I just got back from my local Duane Reade pharmacy and after waiting 15 minutes on a line of 20 people that stretched down the haircare aisle (there was only one cashier on duty), I attempted to use a $5 off coupon printed on a receipt that I had earned for spending a total of $100 at Duane Reade.

According to their Dollar Rewards program, for every $100 you spend, you get a $5 reward. Very kind of them. The problem is that this program is loaded with things that actually encourage you to not redeem your coupon. So while I’m sure they are collecting lots of great market research as to what people are buying in their stores, they make coming back to the store a completely un-rewarding experience.

Back to my story. I didn’t realize this, but you only have 14 days to spend that $5 reward you earn. I was a week-and-a-half late. And they wouldn’t let me use it, of course. This kind of rewards program is incredibly restricting. I had other chances to use the reward, but I didn’t have my Dollar Rewards membership card with me (even though I had my coupon), and they wouldn’t let me use it.

Isn’t the point of a loyalty program to keep you loyal by rewarding continued shopping in the store? Instead, Duane Reade makes it so difficult to use those rewards that unless you comply with their restrictive parameters you can’t even reap them.

Check out a list of their customer un-friendly rules here.

It’s no surprise that Duane Reade was ranked dead last in a recent study of chain store pharmacy customer service rankings by J.D. Power and Associates.

And for a regional chain, they sure have a lot of results on a Google search of “Duane Reade sucks”. Understandably so.

Maybe it’s time to start listening to your customers before they switch to one of the other drug stores popping up on every corner.

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All over my neighborhood here in NYC (Union Square/Chelsea) are these ads, usually above subways, touting the opening of this Dell Direct Gift Store, a pop-up store, near Union Square at 813 Broadway.

So I think to myself, “That seems interesting. I wonder if they carry the new Nokia N810 Internet Tablet in there.” When one has a question, one typically turns to the Internet for an answer.

Of course, I go straight to Google and type in, “Dell Direct Gift Store”. Search. Nothing.

Then, “Dell Direct Gift Store” “813 Broadway”. Search. Still nothing.

Actually, I do get something. This link to what apparently is the only coverage of this store even existing.

The next thing I do is head over to Dell.com for some help in determining what the store’s contents are, contact information, anything.

Again, nothing.

The point I’m getting at is that if a company that relies so heavily upon the web for transactions goes through the trouble of opening a pop-up store, at least do it right and provide some information about it on the web, wouldja?

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I hate the term “Cyber Monday”. It reminds me of the bubble. My money and intelligence are real, not “cyber”, and it just feels like another concept created to get more people to shop just after Thanksgiving. So I propose a new name. Something a little more passive. Or calls it out for what it really is.

Anyways, what are your thoughts? Vote or add your own choice below.

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There’s no way I can prove this, but I swear, just this past Monday, I said to myself, “I wonder when Woot! is going to sell. If for nothing else, their brand and technology/platform.”

Well they haven’t necessarily.

But according to this bit of news on their blog, they have struck what sounds like a pretty darn good deal with Yahoo! to power a feature at Yahoo!Shopping called Sellout.Woot. This should introduce a whole new breed of shopper to Woot!, and I do fear that it may never be the same again. We could see the hipster, techie, tight Woot! community get diluted with casual shoppers, but we’ll see.

Anyway, pay attention to Woot!. It’s a heck of a site, with a very passionate userbase, a message board like no other, and rivals Twitter in the number of applications designed to make using the site better and more useful.

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