On my last two visits to Quizno’s I noticed they have changed the way they wrap their sandwiches for carry-out. Normally this kind of thing wouldn’t garner a second thought from me, but the new way they are wrapping their sandwiches is somewhat annoying to me. So I looked into it and discovered Quizno’s is trying to “be green.”

I happen to be something of a sandwich lover. Turkey sandwiches to be specific. So you will regularly see me at Subway, Togo’s, or as in the case today, Quizno’s. And since I eat said sandwiches at my desk I like to have something to open up and use as a sort of placemat. The new wrapping is contains “significant amounts” of post-consumer materials and supposedly uses less paper. Post consumer materials is good, it’s the way they designed the “less paper” I find issue with.

With this new wrapping I now have to carefully tear open the cute little sleeve the sandwiches come in to have a flat and somewhat larger place to put the sandwich down between bites. (I don’t like to work for my food.) And once the paper is flat it isn’t all that much smaller than the old school style Quizno’s used to have. Add in the glue, which I’m no expert, but I’m pretty sure is not environmentally friendly, and I’m not sure this isn’t more than a marketing gimmick; Quizno’s attempt to capitalize on a recent trend toward being “earth-friendly.”

Now don’t get me wrong, I am all about helping the environment. I recycle as much as possible and get e-bills from those I can so I don’t waste paper. But when your efforts as a service company (the service of offering convenient food) to go green impede the very service you are offering, that’s where you need to take a second look.

Okay, maybe I’m just being picky. I like my sandwiches and I want to enjoy them without hassle. Is that too much to ask? This may may make me rethink Quizno’s the next time I want a turkey sandwich. What do you think? Leave a comment with your thoughts.

I’m not sure which irritates me more, the listings that are so completely off in left field, or the ones for entry level “no training needed” type jobs. I actually applied to one of those many years ago when I was first starting out. It turned out to be door-to-door sales on the B2B side. The company wanted you to go out to businesses and try to sell them a new phone system. I’m sure that is a wonderful job for some people, just not me. And I certainly don’t want to do that at this level in my career. Although in a couple months I may be singing another tune.

I just wish I could get better qualified job leads delivered to my email. No commission only sales jobs, no insurance “run your own business” jobs, no entry-level sales jobs disguised as marketing jobs. And I do realize that finding jobs via online job boards is reportedly not the best way to find a higher level job. But do you think that may be because the job boards are inundated with all these obtuse listings?

What kind of closing is that? I’m still scratching my head wondering what in the world this guy wanted. I’m guessing, as most intelligent people might, that he wanted my business. But this goes back to one of the very first rules of sales and marketing, the call to action, and in the case of this email, there was none.

I read the email three times just to be sure that my email-ADD hadn’t kicked in. (I have the tendency to skim emails, sometimes skipping entire paragraphs which has gotten me into trouble on more than one occasion.)

What’s even more perplexing is that the subject of the email was “Request from ABC Company” I did not see any requests at all in the body of the email.

Just a week ago I received another email asking me to be a part of a networking group. The sender included in the email that she thought of me because the group didn’t have any chiropractors. What?

I was pretty sure these were known by most people, but when you do email marketing make sure you:

1. Get the person’s name and occupation right
2. Have a call to action

Any other no-brainer rule you have seen violated?

We have access to blogs that cater to every possible interest whether you are a social media marketer, a hockey fan, or an avid knitter. And these blogs are all free to read. So why would we spend our ever decreasing “disposable” income on content that does not met a very specific need?

Every now and then a magazine comes along that really does seem to hit the spot. I enjoy reading Pink Magazine. However, not every article in every issue interests me. To be fair, not every post on every blog I read interests me either. But since I am paying for the magazine content, I feel gypped when a particular issue is weak on content for me. (This is not to say it wouldn’t interest someone else.) Plus, it seems the more narrow the focus of the audience, like Pink who target working women, the higher the cost.

Magazines do seem to be moving in the right direction though by putting their content online and offering free e-newsletters. But does all this mean that the print versions of many magazines are in jeopardy? Will we continue to pay for content that isn’t customized to our interests? What are your thoughts?