Bob Williams

Rethink rules that prohibit remote deposit

March 16th, 2012 | Leave a comment | Tags: , , ,

I love my credit union. I’ve been a member for many years and my relationship with them has steadily grown.  I use online banking for money transfer, bill pay, a personal finance manager (PFM), and even an integrated link to Turbo Tax. In return, my credit union gives me competitive rates on loans, better than average interest rates on share and draft accounts, great customer service, and no worries about nuisance fees.

Last year I opened a custodial share account for my daughter. She is the primary owner of the account but my name is on it until she reaches legal age. This account is not for her college education, …Continue reading >>

Bob Williams

Rethink customer fees

October 16th, 2010 | Leave a comment | Tags: ,

Last year I wrote about guidelines for charging extra fees on internet purchases. In that post I recorded some practical tips about how to explain additive fees on the internet in a customer friendly way. Fees have been on my mind again this week in large part because they are now an intertwined part of our society. Wikipedia defines a fee as “the price one pays as remuneration for services.” Yet not all fees are positioned this way.

No Choice Fees

Some merchants add a fee to a customer’s purchase process with no ability to opt-out. The fee is part of the requirement for a purchase. Ticketmaster is good example …Continue reading >>

Bob Williams

Rethink text book distribution

August 26th, 2010 | One comment | Tags: , , , ,

Text books are made for the education and instruction of students in our society right? Well, that’s the academic answer at least. Certainly the amount of money in the text book industry is benefiting a load of people in the value chain. Authors, publishers, distributors, retail stores, etc.

But really. Have you seen a student lately? They carry around backpacks busting at the seams.  I weighed my son’s back pack tonight and it topped off at 20 pounds! Let’s be real, this can’t be healthy for the kids and certainly in this day and age we have other options for getting educational content to students other than over-sized printed text …Continue reading >>