On Saturday, June 28, 2014 3:10:36 PM UTC-4, Stephen Sprunk wrote:   
      
   > Also note that having low-paid employees on your books affects things like   
   the tax-deferred status of 401k plans; if they're contractors or employees of   
   another company, you're insulated from that. And they also don't factor into   
   revenue-per-employee    
   calculations that stock analysts use when comparing you to competitors.   
      
   It's unfortunate, but you're right.  At the steel mill, management demanded an   
   improvement in productivity, that is, fewer man hours per ton of steel.  In   
   part, they did that by using consultants instead of staff in the office   
   because, as you said, the    
   consultant don't show up on the books.   
      
   > Most companies these days don't care about public relations; at most, they   
   view it as something they pay a PR firm to manage. Customer service is seen as   
   an expense, not something that adds value.    
      
   Again, unfortunate.  Watson points out that it was first-rate customer service   
   that built IBM.  Univac beat IBM by a few years in the computer market, but   
   IBM pulled ahead by superior customer service.   
      
      
   > Analog multi-line phones mean you need a wire pair for every line that   
   appears on the phone--and that's expensive after the 3rd line. Digital phones   
   can have lots of lines, limited only by the number of buttons on the phone.   
   But more buttons still    
   costs more money; in most cases, the typical desk phone only has 2-3 line   
   buttons, and only a receptionist's phone has more (one for every user's   
   extension).    
      
   I'll have to double check the technology, but I'm pretty sure the 'electronic'   
   key system telephones introduced by the Bell System circa 1980 (the "Horizon"   
   system and later "Merlin" ?) did not require a wire pair for each line--the   
   electronics allowed    
   one pair for voice and maybe one pair for signalling.  Everything else was   
   analog.  These phones also introduced the use of LEDs instead of incandescent   
   lights for signal purposes.     
      
   (LEDs had also replaced bulbs as dial lights in Princess and Trimline phones.    
   This had the advantage of no longer requiring a little plug-in transformer to   
   power the light.)   
      
      
      
   > TRE's trains have real bells; they ring whenever the ditch lights are set to   
   flashing, i.e. every grade crossing and when entering or exiting a station.   
   It's even more annoying than the (very loud) horn.    
      
   The NJT River Line bells are controlled by the operator and usually sounded   
   briefly.  It seems on most RR trains the ditch lights flash if the whistle is   
   used, not the other way around.   
      
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