If you’ve browsed the paper products aisle in a store lately, or looked at those items online, you’ve probably seen the trend towards “big” or “double” or “giant” rolls. In theory, by packing more square feet of paper toweling or toilet paper into each roll, they can offer more value for the dollar.

That’s all fine and good, but it certainly makes comparison shopping harder for the consumer. Why? Well, every vendor has their own measure of roll size. One company might sell “double” rolls that are twice the size. But another company might offer both “jumbo” ones that are only 50% bigger than regular size, and “giant” ones that are twice the size of normal rolls. And of course, there can be big variations from manufacturer to manufacturer in what the normal-sized product contains.

Taken together, the trend towards larger roll sizes makes it very hard to comparison shop. Perhaps that’s the idea. But retailers who want people to actually buy something should make sure to provide unit cost comparisons at the shelf level — and update them when something is on sale, too. Otherwise, I believe a lot of people get stuck in so-called analysis paralysis, and leave the store empty handed.

My desk phone has a handy button labeled “Do not disturb”. When you press it, the phone won’t ring for new calls. This is great if you’re away from your desk or otherwise unable to answer the phone, and you don’t want it to ring aimlessly during that period.

Even though I’ve had this feature on my desk phone for years, I just realized there’s no equivalent on my BlackBerry. You can turn off the wireless service completely, but then you won’t receive emails or text messages. Or you can turn off the ringer and make it vibrate instead, but that’s much less convenient than the option I’m used to, where you just tell the phone you don’t want any calls at the moment.

Perhaps the newfangled phone models like the iPhone and Palm Pre have a “Do not disturb” option. But if they don’t, I really have to wonder what’s taking them so long. Maybe the people who design and develop mobile products barely use their desk phones at all, so they’ve never heard of the feature in the first place.

One of the blogs that I subscribe to typically publishes a new post every day, or at least several times a week. But without any warning, they went totally silent for more than two weeks. This makes me wonder: how long can you take a breather before it becomes the sort of hiatus that you need to tell your readers about? For daily blogs, even 2-3 days is probably worth saying something about before you head off. For weekly ones, I’d say two weeks without a post is the cutoff point. And for monthly ones, well, I’m not sure those even qualify as a blog in the first place. Either way, it’s nice to give your readers a heads-up before you depart, including a rough estimate of when you’ll be back.

I saw an article recently about one of those new laptop bags that are designed to help you get through airport security lines faster. I can’t speak for where they are currently advertising the product, but one question stands out: why not showcase the product right in the airport itself? For instance, you could put up billboards in the airport terminal, and make sure the stores closest to the security line have point-of-sale displays focusing on how much hassle the customer could have avoided. By delivering the right message when the need is fresh in the customer’s mind, you greatly increase the chance they’ll see the value in the product and make a purchase.

A few days ago, a Facebook icon mysteriously appeared on my BlackBerry’s main menu screen. Apparently, my mobile carrier has some sort of deal with Facebook to help promote the new Facebook for BlackBerry application. I tried to remove the program, but it didn’t appear in my applications list. I even tried launching the program to look for a removal option, but it was just a web link asking you to download the Facebook application. Ironically, they want to all that effort to install the icon on everyone’s BlackBerry, but didn’t even include the program itself.

This whole approach is stupid. Rather than confusing and annoying users by forcing an icon onto their device, the wireless carrier should just send a text message or email letting people know the Facebook application is available, including a link to download it. I can’t even think of a suitable analogy from the offline world. To be as obnoxious as the Facebook icon, the marketer would have to find a way to break into your home or office and glue some annoying product right on your desk or kitchen table.

Analogies aside, forcing a new program on your customers, without any way to opt-out or remove it, is a poor business practice. If you’re ever tempted to do this, consider using email instead. The conversion rates might be lower, but at least you won’t be mobilizing an army of angry customers against you in the process.

I just learned that certain types of fare cards for the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) expire after roughly four years. This is annoying for three reasons: first, the type of cards I’m referring to are designed to automatically refill from a credit card or debit card when the balance runs low. Second, there is no expiration date printed anywhere on the card itself. Yep, you have to check online or swipe the card into a special CTA reader at certain train stations to see when your card will bite the dust. Third, you have to manually request a new card before the old one expires, even if you’re actively using it.

Taken together, I bet CTA runs into a lot of customer attrition when these fare cards expire. People have to take a specific and unintuitive action to keep their account active, and many simply won’t take the time or initiative to do so. Those folks probably end up pissed off and switch to more basic fare payment options.

I think the takeaway is this: even if a card has to be replaced eventually due to technological limitations, you should at least print the expiration date right on the card, and automatically send the customer a new card in the mail before the old one stops working. Come to think of it, this is exactly how credit and debit cards work. It’s a proven renewal and retention model, and trying to reinvent the wheel here will only lead to confusion and frustration for customers.

By my estimation, about 95% of the products at Trader Joe’s come from the store’s private label brands. When it comes to the other 5% or so, I can’t help but wonder: are these third-party brands offered merely as a merchandising experiment? Won’t Trader Joe’s just create a house brand variant if the sales are strong? I think the chances of that are very high.

This brings me to one piece of advice for anyone lucky enough to get their products on the shelf at a private label-focused retailer: from the moment you sign the deal to provide your existing products, start discussing the idea of being the manufacturer for the retailer’s private label version, if they decide to create one down the road. Granted, you’ll make less money per unit sold. But at least you won’t have to watch that newfound revenue stream drop to zero if it’s a smash hit, and they make a deal with someone else to produce the product.

I finally had a chance to check out the new CVS in my neighborhood. Compared to the older CVS and Walgreen’s stores that I’m used to, it’s a relevation: clean, modern, and easy to navigate, with a broad assortment of products beyond the usual drug store fare. I also noticed something unusual about the store design: the floors are carpeted, using a series of square carpet tiles.

In fact, the carpet squares look just like the modular carpet I’ve seen at stores like CB2. The idea is that you can install it easily (since there’s no big roll to transport), mix and match different styles, and replace damaged areas by simply swapping out a single square. Each panel is about 18 inches across, making those replacements a cinch.

What a great approach: CVS gets the aesthetic benefits of carpet instead of settling for ugly linoleum, but without the risk of expensive repairs when someone spills something on there or an area wears out. Just about the only thing missing is a store display where they promote the benefits of modular carpeting and let you buy it right then and there. Of course, that sounds more like the kind of thing you’d find in the “As Seen on TV” aisle in an older drug store, which might not jive with the image they’re going for in the new locations.

Many years ago, there was a program for the Mac called Conflict Catcher. Basically, it helped you troubleshoot problems with the pesky “extensions” that loaded during startup in older versions of the Mac OS. The extension system itself was a mess, so this program was a must-have for Mac users. Conflict Catcher addressed an important need for its customers, and I believe they sold a bunch of copies.

However, I don’t think the company that made Conflict Catcher even exists anymore. What happened? Well, Apple clearly knew about the problem with the extensions system, and eliminated that issue in Mac OS X. As customers upgraded to the new OS or bought a new Mac, they no longer needed to buy that program. The same problem that made customers want the program so much also provided the impetus for Apple to fix the underlying issue.

This is the paradox of creating a solution for someone else’s problem. The more customers who want the solution and the better you do and the more you sell, the greater the motivation for the other guys to sit down and fix the real cause of the problem. Your own success puts a spotlight on how badly customers want the problem to be fixed. And before long, the original issue gets addressed, and nobody needs your solution anymore.

I see the same thing happening with the hundreds of services that add little bits of functionality to Twitter and other web-based applications. Twitter can easily pick the best ones, integrate that functionality into the main product, and eliminate the need for the third-party solution. Maybe that’s not their intent, but maybe it is. Either way, Conflict Catcher and other utilities of yesteryear are great examples of why you should be very cautious about building a business that someone else could wipe out by simply fixing their own issues.

The gym in my building provides free antibacterial wipes for cleaning off the equipment before and after you use it. I never really thought much about this, until all the dispensers ran out recently. Clearly, I’m not the only person using them, which is a nice surprise. When it’s easy and convenient to clean off the equipment, more people do so. This makes me wonder: if public restrooms provided hand sanitizer right by the door, would some of the lazy people who never wash their hands actually use it?