It’s easy to see that this door handle is used often by a crew of painters with paint-covered fingers.

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There’s was a story in the Times today about the company TerraCycle and its so-called upcycling of other company’s waste goods. Upcycling is basically adding value and re-selling things bound to enter the waste stream and get dumped in landfills. TerraCycle is an interesting company–they are “not selling a specific product line, but an idea and a vision for consumers to grab hold of,” says Ryan Vero,  chief merchandising officer for OfficeMax, who is quoted in the story. TerraCycle is a brand with a goal of moving waste into products–whatever products they might be. They’ve gotten into fire logs made from wax cardboard waste, house cleaning products, and tote bags. The article focused on TerraCycle’s use of Kraft-brand CapriSun packages to make products like messenger bags and aprons. The juice packages are made of aluminum and plastic and thus are not recyclable. Oddly, the story fails to mention how lame it is that Kraft itself doesn’t figure out a way to make a more eco-friendly, if not at least recyclable, container for its CapriSun juiceline. The packages are finding their way into other products too, like a  set of Crate and Barrel placemats.

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I was recently in Brazil doing some work with Unibanco, one of the country’s top five banks. I was invited by the executives who run the bank’s fast-growing Hipercard credit division. Hipercard is now Brazil’s third largest credit card, after Visa and MasterCard. Unibanco acquired the card after Walmart bought a chain of supermarkets and spun off the card division. The cards are chiefly sold in in-store kiosks at places like Walmart and Unibanco finds itself in a position of hiring many new employees.

Among a range of activities, I joined a group of executives from the company on a day-long field trip. I had a chance to meet and interview employees like this fellow who works at a Walmart kiosk.

We also had a chance to interview an employee, a “Coffee Master” in fact, at a local Starbucks. Her passion ran deep and she was candid about her love for her job. She also had a number of artifacts that were similar to those I had when I worked at Starbucks in the U.S. (Such as a coffee passport.)

Some other sights in Brazil included ever present biodiesel at stations:

An innovative way that the eco-minded city of Curitiba has figured out how to speed up (and increase ridership on) its public transport system. Passengers pay and wait in these boarding stations before getting on the bus:

I took a ride on the vintage Curitiba-Moretes train through the jungle.

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A few months back I participated in a naming exercise with the crew at Gu Sports, the company that sells a line of energy gels which I have used in all sorts of activities–running, skiing, swimming, and others. A couple of years back they created a new product which they code-named “Hardrock” and distributed to a select number of athletes for testing in these simple, stealthy, unadulterated silver packages: I thought the less-is-more packaging would have been a great way to market the new product (which is said to have more of the special sauce and is geared to higher intensity racing and workouts) but the team chose the name “Roctane” and this packaging:

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A couple of years ago I signed up as a New Balance wear tester. It’s an interesting program that allows New Balance to gain feedback on a variety of issues from people in the field. I’ve mostly tested running shoes. Usually you wear the shoes for a month or two and keep a journal about how they feel. Only once have I had a shoe that delaminated or otherwise was unusable. You get the use of the shoes and then send the shoes back to NB at the end of the testing period. One of my friends calls it free shoe rental and to a degree it is. If you get attached to the shoe you can’t keep it. According to NB, they keep track of your compliance and timeliness with the testing and send out more test shoes to the better testers.

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I’ve been getting my coffee fix at a new back alley coffee kiosk here in San Francisco’s Mission District. Jeremy Tooker is opening a new “third wave” “single origin” coffee house on Valencia Street but until the space is remodeled and ready he’s operating out of a hard to find back alley. What you find when you pull up on your bike is an espresso machine on a bar that just fits into the width of the building’s loading dock and a barista ready to make drinks. Tooker, the founder of this new shop called Four Barrels, was a founder of nearby Ritual Roasters which he and a friend named Eileen Hassi founded after they left a Starbucks owned chain to set off on their own. I wrote about Ritual in my book “Punching In” as a contrast to Starbucks. At the time of reporting there was one Ritual and around 14,000 Starbucks worldwide. Now, two years on, there are three Rituals in the SF Bay Area. More on local coffee and Four Barrels in a recent SF Chronicle story.

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I was lucky enough to meet Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh a few months ago at a conference where we were both speaking. Tony immediately got what my book Punching In is about–corporate cultures–and invited me out to Henderson, Nevada where Zappos is based. The idea was for me to visit as a journalist and consultant and report back on what I saw as an outside observer. On many levels Zappos is very different from the five companies where I worked as a frontline worker, mostly because its frontline workers interact with customers over the phone not in person. Still, what Zappos has in common with companies like UPS and Starbucks is that it focuses heavily on creating a unique and authentic culture. I came away with several thoughts, posted below.

What is inspirational for an outsider?

There is much to see and hear that is inspirational for a visitor to the company. For me, the five key pieces included seeing how a call center has been reinvented by Zappos, finding so many people who are happy about their job and seemingly “on message” about this topic, the screening and training that employees go through, the role of the core values at the company, and the place that silliness has within the corporate environment.

a) Reinvention of the call center: The chief ways that Zappos has altered the traditional call center equation include giving employees better tools to do their jobs, reducing or eliminating the need to transfer customers, cutting out call times, including call center staff in the company instead of isolating them, allowing employees to be themselves, and by creating an upbeat atmosphere that makes people want to be at work. Many of the CLT (Customer Loyalty) team members who I spoke with came from other call centers (such as T. Rowe Price, Nextel and J. Crew). For them, Zappos is a much different place and a very welcome alternative. Interestingly, however, they did not know much about Zappos before they attended their first job fair. The job fair, for CLT members, was by and large their first impression of the company.

The job fair, and a specific skit put on by HR, was the point at which they immediately knew that Zappos was a different kind of place. For many CLT members, arriving at Zappos is a welcome antidote to the poisonous and dull call centers where they came from. There is much not to like about working at traditional call centers. As one employee put it, “Some people are ashamed to say they work in a call center.” There is little shame, it seems, in working at Zappos. The positive experience that staffers have spills over into customer experiences: In traditional customer interactions with call centers the customer is on the defensive and also views the customer service representative as someone who is, no doubt, working in a substandard work environment. But because Zappos is not such a place, and employees are largely happy to be there, the customer is likely to respond positively.

It is inspiring to see a call center where staff members are so excited to be a part of the workforce and also that this group of employees is integrated into the fabric of the larger company, as opposed to the traditional mode of isolating a call center from the rest of the company.

“This is customer service as customer service should be. I can engage the customer as a person.”

“At other places you are set up to fail. You are not comfortable. Here, you choose where to go.”

“You have to bond with the customer, not just do the exchange. We are allowed to do so much more here than at other call centers.”

I asked what one employee what he would miss if he got sent back to his old call center: “I would miss the freedom and tools to do what I need to do. I’d miss the personality of the place. The people. The culture. That feeling that I can be who I am and not just punch the clock. I’d miss everything.”

b) So many people happy about their job and “on message.”

“All it is, is empowerment—true empowerment, not just saying it.”

Although I only spoke to a small cross section of the company (15 out of 1500) I came away with a strong sense that people feel proud to be part of the Zappos team. No amount of PR coaching could yield the responses I got from this range of employees: People are truly excited to work at Zappos.

c) The strong screening and great training: The Zappos training is clearly a key part of the maintenance and flourishing of the culture. There are many key elements of this training that I heard about, including the mixing of different levels of employees (from entry level CLT to executives). This builds a sense of camaraderie, creates long-lasting cross-departmental relationships, and emphasizes the flat hierarchy of the place. There was a feeling of equalization in training due to the range of participants, at various levels of the company.

“The interview really sees what you are made of. The approach is ‘let me get to know you first.’”

One employee liked the way in which employees who were not regular presenters presented the core values during training. He said there were “candid remarks, not scripted.” He said the key part of the job fair was that the “feeling was they were people who had just been like you before.” He also said there was great consistency after the job fair and “the comfortable approach remained.”

d) The core values are actually embraced not made fun of: At first blush Zappos’ 10 Core Values don’t seem terribly different from any other company’s vision or mission statements. But I was surprised by the care and interest staffers had in the core values. They seem to be truly “active” values, as opposed to the more passive values that are more typically a part of a corporate environment. Employees also expressed an interest in the core values outside of work.

“You are constantly striving to find other people exhibiting core values.”

“It’s hard not to live the core values here and not live them outside too.”

e) Silliness has a place: As a visitor to Zappos headquarters, the decorations and colorful collage of art, wall hangings, and cartoon characters is immediately apparent. I was, at first, under the mistaken impression that this decorative motif was forced, a sense of “silliness for silliness sake.” Upon closer inspection, however, it seemed that all the Christmas lights and painted meeting rooms are just a backdrop for the more serious work at hand. One employee put it well: “The silliness you see here is a ‘nice to have,’ a small part of it. The important part is the fellowship that has been created.”

Zappos has been getting some press lately (NYT, HBS) related to a visit by Fast Company founder Bill Taylor.

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Two years ago Zappos decided it needed to create a set of core values, things that the company stood for. After soliciting ideas from everyone at the company there were over 100 suggestions. Voting whittled the long list to ten. When I was visiting I was surprised by the true care and interest people had in these core values–both inside the company and while at home in real life. People I interviewed really believed in the values and took them to heart. Not unlike people working on AA’s “12 steps” people would tell me they were focusing on a certain value. “Trying to ‘Be humble,’ is really hard for me,” said one staffer.

The Zappos core values:

1. Deliver WOW through service.

2. Embrace and drive change.

3. Create fun and a little weirdness. [This one reminded me of the Keep Austin Weird campaign.]

4. Be adventurous, creative, and open-minded.

5. Pursue growth and learning.

6. Build open and honest relationships with communication.

7. Build a positive team and family spirit.

8. Do more with less.

9. Be passionate and determined.

10. Be humble.

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Fast Company published an article about Zipcar I wrote. The original idea I pitched to the magazine involved me using Zipcars exclusively for a month to see what it would feel like to give up my car and go virtual. Sadly, that story got reduced down to my driving a few Zipcars around San Francisco. There’s a lot just a block away from my house so it was pretty easy and efficient to sign up and use the cars. The web site and telephone reservation system both are excellent–and make you realize how low tech and behind the times traditional rental car companies are.

Here’s the first paragraph of the story:

If there is a phrase that describes the Zipcar car-sharing service–and I don’t think there is yet–it would be some mix of Volkswagen’s Fahrvergnügen (driving pleasure) and Napster “Own Nothing, Have Everything” advertising slogan. The experience is what it is all about: I reserve a Mini Cooper online, walk one block from my house in San Francisco to a car lot, swipe my card across the windshield, get in, adjust the seat and mirrors, and motor off. For $11 an hour, my insurance and gas are covered. By block two, I’m thinking of selling my station wagon. Turns out, I’m far from alone. “Forty percent of our customers either sell their car or halt a purchasing decision of a car,” says Scott Griffith, Zipcar’s CEO.

That’s a picture of me getting air in a Mini shot in composite by the talented Jamie Kripke. Click here to see the composite images he used to make the shot.

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Here are some photos of people at work in Japan. The Tskuji market in Tokyo is a hive of activity starting at 4 am, with hundreds of thousands of pounds of fish coming in on plane and boat from all over the world. You have to be on your toes to not get run over by omnipresent carts.

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I was recently in Japan for several weeks. One morning I saw these two girls dressed up. They had weights, canes, and blinds around their eyes–all to simulate what it might feel like to be a senior citizen making his or her way around the streets of Tokyo. The idea of simulating a customer experience is an interesting one.

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My publisher recently sent along an early version of the cover for the paperback of my book “Punching In.” The paperback should be out by Christmas. I think it is snazzy and captures the spirit of the book well through the illustrations. My editor, Ben Loehnen, and I also tweaked the subtitle to be a bit more explanatory about what the book is all about.

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Darren Garnick of the Boston Herald wrote a nice review of my book Punching In. He also posted his own notes about working at UPS on his blog. His recollections reminded me of these seeming real-life views from a UPS driver that I spotted on a posting on CraigsList last year.

Before i started this job I thought I was a pretty normal person and your avg. person in DC had common sense. Damn if I wasn’t wrong on that one. Now mind you the avg home price where i deliver is $750,000+. Here are a few tips to get your shit to you, not get ran the hell over, and not get cursed out by a driver wearing a shit brown uniform.

* Put fucking numbers on your house. How hard is that? I know your college educated. How fucking hard is it to post numbers. Hire someone hell hire me to put em up. And I understand your shit may be getting remodeled. Grab one of those big ass pieces of ply-wood spray some numbers on it and stick it in the front yard.

* Illuminate the fucking lights. Go stand in the middle of the street at night and see if you can see your house numbers. If you cant see them or have to search to find them how in the fuck do you think I can see them?????

* If you see my big ass truck driving down a narrow two way street with cars parked on both sides I PROMISE you you cannot get buy. Not even in a mini cooper on two wheels.

* If you come out and see that your side view mirror is ripped off dont automatically assume it was me. It was probaly the asshole trying to squeeze by me.

* Honking your horn is not going to move my truck. I assure you I already know I’m blocking your path and you blowing your horn constantly is only going to piss me off which in turn is only going to make me take longer to piss you off.

* If you ordered huge shit from pottery barn, west elm, ikea, or overstock.com and I’m nice enough to bring it in your house b/c your weak, old, with child, have broken limb or just plain fucking lazy dont tip me a fucking dollar an think anything else is going to make it to your house on 1st attempt or in one piece.

* Dont bitch because I threw your landsend or j crew package to your door. Its only a fucking shirt calm your nerves.

* Dont tell me you damn life story unless your paying me to listen. I am on a time line. Shut up and just sign.

* Lock up your dog/cat/bad ass kid or whatever else is wild behind your door. If it comes at me I will fuck it up with whatever I can get my hands on to defend myself.

* And dont try to jump in my shit about a package that UPS lost somewhere in transition. I am only a driver I only deliver what they put on my truck. I have not been a driver my whole life and dont think this brown uniform will stop you from getting your ass kicked

* And always remember my truck is bigger than your vehicle. Its raggedy as hell and DOES NOT STOP ON A DIME and never will. Dont cut me off or ride your bike in my path or think you can beat me across the street. I promise you will end up the loser guaranteed

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Kimberly Palmer of US News interviewed me this week about what it’s like to be an employee. This was for her blog, Alpha Consumer.

Behind the Scenes at Apple, Gap, and Starbucks

As an employee, what customer habits did you find most annoying? Have you changed any of your own behavior as a result?
There were certainly a few customers here and there who were clueless and demanding, but by and large, as a worker on the front lines at a handful of front-line retailers, I found customers to be surprisingly unobtrusive and generally patient. I was impressed by those customers who, when they felt they were right, argued calmly and clearly for what they felt they deserved (as opposed to those few who became angry and loud). The way in which my behavior has largely changed has been that now I understand that each company or store I frequent has a number of systems by which it operates.

Now that I know more about these systems, I can be a better consumer. For example, I now understand how the UPS routing system works, so I know when I can expect my driver to show up at my door. And I know how to make his job a bit easier by doing things like ordering in bulk instead of many packages, getting to the door as quickly as possible, and telling him my name when I sign for a package. At Enterprise [Rent-a-Car], I know how the employee will try to sell me insurance, so I beat them to the punch by initialing the lines on the contract that signal I will decline it. I typically decline most insurance if I know that I am covered by my regular car insurance policy or my credit card, two ways many people are in fact covered for renting cars.

I was surprised to learn that at Enterprise Rent-A-Car, the employees are encouraged to push insurance on customers, and that at the Gap, sales associates were taught to encourage customers to “add on” other items in the dressing rooms. Are most retail employees taught to “upsell” shoppers?
Among the places where I worked, those two instances were the prime examples of “upselling.” I found the selling of insurance to customers to be an incredibly hard-wired part of the entire Enterprise corporate culture and way of operating. At the Apple Store, we were certainly encouraged to add on additional components to the sale of a computer. The sale of these so-called attachments, such as in-store lessons and warranties, are a way for Apple to try to tie customers into the stores for the long haul.

At Starbucks I was intrigued to see that when a new beverage launched nationwide (as the “green tea Frappuccino” did when I was working there), we were encouraged to tell customers about it, suggest they try it, and offer frequent free samples. We were pushed to sell a certain number of these frothy green beverages each week. So, yes, selling in various forms was a part of most jobs I held.

It seems as though you gained a new respect for Starbucks, because of the dedication of employees and strong employee benefits. But you also say, “Some days after taking yet another order for a silly, oversugared beverage, I looked at the long line of customers that seemed to never end, and I wanted to flee the store.” Should customers feel bad when they order a decaf skinny triple mocha with whip?
Indeed, I gained an appreciation for the highly efficient workflow systems at Starbucks; I was amazed at how well our behind-the-counter team could dispatch a long line of customers. As a worker it was certainly easier when a customer ordered a drip coffee, but I found that few did. Most customers opted for the more fanciful and sugary drinks, which, to be sure, are not about the taste of coffee but about the sweet taste.

Customers should feel good about ordering whatever concoctions they can dream up, but I personally favor the more traditional and simple fare—cappuccinos and espressos—which, to be fair, were part of the early Starbucks story but are not really part of the modern Starbucks experience, which leans a bit to the Frappuccino side of the menu. (Starbucks refers to stores in which Frappuccinos outsell other coffee drinks as “Frappuccino Stores,” and I would guess these stores are on the rise.)

Is there any company that you are less likely to frequent now that you know what it’s like to work for them?
There were not really any places where, having worked there, I grew to loathe and not want to be a customer in the future. I suppose Enterprise would be the only place that I might avoid in the future, now that I am aware of their insurance upselling techniques and because having researched other car-renting avenues [like hourly car sharing], I am more interested in using user-friendly services [like Zipcar].

If I were someone who worried a lot about the cleanliness of the restaurants I frequented, I might be given pause by the knowledge I gained having worked at Starbucks. The barista pulling espresso shots is the same barista that cleans the bathrooms and mops the floor during the day.

Did anything surprise you about the way customers treated you as an employee of UPS, Gap, or Starbucks? Were people ever rude to you?
I had very few, if any, interactions with customers who were rude to me. I expected to have many more hostile interactions, but most customers were surprisingly well behaved. Uniforms really did affect how customers viewed us. Many customers commented on the suit I wore to work at Enterprise.

Wearing the UPS uniform and delivering packages certainly engendered the best interactions I had with customers among the five jobs I held. If you poll people, they will no doubt tell you how much they love their UPS driver. Most of the time you are bringing a package that people are expecting, and that is a de facto positive experience for them. Also, the company has done a great job in putting great people on the front lines and customers respond to this.

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Barbara Rose of the Chicago Tribune wrote a story about companies using personality tests and she wrote about the experiences I had in researching Punching In. Finding out that a large software company called Kronos stood behind many of the tests I took at places like Whole Foods and Best Buy was an interesting part of the research. Here’s her article:

How would you feel if somebody told you they could size up your job potential with a 10-minute personality test?

You might figure it’s a job not worth holding, and you might be right. But a growing number of employers screen candidates using online quizzes with deceptively simple questions such as, “I would rather stay home and read a book than go to a party. Agree or disagree?”

The tests are designed to predict success by measuring behavioral or personality traits and comparing a candidate’s profile with those of people who succeeded in similar jobs.

Applying for a sales job? The answer seems obvious. Pick the party, of course.

But trying to beat the system isn’t as easy as you might think. There’s a difference between faking your responses — answering the way you think an ideal candidate would answer — and presenting yourself in a favorable light based on who you are and what you think the job requires.

Journalist Alex Frankel stumbled onto this truth when he applied for sales and service jobs while researching his book, “Punching In: The Unauthorized Adventures of a Front-Line Employee.”

Try as he might, he couldn’t get past the computerized screenings at Home Depot, Whole Foods and Best Buy. At Home Depot, the company’s hiring system blocked his application from a human resources manager’s view.

“Did you answer those 10 questions at the beginning?” the manager asked him. “See, the computer won’t allow me to access your file if you’ve answered those questions incorrectly.”

Frankel had answered the questions the way he thought a perfect candidate would.

How often had he gotten into shoving matches or fistfights at work in the last three years? “Never,” he replied. How often had he been late to work in the past year. “Never.”

When asked how he would perform compared with other employees in a job where new procedures were constantly being tried, he said he would succeed where others would fail.

The computer threw him out, apparently because his fake self was too good to be true.

“I had been under the false impression that there were people who liked to make small talk, never solved disputes with fistfights and never stole from their employers,” Frankel writes. “But employers have to hire from real populations, not imaginary ones.”

At other companies he had an even harder time aiming his answers in the strike zone.

He was asked, for instance, how strongly he agreed with statements such as, “You like to have exciting fun”; “It is maddening when the court lets guilty criminals go free”; “You are always cheerful”; “It is easy for you to take advantage of others.”

The “right” answers were impossible to guess.

“The computer software, like an X-ray, was looking right through my self-created job-applicant persona,” he writes. “Despite my efforts, my individualist, non-joiner self was apparent.”

Psychologists have long debated whether personalities can be reduced to mathematics and whether the power of situations — a company’s culture, a work group’s expectations — is a bigger factor in determining how people will behave than their personalities.

An estimated 40 percent of large U.S. firms rely on computerized assessments to screen new hires or to identify up-and-comers for training and development.

The tests can be as simple as a 10-minute screening for a retail sales job or as sophisticated as a 45-minute assessment of an executive’s decision-making style.

Critics say the screenings subject tens of millions of people to decisions that are little better than coin tosses, but companies swear by them as a way to reduce turnover and increase retention, or to coach and develop managers.

Credible assessment firms publish research showing the validity of their tests, and they monitor results to make sure their assessments are valid for the companies at which they are used.

Can you fool the tests? Experts say it’s better not to try, but that doesn’t mean switching off the mental filter that tries to figure out how to land the job.

“Think of an interview,” says Korn/Ferry International’s Gary Hourihan, who leads the firm’s leadership development solutions business. “If you know the company’s style is highly decisive and you’re more contemplative, you’re going to try to appear more action-oriented.

“That’s exactly what you’d do on a test. That’s called role or leadership style — how you present yourself to others. It’s not a fake style. It’s your perception of what they want you to be. People modify their presentation to fit what they think others want.

“You’re going to be thinking through a whole bunch of organizational data points,” he adds. “You’re trying to think through who you are versus what they are.”

And if the two aren’t in sync, console yourself. Like Frankel, you’re better off working someplace else.

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Last year I did some extended consulting work with a large web design firm and the opportunity gave me a chance to see a large, modern office in action. As the new guy I was keenly aware of the jargon spouted by the crew I worked with. Guys talked a lot about the project we were working on as having “many moving parts.” There was a lot of talk about “high level” this and that. One consultant, when describing his plan to write a report talked about it having a necessary “thud factor,” as in the ability to shock and amaze the client. They talked about “polishing that apple,” “walking down that road,” “bleed ins,” things that were “bolted on,” as well as “value adds.” There were discussions of “nice to haves” as opposed to “must haves.” When I was talking to one colleague he told me he wanted to “reboot our conversation.” There was much talk about who “owned” things, as in whose responsibilities things were. When people had meetings they said, ” I have a 12:30,” or “I have a 4 o’clock.” There was talk about “leveraging” things and “taking it offline,” “eyeballs,” and “real estate.” But my favorite by far was an exchange I had with a colleague, a “teammate,” right before a meeting. After I asked whether we were prepared for the meeting with the client, he told me not to worry, that they were PLUs. “People like us,” he explained.

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I’ve heard from more than a few Punching In readers. Here’s a Q+A with Dave, an anonymous bookstore staff member who I emailed with.

Alex: So, you work at a large chain bookstore in Texas. What’s that like?

Dave: I feel blessed to have such a fantastic job. I am exposed to wonderful stories, provoking true tales, stimulating opinions, and feel like a courier to one of the basic principles of the USA: freedom of the written word. I have met myriad incredible authors along the way, and some nifty customers as well. I am touched when I see a parent reading to their child in our sequestered kids’ area. The requirements of my job are basically know the English alphabet, arrive with my shoes tied and zipper up, and the ability to make correct register change. It’s not that hard. Our pay scale isn’t terribly grand, mind you, but it sure beats putting tar on roofs, and I don’t inhale auto exhaust fumes at any time.

A: How long have you been there and what’s the best part of your job?

D: I have been employed over a decade at the same location. I have a “semi fan club” of customers who seek me out. I enjoy the challenge of being a spoke in a for-profit business wheel, while balancing the “art” part of literature. At my initial interview long ago, I told that acting manager at the time “I’m going to be the best you’ve ever seen.”

A: Do you get any perks, like free books? And do you find that your colleagues read a lot or do people really care whether they are at a bookstore?

D: All employees have common privileges, but nothing is free except the occasional “Reader’s Advance Copy” from publishers. Most employees read for pleasure. I think my company attracts educated, dedicated, and interesting candidates for employment. I know a decent fraction of our workforce is clearly overqualified, but perhaps hasn’t found that “dream job,” or they know not where they fit in under a “career umbrella.”

A: What’s your view on what books make it as “best sellers”? Do best seller books really reflect what people want to read or are they driven by other things like media and placement in bookstores?

D: Our bestseller list is based on national sales. Some books may be hot in our market, but cold in another. Despite the regional differences, our stores maintain price consistency across the chain to offer customers equal value regardless of shopping venue. Advertising helps any product, as do author appearances to discuss the item.

A: Tell me about bookstores and placing books around the stores. Is this up to the store workers or are you told where to put certain books by managers, who are told by corporate—how does it work?

D: Many off-shelf displays utilize specific titles as directed from the home office. In some cases, it is a value promotion like “buy two get one free,” and we “share” that sale with the publisher. There are also several areas where in-store employees have a chance to erect their own presentations. If that employee display sells well, it stays– if not, it gets changed. Seventy five percent of the “regular” store shelf area is arranged alphabetically by author, and single copies are normally spined, multiple copies are “faced-out.” This arrangement ensures the shelf looks full and the books are not tipping over for lack of support.

A: Do you and your co-workers have any lingo you use to discuss customers or other on-the-job issues—specific bookstore jargon of any sort?

D: We have a term “squatters” referring to folks who come in to sit and read for a long while without buying anything, save perhaps a coffee. “Squatters” also applies to local college students who occupy cafe space for hours doing study work. It is not a pejorative term at all, merely one reflecting the condition of the individual. Most squatters keep to themselves and are there to avoid rush-hour traffic, or wind down after an honest day’s work.

A: What do you see as the biggest differences between large, chain bookstores and smaller independent bookstores? Where do you buy your books?

D: As with any company, the economy of scale of a chain is to the customer’s advantage. We can buy big and sell low, plus we offer a title on about every subject imaginable. Additionally, the chain stores offer employee benefits such as paid time off, paid sick days, health and dental insurance, and the general security that we ain’t goin’ outta business anytime soon. I don’t see larger stores as “evil” or “crushing the independent American businessman.” I shop larger grocery chain stores because they have a larger beer selection than “Jim’s Icehouse” on the corner. I’m sure the local blacksmith who shoed horses for ten years was angry when Henry Ford came to town.

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The folks at Arthur Frommer’s Budget Travel did a recent Q+A with me about what I learned from renting cars that might help customers and I realized that I actually learned a few things…

Alex Frankel recently did some undercover journalism by taking a job at Enterprise-Rent-A-Car. He reports on his stint as a counter clerk there—along with his brief gigs at a Gap clothing store, a Starbucks shop, and an Apple store—in his new book Punching In.

In the following Q&A, Alex talks about Enterprise—plus his tips for booking a rental car with any company:
Q: Alex, Congrats on your new book. Why did you choose to work at Enterprise instead of one of the other rental car companies?
A: Enterprise is the biggest car rental company most people have never heard of, or don’t know much about. The company is the largest recruiter of college graduates and an expanding behemoth of car rental. The way in which the company recruits and trains its employees is fascinating and well thought out.

Q: Alex, have you changed what you do and say at the rental car counter now that you know what goes on behind the scenes?
A: Absolutely. Here are a few things I now know: Rental car firms are one of the few parts of the travel industry in which one does not need to commit at all financially to secure a rental car reservation. This means that you, as a customer, can presumably make multiple reservations at multiple car firms for one particular trip. Additionally, most people don’t realize this but you can almost always get a better rate by booking online. Walking up to a rental car counter is a great way to get the worst rates. Reservations are cheapest when done online. Also, many companies push for you, the customer, to sign up for insurance-oriented “products.” Insurance can be a good thing to add on, but in many cases people are covered by their credit card companies and existing car insurance policies. If you can, check on this before you rent a car and you may find you won’t need to bother with the insurance and so-called damage waivers that are offered. Finally, if you can avoid interacting with a person at a rental car company you will often find that you have a better experience. More people should look into hourly rental cars.

Q: What was one of the most surprising things you learned, not from the branding or labor standpoints, but from a consumer’s perspective?
A: I believe you are referring to the car rental business here. Mostly related to the above. Most rental car consumers don’t understand how rental car fleet management works and it’s fairly interesting. When you reserve a vehicle, that vehicle is usually going to be delivered to the branch where you are renting just a bit before you get there. Often rental car companies don’t have that car and they will try a lot of tactics to get you to rent another car—often up-selling customers to bigger cars. Customers should stick to their reservations and demand the cars they are promised.

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My book, Punching In, is just being released from Collins. Having researched and written the book back a few months it is good to see that some of the employee-oriented websites that I wrote about are still alive and kicking. These were chiefly Starbucks Gossip (where you can learn what, exactly, a “poor man’s latte” is) and FailingEnterprise.com where you can gain a quick understanding of what life is like as a management trainee at Enterprise.

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