The Pit BLOG

December 2000

Read Rob's message about maintaining hard-drive health (11/00)

HAPPY Holidays, everyone! In our family, each person makes a list of the gifts they would like to receive, and then my mom decides who needs to buy what for each person. We used to do it the old-fashioned way, but this way is so much better. Everyone gets what they want, and we can spend the day after Christmas enjoying each other's company instead of running to the store to return gifts.

I'm going to buy as many of my gifts online as possible. Since I visit my parents each year for Christmas, it is so much better than lugging all of the gifts in my car or battling the pre-Christmas traffic in the Washington DC area.

I've found that the absolute best site for holiday shopping is Amazon.com. Let's face it, for e-commerce Amazon still has the best technology--and the best customer satisfaction. I love the gift-wrapping feature. For a small additional fee, Amazon will gift wrap your present, enclose a personalized note and ship it. All without sales tax. I love it. Now, I only need to reminisce about spending Christmas Eve frantically wrapping presents for a good two to three hours!

This is also the time of year for reflection. It's been a fantastic year for PC Pitstop. Since March and up through November, well more than a million people have visited our site and viewed close to 25 million pages of information. Not too bad. We absolutely love giving this service to all of our users, and we have great plans for 2001.

We'll never forget that it's not about us, it's about you, our users. We are still 100% committed to keeping the site free with no hidden charges or demands. We are also 100% committed to keeping your personal information private. It is not for sale, period. And all we ask of you is that you enjoy our site, learn more about your PC and perhaps tell your friends.

But during this holiday season, I came to realize that there are a few small, hopefully simple things that our users can do to give back to the site. So here's my Christmas Wish List to the millions of Pitstop users:

• Buy from Amazon – Amazon is a fantastic site--particularly during the holiday buying season. Pitstop has a partnership with Amazon, and we would like to get credit for you as an Amazon customer. Not just the first time you visit Amazon, but each and every time. In order to do this, your Amazon bookmark must have Pitstop's credit code.

  
  or if you prefer, you can simply use this URL and it to your Favorites manually: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect-home/pcpitstop

  It's a simple thing to do, won't intrude on your Amazon experience whatsoever and won't cost you anything. Plus, it means a lot to us--it's really a nice way of saying thanks.

• Buy Gateway – Our research shows that about 15% of the PCs that visit our site need to be replaced with a new one. As a former Senior VP at Gateway, I really love Gateway computers and the people that make them. I realize that there are a multitude of brands, prices and options, but I hope that you choose a Gateway computer.

That's it. Not too long a list. Have a peaceful and enjoyable holiday, and we're looking forward to seeing you back next year.

Saludos,

Rob Cheng
CEO PC Pitstop LLC