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A two-for-one grand opening for The UPS Store and Westside Market is set for Thursday, June 18, at 5523 10th.
Both entities are part of the Sunflower Diversified Services family. The non-profit agency serves children and adults with special needs.
The grand opening begins with a 10 a.m. Great Bend Chamber of Commerce ribbon cutting. Refreshments, balloons for children and a drawing for two door prizes will be available until 6 p.m.
In addition, Screwloose BBQ will sell lunch, beginning at 11 a.m., and Scott Donovan will host a live Eagle Radio remote from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
“We wanted to have a little of something for everyone,” said Debbie McCormick, Sunflower director of marketing. “The community is encouraged to come out and see our great UPS Store and the many items for sale at Westside Market.
“We had our soft opening early this year and hoped to have the grand opening in April. But COVID-19 interrupted our plans. We are so happy to be moving forward while still taking many precautions.”
The UPS Store remained open during recent months with limited hours. It is now back to its normal hours of 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekdays and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturdays.
“Amazingly enough,” McCormick said, “we saw increases in business every month this spring. We really appreciate the community support for this new business that directly helps the people Sunflower serves.”
Some of the increased business was the result of Mother’s Day and graduation gifts; Barton Community College students shipping their belongings home; and presents from grandparents who weren’t able to visit their grandkids in person.
UPS services include packaging, shipping, printing, notarizing, faxing and copying, as well as Amazon returns.
McCormick also noted Westside Market is home to a couple of new vendors who design and create many decorative pieces for home and office. Sunflower clients also offer many of their artistic creations for sale at the market.
“Our regular customers and those who haven’t visited yet are more than welcome at our grand opening,” McCormick said. “Newcomers will be especially impressed with everything happening here.”
Sunflower serves infants, toddlers and adults with intellectual disabilities and delays in Barton, Pawnee, Rice, Rush and Stafford counties. It is in its 54th year.


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Nutella is destroying our planet?
This is according to the French Minister for Environment who believes that both its consumption is damaging to individuals, andd its ingredients is damaging our environment.
According to French environment minister Ségolène Royal, people need to stop eating the hazelnut spread unless it drastically changes its recipe.
In a interview for TV channel Canal + last night, Royal stated :
‘We have to replant a lot of trees because there is a massive deforestation problem, which also leads to global warming. We should stop eating Nutella, for example, because it’s made with palm oil.’
Palm oil has become a controversial ingredient over the past few years, as it was revealed that its plantations are often taking the place of rainforests worldwide, the Metro reported.
‘Oil palms have replaced trees, and therefore caused considerable damage to the environment’, Royal added.
In retaliation to Royal’s comments, her Italian counterpart, Minister for the Environment Luca Galletti jokingly replied “ Segolene Royal is worrying to much. Leave Italian products alone.
For dinner tonight…it’s bread with Nutella.’
By Ross Murphy

domain: news


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8,000 Deaths A Year Caused By Unsafe Products, CPSC Tells Congress
Federal safety officials indicate that consumer products on the market in the United States cause or contribute to about 8,000 fatalities each year, highlighting the importance of regulatory efforts designed to protect consumers and save lives.
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) issued its 2017 Annual Report last week, outlining the number of consumer product-related deaths, injuries and emergency department visits for Congress. The report summarizes the products most prone to cause harm to consumers and where better regulation is needed.
CPSC researchers collected national data from all 50 states and the District of Columbia,a and found that about 8,000 individuals were killed last year in consumer product related incidents. Dividing products into 15 categories, researchers found that Sports and Recreational Activities and Equipment accounted for nearly 1,500 fatalities and Home Furnishings and Fixtures accounted for nearly 1,200 fatalities.
Did You Know?
Millions of Philips CPAP Machines Recalled
Philips DreamStation, CPAP and BiPAP machines sold in recent years may pose a risk of cancer, lung damage and other injuries.Learn More
Children under the age of five were found to account for nearly 40 percent of all fatalities related to home furnishing items, many of which can be attributed to furniture tip-over incidents, which the CPSC has been combating with recalls and new manufacturing standards in recent years.
Researchers warn that the number of actual fatalities is likely much higher than those reported. The CPSC tracks consumer-product related deaths by purchasing death certificates the agency suspects involve product-related incidents. However, the certificates often fail to indicate the product that was involved, and some death certificates are unavailable for purchase.
The agency reviewes data from the National Electronic Injury Surveillance System (NEISS) to identify product-associated injuries and found that a sample from 100 hospitals across the United States recorded more than 400,000 product-related cases.
Emergency room injury data from October 2016 through September 2017 showed more than 4 million injuries related to Sports and Recreational Activities and Equipment, roughly 4.5 million injuries related to Home Structures and Construction Materials and more than 3.3 million injuries related to Home Furnishings and Fixtures.
The CPSC issues more than 300 recalls on average every year and is tasked with identifying products that may cause harm to individuals in the U.S. market.
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For the second straight year, Cadillac ranks highest among new car owners, taking the Highest Satisfaction Brand honors in the 13th Annual Vehicle Satisfaction Awards (VSA) from consulting firm AutoPacific.
In addition to Cadillac’s overall award, the Cadillac Escalade was the VSA category winner in the Luxury Sport Utility segment, contributing to Cadillac’s win as the top-ranked brand for vehicle satisfaction. Cadillac has been rated among the top five overall brands all 13 times the annual survey has been conducted. It is of course GM’s over reliance on trucks and its inability to increase its market share in cars that is largely responsible for its pending bankruptcy.
The vehicle – car or truck – registering highest overall satisfaction in 2009 is the Lexus LS. The LS scored 99 points above the industry average to place first among all 2009-model year vehicles. In an interview with TheDetroitBureau.com, the head of Lexus said that the brand was struggling to be profitable in the current sales environment.
Parent Toyota Motor Corporation finished off fiscal 2009 with a huge $7.7 billion loss during the fourth quarter of the traditional Japanese fiscal year, which ended March 31. The fourth quarter loss left the Japanese auto giant with a decidedly non-traditional full-year loss of $4.4 billion, the largest in the company’s 71-year history.
AutoPacific claims that the winners perform well in 48 separate categories that “objectively measure” the ownership experience. The survey includes responses from more than 25,000 2009 model new vehicle owners and lessees. The company did not release the names of its automaker clients.
Overall brand satisfaction ratings among Hyundai purchasers jumped 11 positions earning Hyundai 2009 Rising Star honors. This positive move was more than any other manufacturer in the survey. Hyundai scored higher in 40 of 48 rating categories in 2009 compared with 2008. “These are difficult times, with news of automaker bankruptcies, companies restructuring and dealer closures a daily occurrence,” says George Peterson, president of AutoPacific. “Clearly, the dynamics surrounding the Vehicle Satisfaction Award in 2009 are far different from anything we’ve seen in many years.
At the manufacturer level, multiple top-ranked award winners are: Toyota with six winners (Toyota 3, Lexus 2, Scion 1), Ford with four (Ford 3, Lincoln 1), Hyundai/Kia with three (Hyundai 2, Kia 1), Chrysler with 2 (Dodge 1, Jeep 1) and General Motors with 2 (Cadillac 1, Chevrolet 1). Honda, Land Rover, Mitsubishi, Porsche and Volkswagen each took top honors in one segment.
The buyers of vehicles included in the Vehicle Satisfaction research purchased or leased their new vehicles during the 4th Quarter of 2008, as the industry was collapsing from excesses and fraud of finance capitalism. The global Great Recession that resulted continues to this day, with the future of many automakers threatened if it continues.
AutoPacific claims that more than 25% of respondents are positively influenced by awards such as VSA when deciding on a vehicle.
|Premium Luxury Car||Lexus LS|
|Aspirational Luxury Car||Hyundai Genesis|
|Luxury Large Car||Lincoln Town Car|
|Luxury Mid-Size Car||Lexus ES|
|Premium Mid-Size Car||Hyundai Sonata|
|Mid-Size Car||Ford Fusion|
|Image Compact Car||Toyota Prius|
|Compact Car||Mitsubishi Lancer|
|Economy Car||Honda Fit|
|Sports Car||Porsche 911|
|Sporty Car||Scion tC|
|Large Pickup||Dodge Ram 1500|
|Compact Pickup||Ford Explorer Sport Trac|
|Luxury Sport Utility||Cadillac Escalade|
|Large Sport Utility||Chevrolet Tahoe|
|Premium Mid-Size Sport Utility||Ford Explorer|
|Mid-Size Sport Utility||Jeep Liberty|
|Luxury Crossover SUV||Land Rover LR2|
|Large Crossover SUV||Mazda CX-9|
|Premium Mid-Size Crossover SUV||Toyota Venza|
|Mid-Size Crossover SUV||Volkswagen Tiguan|
|Compact Crossover SUV||Kia Sportage|


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Instead, it turns out that the new game is a fighting which will be made available on both the Dreamcast the Naomi arcade board. Sonic Team is hoping to push the fighting genre further than ever before. By making use of the Dreamcast's online abilities, Chu Chu Rocket will enable players to fight against one another over the Internet. Better yet though, it will be possible for up to four people to take part at once!
The arcade version of Chu Chu Rocket is set to debut at the upcoming Jamma show in Japan, and Sonic Team has already stated that the home version will be released in two different packages. One will be the game by itself, while the other more expensive version will come with a special controller. Nothing else is known on that at the moment, but it is possible that Sonic Team is designing a whole new pad like they did with Nights on the Saturn!
Whatever happens, we'll be sure to let you in on any news we hear over the next few weeks.
-- Matthew Langan, IGNDC


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BHUBANESWAR: As the excitement builds among hockey buffs ahead of Odisha Hockey Men’s World Cup Bhubaneswar-2018, the organisers have announced that Online Redemption Box Office will open from Friday at Kalinga Stadium box office.
While sale of tickets at various outlets in Bhubaneswar has been gaining tremendous response from local hockey lovers since the outlets were opened on 5 November, those who have booked tickets online can redeem their vouchers from Friday onwards at Gate No 4 of Kalinga Stadium.
With just 19 days to go for the prestigious tournament, people continue to throng the counters for purchasing tickets to witness world-class hockey players fight for the cup.
For the sporting event to be held from 28 November to 16 December, fans who have already booked tickets online through www.ticketgenie.in.
They can redeem their online vouchers exclusively at the Box Office at Gate No 4.
The redemption of online vouchers will only be available from 10 am to 5 pm everyday at the Online Redemption Box Office.
The opening match of the World Cup will see World No 3 Belgium start their campaign against World No 11 Canada. India, the host nation, will also be in action on the opening day as they face World No 15 South Africa in the second match.
World no 5 Indian team is scheduled to play two more matches in Pool C, which will be against Belgium on December 2 and Canada on December 8.


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Amsterdam: Europe’s largest maker of consumer electronics, Royal Philips Electronics NV, said it won’t meet its target of doubling earnings by 2010 as a weakening economy hurts demand for consumer products.
Philips also said writedowns this quarter will lead to the first net loss since the start of 2003. Philips will slash the value of stakes in companies including liquid-crystal display maker LG Display Co. Ltd and chipmaker NXP BV by €1.1 billion (6,941 crore) this quarter, it said in a statement on Thursday.
The size of disappointments is bigger than assumed, Eric de Graaf, an analyst at Petercam in Amsterdam, wrote in a note. “We expected less of an impact due to a more defensive portfolio,” said De Graaf, who will review his add rating.
Chief executive Gerard Kleisterlee said the speed and ferocity of the economic downturn is taking its toll on Philips earnings. Philips has been exiting the semiconductor industry to become less sensitive to economic swings, focusing instead on industries such as medical equipment and lighting. In October, Philips said it would go slow on its €5 billion buy-back programme to preserve cash.
In April, Philips said earnings before interest, tax and amortization (Ebita) should rise to 10-11% of sales by 2010. Last year, Philips had a margin of 7.7% on that basis. Philips had forecast Ebita per share would double by 2010.
Maud van Gaal and Marcel van de Hoef contributed to this story.


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Earlier, Kuo reported that the MacBook Pros with Mini-LED are on track for a Fall 2021 release. Now, he also stated that the Mini-LED will come to the next 11-inch iPad Pro, making the advanced technology standard across the future lineup of iPad Pros.
This year’s 12.9-inch iPad Pro is the first Apple product with Mini-LED display, but it didn’t make its way to the small model because of supply constraints. In fact, the technology has been very expensive that Apple raised the starting price of the 12.9-inch model by $100. As Apple plans to adopt this cutting-edge technology across more products, this will help bring down the overall costs of the display.
According to Kuo, the 2022 lineup will retain the same screen sizes as those of the current lineup – 11 and 12.9 inches. Other rumors regarding the next iPad Pro include a new glass-back design and larger screen sizes. However, it remains uncertain if these features will come to the next iteration.


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Rex Alan Regier of Hillsboro reported the theft of a Honda 50cc motorcycle with an estimated value of $850 from his garage between 7:30 p.m. Aug. 14 and 6:30 a.m. Aug. 15.
Criminal trespass, damage to property
James F Paulus of Hillsboro reported a broken window in a metal fire door totaling $350 of damage on the campus of Tabor College between 5 p.m. Aug.14 and 10 a.m. Aug. 15. Nothing was reported missing.
Ariel J. Depler of Hillsboro reported the theft of three lunch buffets by three unknown individuals totaling $25 from Pizza Hut at 12:30 p.m.
Leroy Just reported the theft of $20 of unleaded fuel from Casey’s General Store at approximately 8:53 p.m. on Aug 12.


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Insider Intelligence spoke with Martha Welsh, who leads strategy, operations and go-to-market initiatives for Google Commerce, which includes Google Shopping, Travel, Payments, and Next Billion Users. The Google Shopping platform allows shoppers to compare products and prices from various retailers, while giving vendors and retailers an avenue to reach new customers.
Insider Intelligence: What is the ecosystem strategy behind the Google Shopping platform?
Martha Welsh: We're not trying to be the retailer or the marketplace. We have built a platform for retailers to create more value for customers and merchants. There are a billion shopping sessions on Google every day, and we want to help those consumers find more of what they're looking for right away.
There's a lot of choice in the outside world for a consumer—that choice hasn't always existed in the digital world, and there's an opportunity for even more choice and information to be presented in the digital world.
II: What are the main trends in consumer behavior this holiday season?
MW: Shopping is so much fun, and there’s this really delightful part of shopping that is inspiring.
People start their shopping journey online, but often check in-store availability. We've also seen that in-store consumers are searching for things and trying to understand the reviews.
Another trend this holiday season is researching products. Consumers are trying to understand not just products, but the brand and value proposition of the merchant. There's a lot of shopping for value in different ways—sustainability, Black-owned businesses, and more.
II: How have consumers' relationship to brands evolved in recent years?
MW: Shopping is inherently personal. You see this when people shop and gravitate toward certain brands. It goes well beyond choosing this or that sweater—it's about where it was sourced, if it’s eco-friendly, how much does shipping cost, and more. Inspiration strikes anywhere, and when a consumer is in that mode of discovery, you see that a brand’s values can be just as important or sometimes more important than the product.
Thus, this past year we've launched new labels for Black-owned businesses, sustainable brands, and more. The most important thing is letting the brands have their voice on our platform, so that they can bring their own value propositions to consumers, whether that's on a search results page, YouTube, or Maps. Wherever the user comes to Google, we're going to bring the full information on the product and brand so that they can make that informed choice and get inspired.
II: How is Google Shopping hoping to improve the ecommerce experience?
MW: One of the things that we've invested meaningfully in over the past few years has been some of our omnichannel offerings. Users, like the idea of omnichannel, has evolved, and there's a new omnichannel that's blending in-store and online shopping.
II: How is Google bringing forward video content in a shopper’s journey?
MW: Whether you're looking at a buying guide or information on how to research it—you want to understand the product. We see that in video and other formats. We know that videos are important for a lot of merchants as it is the way they can put their own value propositions to the forefront. Our goal is to meet the users where they are, which can be on the search results page, YouTube, and more.
We've brought many third parties into our ecosystem, and it's much easier for retailers now to list their inventory with our partners like Shopify, WooCommerce, GoDaddy, and others. All these platforms and videos bring choice and transparency to the consumer across the shopping experience.
11 Times SquareNew York, NY 100361-800-405-0844


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It has been reported that Alphabet Inc’s Google said on Wednesday it had made an “error” in not disclosing that its Nest Secure home security system had a built-in microphone in its devices. Earlier this month, Google said Nest Secure would be getting an update. However, the device’s published specifications did not mention a microphone.
Gavin Millard, VP of Intelligence at Tenable:
“With the recent concerns on how large companies are leveraging our private data, the disclosure that NEST devices had a secret mic is obviously going to cause consternation. Many, including myself, prefer not to have active mics linked to cloud services embedded in technology, and base buying decisions on their inclusion or not. With big stories about televisions that surreptitiously share viewing habits and speakers you can handily ask for pancake recipes but also capture more information than you’d wish to disclose, consumers are becoming far more savvy with the technology they’ll trust in their homes and the data they collect. Could it have been an innocent mistake? Probably, but with everything that has happened over the last few years, the privacy backlash is building.”


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New Airbnb Logo Generates Social Media Buzz – And Controversy
Airbnb made waves last week when they unveiled a new logo called “The Bélo,” a simple symbol intended to resemble a heart, a location pin, and the “A” in the company name. Taken together, all these elements are meant to evoke a sense of belonging, a concept that’s very important to the brand. However, almost immediately after the logo was revealed, the internet started buzzing with design junkies pointing out that the logo looked almost identical to that of software developer Automation Anywhere—or more alarmingly, .
Before the controversy, Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky had been hoping that the new design would become a hallmark for the company, akin to the easily recognizable moustache, or the Dropbox opened boxes. The logo redesign was part of the company’s larger growth plans, which include a complete overhaul of their website, making it more user-friendly and visually appealing than its previous iteration.
Story via Fast Company Design.


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Turkish discount store chain offers mobile services
BİM, with over 3,300 stores in Turkey, starts its own mobile phone services. Radikal photoOne of Turkey’s leading discount market chains, BİM, has started offering “BİMcell,” its own mobile virtual operator, the internet site of daily Milliyet reported yesterday.
BİM will utilize the telecommunication infrastructure of Avea, one of the leading mobile phone operators active in Turkey, but the discount market chain plans to move on to setting up its own cellular network in the future, according to the report.
BİMcell will charge one kuruş for 6 seconds of call time, according to its website. BİM operates more than 3,300 stores, selling staple food and basic consumption goods across the country, an advantage that should support BİMcell to become widespread.


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This story first appeared in the April 12 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine.
In 1980, a few months before Charlie Ergen co-founded the company that would become Dish Network, he and a gambling buddy strode into a Lake Tahoe casino with the intention of winning a fortune by counting cards. Ergen, then 27, had bought a book called Playing Blackjack as a Business and studied the cheat sheets. Unfortunately for him, a security guard caught his pal lip-syncing numbers as the cards were dealt. The two were kicked out and subsequently banned from the casino.
More than three decades later, Ergen, now 60, again stands accused of cheating the house — but this time the house is here, nestled in the confines of executive suites from Burbank to Beverly Boulevard. And now, Ergen’s Englewood, Co.-based Dish Network, the nation’s third-largest satellite/cable TV provider, a public company that’s grown from a $60,000 startup to an empire with 14 million subscribers and $14 billion in annual revenue, is the entertainment industry’s Enemy No. 1. With increasing frequency, Ergen has engaged in ugly, high-stakes games of chicken with Hollywood. In his brutal battle over ballooning carriage fees with AMC, he dropped The Walking Dead and Mad Men network from the Dish system for months. He also has spent years fighting with broadcasters over the practice of distantly retransmitting TV signals without a license and even was caught violating a promise to stop that he made under oath — all while Dish was named “America’s worst company to work for” by a watchdog website. But all that was just preamble to the Hopper.
In January 2012, Dish introduced the proprietary DVR service that allows consumers to “AutoHop,” or watch the entire primetime lineup of the broadcast networks commercial-free without even having to fast-forward through ads. Immediately after its introduction, CBS, NBC, ABC and Fox filed lawsuits arguing that Dish, if allowed to continue offering the Hopper, will put them out of business. The networks want a judge to grant an injunction, and Fox is appealing the denial of a shutdown while making a renewed attempt to enjoin the Hopper — after Dish added mobile capabilities amid the legal challenge.
Ergen, who is married with five kids and has seen his personal net worth swell to an estimated $10.6 billion, making him 100th on the most recent Forbes list of richest people, expresses confidence that he will win the legal fight and says it is time that the broadcasters get on board. “Some people are averse to change, but the advertising model is going to change with or without the Hopper,” he recently told analysts. “What we’re saying to the broadcasters is, ‘There’s a way for you not to put your head in the sand.’ “
The broadcasters reject the assessment. “Services [like Hopper] that undermine the economic fabric of our business aren’t just illegal, they potentially destroy our ability to give the public what it wants,” CBS chairman and CEO Leslie Moonves tells THR. Adds NBC Broadcasting chairman Ted Harbert, “I think this is an attack on our ecosystem.”
Not surprisingly, Hopper has become extremely popular. The year before Dish began offering the service for free to customers, the company lost 166,000 subscribers. Since then, Dish added back 89,000.
“We’re a little bit like an Indiana Jones movie,” a sanguine Ergen said about his company at the All Things Digital conference Feb. 11. “We’re always in trouble. We always get out of it. We’re always going from alligators to guys with arrows to snakes. We want to win.” (Ergen declined comment for this piece.)
At a time when Big Four broadcast network ratings have hit historic lows, with Fox down 21 percent this season and NBC being beaten in the 18-to-49 demo by Univision during the February sweep, it’s hard enough to pitch advertisers on delivering eyeballs to ads — as the nets will do in May at the annual $10 billion upfront presentations. It’s even harder when a major satellite carrier is touting its ability to completely eliminate commercials from the viewer experience. Networks hope that if research agencies like Nielsen start placing emphasis on those who watch programming a week after an initial live telecast, it will help keep advertisers in line. But analyst Richard Greenfield asks: “C3 vs. C7? Who is kidding whom about watching commercials during DVR’d programming?”
Interestingly, such TV carriers as Time Warner Cable and DirecTV, though presumably in possession of the same technological capability, have not provided products that have triggered such industry venom. Maybe there’s a reason for that.
Ergen has presented Hopper as a consumer right while simultaneously telling analysts that programmers have “devalued” content by making TV shows available on Netflix and suing ESPN for, among other things, allowing streaming. CBS is trying to rescind its licensing contract with Dish by claiming that Ergen and his top lieutenants fraudulently hid their plans for the Hopper in contract meetings in 2011. And in February, Dish claimed CBS forced The Big Bang Theory actress Kaley Cuoco to delete a sponsored tweet endorsing Hopper, even though there was no evidence the actress was pressured. At a March event honoring Moonves, Cuoco announced, “I would like to take this opportunity to say one thing: Leslie, f— the Dish Network.”
As Hollywood reluctantly enters the digital age, new players like Barry Diller‘s Aereo TV service are challenging traditional revenue streams and squaring off against the networks in court. (Diller’s Aereo survived an initial legal challenge April 1 when an appeals court allowed it to stay in business at least until a trial.) Even among these threats, though, Dish represents perhaps the most aggressive and well-funded disrupter. And it’s controlled by a man who has the money and inclination to take the fight to its legal and, for Hollywood, very scary conclusion. Yes, he’s known by some within his organization to be a penny-pinching loudmouth (“They treat their employees like slaves,” says one online employee review). But it’s one thing to scream at underlings and install a scanning device to police tardiness (yes, he really did that); it’s quite another to destroy evidence and mislead judges in a courtroom — Dish has been sanctioned for such behavior.
It’s all enough to ask: If Charlie Ergen is the most hated man in Hollywood, what should the industry do about him?
Ergen now is gearing up for a fight that could answer that question. In September, a licensing agreement expires between Dish and The Walt Disney Co. The coming talks between the companies represent the first major negotiation since the introduction of the Hopper. Disney hardly wishes to bless a tech product like the Hopper by renewing its deal with Dish. But it’s nearly impossible for a media company to walk away from the billions of dollars Ergen is paying for programming.
This friend-and-foe dilemma is the essential conundrum Dish presents. Six months before its deal with Disney was set to expire, Dish wasn’t at any negotiation table but rather in a courtroom, taking Disney’s ESPN unit to trial for allegedly offering Dish competitors better prices.
Naturally, Ergen has been hailed as a hero by consumer advocates who appreciate his willingness to toy with a TV model that has become sacred to Hollywood conglomerates. “When it comes to trying out new things and keeping costs down in a competitive market, you need a first-mover like Dish,” says John Bergmayer at Public Knowledge, a not-for-profit rights organization.
Notes Vijay Jayant, an analyst who has been following Dish for years at ISI Group: “Charlie’s attitude is, ‘At some point, they’ll negotiate with me on my terms.’ He’s bluffing until he’s not.”
If Dish exihibits a special form of aggression, observers credit this to its billionaire founder and his company’s precarious position in the competitive video-distribution industry.
Charlie Ergen was born in Tennessee to a physicist father who is credited as coining the phrase “China syndrome” to describe the containment shortcomings of a nuclear reactor accident. After playing small forward on the state university’s basketball team, Charlie earned a business degree from Wake Forest University in 1976, then worked as a financial analyst at Frito-Lay. Two years later, at 25, he stunned his family by “retiring” — or rather, he took advantage of the discounts his future wife, Cantey McAdam, got working as a flight attendant to travel the world. He also fiddled with becoming a professional poker and blackjack player.
Then, in 1980, his buddy Jim DeFranco told him about “a big satellite dish getting signals from outer space,” according to a Wake Forest commencement address Ergen gave in 2012. Together with DeFranco and McAdam, the three sank $60,000 of their personal savings into a suburban Denver startup called EchoStar.
An avid mountain climber who has scaled Mount Kilimanjaro and Mount Everest, Ergen steadily has grown his business — now officially known as screaming-all-caps DISH — into one of the 200 largest corporations in the world, averaging about $1 billion in annual profits (Ergen controls 88 percent of voting power at the company). Dish thrived in large part by focusing on the hilly rural areas of the country, where cable TV lines did not run — and, of course, a willingness to brawl with anyone getting in the way.
Dish employees, adversaries and analysts say no one exploits the judicial system like Ergen does to gain a competitive advantage. A judge a decade ago noted that Ergen had violated a pledge made under penalty of perjury to stop distantly retransmitting local TV signals. An appeals court wrote in 2006 that there was “no indication that EchoStar was ever interested in complying with the [Satellite Home Viewer] Act,” and added, “We seem to have discerned a ‘pattern’ and ‘practice’ of violating the Act in every way imaginable.”
During the mid-2000s, when Ergen was fighting TiVo over who owned rights to DVR technology, not only did TiVo convince a court that Dish had violated a patent, but the judge in the case found it “distasteful” that Ergen’s company would “engage in an ad campaign that touted its DVRs as ‘better than TiVo’ while continuing to infringe TiVo’s patent.” In 2009, Dish officially was sanctioned by the court. (The parties later settled.)
Perhaps most notoriously, there were the irate judges who officiated Dish’s recent battle with Cablevision/AMC after Dish terminated a 15-year deal to carry the Voom networks, a suite of 21 little-watched HD channels such as Kung Fu HD and Film Fest HD. In the early days of the case, Dish was penalized for “bad faith” or “gross negligence” in the destruction of internal company emails. A visibly angry New York Supreme Court Judge Richard Lowe later threatened to launch an investigation unless Dish documents were turned over. The suit became so ugly that at one point, Dish executive Carolyn Crawford hit the father of the opposing side’s lawyer on her way out of the courtroom. She later apologized in open court.
In a sexual harassment case in Maryland in 2005, a judge wrote that “EchoStar [was] guilty of gross spoliation of evidence.” In a 2012 trademark dispute, a judge said of Dish lawyers that he had never encountered “such divisiveness or contentiousness” in his 17 years on the bench.
“Most corporations have an institutional bias against litigation and see it as necessary evil,” says one network insider. “But for Charlie, that’s how he likes to run his company. You’ll never see him suing in his home state, though. Their name is mud in Colorado. Judges are on to them.”
In fact, when Dish filed suit in May 2012 in an attempt to beat broadcasters to court and have a judge declare the Hopper legal, it did so in New York.
Dish continues to be pugnacious at every turn. The Federal Trade Commission and Justice Department are jointly pursuing a lawsuit against the company for allegedly violating telemarketing sales rules by placing unwanted calls to millions of consumers. Dish also uses every opportunity it has to tout its Hopper as the tech product so great that the networks won’t let anybody hear about it (even while telling judges that the Hopper is not so different from other DVRs).
Ambush spin is common at Dish. On industry news websites, employees regularly leave comments meant to slyly promote Dish services. One writer at AllThingsD was so fed up that in 2011, he penned a column titled, “Dear Dish Network: Your Spam Makes Me Sad. Please Stop.” The press release issued by Dish in the Kaley Cuoco flap is another example. There was no source of the alleged CBS demand to delete her tweet, and CBS flatly denied it. Pushed to corroborate such an allegation, Dish spokesman John Hall will only say, “We were contacted by someone close to the situation who told us that CBS asked her to remove the tweet.”
Barbara Roehrig worked at EchoStar during the mid-’90s and was the company’s first female senior executive. She remembers constantly sparring with Ergen, who sometimes would threaten to walk into a room and fire all the employees he called the “craziness pack.” “The modus operandi is yelling there, and it takes a toll,” says Roehrig, adding that she still stays in touch with many in Dish’s middle management who refuse to ascend to the company’s executive ranks because of the emotional turmoil that it brings. “We’ve all been in the line of Charlie’s ranting.”
Dish was named “America’s worst company to work for” by the website 24/7 Wall Street, based on scathing reviews on the job site Glassdoor.com. Employees have been subjected to “badge reports,” where they are red-flagged for showing up minutes late. When they travel, staffers are asked to take red-eye flights, share hotel rooms and reimburse the company if they tip more than 15 percent. One field-service specialist tells THR, “In my office, you are not even allowed to use the restroom in the mornings before leaving on your route or in the evenings until you’re off the clock.” (A Dish rep says the company abandoned its badge reports in January and disputes that employees are forced to take red-eye flights and aren’t allowed bathroom breaks.)
After Dish was hit with bad press, management attempted to intervene. Dish CEO Joe Clayton sent employees an email that stated in part, “If you are happy here at DISH and believe the company is moving in the right direction, log on to Glassdoor.com and provide feedback.”
At Dish’s Colorado headquarters, company leaders shoot down questions about whether Dish truly is the meanest of mean companies.
“I think it is a challenging place to work,” admits Dave Shull, a Dish senior vp in charge of content acquisition deals. He says it’s common for meetings to get “animated” but embraces the company’s aggressive ethos. “You can always be a follower, a slave to competition and hope for the best,” says Shull. “Or you can lead the charge, try to expand market share and innovate. When you ski or ride horses, what happens when you sit back is that you lose control. We lean in.”
After several years of growth, Dish, like the rest of the cable and satellite industry, has been facing new challenges. In 2012, pay TV providers added only a few tens of thousands of subscribers, according to analyst estimates. And the overall trajectory isn’t good. In reaction, Dish has been aggressive in keeping customer bills lower than those of its rivals. Dish’s subscriber-related expenses increased to $7.25 billion in 2012, up 6 percent from the previous year, which the company attributes to rising programming costs. By comparison, DirecTV spent more than $13 billion on programming in 2012 (and another $2 billion on service), about a 12 percent increase. “I’d venture to guess that Dish’s programming increases are among the lowest in the business,” says Jayant.
Still, that might not be enough. Dish now competes with such Internet-based TV services as Netflix and Hulu (subscribing to both costs only about a third of the $49.99 for a basic Dish package) as well as web-and-TV combos offered by the likes of Time Warner Cable and Comcast.
Unlike its rivals, Dish has struggled to expand into businesses other than satellite TV service. In 2011, it completed an acquisition of Blockbuster but couldn’t leverage the brand into a viable Netflix competitor. Dish has been attempting to do more with its wireless spectrum assets, which it has paid roughly $3 billion to acquire, but has been frustrated by FCC roadblocks. The company lately has been attempting to get a wireless network service off the ground, holding talks with Google and making an aggressive bid to acquire part of 4G network pioneer Clearwire Corp.
For now, though, Dish remains a “one-trick pony,” in the words of analyst Jayant. Unlike Comcast, it doesn’t create any programming itself; unlike Time Warner Cable or Verizon, it isn’t able to offer triple play of television/Internet/phone service. What it has is the Hopper, which leads one lawyer defending the networks to conclude, “Ergen would rather ask for forgiveness than permission.”
Some legal observers believe that Dish will succeed in court. In November, a federal judge declined to grant a preliminary injunction to stop the Hopper and said that Fox faces an uphill road in arguing that Dish has committed copyright infringement and breached its contracts with the network. The judge wasn’t totally convinced of the legality of Dish’s system, however, and some attorneys believe the broadcasters ultimately will prevail. “I think a court is going to side with the networks because of the economics, though a new [legal] test might need to be fashioned because this doesn’t fit the usual standards,” says Bryan Sullivan at Early Sullivan.
As the lawsuit plays out, Dish’s ability to stay in the game might depend on the outcome of coming carriage negotiations. Ergen will be making a multibillion-dollar bet that Disney can’t afford to walk away from Dish’s 14 million subscribers, but if it signs a new deal, it will send a signal that broadcasters have been a tad hyperbolic when it comes to the threat they allege the Hopper to be.
If the offer is not right, Dish could head down a new path. It might stream Disney’s ABC anyway, without a contract but in partnership with a company like Diller’s Aereo, whose own technology of capturing over-the-air TV signals and transmitting them privately online likely will be hashed out in a messy trial. (Dish and Aereo reportedly have held talks with each other recently.) Or Dish could abandon the quickly growing cost of licensing ESPN’s live sports to further position the satellite distributor as the cheap alternative in the marketplace. But that’s undoubtedly risky.
Analysts are getting a little edgy. On a recent earnings call, Dish’s management was asked to address what’s going to happen.
“We are a big customer of Disney’s,” answered Clayton. “I would not expect them to take it down with the AutoHop as the reason.” Added Ergen, “Our checks are pretty big.” Dish pays Disney roughly $1 billion a year for ESPN alone. But that’s not quite enough to settle the analyst community. “I have no idea what is going to happen,” admits Jayant.
As the recent Dish-ESPN lawsuit highlighted, thanks to “most favored nation” provisions (which guarantee that no rival will get a better deal), subscriber rates are intertwined throughout the TV industry. If Disney accepts less than market value from Dish, it likely will have to give discounts to other distributors, too. And walking away from Dish might not necessarily mean losing all 14 million pay TV consumers if some of them defect to rival services. A recent survey by Lazard Capital found that 41 percent to 48 percent of pay TV subscribers would cancel or switch their service if they lost a top broadcast network, and 35 percent would cancel if they lost ESPN. “If anything, content’s leverage over distributors is strengthening,” concludes analyst Barton Crockett.
The last time Disney and Dish made a deal, in 2005, the negotiations took a year. Now, there’s just a few months until the license expires in September, and the very dealmakers who will be meeting with one another just sat uncomfortably side by side for three weeks in a courtroom.
Disney declines comment about whether it would look past the Hopper, whose legality likely will not be settled before the two sides need to make a deal. A Disney spokesperson says any renewal with Dish would “be consistent with established marketplace terms.” Dish’s Shull won’t say whether Ergen or his execs have met with Disney, but says he hopes that the two companies will be able to work out their differences.
Is Ergen about to get comeuppance for his nasty behavior? Or will broadcasters bow to what many believe is the inevitable evolution of the ad business? By year’s end, the outcome of the Disney-Dish negotiations could signal where the industry is headed.
“For some folks, it becomes personal,” says Shull. “For me, it’s business. There’s always some difference of opinion, but with billions of dollars at stake, greed usually wins out.”
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Interactive advertising even its current, developing form has shown it can improve a show's ratings and get viewers more engaged with the content, according to media executives working in the arena.
Mark Garner, senior vice president of distribution, marketing and business development at A&E Television Networks, said during a CTAM Summit panel Monday that "trials" of interactive applications used with History programming showed 15%-20% ratings gains.
Engagement levels with interactive applications proved to be longer than AETN typically sees with broadband ads, he said. "They stay in the environment longer," he said.
Peter Low, CEO of Ensequence, the vendor that worked with AETN to create interactive applications on Dish Network for the History program Battles BC, said that when programmers enhance content with interactivity that way, 15-20% of the people with access to that capability will use it. The typical viewer using the interactive mode stays active that way 15 minutes of every hour.
Low said he was encouraged at the steady gains being made in making interactivity widespread. With multichannel video providers adding the Enhanced TV Binary Interchange Format to set-tops, enabling some simple interactivity, "we are now looking forward to 2010 and real scale from a distribution and subscriber number point of view."
Tens of millions of EBIF-equipped homes are expected to come on line over the next year or two, he said.
Vicki Lins, chief marketing officer at cable operators' advanced advertising developer Canoe Ventures, said on the panel that Canoe's efforts won't conflict with anything that investor companies Comcast, Time Warner Cable, Cablevision Systems, Cox Communications, Charter and Bright House Networks roll out on their own. Canoe is trying to be a bridge among cable operators, programmers, advertisers and media buyers, she said, and the MSOs also realize that for interactive platforms to succeed, satellite and phone company TV platforms must roll them out as well.
Canoe by the end of the year intends to release its Canoe Advanced Advertising Platform, or CAAP. It's intended to work across disparate technologies used by various cable operators, programmers and advertisers. "It will be the biggest step forward the industry has ever taken towards making cable's advanced advertising easy to buy, to use and to measure," she said.
David Porter, vice president of marketing and new media at Cox Media (the ad-sales arm of Cox Communications), addressed privacy concerns that exist among consumers and lawmakers. "Our relationship with the subscriber is our most trusted asset," he said, Cox wouldn't let ad sales, a relatively small of the cable company's overall business, to jeopardize subscribers' trust.
Cox does think it can find ways to exploit the data it gathers from consumers in an anonymous, aggregated fashion that will create new advertising opportunities such as allowing viewers to request more information about a product or service, Porter said.
Lins said Canoe would never go beyond the limits its MSOs have set in terms of using the information it has about cable customers. Cable operators and programmers have to figure out what the right way to exploit the data they have available to them, though. "This an advertising dialogue that needs to take place and we need to change the discussion and recognize that information can be used to the benefit of this industry, without getting ourselves tied up in knots over it."
She said it's still not clear how addressable an ad needs to be most valuable to advertisers - to the home, the neighborhood or the Zip code.
The session, Monday morning, was moderated by BrightLine iTV CEO Jacquie Corbelli, whose agency has handled many interactive TV campaigns. She said advertisers don't fully exploit the addressable features they could on the Web, so there's no huge clamoring for more addressability with TV ads.


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BusinessWeek: HP's new CEO Leo Apotheker is making it clear that he plans to take the company in a new direction. HP has lost its soul, he said in an interview. The first thing I wanted to do when I joined HP was listen to the people. The rank and file usually know about all the shortcomings.
To save the company's soul, Apotheker says that he will be emphasizing product quality and innovation. He also says HP is likely to purchase more software companies. In addition, he revealed that every HP PC will have the ability to run webOS as well as Windows by 2012.


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Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Music is a complex business that is not just about selling recorded music. It like all media is fundamentally a rights business with creation, performance, synchronised royalties.
We all know the music business remains stuck in digital treacle and it is no surprise to see that the global recorded music sales fell by some $1.5bn (£930m) last year.
The UK music business physical sales dropped by almost 20% with the overall performance down some 11% and although digital sales continued to rise by some 20% it did not offset the equivalent loss in physical sales. The result is that the market is shrinking and the UK is sliding down the ranking and has now been overtaken by Germany.
Now US economist Joel Waldfogel disagrees with the music industry bodies and major labels and claims that music piracy hasn’t hurt the creation of new music, but that changes in creation, production and distribution have turned the previous economics of scale of their head. He and many academics also claim that there is no link between Internet piracy and the revenues of the major music labels and that the losses claimed by the industry itself are being hugely exaggerated.
With new and cheaper recording technologies, digital music outlets and social networks, many of the tasks that were previously fulfilled by the big labels could easily be taken over by independent labels, or even the artists themselves. This sounds very familiar to that being experience in other media sectors. The economics are changing and scale is no longer an asset.
EMI was acquired last month by Citigroup and rival Warner Music is also seeking a buyer and many question whether there is a future for these former titans? EMI's losses over the past four years total £2.82bn.Warner’s fourth-quarter revenues in 2010 was down 14% at $789m and its digital turnover fell 5%, giving it a loss for the quarter.
The big labels’ monopoly is falling apart as their role can be taken over by independent labels that operate with a much smaller profit margin. Where the majors sometimes have to sell half a million albums to break even, independent labels can do the same by selling 25,000 or less.
Established artist now make a substantial amount of their money from live music and some claim this could be as high as 90%.
Creation, promotion, and distribution aided by new technologies have changed the music landscape and the Internet offers millions of ways to promote content at a fraction of the cost of the old world. Youtube, Facebook, Last.fm, Spotify and Pandora, now offer artists many new platforms to promote themselves.
Distribution has changed too and with little investment artists can now upload their work for sale on iTunes. The loss of major UK retailers such as Zavvi, Borders and Woolworth has also changed people access to physical music as they are increasingly forced online and once there they aren’t going back.
The impact of these seismic changes don’t just impact the UK with the global recorded music revenues falling by 8.4% last year. According to the Recording Industry body, the IFPI, physical sales, fell by 14.2% year on year. Again although digital revenues grew by 5.3% and account for 29% of all recorded music revenues the growth rate of digital revenue growth has halved year on year .US overall sales fell by 10% with physical sales down 20% and digital sales are stagnating with 1.2% growth. Japan’s music market declined by 8.3%. Digital revenue growth in Europe continues to grow by some 20% plus but still does not compensate for the decline in physical sales.
So is Waldfogel correct to conclude that piracy is not the root of the music industry’s declining fortunes and that the entire music industry has instead changed with more power going to the artists and smaller labels? We believe that today music is more alive, accessible and broader in its offer than ever before. If we accept this, or even a large proportion of this, then we better take a cold look at what is happening closer to home and focus less on yesterday’s economics and models and more on tomorrow’s.


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Poor Bixby. We admittedly haven’t had a lot of nice things to say about Samsung’s smart assistant since launch — but that’s not for lack of potential. The company has promised great things since day one, but has been slow to deliver on, well, just about everything.
Third-party integration was supposed to be one of Bixby’s biggest selling points, but in the year and a half since launch, Samsung hasn’t offered a lot on that front. According to a new report from The Wall Street Journal, the hardware giant will shed more light on its plans at next week’s Samsung Developer Conference, with the launch of third-party “capsules.”
On the face of it, at least, the offerings sound fairly similar to the skills and actions we’ve seen on the competition, letting devs build their own custom responses. It’s something Samsung will really need to push if products like the upcoming Galaxy Home premium smart speaker are going to find any sort of market.
The HomePod competitor already looks like a tough sell as Samsung makes a steep climb further into the burgeoning smart home market, and high-profile partnerships are going to be an important key to breaking in. Speaking of tricky propositions, the Journal story also reconfirms previous rumors Samsung will be showing off a folding phone at next week’s event.


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Nikola, an EV startup once fallen into the slump of fraud, has been putting all efforts in vehicle production this year, and managed to surpass projections of all analysts, followed by a comeback from rock bottom under a surge of 6.3% in share prices.
Nikola, the EV startup that once claimed it would remove Tesla from its throne, was thought to be another Silicon Valley startup fraud seeing how the manufacturer was constantly delaying its mass production, and its founder stepping down after being indicted with fraud. To everyone’s surprise, Nikola has managed to come back with a vengeance.
Nikola managed to delivery 48 units of electric trucks during the second quarter, and produced a total of 50 units of the battery electric truck Tre, which are although lower than the company’s expectation, had left everyone in awe since analysts had long given up trusting Nikola’s estimated figures.
Nikola achieved a revenue of US$18.1 million this quarter, and has access to US$529 million of available cash. Although the company is still sitting on losses, the growth in delivered quantity has finally invigorated morale.
CFO of Nikola commented that it was the delay of battery units that prevented the company from achieving the initial delivery target, though the progress is now back on track, and the annual delivery target of 300-500 units remains unchanged.
The Arizona plant is gradually back on track, and is expected to attain an output of 5 units for each rotation by November. The second phase expansion of the plant will complete during the first quarter of next year, and capacity would once again elevate then.
The electric truck initially proposed by Nikola is adopted with hydrogen fuel cells, though the technology was unattainable, and the direction was sealed off after multiple financing and IPO. The company came up with an emergency solution that is the Tre BEV, which is adopted with lithium batteries, and currently under mass production.
The tractor of the Tre BEV is configured with a 753kWh battery unit, and is capable of a maximum driving range of 560km, which although is far below from the several thousands of kilometers previously proclaimed, is quite sufficient for logistics operators.
50 units may not seem a lot at this point of time, but they are substantially important since Tesla has also yet to fully mass produce its battery electric truck Semi. Despite trailing in specifications, the early delivery of Tre BEV means that Nikola is able to first receive government subsidization, as well as attain targeted carbon reduction figures in advance, which is why many businesses chose to place their orders with Nikola, even with the apparent risks.
Investors are boosted in confidence having seen the better-than-expected delivery quantity, which led to a surge of 6.3% in Nikola’s share prices, and closed at US$7.9.
(Cover photo source: Nikola)


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According to the websites, Eater and Geek Tyrant, a random Lego fan has opened a Lego themed burger joint known as Brick Burger in the Philapines. However, the Lego company loving this idea has then decided to open 3 Brick Burger restaurants in the US; so far in 3 seperate American locations; San Francisco, New York City, and Los Angeles. Also, they shall also anticipatedly open a Brick Burger in Seekonk, Massachusetts, possibly across from its upcoming Chick-Fil-A restaurant.
Every item on the menu per multi-state location of Brick Burger shall be Lego themed like the items at the one in the Philapines. Everyone is excited for this country to experience a dining visit to each restaurant throughout. Even the burgers like the ones at the Philapines Brick Burger shall be Lego brick shaped and multicolored. Above all, each burger shall have its own flag branded Brick Burger each atop it.
Brick Burger satifies food fans and Lego fans each alike when each of its US restaurants opens in California, Massachusetts, and New York as of summer 2017.
SOURCE/S: Geek Tyrant; Eater


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6 Major Misconceptions On The State Of Today's Commercial Real Estate Market
The commercial real estate industry is evolving, but not everyone is keeping up.
What was the norm only a decade ago has been upended by two key factors: The use of technology has made processes, investment strategies and properties more efficient and the health of the U.S. economy is experiencing its second-longest period of economic expansion in history.
These factors combined have worked together to change the built environment, transforming those trends that were previously the norm. To bring commercial real estate owners, investors and tenants up to date, Bisnow debunks six common misconceptions that professionals in the industry still operate under, according to studies conducted by Newmark Knight Frank researchers across the country in “Myth vs. Reality: Evaluating Popular Misconceptions in Commercial Real Estate.”
Myth No. 1: E-commerce is stomping out brick-and-mortar retail.
The rise of e-commerce has forever changed the way consumers shop, but physical retailers are in no way extinct or dying. In-store retail sales accounted for 91% of the $5.1 trillion U.S. retail market last year, NKF reports, and retail sales are expected to advance 4.4% in 2018, according to the National Retail Federation.
As stated by 28 global commercial real estate leaders, the retail industry is in the throes of a seismic shift fueled by online shopping and consumer demand for experience. To accommodate these preferences and give shoppers a reason to power down their computers, landlords are turning to entertainment, food-and-beverage and pop-up tenants to give consumers the diversity they are longing for.
“It’s really about a transformation of the retail market. We’ve seen success for luxury goods and discount stores — it’s that middle part of the market that has an increasingly harder time standing out,” Newmark Knight Frank Senior Managing Director of National Research Sandy Paul said. “So what those middle-market retail centers are doing is trying to find ways to offer customers something they simply cannot get online.”
As for the massive wave of store closures the country has been experiencing these past few years, many of the closings can be attributed to the country’s excess of retail real estate. The U.S. has more retail real estate, 23.6 SF per capita, than any other country in the world, according to NKF. Though certain segments, like department stores, are facing more hardships reinventing themselves, discount and convenience merchandisers are thriving and opening new stores in droves.
Myth No. 2: When it comes to office design, efficiency and cost control are most important.
Though cost savings was top of mind for employers following the Great Recession, it is no longer the primary focus of office design today. Thanks to a full labor market and a decades-low unemployment rate of 3.8%, available talent is scarce and employers are competing to attract young professionals to their businesses.
“Certainly many tenants are reducing their footprint when signing a new lease, but the focus isn’t necessarily all about that,” Newmark Knight Frank Associate Director Bethany Schneider said. “[The] focus now is about improving the employee experience.”
Office amenities and workplace productivity are now key design elements companies take into consideration to attract and retain talent. This can include both flexibile and activity-based workplace design, which consists of a variety of closed and open workspaces to fit everyone’s preference. Some employers have even considered monitoring employee happiness by hiring chief happiness officers to keep track of employee engagement, empowerment and fulfillment.
It doesn’t stop there. Smart buildings that can anticipate employees’ needs — when it is too warm or too bright — and improve the experience using artificial intelligence and machine learning all factor highly into office design today. Some employers are even paying a $33M annual premium to be in the country’s top tech cities and burgeoning markets to appeal to young professionals.
Myth No. 3: Foreign investors have turned away from U.S. commercial real estate.
Political headwinds and high property valuations have created the misconception that foreign buyers are pulling away from U.S. commercial real estate, but the opposite is true.
Though foreign investors accounted for 19% of total deal volume in 2017, down from 2016’s peak of 22%, according to NKF, U.S. transaction volume has been sluggish across the board — for both U.S. and foreign investors. The slowdown has been in response to hundreds of billions of dollars in dry powder competing for the same deals, and a frustrating bid-ask spread hindering investors' ability to secure the yield they desire. Commercial real estate pricing advanced 1% in May, according to Green Street Advisors, but remained flat year to year.
“[Foreign buyers] are still investing at a substantial rate, but they are beginning to explore new submarkets and secondary metro areas in a search for yield,” Paul said. “For example, investors that had been putting a lot of capital in assets in downtown San Francisco are now looking at submarkets in the Valley. The same goes for Washington, D.C.”
According to Real Capital Analytics, cross-border acquisitions in U.S. commercial real estate was up as of Q1, with Canada, China and Singapore deploying $20.3B, $8.9B and $7.7B in the past 12 months, respectively.
Myth No. 4: More often than not, close-in industrial assets are vacant and outdated.
Industrial real estate is red-hot, and demand for these assets is not expected to slow anytime soon. Demand for industrial product is soon expected to catch up with supply due to frothy pricing and construction labor shortages.
“The myth is that the older product very close-in to major cities is not performing well because it’s dated and obsolete,” Schneider said. “The reality is there is a large demand for close-in product because of last-mile costs. To be able to be within 10 miles of a city center is very advantageous for industrial tenants, even if product is a little dated.”
According to NKF, transportation costs make up about 50% of the average distributor's overhead, while real estate costs account for only 4% of their overhead. Close-in warehouse and distribution centers are in particularly high demand thanks to the rise of e-commerce retailers. A need to be near densely populated urban metros to fulfill last-mile deliveries is driving demand.
Last month, gains in industrial real estate values led the overall 1% increase in year-to-year U.S. commercial property pricing. According to Green Street Advisors, industrial prices are up 15% from a year ago, which speaks to investors' appetite for the red-hot sector.
Big-box industrial properties, which are typically more than 200K SF with 28-foot ceilings, have become increasingly valuable. CBRE reports the value of the assets now surpasses that of office buildings.
“You may recall two years ago if you ordered something on Amazon you were happy if you got it in two days. Then that became one day, then one hour, then 30 minutes. In order to fill orders like that they have to have larger warehouses closer to city centers where the largest populations are,” Paul said.
Myth No. 5: Suburban office locations are unattractive and employers and employees don’t want to be there.
For years following the financial crisis, urban centers became the desired, hip, go-to office destination for major companies. Though this trend persists today, employers in search of top talent are not turning up their noses at suburban offices.
Lower costs, desired walkability, access to public transit and a live-work-play dynamic comparable to what can be found in central business districts have made some suburban markets appealing to young professionals and employers alike.
In the last five years, suburban office markets have tightened at a faster rate than downtown metros, NKF reports. CBD office absorption in the 56 major markets tracked by NKF stood at 31.5M SF between Q1 2013 and Q1 2018, while suburban office tenants absorbed 186.6M SF during the same period.
“I think the key for suburban locations to be desirable is having access to highways or to transit and having those amenities,” Schneider said. “The way we look at it is suburban locations that can replicate urban convenience, those are the suburban office product that is performing well."
Myth No. 6: The future of multifamily demand is centered around millennials alone.
Though millennials are still the largest living generation in American history and the generation is expected to drive multifamily demand through 2024, baby boomers are increasingly accounting for a large chunk of multifamily absorption.
The “silver tsunami” describes the wave of aging baby boomers who are entering their retirement years. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the 78 million people age 65 and older are expected to outnumber youth under the age of 18 by 2035. The elder generation is increasingly offloading single-family homes in the suburbs in search of smaller, more manageable apartments in urban metros. According to the Census Bureau, renters age 65 and up accounted for the largest gains in renter households in the past decade.
Paul said developers should shift their focus from solely millennials' preferences and begin building multigenerational housing designed to appeal to older renters as well.
“[Baby boomers] often want larger units and rooms that can accommodate larger furniture or a spare bedroom where their grandkids can visit,” Paul said. “When designing, don't just think of millennials, think about the entire market.”


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June 30, 2005
For the first time in memory, and probably the first time ever, CableLabs has staged a certification wave for new products and received absolutely no takers. A CableLabs spokesman confirmed that no vendors submitted any DOCSIS or CableHome products for testing during Certification Wave #36 (CW #36), which concluded earlier this month. The almost nonexistent fourth certification wave of the year follows a slow third wave, bustling second wave and sluggish first wave. CableLabs officials chalked up the lack of submissions in CW #36 to the increased number and frequency of testing waves this year. They have said that they expect to see wave activity fluctuate wildly now that they are staging eight product testing rounds a year, twice as many as in years past. But officials expect a strong vendor response to CW #37, which started earlier this month. That's because it covers PacketCable products as well as DOCSIS and CableHome devices. With cable operators focusing on rolling out VoIP services now, vendors are scrambling to produce new voice-related gear.
Cable/Video Practice Leader, Light Reading
Alan Breznick is a business editor and research analyst who has tracked the cable, broadband and video markets like an over-bred bloodhound for more than 20 years.
As a senior analyst at Light Reading's research arm, Heavy Reading, for six years, Alan authored numerous reports, columns, white papers and case studies, moderated dozens of webinars, and organized and hosted more than 15 -- count 'em --regional conferences on cable, broadband and IPTV technology topics. And all this while maintaining a summer job as an ostrich wrangler.
Before that, he was the founding editor of Light Reading Cable, transforming a monthly newsletter into a daily website. Prior to joining Light Reading, Alan was a broadband analyst for Kinetic Strategies and a contributing analyst for One Touch Intelligence.
He is based in the Toronto area, though is New York born and bred. Just ask, and he will take you on a power-walking tour of Manhattan, pointing out the tourist hotspots and the places that make up his personal timeline: The bench where he smoked his first pipe; the alley where he won his first fist fight. That kind of thing.
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Sound heard in Argentine sub search comes from explosion
MAR DEL PLATA, Argentina (AP) — Argentina's navy announced Thursday that a sound detected during the search for a missing submarine apparently came from an explosion — an ominous development that prompted relatives of the 44 crew members to burst into tears.
Retailers look to woo shoppers from rivals as Amazon grows
NEW YORK (AP) — Toys and TVs at J.C. Penney, Barbies at Best Buy, kitchen appliances like wine refrigerators at B.J.'s. As the holiday shopping season officially kicks off Thursday, shoppers may find some surprises at their favorite stores.
Trump tells troops 'We're winning' against foes
PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — President Donald Trump thanked U.S. troops for their service on Thursday, assuring them "we're really winning" against America's foes as he celebrated Thanksgiving at his private club in Florida and provided lunch for Coast Guard men and women on duty for the holiday.


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Slack is commonly known as a tool to help employees collaborate internally.
But a growing number of retailers and financial companies are using it for customer service interactions. Retailers are trying it out to get to know their customers better, and banks and finance companies are testing it as a conversational banking channel. While no major bank has rolled out a Slack bot for customers (though they’ve done so on Facebook messenger or iMessage), challenger bank Revolut is testing its capabilities for business customers. The company plans to grow the capabilities of its Slack bot, letting business customers check account balances, query all payments received from a given client and initiate payments.
For financial companies exploring Slack’s capabilities, its success will depend on clear parameters regarding the types of information that will be shared and who gets to see it.
How GAMURS shows the esports journalism industry’s struggle to overcome low freelance rates
Former staff members told Digiday that higher-ups routinely ignored their requests to raise freelance rates, and at times even increased freelancers’ workload without any consideration of increased wages.
Green Mountain Coffee Roasters partners with Martha Stewart to retool its social media strategy
In order to get the retain their current consumers while also reaching new, younger consumers, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters has worked to create more easily digestible content.
How Estonia adjusted its national branding strategy in response to the war in Ukraine
Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Brand Estonia has officially added a fourth pillar to its national brand: the country’s embrace of democratic values. The purpose of the added messagin
SponsoredWhy online search is foundational for a post-cookies environment
Derick Jaros, head of industry, commerce, Yext If there’s one definite thing about the past two years, it’s that consumer behavior changed significantly throughout the pandemic. From the shift to online-only life in early 2020 to the frantic Googling for new hours, policies, and stock updates in the first phase of reopening, consumers turned to […]
Surging photo-sharing app BeReal has brands like Chipotle, e.l.f. Cosmetics rushing to understand platform’s appeal with Gen Z
As social media newcomer BeReal gains traction, marketers start discussions about where and if brands belong on BeReal.
The Rundown: Meta to put new ads all over Facebook and Instagram, including on user profiles
Meta is launching new ad formats this quarter, which are hoping to capitalize off of readers' appetite for discovery.


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A federal appeals court on Friday denied the Federal Trade Commission's motion to block Microsoft's $68.7 million acquisition of video game maker Activision Blizzard.
Following the court's ruling, CNBC reported that Microsoft is still trying to overcome issues with the deal from the United Kingdom's Competition and Markets Authority to close by July 18.
According to the report, the FTC initially brought the lawsuit to stop the merger in December 2022, arguing that the proposed union of the companies was "anti-competitive" and that Microsoft could use its leverage with the company to make games exclusive to its own Xbox platform, or "diminish the experience" of the games, including the famous "Call of Duty" franchise on rival services.
A federal judge in San Francisco ruled against the FTC on Tuesday after five days of hearings, resulting in the agency filing an appeal on Wednesday with the U.S. Court of Appeals 9th Circuit.
The report said that in its appeal, the FTC claimed the district court judge "denied preliminary relief, applying the wrong legal standard: the court effectively required the FTC to prove its full case on the merits with the court as arbiter of the merger's legality."
According to CNN, the merger would make Activision the world's third-largest game publisher behind Sony and Tencent.
Forbes reported Thursday that the deal would expand the Xbox Game Pass subscription service by offering Activision Blizzard's library of games and benefit PC gamers using Microsoft's Windows operating system.
While Microsoft has pledged to continue offering "Call of Duty" on Sony's PlayStation platform for the next 10 years, the report said the availability of new titles remains a question.
The report said Nintendo may become a beneficiary of the deal by recently signing a deal to bring "Call of Duty" to that brand's Switch platform.
According to Forbes, that game franchise on PlayStation accounted for around 13% of Activision's net revenues in 2022, while Microsoft and Xbox accounted for 10%.
Microsoft announced the potential merger in January 2022, saying it would be paying $95 per share for the gaming company.
"Gaming is the most dynamic and exciting category in entertainment across all platforms today and will play a key role in the development of metaverse platforms," Satya Nadella, chairman and CEO, Microsoft, said in a press release at the time. "We're investing deeply in world-class content, community and the cloud to usher in a new era of gaming that puts players and creators first and makes gaming safe, inclusive and accessible to all."
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.


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launch of its first cider, called Carling British Cider, supported by a £4.5m marketing campaign.
Brewer Molson Coors is launching the cider, a 4.5% abv premium drink, exclusively into the off-trade, in March.
It will be sold in 500ml and 275ml bottles and supported with marketing activity that will include TV and digital support.
Jeremy Gibson, brand director for Carling at Molson Coors UK, said: "Our aim was to make a product that beats the competition on taste and refreshment, and Carling British Cider has done just that. The consumer response has been overwhelmingly positive."
Molson Coors has spent 13 months developing the cider, working with the Hertfordshire-based supplier, Bevisol.
The brewer is entering a market where growth has hit a plateau
The off-trade market was worth £869m last year, which grew in value by 9% in the year to August 2012.
Molson Coors will be hoping to replicate the success that AB InBev has witnessed since it launched Stella Artois Cidre into the cider category two years ago.
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LeBron James is in the headlines even when he’s not on the court.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, one of the premier entertainment companies specializing in movies and television, announced a content creation partnership with James’ SpringHill Entertainment company. The partnership involves plans for projects in TV, film and original digital programming.
Warner Bros. President and CEO Kevin Tsujihara commented on the business deal with the Cleveland Cavaliers star:
“LeBron James has one of the most powerful, well-known brands in the world, and we are excited to be in business with him and his partner, Maverick Carter, and SpringHill Entertainment. The combination of LeBron’s global media presence and Warner Bros.’ unmatched production and distribution expertise is a big win for fans everywhere.”
James released a statement on his love for movies and why his partnership with Warner Bros. is something he looks forward to:
“Connecting with my fans and telling meaningful stories have always been my passion. In everything I’ve done, from Nike commercials to ‘Uninterrupted’ and ‘Survivor’s Remorse,’ it’s always about connecting with people of all ages and providing unique content they can all enjoy. And I’ve always loved movies, which makes Warner Bros. the ultimate partner to help us continue to push the envelope. I can’t wait to see what we come up with.”
There has also been speculation that the four-time MVP could star in a reboot of the 1996 film Space Jam, which starred NBA legend Michael Jordan.
Warner Bros. filed new trademarks for “Space Jam” last month. Today announced deal with LeBron James. pic.twitter.com/WaZ33sXCsY
— Alex Weprin (@alexweprin) July 22, 2015
Warner Bros. owns rights to Space Jam. There’s been attempts by production companies to get LeBron to star in a reboot in recent years
— Brian Windhorst (@WindhorstESPN) July 22, 2015
Though the NBA season concluded over a month ago, the Cavaliers star continues to grow his brand outside of the basketball court. Earlier this month, James co-starred in the movie Trainwreck, which was released in theaters nationwide.


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Many Canadians believe shopping online leads to fraudulent activity
Published March 4, 2021 at 12:21 am
Have you unknowingly exposed yourself to fraud?
A recent study from Leger, commissioned by Moneris Solutions Corporation—Canada’s largest processor of debit and credit card payments—found that more than one-third of Canadians may have inadvertently put themselves at risk of becoming a victim of fraud.
According to the findings, 38 per cent of respondents said they have experienced potential fraud or engaged in behaviour that could expose them to fraud, while 23 per cent admitted to high-risk behaviour, such as providing their credit card number over the phone—which can be risky for both consumers and businesses.
“Canadians are eager to support local businesses impacted by pandemic restrictions, but often unknowingly put themselves and the business at greater risk for fraud by paying over the phone,” Brian Prentice, chief risk officer for Moneris, said in a news release.
“When a business can’t prove it is transacting with the actual cardholder, there is no chargeback protection for the business and the transaction is subject to higher processing fees to offset the risk. Fortunately, there are more secure alternatives,” he continued.
Additionally, based on the results, 69 per cent of respondents said they believe shopping online leads to more fraudulent activity, while 60 per cent feel safer shopping in physical stores.insauga's Editorial Standards and Policies


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Starbucks subscribes to the belief that the holidays begin when people “catch their first whiff of eggnog or have their first taste of peppermint.” It also believes the right time was yesterday, since earlier is no doubt better during any season when one in eight Americans buys a Starbucks gift card. And so yesterday, a day when most bars still had cobwebs on their drink boards, unsuspecting customers learned that Starbucks was not only rolling out its annual array of Christmas lattes on a 65-degree day but also already putting them in the special red cups.
Five holiday drinks are back this year — the Caramel Brulée Latte, the Chestnut Praline Latte, the Eggnog Latte, the Gingerbread Latte, and Peppermint Mocha — and the cups this time around are red with an “ombré” effect that Starbucks says “creates a distinctive dimension, fluidity and weightedness” befitting the Starbucks café, which becomes “a sanctuary during the holidays.”
Starbucks convinced Twitter to make a #RedCups emoji for holidays-only use:
Some people claim to already be excited:
Rumor has it that stores will also start playing Bing Crosby’s “Santa Claus Is Comin’ to Town” on endless loop starting tomorrow, and anyone who can handle it more than three times in a row gets a two-month supply of Ugly Sweater cookies.


text: Lodging analyst PKF Hospitality Research is forecasting growth in revenue per available room of 5.8 percent for the year and 6.6 percent in 2013, according to the June 2012 edition of Hotel Horizons. The outlook for the U.S. lodging industry remains unchanged from the company's March forecast, despite lingering economic uncertainty. "Given the headlines of late, I understand why our clients are concerned about the future health of the economy and the U.S. lodging industry," noted PKF-HR president R. Mark Woodworth in a statement. But, Woodworth, added, factors such as sluggish job growth and European economic woes have been concerns for quite some time. "Despite these conditions, the performance of the U.S. lodging market during the first quarter of 2012 was just as strong as we had forecast," he said. PKF calls for an occupancy growth of 1.6 percent for 2012, as well as a 4.1 percent gain in average daily rate.


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In the files of the Mzuzu Fashion Week
Mzuzu-based company Kwanza PR has made history hosting the first of its kind Mzuzu Fashion Week at Grand Palace Hotel.
The Mzuzu Fashion Week which started last week Wednesday through to Saturday gave a chance to designers especially from the Northern region to showcase their designs.
Being the first of its kind, the fashion week received an impressive audience and many appreciated the activities which took place during the four days.
The fashion feast opened with a Mother’s Day launch cocktail followed by a showcase of designs by Mzuzu-based designers which included Creative Base, House of Towera, Sozo Wear, MisK and African Print Madness.
The Mother’s Day special saw a showcase of impressive bridal evening wear collections by Think Pink and guest designers from Lilongwe, Home Grown Clothing which is run by siblings TJ and Debbie Chirwa.
The fun continued the following day with a breast cancer awareness theme which saw professionals from the medical field speaking to women on issues to do with breast cancer.
Managing Director of Gloz African Print Accessories, Glory Mwafulirwa, who is a nurse stressed on the importance of women frequently checking for symptoms of breast cancer observing that early detection is paramount to the treatment process.
The third day of the fashion week was a dinner gala which was accompanied by an art exhibition and a showcase of beach, casual urban trend and evening wear by Mzuzu- based Judy Fashions.
The highlight of the night was an impressive showcase of breath taking designs by Blantyre-based 14-year old designer Tawile Kumsinda.
The youthful designer, who is the Chief Executive Officer of Tazma designs, received a standing ovation from the audience for her exciting designs.
“I am impressed by her boldness and confidence at such a tender age. Her work is amazing and she has shown she is very creative,” said one fan.
Kumsinda was recently also crowned the 2015 Fashion Malawi Edition (Fame) upcoming designer.
The runway was graced by guest designer from Lilongwe, Clemoh Sato who rose to fame when he emerged best designer at the Fame first edition.
The climax of the fashion week was on Saturday which was a community day.
The community day involved youths from different areas in Mzuzu and according to the organisers was aimed at empowering and uniting them through music and fashion.
There was also a showcase of designs on the last day and some of the designers who participated were Pink World and Adams Needle from Lilongwe.
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New state laws mean you can now swim up to get a drink, and soon you could pour your own beer.
Need to Know
- Swim-up bars are now legal in the state, and self-serve taps could come soon. Both have ample safety features built in.
- Under new state law, 17-year-olds can serve liquor, in an attempt to solve staffing shortages.
- While workers don’t expect big disruptions to the service industry, the changes could bring exciting new restaurants and inject life back into Michigan restaurants that have faced staffing shortages.
UPDATE (July 14): Gov. Whitmer signed the bill to legalize self-serve taps in Michigan.
LANSING—How Michiganders consume their favorite mixed drinks, wines, and beers is getting seriously shaken up.
Newly passed and pending laws are changing how Michiganders can drink, who can serve it to them, and, potentially, how much it will cost.
The news has generated a buzz around Lansing, and some Michigan businesses owners are vying to be the first in line to boast a swim-up bar or a self-serve beer wall.
“The industry is ever-changing and we need new ways of creating experiences for people,” said Scott Ellis, executive director of the Michigan Licensed Beverage Association (MLBA).
Royal Oak engineer Jon Stoia has been waiting for one legislative ball to drop before he can open a long-planned self-pour taproom. He and his wife discovered self-serve taps when they were living out of state, and since moving back to Michigan, they’ve been helping usher along legislation that could soon be signed to make the same kind of business legal here.
The Science Behind Beer Walls
How wall taps work is simple: They’re just like a regular tap behind a bar, only in addition to pulling the lever, you also have to swipe a prepaid card that’s given to you at the front of the restaurant. Swiping the card unlocks a chamber to let the drink of choice flow.
“At first when you hear self-pour, I think there’s a concern that someone’s going to pop a keg in the middle of the room,” Stoia said. “In reality, the way the law’s written and the way you can utilize technology, you still have lockouts and controls.”
Self-serve taps are ideal for beer aficionados who want to try the room before settling on a beer they like, because they can pay by the ounce. For those itching to try a watermelon sour, for example, they can pour themselves a couple of ounces before moving onto a full glass of a more traditional IPA.
Now, these so-called beer walls will likely be coming to Michigan, as they already exist in all the neighboring states, Ellis said. Stoia hopes to be among the first, if not the first, in Michigan.
Stoia said he’s gearing up to open North End Taproom in Royal Oak around the end of the year, and there’s already palpable intrigue about the concept. At 111 South Main St., it will feature mainly Michigan beers, with unique, outside-the-box brews that are made for sampling.
“People are just interested,” Stoia said. “It sounds new to them, and you have a lot of people excited to come try it out.”
Previously, Michigan law permitted taps at tables, but the self-serve mechanism as a primary means for distributing drinks to individuals is new. It includes beers, wines, and pre-made cocktails.
MLBA’s Ellis, who co-owns MichiGrain Distillery in Lansing, is considering the model to augment his business as well, by serving craft cocktails on tap. Installing a self-serve tap, while expensive, could insulate his business from staffing fluctuating, he said.
“I have to think about how it will work logistically and physically in the building,” he said. “But I think it will attract—maybe it’s a marketing type thing… first beer wall in town”
Ellis said that in advocating for bills on behalf of the MLBA, he found that legislators’ biggest concern was safety. Running about $1000 apiece for the technology, self-serve taps have several safety features built in, he noted:
- Each pour cannot distribute more than 16 ounces of beer or 12 ounces of wine or cocktails.
- At least one employee constantly monitors customers’ sobriety levels.
- Customers are required to show their ID in order to purchase a prepaid key card.
- Key cards have a maximum upload amount, and customers must check in with an employee to re-up their funds.
- If a customer seems highly intoxicated, employees can cancel their key cards through a central computer system, effectively “cutting them off.” The amount will be refunded directly back to the customer’s credit card.
The bill to legalize self-serve taps is expected to be signed into law by Gov. Gretchen Whitmer shortly after the holiday weekend, following its long road through the Michigan legislature, which concluded when the Senate took up the final package in a 36-1 vote last Thursday.
If signed, self-serve taps will be the newest addition to a rapidly changing Michigan liquor landscape.
Other Ways to Get Your Drinks
On June 14, 2022, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed a law to let Michigan businesses operate swim-up bars. Businesses must pay an annual fee of $350 to operate a swim-up bar located within a pool, as long as the bar is regularly disinfected, physically separated from crowded areas and minors, and meets other safety conditions.
The drinks, which can contain any type of alcohol, must also be served in plastic cups.
Michigan has just over 5,000 publicly licensed swimming pools, so people could soon swim away with a drink at some of the more popular resorts, bars, and restaurants in the state.
“The Bavarian Inn Zehnder Family applauds Governor Whitmer and the Legislators for approving the swim up bar legislation,” said Michael Keller Zehnder of Bavarian Inn Lodge, which operates Zehnder’s Splash Village indoor water park in Frankenmuth, in a press release. “This will enable hospitality business operators the opportunity to provide a new experience for their guests which will boost the Michigan Tourism Industry.”
Also on June 14, Whitmer signed a bill to allow 17-year-olds to sell and serve alcohol at restaurants, lowering the age requirement by a year. The bill is designed to expand the labor force and get more applicants through to restaurants, which have been especially short-staffed during the pandemic.
New servers who work with alcohol have to undergo training by the Liquor Control Commission, and they must also be supervised by someone 18 or older who has passed the program.
“We don’t think this is going to be this big thing where 17-year-olds are everywhere working,” Ellis said. “This is going to help supplement what [employers] are short on right now.”
Ellis said he has received about 10 calls or texts in a two-week timeframe from businesses around the state letting him know that they’ve had 17-year-old applicants for positions that they previously weren’t eligible for.
Staffing Bars and Beer Walls
Rahsaan Grissom, a board member for the Greater Detroit Chapter of the US Bartenders’ Guild, said people shouldn’t expect the one-year adjustment to lead to any drop-off in quality or responsibility. With the conditions of the bill in place, it could instead be a good opportunity to train people for more profitable jobs in the service industry from an earlier age, Grissom said.
“There are great people … who are forming programs for people to come into this industry and find it as a career,” Grissom said. “This can be a great step toward that, so you don’t have to wash dishes for five years.”
Grissom said he’s not worried about 17-year-olds coming in and taking jobs, given how short-staffed the service industry. And restaurant owners aren’t expecting the change of law to fix everything, but having more eligible workers could chip away at the problem, helping both employees and owners.
Similarly, Grissom said, while automation presents a challenge to every industry, he’s not too concerned about self-serve beer halls taking the place of bartenders, since the taps still require constant supervision.
The experience between beer halls and bars is so different that customers will continue to seek out bars for their atmosphere, and beer halls for a new experience, Grissom said. If anything, the new technology coming to Michigan could help mom and pop shops up north, where seasonal workers are hard to find.
“Part of both of these [bills] stems from the fact that we have been under a worker shortage for a long time,” Grissom said. “This is not something that is new. This is not something post-2020, post-pandemic or anything. It has affected all of us.”
While the service industry can be “exploitative,” it also becomes a reliable career for many people, Grissom said. But because of staffing shortages, more restaurant and bar workers are looking to head to more stable jobs, even if it means a pay cut.
These bills recognize that, Grissom said.
“The best thing that people can do to help us out is be nice to us,” Grissom said. “If people want to keep going out, be nice to your servers, be nice to your bartenders, be nice to your barbacks. And people will fall in love with this industry again, and we’ll get back on our feet.”
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Aurus, the company that made the Senat limousine for Russian president, Vladimir Putin has revealed that the civilian variant of his limousine is now available for sale. It is definitely not... Read more
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The Nifty Knitters is a 30 member charity knitting group that meets weekly at Senior Services of the Chathams. This group knits baby and chemo hats for local hospitals and lap rugs for veterans at Lyons VA Hospital. Each year they produce 1,000 to 1,200 handmade items that are donated to needy individuals.
“We are honoring our knitters by selling the Shop for a Cause passes,” Pam Mansfield, Executive Director of Senior Services of the Chathams, said. “The first 100 coupons we sell will be used to rent a bus to take the knitters to the Lion Brand yarn store in Carlstadt, NJ for lunch and a tour.”
According to Mansfield earlier this year, Lion Brand Yarn donated a box of its yarn to the knitting group and invited the group to come tour its store.
Senior Services Center of the Chathams is selling Macy's Shop for a Cause passes good for a one-day sale on Saturday, Aug. 23 at any Macy's in the country. The 25% discount coupon is good all day long and can be reused multiple times during the day. Stop by the Senior Center at 58 Meyersville Rd., Chatham or call 973-63-4565 for more information or to purchase a pass.