Stamp your opinion here

So I had a firey conversation with a business proprietor tonight about loyalty programs and I am still trying to digest it in my head.

Here’s my point of view:

If I eat somewhere regularly, I love the ability to be rewarded, for my regular chowing down on some sort of fast food, with some sort of freebie or discount on an 8th or 10th time.

It’s a common thing with coffee shops and many take-away restaurants. I remember when I used to work near Woden Plaza, I would have about 4 or 5 different loyalty cards from the the plethora of options available in the food court. I would love the ability to check out how many stamps I had left to get before a free one and it would often determine where I was going to eat that day (I used to spend way too much money on take-away lunch in those days).

Sometimes I would buy 2 kebabs, or sandwiches or whatever if I was with a friend (or feeling particularly piggish) and then I would also get 2 stamps instead of 1. This was expected and seemed fair. One item, one stamp. Two items, two stamps.

And His Point of View:

A customer is visiting a store and may buy 1 or many items, depending on whether they are hungry or with friends or family. They might pay for it all together and if they have a loyalty card they would get 1 stamp for the visit no matter how many items they bought.

This would reward the customer for the visit and would encourage the customer to return more often (8 or 10 times) to be rewarded for their loyalty.

The theory being that they have to visit more often to fill up their card and get their freebie, not just buy multiples at once.

……

So, the theory being that ultimately you would give away less free items in his model, but would still reward visitors who make multiple visits.

I disagree with his idea because it doesn’t make the customer feel like they are getting a fair deal and the sour taste in their mouth from the ‘un-fairness’ would be enough to discourage that person from returning, assuming they have a choice of other places to go that might offer multiple stamps for multiple items.

At the end of the day I don’t think that either option will result in a huge difference in the amount of freebies being given out, but my option would increase the chances of the person feeling good about using the loyalty card and giving favourable opinions to friends and family.

So, what do you think? Yay or Nay on the multiple stamping?

Click here to cast your vote! – Free Poll’s here!

FREE CHOCOLATE!

Well, it only cost me $2 in raffle tickets.

I just won the Easter Raffle here at work!

I only bought 3 tickets, and I didn’t even hear my name called out.

yumyumyumyumyumyum.

I won a basket of Haigh’s Chocolate.

Never had their chocolate before but apparently it is good stuff.

Who wants to help me eat it??

HalloGiving

So, over the next couple of months we have 2 definitive American holidays that I am keen to experience.

The first is of course, Halloween

There are already pumpkins everywhere. And these are the orange kind. The green kind that we have in Australia are called squash here.

I am looking forward to seeing a carved face pumpkin, but I guess that happens closer to the day.

We are going to have a dress-up Halloween party at the Embassy on the day. I think I’ll just get a scary mask or something so no-one knows who I am  🙂

Then we have Thanksgiving! I am looking to head to Chicago for the weekend before Thanksgiving for a get together with a bunch of people that I have known for years online, but have met hardly any of them for real. (‘cept, Hi Amber!). Then on the actual weekend I hope to be a part of a real Thanksgiving dinner with some friends.

Although I really want to try a Turducken. A Turkey stuffed with a duck stuffed with a chicken. It’s ridiculous, but hey It’s gotta taste sooooo good.

Looks tasty hey?

Anyway, things have been going well! I have been very happy lately and enjoying the transition into Autumn (aka Fall, which I refuse to call it).

Happy Birthday to my Dad for last week, and hope everyone had a great Labour Day weekend in Australia!

Quizno’s vs Subway

Apparently there is a Quizno’s in Australia, but I had never seen it until I came to the States.

I have eaten a fair bit of Subway in my life, and even though it’s pretty good and ok for you, there is always that ‘Subway’ ™ taste about it wherever you go. I like the fact that Subway had started toasting the subs just before I left. Mmm…Melty..

So anyway, here in the states there is another sub chain called Quizno’s, and this place it very similar, but they have been toasting their subs all along, and they also have different sizes to Subway and offer other things like Bread Bowls. I have actually preferred them to Subway since being here, even though you’re still paying 8 bucks for a sandwich, but anyway…

Now watch this

Now does that thing look like the most disgusting thing you have ever seen in your life? I have seen this ad many times and everytime, even if I’m hungry or not it just makes me throw up in my mouth a little bit.

Our good friend Mr McD had one yesterday and I looked at it..looked at him and said, “So, that’s one of those brisket things hey?”, “yeah.”, “How is it?”, “Yeah…pretty crap”

Done and done.

Back to Subway I go…

Memorial Day….in memory…of those that are sent to their death….

So, it's Memorial Day.

What does that mean?

Similar to ANZAC Day, I am guessing it means that people should remember and honour the people that have fought and died for their country. (It also means that the Indy 500 was on….)
Unsimilar to ANZAC Day I have not seen much in the way of honest to goodness patriotism today.
I must admit, I didn't really do much of anything. I just enjoyed having a three day weekend and not having to go to work.

It has also been stinking hot here, with hints of how sticky the summer is going to be with the humidity. I am not minding it. I love the heat! Really….I do!

I have been eating so much crap though, although today the highlight was a Fajita Pizza from Papa Johns. Damn, that was a good pizza!

I'll have to get down to the gym though. It really can't be good for me….

Well I am over these dogs. I got home this afternoon to find the blind chewed up, the glass table knocked over, which meant that laptop was on the floor. The gate to the kitchen was knocked over. The back door handle was chewed up and there was shit upstairs and all over the back door and floor….

*sigh*

I know…i get myself into these things. It's just a pain in the arse when dogs act so badly!! Only 2 more night…Only 2 more night…

So..like my new style on the blog? 

Chili is good. Oh yes.

I had some mince meat with a bit of spice Chili tonight.

But not just any chili. This stuff was wrapped in a tortilla, draped with cheese, lettuce and tomato and then surrounded by cornchips with salsa and sour cream on the side.

Yum. Yum. Yum. Wish I has taken my camera!

Also found out today that I am house-sitting a house and a cat in a place called Crystal City for one of my workmates next week. I am stoked about this cause then I will be able to have some space and some time to myself, which will be very nice!

Yesterday was awesome in the snow. I have a heap of photos, but here’s one more that I thought you guys in Aussieland might like. We made a huge snowball by rolling a small ball around and around the croquet pitch until it got bigger and bigger. Almost too big to roll any more. Then we pushed it over to the hill beside the house and rolled it down the hill. I have a movie clip of it, but it’s pretty big. I will try and edit it a bit. Here is a pic of the big slushie!
And then the sun goes down on a fun day…

Hope you’re all having a great week!

Zambrero or Zambreros?

It’s been a quiet weekend, but on Friday night, I happened to head into Civic to have a look at some of the cars on Lonsdale St, in Braddon.

For a long time now, Lonsdale Street has been a mecca for burnouts, hotted up cars and more recently, lots of cops. I am not sure what the attraction to the place is, but apparently it’s fun to set up a folding chair at the end of the street and watch all the cars go past, and on Friday and Saturday night there were a LOT of cars. So many, that it probably took about 15 minutes just to travel 500m, from one end to the other, or around the roundabout and back up Mort Street.

I have no picture proof, but there must have been at least a thousand people lining the street when I turned up on Friday night..

Throught the gloom that is beer bottles, exhaust fumes, and Summernats t-shirts, was a new mexican takeaway.

This place stands out cause the front window is covered in bright green limes. It’s called Zambrero on the outside, but on the inside it’s referred to as Zambreros, so you take your pick…

The food is great though. They have tacos, burritos and nachos, and if any of you have been to Montezuma’s recently you will realise that their mexican food has gone to crap in the last year (change of ownership and Phillip closing down). The chicken in the burrito I had was tender, juicy and damn good.

It’s about time that there was some decent Mexican in Canberra. I tried some of their nachos as well, and the guacamole is awesome.

It’s only a small store, but I think this place will get some good business, especially seeing as though the over-priced Debacle is directly opposite..

Speaking of Summernats. It’s all over for another year and although there was a small accident with a stunt car, there are never any major accidents, which I think is probably thanks to the huge police presence in Canberra, but also that the people who go to Summernats are generally pretty behaved. They just love their cars, and seeing other cars that are loved.

I must admit that there is a small hoon inside me. It’s not very big and it doesn’t escape very much, but there’s something about a bright green Commy doing a burnout that warms the cockles….