Railway Track & Structures - March 2009 - (Page 48)

CHICAGO PERSPECTIVE Who’s anti-advertising? A nybody who knows me knows that advertising is near and dear to my heart. I’ve been selling advertising for many decades and you can’t sell something you don’t believe in. It simply doesn’t work. So when I saw a press release from the reregulators beating on the railroads for daring to spend money on advertising, I naturally got angry. But then I considered the source and relaxed a bit. A group calling itself CURE (Consumers United for Rail Equality) issued a press release under the headline, “Big Railroads Drop Big Bucks on Super Bowl Ads, Rail Customers Left with Hangover.” Oowee, those big bad railroads are at it again, actually spending money on advertising. How dare they? I thought it interesting the way they juxtaposed some facts to make things look even “worse.” According to the release, “The Association of American Railroads, the lobbying arm of the four big railroad corporations that control 90 percent of the nation’s rail freight purchased two 30-second spots which aired during the Super Bowl broadcast. According to their federal lobbying reports, the railroads spent over $33 million through the first three quarters of 2009 lobbying Congress.” If you read that fast, as I’m sure the release’s authors hope you will, you might think that the AAR has just spent $33 million on Super Bowl ads. Not. They then go on to lament the plight of a poor little electric utility that suffered a big rate increase. Funny, they must have just forgotten to mention that this utility, along with just about all electric utilities, makes a much better rate of return than the railroads do. And I guess it slipped their minds that this “poor” utility had been paying rates set many years ago under a long-term contract. When the contract ended, the utility’s days of low-cost rates ended as well. After many years of a very good deal for them, the rates went up to what most other utilities were paying. Somehow I find myself dry eyed at their situation. Who are the biggest backers of CURE? The coal-burning utilities. If it wasn’t so serious, I’d find it amusing. These companies do far better economically than railroads do. Any railroad would be delighted with the rate of return these companies enjoy. Yet they are trying to take on the role of the poor company victimized by the monopoly rates of the railroads. Sure they are. Since deregulation in the early 1980s, railroad rates have gone down substantially in terms of real dollars. The utilities know this and their PR agencies know it. Yet they’re still out there bemoaning their status as victims, taken advantage of by those no-good railroad monopolies. Suppose the railroads lowered their rates even more, whether through their own negotiating with the utilities or through being forced to by a regulatory body. Do you think the utilities would then lower their rates for consumers? Right, that’s what I think, too. If you do think the rates will drop, then please come see me about this great bridge I’m offering for sale at a very reasonable price. I do have some criticisms about railroads and advertising. It’s not that they spend too much. In my opinion, they don’t spend nearly enough. Reregulation could be the biggest single issue to halt the railroad renaissance in its tracks (pun intended). Those of us old enough to remember the stultifying effects of regulation don’t want to have anything to do with restoring it. We know we have to fight it at all levels. And advertising is one tool that we should be using to combat the reregulators. As I keep telling my customers, advertising is a very, very effective way to get your message across to an audience. While advertising is an effective tool, we–you and I–have to employ many others. Let your representatives know how you stand. Write letters to the editor to respond to the reregulators. Challenge them and their propaganda whenever you hear or see it. It’s our industry and our livelihoods that they are threatening. George S. Sokulski Associate Publisher 48 Railway Track & Structures March 2009 www.rtands.com http://www.rtands.com

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Railway Track & Structures - March 2009 Contents On Track Industry Today Supplier News AREMA News NRC News TTCI R&D NRC Smashes Attendance Bridge Inspection Battling Bugs Ballast Fundamentals Vital to Keeping Track in Shape Products and Literature People Calendar Sales Representatives Advertisers Index Website Directory Professional Directory Classified Advertising Chicago Perspective

Railway Track & Structures - March 2009

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