(Excerpts from a message dated 08-30-99, Roy J. Tellason to Murray
Lesser)

Hi Roy--

 ML> Given the choice between ordering catalog merchandise on the 
 ML> Web, or calling with an 800 number and talking to a person, 
 ML> I'll take the telephone every time!

RT>You mean there are still companies out there that you can call where
  >you actually get a _person_ on the other end of a phone call?  I
  >didn't think there were any left!

    Although you were being facetious, I think it is necessary to
clarify this point for the members of the younger generation on this
echo, who appear to believe that if it is newer, it must be better.  All
the old-line catalog retailers that I use still offer 1-800 telephone
service (although they have added new, poorly designed and difficult to
use Web sites) with real live people to talk to:  L.L. Bean, IBM,
Indelible Blue, and the Smithsonian Institution, are a few that I use
regularly.  I also make all my airline, hotel, and auto-rental
reservations by telephone: quick and easy with no hunting through
confusing graphics to find which button to click.  The technique is to
let the salesperson on the other end of the phone connection (who is
getting paid for it) do the fussing with incomprehensible computer-entry
problems :-(.

 ML> I imagine that I am not the only one who has reached this 
 ML> conclusion. 

RT>That's for sure.

    According to a columnist in the business section of today's NY Times
(1 September), available data for the Web-only retailers is indicating
that although both yearly revenue and number of customers keeps rising
for each of the major players, dividing the yearly revenue by the number
of customers for each retailer indicates that the amount purchased per
year per customer is declining rapidly.  I guess that the "we lose a
little on each sale but make it up on the volume" pitch isn't going to
keep working forever for the "investors" :-(.

    Regards,

        --Murray

___
 * MR/2 2.25 #120 * Which direction is forward?

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