There’s an email rumor flying around Florida warning that gas stations are going to close at midnight and stay closed for 2-3 days.  According to this report that caused a run on gas stations, and authorities believe that it may be an exaggeration of official statements that said some of the state might experience gas shortages.

Given that it happened in Florida we should probably dismiss this as typical Floridian behavior, but today a friend told my wife that his wife was at a BP station filling up and the woman working the register was saying that they were raising their prices for the second time in 20 minutes.  On top of that she said that once they were out they wouldn’t be getting another shipment for a while.

It’s anecdotal, but word like that gets me thinking maybe I should top off just in case.  Of course I could also behave like a Floridian and put it in an email and, voila, we’ve got "Miami in Carolina."

There’s also an energy expert out there saying that prices could go up 65 cents a gallon as early as this weekend.  That’s one prediction I buy, you know, because it’s hard to underestimate the price-gouging ability of this industry.

Given the current gas climate here’s what I’m looking forward to:

• The look on the faces of the little 5 feet tall, 95 pound bottle-blond soccer moms and blinged-out mama’s boys who have cornered the Escalade market spending $75 at the pump for one fill up.
• The one free fill up a month promotions that GM will inevitably tack onto their "Employee Discount" program when they extend it, again, next week.
• Still spending less for a gallon of gas than I do for a gallon of milk.

Here’s what I’m not looking forward to:

• Listening to the insufferable little tree huggers drone on and on about their wonderful little hybrid.
• Listening to the insufferable big tree huggers drone on and on about their wonderful little hybrid, but I’ll be polite to them since they’re bigger than me.
• Possibly owning a hybrid.

I was reading an article in Wall Street Journal online (via Ed Cone) about how Aetna is getting ready to publish the prices it has negotiated for physician services in the Cincinatti area on its website and I came across this sentence:

The negotiated fees typically are discounted from
the list prices that doctors charge uninsured patients, and are
available only to Aetna and its plan members.

This is literally stupid.  Aetna’s customers, and those from other insurers, are going to cost the doctors more than the uninsured patients and it will take the doctors much longer to get paid.  Doctors literally have to employ people to do the paperwork required by the insurance companies, and then they have to handle disputed claims and wait forever to get paid.  An uninsured, or "cash" patient walks in the door, is seen, pays his bill and walks out.  Hmm, I wonder which patient offers a higher profit margin even at the same billing rate?

Now maybe the doctors are afraid to lower their "list" rates for fear that they will lose bargaining room with the insurance companies.  Fine, then offer the cash patients discounts and incentives. The doctors would look like they were giving the patients a bargain AND they would have higher profit margins to boot.

In the doctors’ defense until recently they haven’t had much of an incentive to behave like they were running a business.  A huge proportion of their patients came from the insurance companies, and if someone was uninsured they probably couldn’t afford to pay anyway.  Well, times are a-changing with the advent of consumer driven health plans like Health Savings Accounts, and doctors better adjust, quickly.

Here’s my recommendation:

• Keep list prices the same but set up a pricing schedule specifically for "cash" customers.  Factor in which run-of-the-mill services offer the greatest retun on time (investment) and use incentives for those services in your marketing efforts.
• Oh yeah, start marketing.
• Offer discounts for multiple family members.  For instance a pediatrician could offer lower rates on physicals for siblings if all the siblings came in at one time.
• Institute a customer service plan.  Follow up with patients and find out how they felt about their appointment.  Survey the patients to find out what they think of the office, if they had to wait too long, etc. 
• Get used to the idea that patients will begin to "shop" you, but also be aware that patients are savvy.  They won’t choose a doctor on price alone, but they also won’t pay top dollar for a doctor they perceive as "Wal-Mart" if they can get a "Macys" doctor for the same price.

Actually the best advice I can give is for any doctor to check out my dentist’s operation.  The folks at Kingery & Kingery have it figured out, and as a cash customer I speak from personal experience.

First, they do a great job marketing themselves (that’s how we found them).  Second they have a very professional and friendly staff.  Third, the doctors actually listen. 

A perfect example of this came earlier this month when I was in for a cleaning. Dr. Kingery was telling me about all kinds of nifty things he could do to improve my smile and I said, "Listen, I have three kids going into braces in the next three years.  I don’t want to spend a dime that isn’t necessary on my own mouth, so just tell me what you think is absolutely necessary."  And he did.

Last, they have a follow up system in place to make sure that their customers are happy.  As part of that process they worked with us on pricing out all the different things we were going to have done.  With three kids with questionable brushing skills and two middle-aged parents who need to get old fillings repaired my family is literally a cash cow for them, and so they are making every effort to keep us around. If they don’t we can just go down the road, and they know it.

Are you listening doctors?  This is your future.

I just read a post on Mark Cuban’s blog, Blog Maverick, in which he explains why he had to let go one of his best players (Michael Finley).  For non-sports fans Mark Cuban is the owner of the Dallas Mavericks an NBA franchise. 

In his post Cuban does something that you don’t see much in this day and age;  he says "I was wrong." He takes full responsibility for creating a situation that caused him to let go someone he considers a friend and someone he considered one of his best employees.  That kind of honesty takes guts and not a little bit of self awareness.  It also shows leadership.

My issue with President Bush has been his absolute inability to say, "I was wrong."  Remember last year’s campaign?  He was asked point blank if he thought he’d made any mistakes and he couldn’t bring himself to say, "Yes."  Personally I think he feared that any admission of error would lead people to believe that he had lost the courage of his convictions.

The President’s supporters often cite his courage of convictions as one of his great qualities.  I think this is a reaction to President Clinton’s perceived waffling, and was one of the characteristics that got Bush elected in the first place. But there comes a point where sticking to your convictions in the face of growing evidence that your convictions are wrong can actually have the effect of making you seem stupid, if not a conceited coward.

We’re all human, including the President.  As humans we make mistakes and one of our greatest strengths is that we can learn from them.  By not admitting that he makes mistakes the President seems to be telling the American people that he is better than us.  That’s not good because Americans like their leaders to be forceful, decisive and yet humble.

As I said President Bush could learn from Mark Cuban’s example, but since President Bush doesn’t seem to have Cuban’s self awareness I doubt he will have the ability to learn this lesson.  And for that reason I think he’s lost his ability to lead, which should make the next three years quite ugly.

According to this article in the Ottawa Sun two Canadian men who are best friends have decided to get married for the tax benefits. Both guys are divorced and looking for Mrs. Right, but their point of view seems to be,  "Why not take advantage of the tax breaks while we’re looking?"

You do have to wonder what happens when one of them eventually does meet Mrs. Right and wants a divorce.  What’s the incentive for the one who hasn’t met Mrs. Right to give up his, uh, cash cow?