They (the distributors) have purposely overstocked everyone in the hopes of getting more papers into more of the hands of people who might not normally subscribe to USA Today. It is widely read, mainly in hotels and airports, by the very businessmen and women who are in positions to make decisions about their company's spending, including transportation. For years, I have listened to employees say that we are not doing enough to get the word out about our company. Do any of you know what the annual marketing spend is for FedEx? Funny commercials are great, but they cost millions to produce, and millions to put on TV. This spend for 4 weeks was approximately 750,000 dollars and had the potential to reach some 8 million people. Not too bad. And the race truck is a great idea because it does put us out there during the race, gives us options as an associate sponsor to get on the Nationwide car, and it gives us an outlet for customer entertainment, which is needed because, like it or not, to generate big $$, you have to invest them too. And big $$ customers still love to be entertained, just like they did in the 80s after deregulation.
So we are trying to do some things to get the word out, yet people still complain. I would have hated to see your opinions had we produced one of those funny little commercials at millions in expense, only to be able to afford to show it one or two times.
