It's been a busy day and I haven't been to the office yet. I teach a client consulting course, and one of my clients is Goodwill Easter Seals of Miami Valley (GESMV). This morning I toured three Goodwill facilities. One was retail, nicely redecorated, very nice (but an hour from my house). We then drove ten minutes to a rougher edge of town, to see the "outlet store". Stuff that doesn't sell in the retail store sells here, $1 a pound. They load 14 bins (the size of two folding tables) onto the floor, then the crowd scours it for resale stuff. They hoot n holler when they find a gem (NARRATOR: there's very few gems in there). Much of it would good to a landfill, so they sold nearly $4 million in 2023 through the outlet store.
I then toured the backroom, where they have half a dozen forklifts scurrying about. Pallets stacked. Trucks going daily between there and stores. Chaotic yet fairly efficient given the low amount of automation.
Finally, I examined their on-line sales (shopgoodwill.com). They try to sell it on shopgoodwill.com, then on ebay or amazon.com (mostly used books), then back online, then back to the store, then salvage. I bought a nativity creche last week, as well as a three mini crockpot warming set. We used it Saturday for the family get together (the warming set, not the nativity creche).
I learned they prefer shipping goods to you, not having you pick them up. Old printers and computers are welcome: they get shipped to giant companies who mine them for the materials inside.
The biggest thing I learned is that one of their "bugs" is actually a feature. If they had time they'd try to sell each item at the highest price they can get, but with truckloads of donations, they cannot do so profitably (labor costs). So they look to move it as quickly as possible. But, and this but is bigger than Kim Kardashian's, by overlooking some great finds, it encourages people to shop, to look for them. I found a Lionel toy train set that sold for less than $30+ shipping, that is probably worth $300. Well, as word of that gets out, train collectors will search Goodwill for Lionel train sets, hoping to find another deal.
Our job this term is to help them build awareness of their online site--they want to sell more online, because it has greater profits. We don't want to remove all the bargains, gotta give people a reason to shop, but to find ways to increase sales. My students are on it!
Today’s special animal friend is the hippopotamus, Hippopotamus amphibius. The hippo is earth’s third largest extant land animal, after elephants and rhinos, and the largest even-toed ungulate. The average male weighs well over 3,000 lbs. Hippos have very little hair on their thick, gray skin. They do not have sweat glands, but they secrete a reddish mucus called “blood sweat” – although it is neither – that helps to protect their skin from evaporation and pests when they are out of the water.
Hippos spend up to 16 hours per day in the water. Their eyes are high on their skulls, allowing them to watch for predators while remaining submerged. They do not swim or float but walk or jump along the river or lake bottom. Their nostrils seal tightly to exclude water. Adults can go five minutes between breaths, and juveniles can go two or three minutes. They sleep in the water; research shows that surfacing to breathe does not disrupt their sleeping brains.
During the night, the hippos emerge from the water to graze. Compared to most large ungulates, they eat modestly, consuming less than 1.5% of their body weight in vegetation each night, compared to 2.5% for large cattle. They prefer to feed near water, but they will walk several miles per night in search of grass, if necessary.
Hippos mate and give birth in the water. Bulls fight for territories in which they will herd a harem of up to 30 cows. Gestation is about eight months. The newborn calf will sometimes rest on its mother’s back, submerging to nurse periodically. Mothers are very protective of their calves.
Except for mother-and-baby pairs, hippos are not social. Jostling, loud arguments, and violence are common when they gather in groups. Because males and females look the same in the water, researchers aren’t sure whether young males and females fight one another. They bellow loudly to express their territorial urge and gape widely to show their massive tusks before biting another hippo, a predator, or a human.
Hippos are believed to cause more deaths per year than any other animal, between 500 and 3,000. They are much faster than they appear and can capsize boats with ease. They often fight predators such as lions or crocodiles.
Hippos are considered Vulnerable by IUCN because of habitat loss and hunting for meat, hides, and teeth. They are bred successfully in zoos. As of November 2023, the invasive population in Colombia has been targeted for sterilization. The obvious question is, "What could go wrong?" and the fact that there have been no updates in the last five months suggests that something has gone wrong.
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/asia/japan-osaka-tennoji-zoo-hippopotamus-female-dna-test-reveal-4285686
Hippo in the news.
It's been a busy day and I haven't been to the office yet. I teach a client consulting course, and one of my clients is Goodwill Easter Seals of Miami Valley (GESMV). This morning I toured three Goodwill facilities. One was retail, nicely redecorated, very nice (but an hour from my house). We then drove ten minutes to a rougher edge of town, to see the "outlet store". Stuff that doesn't sell in the retail store sells here, $1 a pound. They load 14 bins (the size of two folding tables) onto the floor, then the crowd scours it for resale stuff. They hoot n holler when they find a gem (NARRATOR: there's very few gems in there). Much of it would good to a landfill, so they sold nearly $4 million in 2023 through the outlet store.
I then toured the backroom, where they have half a dozen forklifts scurrying about. Pallets stacked. Trucks going daily between there and stores. Chaotic yet fairly efficient given the low amount of automation.
Finally, I examined their on-line sales (shopgoodwill.com). They try to sell it on shopgoodwill.com, then on ebay or amazon.com (mostly used books), then back online, then back to the store, then salvage. I bought a nativity creche last week, as well as a three mini crockpot warming set. We used it Saturday for the family get together (the warming set, not the nativity creche).
I learned they prefer shipping goods to you, not having you pick them up. Old printers and computers are welcome: they get shipped to giant companies who mine them for the materials inside.
The biggest thing I learned is that one of their "bugs" is actually a feature. If they had time they'd try to sell each item at the highest price they can get, but with truckloads of donations, they cannot do so profitably (labor costs). So they look to move it as quickly as possible. But, and this but is bigger than Kim Kardashian's, by overlooking some great finds, it encourages people to shop, to look for them. I found a Lionel toy train set that sold for less than $30+ shipping, that is probably worth $300. Well, as word of that gets out, train collectors will search Goodwill for Lionel train sets, hoping to find another deal.
Our job this term is to help them build awareness of their online site--they want to sell more online, because it has greater profits. We don't want to remove all the bargains, gotta give people a reason to shop, but to find ways to increase sales. My students are on it!
Good morning. Cloudy this morning and in the 40s, predicted high in the 60s.
Today’s special animal friend is the hippopotamus, Hippopotamus amphibius. The hippo is earth’s third largest extant land animal, after elephants and rhinos, and the largest even-toed ungulate. The average male weighs well over 3,000 lbs. Hippos have very little hair on their thick, gray skin. They do not have sweat glands, but they secrete a reddish mucus called “blood sweat” – although it is neither – that helps to protect their skin from evaporation and pests when they are out of the water.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPPAtflDtV4
Hippos spend up to 16 hours per day in the water. Their eyes are high on their skulls, allowing them to watch for predators while remaining submerged. They do not swim or float but walk or jump along the river or lake bottom. Their nostrils seal tightly to exclude water. Adults can go five minutes between breaths, and juveniles can go two or three minutes. They sleep in the water; research shows that surfacing to breathe does not disrupt their sleeping brains.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyb-wINyThI
During the night, the hippos emerge from the water to graze. Compared to most large ungulates, they eat modestly, consuming less than 1.5% of their body weight in vegetation each night, compared to 2.5% for large cattle. They prefer to feed near water, but they will walk several miles per night in search of grass, if necessary.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OfNwXLiLwiQ
Hippos mate and give birth in the water. Bulls fight for territories in which they will herd a harem of up to 30 cows. Gestation is about eight months. The newborn calf will sometimes rest on its mother’s back, submerging to nurse periodically. Mothers are very protective of their calves.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DO4u3CnsxDs
Except for mother-and-baby pairs, hippos are not social. Jostling, loud arguments, and violence are common when they gather in groups. Because males and females look the same in the water, researchers aren’t sure whether young males and females fight one another. They bellow loudly to express their territorial urge and gape widely to show their massive tusks before biting another hippo, a predator, or a human.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDOcXYSSn5w
Hippos are believed to cause more deaths per year than any other animal, between 500 and 3,000. They are much faster than they appear and can capsize boats with ease. They often fight predators such as lions or crocodiles.
Hippos are considered Vulnerable by IUCN because of habitat loss and hunting for meat, hides, and teeth. They are bred successfully in zoos. As of November 2023, the invasive population in Colombia has been targeted for sterilization. The obvious question is, "What could go wrong?" and the fact that there have been no updates in the last five months suggests that something has gone wrong.
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/pablo-escobars-multiplying-cocaine-hippos-will-be-sterilized-in-colombia-180983316/
Interesting points. Good morning.