Circuit City Promises 24 Minutes or $24

Here's a new initiative worth talking about. Circuit City, one of the pioneers of in-store pick-up, is raising the bar. They're guaranteeing that your QUALIFYING (read: fine print) online, phone or catalog order will be available for pick-up at the store within 24 minutes of your purchase confirmation or else they'll fork over a $24 Circuit City gift card.

I'm not an outright fan of Circuit City. In fact, I've shared choice words with them on more than one occasion, but I have to say this is big and bold and just plain smart. Their promise of convenience comes with an understanding that mistakes (on the part of companies) should be paid for. A sincere apology is always enough for me, but heck, this says they care about me and they're working hard to make things OK. And raising the bar for the rest of the industry is never a bad thing either.