Consumers dissatisfied with service
An Opinion Research Corp. study shows that while most Americans are generally happy with the service they receive from businesses, at least one-third of them believe businesses are performing unsatisfactorily in four crucial areas: providing prompt attention with little waiting time, providing solutions to problems that come up with the product or services sold, providing clear, detailed information, providing personalized attention to meet special needs.
Consumers were also asked to evaluate changes over the past five years in the levels of service provided by eight specific businesses: supermarkets, airlines, stores selling major appliances, telephone companies, auto insurance companies, stores selling furniture, auto dealers, and clothing stores.
In the case of auto insurance, 38% believe they are receiving worse service now than they were five years ago. By contrast, 14% believe that auto insurance service has improved over the same period. On the service of other automobile related businesses, the public is nearly divided. 20% say service is improving, 24% say its getting worse.
More consumers felt there was an improvement rather than a decline in service levels for four types of retailers: supermarkets, clothing, furniture, and appliance stores. 40% believe supermarket service has gotten better over the past five years. Consumers were split over the performance of the telephone and airline industries, citing improvement and deterioration in about equal amounts.
People want better service, but for six of the eight businesses measured, only about one consumer in four say they would pay higher prices to receive it. A somewhat higher percentage (32%) say they are willing to pay for better service in clothing stores. Only one consumer in five would pay more to get better service from an auto insurer.
Three groups of consumers are particularly likely to say they are willing to pay more for an enhanced quality of service: men, black consumers, and consumers aged 18–24.
Kitchen becomes gathering place
According to a study conducted by R.H. Bruskin Associates for GE Spacemaker, part of the Audio and Communications Division of Thomson Consumer Electronics, the kitchen has become much more than a place where food is prepared and consumed. It’s now a gathering place, where Americans spend on average 2.1 hours of their day. More than 25% of all Americans spend three to four hours daily in the kitchen.
The survey results show that 44% of Americans pay bills or do paper work in the kitchen, 47% entertain family, guests and friends there, and 42% listen to music. Women still spend the most time in the kitchen, averaging 2.6 hours per day, or about 65% more time than men.
The kitchen is clearly the social and information center, with many households having home office equipment set up there. 48% of America’s kitchens have radios in them, 23% have televisions, and 13% have cassette tape players.
Those aged 65 or over make the most use of kitchen entertainment products. 80% of them spend between one and four hours in the kitchen each day, and 60% have a radio, while 32% have a TV.
Nine out of 10 suffer jet lag, survey shows
A recent survey indicates that nine out of 10people who fly across multiple time zones suffer jet lag, yet many take no preventive action to reduce it. Dr. Michael Irwin, medical director of the United Nations, says most travelers would probably recommend taking a “semi-rest for the first day or two when you arrive.” He notes that “the three or four ways of coping with jet lag are not known.” Irwin recently presented the findings of a survey of 784 long-distance jet travelers.
The survey investigated how many suffered from jet-lag symptoms and what, if anything, they did about it. Ninety-four percent suffered from fatigue, sleeplessness, impaired concentration, slowed reflexes, irritability or other symptoms associated with jet lag if they flew across three time zones or more. Forty-five percent of the jet travelers reported severe problems with inability to sleep and daytime sleepiness or fatigue being the most disturbing. Nevertheless, only 45% said they used any strategy to try to head off jet-lag symptoms, the survey said.
Others did report having helpful strategies to combat jet lag, such as avoiding alcohol on the flight, resting a few days on arrival, adjusting sleeping patterns before leaving and using a short-term sleeping medication the first night or two in the new place. Alcohol consumption should be avoided on planes, says Irwin. “The reason is that the combination of dry air inside the plane—less than 5% humidity—with the alcohol make you very dehydrated, and it’s harder to adjust to a different time zone.” At least 100 biochemical and hormonal rhythms in the body, which govern daily cycles such as sleep, all suffer with dehydration, says Irwin. The survey found that jet-lag symptoms are greatest flying from west to east, as indicated by the finding that 23% of East Coast travelers to Europe reported severe jet lag, while just 14% had severe problems on the reverse trip. Additionally the survey said 39% of those traveling east from the Orient to California were extremely bothered, compared with 24% traveling west from California to the Orient.
The best remedy for resetting the biological clock when flying across three or four time zones is exercising outdoors, says Irwin. Optimally, the exercise would be in morning daylight or after an eastward flight, to encourage the body to adjust to a later day. When taking medications for jet-lag, do so only under a doctor’s prescription, says Irwin. The Upjohn Co. of Kalamazoo, Mich., commissioned the study, which was conducted by an independent polling organization, R.L. Associates of Princeton, N.J., with the assistance of United Airlines and British Airways. The travelers had made at least two round-trips of 5,000 miles, once going eastward and once going westward, in the 24 months before the survey was conducted.
Hail, Mikhail
A national OmniTel study conducted by R.H. Bruskin Associates just a few days after Mikhail Gorbachev’s visit to the U.S. found that Americans were quite taken with the man, his proposals, and his intentions. When asked about their personal feelings about the Soviet leader, 75% of all adults interviewed expressed a favorable reaction (with one of every four “very favorable”). When asked about specifics related to his visit, a similar reaction occurred. 80% felt his visit was worthwhile, 79% said it was “an important step towards world peace,” 69% felt that his visit “indicated he was sincere.” However, when asked if they felt the visit was likely to lead to a cutback in our defense spending, 43% said no, 40% said yes, and 17% were unsure.