Picture of the Day: Urban Transportation

Desperate needs call for desperate measures. This picture is both amusing and very disturbing. I don't know how authentic it is (i.e. whether that poor baby in the bucket has been photoshop'd in, for example). But I have seen scenes like this play out before me multiple times in the developing world.

Photo credit: Unknown. Someone emailed it to me w/o the credits. I can't find anything inspite of scouring the internet. Do email me if you have anymore information.

Navigating Air Travel's New Reality

Following up on yesterday's post, I came across this interesting article. The author went through the same sort of experience I went through but was more patient and giving to the airline industry...or atleast, she tried to explain the problems more gently and made a different point.

I am sitting in seat 10B on flight 744 from Dallas to New York, getting a front-row view of where air travel is headed in this country. Booked two weeks in advance, my coach-class ticket cost $1,258 round-trip—and that was without checking a bag, changing my ticket, or any other innocuous act that could have upped my tab by hundreds of dollars... [My] only gustatory options on this three-hour dinnertime flight are a standard-issue flagon of plonk and an unwholesome assortment of snack foods. Together, they set me back more than $10.

....

Raising prices for diminished service isn't a winning strategy for keeping customers. Indeed, in a recent Condé Nast Traveler survey, fully 82 percent of readers said they'd travel less if prices rose by 20 percent or more. And while 47 percent said they would be willing to pay extra for an in-flight meal, most balked at the other fees, with only 20 percent saying they would shell out to check a bag. Most agreed the air travel experience has headed south: 70 percent of those surveyed said they had experienced a flight delay of more than an hour in the past year, and nearly 30 percent said a carrier had lost their bag or canceled their flight.

How bad will it get? Here, we look at the many ways in which you will feel the airlines' changes—and what you can do to minimize the pain.

[READ MORE]

The stupidity of short-term thinking

photo courtesy: Innaminnafly

I'm flying to Europe for six weeks in August (and I won't be blogging much during that time as I know you are all dying for a break! :-) ). And, I'm VERY VERY annoyed at the airline industry right now.

Travel is a luxury item, and with the economy struggling as it is, only crazy people (like me) who are footing their own bills or business people who have someone else footing their bills are doing the traveling. The once high-flying (pun-intended) airline industry is struggling to pay their own bills, and is consequently trying to punish anyone who is trying to help them out.

Normally, with packed flights through most days of the year, airlines keep peak season rates relatively low. But with such low demand, airlines are trying to make their profits entirely in the peak season...so poor, unfortunate idiots like myself are stuck with abnormally high rates. (I try my best to avoid peak traveling seasons in general, because I dislike crowds intensely. But this time, I had no choice.)

This is what I call stupid short-term thinking. While they make money in the short-term (really??), in the long-run, they are "shooting themselves in the foot." And here's why:

• They are losing on the majority of people sitting on the fence about traveling. I know plenty of people who suddenly have a lot of time on their hands and have been contemplating traveling, but have given it up because of the exhorbitant rates. Airlines are betting on the few who HAVE to fly, not on the potential of people who might fly if their deals were better.

• They are losing out on customer loyalty. What few airlines realize is that a lot of frequent travelers are loyal, and are powerful word-of-mouth marketers. I am loyal to Virgin Airlines for example (amazing customer service and in-flight service!!), and Southwest Airlines, and I used to be to JetBlue before their customer service started sucking. When you bully people into doing things they don't want to do or don't think is fair, they will hold it against you. In this case forcing us to pay unfair fees and putting up with awful customer service while it will get us this time, will lose us in the long run (this is why I will NEVER fly Northwest/KLM again!)
  

• Allowing poor business practices to continue, even flourish: The larger US Airlines have the absolute worst service in the world, and they have no excuse. For years, the US government notoriously protected their airline industry, allowing awful business practices to endure. When the markets finally opened and protectionism was terminated, these "institutional airlines" (US Airways, Delta, American Airlines, United, etc) struggled. Their burgeoning bureaucracy made them inefficient against innovative, nimble, emerging airlines like Southwest Airlines, JetBlue, Frontier, and others. The older airlines have only survived by capitalizing on their monopoly routes, their loyal customers, and building alliances with better airlines around the world.

Still struggling, the institutional airlines turned to stupid short-term thinking, taking their ire out on the customers. Fly one of them and you'll find yourself paying for everything. None of the institutional airlines have on-demand entertainment, a common availability amongst every first-world airline. If you want it, you pay for it. Many of these airlines are locked into lengthy and heavy contracts with labor unions; so their staff are often old, cranky, angry people who have seen a once glorious job go sour. Naturally their customer service is terrible. Further, they've cut down on seat spacing, have aging fleets, ancient in-flight entertainment, and make you pay for everything, including your water and your luggage (in addition to your already sizable airline ticket).

Its ridiculous to me that these airlines are thriving in this economy. And why?? Because the now cost-conscious consumer is forced to go with the cheapest deal, not the best airline. While hunting around today, for example, Delta Airlines was charging $1121 for a round-trip ticket to Paris; Lufthansa, a relatively superior airline, was charging $1600 (which is currently average for all non-American carriers). Normally, I would pay the extra $100 or $15o over Delta just to get better service. But this time, I can't even afford the $1121. But its my only choice, so I take it. So here we have it...the market is working against us and them.

Yes, airlines have investors and shareholders. But shareholders are reasonable people. Everyone knows that the economy is doing terribly. It would be ridiculous to expect that Delta would churn out record profits at this time...

My point is this...short-term thinking, without considering the bigger picture is very stupid and dangerous. While the ailing US institutional airlines continue to get through another year, its only a matter of time before they will have to bow out. After all, GM just did...only a matter of time with the rest...

Water Technology: The Hippo Roller

Women in South Africa use the Hippo Roller to transport and store water (photo: Hippo Roller.org).

Technology Name: HIPPO ROLLER

Description:
In a nutshell, the Hippo Roller (HR) is a water transporter and storage unit, designed in South Africa.

The HR organizational website has an extensive description about their technology. I'll just paraphrase it for everyone's benefit:

HR is a 20 gallon (90L) polyethylene water drum designed to roll on the ground rather than being carried on the head. The polyethylene is UV stabilized and sturdy enough to withstand every kind of rural condition. To aid input and output of the liquid, as well as cleaning of the drum, there is a large screw-on cap. A clip-on steel handle is used to push the drum around.

HR Specifications:
Year of design: 1996 (I think)
Distribution: 25,000 have been distributed as of May, 2007 (almost all donated)
Size: 20 gallon (90L) drum
Material: UV stabilized, sturdy polyethylene
Features: Steel clip-on handle, Large screw cap (135mm/5.3" diameter)
Cost: US$90 manufacturing + US$10 delivery (the drum is produced in South Africa; delivery costs are in-country as well)

Apparently, the design allows five times the regular amount of water to be carried with a ninth of the force, when compared with the traditional method of carrying water on the head. (If you really want the technical version, the earth balances out a large part of the water+drum weight, leaving only a fraction of the weight and friction for the pusher).

HR also comes with a Hippo Food Security System in place aimed at an average sized family of six. It includes:

• A 210 liter drum for the irrigation system and a 90 liter Hippo Water Roller used for topping up the reservoir.
• 8 x 6 meter drip lines are also included which cover up to 50 square meters of land.
• Tools and instructions and a starter pack of seeds for both the summer and the winter.
• Further training is available if needed.

At the moment, HR is made only in one size.


The Hippo Drum, a closer look (photo source: Project H Design)

My review:
I was browsing through Project H Design's website recently and saw this technology being featured. The H team ended up funding a large project in South Africa in March 2008, which is covered here.

The good:
I've carried my share of water and I can tell you that it is a real pain in the neck (no pun intended). So HR is addressing a real and very important problem.

The concept is simple, replicable, and it works for the processes that it was built for, i.e. storage and transport. The drum has a sturdy construction that can go over all kinds of terrain. It really takes pressure off the women, and she can carry an entire day's water needs in one visit...very efficient!

The what:
I don't think the pushing mechanism works so well if the drum is anything less than full. I've had to roll around half empty barrels on flat earth and uphill (downhill isn't so bad), and the darn thing kept sloshing around. Sometimes going uphill became a battle because the momentum from the sloshing worked against me, and my toes were sore from acting as stoppers!

I'm also not clear on how you fill water from a shallow pool, like if the depth of the pool is less than the diameter of the drum. I guess you have to carry a mug or cup of some sort and scoop the water in. That's the disadvantage of having a big drum as opposed to a 20L jerry can that can be flipped about conveniently.

Another down-side of the mechanism (though not that big a downside) is that sedimentation is slowed down in this case. If you have particularly turbid (muddy) water, then shaking it around just makes the problem worse (carrying water on the head aids sedimentation, making it easy to decant the sample as soon as the bearer gets home).

And what is with the cost?? $90 for a drum?? I understand that things are far more expensive to produce in-country and that there is a social cost to this (hire local unskilled workers, train them, build an industry from scratch, etc). But come on!! You'll be relying on donations for the rest of your life!! (actually is this what is possibly happening with Playpump as well??) I mean...I can clean out one of the ubiquitous steel drums that they have there, have a welder fix me a clip-on (or even permanent) steel handle and sell that for $5 (which is still an unearthly sum, but more consumable and scalable!!). In fact, if I was in South Africa, I'd find a smart, enterprising fellow and invest in him to do this. Trust me, he'd outsell HR and build up a slew of copycats.

Actually this has got me started on a major pet-peeve. Social technology organizations NEED to start thinking about the bottom line. The main goal of ANY organization is to make people's lives easier, so if your technology is really helpful but is not reaching the most number of people it can, you HAVE to ask why and how you can change that. It HAS TO BE SCALABLE. HR is an easily scalable technology, but what is holding it back is the cost. So do what you can to bring down the cost, then use the profits to improve the product (or increase your product line-up) and your marketing model. Don't start with an overpriced technology, you are killing your own success.

And here's another, related pet-peeve...let the poor buy their stuff. STOP giving this away to them for free. It limits scalability and kills the sense of ownership of the owner, which is REALLY important. I have spent considerable time researching the best practices of social entrepreneurs, and I was surprised by how much charity killed the sense of ownership and pride that the consumers had for a particular product. Generally, a technology that required some investment got more respect, was more valued, cared for and gave the owner a great sense of pride. Charity is necessary sometimes, but if you can help it, let the consumer have some pride.

Variations I would suggest:
1. Reduce the cost. $90 is really insane for a plastic drum with a handle. Go for a more affordable, simpler design, and upgrade to the better design as you make profits (which will come with mass production).

2. Each drum has valuable advertising space (even for social messages) that isn't being used. Maybe each woman can sell this space and get her drum entirely subsidized.

3. why not incorporate a simple cloth filter and chlorination mechanism. The water will get basic filtration and be thoroughly disinfected (thanks to the mixing) by the time it reaches home.

4. If you expand the opening and add an extra contraption, the rolling mechanism can make for a spectacular washing machine.

5. HR can also be used as cement/concrete mixer or a leveller (making pathways level). Maybe these women can make extra money by working on a construction site.

6. A kind of line that keeps the lid attached to the drum (rather than it floating away in the river!) would be nice.

7. Another clip on can be using the rotational motion to grind mill flower or just storing the energy as electricity in a battery (but that has its own implications!).

Other reviews/information:
http://www.design21sdn.com/feature/21
http://www.notcot.com/archives/2005/05/design_to_impro.php
http://www.plusonewater.ca/en/FAQ.php#Hippo%20Roller
http://projecthdesign.com/2008/04/13/hippo-rollers-delivered-to-kgautswane/
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/12/the_hippo_water.php
http://poverty.suite101.com/article.cfm/invention_for_more_water_in_africa
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hippo_water_roller
http://www.typepad.com/t/trackback/462659/3401481