When the industry and its many suppliers first came out with their own App based product they tried to convince the industry that you can now compete with the Ubers. Nothing was further from the truth. The Uber concept did have an App which consumers naturally adopted and adapted to. But it was never the…

Friday 02/04/22 started off like any routine morning shift. One of my numerous wakeup calls was a 440am for a chauffeur nicknamed “Buzz.” Buzz was starting out with order #287085 which was a transfer of two pilots from their downtown hotel to Bradley airport. Buzz was far from being a limo driver. He was a…

I am not going to constantly remind everybody of the unique labor challenges we are all facing. You are all certainly aware. Besides, the real objective should be to solve the problem not to moan about it. However, this problem has some very unique components. Firstly, let us all agree on one thing. It is…

In one fell swoop, admittedly by accident, I believe I have solved the crime of the century. The ground transportation industry collectively has been victimized by this but were probably not aware. It started on a Tuesday night with a simple airport cancellation. Party calls from Miami to say their flight to Boston was cancelled…

The pioneering retailer Marshall Field, amongst his many accomplishments, was creating and popularizing the motto, “the customer is always right.” Complete and total customer satisfaction was the mainstay of the inception of American retail and business in general. Somewhere along the way however another motto became popular. That was “Caveat Emptor” Latin for “let the…

If there was ever an important lesson I learned in Limo 101 it was check the vehicle before you leave the client’s drop off location. It could be an open door glance. It could be a visual and physical check under all seats, magazine racks, and trunk. I knew a chauffeur who had a mini…

The ground transportation industry is in the midst of a terrible identity crisis. It is obviously not the first time and certainly not the last time. One of the factors that makes this particular time so challenging is that we have not hit dry land yet. Things change daily and the agile operation must learn…

I remember it like it was yesterday. I watch WGN news every morning and they have their annual back to school show. Many sponsors have booths outside the studio and parents bring their children for carnival rides, school supplies, haircuts, and the like. This was about 10 years ago and sponsors with deep pockets often…

Our final chapter in this series deals with the one commodity that makes everything fit. That commodity is cash. Or possibly, the lack thereof. Typically, every seller wants miracle money, they believe hard work and passion have value. The problem is most buyers are out to steal and then seal the deal and your average…

As we start the next chapter of our discussion I want to make it clear that one of the key components of operating any business is one that I have not invited to our forum. I am referring to the online heartbeat of any business. The domain(s) and the myriad of ways that emails are…