Cranky on the Web – SkyMall Goes Down, Monstrous Blizzards, Cleveland, and Snail Mail

Jan 31, 2015

More Reading on This Topic: Weather

It was a busy week on the web…

SkyMall Lands in Bankruptcy as Air Travelers Shun Catalog – Bloomberg
SkyMall is bankrupt and Bloomberg asked me why. You probably can figure it out without my help.

Winter storm Juno impacts Southern California travel – Inland Valley Daily Bulletin
This one of the many stories about this week’s blizzard. I talked about how things had gone for us at Cranky Concierge.

The Blizzard of 2015 is Here: What Travelers Can Do to Protect Themselves – Yahoo! Travel
Thanks to Johnny Jet for suggesting people contact Cranky Concierge if they run into weather trouble.

What to Do When Your Flight Is Canceled – wendyperrin.com
Wendy Perrin left Conde Nast Traveler to start her own travel business, and she included Cranky Concierge in this week’s newsletter.

Cleveland Hopkins fares in wake of United dehubbing: A tale of two airports – Cleveland Plain Dealer
A year after United Airlines dismantles its hub, scrappy new airlines, gaps in service – Cleveland Plain Dealer
The Plain Dealer takes a look at the state of Cleveland’s air service a year after United announced it was pulling down the hub. I was quoted in both pieces.

Two Airlines Battle for the Soul of Seattle—and the Seahawks – CityLab
Taking a look at the fun fight in Seattle just in time for the super bowl.

In the Trenches: Handling Snail Mail – Small Business Center
Lastly, a look at snail mail. I’m trying to figure out a good way to deal with this.

Brett

7 responses to “Cranky on the Web – SkyMall Goes Down, Monstrous Blizzards, Cleveland, and Snail Mail”

Oliver

Jan 31, 2015 at 8:39 am

Wouldn’t the advantage of a ups store mailbox (or similar) be that it is a physical address, I.e. Could be used for all your needs?

How much does it cost compared to USPS boxes?

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1. CF
  
  Feb 4, 2015 at 11:01 am
  
  Oliver – Actually PO Boxes have physical addresses now too. You can use the physical post office address and they can take FedEx, etc. So there’s no advantage to the UPS Store anymore.
  
  Reply
David SF eastbay

Jan 31, 2015 at 9:45 am

I’m surprised SkyMall was around all this time at all. I would look at it and thought the items inside were either dumb/wierd and high priced. I didn’t think anyone would really take the catalog with them and buy something. And that was before online shopping was around, so they must have published catalogs under other names that were mailed to homes.

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David SF eastbay

Jan 31, 2015 at 9:54 am

Snail Mail

I would not like the idea of someone at come company opening my mail no matter what they did with it after, I’d rather get it myself.

Just get a rental box at a company near you and just suck up the price. Better for you to handle it yourself, plus unlike the post office where your address is P.O. Box 123, your business cards/letter head etc would now be able to show Cranky Flier 456 Main St, Suite 123 which looks more business like and looks like a more established company. But if you have a lot of local clients, they could think that is an address where you are actually sitting in all day and might show up there unless you add ‘mailing address’ or ‘mailing address only’ to your docs.

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Jim

Jan 31, 2015 at 6:21 pm

Brett, many banks let you deposit checks by uploading scanned images. If you use a virtual mailbox service, you may be able to simply “deposit” the checks through your bank’s website.

Reply
1. CF
  
  Feb 4, 2015 at 11:01 am
  
  Jim – Hmm, I wonder if you can just upload a scan for those? The one I use doesn’t let me do that – it has to be a fresh scan from within the app.
  
  Reply
lithdoc

Jan 31, 2015 at 7:00 pm

Unfortunately, the story of skymall is not as simple as it seems…

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/06/skymall-the-strange-story-of-americas-most-delightfully-weird-catalogue/276807/

I don’t think it was unprofitable, but rather, fell victim to white collar crime.

Reply