I recently sent in a Tumi T-Tech backpack I used for work. Over time the bag material began to fray which made it look “not-so-professional”. I could live with that but when a zipper broke on one of the main compartments I had to send it in for repair. I took it to Portland Luggage and for $15 they sent it in for me. Portland Luggage didn’t guarantee me Tumi would do anything though and tried to sell me a Briggs and Riley.

I have owned a Briggs and Riley before and liked it, but decided to wait and see what Tumi would do for me. The bag that I sent in costs ~$300. Tumi said that bag was warranted for only 3 years and that time was up. Needless to say I wasn’t happy (but was happy I didn’t pay retail for the bag initially). They didn’t end up doing much – they told me they couldn’t repair the bag (a zipper?! come on!) and offered me a 30% discount on a new bag. I told them I didn’t feel like spending money on a new bag every three years so asked them to simply ship the bag back to me/Portland Luggage. Buyer beware – make sure you know your warranty duration (Briggs and Riley’s is lifetime). Based on Tumi’s and their response to my repair request I will never be buying a piece of their luggage again and will recommend Briggs and Riley instead (that bag worked very well when I owned it).

FYI: Tumi # I called –> 800-322-8864, for repair press 3

fun times

As I prepare for guests coming into town to visit over the holidays I began to research lift ticket prices for this year and was a bit shocked.  During the holidays Deer Valley and Park City Mountain Resort lift ticket prices are $90/day and $89/day respectively.  Ouch.  It pays to be local as ticket prices are usually “only” around $50/day.

I have started to notice what seems like a trend with my friends in terms of how they are employed.  Many have worked with a company in the past and are now choosing (some have catalysts pushing them) to go independent.  There are varying levels of success, but for the most part all of them are doing fine.

This got me thinking about what will the future of companies really be like?  I think it will continue down the path of having more independents in the market with real-time like team formations.  With the digitization of information (voice, paper, etc.) and virtual connected society (Twitter, Facebook, Second Life) where one works and being in the office is less important when it comes to being productive.  Not to mention, most people like freedom, and this movement would support people having more freedom – letting one choose who to work with, when to work, when to vacation, how long to work, on what to work, etc.  I see the passion people exhibit when being able to call their own shots and manage one’s own relationships and customers.  Sure, I can’t imagine it being a bowl of cherries all the time, but is it really “better” or just a grass is greener illusion?  I hope my independent friends weigh in on this here.

Either way, in the future it seems the trend that will happen is virtual forming of teams to create value for their customers.  Imagine running your own product company, running a local green non-profit, and consulting on the side.  While that seems like a lot to manage, with they way people can interact these days much of that can be done remotely with periodic on site / face to face meetings.  Seems in the future the question isn’t for what company one will work, it’s more that one will work with the company one keeps (think linkedin/personal network).

After going back and forth on the new Blackberry Storm 2 and Motorola Android I chose the Droid.  Some of the specifications for each are listed below: