Have you purchased your Forever Stamps yet? With next week’s postal increase, the post office came up with what I think is its best idea in years – a first-class postage stamp that once you buy it, you can use it at any time, even after the next postage increase. Where on the surface this may not make sense, factor in inflation, interest and the cost of distributing 2-cent stamps, and it is a wise move.

With all of the problems that the post office has in its customer service and mail delivery, especially in Chicago, I have decided to focus on the things that I do like about the postal service here in the US. In addition to the Forever Stamps, my other favorites include:

• Automated Postal Center (APC) kiosks at many post offices allow you to weigh and ship packages without waiting in line, as well as purchasing books of stamps. In many post offices when there is a line at the windows, there is no line at the APC.
• USPS.com allows you to track shipments and buy stamps with only a $1 surcharge, which is more efficient than waiting in line for either.

Come to think about it, what I like about the post office is related to new thinking and services that require little human intervention.

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I just got word that the next likemind will be on Friday, May 18. In Chicago, it will be at Intelligentsia Coffee, 53 E. Randolph, at the corner of Wabash.

What is likemind? It started with two people who decided to meet for coffee and invited others. There are now 22 likemind locations around the world... amazing!

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As time slides through the hourglass and I did not schedule time to write more this week, I thought I would share this story from The Onion on blogging.

I don't consider this a biopic at all, but we can all use a few extra bucks!

Diversions • (0) Comments • Permalink

I never use the term "under construction" in Web site copy because a Web site truly is always under construction. The same can be said for my blog. Today I have made some small changes which will hopefully make it easier to navigate the site, and may have more in the future.

If you happened to use the autodiscovery feature of the browser to subscribe to the site, could I trouble you to unsubscribe and resubscribe? I ask this as I have changed the feed link to using Feedburner rather than the native link for the feed. This way I can better track readership. If you subscribed by clicking on the icon on the Web page itself under the heading of "Subscribe to the Feed," that has not changed and you don't need to resubscribe.

What is autodiscovery? In the address bar of your browser, to the far right may be the orange icon for a blog/RSS feed. By clicking on it, it will "autodiscover" the link for the feed then subscribe you to the feed in whatever designated feed reader you have selected. This has been a feature in Firefox and is new to IE.

Now that The Hot Iron has been live for four months, I am learning great deal from my own use as well as feedback from readers like you – thank you! And please keep it coming.

Announcements • (2) Comments • Permalink

Today Delta Air Lines came out of bankruptcy. At an "event" to announce this, they unveiled a new logo and announced they will be repainting their aircraft with it. This is 19th logo for Delta in 78 years, and you can see all the past logos courtesy of the Delta History Museum. The following was from their press release announcing the new logo:

"Delta’s brand, which includes the customer experience and our financial stability, has been changing for the last 19 months thanks to the tireless efforts of Delta people worldwide," said Tim Mapes, Delta’s vice president of Marketing. "Now, it's time to refresh our visible brand identity to mark the progress we've made. It represents the very core of Delta people who are more passionate than ever to provide our customers with the very best experience possible."

From this statement, the logo changes everything, correct? All Delta employees, those remaining after layoffs who have taken pay cuts themselves, will be much happier, right? Aircraft will be much cleaner and in and out of gates on time, no?

I see no need for this. The physical airplane is the last step of the customer experience with the airlines. And my only close-up view of the airplane is very limited, when I am at the gate just about to board the plane. Sure, I may see other planes out the window of the plane I am currently on, but do I look out and say, "oh, I want to fly that airline, they have cooler colors?" By the time I am on the plane, I have made my decision who to fly, paid for my ticket and am ready to get to my destination.

I see the airline industry in line with the retail banking industry, where they change names, rebrand, throw big parties, but what really changes? Is service improved, both in quality and cost of delivery? Can I get personalized service and have a personal relationship with either? How will a new logo on a sign in an airport and a new coat of paint on a plane make a difference to me, the consumer?

Delta isn't the only one guilty of this. When US Airways merged with America West, the combined airline decaled planes with the "throwback" logos of the airlines that merged to make US Airways. Even frugal Southwest repainted the majority of their planes from desert colors to blue. Once again, the painter and signmaker are the ones who truly benefit from these changes, just as in banking.

Now I am waiting for Hugo Chavez and his Citgo to challenge Delta on the similarities of their new logo to his longstanding one!

Business • Diversions • (7) Comments • Permalink