Don't expect to read about this in the Register & Bee

News from a reader asking why The Danville Register and Bee hasn't covered this story. Hmmmm...could be because they supported Barack Obama and may be pro-union???? The Register and Bee doesn't do a lot of reporting on business issues like this. They're down to just two reporters for news - although there are what? Three or four for sports? We know where the priorities are - and it's not politics, uranium or business reporting. Anyway....

This reader writes:

Late Friday Feb. 6, President Barack Obama issued an executive order encouraging the federal government to require wasteful and discriminatory union-only project labor agreements (PLAs) on federal and federally funded construction projects over $25 million. This executive order also repealed Executive Order 13202, which has prohibited the government from mandating PLAs on all construction projects receiving federal dollars or financial assistance since February 17, 2001.

The Obama pro-PLA executive order encourages merit shop contractors be locked out from federal construction opportunities unless contractors agree to the onerous “union-friendly” terms and conditions found in union-only PLAs. Contractors signatory to labor unions will have an incredible advantage in winning federal construction projects.

ABC member contractors and your workforce should be outraged by the Obama executive order because it will eliminate you from federal construction contracts paid for by your very own tax dollars. As a result of this executive order, local and state contracts that receive federal funding or assistance may be subject to PLA requirements as well.

In addition, the Obama Order is sure to waste taxpayer dollars. Credible academic studies have found that inefficient union work rules and decreased competition as a result of PLA requirements increases construction costs by as much as 20 percent when compared to projects bid without PLAs. In these tough economic times, it makes no financials sense for the federal government to build four schools, bridges and hospitals for the price of five.

Send a letter by clicking below OR call President Obama at (202) 456-1111 and tell him that union-only PLAs are wasteful, discriminatory and keep skilled people like you from working in their own communities.

Readers are urged to call Tom Perriello - who is not expected to do a damn thing about it because he's a democrat. But that's okay. Virgil is running again next year and he won't have a turn-coat homosexual in his office selling him down the river, faxing documents and selling out Virgil for political favors this time. We know who you are and what you did - and so do the Congressmen who like Virgil. Lot of people aren't happy about it. Of course the Register and Bee won't report on that either - since Sarah, "Oh I love Obama I hate Virgil Goode," is gone. Convenient eh? Come in, slam Virgil, then resign after the election....that way you don't have to report on what went on behind the scenes do you....Don't expect Steve Kaylor to pay attention. He has to run the circulation department and advertising now that Fia was laid off and Rob abandoned ship to take a better job elsewhere.

But there's a chance you might find a politician who's not taking pay-offs, hob-nobbing with the pharmaceutical industry, back scratching, cheating on their wives and boyfriends, or partying hardy. Good luck. If you find one and they actually have time to listen to you before their next junket, party or meeting with a lobbyist, you should also say:

Union-only PLAs have no place on taxpayer funded, federal construction and infrastructure projects;PLAs inflate costs by as much as 20 percent and discriminate against 84.4 percent of the U.S. private construction workforce;
PLAs have a public record of poor performance. PLA proponents’ claims of cost savings, avoidance of delays and or improved performance under proposed PLAs have been repeatedly contradicted by the actual project performance under such union-only requirements; Explain why merit shop contractors won’t bid on projects subject to PLAs
We encourage you to forward this action alert to your fellow employees, friends, state and local public officials and the media. We need your help in spreading the word about this special interest-driven policy.

To learn more about union-only PLAs and the Obama executive order, please visit www.abc.org/pla

More Layoffs coming at The Danville Register & Bee

More layoffs are in the works for The Danville Register & Bee. Bernard Baker went on personal leave three months ago and will not be returning. No word on why but if it is for ongoing health reasons, we wish him well. Add him to your prayer list, send him a card or give him a call. He spent many a year there and was a gifted writer. He will be missed I'm sure.

If your press releases aren't being returned, it's because they're being forwarded to Arnold Hendrix. The Register & Bee is manager heavy and always has been. Our money's on at least one manager being let go.

The newsroom is down to John Crane, Denice Thibodeau and Brenda Neugent (formerly Erickson) and the "sports guys," although rumors have persisted that one of the sports department would be cut - at least for the slack summer season, no football or basketball, we'll have to wait and see.

But stay tuned. Richmond tells me the layoffs are in the works.

More Stings, undelivered....

You'd really think The Danville Register & Bee could explain why they charge advertisers an arm and a leg to advertise, then dump all these papers in the recycle bin without ever delivering them. It's throwing away money - YOUR money!!! Click on the photo for a larger view. Yup. It's recent.

Hey, even the Register & Bee can afford this!

Thanks to InSocial Media for this one!

All personnel will now be required to look happy while working, in order to combat the current recession. Company-approved supplies will be provided to each employee at little or no cost.

Workloads getting to you?
Feeling stressed?
Too many priorities and assignments?

Here is the new low-cost, company-approved solution to cope with multiple priorities & assignments.

Each employee will be supplied 2 paper clips and rubber bands.

(See Fig 1.)

Assemble as shown in Fig. 2

And apply as shown in Fig. 3










Enjoy your day. This new office equipment will help you to reach the end of a productive work day with a smile on your face!

The Management

Not the only Danville Blog

This is not the only blog about Danville, VA that's questioning why the newspaper isn't reporting on the REAL news in Danville. Check out this blog:
What's happening in Danville and why isn't the newspaper reporting on it? Concern from many officials, businesses and even a banker or two indicates that The Institute is in financial trouble, not paying their utility bills, and that Federal funding is being diverted from programs designed to help local businesses into The Institute's coffers.

These same officials are concerned that Delegate Danny Marshall may be under attack for speaking out and may be voted out for not toeing the bully boys line. Congressman Virgil Goode was already set-up, shut-out, and voted out - the victim of more of the political fall-out for being honest. Wake-up Danville! Ask the Register & Bee why they aren't digging into why The Institute isn't paying their utility bills and why the taxpayers are!!!

Another Register & Bee layoff

At least one more Register & Bee employee has fallen. Another employee was laid off today....how many more will follow in the weeks ahead?

The Danville Museum laid off employees, closing its gift shop Sunday....

How bad will it get?

Start your own newspaper

Seth Godin says it's "Time to start a newspaper"



What should not-so-busy real estate brokers do?

Why not start a local newspaper?

Here's how I would do it. Assume you've got six people in your office. Each person is responsible to do two things each day:

* Interview a local business, a local student or a local political activist. You can do it by phone, it can be very short and it might take you ten minutes.
* Get 20 households to 'subscribe' by giving you their email address and asking for a free subscription. You can use direct contact or flyers or speeches to get your list.

Twice a week, send out the 'newspaper' by email. After one week, it will have more than 500 subscribers and contain more than 20 interesting short articles or quotes about people in the neighborhood. Within a month, (if it's any good) every single person in town who matters will be reading it and forwarding it along to others.

It will cost you nothing. It will become your gift to the community. And it will be a long lasting asset that belongs to you, not to the competition. (And yes, you can do this if you're a plumber or a chiropractor. And yes, you can do this if 'local' isn't geographic for you, but vertical).

Own your Zip code. The next frontier is local, and this is a great way to start.

Good management

With all the lay-offs around Danville a lot of people will be taking new jobs, any job they can get hired for. In the short term, the money is important right? But in the long run you can end up in a bad situation. Studies show that more than 67% of us quit our jobs because of a supervisor - a BAD supervisor. What's a bad supervisor? Well, when I was at The Register & Bee I had an evaluation - not early on when it might have been helpful, but more than a year after I'd worked there. What's that say about supervisors and management? BAD!! Clueless really.

During the evaluation I said I needed more feedback and that some appreciation wouldn't hurt. The pseudo-HR person, Ann Austin, and my supervisor, Bernard Baker, BOTH told me "We'd all like to be appreciated, but that doesn't happen around here so get used to it."

Wow. What's it take? Five minutes to say, "Thanks, I appreciate you staying late. Thanks, I appreciate your being willing to work a split shift and not have a life this week so we were covered." Doesn't cost them a dime, but by God! Appreciation is just something that doesn't happen there. Remember the toilets? Yeah...So when YOU are looking for your next job, and the person interviewing you asks if you have any questions for them, ask them, "How do you show appreciation for employees here?" If they can't give you examples, or look confused or even upset and WORSE if they're all cheery and say, "Oh! We love our employees, we're always appreciative," but the can't give you specifics, then keep looking. This goes for you newspaper carriers or would be carriers.

Oh, by the way, the law says if the carriers HAVE to pick up their papers at a certain time and HAVE to have them delivered by a certain time and are docked if they're late...that SOME lawyers - especially with the new laws passed recently, see that as EMPLOYMENT, not a contractor position...check with an attorney. You may be an employee of the Register & Bee - or so I've heard.

Back to appreciation. Take time this year to appreciate your people, especially those last two Register & Bee/Media General employees in this region who are still in the sights of the "convergence team" - I hear two more, I reported five, three down and two to go still....both supposedly in editorial...especially once they lose the real estate ads this year ;-D

Anyway....Happy New Year!

Danville's Backyard Burgers closes for good

Backyard Burgers - MY favorite place in town to get a great sandwich, closed it's doors for good today at 3:00 p.m., according to readers who stopped by there for lunch.

I'm REALLY sorry to see them go. Rumor has it they won't be the last restaurant to leave.

Just doing my job....

"Just doing my job"

What a bogus excuse.

If you take a job, you've bought into what the company does. You're responsible.

If you work for a company headed off a cliff, hey, you're going too. The fact that you're just doing your job doesn't make unemployment any better. And if the company is hurting people or the world you operate in, it doesn't matter who told you to do it, you still did it.

It's not just your job. It's a big part of your life. And you're way smarter than you're giving yourself credit for. Speak up, change things or get out. Whining later is a low-return strategy.

Sorry for the rant. Been getting a lot of email this week from people explaining why they work for companies doing dumb things.

*****

This is not MY writing, but I concur with it totally. It's written by Seth Godin, marketing and business guru. I'm in Seth's social media network and five of my case studies on businesses are in the FREE ebook that accompanies his latest best-selling book, "Tribes." Seth's right. Speak up. Change things, or get out. Whining later is a low-return strategy. I'm in the speak up. Change things mode. I was smart enough enough to get out. Are you? Or will you be one of the people who goes off the cliff as well?

The problem with the Register and Bee and all the short-sighted people who attempt to manage it is, they don't care about people. They don't care about community. They don't care about Danville. They care about themselves. The problem with that is, the new marketing and business model demands businesses who care about others, who connect with community, who help others.

Forces are moving now to bring a newspaper to the area who will do just that. Who will it be? Hopefully it will be someone who is everything the Register and Bee is not.

Political retaliation?

Casewell County blog readers say that the Register & Bee's report on Hugh Webster's small claims court case is political retaliation. Webster, says one reader, has been a thorn in the side of liberals for years and the Register & Bee is playing up the story now that they have a Republican in their sights.

Having worked at The Register & Bee I can say that's possible, but more likely it was a slow news day and someone called to tell Bernard to show up for the story since he was seen hanging around the courthouse before the case was filed. Notice they used a FILE photo of Hugh Webster....not usually done since it's considered lazy and half-assed reporting...but, they do it.

Unfortunately, if it's a slow news day - meaning no one was stabbed, shot, their house set on fire or a store robbed, the next "newsworthy" item that takes little investigation, relies mostly on documents that can be quoted - like a court case, and involves someone in the public eye - unless it's a drunken sports reporter working at the Register & Bee - (historically the R&B keeps its own shortcomings out of the paper), they'll end up on the front page. Any lawsuits against the Register and Bee that involve an R&B reporter, are also kept out of the paper. So....

From a reader!! Thanks for the humor!

This article was written by Susan Elzy of The Danville Register & Bee, last year. A reader who really loved it sent it in. It is NOT making fun of Danville, it is celebrating the quirks and personality of a small town that so many people love. If this upsets you, you haven't read the Register and Bee much...or this blog much.


You know you're from Danville when...

- You have driven for nearly 15 minutes, have made a series of left and right turns and are still on Main Street.

- You've been asked by the last three people you met where you go to church.

- When you drive to South Boston to get an elegant dinner.

-You think Shag dancing should be the national sport.

-You go to Myrtle Beach in August to get away from town and meet the rest of the city there!

-You are merging impaired.

-You're still not sure what The Institute does!

-You think eating out is a form of recreation.

-You think Mount Hermon is one of the seven natural wonders of the world.

-The sun shining off the car roofs at Wal-Mart blinds you as you cruise in.

-There's an herb shop named "Bubba's"

-You open conversations with, "Hey, How Y'all been doing?"

-You think a Target store is going to save the town.

- You know it's there, but you've never toured the Danville Museum of Fine Arts and History.

-When the Taco Bell closes before midnight.

-When people bring their 3-year old with them to Buffalo Wild Wings on a Saturday night.

-When a diner conversation can continue for 30 minutes debating where the best biscuits are found.

-The Smurf Bridge (once blue) is now painted black, but still called the Smurf Bridge.

-When no matter where you turn, you're only a stone's throw from water, historic buildings or victorian homes.

-You give, "used to be" directions to people: "turn at what used to be the King of the Sea," or down by what used to be the boat dock, and turn on the street by the place that used to be Wimpy's. If you remember all of those you really are a Danvillian!

-A night out with the wife is a trip to Lowe's and an ice cream cone at Bubba's (Not the herb shop).

-You choose to shop at Wal-Mart on Wednesday nights when everyone else is at church.

-Rush hour is from 5 to 5:15 on Piney Forest Road.

Media General Buyout?

Media General stock fell 1.91 to 8.91 a share today. What's next?


Media General's Tampa paper is joining the rest of the country in massive media layoffs. Media General employees recently received terms of a buyout offer from the company. The offer has gone out to half the 1,326 employees of Media General subsidiary Florida Communications Group, which includes outlets such as WFLA-Ch. 8, the Tampa Tribune, TBO.com, Hernando Today and many more outlets. Will the Danville Register & Bee be next? We'll know soon. In a Tampa news story we read:


The money provided in the buyout is the same amount an employee would receive if they were laid off involuntarily, so there doesn't seem to be a lot of incentive to participate -- particularly if certain employees are not being informed that they will be laid off involuntarily if they don't take it; Schueler insists that is not happening. And because the company hasn't announced target levels for savings or buyouts, it's tough to anticipate whether involuntary layoffs will be necessary.

To hear what Media talk said about Media General, listen to the conversation in this video about 4:30 into the video. Not looking good.

I'm not the only one...

This is from: http://groups.google.com/group/va.general/msg/3d17bf8a7d99499a

From SMHeath on Googlegroups. He writes:


Hello to Cynthia Pegram, Bill McElway, Joanne Kimberlin, Duncan Adams,
Arnold Hendrix, Glenn Proctor,Carole Tarrant of the various newspapers in Virginia.

Here are some links to examples of real journalists who work for the
Chicago Tribune, going out and getting real stories about abuse in
psychiatric hospital.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-riveredge_casefile...

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/chi-riveredge_mainjul1...

Likely the "Happy News" inspectors at news conglomerate Media General
find this type of story just too depressing to investigate and print,
though doubtless the same problems could be found in Virginia's
Hospitals.


Good points. After the Virginia Tech shootings Media General failed to really explore the issues and chose to focus on the gun control aspect rather the real problem - the fact that Cho was on antidepressants and the fact that Virginia's psych hospitals are the pits. Will you ever see any *real* investigative reporting at the Register & Bee? No. Not likely. Just a steady stream of car wrecks and fires and shootings and murders. Too bad no one is willing to look into why police are underpaid or overworked or why bad guys get put in jail and are back out on the streets the next day. It's not just me. A lot of people are wondering. Why isn't the Register & Bee doing its job? Why are they more interested in sex and naked women than solid reporting? Why? Because Danville, all they want is your money. They want advertising sales and profit. Period. You don't put naked women on the cover of a publication for a story about domestic violence. Whoever did that had their head up their butt for sure....or is so out of touch with the concept of self-respect that they'll never get it. And Kaylor of course, Mr. "LIE to the woman who asked him point blank about the videotaping of her body" approved the cover I'm sure. And all the men probably laughed at it too.

Your ad dollars hard at work Danville. Alienating customers and amusing the newsroom.

Why were Bill and Charles cropped out?

A reader sent me this photo and wanted to know why Bill and Charles were cropped out of the photo. I'm sorry. I don't know. The Register & Bee may not have thought they were important enough or as important as the folks they left in the photo. You would have to ask the Register and Bee that.

Dear Becky:
Seen in the Sunday Oct. 5,2008 Sunday paper. On front row in the photo Bill Fuller and Charles Ellis were cropped out of the photo but their names were still listed. And Phil Blackmon on the back row was also cropped out. The same photo ran several weeks ago in the Chatham Star Tribune with all pictured. Becky this blog is being read daily all over the Dan River Region and the world...many business professionals view it each day not just the common people ....it just confirms what the local people are thinking and saying ....Thank You, a former subscriber of the Richmond Lynchburg danville Register & Bee.

Man up Tom Perriello!

Can Tom Perriello handle the rough and tumble of politics? Probably not. He's stirred up so much press on himself by complaining about this ad (below) that all voters are talking about is how he wants to sue Virgil Goode for playing hardball. Maybe ignoring this ad and telling voters about what you CAN do and WILL do and HAVE done and presenting a picture of why people should vote for you rather than why you're pissed off at Virgil would make more sense. Of course, you can count on the Register & Bee. They seem to be supporting you. They'd probably run a picture of a naked woman in an ad for you. They have some ads of women in pornographic Halloween costumes too - read my blog - I posted a screen shot....and there's that reporter...the one who filmed local business women without their consent or knowledge - he could probably do a great job getting you some video footage. In the meantime folks - here's the ad causing Tom to get his panties all in a wad.

Man up Tom. Leave it and go on to showing us what you really think about offshore drilling, guns, dogs, hunting with dogs and what you plan to do about uranium, and other things important to Virginians here in Pittsylvania County! Then voters will take you seriously.

The cost of being a real jerk

The Results are in...and have been. Being a jerk costs companies money and lots of it.

From The Wharton School of Business comes this information. The entire article may be read here:


Results of The Retail Customer Dissatisfaction Study 2006 -- conducted by The Jay H. Baker Retailing Initiative at Wharton and The Verde Group, a Toronto consulting firm, in the weeks before and after Christmas 2005 -- show that only 6% of shoppers who experienced a problem with a retailer contacted the company, but 31% went on to tell friends, family or colleagues what happened. Of those, 8% told one person, another 8% told two people, but 6% told six or more people. "Even though these shoppers don't share their pain with the store, they do share their pain with other people, apparently quite a few other people," says Hoch.

Overall, if 100 people have a bad experience, a retailer stands to lose between 32 and 36 current or potential customers, according to the study.

The complaints have an even greater impact on shoppers who were not directly involved as the story spreads and is embellished, researchers found. Almost half those surveyed, 48%, reported they have avoided a store in the past because of someone else's negative experience. For those who had encountered a problem themselves, 33% said they would "definitely not" or "probably not" return. "This storytelling has even more impact on the people the story is told to than the people who told the story," says Hoch. The data is based on a survey of 1,186 shoppers.

So, if we look at ALL the people in Danville who have a problem with The Danville Register & Bee, with delivery, with the fact the carriers are paid squat and have to squat (see postings about the lack of a toilet for them), with obits and ads being wrong, with reporters being biased, with reporters treating women with disrespect, with all the things the Danville Register & Bee has done, do you think maybe there aren't a whole lot of people who really like or trust the Register & Bee? Are you really sure you want to be advertising in a paper that most folks don't like? Will you be perceived as "supporting" the paper if you do a lot of advertising with them? It's certainly something to think about. Next time your advertising sales rep comes calling, ask them about some of the things you're reading here.

Do they have an answer? Are they being honest? Or are they saying, "Oh, that's just sour grapes and disgruntled employees?" The fact is, all you have to do is ask your neighbor about their experience with the paper. Has it been positive? It's expensive to be a jerk. People talk. I sure do. Do you?

And it's not just the paper. It's the hospital. It's other businesses around town. You may not care that a customer was mad or upset, but that person is going to talk. Do you have so much business that you need to piss off anyone? I don't think so. Take the high road and do what the Danville Register & Bee refuses to do - namely, THE RIGHT THING. Fire those who screwed up and apologize to everyone else involved. Man up. That means you too Terry.

How MetaBank Conspires to keep your money

MetaBank, a bank in Texas I've dealt with for two years (but no longer) has refused a bank transfer from Franklin Templeton Investments. Why? There's an extra letter in my name. Transfer numbers are right, all other information is right, but MetaBank wants to hang on to my money for a week to make money off of me before refusing it and sending it back. It's the game all banks play and how they screw the consumer. Is MetaBank hurting in this time of financial crisis? They must be. Get your money out now. Obviously customer service and loyalty means nothing to a bank who won't list their contact information on their home page. They remind me a lot of Media General and The Danville Register & Bee. How? They don't care about their customers - at all.

What's happening? A crash is coming. No, not a financial crash. A crash of corporations. What's bringing down corporations world wide is exactly this indifference to consumers. Seth Godin has a book coming out this month called "Tribes." It's about the new business model - a model where consumers follow only companies who demonstrate care and concern about their customers and not so much about the bottom line. It's a book about why companies like The Danville Register & Bee who find it so hilarious to film women's breasts and consciously work to keep stories about Blacks off the front page to appease white advertisers will fail.

It's why banks like MetaBank and investment companies like Franklin Templeton will lose more money than they make by sitting on their customers funds - holding them hostage for weeks at a time.

Why would a bank so committed to customer satisfaction not list a single telephone number on their web page?

Charging more, delivering less

The Register & Bee recently raised its rates. Now you’ll soon be paying more to read The Roanoke Times too. The price has gone up from 50 cents to 75 cents Monday through Saturday papers and from $1.50 to $1.75 on Sunday. Comcast is raising its rates as are many other businesses. You'll be getting less but paying more folks.

Don't ya hate Corporations? I hate Franklin Templeton

I gotta tell you, I hate corporations. The bigger they get the more inept they get. I was recently invited to attend a private dress rehearsal for marketing guru Seth Godin in New York. The official presentation is Oct. 22, but he selected a few folks to come up beforehand and see what's happening. All was well until I tried to transfer funds out of my savings for this once in a lifetime opportunity.

My broker, Franklin Templeton Investments, screwed it up. Three times. They sent money to my bank account under someone else's name. Yup. Do I feel my money is safe with Franklin Templeton Investments? No. Would you? They admitted it was their mistake but can't fix it. Too bad. So sad. Three times they've screwed up. So what's happening? What's going on with corporate America? The worst part about it is they think if they're friendly while they're sending my money under the wrong name that that makes it okay.

Well, they're right up there with Media General and The Danville Register & Bee and any other corporation who thinks they can continue to provide no service or bad service and retain customers. If you're reading this and want to rate The Register & Bee or Franklin Templeton Investments or any other company you might want to give a good or BAD review of... go to www.yelp.com and log in and make your voice heard. Maybe you're tired of waiting 45 minutes at the local bagel store to get a toasted bagel or a sandwich. Let out of town visitors know they need to have time to burn. Sure, the food is great, but don't expect to get served in 20 minutes or less.

The Danville Register & Bee can't get a paper to you before you leave for work. They get your ads or obits wrong. Leave a review.

Franklin Templeton Investments screws up your fund transfers - let the world know. Consumers now have the ability to let companies know their incompetence won't be tolerated. Join me in giving consumers a voice. It only takes a minute and you just might learn something.