SCAMDEMIC AND THE CHALLENGES OF MASS COMM GRADUATES

 SCAMDEMIC AND THE CHALLENGES OF MASS COMM GRADUATES

One time in my chat conversations, a creative professional mentioned the term “scamdemic”, two words-in-one (to mean a combination of scam + pandemic), in which she alluded to the many expenses that had to be incurred by the ordinary citizen to fulfill the protocols set during the quarantine timeline.

I did not wish for her to elaborate on what she meant. But the term itself is true even if the pandemic did not happen.

When THE TERM WAS BROUGHT UP, THE CONVERSATION was initially meant to focus on job-hunting online (without the need to work in physical locations), and the need for more available employment for MEDIA and creative professionals of all ages, who have been displaced for the longest time by many contributing situations—the current pandemic; closure of a good number of media companies and the downsizing of employees, to name a few reasons for the unemployment.

The lack of employers who prefer to hire Mass Comm-related credentials further placed graduates into obscureness and irrelevance, in the era of social media.

WHY THE LOSS OF OPPORTUNITIES FOR MASS COMM GRADUATES?

This writer might have stressed in previous writing that the over-popularity of vlogging which opened a plethora of earning opportunities for many individuals, could also have given birth to the polarization of media companies which offered more tangible jobs in regular offices and with preset times for reporting.

 The polarization came with the increased pressure to come up with digitally proficient versions of their companies and the need to reformat media structures to accommodate vlog formats and other tech-induced online media productions. We merely put vlogging at the top because of its undeniable way of drawing workers to its fold. To further hyphenate on this,

Vlogging which features formal to informal productions of individuals or businesses, has given birth to the practice of many non-Mass Comm educated professionals coming from different fields and work backgrounds to go into media, entertainment, and documentary work as well, without the necessity of training or degree. Practitioners who are now  into vlogging are not just celebrities and news media personalities but graduates of the serious mold—the lawyers, politicians, etc, and the ordinary skilled individuals as well, who offer a variety of topics to discuss and vlog about.

There is a need to underscore that most of the skills and knowledge required for vlogging are instilled among Mass Comm students from their earliest journey to the end of their learning ropes in college.

With the democratization of news, lifestyle, travel, and entertainment productions that are more scalable rather than grandiose,  including other feature shows, Mass Comm practitioners have slimmer and not actually better opportunities to EARN AND LAND A STABLE CAREER online despite the soaring popularity of vlog work, propagated by many high-income earners.    

THE REASONS COULD BE:

1. VIRAL-CENTEREDNESS OF THE ONLINE MEDIA FORMAT AND ALL THE HYPE OF SENSATIONALISM THAT WORKS ON MANIPULATION OF ISSUES AND/OR OVEREXPOSING THE PRIVATE LIVES OF INDIVIDUALS.  ALL OF THESE ARE NOT REALLY PART OF THE TRADITIONAL TEACHINGS OF THE OLD MASS COMM CURRICULUM IMPLEMENTED IN COLLEGES OF SENIOR MASS COMM PRACTITIONERS.

2.     A SECOND REASON IS THE DIFFICULTY OF GETTING SPONSORSHIPS FOR VLOG SITES. This is sparkly true even for local bloggers who do not use visual expression, or videos to beef up their content online.

For older practitioners, the gap in skills is EVIDENT in the quality of output of their content. THERE IS A NEED TO MENTION THAT for vlog work, a vlog's quality IS DEPENDENT ON THE availability of exhaustive and sometimes punitive resources, that one NEED to make use of, to better vlog productions- gadgets and apps included.

Mass Comm practitioners of the past era are used to minimalist technology and with low DEPENDENCE ON manpower.   Old-timers have been trained MORE to HANDLE multi-tasking and to hone basic media skills DESPITE THEIR NEED TO HAVE SKILLS FOR TEAMWORK FOR PRODUCTIONS. THEY HAVE focused on technology but not as brazen as the ones being offered these days like AI technology.  THEY ALSO LACK the financial management training that is necessary before going into fully integrated media work or venture.  This is a problem because most vlog productions require expenses that can range from minimal to exorbitant, DESPITE BEING SCALABLE. 

Also, ordinary Mass Comm graduates are used to being employed rather than having an unparalleled freedom to pursue creative independence as exhibited by start-up vlogs that put together one or more talents to PRODUCE CONTENT FOR VLOG, AS AN INDEPENDENT, without limits for topics, form of expression, use of technology and so forth.

HENCE THE REASON FOR DISPLACEMENT includes INCREASED COMPETITIVENESS OF other graduates trained in non-Mass Comm courses,  THOSE WHO HAVE BETTER RESOURCES AND MANPOWER ACCESS.  The media landscape truly has changed for the OLD TIMERS WHO SHY AWAY FROM CAMERA work OR IN YOUR FACE MEDIA PRODUCTIONS.

3. ANOTHER EXPLANATION FOR THE DISPLACEMENT OF MASS COMM GRADUATES FROM REAL MEDIA WORK OPPORTUNITIES, IS THE ZEALOUSNESS OF OTHER INDUSTRY PROFESSIONALS TO VENTURE INTO MEDIA; THOSE WHO OBVIOUSLY AIM ONLY FOR POPULARITY AND CLOUT, THE FAST AND EASY WAY MORE THAN THE EXPRESSION OF PRESS FREEDOM, which is the first stalwart of MOTIVATION for going into mass media work.

To be continued…

 

THE NUMBERS GAME IN HOUSEHOLD SPENDING

How less are minimum wage earnings in true spend value at this time?

For those who have been reeling from the effects of the economic slump since the onset of the pandemic, it never felt real that the lifestyle of the ordinary consumer has changed, not by the ounce but by the pounds of every consumer’s heartbeat.

The rising prices of commodities, added to, the loss of job opportunities for workers who were forced to rely on the promise of job availability online before the quarantine restrictions took effect, have all contributed to the slimming and zipping of consumer wallets.

Only those who have the big fat budget to brag can actually take pride in claiming that they are not-- at all, affected by the rising prices of commodities.

Let’s take in consideration, the usual minimum wage salary that is the basis for many household expense planning, of an ordinary consumer:

The basis of minimum wage in the National Capital Region, to date, is at Php 610.00 in Philippine pesos.

Using this as a peg for a day’s expenses, with a household that thrives solely on a minimum set earnings, the usual expense tab for the ordinary Filipino in a three-person household is here below computed as:

[ typical recurring expense in an average household]

·         Transportation to go to work

·         Meals for a day x 3

·         School stipend or daily expense and allowance

Here below is a sample of current published and applicable rates by a Filipino commuter:

The price set is at Php12.00 rate per kilometer in a traditional PUV, in the NCR with additional Php1.80 pesos for an additional kilometer distance. This figure is based on the LTFRB transportation fares posted at www.ltfrb.gov.ph, October 5, 2023 media release, where the fare adjustments for jeepney (TPUJ or traditional public utility jeepney ), were published as Php 13.00 per kilometer from Php 12.00.

·         Tricycle fare 10.00 to 25.00

·         Jeepney fare 12.00-13.00

·         Bus fare 25.00

For simplified computation purposes, the average number of commuter rides taken into consideration in this article, “THE NUMBERS GAME IN HOUSEHOLD SPENDING”,  is 4 (this needs further research; no current data is available as of press time).

That is a minimum of two rides for one-way, and 4 rides, two-ways on a 4-kilometer distance ride going to and from work.   

So here, we position a minimum of Php 100 expense for the average household with a one-person worker/commuter who goes to work daily.

Then what is left with the Php 610.00 expense is Php 510. To be divided with many other day-to-day usual expenses such as:

Meals

    Breakfast                    20.00 to 30.00                                                 

                Lunch                         55.00    (rice grains ordinary per kilo)      

                                                    / or  cooked rice @ Php 20.00 x 3 cups

                Dinner                         55.00    (rice grains ordinary per kilo

                                                   / or  cooked rice @ Php 20.00 x 3 cups

    Note:                                      The average price of Php 55.00/kilo is the 

                                                    the common price of rice grains per kilo of the most recent local market research.

 

AVERAGE EXPENSE: 

§  Php 400 without viand/s  (ulam)

Php 60.00-120.00 for additional viand’s expense computation

(average of Php 50.00 – 60.00 depending on kind of viand)

§  Php 520 total expense for meals per average  household

 

·         Stipend for a schooler Php 20.00-50.00 for a day                  

        AVERAGE EXPENSE:

Php 570.00 (inclusive of one allowance for one student)              

In this sample, a savings of Php 40.00 can be benefited by a minimum wage worker, if the household has the same conditions and variant factors as the one stated above, with no room for alternation or sudden change of daily expenses such as additional commutes, expenses for on the day miscellaneous, etc.

But hardly is this expense computation sampling fixed, or perfect, as different situations are applicable to different households.

The factored expenses above can only reflect a bare minimum expense granting that each individual in a household would only consume a one cup per rice diet per meal and that the wage worker only works at a distance location that is between 1 kilometer to 7-kilometer distance (Php 12 jeepney ride + 1.80 per additional kilometer distance/ travel on the road), when taking a jeepney ride to and from the workplace.

This expense sample, is a not run-of-the-mill commuter situation, as most workers come from outside NCR or outside their own place of residence to work, which is the common culture in the Philippines.

 

 

 

Note: The above expense computation and sample, do not include a transportation expense to and from school in a household with a one schooler. This writer puts the peg of an average of one schooler per household, as there are no current statistics available as to the number of learners or schoolers per Filipino household, over at the Philippine Statistics Agency (PSA) Office website and at the Department of Education  (DepEd) website.

This article is written from the POV of the ordinary consumer and without an economic planner and/or statistician inputs for the article, except for the data shares, inspo and data picked from official government agency websites.

 

 

DEBUNKING THE MYTHS OF SOCIAL MEDIA

 

It’s hyper-competitive, after all.

 

Thinking about establishing your career identity online?  Here’s what you should know if you haven’t opted out yet. The real deal about Philippine social media.

 

SOCIAL MEDIA IN THE COUNTRY has become the last bastion of hope for many career explorers who want to have an alternate or a parallel career outside the office confines of yesteryears.

What is not to like when anyone can read your post, leave a comment and you have all the platforms ready to access to build your strategy.

With social media, you can:

·         CREATE A BUSINESS PORTFOLIO.

·         UPLOAD YOUR RESUME.

 

·         NETWORK WITH COLLEAGUES.

 

·         TAP ON OTHER SOURCES OF INCOME.

 

·         UPSKILL AND RE-EDUCATE FOR PROFESSIONAL IMPROVEMENT.

 

 

 

By creating a business portfolio, one can easily promote a product or a service and be within the reach of customers. And have instant access to feedback.

 

By uploading a resume, one can have easy access to jobs on resource sites that offer a variety of openings for young workers.

 

Also, by joining social media, one can easily network with colleagues, in whichever industry one belongs to. The list of possibilities is immense for possible networking and community-building.

 

Still by having a continually updated social media account, one can also explore other sources of income, some side hustle that can help find means to earn without having to walk away from a job, or ride on another’s brand identity for some career revamp.

And not to be left out is the nice opportunity poised by social media to get an upskill or professional upgrading because most training and seminars whether free or paid are, well offered and announced over social media microsites.  Your pick is as many as can be.

 

AFTER THE GOOD POSSIBILITIES FOR ENGAGING IN ONLINE MEDIA ACTIVITIES, WHETHER IT’S CONTENT PRODUCING, COMMENT POSTING, OR SIMPLY BEING SEEN, HERE ARE THE DOWNSIDE OF SOCIAL MEDIA EXPOSURE, THAT ORDINARY NETIZENS MUST BEAR IN MIND:

 

1.       That social media is open to almost anyone, and the filter one subscribes well into, may not be enough to sway out the unwarranted comments of others. 

 

Others could have sworn in so easily that social media is the best equal-opportunity media around town.

 

But social media can also exploit the privacy of other individuals. People who have public profiles can be subject to unwanted unfriendly comments and followers that aim not to build a community that helps, but prey on another netizen’s interests and activities online. Thus, a netizen must keep afloat and stay updated with the latest security tips given by the experts when active on social media posting and content creation.

2.       There are hoax ads on the internet hence caution must be observed.

 

If you are one of the many consumers who like to research on the net rather for the convenience of finding the right products and services, one has to safeguard against confusing ads on social media, not the more established corporate ads, but the below-the-line community ads that aim to drive customers to their business.

 

There are plenty of social media posts that announce a service or a product. But when inquiring about them for real, most of the contact numbers posted on social media can be stale, unattended, no longer active, or in use. 

 

So having your mobile identity posted and shared by responding to small-time community ads can actually expose a netizen to an identity compromise. Thus, one must take heed of some security warnings in the comments section posted by other netizens.

 

3.       There is no such thing as 100 percent convenience in using social media for business.

 

In truth, creating a business portfolio on your social media account can help you gain prominence or better awareness of what a business-- whether big or small, has to offer.

 

However, creating a business portfolio can actually attract shark competitors around a business.

This means your business position gets a narrower prospect of attracting sales because you could all be targeting the same market, reach, or niche.

 

Also, your widely-read posts over social media instantly can make a business an easy prey or target for online bullies who only want to know more about what others have to offer in their business, with zero intention to support fellow entrepreneurs or even buy the products and patronize the services offered online by your business.

 

THESE ARE JUST THE THREE MYTHS THAT WE ARE LISTING HERE IN THIS POST. FEEL FREE TO SHARE MORE TIPS FOR GENERAL READING, HERE ON NEWS REVIEW PHILIPPINES.

 

[This post is open for ads and collaborators who want to share more info about their products or services. Thank you.]

 

 

 

 

 

The Burden of Debt, the Tyranny of Micro Loans in the Philippines

The Burden of Debt, the Tyranny of Micro Loans in the Philippines

You Need A Fast Loan? Know What You're Up To.  

Save the true microloan companies that have been around in business for decades, having microloans in the country is one of the unfathomably unwonted situations a local can go through in times of financial lack. 

Getting microloans can cause a lot of stress and worry to customers who are bereft of funds, especially at a time when the pandemic came in and many companies have folded up. 

Those who need extra cash seem to endure, a dead-end recourse to settle their issues with less visible microloan companies, and gulp up the constant follow-ups and messages that happen in the most opportune times against customers.

From the POV (point of view) of customers, loans must be flexible and have to have the lowest interest rates to make it at least ideal and able to help, and support its customers.

From the POV of businesses, its loans are on a privilege-to-have and “to know” basis. This means loans are given if a customer can fulfill their criteria or eligibility for loans. And if a customer can fulfill on cue, settle their dues. Then they can easily make a microloan.

A remiss of payment is never ACCEPTABLE to small-time loan givers. In recent weeks, there have been news stories shared about the local authorities having bouts with microloan companies that verbally assault customers who fail to pay directly for their accounts.

If this sort of micro justice at all is any consolation, the rest of the microloan patrons still have no reason to feel secure even if they pay a bit here and there for their outstanding loans.

Despite the detached methods of giving out loans to local customers, borrowers are in for a blind alley as to how to recoup the immediacy of dues poised by many microloan companies.

Deadlines are usually strict. And not often palatable to those who need financial funds that require longer wait to settle.

The real issue about loans is, why go into business if you don’t have the right capital to hold a customer’s account FAVORABLE TO A PERSON’S CONDITION, in order TO GIVE THE BUSINESS OF LOANING A MORE FAVORABLE CLIMATE TO PURSUE IN LOCAL SHORES?

Micro loan businesses in actuality require a lot of details from customers before securing one. Those who don’t require collaterals of sorts such as in pawnshops, are more tyrannous and eagle-eyed in their accounts.

        Housewives most especially have no choice but to subject themselves to intermittent follow-ups once a successful loan is made. The consequence for a housewife is always to bear the indignity of not being able to settle their debts when loans fall beyond the due date.   

The early show-off ease in availing microloan products is boasted through marketing tactics of loan companies posting delectable ad prompts that lure customers in to make a loan, with the promise of easy delivery of products and/or dispensing of cash.

But there is always the sad reality of loaning. In the country, having loans is like bungee jumping into the unknown.  Both parties expect smoothness in a loan transaction. But there is always that requirement to share some and more, individual data of customers, to microloan businesses.  Once a loan is availed, the customers are often pushed to the edge with pay a.s.a.p tactics that often resort to customer labeling, and shaming when not heeded by the customer.

THE PROPOSITION

          There has to be a better way for the government to provide alternatives to the people who enter into microloan agreements.

There must be a recourse for people to take action against companies who resort to shame messaging and arduous follow-ups.

A loaning company that extends financial products, in times of financial or economic distress among customers, or when unfavorable business conditions exist, must be prepared to protect the dignity both of the customer and its own.

        LOAN COMPANIES MUST HAVE BETTER CASH RESERVES TO TIDE OVER LATE PAYMENTS of customers to avoid fueling a negative climate for loan companies when their customers who have been through it all, cannot really foretell what their vision is for pursuing the business of loans when customers who need them are in DIRE FINANCIAL STRESSFUL SITUATION ALREADY, THAT CANNOT BE METED OUT BY THE INSTITUTIONS WHO ARE SUPPOSED TO HAVE THE GENUINE CONCERN FOR MARGINALIZED CUSTOMERS.

AUTHORITIES MUST GIVE A SAFETY NET FOR MICRO LOAN CUSTOMERS WHO ARE TIRED AND ALREADY POCKET-DRY IN DEALING WITH THE CURRENT ECONOMIC CONDITIONS THAT DO NOT FORETELL A BRIGHT FUTURE FOR LOCAL FILIPINOS.

updated post @ 6:20 pm. Thank you for reading News Review Philippines by Anna Liza VB. This is a commentary. Please feel free to send in your comments or rejoinder through newsreviewph@gmail.com.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Personalization of E-Commerce

 When shopping familiarity can hurt customer loyalty and integrity.

If you have stayed online long enough to know the Philippine social media landscape, you can say that it is not a perfect world where all dreams are made, unless you are a “clouted” influencer, begged by many followers to post more and more.

If you are bent on keeping your hopes via a social media platform, en route to pushing a business, pursuing a job, or amplifying your brand, know that your efforts could redound to fail and it is all hashtag "sipag" mode for you.  

Unless you have the number of likes to back you up. And the "pursigido" stance to back your social media exposure just like what controversial personalities do, staying online can be an utter waste of dreams and time.

In actuality, it is the likes and follows, that feed the gratification of social media users wanting exposure or earnings, and droves of advertisers together; like a symbiotic link that can make page rankings happen.

But whether there is sincerity to the number of likes (are your followers really liking a product or a post, or are they merely positioning their own social media exposure?), or whether followers await incentives that some influencers offer, why netizens “follow” a social media page is another issue to contend with. 

In the world of online marketing, likes are good. And page views can be counted and paid to the decimal point, the way freelancers are paid in the modern heyday of the millennials, up to the nth point of counts, only when a writer has to scrutinize the words not by pages, but by words before computing pay for a certain written work.

With social media, there is the invisibility of how an algorithm would perform.  Up or down views or slump, your pages or site would have to bank on a string of luck if you're a newbie (of course we also count the SEO format to make rankings happen).  Thus page views and the so-called numbers give hints of how earnings can be made, not by lightning speed, but by slowed-down numbers that would only trend with viral positioning and content strategizing.

If numbers are the “engine” for social media that lures advertisers in, what then boosts an E-COMMERCE PLATFORM?

I say it is the ambiguity on the ease of use of a shopping platform that can push sales yet also mount an ordinary consumer's plain woe indeed.

Ambiguity because the business structure of e-commerce is somewhat hidden from the public’s plain sight. 

Whereas when you buy food from a fast-food store, a customer can get a grasp of the grid of manpower in a typical fast-food outlet--  make an order, queue, or push a button on the screen and choose whether to pay via e-wallet or via the counter, THE BUYING process is all seen and everything can be managed and dealt with directly by the paying customer. 

Incomplete orders can be easily followed up. Unhappy customers can easily whine about undelivered orders, etcetera.

But with E-COMMERCE, it is a totally invisible business makeup, that fronts the ease of buying as the main sell point using a downloadable app.

Get an app and if one goes pick an item,  cart away, or request a product ship then. BUT ALL ELSE IS STALLED WHEN AFTER BUYING a product,  A CUSTOMER ENCOUNTERS ISSUES ON A PURCHASED ITEM. 

THE ROUTE TO RETURNS IS NOT CLEAR. LIKE A TREASURE HUNT TO FIND THE RIGHT SITE TO RETURN AN ITEM OR HOW TO GO ABOUT IT.  

MOST OF THE TIME, COURIERS DO NOT ACCEPT RETURN ITEMS AND WOULD POINT AT ANOTHER SHIPPING PARTNER.

EASY PURCHASE, EASY DELIVERY IT MAY SEEM, THAT AN E-COMMERCE PLATFORM COULD ALSO OFFER A PAYLATER PLAN. BUT THIS COMPLICATES THE PROCESS AS WELL OF FURTHER REPEATING A BUY ON A PLATFORM.

The formality of staying within the app and waiting for a delivery is diluted with many factors that can serve as a paint point to a regular customer.  The schedule and wait-and-see-receive time for purchases made are not always pliant according to the customer’s preference unless an individual customer has a repeat order history with a particular e-commerce platform.

Another is the complexity of returning a purchased item as mentioned earlier. Where return routes are not accessible or when shipping site personnel do not accept return items readily.

The convenience of having refunds from sellers, but with issues negated against the requests of a customer can cause a strain on customer service handling. Some customers can be subjected to face-to-face ridicule, slight comments, or off-the-cuff remarks from personnel manning shipping outlets. 

However, this does not cloud the many choices that fill the app, and tout the ease of using an E-COMMERCE PLATFORM for shopping.  

Thus, customers can stay with the e-commerce platform due to the ease of shopping.  But they also have to contend with the risk of data being shared, with exposure of customer details as well.  Also, customers cannot elude face-to-face interactions and could be exposed to strangers aka couriers, getting a handle on their orders.  In reality, the after-sales experience for a customer can always vary.     

Also, when it comes to data privacy, customers can find their important mobile number pasted or stickered on shipped items' packaging, for coordination with the courier on the actual day and time of deliveries. Thus if there is ambiguity in the process of return for defective, or unordered items sent to customers, and the nuisance of making returns, the better concern is why customers have to deal with their details being fronted and shared on shipping packs, and through direct mobile prompts outside the e-commerce’s platform when availing of the PAY LATER SCHEME?

            Further, the ambiguity of service in an e-commerce platform that packs a lot of personalization when it comes to offering the right products to customers can also be felt in the “no-response”  posturing for customer care, which receives feedback and complaints.  Surely must it all be a chatbot waiting for feedback?

          The point here is, if the ease of buying rests only on the phase of delivery, from purchase to customer receipt, does this mean customer loyalty or repeat orders must be shied away by the shoppers?

            If it is, then the customers must not be blind-sighted as to how customer data is shared and passed on to others who fill up the e-commerce structure of making door-to-door deliveries and shopping convenience happen.

 

 

Let’s Talk About Cancel Culture in the Market of the Ordinary

 Let’s Talk About Cancel Culture in the Market of the Ordinary

Unsubscribe, when you don’t like HOW you are treated as a customer.

 

There is a term in the current times that somehow brings ripple waves in the mindset of the social media savvy listeners.  This term is called “cancel culture”, a phrase that pervades social media, even way before the pandemic had set in.

 

It is a term that refers to a movement (apologizing, this descript is simplified and not lifted) that calls on people to put forward or talk hype about a transgression-- of a person, an action, or an occurrence.  To cancel and  hyper-accentuate a grievance or a fault made, enough to be known by many.

 

The objective can be to raise awareness of a fault or to point out a flaw in a person.

 

To cancel may not necessarily mean to remove or eradicate in a real-life context. But indirectly, it could mean a removal in the system that is driven by expectations, or molded realities; of following a standard or a norm. Cancel culture happens when there is a deviation in the actions and expectations of people.

 

Away from defining cancel culture as an ideology, but further considering the term in the context of consumerism, cancel culture could be the explanation that can be given when a person unsubscribes from an account or refuses to remain on a social platform.

 

Cancel culture can also be perceived in a way that is to cease from accepting a certain standard that we opinionate must NOT persist in a product, a service, etc. 

 

For example, we unfollow a social media account when it no longer fits our bill of likes. We cancel an order when we have a change of preferences in our buying habits. Or we cancel a service when a utility company no longer serves us well.

 

Cancel culture may not always focus on an erring behavior, a person, or an occurrence. Cancel culture can mirror an ideational attitude among consumers that pushes them to delete or back out from pursuing a purchase instead of venting out the fault in a product by way of reviews. This is to avoid the hassle of experiencing further inconveniences later on. At least, in the market for the ordinary, cancel culture is much more active because every cent has a value and every expectation must be met.

 

There is value in giving value to order cancellations when one sees the prospect of further improving a product, a service, or a business reputation. Marketers must not see it as a reason to dwell on a fail, or to hold a grudge against a customer. Cancel culture asserts a democracy of likes and unlikes expression; opinion sharing and choice pursuing.  Cancel culture must not be taken as a normative way to deny life or rights but as a mode to express disallowable goods or products, and business standards that are not dignified enough for consumers to accept.  Cancel culture enlists an opinion on our wants as an individual. And pushes for set ideals that must be met even when we stand in the most unideal of times, as consumers of local products.

 

We must accept differences in opinion. But this cancel culture in the realm of consumerism-- why people buy or get products; or subscribe to services, must always be respected well by those who matter.

LTO Flocked By Customers; Showed Preferences For On-Site Registration

 Face-to-face LTO transactions were keen for the day

About three hundred customers patiently queued and lined up at the Land Transportation Office (LTO) branch in Las Pinas and its mall outlet in Robinson’s Place Las Pinas today. 

It was business as usual for patrons who filled the parking slots and LTO windows for various transactions. Customers did not mind the hassle of long lines. LTO employees were mostly accommodating in handling customer concerns and inquiries and even took time to accommodate clients way up to lunchtime when there was supposed to be a lunch break in place already. 

At the LTO main branch in Las Pinas, transactions for vehicle registrations were abuzz. The room which handled Third Party Liability Insurance (TPL) for motor vehicles, was also filled, but not packed to the full. This gave enough breathing space for clients in wait unlike in previous years prior to the pandemic when the room was jampacked without enough grounds for ease of movement among customers.

Seen in Robinsons Place where there was also a strong attendance from LTO clients today, the employees made sure there was efficiency in fulfilling their tasks from windows down to the health check aisles.  Customers waited patiently and seats were filled to the brim which has relaxed its social distancing seat gaps for clients.

Students and oldies; parents carrying their child; senior citizens and even PWDs were seen mostly blended in the shared holding area for the LTO outlet in Robinsons Place. The peak hours began from nine to ten in the morning while the slump of visits from incoming customers began from 11:30 pm to lunch time which seemed to be the most comfortable time for LTO walk-ins.  

One employee shared that transactions for that day were being wrapped up to give preference only to the senior citizens and PWD clientele; while the rest may continue their transactions on the next day.

The senior-aged staff also reminded those on-site not to forget to log in first at the LTO official address for online transactions.  But walk-ins can still be entertained.  Customers must make sure all documents needed in their transactions are prepared prior to lining up at the cashier’s window, especially the TDC or the Theoretical Driving Certificate which is required for applicants who seek a Student Driver's Permit.

 

filed November 6, 2023. an original freelance coverage of this writer Anna Liza VB

The Dearth of Customer Courtesy When Availing Shipping Solutions

About KYC, Item Returns, and the Need to Liberate Women from Business Standard Biases  

About a year and a half ago, I went to a shipping outlet to have a personal gift sent out to a certain addressee. Knowing the importance of the KYC (know-your-customer) principle even down the line of the front staff manning the shipping outlet, I expected a little ask, here and there about the details of my transaction. 

However, the transaction which included a thin light calendar (it was just a few weeks after the New Year's revelry),  stashed along with a gift item, stirred the man's unapologetic question, alluding if I directly knew the recipient. 

Despite being used to having dealt with the most formal of business interactions, I welcomed the staff's inquiry. Not knowing where the KYC questioning would turn to. 

And then the man at the counter asked: “Do you know the person?” And I nodded.  And the receiving staff said, “Do you have his phone number”. Thereafter, came more prying questions that were forwardly spoken with unfriendly facial gestures. 

But the most bloated question I took from the guy was when he said: “Baka naman sa social media mo lang nakilala ‘yan!”. [Translation: Maybe you just met the addressee through social media].

Obviously, the curt comment had an innuendo of insult or an estimation of malice, when you happen to be at the receiving line of "KYC" questioning.  From all angles, the line spoken by the shipping personnel could never pass the standards for best practices on customer service.

So casually as a customer, the best reply was to have the convo shortened, and spoken in the most intelligible of lingo that would be accepted by the staff.  Admittedly, it was frustrating to undergo such interaction with an employee from the popular shipping company known for door-to-door package solutions and countless seller "item/package" transactions.  

On my end, the impersonal question was not an innocent attempt to know the customer prior to approving the package for shipment. It was obvious that the guy had already arrived at a judgment before he asked it. There was clear prejudice.

Situations like these are not uncommon if you are familiar with the nitty-gritty troubles of sending an item through established shipping companies. But sadly, there is a death of well-intended customer courtesy practices, in the way employees at the desk counter handle transactions from women customers.

The most common complaint does not involve the price point for sending out packages. The complaint can actually arise from the way items are accepted, and scrutinized; and the way customers are questioned by personnel who posture to not bother at all when it comes to politeness towards walk-in customers. 

Another factor that can meddle in the business courtesy exerted by shipping employees or the lack of it, towards their customers, is the point of familiarity with a customer, which can kick in if the branch or outlet is located in the community, or within the residence of the employee. 

Community-level businesses that accept local residents as employees often do not observe formality in the conduct of their business; simply because employees are confident of their territorial and customer base familiarity.

Many times, walk-in customers are known to the staff who would be handling and approving the items for delivery. Here exists a risk of a certain customer being profiled before he/she even walks into the shipping outlet.

Factors like frequency of business dealings; social media presence and undeniably the sixth degree of connection among neighbors could also affect the climate of business within the shipping branch.  

In the earlier-mentioned situation, having to deal with the male employee resulted in exposure to being slighted in the manner that the KYC standards were implemented.  

And these were not all. 

In another incident, as a customer, an experience could be recalled about how another male staff from another shipping company where a return of a purchased item from e-commerce, was requested and declined eventually. 

The shipping outlet had a different standard. However, the out-of-the-norm detail encountered by the customer was when the male employee requested to see the customer's phone and was instructed to hand it in over at the desk counter, so the staff could check out the transaction code to process the return of an item.

Seeing it was not necessary because as a customer, it was a better prompt to just write the numeric code on paper and give it to the personnel, rather than hand out a phone for the staff to scrutinize and look into.  The instruction when granted, would have been a clear invasion of the privacy of communications, a right of the customer that cannot be compromised even in the case of a return item transaction.  

There are many variations in the way shipping companies handle their different transactions. 

But a common experience that one must watch out for when transacting, is the insensitivity towards customers by the male personnel who are manning the outlet/s.  

What power do customers have over these situations when an obvious possibility that presupposes KYC adherence is that anyone who has access to social media can swipe left and right their phones right at the moment of the transaction, as the customer is trying to send an item or receive an item from a shipping outlet?  This negates the ideals of fairness in business transactions.

The point here is that there must be a boundary as to how the employees of shipping companies, respond, relate, or handle their customers' inquiries and packages. 

Packages must be handled carefully and not obviously scrutinized so as to embarrass a customer with a diminutive line of questioning especially when the items have commercial value or are being sent out for personal purposes. 

There is an obvious dearth of well-trained personnel among shipping companies, who cannot even carry on courteous conversations with customers knowing that the clients need their service at a time when door-to-door delivery and shipping solutions are at a peak of demand, even way after the pandemic's social distancing timeline.

[opinion. business] Name of shipping companies/outlets purposely withheld by this writer.

The Need for Uncompromising Data in a World Full of Apps

 The Most Data-Intrusive Sites Locally Revealed 

by Anna Liza VB

Snapshot, October 11, 2023

 

A billowy smoke seen earlier between 9:40 to 9:53 a.m., followed by sirens of firetrucks was seen and heard by early mallgoers today, outside the facade of SM Southmall, Las Pinas.