Editor's Page
January 1998
This month marks the first anniversary of the Shimadzu Consumer Alerts homepage since its
debut one year ago. It's an exciting time to reflect on some of our noteworthy
accomplishments. With the help of the online consumer-oriented community, we are enjoying
the addition of 2 new links on average everyday to our awesome homepage. The end result is
a pretty potent website and online presence that is a growing force to be reckoned
with.... just ask the folks at Shimadzu! According to site popularity data provided
by a major internet search engine, we have an online presence of more than eleven times
our major rival (the shimadzu.com homepage has a mere 49 websites linking to their
domain plus a full-time web-team and private server to boot.... go figure!).
With numbers like this, we noted with much interest a survey that was conducted at the
92nd Gulf Coast Conference which attracted about 6000 scientists to Galveston, Texas from
September 8-12, 1997. Participants were questioned about internet usage among other
things. The results were music to our ears.... nearly 50% of the attendees reported that
they currently use the Internet to obtain product information (what are the chances
that prospective customers are discovering the factual truths on our homepage during their
online search for product information.... we certainly like the odds!). With another
21% of conference participants planning to be online soon, the odds will only increase
given time.
According to a study just concluded by International Data Corporation, about 100 million
people in the US or one in four households will have connections to the world wide web by
the end of 1998. Shimadzu will become a household name (for all the "right"
reasons) if we have anything to do with it.... and we do! Shimadzu should check
in at McSpotlight to see how the
Ronald McDonald show is playing worldwide.... a real David vs Goliath story in the
present day! Who knows, maybe the McLibel lawyers are available for something less
than the estimated $16 million dollars in legal fees that McDonalds anteed up.
In 1997, we made great strides informing decision makers in the lab about "the
other side of Shimadzu." This effort was significantly augmented by genuine comments written by Mr. Terry L. Adams (Shimadzu Regional
Manager) which our readers have raved about. We understand that Mr. Adams was promoted to
regional manager after writing this scathing memo which was extremely critical of Shimadzu
in-house personnel and management. It does make one wonder what one has to do at Shimadzu
to get fired. With friends like this in high places.... who needs enemies? Thank you Mr.
Adams for your amazing and enlightening observations! Please let us know if you have
anything to add during 1998.... email us.
We'll listen even when the folks at Shimadzu don't seem to get it!
The coming year will witness a more aggressive campaign to disseminate factual information
worldwide about Shimadzu and their egregious business practices. This information should
be of real concern and use to anyone considering the acquisition of new analytical
instrumentation. We call upon our supporters to employ all known methods to disperse these
truths including conventional (eg. snailmail, telephone, fax, email, word of mouth) and
non-conventional means (ie. chat rooms, newsgroups, usenets, bulletin boards, search
engine indexes, etc) to meet our objective of reaching all laboratory decision makers. Please
refrain from anything illegal - there are numerous ways of making our presence known
without violating the law. We would be deeply indebted to anyone who could land us a
prime website on the Internet2. Please help us spin an impenetrable spider's web thru
which nothing will be left to chance!
Our primary purpose has always been to communicate valuable consumer-oriented information
to our readers.... and this is our pledge in 1998 as well! We do not post any sham
information on our website and anything that is published has been substantiated and/or
verified independently (editorial notes, opinions and statements are just that - points of
view.... don't hate us when we tell it the way it is!). It is unlikely that anyone from
Shimadzu would admit openly and officially to the truths promulgated on our homepage.
They'll either deny these truths or deflect your concerns as the work of disgruntled
individual(s).... this is unfortunate. When an organization cannot be relied upon to
police itself and disclose incontrovertible wrongdoing, it should be no great surprise
that outside forces will undertake the mission and gladly proclaim this factual
information to the four corners of the Earth.... we remain omnipotent and undaunted!
This is the real beauty of the world wide web. No one commercial entity can monopolize
the internet or its content - everyone can have an equal say! Corporations like Shimadzu
have been known to retain high-priced legal talent in a bold attempt to bludgeon,
intimidate and scare off principled informants including webmasters. Dear Shimadzu: we're
not going anywhere anytime soon.... stick that in your pipe and smoke it! Any one
person, group or organization can construct and maintain a presence on the web with
virtual impunity - this insures that another perspective is available for public
consumption since we all know that there are at least 2 sides to every story.... is
life great or what?
When presented with unpleasant and embarrassing knowledge by a principled employee, we
understand given the choice that Shimadzu's preference is to annihilate the messenger in
an attempt to extirpate the veritable message. One would think that an employee might be
credited with uncovering corporate abuse, waste, fraud and malfeasance.... apparently,
this is not the case at Shimadzu! We think that this line of corporate behavior is
malevolent, unbecoming and reprehensible. The question posed to Shimadzu's management is -
who pays for this corporate wrongdoing? We think our readers know the answer to
this question.... the customer ultimately! Hence, wherever customers are involved - we are
concerned and pressed into proactive engagement. We remain quite determined to continue
our commendable work. Along with our complement of custodians, the Shimadzu Consumer
Alerts homepage will not disappear from the internet any time soon. A word to the sage at
Shimadzu.... sit back, strap yourself in, grit your teeth, paint a smile on your face,
hold tight and enjoy the ride because you have absolutely no control over the path you're
being catapulted along - you do not have permission to get off just yet (be sure to
check your pants when you do get back up!).
We liken our homepage strategy to the Battle of Midway during early June 1942. For those
who are unfamiliar with this great naval showdown involving the US and Japan, it goes
something like this. The Japanese were determined to capture the island of Midway.... the
Americans saw it differently! When the dust settled, Japan's Rising Sun of Nippon was
slowly sinking. The destruction of 4 Japanese heavy aircraft carriers (Kaga, Soryu, Akagi,
Hiryu) from June 2-6, 1942 shifted the balance of naval sea and air strength in the
Pacific with avengence. The Japanese were dealt a humiliating blow! In the coming
months, we will continue to rekindle this great naval battle in an attempt to remind the
world of Japan's outrageous actions during World War II and America's resolve to trounce
the Japanese yet again when the situation warrants it.... we may be in the midst of one
of those portentous situations!
Let's never forget that Shimadzu Scientific is a company that has sued it's valued
customers, exposed customers and employees unnecessarily to hazardous materials, published
fraudulent credentials for some course instructor(s) providing fee-based training, put
corporate profits ahead of employee health & safety training programs for 5 full years
and attempted to censure our homepage by threatening two different ISPs.... what will they
do next - stay tuned! The editors of this homepage hereby give notice to Shimadzu
Corporation (and it's subsidiaries, distributors, agents and employees thereof) to cease
and desist in any and all efforts to remove or cause to removed the factual and truthful
information on our homepage (and the accompanying support pages) from the Internet....
this includes relevant search engine indexes, usenets, bulletin board postings, etc.
Shimadzu et. al. should understand and comprehend that all remedies (civil, criminal and
punitive) will be vigorously pursued if they persist in any way whatsoever (directly or
indirectly) to willfully and intentionally violate our Constitutional and/or Civil Rights.
Go ahead and play us.... there will be HELL to pay guaranteed!
As we look ahead to the coming year, we will continue to unveil incredible new stories and
late-breaking updates as the information becomes available under the Freedom of
Information Act. Our readers will have their socks blown off when they learn about some of
the brazen business practices we've uncovered at Shimadzu. We are grateful to our network
of contributors and sources who supply us with an influx of tips, ideas and story
suggestions.... keep them coming! There are investigations that are still active and
on-going. Therefore, we will not divulge the nature of these undertakings so as to
compromise sources or jeopardize the outcomes. Maybe Shimadzu and their obtrusive legal
counsel should consider contacting the president@whitehouse.gov
considering the adeptness of his legal staff at plugging water leaks during his embattled
presidency. Who knows - maybe they can help Shimadzu get out of the debacle they're in....
maybe not!
One final note to the "inside the beltway" lawyers retained by Shimadzu: one
of the legal elements of copyright infringement is that the alleged infringer must be
profiting or realizing financial gain at the expense of the copyright holder. This has
never occurred and one would think that the attorneys representing Shimadzu knew this....
guess they were too busy being a playground bully versus spending some time in the library
brushing up on their knowledge of trademark law. Our closing comment to the folks at
Shimadzu: You CAN'T touch this.... so save your time, money and energy for a more
noble effort - nobody likes a bully!
n.b. It's been observed that if you throw enough excrement up on the wall....
some of it is bound to stick sooner or later. Meanwhile, the slinging will continue
unabated!
n.b. It would appear that Shimadzu is actively recruiting major accounts globally but they
have not made this list public thus far.... why is that - do they even have any corporate
accounts worldwide? Is there a concerted effort underway by Shimadzu to insulate customers
from the factual information on our homepage?? If there is.... that's called censorship!
Shouldn't these global accounts have the opportunity to learn more about the other side of
Shimadzu???
n.b. For those quality vendors who run into a competitive sales situation with Shimadzu,
please feel free to direct or otherwise introduce prospective customers to the factual
information presented on our homepage. Once these customers become enlightened, this
should ease your workload and significantly increase your chances of trumping Shimadzu....
good selling! (How come none of Shimadzu's competitors have problems like those
articulated on this homepage.... maybe they just do a better job from A to Z.)
n.b. According to Bob Orr of CBS News, a car built in Japan that cost $20,000 to
produce in July 1997 now costs $17,000 to manufacture due to the devalued Japanese yen.
(Keep in mind that the profit margin then and now is still the same for the
manufacturer.... it's just cheaper now for Japan to make cars and other products!) For
the laboratory customer who decides to do business with Shimadzu (good luck), this should
translate into a ~15% discount on all Shimadzu instrumentation imported for sale in the
United States. Is Shimadzu holding out on you? If you have to ask about this big
difference before Shimadzu grants a decent discount.... DON'T - just buy from the
competition instead! (This leads to the observation that all Shimadzu customers
should seriously question any price increases that Shimadzu announces this year.... if the
Japanese yen continues to devaluate, Shimadzu Scientific should announce a round or two of
price cuts!)
This page was last 
12/31/00