I used to receive an actual newspaper when I was living in Tokyo. When it rained, the paper always was delivered in a plastic bag. This is not too far outside of the realm of reasonable service, but I found that there were other areas in which care was taken that I'm not noticing happening here in the U.S. In particular, when a parcel arrived damaged via the Japanese post office, they would put it in a plastic bag as well to make sure that the contents didn't fall out. Here in America, I've already received two empty padded mailers because the contents got lost. I never lost the contents of a package once in Japan, and I received a lot of packages.
In Japan, the focus on service in general often created a habit of going the extra mile without the customer even asking for it. I'm disappointed since returning to the U.S. to find that people only tend to do what they have to unless it is a particularly expensive service dealing with well-heeled customers. I miss the way the Japanese businesses looked out for their customer's interests even when they strictly did not have to do so.
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In defense of American newspaper delivery people ours used to be put into a plastic bag when it was raining. But I endorse your other comment about the US Post Office.
ReplyDeleteThere is NO question that the Japanese are much more oriented towards ensuring that services are provided 'with customer satisfaction' clearly in mind! What a pleasure it is to be treated with such care when one is out and about in the commercial world.
I lived in a rural area and I think our papers were put in our mailboxes back in the day. I do notice that papers are wrapped in plastic here... which seems silly because it rarely rains. I just noticed how the Japanese did it based on the weather (case by case) whereas it seems to be all or nothing in this area. Obviously, YMMV. ;-)
DeleteThanks for your comment!
Where are you? It's been 5 days since the last post and you are missed!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad that you missed me, but my posting schedule for this blog is Tues., Weds. and Thurs. only. I have another blog that I post to from Mon.-Fri. I'm afraid that 8 posts a week are pretty much all I can manage. ;-)
DeleteThanks for answering. I was worried. You are way more informative than any of the many books I have borrowed from the library!
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