Jethro Bodine Takes a Trip

For those that don't remember, Jethro Bodine was the character on the TV show the Beverly Hillbillies that never could conform his conduct to social standards and often caused all sorts of problems to those around him without knowing that he was causing problems. With Jethro, and his female equivalent, is alive and well and flying on Air Planes in the United States and elsewhere. The POD recently finished a short, but stressful, trip to the Middle East. For reasons that are still unclear, the POD flew from Chicago to Frankfurt by way of Philadelphia. Wow. That leg from Chicago to Philly was very stressful. Passengers entering the plane, stopping at each and every row to check their seat number (huh, it you are in row 23, doesn't it seem logical that it will come after row 22 and that the airlines will number the rows in order?). Then, when they find their row, they stand in the aisle and debate what to do about putting their suitcase in the overhead bin. Boarding takes forever. And then, once the plane is loaded, they get up to go to the restroom.

That's bad enough. On landing, they jump out into the aisle, take forever to get their suitcases and delay the exit of passengers from the airplane. Passengers with connections. And once they leave the plane, they randomly stop in various spots in the jetway and the hall from the jetway blocking passengers. In Philadelphia I nearly missed a connection because of this kind of conduct. And there's no reason for it. It slows down Jethro, it slows down the travellers who know what they are doing, it slows the whole flow of the airport because of a basic lack of thought.

What's the solution? I'm not sure. But if you are a Jethro, you should rethink your behavior.

Mysterious Shrinking Food Containers

Food prices are up. Way up. If you want to know the reason, look at the SUV next to you. The demand for Corn Based Ethanol is driving away the production of valuable food products. But food is up more than most people realize. Why? The mysterious shrinking food container phenomena. The other day I was in the store buying some Orange Sherbert for a sick little kid. I noticed that some of the Round Major National Brand containers of ice cream seemed taller than the others. I looked closely. The "half gallons" (which shrunk a while back) appear to have morphed from 1.75 liter to 1.5 liter. Without any change in the "price". The Ice Cream was still $5.99 per container. The cost, on a weight basis, had increased by something around 12% (doing math in my head, I am guessing I am off by a bit... but that's close enough).

So its gone from 1.90 liters (half gallon) to 1.75 to 1.5 liters. Its now 20% smaller.

And its not just ice cream. We have the yogurt sold in non-standard sizes. 8 ounces is a cup. 6 ounces is a rip off.

Its time for action. In Europe the government has mandated mandatory sizes for certain types of products. For example, in Italy Pasta can ONLY be sold in 250g, 500g, 1 KG and multiples of 1 KG. It simplifies the job of the customer and makes price comparison fair.