Virtually everybody knows that cardboard boxes and other paper-based packaging are recyclable. The same goes for plastic food containers. And in case there’s any doubt, these items usually have a recycling symbol right on the product itself.

But what about the items that fall into a gray area, like those cardboard-ish molded trays that come with consumer electronics? If there’s no recycling symbol on there, does that mean they can’t be recycled? Clearly, there’s a lot of products that seem like they should be recyclable, but have no markings about it either way. This forces consumers to guess, leading to items getting placed in the wrong disposal location, and reducing the effectiveness of recycling programs in general.

The solution is actually really simple: just start marking non-recyclable items with an appropriate symbol or text. For instance, a molded cardboard tray that can’t be recycled might feature text like this: “Not recyclable — please dispose with regular trash.” Obviously, it would be better if everything was recyclable and renewable and all that good stuff. But reality dictates we’re not quite there yet.

In the meantime, manufacturers can make things more efficient by adding the markings that I’ve described to their non-recyclable items. That way, consumers will spend less time figuring out which bin each item belongs in. And when the task is easier, more people will find the time to do it, thus increasing the percentage of recyclable products that actually get recycled, rather than ending up in the trash.

Let’s say your name is John Smith. You decide to sign up for a run-of-the-mill email account. During the registration process, you make a typo when entering the desired email address. So instead of getting johnsmith@example.com, you end up with jhonsmith@example.com. Then, you proceed to use this new email account to correspond with friends, family and clients.

What does this behavior tell others about you? Well, it’s pretty clear that:

– You’re too careless to double-check things when you initially type them in.

– You can’t be bothered to fix your mistakes after the fact.

– You don’t care about the impact that these signals may have on the way others perceive you.

Of course, the type of person who spells their own name wrong probably isn’t going to be very receptive to tips and advice about doing things more diligently. But for everyone else, this is a reminder that careless behavior can be manifest in seemingly small ways. So the next time you get an email from a prospective vendor or other would-be business associate who can’t manage to get their own email address straight, remember that they’re likely to be just as careless and inept when performing work for you. Learn to spot this red flag early on, and you can focus your efforts on more competent and trustworthy alternatives.

There’s a display table at the front of my local Trader Joe’s where they promote freshly-made sandwiches, along with cheese spreads and other items. Many of the same products are available elsewhere in the store, but they’re always in a refrigerated case. I had always wondered why the cheese and sandwiches didn’t spoil, and figured the store just screwed up — or maybe the products sold so quickly that they stayed cold during their brief exile from the cooler.

Well, after looking more closely at one of the cheese packages, it appears that those products aren’t perishable after all. The package said something like “Refrigerate after opening”, or maybe even “No refrigeration necessary”. But how many customers would actually look at the product so closely? I bet a lot of people subconsciously avoid this type of item because something doesn’t feel right about it. The product should be in a refrigerated case, but it’s not.

So, when a store wants to use a non-refrigerated display to promote items that shoppers would normally consider perishable, the best approach is to tell people that the items don’t need to be refrigerated. Something like “Low-fat cheese spread — no refrigeration necessary” would do the trick. By clearly addressing the most likely concern that shoppers would have about the product, this extra bit of text should help shoppers feel more confident, and eliminate the silent objection that may have gotten in the way of their purchases in the past.

A few years ago, they filmed “The Dark Knight” in Chicago. I forget the exact timing, but it was a warm summer month — probably July or August. Fast forward to today, and they’re filming “Transformers 3” here. The temperatures? Consistently around 90 degrees every day, which makes things harder on the actors, extras and crew — not to mention all the pricey equipment they use.

Apparently, producers in LA think that northern cities like Chicago and New York are cold all year round, since they keep scheduling these film shoots during the summer months that locals know can get brutally hot. If the people in charge just looked at the historical averages, they’d see that the spring and fall are a lot milder — and there’s fewer tourists to get in the way of things. Scheduling an elaborate and expensive movie shoot in the summer just doesn’t make sense.

What’s that? You’re stuck with some bizarre contract provisions that require you to film in a big city during the summer? In this unlikely case, try San Francisco. The financial district can pass for Any Big City USA, and the weather rarely seems to get above 70 degrees — even when New York and Chicago are suffering through 90 degree days.

The last time I saw a product registration card, I spent a few seconds looking over the form, and then tossed it aside. There wasn’t any enticing reason to fill it out, so I didn’t see the need to spend my time on the task.

Assuming that manufacturers want people to fill out their product registration cards, they need to make the process easier and the benefits a lot more compelling. For instance:

– Reduce the length of the form by asking for less data

– Include an option to fill it out online

– Offer a discount towards something the customer wants or needs, such as a carrying case or other accessories

– Make that discount valid right away, at any retailer

– Provide a checkbox to opt-out of any email or direct marketing campaigns

In fact, this has a lot in common with some of the best practices for optimizing forms on the web. By taking these goals into account, manufacturers would entice more customers to fill out the product registration card, and thus get a more accurate idea of who’s buying their products and how to reach those customers more effectively in the future.

A few days ago, we got a call from a vendor to say that our corporate credit card was declined for a purchase. We pay off the card every month, and there was plenty of available credit, so this was a rather puzzling turn of events. We called the card issuer, and they said that a security hold had been placed on the account. They couldn’t even explain why, nor did they make any attempt to notify us about the problem. The only way we found out was through a vendor who, of course, wanted the card to clear so they could get paid.

This whole process is idiotic. If there’s a problem with a customer’s card account, the credit card issuer should immediately contact the customer via phone or email. The customer should not have to hear about it through the vendor grapevine and then scramble to figure out what went wrong. In other words, the customer should never be the last to know.

From what I understand, some banks do a better job at security and fraud notifications than others. There really needs to be an industry-wide standard for how customers are notified when their cards are placed on hold for security or fraud reasons. As it stands today, banks take a seemingly random series of steps — or no steps at all — when they suspend a cardholder’s account. This approach is unfair and disrespectful to customers, and costs the banks revenue when subsequent transactions are declined.

It really blows my mind that such an important process is handled so poorly by so many credit card issuers. This means there’s an opportunity for one or more banks to step up and make customer communications the focus of their marketing and positioning. Just present a few scenarios where consumers couldn’t make an important purchase or were otherwise inconvenienced because of a security hold they knew nothing about. A significant number of people have been in that situation, and I bet a fair number of them would dump their current bank if another card issuer told the right story and made a credible promise to treat them right.

This past weekend, I spent several hours on hold with a vendor’s tech support department. I was trying to resolve a network configuration issue, and needed to have it fixed before Monday morning. Each time I called them, the operator placed me on hold — even when I was supposedly being transferred to a specific person. I waited as long as 40 minutes for a tech support rep, despite our account being a business line that theoretically gets access to dedicated support resources.

All of this was frustrating, but one small thing really stood out. Every minute or so while I was on hold, the voice message said “A representative will be with you shortly.” Obviously, that’s a generic message that they play regardless of whether the wait time is 2 minutes or 45 minutes. But it probably does more harm than good. Just think about it: if the hold time is short, you don’t need to reassure people that someone will be with them soon. And if the hold time is very long, using the word “shortly” sets the wrong expectations — leading to even more irate customers.

To resolve this issue, you can do one of two things. First, you could make the messaging more context sensitive. If the customer is way back in the call queue, or they called during a period when you have very few staff on hand, don’t include words like “shortly” that imply a 5 minute wait. Second, you can use one message without any fancy context detection. But make the message accurate even for longer wait times. For instance, you could say “The next representative will be with you as soon as they can, but please note that hold times can be up to 45 minutes or more during heavy call volume or after-hours shifts.” Sure, these aren’t as friendly as just saying “shortly”. However, this approach is ultimately better for tech support staff and customers, since everyone goes into the process with a realistic idea of what’s going to happen next.

Let’s say that you order the same meal from the same restaurant on two different days. The first time, you eat at the restaurant itself. There’s a small problem with the order — like some missing vegetables — so you ask the server about it. The server quickly brings out the extra items, and you’re all set. The initial error was a minor hiccup in the experience, and nothing more.

The second time around, you get that same meal as a takeout order. The restaurant hands you a bag that’s carefully wrapped, with utensils, napkins and other items on top of the food container itself. You assume the order is correct — after all, who wants to open and inspect a tightly-packed tin and risk making a mess — so you head back home to eat it. But once you open the container, you see they’ve made a similar mistake with the vegetables. Even if you call the restaurant and they offer a refund, you’re still stuck with the wrong food.

This underscores the big difference between dine-in and takeout orders: with takeout, there’s no do-overs. Customers are basically stuck with whatever you give them, since by the time they’ve taken it home, they probably aren’t in the mood to call you, complain and then go back to pick up the corrected order. Screwing up a takeout order does far more damage to the customer’s perception of a restaurant compared to making the same mistake on an order that’s going to a table right across the room.

With this in mind, it pays to train your staff to check each takeout order at every step in the process. For instance, verify that the order is correct when the customer calls it in, when it reaches the kitchen, and when it’s placed into the takeout containers. Since there are no second chances with takeout, you need to be even more diligent about getting things right on the first try. But there’s an upside, too. If you do this correctly, you should enjoy a lot more repeat business from customers who enjoy ordering takeout. Instead of being turned off by getting the wrong item, they’ll associate your restaurant with consistent and high-quality service, and keep ordering from you again and again.

When my wife and I travel together, it’s standard practice for me to hold onto our boarding passes and other travel documents, and then present them at the appropriate times. This seems like a more efficient and streamlined approach than keeping them separately, although airport staff do their best to prove me wrong.

The scenario plays out like this. I hand two sets of boarding passes to the employee at the security line or the gate. As I’m handing over the documents, I say the phrase “two passengers”. And more often than not, they inspect my boarding pass and ignore my wife’s, and then act baffled when she doesn’t have a separate one in hand.

Why is this situation so hard to follow? Does nobody travel together anymore? Or am I using the wrong language to describe the situation? Perhaps I should be more direct and say something like: “There’s two boarding passes there, one for me and one for this woman behind me, who is my wife.” In any event, I believe a little bit of extra training could make airport staff more savvy when it comes to passengers traveling together. And of course, taking an extra half-second to listen to what the customer actually said wouldn’t hurt, either.

Like many travelers, I have often lamented the lack of easily-accessible power outlets in airports and hotel rooms. So, it was a pleasant surprise to check into a hotel earlier this month, and find several power outlets in plain sight. The room designers were thoughtful enough to put outlets above each of the bedside tables, making it easy to plug in phone chargers, iPods and other gadgets.

However, one aspect of this baffled me. No matter how thoroughly I looked, I couldn’t find a power outlet near the large work desk. I checked the floor and the wall — nothing. After what seemed like ten minutes of searching, I solved the puzzle: you had to push down on a silver panel on the top of the desk itself. After doing so, the panel opened up to reveal three power outlets. Of course, this panel wasn’t marked with any text or icons to show you what it does. I had a similar problem locating the coffeemaker, which was stashed completely out of sight, in a sliding drawer below the television. And don’t even get me started on the reading lamp, with its expertly-hidden light switch that took extraordinary determination to locate.

As hotels try to cram more and more conveniences into rooms that certainly aren’t getting any bigger, it’s going to be harder and harder for guests to find exactly what they need. But there’s an easy way to bridge this gap. Just put a map or floor plan on the wall of each room, in a location that guests can’t miss. On the room map, highlight the location of the power outlets, light switches (including what they control), and other features. Granted, putting this info on the wall might seem unnecessary. But if a room map helps even 10% of guests feel more comfortable and less stressed out after checking in, it should be well worth the small amount of wall space that it takes up.