August Newsletter 2023
New Cancellation Policy
Ok, not yet, but we hope it caught your eye, as it could be coming soon.
We pride ourselves in being a full-service outfit over here at Denver Concierge. However, we seem to be running into a very high number of cancellations, many at the last minute.
If you get to read Angela’s Queen Bee down below, it dovetails very nicely into the problem we are having. Our teams want to work, and when we get last-minute cancellations, there is nowhere for them to go.
Unlike other cleaning companies that pay by the house, we start paying our folks as soon as they clock in at the office. So, we end up paying a team of three people to go have coffee. Not to mention the cost of driving to get to the first job only to be locked out or cancelled at the last minute.
Needless to say, this raises our costs unnecessarily, and over time puts pressure on pricing as well. We don’t think it’s fair that clients that never cancel should bear the burden of people that do.
For the record, we have never charged for cancellations or lockouts, although many of our competitors do just that.
As you might imagine, we are in a conundrum. Life happens as they say, and most times there isn’t anything that can be done about emergencies. We have no issue with that and never will. That’s just part of trying to be a great company providing great service.
However, if we have a client that has canceled frequently, and at the last minute, we may have to reconsider our current stance. At a minimum, we may need to have a chat about whether or not that client should remain on their current schedule.
We are asking for your help. If you need to cancel, we fully understand, but would respectfully ask that it is done prior to the night before if at all possible. This will allow our scheduling folks to work their magic and make sure we are staffed properly for the jobs on the schedule.
In a perfect world, we would have a couple of days’ notice to shuffle things. Anything the night before or the day of is basically a nightmare for us, and results in all the bad stuff described above.
So, for now, there is no new policy, but we want to try and enlist your help with the problem, in the hopes we won’t need one.
Meanwhile, thank you for being a loyal client of our locally-owned company.
We will continue to strive to keep our costs down so you get a fair value for your price.
We appreciate you and will always do our best to work with you when “life happens”.
Navigating Denver
Have you ever driven around downtown Denver and wondered just how drunk the city planners were when they laid out the streets?
We have been here a long time and we still aren’t sure what the rhyme or reason is.
Did you know Denver has 225 one-way streets?
We didn’t either until we started snooping around at how our city is actually laid out.
We learned a lot! Did you know that there are two alphabetical groups that you can find on streets that run north and south?
One group goes from east to west and the other from north to south.
Stick with us here.
The east-west streets are named for Native American tribes and begin with Acoma, ending in Zuni.
From west to east, and east of Colorado Boulevard, you’ll find Albion Street, followed by Ash Street to the east. This first alphabetical group goes from west to east and has two streets per letter.
More detail from the Fox 31 article can be found here.
If you want to go down the rabbit hole on the real origins of Denver’s street patterns, we found an amazing piece by Confluence Denver and it can be found here.
It all goes back to two rival settlements that combined way back in 1860. I suppose we should forgive them for not laying this thing out a bit better.
For now, we hope this helps you understand how this all came about, and hopefully where you might be next time you look up at a confusing street sign or wonder if you are pointing north or south.
Senior Moving Guide
Aging is tough. It becomes even tougher when you cannot function well inside your current home or need to move as you get older.
We also have a lot of clients and partners who are taking care of parents who are going through the same thing.
While the emotional part of moving an aging parent is hard to describe, there are practical considerations as well.
That’s where our friends at senioradvice.com come in.
They put together a great resource for moving as a senior on their affiliate site caring.com.
From the intro to the article:
“For most people, aging brings a new set of challenges. New health problems may affect your ability to live independently, financial challenges make it tougher to maintain your lifestyle and adult children moving to faraway places may make you feel less connected to your home.”
“Some people move every few years or even more frequently, while others remain rooted in the same location for decades. But for many people, there comes a time in old age when it becomes necessary to move.”
“While relocating is never easy, moving as a senior carries its own difficulties. If you or a loved one is moving into an assisted living or memory care facility due to declining health, the very reason for the move will likely make the process even more difficult. A lifetime of accumulated possessions might be squirreled away in your home. And if the move is due to financial stress, moving itself can be expensive.”
We found it to be a very informative piece and we thank our friend Julia Walker for reaching out with this.
Denver Food and Wine Festival
If you are a longtime reader of our newsletter, you know we love a good meal out.
Enter the annual Denver Food and Wine Festival.
Billed as “A Multi-Day Extravaganza of Food Wine and Spirits”, we say yes, please.
The entire event will run from September 6-9 and features many great events and opportunities to engage with some of Denver’s best in the business.
From the “Shake and Brake” Showdown on September 7th, to the Grand Tasting on the 9th, this looks like a fun (and filling) event.
Reidel is also sponsoring a wine glass and tasting seminar (you get some great wine glasses if you go) which we love.
Full details of this cool event can be found here.
We hope to see you there!
Worst Drivers in the U.S.
Finally, a naughty list that Denver didn’t win on.
We meet a lot of folks from all over and nearly everyone thinks the drivers in their city are “awful”.
We aren’t sure about why that phenomenon is, although most people think they are better at driving than they really are.
The good news is that for 2023, Denver did not make this list.
Although the drivers in Lakewood and Pueblo said “Hold my beer”, as they managed to sneak into the top (bottom?) 20 in poor driving.
Consumer Affairs did a complete study on this for 2023 and the methodology is explained as well.
The safest city? Green Bay, Wisconsin. No Colorado cities made that list.
Finally, Forbes did a similar review of bad driving by state, and we didn’t make that list either.
So, next time someone says “Denver drivers are the worst!”, you will have some data to prove them wrong.
Safe driving!!!
Monthly Award Winners
Our monthly award winners for July were Maria Zapata, Sandra Vidales, Josefina Quinonez, Guadalupe Caloca, and Silvia Anguiano.
In the Team Leader ranks, it was Mayra Soto and Martha Rosales.
We are so proud of our winners, and of all the folks that are in and out of your homes each week.
We are also very appreciative to be a part of your lives and your homes. You provide the platform for our teams to perform, and for that we are grateful.
Please join me in congratulating our best performers for the month of July.
Queen Bee Corner
by Angela
Our employees show up at the dispatch office every morning because they want to work.
Last-minute lockouts or cancellations during the day do not please them, as going home early means they lose hours and wages.
It is disappointing to have their day cut short, unlike many less enthusiastic workers who might relish the idea of getting half a day off.
With this in mind, our employees have done some really random things in their determination to clean the houses they were assigned for the day.
Any request by a client in need is considered.
Forgot to leave the key? Can they climb over the side fence? Forgot to have the dog sitter meet the team? Can the smallest team member squeeze through the doggy door? You request and we do our best to oblige.
At times our teams will use their own initiative, which doesn’t always work out the way it should, but no one has ever been hurt, no property ever damaged, no dog or cat let loose. Thankfully, no harm has been done.
A special thanks to our clients who find the humor in some of our maneuvers and have to defend us against a neighbor or household member who persists in questioning the logic when oft times there is none.
Suffice it to say that our intentions are always good.
Bee