Passengers receive certificates marking LSL 41st anniversary

[KnightRail]

Halloween marked the 41st anniversary of the Lake Shore Limited and the trip was commemorated with theses certificates.

 

[SubwayNut]

Dang should have tried to take it one stop yesterday for the anniversary.

 

[me_little_me]

41st? Why, is that an important number? Why not every train once a year gets certificates handed to customers (in lieu of better service?) as every train has an anniversary every year?

Silliest thing I've heard. Hope nobody was paid to come up with that idea! Amtrak, do you know what the word significant means?

 

[Palmetto]

Waste of money, IMO. Unless Mr. Moorman wants his name on some document indicating that Amtrak is delighted to have passengers. Some stories here have indicated the opposite, so maybe this is a signal for a turnaround in customer service??

 

[jis]

So how much does it cost to compose one these on a computer and print out say 500 copies in a graphics department? I don't think it will break any bank.

 

[neroden]

Would have been better if they'd actually bothered to stock enough omelets for the passengers. Which they didn't, on October 30th.

 

[ARBKAL]

Who knows, maybe it was a crew member that works this route that came up with the idea, or maybe it was someone higher up with connections to Moorman. Either way, as mentioned above, it couldn't have cost more than $100-200, and that's IF they went to store like FedEx to print. Done in house, even cheaper and probably only took an hour or two to make. Plus I'm sure it comes out of a different pot of money (i.e. Marketing) than operational needs like more omelettes.

In short, I'm surprised by all the negativity surrounding this seemingly harmless, inexpensive gesture. I agree 41 is a random number, but maybe this is a new tradition for LD trains? Regardless, I like it and wish I head been on board.

PS- I have no connections or insider info on this, just offering my $0.02.

 

[acelafan]

I think it's a nice gesture, too. It's not as if *not* giving them out would fix all the other shortcomings of Amtrak.

 

[Oreius]

They should give out certificates on the Keystones commemorating 10 years of higher-speed rail and track/catenary improvements. They were completed in late 2006.

 

[ParanoidAndroid]

Make this winter (i think jan 8?) an anniversary for the resurrection of the Cardinal?

 

[railiner]

If they mean to comemorate significant dates...1 May 2021 is close enough to start thinking about and making plans for...

 

[snvboy]

it couldn't have cost more than $100-200, and that's IF they went to store like FedEx to print. Done in house, even cheaper and probably only took an hour or two to make.

In short, I'm surprised by all the negativity surrounding this seemingly harmless, inexpensive gesture. I agree 41 is a random number, but maybe this is a new tradition for LD trains?

Plus the overhead of the graphic designer, marketing associate in charge of the project, marketing manager, director, and VP in charge of all those people., Probably at least 2 meetings to discuss the concept, another 2 to review the artwork and choose the paper. Have to buy the paper from approved supplier, MAYBE it was printed on the house laser printer but possibly had to go out to approved printing supplier. Then had to get them back, ship them out to whomever is distributing them (probably wasn't sent Amtrak Express, because that's too sensible.

So, roll all that together and everybody's time and it's more than $100. Heck, 500 sheets of that certificate paper could have easily set them back $300.

And I'm sure Amtrak would be surprised by the negativity of this seemingly harmless, inexpensive gesture. And that's the heart of one of the biggest problems with Amtrak. When you are bleeding money, and cutting back on quality and amenities, things like this just scream "corporate inertia" and being out of touch with their core business. Yes, it's a different accounting bucket than the omelets, but as a paying passenger I could care less about that. Get me from point A to B safely and on-time, and provide me an experience that's better than the airlines. Anything else is fluff.

And the 100 railfans that REALLY, REALLY want this certificate are going to keep riding Amtrak no matter if they got this certificate or not.

 

[Palmetto]

Would have been better if they'd actually bothered to stock enough omelets for the passengers. Which they didn't, on October 30th.

And there you have it.

 

[SCbogey]

Make this winter (i think jan 8?) an anniversary for the resurrection of the Cardinal?

Would that certificate be 3/7 the size of the LSL certificate?

 

[tommylicious]

"Certificate In Lieu of Actual Cooked to Order Meal. Enjoy!"

 

[Karl1459]

How many "foamers" have been questioning when Mr Moorman will be making a visible impact to customers.

You just got an answer.

 

[jis]

I find it fascinating that on the one hand removing a paper flower from the Diner as a cost saving measure sends everyone into a tizzy, and then merely handing out a piece of paper to the riders of a train on a single day in a year for each train (potentially) also sends everyone into a tizzy about it costing too much. The wonders of unhinged AU participants. maybe next we wills tart complaining about Dining Car menus, or maybe not. Who knows?

 

[tommylicious]

In the face of important service cuts (proper meals replaced with chinese-made gas station microwave "food"), doing stuff like those certificates is absurd.

 

[jis]

So this implacable logic would suggest that if some service is cut then nothing should be added that is addable. Using this logic even if possible paper flowers, China and silverware should not be added back until all meals are prepared on board. OK. That is what in my view is unhinged about all this.

And actually even on the Lake Shore Limited the meals are hardly Chinese whatever. I have traveled on that train in its unfortunately downgraded service due to unavailability of equipment.

 

[neroden]

The problem is that it's insulting to hand out congratulatory certificates when the basics of your service are not functioning. It's not a time to celebrate, it's a time to apologize!

The dining car crews are doing their best, but the commissaries are NOT. The commissaries are routinely understocking the LSL. I've been very busy and quite sick, but I need to call and get compensation for the lack of breakfast on the last LSL trip, which was caused *entirely* by the commissary failing to stock the train properly.

 

[jis]

The Commissary stocking issue has unfortunately been around for years now with no end in sight. I believe it is caused by the use of wrong metrics to measure performance. Apparently a belly button gazing metric of minimizing leftovers at any cost, is what causes this. of course not stocking the train at all would get you the best measure on that metric guaranteed. Fortunately the knuckleheads have not quite reached that point yet. Passenger satisfaction seems to be very low in the totem pole of metrics at Amtrak. The idea apparently is that if you can work hard towards lowering passenger expectations to nothing then you can produce very good customer satisfaction reports by meeting the "nothing" expectations. A typical bureaucratic approach to gaining accolades for progressively worse performance.

 

[Palmetto]

The certificate that's the subject of this topic would seem to indicate that customer satisfaction is important--at least in the eyes of Mr. Moorman. The problem is that that attitude needs to trickle down to day-to-day operations, don't you think?