You scream, I scream..we’d like to scream for Baskin Robbins, but…

I have many pleasant memories that center around ice cream.

• My brother and I feverishly collecting those miniature baseball helmets as Midwest’s summer quickly drifted away. We proudly placed each new arrival on a baseball team placard that the ice cream store had provided. We generated much in the way of repeat business for that particular establishment.

• As my Dad patrolled a local Illinois park as Park Counselor, correcting any wrong and encouraging any right, my brother and I couldn’t wait to see the sun dip beneath the sky. Sunset meant a possible trip to the local McDonald’s for ice cream sundaes. I recollect licking the butterscotch from the bottom of the clear plastic container.

• Birthday parties with ice cream cakes were the talk of the town. If I were a guest at one of these events, I’d fast for days to enable a two-plate dessert helping. You never had to worry about leftovers if ice cream cake was the last course. Yum.

Ice cream’s past is now ice cream’s present. Our family’s craving to create ‘ice cream memories’ in Central Texas, yet Baskin Robbins has been melting our desire.

I ‘used’ to receive a wonderfully timely e-mail message from Baskin Robbins. This delicious treat station’s e-mail reminder usually tantalized with the announcement of a secret new flavor or discount cone night. The e-mail served as a rifle slingshot for our family; literally, blasting us out of our home to the nearby Baskin Robbins parlor. No matter the event, we were there.

I recently switched e-mail addresses and aimed to re-direct these Baskin Robbins communiqués to my new mailbox. Looking at the top, bottom, left, right of the Baskin Robbins e-mail message, there was no instruction to change e-mail address. I could unsubscribe, but no ‘redirect’. Frustrated, I unsubscribed.

I’ll probably jump back to baskinrobbins.com and resubscribe with my new e-mail address, yet this destination spot could have provided me with a ‘changing address?’ option in the e-mail footer. Isn’t this now standard? Or are businesses aggressively pushing aside e-mail ‘best practices’ in favor of Facebook and Twitter?

Make it easy for me to sample your ‘Flavor of the Month’. We are right down the street and we’ll bring you plenty of business.

Don’t forget the small steps for your business; sometimes the simplest of mistakes could prove costly.

Until next time,

Dan Naden