Recent Articles from Jeff Rundles
Craftsmanship in a Disposable World: The Decline of Repair Culture
My wife has a very nice ski jacket that we got for her birthday a couple of years ago, and last winter the zipper broke. I suggested we just take it to a tailor and have it repaired. However, we soon discovered that (a), there aren’t that many tailors around anymore, and (b) the one […]
How E-Bikes Will Transform the Transportation Economy in Colorado in 2024
All of a sudden, just this year — just the last few months really — everywhere I go I see and hear about electric bikes. E-bikes are the new fad, rolling into popularity as fast as their pedal-assisted electric motors will drive them. Among my circle of friends and acquaintances, they are the hottest new […]
AI Revolution: Unveiling the Transformative Power and Unforeseen Consequences
The technology buzz over the last several months is the rapid revolution of AI (artificial intelligence) and such new manifestations of it like ChatGPT (Generative Pre-trained Transformer) that, it is said, can draw on the vast universe of all human knowledge to generate human-like writing and question responses/answers at super-human speed. AI can, apparently, also […]
Wrap Rage — You’ve Probably Experienced It
So I go to the store and pick up some item or another, take it home, and then I discover that I am going to need some help — like TNT, a howitzer, chain saw, Sawzall, plastic explosives — just to open the packaging. Have you tried to open a pack of batteries? Or, God […]
Big Box Stores are Replacing Their Electronics Section with… Animal Appliances and Pet Necessities?
Recently I visited a Big Box store that had undergone an extensive renovation, mostly for organization purposes to better the store flow, but there were interesting changes. The one that really caught my eye was the pet section. This store moved and shrunk its once-massive TV and electronics section and replaced it with a huge, […]
Domestic Tranquility — The Importance of Government Initiatives for American Made Products
Two years ago, when gasoline prices were in the $2.20 range, I thought how fortunate I was, not to mention everyone else, that a staple of modern life wasn’t just affordable, but a decent bargain. Then, of course, came the climb, when gasoline prices in Colorado and other locales shot up above $5 a gallon, […]
Temporary Madness
The news that there are no longer any single-family homes in the Denver area for $300,000 or less is, frankly, horrifying. As the median price for area homes has crept to the $1 million mark, what these two facts together mean is that even a $500,000 home is in a sketchy neighborhood. At least sketchy […]
Thank You, Inflation
Inflation in our economy has reared its ugly head for the first time in over 40 years, at the rate of 7.04 percent for the 12 months ending in December. I hear everywhere from people that it is hitting the pocketbooks of everyday Americans pretty hard. Of particularly hard-hit areas, consider that the consumer price […]
Why frustration is good business
There is some algorithm somewhere that shows that a high percentage of frustrated people simply give up and drop their inquiries at a certain time in the experience, so the companies can avoid paying claims or even hearing the complaints. We just go away, and they count on that. Customer frustration is good for business.
Being kind to those who show up
Suddenly, the labor market, at least on the low end, has shifted from business-centric to worker-centric, and this dynamic is very likely to play out like that for some time to come. The market has spoken: Business is going to have to be kinder to those who show up.
Wrapping up 2020
If you had told anyone in February that this would be our reality seven months hence, the only appropriate response would have been “What?”
Executive Wheels: The 2020 Fiat 500x AWD leaves much to be desired
There is no doubt that the Fiat 500, and even this 500x, are popular Italian and European cars. But I suspect that here in the US, this shape of car will have a problem getting traction (no AWD pun intended).