This is interesting, its an article from The Daily Mail where the Health Minster has criticised Britain’s weird relationship with food. She has reportedly said that eating lunch at your desk is disgusting and that office workers should take a proper lunch break. I’m not not sure about others but I find the comments to be a little out of touch with our work culture. I am now fortunate to work from home and do make time for lunch as I also have to feed my 1 year old daughter at the same time.

Whilst working in an office environment, admittedly in the publishing industry which meant I was always up against a deadline, I never had time for lunch. If I had left my desk to have a lunch break not only would the publication I was working on, not have made the printing slot but I would have been frowned upon by the others around me who also worked through their lunch. The comments at the bottom of the article seem to indicate that others work in similar environments and also have to work through lunch to get a heavy work load done. Perhaps the Health Minster needs to go out into the real world a little more often.

As someone who relies upon Smartstamp to process my business mail the last few days have been what is best described as difficult and frustrating. For those of you that are unfamiliar with the service, Smartstamp is a subscription based service provided by Royal Mail that allows you to print your postage directly to your home printer. I use it in conjunction with my Royal Mail business collections in order to save me time queuing at the post office with several sacks of mail each day.

The usually reliable service has now been down for a period of 4 days, as I write this on Tuesday morning. It appears, although no one is completely sure, that Royal Mail decided to carry out a system upgrade of their website some time after Friday night. This seems to have brought down not only most of the Royal Mail website but also the Smartstamp service, the online business accounts and the ability to print postage online. Whilst the lack of service is inconvenient at best and at worst means many small businesses are unable to function properly if at all, the main problem here appears to be lack of information.

Royal Mail are very active on Twitter, as are many of the customers complaining about the lack of service for the past 4 days. They still, however, fail to directly answer customer questions about when if ever the Smartstamp problem will be resolved. They allude to “problems with their website” which they “are working to fix” but do not directly mention the Smartstmap outage nor give any indication of when customers can expect the service to be up and running again. Likewise there is no mention of any problems with the service on the parts of the Royal Mail website that do still work only a generic message about technical difficulties. Whilst I appreciate Royal Mail are going to be very busy fielding queries from frustrated customers, the main point here is that communication is the key. If customers are aware the service will be unavailable for a number of days, it is no less inconvenient but it does allow them to plan for the outage and make alternative arrangements, to simply ignore the issue and not give any timeframe as to when it will be resolved is a fail of epic proportions and not what I would expect from a company that is meant to specialise in communications.

Update as of 15.00 Tuesday afternoon.

I have just received the following email from Royal Mail below stating the current situation. It really is unforgivable that it has taken 4 days for them to even acknowledge that there is a problem and inform customers. In my opinion this should have been sent out as soon as they were made aware of the issue. I wonder how many more days of no service we have to look forward to.

Dear Customer,

As you may be aware, we are still experiencing technical difficulties with our SmartStamp® product on our website and the service is not currently available.

We are really sorry for the problems you may be encountering and the inconvenience this may be causing. We are still working to fix the issues with SmartStamp® and our website as quickly as we can.

We will send out a further email to let you know as soon as SmartStamp® becomes available again.

Again, we would like to apologise for the inconvenience this is causing our customers. Until SmartStamp® becomes available, customers with urgent mailings can take their mail to their nearest Post Office branch which can be found at: www.postoffice.co.uk/branch-finder.

Regards,

The SmartStamp® Customer Service Team
Royal Mail
http://www.royalmail.com

According to this article a group of Germans have called for a ban on office kissing. The German Knigge Society which sees itself as a guardian on correct etiquette has said that kissing in the office has become offensive. They are referring to the French style greeting which it seems has caused some confusion amongst some Germans. The Knigge Society has had several calls from people asking for advice on how to react when someone kisses them hello or goodbye. It says that there should be no kissing at least in the workplace because for many there remains an a “erotic component to the kissing” It has also likened it to a form of terror.

I have a new business idea in the pipeline which for now will remain a secret as it’s still in the very early planning stages. Myself and my business partner have a fairly good idea of what the business will do and what is required to get it up and running but the sticking point has been the name. We have spent ages brainstorming and deliberating about what to call it, and after a month or so had absolutely nothing. We have at last reached an agreement on the name and can now go ahead with registering domain names and setting up a company but the naming process has not been easy. It got me wondering how people go about finding a name a new business venture. Is there a process you use for this? Any comments welcome below. 

A farmer in North Yorkshire has put his sheep to good use by using them to advertise his business. Blocked from putting up billboards because they distracted passing motorists on the A1 he instead decided to use his sheep. He painted the logo of his turf business on the side of 20 his sheep. They has recently been sheared so he saw it as a perfect opportunity, using a stencil to produce the logo. The only issue appeared to be getting the sheep to stand still.

That’s according to this article which looks at Tesco’s new offering tescocars.com The company hopes to offer its users an improved car buying experience. Tesco claim that they have analysed the common problems that people currently have with the industry in order to offer a better service. They will focus on cars which have been well looked after by their previous owners such as ex-fleet or lease cars. The cars are likely to have an higher than average mileage but will still be nearly new and need no work doing to them. Every vehicle will have to meet a 167 point independent RAC Plus inspection and a road tests. Buyers will be able to have their car delivered to their home address or collect it from a national handover centre. It’s certainly interesting to see Tesco moving to corner yet another market, it will be interesting to see how popular their service becomes.

That’s according to one expert who predicts a surge in tourists and brands being owned by Chinese businessmen. Dr Karl Gerth from the Oxford University predicts that the influence of Chinese tourists and consumers will become so great that it will be necessary to stock the Yuan (known as the renminbi) alongside the Pound, euro and Dollar. He also predicts that a number of UK and US owned brands are likely to come under Chinese ownership. If the article is to be believed some stores on Bond Street already accept renminbi from Chinese tourists and it seems this could soon become the norm, particularly in the Capital.

According to this article Cadbury are to cut the size of some of its chocolate bars. A 140g bar of Dairy Milk chocolate for example will be cut to 120g meaning it will have two fewer squares. The price of the chocolate bar, however, will stay the same at 99p. Other products such as Maltesers will also have less in them. Cadbury has taken the decision to reduce the size of some products because of economic factors affecting the cost of ingredients. The question is will people be happy paying the same for less chocolate or will they switch to cheaper brands? Personally I find that Sainsbury’s do a very nice own brand Belgium chocolate which is cheaper and nicer than a bar of Dairy Milk.

According to this article it will soon cost £70 to fill up the average family car. Prices are expected to reach a record high when they go up another 8p a litre on the 1st of April. This will push the cost of unleaded petrol up to £1.36 a litre and diesel to £1.40 a litre. The increases mean that it will cost £70 to fill a car with a 50 litre tank. The cost 12 months ago would have been £56, meaning an increase of as much as 25% over this period. It certainly is becoming very expensive to run a car but with public transport being hugely expensive and unreliable, in many cases a car journey is the only option.

According to this article retailers are increasingly using scent in their stores. A Canadian company called Mood Media has been working with 20,000 different stores in Britain to help boost their sales. They use a combination of techniques including sound and visual media, with the latest trend being the use of scent. Popular scents include Lotus Flower and Enchanted Apple. The company has already created scents for Habitat, Timberland and Guest. The perfumes are pumped out through the air conditioning units and are aimed at making the customer stay in the store longer. The smells have to be subtle so that the customers don’t notice it except on a subconscious level.

Cadbury’s Somerdale plant has recently produced its last bar of chocolate. The plant near Keynsham in Bristol has been open since 1919. The company was recently taken over by the American firm Kraft. They had initially promised to keep the Somerdale plant open but then decided to close it and instead move production to Poland. A skeleton staff of 50 people will remain on the site to handle maintenance until March 2011.

If you like a cup of hot chocolate then you could soon find you are paying a little bit more for it. That’s according to this article which claims the wholesale cost of cocoa powder has jumped by 32% over the past year. The price rise is largely down to failing crops earlier in the year and disruption from suppliers in the Ivory Coast. As a result cocoa powder has risen to as much as £3,000 a ton.

According to this article product placement could soon be coming to UK TV. The practice whereby shows can receive revenue for placing brands in the programme will be allowed on British TV shows from February 28th. Characters in shows will be able to refer to products by name and be seen eating, drinking and wearing branded goods. The new rules will allow product placement in all dramas, documentaries, soaps, entertainment and sports programmes but it will still be banned from all children’s and news programmes and in UK produced current affairs, consumer affairs and religious programmes. Personally I don’t really see a problem with product placement as long as it doesn’t detract from the content of the show I am watching but I can see that prime time shows are going to be attractive for large advertisers.

I have always avoided store cards because of their extremely high rates of interest but was interested to read this article which suggests some may now charge you for not using them. Santander have written to customers to tell them that their terms and conditions have changed. The company which issues store cards for House of Fraser, Debenhams, Laura Ashley and several other high street chains will now be able to charge a £10 fee to customers who do not use their cards for six months. The article suggests that many shoppers take out store cards to take advantage of introductory rates over Christmas without intending to use them on a regular basis. Bearing in mind that many store cards charge almost 30 per cent interest this seems to me another good reason not to use them.

I have been following the Royal Mail Twitter tag with interest over the past few days to try and gauge how badly the service has been affected by the recent bad weather. As someone who uses both Royal Mail business collections and deliveries, 15 inches of snow in the local area has meant 3 days without business collections and 4 days without receiving mail. With the snow starting to disappear both were working yesterday but there are obviously massive delays within the Royal Mail network as mail has backed up at the sorting office.

Looking at the various comments on Twitter there seem to be a lot of people awaiting parcels and getting frustrated because there is no snow in their local area, hence in their mind no reason for delay. I wonder how many of them have taken into account where there parcel is being dispatched from and the fact that many areas have been cut off completely for several days. It seems obvious to me that in many cases mail has to move through regions with problems in order to reach them but judging by the general opinions I have seen, people do not understand this.

I do also find it interesting that many people are of the opinion that the postmen refuse to deliver in these difficult conditions when in fact they are simply not allowed out to deliver mail due to health and safety rules. In all I think Royal Mail are getting a fairly bad press at a time when I am also waiting for deliveries from 2 major courier companies, Royal Mail has delivered to me but a week later still nothing from the couriers.

According to this article McDonalds has launched its own degree course for its managers. The course which is accredited by Manchester Metropolitan University is a two year foundation degree in managing business operations. It is a customised version of Manchester Metropolitan University's management development programme and allows McDonald’s employees to get a recognised qualification without leaving their jobs. The course will be a combination of classroom study, e-learning and training in the workplace.

I use Royal Mail’s Smartstamp software for printing most of my postage and whilst most of the postage is printed directly onto the envelope with my laser printer I rely on my trusty Dymo LabelWriter 400 to print postage for larger envelopes. The Dymo does a fairly good job printing onto 99012 (36 x 89mm) labels which look nice when stuck onto a C5 or A4 envelope. One thing that has always frustrated me, however, is that the Dymo has insisted on printing out both a postage label and address label thus using two labels when at times I only require one. Up to now I had assumed that the Dymo printed the double label by default but it seems there is a very easy way to get the machine to print a single postage label without the address. You simply need to select your postage options as normal (shown in the first screenshot) but make sure the “address” placement holder is deleted so that the address window contains no text. The Dymo will then happily print just the one label with your postage on it without the need to waste a second label. I still can’t believe this simple problem has been bugging me for so long.

According to this article pyjamas are becoming more popular with more Britons purchasing them. It appears, however, that they are not just worn in the bedroom. If the article is to be believed people are increasingly wearing them around the house instead of in the bedroom. Researchers say that the  rise in people working from home and the fact that we are spending more evenings at home have fuelled the rise in popularity. It seems people are increasingly using pyjamas as loungewear to wear after coming home from work and before going to bed with many even choosing to wear them whilst working from home. I do like wearing my pyjamas in bed but don’t think I will comfortable wearing them whilst working from home. Despite the fact that most of my work is done online or over the phone somehow I just can’t feel professional whilst wearing my PJ’s.

This is interesting its a drive through supermarket that has recently been opened by Tesco. Called Click and Collect customers can order their shopping online and then drive to the collection point to pick it up. It is designed for customers who do not have time to wait in for an internet delivery. The store at Baldock in Hertfordshire is a pilot which if successful will be rolled out across the country.

If this article is to be believed pubs are now making more money from food than from drink. It seems customers are increasingly turning away from traditional local pubs in favour of gastropubs. Rising beer prices and more sophisticated pub menus appear to be behind the change. The average landlord now relies on food for 52% of their turnover. The figures come from the trade newspaper The Publican and make sobering reading for the traditional local pub which is increasingly under threat.

According to this article more and more people are taking out payday loans in order to help pay the bills. The loans are so called because they offer a short term loan designed to help get you through until you get paid. Whilst taking the loans out is often and easy process and the money is usually available very quickly it seems paying them back is not always so simple. The article highlights the fact that payday loans often have massive rates of interest attached to them with some charging rates out to 2,000%. According to Customer Focus employees borrowed £1.2 billion in 2009 alone. Rates of interest on the loans tend to range from 13 to 18% but some are as high 30% generating an SPR of as much as 1,000 to 2000%. This can mean the initial loan can quickly get out of control and be hard to pay back particularly on a modest income. Customer Focus has called for greater safeguards to protect customers.

According to this article social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter cost the British economy as much as £14 billion a year. That’s the surprising results of a survey which was carried out by MyJobGroup. It found that a third of people spend half an hour a day using social networking sites whilst at work. Two million people admitted to wasting more than an hour a day at work on the websites. That amounts to a drop in workers productivity of £14 billion a year according to analysts. Only 14% of people polled admitted to being less productive due to social media websites and two thirds of those polled opposed a ban of social networking sites in the workplace. To me there is no doubt that the tendency to check Facebook and Twitter can make me less productive but being self employed I have an incentive to work and try to limit my time spent on them during working hours.

This is interesting it’s a sign in North Carolina which not only has a picture of the beef it is advertising but also includes the smell. The large sign shows a black pepper and charcoal steak but also includes cartridges with fragranced oil. The aroma is spread with the help of a fan at the bottom of the billboard. The smell is pumped out six hours a day from from 7am to 10am and 4pm to 7pm. Interesting idea but I wouldn’t want to live next door to it.

According to this article a rise in potholes left by the cold winter have led to a windscreen shortage. It seems that the amount of loose gravel around has meant a huge rise in the amount of motorists needing replacement windows. The extra demand has led to repair companies struggling to cope with the need for replacement windows. Autoglass have recently taken on an extra 200 staff to help cope with the situation and there have been reports of delays of up to a month from manufacturers who cannot produce windscreens fast enough. The article highlights one company Auto Windscreens of Chesterfield which has increased production by 40% to supply 600 windscreens a day. It has seen an increase from 8,500 repairs a month to 12,000 in January. It seems there are some winners from the cold winter then.

McDonald’s will soon be offering a new work experience based qualification equivalent to a GCSE. Under the scheme the company will work with the exam board Edexcel to develop a BTec certificate to recognise the skills gained. The BTec course will be open to teenagers and will require them to complete a 10 day placement in a restaurant as well as completing work at school. The course is fully accredited and is equivalent to one GCSE at grade B or C. The placement adds up to a 80 hour study requirement and covers issues such as team working and communication skills. The qualification is designed to help prepare young people for the work place, helping to build their confidence and give them the edge when looking for employment.

According to this article Yorkshire pudding makers are planning a bid which could give them EU protected food status. They are hoping that if they win European rights Yorkshire puddings will gain the EU protection that brands such as Parma ham and champagne already enjoy. This would mean that to be called Yorkshire puddings they would need to be made within Yorkshire. The Yorkshire firms Roberts, Aunt Bessie’s and the Real Yorkshire Pudding Company are behind the bid and are being backed by the Regional Food Group for Yorkshire and Humber. Some British foods that already have protected status include Cornish clotted cream, Whitstable oysters and Stilton cheese.

Tesco are backing a new online estate agency. The agency called Spicerhaart is launching the website iSold.com. It will launch initially in the Bristol area and will be advertised to users of the Tesco website. The service offers a basic online selling service for a flat fee of £999 rather than charging a percentage of the selling price as is the norm. All dealings with buyers and sellers will be conducted over the phone and online and the business will be kept separate for the Spicerhaart high street outlets.

This green Ferrari has recently been unveiled. It is more than just green in colour, however, the vehicle is an electric hybrid. The Ferrari 599 has a top speed of 200mph and aims to cut pollution and fuel consumption. It runs on a zero emission electric motor which backs up a 6.0 litre petrol engine.

The European Commission has cleared the way for a genetically modified potato to be grown in the EU for the first time. The potato will be only the second GM product to be allowed. The Amflora potato can be used for industrial uses such as making paper and for animal feed but not for human consumption and has been specially developed for the special qualities of its starch. The starch can make yarn stronger, paper glossier and keep glue liquid for longer. Although environmental groups are strongly opposed to the introduction of GM crops the Commission has insisted the decision is based upon sound science. Although it has been approved individual countries still have the right to decide whether it should be grown on their territory. It is expected to be planted in the Czech Republic, Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands but it needs to be grown under strict conditions to stop it cross pollinating with non GM crops. For example being cultivated and harvested before it produces seeds.

According to this article the AA is to launch a new service to help people within the home. The AA will answer calls from householders who have problems with issues such as leaking pipes and broken down boilers or even those who need help putting up a fence or hanging a picture. Householders will use the same call centres which are currently used to dispatch the AA’s breakdown service. People will be given a time of arrival and a reference number and repair men will use an AA van but without the flashing lights. AA members will get a discount on the new service which will also be offered to new customers. The service is split into two parts. The AA Home Emergency Response which is an insurance policy against domestic problems and will tackle burst pipes and leaks. The AA Home Assist will tackle smaller jobs such as putting up curtain rails, mending fences and picture hanging. The service will have a stand alone network of patrolman and vans, separate from the existing fleet of roadside patrol vans. Typical prices for the Home Emergency Response are expected to be £9.95 per month for AA members and £11.95 for non-members.

The British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA) has called on the government to scrap its plans to raise beer taxes. The tax is due to increase 2% above inflation in the next Budget in March and has risen 20% since 2008. The BBPA says taxing beer at a lower rate could save as many as 7,500 jobs at a time when many in the pub industry are struggling. Figures from Camra (Campaign for Real Ale) show that 40 pubs a week are currently closing and at the height of the recession this was as many as 52 a week. Personally I can’t see the government bowing to pressure when it has such a huge hole in public spending but I feel they should recognise the importance of the local pub in the community and do more to help the struggling publican.

This article is interesting it suggests that microbreweries are becoming increasingly popular and in some cases more so than the big brands. The article highlights Ascot Ales which are brewed by Chris Gill and his wife. They currently produce around 12 barrels of ale a week when working at full capacity and supply 70 local pubs. Unlike larger breweries they do not add rice and maize to keep costs down, preferring to stick to premium ingredients. Neither do they pasteurise the beer. This obviously means that it doesn’t last quite as long but taking out this process means that none of the flavour is destroyed. it seems these microbreweries which have small output levels and minimal staff are enjoying rapid growth in a time when people are looking something more tasty and perhaps more local. In contrast many of the larger multi-national breweries are seeing their sales fall. It certainly seems to work for Ascot Ales, they are currently seeking a larger premises so that they can increase production.

According to this article the recent cold weather has been responsible for a rise in the sales of bird seed. It seems people have been spending a lot of money on our feathered friends this winter. The demand for bird seed has helped the Garden Centre Group post a jump in profits as sales rose 8% in the five weeks up to 27 December. The combination of this and an increased demand for Christmas trees have meant the chain have posted a 17% rise in gross profits to £14m.

If this article is correct then online food shopping is set to double within the next five years. That’s according to new estimates from the Institute of Grocery Distribution. Their research shows that customers will spend nearly £7.2bn on grocery shopping online by 2014, that’s nearly double the figure spent last year. Personally I do most of food shopping online. It allows me to shop for the whole month without worrying about getting it in my small car and I find I budget better and am less likely to overspend.

It appears that divorce is now big business with companies offering divorce cakes and divorce parties. Now it seems Debenhams are cashing in on the market. They have launched a divorce guest list. Much the same as a wedding gift list it works in exactly the same way and not surprisingly contains many of the same items such as kitchen appliances, crockery and glasses. It takes into account that when a marriage breaks down one person leaves the marital home and has to start again with those essentials we tend to take for granted. With January being the peak time of year for divorce it will be interesting to see how much interest this idea generates.

According to this article online retailer Amazon is considering a move into the high street. The move comes as Amazon has started to stock larger products which can be problematic and expensive to deliver. If it goes ahead Amazon would have outlets where customers could pick up purchases that they have ordered online. The article suggests that Amazon is currently looking for high profile sites across the UK to pilot the scheme. The move would not only allow Amazon to supply those larger items but also allow customers to pick up their purchases at a time to suit them rather than relying on being in to sign for a delivery.

If this article is correct then it might be harder than usual to get your Christmas tree this year. According to the article the poor exchange rate is making is less profitable for foreign producers to export to Britain. This could mean that many popular varieties of trees are likely to unavailable this year and could also mean that the price of other trees will be considerably higher. Denmark would usually export around a million non-drop Nordmann fir trees to the UK but this year are only expected to supply 300,000. It appears it is simply more profitable to sell the trees to other European countries and to the former Soviet Union. Many British farmers will also be exporting their trees to the continent where they can earn 30 per cent than usual. Personally I was going to cut a branch from one of my conifers this year to use as a tree. After a house move we need to save some money and it seems the cheapest option.

According to this article Twitter and other social networking sites are costing UK businesses £1.38bn every year. A survey carried out on 1,460 office workers by IT services group Morse found that half of those surveyed used social networking for personal use whilst at work. On average people spent around 40 minutes a week using the sites. Although many companies have banned the use of Facebook at work many have not issued the same guidelines for Twitter and with both sites being available as mobile applications I wonder how many firms would be able to enforce a complete ban. How much of your working day is spent on social networking sites?

It seems that business is booming at McDonald’s despite the recession. According to this article many McDonald’s drive through outlets are struggling to cope with increasing demand as the recession fuels a boom in fast food sales and a move towards more expensive meals. In order to deal with the increase in business the company will be installing an extra lane to many of its drive through restaurants. This will enable two drivers to order their food at the same time thus increasing capacity. The two lane system will be trialled at outlets in Telford, Shropshire, Kent and Edinburgh, and if successful will later be rolled out across the country.

The postal strikes are an inconvenience to everyone, whether you run a small business or just simply want your mail delivered in the morning. Putting myself in the first category and at one of the busiest times of the year for my business strikes are certainly the last thing that I need as they lose me money. That said, I can also sympathise with the postal workers as I have family and friends who have been postmen for many years. There is certainly a very one sided dispute view of the dispute being publicised by Royal Mail and the government and many people who I talk to do not know why postal workers are on strike or the personal cost to those workers. Postman are not paid to strike, they have mortgages and bills to pay the same as every one else but many feel they have no option but to support strike action to protect the future of the postal service. If you want a little perspective on the subject I suggest reading the following article which shows a postman’s view of the situation and highlights working practices and pressures faced daily by your postman.

This article suggests that British people are concentrating on paying off the outstanding debt on their mortgages. In fact mortgage debt is being reduced at the highest rate since records began in 1970. During the final quarter of the year Britons reduced their mortgage debt by £8 billion, a contrast to the previous year when people were instead unlocking equity from their properties to fund large purchases. It appears that despite the low interest rates people are still opting to pay as much off of their mortgages as possible. Whilst this is good news for those who want to pay off their mortgages sooner, it signals that government measures to try and stimulate the economy are not working all that well. It seems people would rather play safe and reduce their debts rather than spend any extra money they might have, all of which is bad news for retailers and makes me think that this economic downturn could continue for quite a while longer.

This is interesting its a new scheme which has been introduced at a pub to allow customers to serve themselves. It has been introduced at The Wheatsheaf Inn in Willingdon East Sussex. Drinkers are able to serve themselves and leave the money in an honesty box. The landlord of the pub has said that he trusts his customers to pay for all of the beer that they drink. I have often thought that it would be a good idea to have self service available in the pub rather than queuing for drinks at the bar but I’m not sure everyone would be honest enough to pay.

It appears that one company at least is yet to feel the effects of the recession. Whilst many other businesses are struggling business is booming at Domino's Pizza. Profits for the last 12 months were up 25% to £23 million with like for like sales rising by 10%. There were also 52 new store openings last year. The company appears to benefiting not only from the fact that people are choosing to eat in rather than go out but also from the recent bad weather which has kept many people at home.

A businessman and 18 friends spent a record £105,805 on drink at a London nightclub. Among the drinks they consumed were £80,000 worth of champagne, 4 bottles of Cristal Rose, 6 magnums of Dom Perignon, 36 bottles of Cristal and 12 bottles of Dom Perignon Rose. I feel better now about splashing out on a bottle of wine with my meal last night.

I have noticed over the last month or so that most of the spam I get seems to contain simply a PDF attachment. I was wondering whether this was a new tactic designed to fool people into opening up a dodgy file. I came across this article today that claim spammers have stopped sending pictures in their emails and instead started attaching PDF’s. It appears that they are doing this to try and get around corporate spam filters. So far, it appears to be getting through my spam filter quite effectively with several hundred of these spam mails with PDF attachments arriving each day. Whilst my daily amount of spam mails continues to rise, I suppose one good thing about this latest trend is I don’t have to read about Viagra or penis enlargement unless I actually open the PDF.