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- In Germany and Austria, Maestro replaced the Eurocheque system. Austrian Maestro cards are virtually always pure Maestro cards. German Maestro cards, however, are in very most cases co-branded with the German Electronic Cash/Girocard logo. These co-branded cards work like normal Maestro cards within the Maestro network and as Girocards within the Girocard network, but they cannot be used as Maestro over the telephone or on the internet.
- In Belgium, Maestro cards are co-branded with the Belgian BC/MC-logo (BanContact Mister Cash).
- In the United Kingdom, the former Switch debit card system has been re-branded as Maestro and now uses chip and PIN technology. It is still operated by S2 Card Services Ltd. under licence from MasterCard. An advertising campaign labels the system as "The new cash". Underneath the branding, however, the system is still the old Switch one and the cards are still ..........................................................................................................................................................
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Switch is a debit card in the United Kingdom. It is a sister to the Solo debit card.
Switch was launched in 1988 by Midland Bank, National Westminster Bank and the Royal Bank of Scotland as a multifunction cheque guarantee and cash card. The brand was merged with Maestro, an international debit card brand owned by MasterCard, in 2002. This merger has been referred to as the "penguin wedding," with distinctive advertisements of penguins in different international settings created by Joel Veitch. Since then, banks have been migrating customers from Switch to Maestro.[1]
The merger was also intended
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Solo was formerly issued as a multifunction cash card by NatWest and The Royal Bank of Scotland to customers over the age of 11 and by HSBC Bank (formerly Midland Bank) to customers over the age of 13; however, the RBS Group[2] and HSBC both now issue Visa Debit cards in place of Solo.
Like its main rival, Visa Electron, Solo cards required all transactions receive electronic authorisation from the issuing bank. Such authorisation would not be given if there were insufficient cleared funds in the cardholder's account.
Solo cards were linked to the Switch processing system (now re-branded as Maestro); however, some merchants differentiated between Solo and Switch through their numbering scheme to prevent under 18s from purchasing online. Due to their availability to minors, they could be used as a simple age-vetting mechanism; for example, when online grocers Ocado accepted Solo, they refused to sell razor blades or alcoholic beverages to those paying with the card [3])
Solo cards were also issued to people with a bad credit history to reduce the liability for the issuing bank.[citation needed]
The Solo card scheme was decommissioned permanently on 31 March 2011.[4][5]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocado
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Operations
Ocado have a single warehouse in Hatfield. Crates for each order move automatically around the warehouse, and are filled by picking staff at different sections. These are then delivered using a fleet of custom-built Mercedes-Benz refrigerated delivery vans. In 2003, Ocado introduced satellite distribution warehouses, so they can use larger lorries to deliver parts of the distance. The goods are still packed up for each customer in Hatfield. Each Van is also fitted with a CCTV 'SmartDrive' camera to ensure the product reaches the customer in proper condition. The driver is recorded should the SmartDrive system be triggered and also vocally recorded to ensure employee compliancy.[11]Name
Jez Frampton, CEO of Interbrand and non-executive director of Ocado, claims the name "Ocado" is a made up word; the name Ocado was meant to be evocative of fresh fruit.See also
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1) Webvan was an online "credit and delivery" grocery business that went bankrupt in 2001. It was headquartered in Foster City, California, USA, near Silicon Valley. It delivered products to customers' homes within a 30-minute window of their choosing. At its peak, it offered service in ten U.S. markets: San Francisco Bay Area, Dallas, San Diego, Los Angeles, Chicago, Seattle, Portland, Atlanta, Sacramento, and Orange County. The company had originally hoped to expand to 26 cities.
In June 2008, CNET named Webvan the largest dot-com flop in history, placing it above Pets.com and eight other sites on its list.[1]
It is now owned and operated by Amazon.com.
2) Some journalists and analysts[who?] blamed this serious error of judgment on the fact that none of Webvan's senior executives (or major investors) had any management experience in the supermarket industry, including its CEO George Shaheen who had resigned as head of Andersen Consulting (now Accenture), a management consulting firm, to join the venture.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Shaheen
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George T. Shaheen (born July 11, 1944), an American businessman, was chief executive at management consulting firm Andersen Consulting from 1989 to 1999, before moving on to now-defunct online grocer Webvan. His Webvan employment agreement, signed September 19, 1999 was filed with the SEC.[1] By going to Webvan, Shaheen missed out on the windfall of the Accenture initial public offering.[2] He holds a master's degree in finance from Bradley University.[3] Shaheen is an American of Lebanese descent.[4]
Shaheen was CEO of Siebel Systems, Inc.[5] and served as CEO when it merged with Oracle. He did not stay on with Oracle after the merger.
[edit] Cultural references
George Shaheen was the target of parody in the comic Bigtime Consulting, which had a very similar CEO character named George Unseen.http://www.economist.com/node/90664
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bigtime_Consulting
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http://crapco.com/links/allied-corporations/
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