents have been getting better and better. Now you can use free software that works pretty much as well as the MS Office programs, and it can convert to and from those formats. Open Office saves you paying hundreds of dollars to Microsoft, and new versions address the version issues Microsoft creates.
Google has created an online system called Google Docs that allows you to create, upload, edit and download documents online. No software other than your web-browser is required, and there is a a high level of compatibility with other office formats.
These companies are making your life easier, more affordable, and are being open and transparent about their formats so that you have fewer hassles. Their “open design” is translating into “Good design” and putting money back in the wallets of people who have been paying “rent” on their software for far too long.
Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: BC, BC-STV, BCSTV, british columbia, cost benefit, democracy, effectiveness, election, government, improvement, incremental improvement, provincial election, quality, single transferable vote, stv, voting
British Columbians have a unique opportunity to improve the quality of our electoral system on May 12th when our province holds its next provincial election. Under the slogan “Power up the vote”, the BC Citizen’s Assembly is advocating the “Single Transferable Vote” this may be the single most significant opportunity to improve how we vote. Their website tries to anticipate and answer questions about the STV.
The Citizen’s Assembly was charged with making a recommendation directly to the citizens of BC, to improve our voting system. through a process detailed on their website, the BC Citizen’s Assembly determined that the BC-STV system would bring us the most advantages.
Current system
In British Columbia currently there is the system of “first past the pole” the candidate with the most votes wins. Truly it is the simplest system, but upon comparison with other options it is clearly far from perfect. Consider a hypothetical situation with the current system where in a riding there were 4 candidates each receiving 24%, 24%, 25% and 27% of the vote. It is clear that the candidate with 27% of the vote is the winner. However, it is also clear that 73% of the votes were “wasted” / “unrepresented in government” and that the majority of voters preferred someone other than the winner. Here is how the BC Citizen’s Assembly put it…
British Columbians believe that it isn’t fair that a party can form government without having the most votes, or that our province could be left without an official opposition – even if we voted for one. We don’t think its fair that a party can govern as if it had majority support when it doesn’t, or that a majority of votes do not elect anybody, or that some regions may have no representation in government at all.
Regardless of how we vote, British Columbians think elections should be about fair results, greater choice, effective local representation and accountable government.
Proposed system
Basically you only get to vote once, but your vote is more powerful. If you picked a losing candidate, your vote keeps on working to better represent your vote. Check out the 4.5 minute video below. It is brilliant.
Why is there another referendum after the one held in 2005?
In the referendum in May 2005, STV received 57.7% of the total vote and a clear majority in 77 of 79 electoral districts. Although it far exceeded the first bar of receiving majority support in at least 48 constituencies, it narrowly missed the second unprecedented 60% province wide threshold. Clearly this created a problem because only 42.3% supported retaining the current system. Given the results it was entirely appropriate that the people of BC be further more opportunity to explore STV. The question will be put to all the voters in BC in a second referendum, held on May 12, 2009, in conjunction with the next provincial election. If the voters clearly endorse the Citizens’ Assembly’s recommendation, the government has promised it will introduce legislation so that the new electoral system could be in place for the following provincial election in May 2013. http://www.bc-stv.ca/
Vote for the BC-STV
From what I’ve learned in my research, the BC-STV is an improvement that would give British Columbian voters better representation by popular vote. It seems like a brilliant idea, let me encourage you to;
1. Vote for the BC -STV on May 19th 12th. [Updated, Thanks!]
2. Explain the BC-STV to at least 3 other eligible voters so they can be informed.
Happy Voting! Oh, and check out these related videos on Proportional Representation featuring John Cleese and one of the Royal Canadian Air Farce: https://stv.ca/humour
Greg.
Filed under: lifehacking, Quality, Excellence & Design, Sustainable Living & Social Issues | Tags: auction, bargain, compare, cost, cost benefit, haggling, learning, lifehacking, markup, money, price, price tag, price versus value, quality, retail, save money, social responsibility, value proposition
I grew up in a world where the price on the price tag was the price you paid. Being a shrewd consumer involved shopping around for the same product with a lower sticker price. Although I did attend an auction or two in my childhood, that was an experience far removed from our weekly shopping trips. I grew up learning that price was important, but quality was also important so the product would last and not need replacement or repair. So sometimes paying a little more for better quality meant conserving money in the long run. I want to pay the least and conserve my money for use elsewhere, but with a growing understanding of where our products come from, I won’t knowingly choose a low price at the expense of others or the natural environment. In this journey from fact to face negotiation, to automated Internet transactions and corporate marketing strategies, It is easy to lose sight of the people on the other sided of the transaction whose welfare must remain a part of the equation.
(flickr credit: sharpstick's photos)
In married life, the Internet has allowed us to compare prices without actually having to visit stores (much like the telephone allows), in fact we can compare prices without actually interacting with another person. It feels like a safe anonymous inexpensive activity. Ebay started introducing us to live on the wild side by bidding for things at “less than” the asking price. Until recently this was the extent of our financial education until I met my friend Cindy at work and she introduced me to the idea of “asking for a better price”. “The worst they can say is no” she explained. So in small ways I began to assert my desire for fairer prices. Saving $200 on fees associated with buying a car, saving $15 off the price of a pair of shoes. Spotting inconsequential defects and asking the cashier for a deduction.
Experience has eroded my confidence that retail prices accurately reflect value
I remember being shocked to observe retail markup first hand when i worked at the garden centre. I saw two things that forever changed my view on pricing.
1. The first was observing products coming in at a wholesale price and immediately being marked up to a retail price that was 2 times the wholesale. The $4 items became $8 items, and the $40 items became $80 items. I was alarmed that at the garden centre 1/2 of every price was basically profit.
2. The second was re-potting plants. When a plant outgrew its 1 gallon pot, we would pull it out and place it in a 2 gallon pot surrounded with fresh dirt. So on Friday the shrub was a 1 gallon plant for $4 and on Saturday it was a 2 gallon plant for $7. In some cases the re-potting would only be half complete, and customers would pass over the 1 gallon shrubs to purchase a 2 gallon shrub (the plants were identical).
I think you will share some of the other experiences I’ve had;
- Gas wars where 2 gas stations compete on price and the cost of a litre of fuel drops and drops to ridiculous prices (like 1cent for a litre).
- Electronics where the retail price drops month after month, while other electronics like the Nintendo Wii where the retail price remains constant for years.
- Recently crude oil prices plummeted while gasoline prices remained at record high levels for over a year.
(flickr caption: Micah Maziar)
Clearly the retail price is not a reflection of value in all cases. The prices rise and fall despite constant demand and identical products. The prices you see are not the direct result of a “market effect” but rather the contrived price of marketeers. In some cases, nobody pays the same price, such as in the case of “yield management” where the airlines use complex formulas in their attempt to extract as much money as possible from each customer for a seat on the same plane.
Very recently on a trip to Mexico, I saw how a silver right for $80 could be purchased for $35. How? by haggling. A bead bracelet for $5 becomes 2 for $7 at a cost of $3.50 each. Now there are the long faces and the sad stories of large families at home in need of money, but don’t tear up, it is a game. In the 5 minutes it took you to pay $7, you supplied 1/3 of the average Mexicans daily wage. This whole process of haggling over prices felt uncomfortable to me. As someone accustomed to paying sticker price. I feel awkward haggling or arguing over price. Because the “price tag” is what the man asked, I feel compelled to pay it. After the face I am faced with the tension (maybe unhappiness) that results from having options in the price I pay. My joy at “finding a good price” is robbed from me when I realize that I could have negotiated a “better price”. When I do haggle for a “better price” I wonder if I got he best price, or did I settle too high?
(flickr credit: Pandiyan)
The only solution I have found to this unhappiness with the prices I’ve paid is the value proposition. What is the value of this to me and given this value am I content with the price I paid for this product. For me the value proposition includes; the price I must pay, the quality of the product, the level of customer service I receive and the social impact of the product through its manufacture and associated labour and waste (explained clearly in “the story of stuff“). If I am content, then it does not matter that someone else got a better price or that the price dropped the next week. I am content, I make my purchase and (unless there is a deal to refund my money when the price drops) I walk away secure that I made a choice and paid a price I was content with.
I wish you success in leveraging the “value proposition” for your own peace of mind in purchasing.
Greg.
Filed under: lifehacking, Sustainable Living & Social Issues | Tags: accessible, books, cost benefit, course, education, effectiveness, equitable, free, higher learning, learning, reading list, save money, save time, school, subjects, university, video
Don’t have a trust fund full of cash sitting around to send you to the finest universities? Don’t have 4 years of your life to throw at a degree? Want be educated by top schools and experts in the field without the typical investment of time and money? I’ve discovered 3 options to get you started on Free Higher Education.
(flickr credit: Peter Shanks)
1. MITOpenCourseware
Several years ago,MIT introduced Open Courseware, which was the sharing of some MIT courses so that anyone with an Internet connection could have access to lectures exams and videos. Scanned in notes plus lectures allowed anyone to recieve an MIT education (minus the credentials and the long lineups to get into courses you want.) I studied a little bit of queueing theory out of my own interest in the efficiency of traffic flow. Now I wasn’t pursuing this learning seriously, so I was just “browsing” so to speak. If someone was disciplined enough to study and do the reading and assignment they could really benefit from MITOpenCourseware
2. Personal MBA
This last year I learned about “Personal MBA” and began pursuing this myself. Over at http://personalmba.com/, in a nutshell the claim is; “Business schools don’t have a monopoly on worldly wisdom. If you’re serious about learning advanced business principles, the Personal MBA can help you master business without the baggage of b-school. ” Surveyed MBA program graduates sometimes share that the greatest benefit of the MBA came from the reading list and interacting with “some of the finest minds in business” through the reading list. Check out their “Manifesto” here: http://personalmba.com/manifesto/ For those of you eager to cut to the chase, here is the link to the reading list.
3. AcademicEarth
And even more recently I have discovered http://academicearth.org/ There you can watch videos of lectures from the following universities;
- Berkeley
- Harvard
- MIT
- Princeton
- Stanford
- Yale
on the following subjects; Astronomy, Biology, Chemistry, Computer, Science, Economics, Engineering, English, Entrepreneurship, History, Law, Mathematics, Medicine, Philosophy, Physics, Political Science, Psychology, Religion
I’ve always found it sobering that I will not live long enough to learn everything that I would like to learn, or read everything that I would like to read. These options offer the same challenge in that there are many good things you could pursue and learn, so you must choose well and ignore the rest. I love that these three options truly level the playing field in terms of learning. You may not get a degree from these options, but you can certainly use these tools for accessible quality education.
Happy learning!
Greg
Filed under: Sustainable Living & Social Issues | Tags: carpool, conservation, cost benefit, environmental, health, social responsibility, sustainable living, tips
Carpooling makes sense, you’ve been enjoying the benefits of carpooling for a while, you’ve adjusted to sharing commuting space and what seemed like a brand new adventure now seems normal. Overall it has been good and you want your carpool to carry on, but there are these “minor annoyances” that are making carpooling a little bit tougher. It started with the really strong perfume that made your car smell like… really strong perfume, then there was the coffee spill on your uphostery. Life happens you know it could easily have been you, but then there were those surprises where some in your carpool just didn’t show up without letting anyone know. You waited patiently at first, now its almost a running joke that the carpool does not leave at the time you all agreed to. You have put up with these annoyances, ascribed them to personal style or just plain ignored them thinking that maybe the behaviour would improve. It hasn’t…
Does this sound familiar? I hope not, but for thousands of carpoolers, that is the reality of their carpool. The carpool finds itself held hostage to bad behaviour, rudeness, inconsideration and the ambiguity of unclear expectations in order to retain the benefits of carpooling. With the possible exception of a cement truck with no brakes, nothing will kill your carpool faster than carpoolers who don’t respect each other. Let me encouage you to prevent that situation through the following approach to carpool Etiquette;
Bono Holds the Door (flickr credit: dpnash)
Clearly outline your carpool’s rules
It is only fair. Otherwise one person’s high standards and another’s low standards could be in conflict even though nobody is actually intending disrespect or breaking a rule. By letting everyone in the carpool know about the expected standard of behaviour, everyone can be absolutely crystal clear when they are not respecting the group. Writing things down tends to make things much more clear than just chatting about them in the carpool lane at 110km/h. Since carpooling is optional, a member of the carpool who doesn’t want to abide by the rules can either negotiate, or find a carpool with more lax rules.
Abide by and enforce your carpool’s rules
The strongest teacher is example. If you are always “running a couple minutes late”, you shouldn’t be surprised if the others in your carpool also “run a couple minutes late”. If you can’t follow the rules, then don’t have them. Rules are actually there to be followed. On the other side of the equation, if there is no consequence for not following the rules, or the group is so fearful to point out infractions, then you might as well not have rules at all. If the carpool feels free to point out violations, it sends a clear message that disrespect is not accepted by the group.
Carpool Etiquette – Rules you might choose for your carpool
So what rules should you have for your carpool? maybe your carpool is composed of like minded individuals who share the same values, or perhaps there is a real diversity of backgrounds, and what means respect to one person is completely optional to another. I’ve been hunting online for a list of carpool rules and drawing from my own experience to give you the following selection of rules to strengthen your carpool and improve everyone’s experience.
- Be prompt. Perhaps you think 5 minutes is nothing, but when it happens twice a day and 3 other people are waiting you just wasted 30 minutes of other people’s time. In our carpool, we wait up to 5 minutes then we leave. Leaving work on time after work is as important as being on time in the morning. That providential meeting in the hallway at the end of the day needs to end before carpool is scheduled to leave. If carpool leaves at 7:30, then 7:32 may be fine for everybody getting settled and buckled in, but 7:39 is clearly not “on-time”.
- Don’t run errands when you are driving the carpool. This includes not stopping at the gas station. Always have your car full of gas so you don’t make your carpool sit at the gas-station while you fill up. The point of carpool is getting to and from work effectively.
- Safety first. Everyone should feel safe, so the whole carpool adjusts towards the driving style of the safest driver (not the most hesitant driver).
- Avoid strong fragrances; perfume, hairspray, scented hand lotions all have fragrances which the others who are enclosed in the air-tight vehicle may not choose.
- If your work requires you to sweat or otherwise get dirty, respect your carpool by covering their seats with towels to protect the vehicle.
- The car should be reasonably clean and odour free in preparation for the carpool. Clean seats give your fellow carpoolers confidence when they sit down in their best business clothes for the commute.
- Be sensitive with the choice of music. No music is easier to manage.
- Life happens. Call if there is a problem. Communicate early! Lots of warning lets people plan. Remember they are counting on you. So have everyone’s contact information. Yes you can phone my house at 6AM if there is a problem. Getting to work is important enough for my phone to ring.
- Let the driver drive. His job is to keep everyone safe in traffic by paying attention and using his judgement. Backseatdrivers need not apply. (imaginary brake pedals for the passenger are fine, call it a reflex).
- Set food rules; Is coffee or food allowed in the car? (each car may have different rules).
- Don’t have long cell phone conversations while you’re in the carpool. It says something if you are ignoring the person beside you while having an enthusiastic conversation with someone who is not present. Short calls to check in at home, leave reminders and take care of telephone errands are usually acceptable. (remember your audience includes those present).
- Avoid discussing controversial topics like religion or politics unless you know your fellow carpoolers well. While some people enjoy debating the issues, others may prefer a quieter commute. Depending on the enthusiasm of co-workers in your carpool, you may want other rules to limit the amount of “work” conversation that occurs en-route.
Carpooling is about relating with others.
Rules are useful and necessary for bringing order and predictability to your carpool, but be sure to employ them with flexibility for maximum impact.
- Think in terms of equity, fairness and putting yourself in the other person’s shoes.
- Discuss carpool costs together. If members agree to rotate the driving equally, then money doesn’t have to change hands. But if only one person drives the carpool, passengers generally chip in to cover the costs of gas and parking.
- Compromise where you can – They want to leave at the crack of dawn, you want to leave 30 minutes later. Try leaving at 15 minutes after the crack of dawn.
- Realize that not everyone in a carpool has the same degree of flexibility. While some members may be leaving a “spare” $23,000 SUV in their driveway, others may be single car families with much less flexibility since the rest of their family may have plans for the car when it is not driving the carpool.
- Keeping money out of the equation may move you from a transactional carpool which is interested in the exact dollars and cents owed towards a relational carpool where you focus on giving and receiving a benefit.
- Consider seating arrangements. Those needing more space or prone to car-sickness up front, and the most compatible or compact folks in the back seat where there is less room.
It is my hope that the tips I’ve shared above make your life and your carpool better. If you have tips or carpool experiences to share, hit the comments below. Thanks! Greg.
Filed under: Sustainable Living & Social Issues | Tags: carpool, conservation, cost benefit, environmental, health, money, safety, save money, social responsibility, sustainable living, tips
So you are interested in the idea of carpooling but you aren’t sure it will work for you. Don’t worry, you aren’t alone. Most carpoolers have stood in your shoes and wondered about the benefits and costs of carpooling. With some encouragement and a little experimentation you can make carpooling work for you. The following tips are born of my experiences and are provided to help you increase the success of your first foray into carpooling.
carpool lane (flickr credit: Richard Drdul)
1. First of all, take “Baby steps” and “try before you buy”. Rather than committing to carpool full-time right away, test-drive the idea of carpooling. With some of the friends from my office, we started with carpooling a couple days a week. This meant that 3/5 of the days were business as usual, but 2/5 were trying out carpooling. Even if you only end up carpooling a couple days a week, you realize many of the carpooling benefits which might include; saving money, less stressful driving, carpool lanes, less wear and tear on your vehicle. Pick a duration for your carpool trial and re-evaluate at the end of that time. Say; “Well, I’m just not sure how I will feel about not having my own space on the commute, but I’d like to give this a try to see how well I do with this. For the next month, lets carpool on Mondays and Tuesdays, and evaluate at the end of the month.” Did you notice how the language was around your own experience, and not around the other person’s driving or conversational skills? This way you can easily say “No” without anyone feeling judged.
2. Pick good people, set yourself up for success. Try carpooling with people you know. Sharing a common office environment and of course knowing the people increases the safety of the situation. You might find it harder (and probably should) to drive off with a stranger in their car. Sharing an office also improves the chances that you share common working hours and will have very little conflict regarding when the carpool arrives and leaves. Choose people you are comfortable with, people you can get along with who you won’t mind having in your commuting space. Good people make all the difference in the world.
3. Schedule driving days in advance. Unless it is Christmas, nobody likes surprises. If the people in your carpool are forewarned about which day they are driving, they can; have gas in the car, have the car clean, and not promise the car to their wife that day. Having members of the carpool drive on certain days, (I always drive on Mondays) gives a rhythm and predictability to the carpool routine that reduces stress. Naturally you will want to keep things fair so on some days there will be variation in who drives. (Wednesdays could be Greg, Jen or Mo) That variation should be predictable too, so break out your favourite spreadsheet tool and build a schedule (to keep at your desk, on the visor of your car, and on the back of your door at home) so everyone can avoid being “surprised” when it is their day to drive.
4. Clearly agree on how the carpool will work. Will it be like a carpool bus-route, where the driver goes to several houses to collect people in the morning and drop them off at night, which requires only one vehicle to be in motion on a given day. This is the most car efficient, but depending on driving direction and distances, may not be the most time efficient. Will your carpool meet centrally so everyone is responsible for getting “down the hill” to the rendezvous point? This could mean adding a couple minutes of buffer to everyone’s schedule prior to rendezvous so they don’t keep anyone waiting. Will your carpool meet at the house closest to destination with cars left on the street or in a driveway? It means a lot less hassle for the person with the handy house, but uses more cars and may mean those furthest away may be commuting many more minutes a day just to make the carpool work.
6. Drive well. You just found some people that were willing to trust you with their lives on the morning commute. Honour that trust by keeping everyone safe. In fact strive to raise the safety of your driving to match the safest person in your carpool. Nobody should be scared in the carpool, and if someone expresses their fear, say “Thank you” and take it as a compliment that they felt you would be open enough to receive constructive criticism. Drive “Silky smooth”. Richard in our carpool coined that term and we look forward to a “Silky Smooth” commute every time Richard drives. This helps everyone feel comfortable, saves fuel and helps those prone to motion sickness to not feel seasick after the commute.
7. Bulk up your carpool for resilience. If you have a 2 person carpool and 1 of the 2 people can’t make it, the carpool is dead for that day. If you have a 3 person carpool and one person can’t make it, the carpool lives on. 3 and 4 person carpools are very resilient and able to continue on even if one person is sick for a week and another person has random work schedule changes… You carpool when you can, and your carpool extends benefits to whoever can carpool on a given day. Some days our carpool saves $10 in gas, other days it saves as much as $30 in gas.
8. Enjoy yourselves. It’s about community and it’s much more than a business transaction. If you are social with carpool, after a short while you will find yourself looking forward to the time you can spend with friends on the ride home. Some of the tools to improve your carpool’s enjoyability include; agreed upon audio books, baking or coffee in the morning, carefully selected music, the odd DVD movie (back seat only), and the normal exuberant conversation that comes after a long day at work. You’ll have inside jokes and your own secret carpool language in no time… Well OK maybe just some inside jokes.
Carpooling is about achieving something together that you could not on your own. With the 8 suggestions above you will greatly increase the chances that you can start carpooling successfully. Then you get to enjoy the benefits that brings.
I hope that helps! Leave your suggestions in the comments below so others can benefit from your experiences.
Greg.
Filed under: Sustainable Living & Social Issues | Tags: banks, corporation, cost benefit, Credit, crisis, government, money, moral, security, social responsibility
There is a really informative video by Jonathan Jarvis at Vimeo which provides an overview of the credit crisis.
If you have found yourself struggling to understand how everything could get so messed up, you might find this video to be quite enlightening.
The Credit Crisis Explained
Check it out The Crisis of Credit Visualized
Thanks Jonathan for the excellent explanation which was quite easy to listen to!
Filed under: lifehacking, Sustainable Living & Social Issues | Tags: car pool, carpool, conservation, cost benefit, energy, environmental, insurance, lifehacking, money, save, social responsibility, stress, sustainable living, time
By carpooling I probably save over $1500 a year in after-tax dollars. I think there are other advantages to carpooling that you should know about which you may not have considered.
Let me start by saying that I never thought I would carpool. The idea was fine for other people but, I liked the convenience of being able to come and go as I pleased, even though I arrived at work and left work like clockwork. I thought I was probably a better driver than anyone I would carpool with, so from a safety perspective I didn’t want to put my life at risk. I also didn’t really want total strangers in my personal space yet worked in an office that probably had 20 people I knew driving the same commute. So I had objections which no longer apply at this point.
Carpool
In commuting all year with 2 other people on a 1 hour commute, we have gas costs of about $10 per day and the mileage driven is roughly 100km/day.
I have discovered the following benefits when carpooling;
- Less wear and tear on my car because I drive about 15,000 kilometers less per year
- Less parking costs when we are able to use one parking spot for all 3 of us
- We have personally reduced congestion in traffic by taking 2 cars a day off the road
- Saving about $1500 a year in gas
- By removing 2 cars per day from the road we have each reduced our contribution to air pollution by 2/3rds
- By reducing our gas consumption by 2/3rds we are reducing North American dependence on imported oil and conserving existing fuel stocks
- By leaving my car at home 3 days a week, my wife can use it to run errands, and we can operate our household on 1 vehicle rather than 2 (Save $1500/year on insurance, Save $2300+ per year on the capital cost of purchasing a car + financing)
- Since I drive only 1/3rd of the time, I am less exposed to an accident in my vehicle (which would be on my insurance).
- I’ve become a better driver through closely observing how the other drivers drive. Jen calculates an optimal route and sticks to the plan. Claudiu does not sweat the small stuff in traffic and maintains his cool etc…
- I experience “debriefing” time on the way home which allows me to get work out of my system with people who will listen, before I get home which benefits my family. Along the same lines, conversing with my co-workers outside of work improves my perspective on things that happen in the office and gives an opportunity for me to solicit input outside of formal work channels.
- Those in our carpool have benefited from increased sleep time (mornings only), video time (backseat only), cellphone, reading and crocheting time and “staring out the window” down-time. All of these are best done while someone else is driving.
- Improved safety in traffic because there are extra sets of eyes in the car which can help spot hazards earlier.
- A team dedicated to getting me home quickly and safely who work together to scan radio and websites for traffic and routing information when traffic get congested. (Reading websites on your phone is not recommended while driving)
Others may realize additional benefits like:
- Access to carpool lanes which may reduce commuting time, stress and gas consumption/cost.
- Reduced car insurance costs if the number of kilometers they drive and the number of days they drive qualifies them for a reduced premium.
I think this list is pretty impressive, and I never would have seen all of these benefits if I hadn’t started carpooling. In a future post I plan to address carpool etiquette, and getting a successful carpool started. I hope you find some of these reasons compelling to start thinking about whether a carpool could benefit you in your situation.
Leave your comments below if you have any questions or if you have realized other carpooling benefits.
Cheers!
Greg.
Quality In Life - Living Smarter... 