Market Opportunities Unlimited (MOU) Blog

Get Car Rental Services on the Cheap

If you still have to travel for business meetings, then there are only two options, if you want independence of travel, whilst in a foreign country or in another State or region of your own country:

Using car rental services or a local taxi service.

By far the cheaper option, car rental services are fast-becoming the choice of business travelers when there is a reliable road network that can be accessed by a GPS.

In fact, car rental companies are tripping over each other to get your business.

Savings.com is a coupon site where you can find free coupons from your favorite store or brand, including car rental service companies (car rental companies).

The key to using this site, however, is to register. Registering allows you to access the most current and juiciest deals.

After registering, you can search for Car Rental Coupons by using Savings.com's search box/window.

So let's say that you recently saw an ad on TV for your favorite car rental service. You can:

1. Enter the first name of the car rental service followed by the word "coupon" (without quotes) in the search window on Savings.com...E.g. enter "Enterprise coupons" (without quotes).

2. Ensure that you select "Store" from the drop-down menu beside the search box. The latest coupons from that car rental service will pop up.

If you're thinking of switching car rental companies or using a particular car rental service for the first time, you can also find sweet deals that fit your budget:

Using the same search window, just type in the search term "car rental".

...There you'll see two sections with results:

1. "Store Results" which show the different companies and the current number of coupons they offer

2. "Coupon Results" which give the coupon options for the different car rental services.

Look for the one you need, then click on it.

To access the coupon, just press the button marked "Activate Coupon" or "Get Code" that's associated with your coupon.

When you press "Activate Coupon" - the coupon will be activated when the car rental company's website appears...all you have to do is enter your information.

When you press "Get Code", however, you will be able to choose from a number of possible coupon codes which can be entered, in the relevant area of the car rental company's website that appears.

You can also view the number of votes to identify the more popular coupons. (Votes are from other people who have also used the coupon).

You can use this as a gauge to ascertain if you should even bother to use the coupon. Less votes may indicate a preference for other coupons or that people aren't interested in the service areas/types that you are.

Please ensure that you go through at least the first three (3)  pages of the Coupon Results, however, or fine tune your results, via the search window, as there are always hidden gems (deals) amidst the more prevalent coupons on the page.

After doing this, you should be able to find a car rental company that fits your budget, for your intended destination.

As with any other business, you should stick with companies that not only give great customer service at a reasonable price, but can be accessed in whatever country or region of your own country that you need to travel to.

(I would like to thank Jaako for the use of his Flickr.com inset photo entitled,"Rental Car").

Gillian

Kingston Wharves Strike - One of the Reasons There'll be Less Jobs in Jamaica

Kingston Wharves
Originally uploaded by elser2uk

I've been watching with great interest, the industrial scene at Kingston Wharves Ltd....

(Kingston Wharves is one of Jamaica's leading multipurpose terminal operators, whose terminal stores imported goods coming into Jamaica.

Their 25-hectare terminal offers 22 hectare of open storage with 30,000 square meters of covered warehousing and cold storage.   The company also has 53, 000 square meters of secure off-dock storage for motor vehicles.)

Workers went on strike on Thursday to protest the fact that thirty (30) of their number were made redundant.

Workers, via their union, the National Workers Union (NWU) and management were at an impasse over the situation, as the management of Kingston Wharves said they had no choice but to make these workers redundant, in order to decrease the company's expenses.

So the Ministry of Labour, via it's Minister, Pearnel Charles, had to step in.

They still couldn't resolve the issue, so Minister Charles asked the Industrial Disputes Tribunal (the IDT- the highest body in Jamaica which mediates labour disputes) to intervene. They did and the IDT ordered workers back to work Friday.

But workers, at the advice of their Union, refused to return to work up until today.

The Unions claim that:

1) They only got the "Back to Work Order" on Saturday

2) They are confused by the "Back to Work Order", as it is phrased in such a way that would imply that all workers, including those made redundant, should return to work.

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Now the action of the Trade Union is traditional...in exchange for union dues (money subtracted from workers' salaries to pay unions), Trade Unions are supposed to act on workers' behalves to ensure that they are treated fairly by management.

But the Union's action, in this case, is very curious.

The chairman and CEO of Kingston Wharves, Grantley Stephenson, says that Management has been in meetings with the Union from July 2008, re the proposed redundancy and in turn, the NWU requested to see Kingston Wharves' balance sheet and profit and loss statement, to ascertain if the redundancies were justified.

But management refused to allow them to see the financials, saying they were confidential documents.

The Unions claim the redundancies are in effect an attempt at Union Busting by management.

Well, whomever is at fault for this quagmire..Jamaica is losing  $30-40 million in customs duty, per day, as a result of this industrial action...as ships cannot get to offload their cargo and have to return to their original destination.

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Unions, I agree, should defend workers, but they also need to equip workers for the 21st century and to make them so skilled, that them being made redundant, would not be an issue.

E.g. it's frightening that, according to Minister Charles, 65% of the workers that could have been sent to Canada, on a work exchange program as carpenters, can't even sign their names, as they're illiterate.

Yet these men and women are very talented carpenters...and are very multi-skilled...but yet they can't access jobs abroad, due to their illiteracy.

So what are the Unions doing about this?

Surely they should take some blame for workers' ill-preparedness for the 21st Century!??!

With the world financial crisis now affecting Jamaica, nobody can guarantee jobs...

Those employees who will survive redundancies, will be mutliskilled workers who have proven to management that they're such assets to an organization, that management can't afford to lose them.

Unions need to let workers understand that they cannot guarantee jobs and that for workers to then hold a company at ransom, to reinstate fellow-workers - who may be liabilities to an organization, is wrong.

So while Prime Minister Bruce Golding, when in Opposition, had promised "jobs, jobs and more jobs" for Jamaicans, if his party (the Jamaica Labour Party) was elected government...he, as head of government, is stabbing himself in the foot, as very few investors will invest in a country where unions hinder productivity and hence decrease company profits.

Investors will try to find countries with a skilled labour-force, whose workers are pliable and multi-skilled, so that they can be employed in more than one area,  should the situation warrant it.

Until unions realize this, Jamaica will continue to lose jobs, jobs and more jobs!

Enough has been said!

Gillian

Sources Include:

1) Article, "Charles warns striking workers", Jamaica Gleaner, October 27, 2008

2) Nationwide Radio, October 24 & 27, 2008

3) Article "Who is right about IDT order?", by Taneisha Lewis Jamaica Observer, October 26, 2008

4) Kingston Wharves Ltd.'s website, "About us" page.

Air Jamaica Shake-Up

IMG_14843
Originally uploaded by Ian Fuller

The names of the members of the new Air Jamaica Board were announced, yesterday,  by Senator Don Wehby, Minister Without Portfolio in the Ministry of Finance.

[The previous Board was asked to resign last Wednesday, to make way for a new Board with the financial savvy to negotiate the divestment of the airline. The current Board has been reduced from fourteen (14) to nine (9) members.]

They are as follows:

Previous Members Who Remain:

• Dennis Lalor - Deputy Chairman responsible for divestment (ICWI Chairman)
• Shirley Williams – Non Executive Chairman (Business Woman) - she will not have an office at headquarters and will not manage the day-to-day operations of the airline.
• Derrick Latibeaudiere - (Governor, Bank of Jamaica)
• Richard Byles – (President, Sagicor Life Jamaica)
• Wilfred Bagaloo – (of PriceWaterhouseCoopers Jamaica)
• Carolyn Hayle - (Financier and Lecturer)
• Omar Parkins - (Pilot)

New Members:

• Chris Berry – (Chairman of Mayberry Investments)
• Colin Steele – (Chartered Accountant)

Senator Wehby has given the new Board the following mandate, to be met by March 2009:

1) Stabilize the losses of the airline, which are currently at USD $10 million/month

2) Restructure the airline

3) Divest the airline by March 2009.

[Air Jamaica has been racking up losses to the tune of USD $560 million (JMD $ 40 billion) for the past three (3) years, but has continuously been in a loss position for the past twenty (20) years.

(The airline has lost USD $85 million since January 2008.)

However, the airline's revenue has been approximately USD $350 million/year.]

Senator Wehby, in an effort to further curtail losses, will be requiring that the sixty (60) Members of Parliament and twenty-one (21) Senators who, along with their spouses, are entitled to four,  first class tickets per year, will willingly have this reduced to two (2), first class tickets and eventually zero first class tickets, each.

(The cost of a first class ticket ranges from JMD $150,000 - 300,000)

He reported that negotiations via the Internatinal Finance Corporation (the Financing arm of the World Bank) for a buyer for the airline are going well and that the airline has received USD $1 million and USD $800,000 grants, respectively, from the World Bank and the US Trade and Development Agency (USTDA), to help with this process.

Ideally, he would like to see an ownership structure of 50-60% for the buyer, 20% by the Government of Jamaica and 20% Employee Owned (under an ESOP - Employee Share Ownership Plan.)

The Board and himself are now scouting for a CEO who will manage the day-to-day operations of the airline. They have a short-list of 2-3 applicants which include David Banmiller.

Sources Include:

1) Article, "Air Jamaica revamped - New board named, David Banmiller tipped to be new Air Jamaica CEO", by Arthur Hall, Senior Staff Reporter, Jamaica Gleaner, July 3, 2008

2) Cliff Hughes' Interview with Don Wehby, on his TV Programme, "Impact", July 2,2008.

3) Article, "Air J Board asked to resign", by Vernon Davidson, Executive Editor - Publications, Jamaica Observer, June 25,2008