March 17, 2006

Dear Mercedes Benz,

I'm not one who chooses to watch Television all that often. I own a T.V. but I decided a while back that the amount of benefit I gain from watching T.V. as opposed to going out for a walk, or sitting down and reading a book was so far out of proportion that it simply doesn't make sense to spend much time in front of it (with the power turned on) anymore. I do sit in front of it on occassion. But thats more about the location of the T.V. as it relates to the couch or chair I will sit in to read.

"What does this have to do with you, or the automobiles you manufacture?"

I'm glad you asked,

I am sitting here inside my local late night coffee house in downtown Salt Lake City, UT. This particular coffee shop (Salt Lake Coffee Break > between 4th and 5th East on the South side of the 4th South for those familiar with the area) is well equipped with all sorts of things to help take your mind of off, or turn it on to, whatever it is you are desirous of. Free WiFi, books, newspapers, magazine, couches, chess boards, and oh yes, even a big screen T.V. (with the sound turned off, closed caption on).

I stop by SLCB once, or even twice on any given day. I'm not actually much of a coffee drinker... I prefer Chai Tea, and SLCB serves up a mean Tazo Chai, mmmm,mmm,mm.

With a Chai Tea Latte in hand, and Cat Stevens "On The Road To Find Out" currently streaming through my headphones, life really couldn't be much better.

Well I left my happy home to see what I could find out

I left my folk and friends with the aim to clear my mind out

Well I hit the rowdy road and many kinds I met there

Many stories told me of the way to get there

Have I lost your attention yet?

"Huh?"

Good! Because I must say, you just lost mine too.

"How so?"

, you ask.

Yet another excellent question! My my, you are on top of your "good question" game now, aren't you :)

So on and on I go, the seconds tick the time out There’s so much left to know, and I’m on the road to find out

Well then, with our little virtual system cursor sitting firmly in place on the topic of Good Questions, here's one for ya:

"Some historians will tell you that Mercedes Benz won that race... We'll tell you that the race with ourselves is never over."

"That's a question?"

Can I finish their Ritalin Kid?

"Huh?"

Exactly.

So, the question (wouldn't want to cause a little mini-temper tantrum, so I'd best get to the point before I do):

"The race with yourself is never over?"

"Huh? Oh.. yeah, yeah... that's right... "The race with ourselves is never over..." Isn't that clever!"

No.

"Huh?! Yes it is!"

Whoa! Here's comes that temper tantrum... Yikes! Here, let me throw you a bone, and then I'm getting my a$$ out of here before you complete lose it...

Let's change things around a bit and lets see if you can stay focused long enough to understand the difference:

"Some historians will tell you that Mercedes Benz won that race... We'll tell you that the race is never over."

Can you see spot the difference there RitzBitz?

"Yeah, but that doesn't put the focus on us, on Mercedes!"

Oh, so you mean you can understand the importance of staying focused? Excellent! Lets see then if you can focus on this:

As much as you would like it to be, there's a good reason why Mercedes Benz isn't and shouldn't be the only automobile manufacturer on the planet. Of course your response to this will more than likely contain the fact that

"Mercedes is owned by DaimlerChrysler AG, who also controls Chrysler, Dodge, and Jeep"

Oh good! Not only do you understand the importance of staying focused, but you can memorize text book responses as well...

"Huh? That's not a textbook response! We really DO control Chrysler, Dodge, and Jeep... err, I mean, umm, ummm, Oh! I mean DaimlerChrysler AG, the corporation who owns us, also controls Chrysler, Dodge, and Jeep"

Exactly. And thank you for rounding out my point with such crisp precision... minus a few "umms" but I won't tell no one if you don't.

"Ummm... okay."

Did you really have to start that last blockquote with "Ummm"?

"Huh?"

Nothing. Nevermind.

Well, I listen to the wind come howl, telling me I have to hurry
I listen to the robin’s song saying not to worry

I can see we're not going to get anywhere with this, so let me leave you with one last message:

Suggesting any sort of notion that one company controlling multiple brands is a GOOD thing, and that its the fact that there ARE multiple brands that matters most is pure and simple manipulation of the system. Of course, you can claim all sorts of

"centralized control of multiple "brands" provides benefit to the consumer, as it allows us to save money in the areas where each individual "brand" would normally have to provide for themselves, e.g. Manufacturing of core components, management, sales, financing, etc... etc... etc..."

To which I would respond:

But sometimes you have to moan when nothing seems to suit yer
But nevertheless you know you’re locked towards the future

Sorry, that was Cat Stevens streaming through my earphones again. My own response would be:

"Yes, bringing together common pieces into a centralized 'location' CAN be a REALLY SMART thing to do. Using a more common term,

Outsourcing

So on and on you go, the seconds tick the time out
There’s so much left to know, and I’m on the road to findout

Sorry, that was Cat again... you just never know when his lyrics will pop into any given conversation at any given time.

In regards to outsourcing, yes, outsourcing is a good thing. It minimizes the investment necessary to build a competitive brand, bringing common tasks that can be seen as neutral in the areas in which you are competing with others.

A great example of this is Amazon.com's new S3 service. The overall planning and costs of building a data center, or at very least a collection of machines that have been outsourced to a data center service provider can be ASTRONOMICAL. In fact, according to Amazon's own collateral:

It gives any developer access to the same highly scalable, reliable, fast, inexpensive data storage infrastructure that Amazon uses to run its own global network of web sites.

Now before you run off with some sort of "see, Amazon is doing the same thing we are!" let me jump in and cut you off before you make a damn fool of yourself.

Does DaimlerChrysler AG offer centralized wherehousing and distribution services to anyone with a valid credit card, with ZERO start up cost, paying only for the storage space and the transportation 'bandwidth' used to deliver these goods to the any of the land and sea 'ports' across the world?

"No. What benefit would that bring us?!"

Exactly!

Huh?

Nothing. Sorry to wake you. Go back to sleep. I'll try not to be so loud next time.

Then I found my head one day when I wasn’t even trying
And here I have to say, ’cause there is no use in lying, lying

Yes the answer lies within, so why not take a look now?
Kick out the devil’s sin, pick up, pick up a good book now

--
DISCLAIMER: I don't believe that DaimlerChryslerAG or any of the "brands" it "controls" are evil in any way. I do believe in free trade and the subsequent competition that is part of a free trade system. I worry when I see a centralized company "controlling" multiple "brands" as I fear that it doesn't provide the necessary incentives to be more competitive. This, in and of itself, is the message I want to bring out from all of this.