Friday, February 25, 2005

Competition brings out the best in Business and services..

If you have been following my blog you probably know that I was "hoping" to get up to Mammoth Lakes this weekend. Turns out I won't be making that trip afterall because commitments at work prevent me from taking Monday off. But I did go upto the point of doing some initial ground work and planning.
One of the essential things about driving up to a ski resort ofcourse, is having a reliable vehicle and snow chains. Since we were a bunch of folks making the trip, we decided to rent a car for the weekend. A few calls to car rental agencies revealed that none of them actually provide renters with snow chains. I found this really surprising for a country where businesses thrive on cut-throat competition and that's what ultimately goes on to create the best of services for consumers. We see this "one-upmanship" attitude in almost all sorts of businesses. Like, I just saw this "Applebee's" ad on TV, that boasts of a "CARSIDE-TO-GO" (way to take the drive through concept to the next level I say) and then there are the Bank of America "Drive-through ATM's" and even the rental car agencies have the "pick-you-up-from-your-home" concept
So, the question is, why would the car rental guys let this one slip away? Is it because, its hard to find snow chains that fit multiple tyre sizes? Is it because they end up changing their fleet too often? or simply because people dont really ask them for snow chains as much? I wonder why?

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