Preamble: You can ignore this if you want; it just tells you how I got to thinking about the situation, with a bit of local color of Silicon Valley thrown in. Want faster reading? Just go to “Meat“.
Monday, I am attending Mashup University at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View. It’s 15 miles away from my home in San Jose.
Now the Computer History Museum is located in a “public transportation undesirable” neighborhood. East of 101, high tech companies abound among the streets — Shoreline, Charleston, Amphitheatre Parkway. Companies such as…Google. Sun and Silicon Graphics used to be in this area as well. My former employer, Ariba, had been located in this area when I hired on in 2000. Microsoft’s WebTV (now MSN TV), who had competed for my employment at that time, had recently moved to facilities tucked away in a corner south of Shoreline.
Most of the companies provide transportation from other points into this area. Some from the Mountain View Train Station. Google, all the way from points in San Jose. I seem to recall that several smaller companies pooled together to provide a small local bus, a bit smaller than those you take to get to the hotel from the airport, to their employees.
So, hating commute traffic, I decided to find out if there was some possible way to get to my destination from San Jose. I used the handy site, http://www.511.org
But what was amazing was that 511.org, in an attempt to encourage my use of public transportation, pointed out that the cost of my trip on public transportation, $5.25, would cost me $7.47 if I drove. 50c/mile to drive.
Oh…the problem? The route shows that I should walk from points in Mountain View, west of 101, to the Computer History Museum. The only indication of the route I should walk is an arrow from the start point to the destination point — an arrow that goes over open land (I don’t know who owns it, or what paths may exist), and crossing the 101 freeway where there is clearly no crossing) to the Computer History Museum. Completely unhelpful. Even with the Google Map.
MEAT
Europeans and the Brits (oh, and the Canadians?) must think we Americans are insane to be so concerned about gasoline going up to $4 and even $5 a gallon.
I asked our UK Warriors on the Warrior chat earlier this month how much gas (petrol) cost them.
Answer (Americans, hold onto your hats): nearly $10/gallon.
(This post is both an historical marketing comment as well as
something to think about, so if you were wondering…)
So why is $4 or $5/gal such a problem for the U.S. — and not for the countries mentioned?
I think, primarily, since the U.S. was, for a long time, the chief exporter of automobiles, we became a much more mobile economy. The automobile looms large in the American mind; boys look forward to their first cars, and tinkering with them, a passion.
The ready access to automobiles has made for a mobile economy. “Shopping Centers” were created, not just neighborhood strip malls. Local farming could give way to produce shipped from the middle of the country.
This dependence on the auto — and on trucking — reduced the dependence on railways. Much valuable right-of-way of the railways was sold off to developers.
So what does this mean going forward?
Well, there’s a site I learned about recently — the name of which escapes me, something with ‘walk’ in the name — that, given a particular point, will show you how far various kinds of shopping is from you.
Overall — economies (certainly the U.S.) are going from “information expensive, travel cheap” to “information cheap, travel expensive”.
What does this mean to you as an information marketer? (Yes, I hate to disillusion you — information marketing may or may not be as lucrative as it was in the past because there is so much more readily available. Think about it.)
Will postal mail suddenly make a comeback, as a more economical way to get goods ? More catalogs? That would be good for internet marketers, but not necessarily information marketers.
It certainly will be a boon for local businesses. And for folks looking at helping local busineses market.
Remotely located discount houses like Costco may not fair as well, when people start to include the cost of trips into their calculations. Or maybe the lines will be longer at busy times — making systems for “load balancing” customer load, by showing customers when they are busiest and when they are less busy, feasible.
Certainly, the websites which tell you where to find the cheapest gas will become even more popular — as will sites that show you how to keep your car up to get the best mileage (tire air pressure, anyone?)
So — non US folks — how do you get around? How much do you travel in a given week, and by what means?
US folks — how is the cost of price affecting you?
Marketers — how do you see the cost of gas affecting you?
— although the “illustrated” version, first published in 2005 using the 4th edition text, might be more entertaining — and a revision, due out at the end of this month, is available for