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fensterblick's comments

fensterblick | 2 years ago | on: Kroger's Digital Struggle

Heard a talk by their CEO and I was impressed by his focus on technology as a differentiator and competitive advantage.

I will also say that technology is more than just the website/app - it is also their supply chain and how they run the stores.

fensterblick | 2 years ago | on: Lessons Learned from Twenty Years of Site Reliability Engineering

Recently, I've heard of several companies folding up SRE and moving individuals to their SWE teams. Rumors are that LinkedIn, Adobe, and Robinhood have done this.

This made me think: is SRE a byproduct of a bubble economy of easy money? Why not operate without the significant added expense of SRE teams?

I wonder if SRE will be around 10 years from now, much like Sys Admins and QA testers have mostly disappeared. Instead, many of those functions are performed by software development teams.

fensterblick | 4 years ago | on: Why most gas stations don’t make money from selling gas

This has been true for decades. When my dad ran a gas station, the profit came from selling goods like food and cigarettes, or repair services. But he stopped selling cigarettes in the early 1990s when my mom, a nurse, thought it was not right to be selling poison. My dad had a few angry customers, who asked him, "What kind of gas station doesn't sell cigarettes?"

I was so fascinated by the business and life lessons he taught me. There are unscrupulous ways to make money, but fortunately these are not done by the majority. A gas station dealer has to buy gas from the company at a set price. Often times, there is a "black market" of gas, sometimes mislabeled, sometimes stolen, that is offered to dealers by unscrupulous people. You can buy this gas for cheaper and make more money on the margin. If the company catches you - and they have every incentive to catch you since you are not buying from them and selling an inferior product with their brand - you are in trouble.

fensterblick | 4 years ago | on: Why most gas stations don’t make money from selling gas

That may be the case for some gas stations but it is hardly the case for the vast majority of them. The majority of them are run by law abiding citizens who want to follow the law. They want no legal trouble.

I am Indian too, with a father that owned and ran a gas station. (My dad's shop was among the top gas-volume stations in America during his time, I forget exactly how much, but he had a few trophies from the company for it).

They preferred cash during his time because the 2-3% charge was a significant dent in margins. When credit cards started becoming popular, dealers still did not want to take it. So the company encouraged dealers to accept it by promising to refund the charges for a time.

I don't dispute that cheating like what you described happens. I dispute the implication that cheating the IRS is why most businesses prefer cash instead of credit.

fensterblick | 5 years ago | on: How does a gas pump know to shut itself off? (1981)

My father sold gas back in the day. He told me a story of an incident where he accidentally sold water instead of gas. When the supply tanker was filling up the underground reserves, someone forgot to close up the underground reserve. A heavy rain came overnight and water infiltrated the tank.

It was an accident. Repair costs for customers were handled through the gas station's insurance.

fensterblick | 8 years ago | on: Pinterest Raises $150M at 2015 Share Price

I just started looking at Pinterest as a company to work for. From the outside, the way they treat their employees looks amazing. Things like KnitCon (an internal conference for employees led by employees) reflect well on the company. On the other hand, some of the reviews on Glassdoor are not so kind.

I hope Pinterest can succeed and overcome its current challenges. Even if I do not ever get a job there, what is good for one company lifts everyone else in our industry (unless you are a direct competitor!)

fensterblick | 8 years ago | on: The nearly 5M US Census Blocks with zero population (2014)

Regarding Mumbai, it depends on how you define "foreigner". The native population of Marathis only totals 22% in Mumbai. For some in India, these inter-Indian distinctions matter greatly.

It is just pedantic nitpicking. The remainder of your argument still stands and is interesting to think about.

fensterblick | 8 years ago | on: Ford Motor Is Replacing Mark Fields as C.E.O

I have much disdain for GM's corporate culture. It is a company culture that knowingly allowed dangerous vehicles be sold for a decade until a Georgia litigator connected the dots (source: http://jalopnik.com/your-guide-to-the-problem-gm-didnt-fix-u... )

As for Cruise Automation, I am not convinced they have accomplished anything groundbreaking relative to their competitors.

I can't speak much about the Bolt. A quick Google search shows a Bloomberg story stating they will lose 8-9k per car sold. GM better hope it doesn't sell well, if that is the case! (link: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-11-30/gm-s-read...)

fensterblick | 8 years ago | on: Ford Motor Is Replacing Mark Fields as C.E.O

I have been a Ford investor for several years. This is a big surprise for me.

Ford has said they expect to have a fully autonomous vehicles by 2021 (link: https://corporate.ford.com/innovation/autonomous-2021.html). That always seemed too ambitious to me, but I welcome being proved wrong.

I invested in Ford partly because I think, unlike GM, they recognize an existential threat to their business and are trying to take steps to avoid it. It has been a horrible investment for me this far.

fensterblick | 9 years ago | on: Cisco to lay off about 14,000 employees

It's already happening. Several examples come to mind, but for now I'll use one that is relevant to Cisco: Palo Alto Networks offers several subscription based services for its security/networking hardware.
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