Fort Myers Florida Weekly
My Dumbest Investment
The WebVan company marketed to the wrong audience according
the author of the article. It marketed to 20-year-old males instead of working
moms. From what I can gather, WebVan is an online grocery store that didn’t do
very well.
This was a very exciting company for the market, as it was a
brand-new idea. Investors put 800 million into the company, but in the first
year the company only netted $200,000.
The investors of WebVan are the ones who have the problem
now. The company filed for bankruptcy and went out of business. The investors
put a lot of money into a “cool idea” without all the details sorted out.
Autonomous vehicles versus pedestrians and bicyclists
This article discusses sensory cars, or self-driving, and
the effects on motorists. The back up cameras and sensors do help in reducing
injuries and rear-end collisions. With moving forward with fully automatic
cars, it could be putting drivers more at risk. Developers are rushing the
idea. Local and federal governments have been laid back about testing the cars
and has allowed them to be tested on public roads. The problem here is the
testing on public roads because most research trials do not put humans at risk
like this without an agreement established.
The company and local government have the problem here. If
someone gets hurt, these two entities will be the first at fault due to their
want and approval.
Demand for labor is up yet wages remain stagnant
As of the beginning of May, unemployment is at an all time
low. However, the number of workers quitting their jobs to find new ones in
rising. Many economists are confused because wages are not rising even though
there is a labor shortage.
Some reasonings for this include…
·
Typical Americans looking for work are not
trained for the new jobs being created today
·
Globalization of the labor pool. Technological advances
cause this
·
Robotics and other technologies have taken over jobs.
For example, consumers shopping online greatly decreases human workers.
·
Companies are giving more money to investors
than employees. Executives are being rewarded for this.
The main problem here is the low income in the Fort Myers
area because of new technologies and the lack of training in new skills. It is
suggested that workers learn the new “in demand” skills. Also, people should
become more flexible with what location they are in. That means being more
willing to move for a job.
My watch is killing me
In this article the woman talks about her struggles with the
Apple Watch and her “addiction” to it. She tells a story of how she wakes up to
find how much she had slept and realizes that her battery is only half charged,
and it could turn off at 2 p.m. She is immediately anxious that she will be
lost the rest of the day without her Apple Watch.
With everything that the Apple Watch tracks, it makes her
paranoid even through the data collected might not be completely accurate. She
takes the data she is given and researches it on Google to find she has all
these diseases (I think most of us do this).
The watch is cool. But it could make a person feel anxious
or depressed depending on how the information the Apple Watch is giving to the
user. The user had the problem in this aspect. Apple Watch will also see a
problem when users do not buy the newer versions being put out because they feel
anxious about it.
Palm Beach Daily News
Council breaks paid parking expansion
The Town Council is pushing the research for developing more
paid parking the business district and oceanside blocks. It sis seen that there
will be more parking turnover in the area, which will be good for customers and
business in the area. This will also bring in over $800,000 more to the town a
year. People do not want kiosks installed in the area, so everything would be
done by phone, by calling or going to an app.
There is another option the town is considering, which is “free-but-timed
parking.” A person can park for a certain amount of time for free before they must
start paying for parking.
Businesses are concerned that paid parking will decrease the
number of customers they get. People living in the area are upset they will
have to pay for parking when they go shopping. This is unfair to residents. Other
residents see this as a way to get better parking and have more available parking
because of the turnover.
Hi Hayley,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your post. I have never read an article from the Fort Myers Florida Weekly, so it was really neat to read. I found the article, My watch is killing me to be extremely interesting. I own an apply watch and have never heard of a story about someone being so addicted to their watch before or getting anxious or depressed because of it. However, now I see how that could be possible. You did a great job identifying the problem and the people for each article. Great post!
Hi, Hayley! Your articles were riveting! As a former advertising major, it seems that WebVan failed to do thorough research on their target market. I learned that this step is the most important in the marketing process. It is crazy to see the direct effects that this step has on the rest of a business plan. It was a good reminder for the class and myself, who may be planning on starting a business in the future.
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