Yet another meeting I wish I could have attended

“As long as people will accept crap, it will be financially profitable to dispense it” Dick Cavett

I received a letter from American Express today concerning a change in their program. This particular Amex card pays me cash back at the end of each year based upon the amount of purchases made. The letter informed me (after thanking me for my continued business) that “…the increasing cost of gas is impacting consumers and businesses alike. Given this we are making a change to your card”. It goes ahead to spell out that gasoline purchases on the card will change from 5% to 3%. And that the “steep cost of gas has made it necessary”.

Interesting. Now along with being punished at the pump I’m also being punished by my credit card company.

Yet another meeting I would have loved to have been able to sit in on just to hear the so-called logic that went into the decision. Naturally we all know in this case the logic is one purely of Amex profits vs. customer satisfaction. The truth is I didn’t know how much cash back I got on gasoline purchases. Actually, didn’t actually know how much I got on any purchases.

Had I been in the meeting I would not have argued against changing the percentage. Actually I probably would have argued to reduce it to 2%. I only would have argued to not go to the trouble of writing the elaborate and lame excuse of why they were changing the cash back percentage, just send the notice of change and get on with it. “Dear valued customer, or current resident, American Express is changing the percentage of cash back from 5% to 3%. Thank you and have a lovely day.” The Amex exec who drove this must have come from the airline industry who have made what I call “excuse policies” an art form.

By the way, other meetings I would have loved to have sat in include both presidential candidates when they chose their running mates. Mr. Obama creates a dynamic message of change that resonates well enough to knock the powerful Clinton train off the tracks. Then he chooses a 36 year Washington inside old boy as his running mate. Mr. McCain creates a dynamic message of experience that resonates well enough to close to within a whisker in the national opinion polls, then chooses someone with less experience than almost any other possible choice.

This is not derogatory toward either Veep candidate, but neither makes sense given the powerful message that had been created.

It is so incredibly difficult to create a message that resonates that is just kills my soul to see someone succeed in creating one just to then throw it away with a head-scratching decision that makes people say “Huh?”.

This “meeting I would have liked to have been in” may become a multi-part blog, there’s too much material to ignore. Watch this space.