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You have searched for "further tariffs"
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BEIJING: China will respond firmly if the United States insists on escalating trade tensions, the foreign ministry said on Tuesday after U.S. President Donald Trump said further tariffs were ready to kick in if no deal was reached at June's G20 summit.
SINGAPORE: Most Southeast Asian stock markets fell on Tuesday as a rout in Chinese shares ahead of a U.S. deadline for further tariffs on exports from the world's second-largest economy soured risk sentiment across the region.
REVIEW: The bullish vibes from the trade truce struck between Washington and Beijing helped to reinforce the local market’s current uptrend.Global equities experienced a lift at the start of the week’s trading in the wake of the US promise to suspend further tariffs on Chinese goods while easing restrictions on Huawei.
SINGAPORE: Markets may breathe a sigh of relief after President Donald Trump and President Xi Jinping decided to resume trade negotiations after a six-week stalemate, with the U.S. agreeing to a temporary freeze on further tariffs on Chinese goods.
WASHINGTON:U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday that he may not impose more tariffs on Chinese goods after Beijing sent the United States a list of measures it was willing to take to resolve trade tensions, although he added it was unacceptable that some major items were omitted from the list.
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump on Thursday directed U.S. trade officials to identify tariffs on US$100 billion more Chinese imports, upping the ante in an already high-stakes trade confrontation between the world's two largest economies.
WASHINGTON: China promised to “substantially” expand purchases of US goods after the latest round of trade talks, and both sides planned further discussions to reach a breakthrough with only a month to go before the Trump administration is set to ratchet up tariffs.


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Kmart Australia under fire for big changes at every store – but do you agree?
A Kmart customer has targeted the retail giant over a controversial change of all stores across Australia.
Taking to Facebook, the Victorian shopper expressed concerns about Kmart’s decision to move its checkouts to the center of stores.
SEE ABOVE: US buyers’ confusion about Kmart POS
For more lifestyle news and videos, go to Lifestyle >>
In particular, he said he was offended that the decision meant all customers’ bags and purchases had to be checked by Kmart employees and security guards before they could exit the store.
“Why put the checkout area in the middle of the store when you treat EVERY SHOPPER like a shoplifter on the way out?” he asked.
The post drew a strong reaction from Facebook users, with many agreeing with his point.
“It’s so frustrating,” said one. “Then they put 15-year-old kids outside and expect them to be security guards.
“It’s appalling on both sides of this transaction.”
Adding another: “I’m with you mate. It’s the DUMBEST idea they’ve ever had. Now some Kmarts have self checkout near the door.”
Said a third: “I know right. I totally agree with you.”
Wrote another one: “Sermon”.
But other customers said they thought Kmart’s decision to move the checkouts to the center of the store was a smart one.
“I used to think it was crazy, but it makes sense,” argued one Facebook user.
“Previously, the only way out of Kmart was through the tills, whether you bought something or not. It created a bottleneck and required more staff attention than posting a person at the exit.
“Under the old system, once you paid you were out of business – you’re less likely to return if you forgot to buy something.
“That way you’re good at the store after you’re done shopping and there’s a chance you’ll see something else to buy on the way out. It’s a way of getting you to walk past some items a second time.”
A Kmart spokesman told 7NEWS.com.au the decision had been made to move checkouts so there would be less queues and clutter at store entrances.
“At Kmart, we strive to provide a pleasant and convenient shopping experience for all of our customers, whether they shop with us in-store or online,” the spokesman said.
“The decision was made a few years ago to place Kmart cash registers in the middle of the store to make shopping more convenient, ensure store entrances are free of queues and clutter, and allow customers easy entry and exit.
“This current layout is more open and spacious without the tills being at the front of the store, which can get crowded at busy times of the year like Christmas.
“As with many retailers, it is also a condition of entry to all our stores that, upon request, customers present all bags and receipts for inspection before exiting the store.
“This is a standard procedure that takes place regardless of how a customer makes their purchase, whether it’s at our service desk, at self-checkout or if they were assisted by a team member.
“We look forward to continuing to serve all of our customers in the many different ways they love to shop.”
https://7news.com.au/lifestyle/so-frustrating-kmart-under-fire-over-huge-change-to-every-store-but-do-you-agree-c-10141089 Kmart Australia under fire for big changes at every store – but do you agree?

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iPhone 3GS to be Free w/ Contract, iPhone 4 Price Drops to $99
October 4, 2011 4:50 PM
comment(s) - last by
Dr of crap..
iPhone 3GS offers a decent entry level smart phone, iPhone 4 still packs mid-range punch
Apple, Inc.'s (
) iPhone 4S is a bit tardy, missing its typical June release and pushing back to October. But for Apple fans
the refresh is almost here
. On October 14, Apple is launching its fifth generation handset, which includes a new faster downlink modem, a higher resolution camera, and a more powerful CPU/GPU system-on-a-chip.
Alongside that launch Apple will be shuffling the prices on its existing lineup.
The iPhone 3GS will now be offered for free with a two year contract. This marks the latest in a series of price drops for the best-selling smart phone. In May 2010, just before the iPhone 4 launch, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (
slashed the iPhone 3GS 16 GB model price to $97 USD
-- a $100 discount. Other retailers soon followed, as Apple cut the official price to $100 (but for a lesser 8 GB model) with the
launch of the iPhone 4
. By July 2011 refurbished iPhone 3GS were
selling for a mere $9 USD
with contract on AT&T, Inc.'s (
For those who need a refresher on the hardware (which is understandable -- the phone is nearly two and a half years old), the phone packs Apple's older 3.5-inch 480x320 pixel smart phone display, a 600 MHz ARM Cortex-A8 CPU, 256 MB of RAM, and 8 GB of NAND flash storage. The best-selling phone looks somewhat dated by today's standards, passing as a modest entry level smart phone. But it still packs solid battery life and a broad app catalog -- key strengths for Apple.
The iPhone 4 is also dropping in price, hitting $99 USD with new 2-year contract. Apple didn't explicitly mention what the capacity of the $99 USD fourth generation model (U.S. pricing only) is, but it will reportedly be a new 8GB model, available on Sprint Nextel Corp. (
), AT&T, and the Verizon Communications, Inc. (
Compared to the iPhone 3GS, the iPhone 4 was a major evolutionary leap. It packs a 960x640 3.5-inch display (the "Retina Display"), which still is higher than virtually any Android smart phone on the market. It bumps the memory to a more palatable 512 MB and the processor speed up to a respectble 1 GHz. And it comes with a 5 MP camera.
Ultimately the phone's biggest strengths are its display, its app catalog, and its surprisingly pleasing camera (given the resolution). The phone's biggest weakness is arguably its slow wireless modem, which confines it to standard 3G speeds -- though it does of course support Wi-Fi networks where they're available.
This article is over a month old, voting and posting comments is disabled
RE: Interesting news if you like Siri..
10/4/2011 9:16:02 PM
I am no apple fan, but it could just be that all iPhone models that get upgraded to iOS5 will get the updated siri client. I know what the server message said about the 4s, but that could just be advertising their new model.
However if it is true, and they did yank it from everyone except those who buy the latest and greatest, then I am happy I picked android when I got my phone.
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Share under pressure: After a brilliant start to the stock market: That’s why the Nikola share comes under the wheels | message
Shares in this article
• Startup with an innovative business idea
• Share plunges after a brilliant start to the stock market
• CEO blames Tesla disciples
Nikola convinced many investors with his idea of becoming the “Tesla for trucks”. Unlike the well-known US group, Nikola does not focus on electromobility, but focuses on hydrogen. This is considered a candidate for possible future technologies, which was one of the reasons why the US company made a brilliant start on the stock exchange.
But investors’ euphoria is waning – and although the Nikola share has continued to rise significantly since the stock market began, earnings have crumbled in recent days after the stock got under the wheel more clearly.
Nikola boss blames Tesla disciples
For Nikola CEO Trevor Milton, competitor Tesla is to blame for the recent crash in Nikola stock. Specifically, he doesn’t Elon Musk and responsible for the management of the electric car maker, but probably some Tesla fans who are said to have launched coordinated attacks against Nikola on Twitter. “We tracked the negative tweets, and most don’t come from Nikola shareholders, but from hired hands who claim they are selling all of their stocks to fuel fear and urge others to do what turns out to be Anti-Nikola or paid attacks turns out, “said the manager.
Tesla fans have been the target of malicious attacks themselves for years and are now targeting Nikola, according to Bloomberg, referring to tweets by the Nikola boss.
The massive share sale, which was responsible for a large part of the price losses at the start of this week, was assumed by a single trader, Milton also claimed on Twitter, but deleted the tweet again shortly afterwards. A screenshot of a user who saved Milton’s post can still be found:
Stop deleting tweets that don’t get the desired replies, your shareholders need to see what you’re saying! pic.twitter.com/FH9vM5lOyx
– Ricky Tan (@rkstan) July 7, 2020
“Someone moved 1.5 million stocks in one trade today, ~ $ 75 million in addition to all other trades. It wasn’t the overall market that dragged us down, or the herd mentality. It was a person’s negligence and greed did everything at once, regardless of others, “Milton had justified the crash.
More business model than business?
But while Trevor Milton sees himself and his company as the victim of malicious attacks, market participants see other reasons for the recent slump in Nikola. Because the stock price had actually gone very high very quickly since the IPO last month. Investors had been convinced of the company’s idea, but Nikola still has no physical product.
This was also criticized by RBC analyst Joseph Spak, who gave the Nikola share a “hold” rating and a price target of $ 46. Although he sees a certain potential in the startup, the expert complained that Nikola still had “more of a business plan than a real business”, which made it difficult for him to value the share.
In fact, Nikola apparently hit the nerve with his concept of a fuel cell truck, but the vehicle does not yet exist. Potential future customers can pre-order the truck for a deposit, but the vehicle is only available on paper and not as a prototype. Before the second half of 2021, pre-orderers probably cannot hope for delivery.
Nikola stock remains risky bet
As long as Nikola doesn’t have a serious product on the basis of which investors and analysts can evaluate the value of the company, the Americans will remain a startup with an innovative idea, the implementation of which is in the stars.
Editorial office Forex-news.com.net
More news about Tesla
Image sources: Nikola


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Since the fifth administration took office in 2014, Gauteng Provincial Government has provided financial and non-financial support to 25 526 Small, Medium and Macro Enterprises (SMMEs), township enterprises and co-operatives.
Presenting the third Political Report, Premier David Makhura said the province has been taking decisive steps to revitalise and mainstream the township economy.
“There is ample evidence to demonstrate that, step by step, we are succeeding in catalysing sustainable and meaningful economic activity in our townships. Already all linen contracts in our hospitals have been awarded to women owned enterprises a number of whom are based in the townships,” said Makhura.
He further noted that the provincial government was committed to spend 30% of its goods and services budget on procuring from township suppliers and enterprises.
At the end of the second quarter of this year, Gauteng had already exceeded the 18% target for 2016/17, and it spent over R6.8 billion procuring goods and services from 1 600 township suppliers.
Municipalities have also spent more than R4.2 billion on procuring goods and services from township enterprises just in the 2015/16 financial year.
In addition, Gauteng is currently developing over 700 township based suppliers, fitting them into its supply chain and introducing them to the provincial government’s large suppliers for absorption into their value chains.
“I am happy to also report that we have begun working on assessing the impact and how we can better utilise our significant procurement muscle to support localisation and industrialisation,” he said.
Going forward, Makhura said Gauteng will be deliberate in using such significant procurement spend to boost localisation, reindustrialisation and the revitalisation of the township economy.
Issued by Gauteng Provincial Government


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Brands, like newspapers, have to keep on breaking news. And if there is no news, they need to go out and create some. Newness is a social fixation and an economic necessity. Long-term survival for a brand depends on constantly giving your audience something fresh, revolutionary or innovative. Modern consumers tire easily, and marketers need […]
News International is mooting a series of editorial job cuts across its tabloid and broadsheet newspapers in the next two weeks. The newspaper publisher is also considering cutting the rates it pays some agencies for stories. It is thought production staff, mainly sub-editors, will be the worst hit as the publisher looks to consolidate print […]
E-tailer Amazon has revealed a 9% increase in profits for the final three months of last year. It says net profit totalled $225m (£157m) in the fourth quarter, up from $207m (£145m) a year ago. The company says it enjoyed a robust holiday shopping season and has not yet been hit hard by the cutback […]
The government has given its backing to a Channel 4 tie-up with BBC Worldwide in its Digital Britain report. Commuications minister Lord Carter re-iterated the views expressed in Ofcom’s public service broadcasting review last week calling for Channel 4 to be at the heart of a “new entity”. In his Digital Britain report, published today […]
The communications minister, Lord Carter, has pledged to deliver broadband to every home in the UK by 2012 in his Digital Britain report. Carter’s report said the government is inviting the BBC to take a lead role to drive the universal takeup of broadband through “marketing, cross-promotion and the provision of content”. Carter’s report confirms […]
The government has today (Janauary 29) avoided confirming an analogue radio switch-off in its Digital Britain report. Communications minister, Lord Carter, says there is no reason why analogue and digital radio cannot not exist together. The report says the government is committed to making DAB a “primary distribution network” for radio. It says DAB has […]
Honda is closing its UK production plants from today. The move will affect just over 3,000 of the 4,000 employees, who will receive their full basic pay for the first two months, but around 60% thereafter. The shutdown is at its Swindon base and is considered to be one of the longest in Britain’s recent […]
Readers Digest UK has appointed a new publishing director. Katherine Rose, a former TK Maxx marketer. Rose will take the commercial helm at the publishers Music and Video division.
Toyota GB has appointed Kitcatt Nohr to handle its direct marketing account. The agency will take on all customer acquisition and retention activity with a particular focus on cultivating new customers, with a unified team working across Toyota and sister marque Lexus, which it took on last summer. The account was awarded following an 11th […]
High street group Alliance Boots has merged its Boots Opticians business with competitor Dollond & Aitchison. The new business, which will trade as Boots Opticians, will create the second largest optical chain in the UK with 690 shops, including around 210 franchises.
The consumers behaviour in a recession is markedly different from that in boom times, so marketers must change their behaviour as well. The importance of the data that you use to underpin every marketing communication you execute will grow significantly in 2009. History is taking on a new meaning. The question of whether we can still predict consumer behaviour, based on how those same consumers acted in the past has never been more relevant. Demographic indicators are shifting as fast as changes to observed behaviour. Consumers are changing their lifestyle and leisure habits as well as their purchasing behaviour.
Londons 95.8 Capital FM breakfast duo Johnny Vaughan and Lisa Snowdon have retained the number one spot in the capital, according to the latest Rajar listening figures. The duo had 11,000 more listeners than Heart 106.2 FMs Jamie Theakston and Harriet Scott.


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September 5, 2017 at 3:32 p.m.
The Stanfield, Arizona, operation has 10,000 dairy cows - and all at one location in Pinal County. It's very likely among the top one percent of U.S. dairy farms when it comes to cow numbers at a single site, according to general manager and vice president Frank Boyce.
But there's far more to Shamrock Farms than sheer cow numbers and a large volume of milk produced. The farm is part of Shamrock Dairy. That's a nationwide company that markets bottled milk and several other dairy products.
One of Shamrock Dairy's most visible ventures is its link to Subway restaurants. The dairy provides the milk that's sold in more than 20,000 Subways across the United States.
Shamrock Farms traces its roots to 1922, when W.T. McClelland founded the business in Tucson, Ariz. He started with a small herd of Guernseys.
Now, 90 years later, Shamrock Farms is home to not just 10,000 cows, but two herds. The conventional herd averages 9,600 cows, with about 8,400 milked on any particular day.
There's also an organic managed herd of about 700 cows and heifers. There, the milking string averages 540. The organic herd was formed in 2007.
"It's challenging, when all eyes are on you all the time, because you're considered a corporate dairy," Boyce said. "It's a tough business. You've got to make sure you cross every 't' and dot every 'i' in the organic business."
The national organic rule requires that dairy cows be on pasture and get part of their dry matter intake from it. To that end, Shamrock Farms uses all of its 1,000 acres.
While the pasture season is winding down in much of the United States, it has only started at Shamrock Dairy, about 50 miles south of Phoenix. Boyce said, "Our pasture season is right now - October through April."
Since that part of Arizona is essentially desert, shade for the cattle is supremely important. Those on pasture have access to shade structures, and the conventional herd uses what Boyce calls "Saudi shades." The farm has four of these structures, each 1,640 feet long.
Under each metal-roofed shade are 400 pens, each holding 16 cows. The roofs provide 780,000 square feet of protection from the blistering sun.
Each shade structure has a three-foot-wide gap at the center, to let heat out. Each also has a 24-foot-wide feed lane bisecting it.
"Shade and cooling are essential here," Boyce said. He estimated that the farm has spent close to five million dollars on fans and misters.
June and July can bring daytime temperatures as high as 117 degrees Fahrenheit. But those are not the worst conditions.
Boyce said, "The most miserable time is August and September. We'll still be at 111 to 112 degrees, and we'll still have overnight lows in the low-to-mid-90s. And during those months we'll have humidity pushing 45 to 50 percent."
Even with shade, misters and fans, milk production still slips. Most of the year, without any bovine somatotropin (BST), the conventional herd averages about 74 pounds of milk per day, Boyce said. But during August and September, that drops to 60 pounds a day.
Instead of stall dividers, these shade buildings are equipped with self-locking stanchions. The dairy has 9,600 of these stanchions, or "holes," as Boyce calls them.
Shamrock Farms cows are fed a total mixed ration three times a day and are milked twice a day. For the conventional herd, milking takes place in a twin double-50 parlor. With offices and storage space included, the parlor area measures 98 by 490 feet.
Each of those parlors has four people milking and one fetching cows. Boyce said the setup can milk more than 900 cows an hour.
Shamrock Farms has two more milking parlors. The one for the organic herd is a double-25, which Boyce acknowledged was too big for the number of cows. Another milking parlor is a double-10 that's in the hospital barn.
On BST, Boyce said, "I don't think anybody uses it in Arizona at all right now."
Shamrock Farms opted against its use for a couple of reasons: Boyce did not want to have to defend its use of the product, and he figured that with the extra milk production, farmers' milk prices would weaken. "It's really eighth grade economics," Boyce said.
The dairy uses sexed semen regularly, but only on heifers and only during the cooler months, when the animals are under less heat stress. Several of the farm's 92 full-time employees work mainly as breeders. They can earn bonuses based on the conception rate.
Bonuses are $4 per pregnancy when there's a 70 percent conception rate, for example. Under the payment schedule, a breeder can earn a bonus of more than $1,000 in a month.
Shamrock Farms buys the great majority of its feed. Alfalfa might come from 150 miles away, but all the corn silage is grown within seven miles or so. Concentrates mainly originate in the Midwest. Commodity feeds used include rolled corn, barley, cottonseed, corn gluten, and bakery waste.
Currently, thanks in part to high feed prices, the farm's cost of production is higher than the price it gets for milk. Shamrock Farms was paid around $16 for milk this past summer, but Boyce said he expects milk prices to keep climbing farther into autumn, since futures markets are already expecting $21 per hundredweight.
On Boyce's list of future challenges for the farm are water, legislation, and waste/manure. The farm uses two twin-screen manure separators, two sand traps, five settling ponds, and one larger irrigation pond.
Area farmers who contract to sell crops to the dairy also agree to take some of the manure. Boyce said he is still waiting to see whether a digester to produce methane from the manure might one day pencil out.
Of course, for a dairy farm with 10,000 cows and in a desert, water is a constant concern. Boyce said the local water district keeps trimming the per-acre allocation. As a result, a farm might not crop all its land.
Shamrock Farms has its own 500,000-gallon water storage tank. It's fed by a well that's 1,610 feet deep. Some 1,800 gallons of water per minute is brought to the surface by a 400-horsepower pump.
"Every bit of water on this property gets reused," too, Boyce said. The average number of uses is five, including washing cow lanes and helping separate manure solids from the liquid portion.
A fun part of the farm is Roxie's Outdoor Adventure. Roxie is a cartoon cow that has become Shamrock Farms' mascot.
Some 10,000 people a year tour Shamrock Farms. They get to see cows being milked, watch a film that provides an overview of the operation and how milk goes from cow to grocery store.
Younger visitors get to play at Roxie's Outdoor Adventure. Kids can climb a 20-foot-tall milk bottle and slide out of a cottage cheese tub.
Shamrock Farms' tours are popular with the snowbirds. Boyce said, "A lot of Minnesota and Wisconsin people come here - people who winter here."
As for the Subway milk contract, Boyce said it opened up other markets, too.
"It got us to think on a national level, rather than on a regional level," he said. "If you're shipping milk to a Subway in New York, there's no reason you can't be in a pizza parlor next door."
A new item made from milk from Shamrock Farms is Rockin' Refuel. It's a postexercise drink that contains 20 grams of protein, plus carbohydrates, to help muscles recover. "I think that's going to be pretty big for us," Boyce said.
Boyce has been employed by Shamrock Dairy 32 years and has been affiliated with Shamrock Farms 21 of those years. He grew up in Phoenix but has come to enjoy farming.
He said, "This is what I love doing. The dairy business is really interesting. There are some good people in it."
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The U.S. government has given Ireland the go-ahead to export beef to America, making its rib-eyes the first red meat from Europe to (legally) reach our shores in about 16 years. The embargo went into effect in 1998, after our national freakout and response to Britain’s outbreak of bovine spongiform encephalopathy. Prions, or the errant proteins that cause the disease, are immune to cooking, but after a relatively incident-free decade, American officials agreed last year to end the ban. Meat from Ireland will head here first.
Ranchers from that county now have their sights set on one-upping the Aussies, who currently dominate the grass-fed market, by carving out a niche of truly pasture-raised products. The market for premium beef is expanding — even fast food has gotten into the game — and at any rate, additional organic options are welcome, as America has this little problem of a serious affordable-meat shortage right now with no end in sight. Officials say they’ve already developed an elaborate marketing campaign. “There is also the large Irish-American community,” Ireland’s ag minister tells the Times, “which will be a key target of our promotional efforts.” Don’t be surprised, in other words, if you start seeing “Irish beef” burgers popping up on menus any day now.


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Standard Chartered’s private equity arm announced, Tuesday, that it acquired a significant minority stake in Vietnamese restaurant chain operator Golden Gate for US$35 million.
Standard Chartered Private Equity (SCPE) said that the deal marks its first investment in Vietnam.
Bert Kwan, head of Southeast Asia at SCPE, and investment professional Lee Tjen Chew will join Golden Gate’s board, according to the release.
SCPE’s announcement came after Mekong Capital, a Vietnamese private equity firm, said it had exited its investment in Golden Gate, resulting in a net 9.1-fold return on its investment.
Mekong Capital Partner Chad Ovel said in statement released on September 12 that Golden Gate has grown from five restaurants in 2008 (when the firm first made its investment) to 67 presently.
“Nonetheless, as a lot of value had been created in the period of our investment, we saw this as an opportunity to realize profits for the fund,” said Ovel.
Mekong Capital reportedly invested $2.6 million in Golden Gate in 2008, and two years later started to partially sell off its holding, according to the Wall Street Journal. Its original stake wasn’t disclosed.
Golden Gate is one of the leading restaurant chain operators in Vietnam with popular brands like mushroom hotpot restaurant Ashima, rotary express hotpot restaurant Kichi-Kichi, grill and hotpot restaurant SumoBBQ and beer club Vuvuzela.


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As Macy's struggles to par down its inventory, it is turning to steep discounts in order to make way for new seasonal product. The company has said that it believes investing more in data analytics and overhauling its markdown strategy will help it avoid fewer discounts going forward, but analysts believe that its inventory is the bigger issue.
Kroger's digital sales are increasing as the company invests more in services like delivery and in-store pickup, but they continue to eat into the company's profits. During its first quarter earnings on Thursday, Kroger reported that digital sales were up 42% compared to the same period last year, but same-store sales excluding fuel were up just 1.5%.
Walmart's earnings report showed a legacy retailer growing, despite digital competitors like Amazon looming. Though Walmart has had trouble executing its overall e-commerce program, these results show that the retailer may have a few competitive advantages.
At the Modern Retail Virtual Forum, we’ll bring together senior retail marketers online to discuss the challenges they’re facing and the solutions they’re seeking in the era of smarter retail.Buy Passes


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Apple brand is known for the elite classes which has highly expensive phones with iOS which makes it a bit complex for common public. On the other hand, Samsung gives a range of phones in low to high prices which have reasonable to expensive charges including android system which is quite simpler to use for common public. Apple and Samsung are having tough competition in terms of features, camera and accessories, every time they come up with something new in the market.
Samsung’s J series proved to be more affordable with all the essential features in the phone rather than iPhone series. Apple, on the other hand, shipped about 41.3 million units and had 11-12 per cent share. Samsung shipped over 71 million units to command over 20 per cent market share.
Thus, Samsung continues to enjoy its topmost position in the global smartphone market, even though its shipments declined in the April-June 2018 quarter over last year, as per the reports by IDC, Counterpoint Research and Canalys.


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Kia introduces refreshed Soul facelift 2012 at the 2011 New York Auto Show.
Kia Soul crossover, a vehicle that began the Korean carmaker’s design-led transformation two years ago, comes back to New York with updated styling and upgraded powertrain technology.
For the 2012 model year, the popular Soul crossover received a significant number of technology enhancements to deliver more power and improved fuel efficiency, says Kia Motors America.
The all-new Kia Soul amplifies the fun-to-drive factor with significant horsepower increases, new six-speed transmissions and the ability to deliver up to 34 miles per gallon on the highway.
Under the hood, the Kia Soul 2012 – model year features the carmaker’s new 1.6L GDI Gamma engine, which generates 135 horsepower (11 percent increase from previous engine).
The more potent 2.0L four-cylinder unit is also available with either a six-speed manual or a six-speed automatic transmission.
The 2.0L engine in the Kia Soul 2012 generates 160 horsepower – a 13 percent increase over the previous 2.0L engine.
The 1,6L engine is 10 percent more fuel efficient than its predecessor and has a rating of 28/34 mpg city/highway, while the more potent 2.0L unit achieves 27/33 mpg city/highway.
“After just two model years, we have given the 2012 Soul crossover significant improvements in style, power and fuel economy, making this iconic vehicle the perfect package for consumers looking for something a little outside the box. The Soul crossover vehicle has always stood out from the crowd and was responsible for bringing new customers to the Kia brand and positioning the company for a series of record-breaking successes. With gas prices on the rise, this refresh adds even more style and fun-to-drive performance, while also improving fuel economy by 10 percent,” said Michael Sprague, vice president of Marketing & Communications at Kia Motors America.
Kia Soul 2012 Model Year image gallery:


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Roberto’s Barred from Sales over Back Taxes
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Roberto’s Italian Ristorante in downtown Youngstown has been barred from making sales by the Ohio Department of Taxation for failure to pay back taxes.
Co-owner John Naples, according to WFMJ, said the closure is temporary and stems from a misunderstanding of the due date for the taxes. He said he thought the taxes were due Feb. 1 and the business plans on paying them.
The notice posted on the front door of the restaurant says the Department of Taxation has suspended Roberto’s vendor license, barring it from making any sales.
The department can suspend businesses and licenses if they fail to pay sales tax or file returns for two consecutive months or three months in a 12-month period.
WFMJ reported that the owners have contacted their attorney and are aiming to re-open later this week.
Calls to the restaurant went directly to an answering machine.
Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.


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SQM increases iodine and lithium sales in third quarter
Published: Wednesday, 23 November 2011
World-leading producer benefits from higher iodine prices and lithium volumes
SQM SA posted
higher third quarter sales in both its lithium and iodine
businesses, said the Chile-based company on Wednesday.
SQM is the
worlds largest producer of both lithium and iodine
products, which are extracted from the Atacama Desert.
The groups iodine and derivatives division reported


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Humboldt Grace, an online community, is hosting its first event this Sunday, June 28th Noon PST. Humboldt Grace: A digital Discussion Between Legacy Cannabis and New Industry Cannabis.
There are large gaps of trust, communication, and collaboration between generations of experience and new operators coming into the cannabis industry. Those gaps have caused poor policy, bad business, and a major break down in communities vital to this industry.
When we break down the walls of trust, open up loving communication, great collaborations start to happen. Our industry needs all plant supporters to the table to build a new industry that sustains humanity. We truly have the chance to change the world. Cannabis and Hemp impact all industries and we can fix many of the problems. But first, the cannabis community has to collaborate with each other. Humboldt Grace is bringing leaders from diverse experiences together around hard conversations modeling how we can start collaborating around the plant’s values, love and grace.
Now more than ever we need to pull our cannabis industry together around love with grace.
Noon PST, Sunday, June 28th, 2020
3 Cannabis Legacy Leaders
3 New Cannabis Industry Leaders
HOW DO WE ENSURE SOCIAL EQUITY IS A PART OF FEDERAL POLICY?
There will be a Q&A session open to members of the Facebook group
Humboldt Grace: A Cannabis Community Gathering Place.
It is FREE to join.


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Dominique Ansel’s Los Angeles bakery to serve avocado toast ice cream sandwich
The ice cream sandwich is made with avocado-and-olive-oil ice cream, ricotta mascarpone ice cream, sitting on house-made shortbread and topped with dragon fruit, freeze-dried raspberries, and finished with olive oil and sea salt.
Other creative treats that will be featured at the new bakery include a mousse dessert that looks like a California (sushi) Roll, a Ruby Tart that has pomegranate seeds, lychee ganache, cherry jam and almond frangipane in a vanilla sablé tart shell, and a White Peach Amaretto and Muscovado Sugar Cronut.
Dominique Ansel Bakery Los Angeles was originally scheduled to open on November 3, but has now been pushed back one week until November 10. The bakery will have a 9 a.m. PST opening, followed the next day by brunch and dinner at the new 189 by Dominique Ansel restaurant.


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We reported last week that Honda unveiled Brio based MPV in Indonesia, which is known as Mobilio. the same now spied testing for the first time in that country.
Hence, the launch of Mobilio is expected to happen by end of this year in Indonesia, where India is expected to receive it in 2014.
Coming to the spy-shots we learnt, the test mule was seen wearing conventional silver-colored 10-spoke alloys, unlike than the diamond cut 10-spoke alloys of the Indonesian Motor Show prototype. Lest, all of the styling cues were the same to that of the Motor Show unveiled model. Silver paint job on its body was making it to look a bit conventional, but that’s ok when given the badge of Honda shining brightly under the sun.
Engine specifications of Mobilio is said to be of the 1.5-liter i-VTEC (petrol) borrowed from the Honda City producing 118PS and 144Nm of torque. Indonesia is given an option of a 5-speed manual and a CVT gearbox. To an addition, India is said to also dwell the 1.5-liter diesel powerplant from that of the Amaze to contrast the rising petrol prices and high notched per kilometer running cost.
Indonesian price for Mobilio is expected to start from 150-180 million Indonesian Rupiah (Rs. 8.41 lakhs to Rs. 10.09 lakhs).
Image Courtesy: Autonetmagz


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What an exciting update this is!
2 parts to this update:
- A new study detecting food sensitivities
- Berkeley Wellbeing Institute recognizes Sensie as a top 50 wellness product of 2016
Over the last couple of months we've run preliminary studies to test Sensie's ability to detect the neuromuscular response of the body towards food sensitivities and our initial results have been FANTASTIC!
Imagine what it could mean for your well being if you could test in real time and know with a level of certainty if a food item is in your best interest based on the response of your body.
What could that mean for your health and wellbeing?
With your support we will make that a reality!
We are in the process of partnering with a best in class at-home food sensitivity testing company to help us scientifically determine what foods each participant has existing sensitivities towards.
How will the study work? We're still in the process of designing it but our initial pass looks like:
We will test with a clinically proven standardized method that is reviewed by doctors and clinicians at a certified lab
We will run a simultaneous test with Sensie to see how the technology of Sensie compares to the well accepted method
Stay tuned, we will release the opportunity to sign up for the study in the coming days! :)
On another front. We'd like to thank everyone who has participated in the studies over the last couple of months. As a result we were just ranked as one of the top 50 wellness products of 2016 by the Berkeley Wellbeing Institute! Check it out here
THANK YOU! We could not have done it without your support!


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STEEL maker Corus is reported to have held merger talks with a Russian rival - a move that would catapult it into the top six in the industry by volume.
Corus is said to have discussed a partnership with Evraz, Russia's largest steel producer, that would create a group with an annual output of some 32 million tonnes.
It comes at a time of consolidation in the industry with Mittal Steel mounting a £12.9bn hostile bid for European rival Arcelor.
Analysts believe smaller firms such as Corus, whose UK operations include a finishing plant employing 650 people at Shotton, must react as a combination of Mittal and Arcelor would have an output three times higher than anyone else in the sector.
The report said Corus chief executive Philippe Varin was seeking partnerships to source low-cost raw steel - known as "slab" - that could be processed in finishing operations close to the final customer in the UK.
A Corus spokeswoman refused to comment on what she said was speculation, but added: "As previously stated, Corus has said that in the general development of the company, it is continually exploring opportunities in low-cost, higher-growth countries, including access to low-cost slab and raw materials."
Shares in Corus, formerly British Steel, soared to a new four-year high last week after it struck an agreement to sell its aluminium business to United States firm Aleris International for £570m.
The Anglo-Dutch company, which employs 24,000 people in the UK, said it would plough some of the proceeds of the sale into further reducing debts of £821m.


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Politicians in the UK are pushing for a minimum price for alcohol that would increase the cost of cheaper products while leaving high-end alcohol unaffected. According to the website Scottish Grocer, they’ve found an unlikely ally: the craft brewers at BrewDog.
This is the same brewery that made a 1.1% abv beer called “Nanny State” in mocking response to critics of their high-alcohol brews, so it’s a bit of a disappointment to see this coming from them. It’s another story to file under brewers behaving badly.
For a contrary view on minimum pricing, see Chris Snowdon.


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In recent news, the gaming world has been shaken up by Microsoft’s announcement, of their intention to purchase Activision Blizzard, for a whopping Rs 5 lakh crore. This deal is set to make Microsoft, one of the biggest! players in the gaming industry, & has certainly caused a stir among gamers and investors alike. Let’s take a closer look at what this deal means, for the gaming world.
Firstly, it’s important to understand who.. exactly Activision Blizzard are, and what they bring to the table. Activision Blizzard is one of the largest gaming companies in the world, with a wide range of popular games under their belt, including Call of Duty, World of Warcraft, & Candy Crush. They have a loyal fanbase and have consistently been, at the forefront of the gaming industry for many years.
Microsoft’s decision to acquire Activision Blizzard for Rs 5 lakh crore is certainly a bold move, and has sparked much speculation about what this could mean for the future of gaming. One of the most obvious benefits of this acquisition, is that it will give Microsoft access to Activision Blizzard’s extensive library of games. This means that they will have a much broader range of titles to offer their customers, which could potentially lead to increased revenue and market share.
Furthermore, this acquisition could also lead to increased innovation, within the gaming industry. Microsoft is a company that is known, for their focus on research and development, & it’s likely that they will bring this mindset, to their new acquisition. This could lead to the development of new, technologies and gaming experiences that we have never seen before.
However, there are also concerns that this acquisition could lead to a monopolization of the gaming industry. With Microsoft now owning such a large percentage of the market, there are fears that they may use their newfound power to stifle competition and limit consumer choice. Additionally, some gamers have expressed concerns about what this acquisition could mean for the future of their favorite, franchises. Will Microsoft maintain the same level of quality and innovation that Activision Blizzard has become known for, or will they, try to take these franchises! in a different direction?
Despite these concerns, there is no denying that Microsoft’s acquisition, of Activision Blizzard is a significant moment in the gaming industry. It will be interesting, to see how this deal unfolds, in the coming months & years, & what it means for the future of gaming. Will Microsoft be able to use this acquisition to cement their place as one of the biggest players in the industry, or will they struggle to maintain the same level of success, that Activision Blizzard has achieved? Only time will tell.


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AEO launches new Membership category to stimulate further growth in the industry
Date: 20 March 2013
The Association of Event Organisers Ltd (AEO) has today launched a new â€˜Enterprise Membership' category, aimed at smaller exhibition organisers, to encourage growth within the industry.
The new AEO Enterprise Member category will allow smaller organisers, with events of less than 2,000sq.m per year, to enter the Association and enjoy the many benefits of AEO Membership. Apart from the benefit of networking opportunities, cost savings, the opportunity to join working groups to shape the future and quality assurance attributed to AEO membership, the new category also offers Enterprise Members the possibility of engaging with leaders in the industry through its revised Mentoring Programme.
Karim Halwagi, AEO Chief Executive, said; â€œAs the leading events industry association, it is important that we make every effort to aid in the growth of the industry as a whole. Whilst we have many of the leading companies already in membership, we must always look to aid in the development of the future leaders. The purpose of the new membership category and the mentor programme is to encourage smaller companies to believe in bigger goals â€“ to build for their future and the future of the industry. We sincerely hope to see many smaller organisers develop through this new category, and look forward to welcoming them as Full AEO Members in the not too distant future.â€'
The new Enterprise Member category has been created to be cost effective and help smaller companies with their cash flow by allowing monthly payments instead of an upfront annual fee. Though there are minor limitations to the category by way of diluted voting rights, the wealth of benefits and the reduced cost far outweigh any perceived limitations.
The AEO Enterprise Membership is now open for submissions.


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India’s gold imports plunged 99.9 per cent year-on-year in April to their lowest in almost three many years, information company Reuters reported citing a authorities supply. The rationale for this, in response to Reuters, is the ban on air journey and closure of jewelry retailers amid a nationwide lockdown to curb the unfold of coronavirus.
The world’s second greatest client of the dear steel imported round 50 kilograms of gold in April, down from 110.18 tonnes a 12 months in the past, Reuters reported.
In worth phrases, April imports dropped to $2.84 million from to $3.97 billion a 12 months in the past, he added.
Imports had been negligible in April because of a nationwide lockdown which has rippled by means of the nation’s economic system, shuttering many industries. Most of India’s imports are shipped by air, and with airline business utterly shut down, it has suffered.
Bloomberg quoted N Anantha Padmanaban, chairman of the All India Gem and Jewelry Home Council, as saying that gold imports will halve this 12 months to about 350 tonnes.
In the meantime, gold worth within the home market rose for the second day in a row on Monday amid rising tensions between US and China and as lockdown restrictions had been eased in giant components of India.
June gold futures costs rose 0.7 per cent to Rs 45,830 per 10 gram on the Multi Commodity Change (MCX), in opposition to a achieve of Rs 650 per 10 gram within the earlier session. July silver futures edged 0.44 per cent greater at Rs 41,780 per kg.
Gold had risen 18% final 12 months because the China-US commerce dispute elevated demand for the safe-haven amid rates of interest cuts by the US central financial institution.
The US greenback moved away from an over one-month low on Monday, making gold costlier for buyers holding different currencies.


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Market movers today
Joe Biden and Xi Jinpeng meet in San Francisco.
US retail sales will be the first hard data point on how consumption has developed after the very strong September. Leading indicators and weekly credit card data point towards slowing growth, a new experimental CNBC/NRF indicator shows -0.08% m/m. US PPI inflation should decline on headline due to energy prices but core is expected at 0.3% m/m, same as in September. The Empire manufacturing PMI is a warm up to the national PMI next week, but not strongly correlated with it.
Industrial production figures for the euro area for September will shed light on how much of the decline in Q3 GDP manufacturing was accountable for.
UK October inflation is released where we expect a large downtick in headline inflation given the downtick in household energy bill and base effects. Core and in particular service inflation will however be the main market movers as the BoE sees these as key indicators of inflation persistence.
Japanese foreign trade data for October is released early Thursday morning.
The 60 second overview
The US House of Representatives reached a deal on a temporary budget bill such that a government shutdown on Friday is avoided. However, the deal is lasting only till January next year, but was passed with a majority of Republicans and Democrats in the House. This should limit the risk for a downgrade of US Treasuries for now.
The preliminary Q3 GDP numbers from Japan surprised on the downside as the annualized growth was -2.1% Q/Q compared to expectations of -0.4% Q/Q. Hence, the numbers show the challenge for Bank of Japan given the rise in inflation.
The Chinese central bank left policy rates unchanged this morning, but gave a big injection of cash through the medium-term lending facility (MLF). The amount (USD 83bn) was the largest amount since 2016.
Yesterday’s, US October CPI surprised to the downside both in headline (+0.04% m/m SA; consensus +0.1%, Sep +0.40%) and core (+0.23% m/m SA; consensus +0.3%; Sep +0.32%) terms. Shelter accounted for the majority of the downtick in core inflation, but promisingly for the Fed, price pressures in the broader services sector also appeared to moderate. UAW’s strike had little impact on car prices, and Core Goods CPI overall continued its modest decline. While realized inflation data clearly cooled in October, some inflation expectations measures still flagged upside risks. NFIB’s small business survey showed that companies’ price plans have risen further despite still bleak outlook for general business conditions, mirroring signals from University of Michigan’s consumer survey last Friday. However, despite the broad-based easing in financial conditions seen yesterday after the CPI release, oil prices remained surprisingly stable, and the past weeks’ decline should help with keeping both realized and expected inflation under control. Read more details in our monthly Global Inflation Watch – Signs of weaker demand ease inflation risks in October, 14 November.
Equities: Inflation relief sparked huge moves in the bond market, which in turn sparked an outright rally in equities. US surged about 2% and Europe 1.5%. This was a risk-on session with all sectors higher. Most notably a jump up in real estate and especially Nordics, with most names surging double digit. Cyclicals beat defensives and oversold utilities recovered. Positioning plays a part here too of course, as we have seen in slightly oversold conditions, which we have written a great deal about lately. Asian markets are surging in catch-up this morning while US futures are pointing slightly upwards.
FI: There was a broad-based rally in the global fixed income markets after the weaker than expected US inflation data as inflation may prove transitory after all. However, several Fed officials were out stating that there is some way to go and several market participants also warned that inflation might not go away that quickly and that the Federal Reserve should not cut rates too fast.
FX: The US CPI induced rally in global fixed income markets and the subsequent decline in the USD gave a substantial relief boost to risk appetite globally, which in turn strongly benefitted cyclically sensitive currencies such as ZAR, the CEEs and the Scandies. Also, the GBP benefitted while the CAD, CNH and naturally the USD were the clear underperformers with EUR/USD notably moving close to the 1.09 mark
Credit: Credit and equity markets rallied on Tuesday, after a more dovish than expected US inflation print. Itrax Main tightened 3.4bp to close at 70.5, while Itrax Xover tightened 14.6bp to close at 389.5bp (the lowest level since mid-September). Primary markets were once again fairly active, as was the case on Monday.
Following yesterday’s lower-than-consensus inflation print in Sweden, today’s highlight is Prospera’s inflation expectations survey. However, as it is the (small) monthly survey, its market impact is likely to be muted.


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"The more, the merrier" has certainly been Microsoft's
The latest OEM to cave in to Mr. Softy's demands is an important one. Welcome, LG Electronics, you are the 11th Android minion now joining Microsoft's ranks. The two tech powerhouses have inked a patent licensing agreement covering Android and Chrome OS. "We are pleased to have built upon our long-standing relationship with LG to reach a mutually beneficial agreement," Microsoft said in a press release. It's safe to say that most of the satisfaction is on Microsoft's part.
With this announcement, three of the biggest and most prolific Android OEMs in the world are now on board with adding to Microsoft's coffers: Samsung, HTC, and LG. In the third quarter, those three manufacturers combined represented more than a quarter of worldwide mobile device sales, albeit including other operating systems beyond Android as well as feature phones. Microsoft is happy to point out that more than 70% of Android smartphones sold domestically "are now receiving coverage under Microsoft's patent portfolio."
That's a pretty hefty slice of the Android pie that Microsoft is laying claim to, and it will likely continue growing. There are three notable Android players that have yet to sign on the dotted line: Amazon.com
Although Microsoft counts Quanta Computer, the third-party manufacturer of the Kindle Fire, as a licensee, that deal likely doesn't cover Quanta customers like Amazon.
Microsoft and Amazon had previously inked a licensing agreement, but it didn't cover Android tablets, so the Kindle Fire likely attracted a kindly worded letter from Microsoft requesting remittance of royalty payment. Considering how well the Kindle Fire is selling, landing Amazon would be a big win for Mr. Softy.
Motorola and B&N have been holding out as long as possible. Motorola was partially exonerated lately, when it was found to infringe on only one of the original nine Microsoft patents in the case. Meanwhile, B&N is reaching out to the feds for assistance, and is even considering spinning off its Nook business.
For now, slow and steady continues to win patent licensees for the Redmond giant.
With Android leading the mobile revolution, some winners are hard to see -- because they're buried inside the gadgets. The proliferation of mobile gadgets is going to be breathtaking, and a handful of companies stand to rake in the profits as consumers snap up each year's latest and greatest models. We've just released a special free report on 3 Hidden Winners of the iPhone, iPad, and Android Revolution. In it, you'll find three companies that supply crucial components that virtually every mobile device relies on. Check it out now -- it's free.


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Palm Blog Rounds Up Savings, Offers for Pre Plus, Pixi Plus
The Palm Blog is doing just what Jon Rubinstein promised Palm would: getting the word out about the Pre Plus and Pixi Plus. Current deals rounded up by the site include a buy one, get one free offer from Verizon Wireless and contests, with Palm phones as prizes.The Palm Blog has rounded up a number of deals on Palm's newest smartphones, the Pre Plus and Pixi Plus.
Anyone who's had an eye on a new smartphone, or on the Palm phones in particular, could hardly do better than the deal Verizon Wireless is offering right now: the Pre Plus for $49.99 or the Pixi Plus for $29.99. Both phones require a new two-year activation with a minimum data plan of $29.99, but both also come with a buy one, get one free offer.
Verizon is also now offering free service with the Palm mobile hot spot app. With the app, Pre Plus and Pixi Plus owners can use their phone to create a 3G hot spot to share with up to five other WiFi-enabled devices. Plus, the Blog points out, the first 5GB of data each month are now free.
On the contest front, Working Mother magazine is sponsoring a Little Techie competition, asking parents to send in photos of their tech-gurus-in-the-making "exploring the world of technology." More than cherubs chewing on keypads, they're shooting for-pun intended-kids chatting and surfing and clicking away at keypads.
First prize is a Palm smartphone of your choice and a $50 gift card to the Palm App Catalog.
If you're already a fan of webOS, the celebrated platform that Palm's newest handsets run on, webOSroundup is hosting a contest based on consumer-made videos that best showcase the "strengths of the Palm Pre, Palm Pixi and webOS."
Videos have to be between 30 seconds and 2 minutes, original material and- this is a family company, folks-clean. The deadline for entries is May 3, and prizes include free phones, other hardware goodies and gift cards for apps. Full details are at webOSroundup.
Had Palm's original ad campaign been nearly as cool as the fan-made ad that made its rounds in March, Palm might not be in the pinch it's in.
On Feb. 25, Palm CEO Jon Rubinstein warned Wall Street that Palm's fiscal 2010 third quarter wasn't going to meet expectations. What Palm reported on March 18, however, dipped even lower than Wall Street's lowered hopes, though Rubinstein insists that fixes are under way. The latter include an aggressive new ad campaign and deals with new carrier partners.
While Palm debuted the Palm Pre and Pixi on the Sprint network, the Pixi Plus and Pre Plus arrived on the Verizon Wireless Network Feb. 1 and will soon debut on the AT&T network.
"We're offering our customers even greater choice by adding Palm Pre Plus and Palm Pixi Plus to the nation's best smartphone portfolio," Jeff Bradley, AT&T senior vice president of devices, said in a March 22 statement. "Palm webOS [offers] access to the nation's largest WiFi network, and the ability to talk and surf the Web at the same time is a powerful combination."


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|New EPA rule could affect Boardman plant||| Print ||
|Thursday, December 22, 2011|
The Environmental Protection Agency's new regulation could prompt Portland General Electric to close its coal-fired Boardman plant earlier than 2020.
The EPA's new rule aims at curtailing emissions of mercury and other pollutants from the nation's 1,100 coal-fired plants by 2016 at the latest.
Boardman is already set to meet emissions standards for mercury, a neurotoxin, under Oregon law. But it could have trouble meeting standards for other pollutants, including metals such as chromium and cadmium, even with the new controls it's already scheduled to install.
Read more at OregonLive.com.
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Oregon Business magazine's 5th annual
100 Best Green Companies to Work For in Oregon
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
From Oregon Translational Research and Development Institute: OTRADI today announced its plans to open and operate a 13,000 square-foot multi-tenant bioscience complex in the Willamette Wharf building at 4640 SW Macadam Avenue. Slated to be complete in spring 2013, the OTRADI Bioscience Incubator (OBI) will house up to six companies.
MEDIAmerica, publisher of Oregon Business and Oregon Home magazines, announces a new retail website: HalfOffOregon.com. The website offers lodging, dining, recreation and many other items at half off their regular cost.
As you probably know by now, The Vernon Company is a national leader in the promotional products industry with annual sales of over $60 million. We are a family owned business, led by the fourth generation of the Vernon family.


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Dollar General sells a variety of goods at prices most people can afford, but some say having the national chain convenience store in their town is an “economic boon,” while others call it a “cheap date.”
In the past three years, the discount chain store has increased its presence throughout Klamath County. With 52 stores in Oregon alone, the box chain retailer has more than 13,000 stores nationwide and four in Klamath County, with possibly one more on the way.
These discount stores often land in areas where most consumers cannot afford higher-priced goods, according to a Dec. 20, 2018 article from The Atlantic’s CityLab. A separate collection of 2017 and 2018 reports from the Institute of Local Self-Reliance (ILSR) claims that dollar discount stores offer fewer jobs than most local businesses, pay less and extract remaining wealth from impoverished communities.
In January, Dollar General announced the grand opening of a store in Stewart Lenox, a small subdivision on the edge of Klamath Falls.
Before that, the Klamath County Commission announced that the company signed contracts for land at the entrance of downtown Klamath Falls, though the deal is not final.
When contacted, Dollar General spokeswoman Angela Petkovic said they “do not have plans” for another Klamath Falls location. Petkovic did not respond to inquiries on the ILSR report or to agree to an interview for this story.
By the numbers
Dollar General, and similar discount chain stores, often choose rural communities adjacent to state highways, which several national media reports and research say is due to their low-income populations and easy access to travelers.
This pattern holds throughout Oregon. In Benton County, a Dollar General sits in Philomath, a town of 4,500, but not Corvallis. In Deschutes, another set up shop in La Pine, a town of 1,800, but not Bend.
The company’s 2018 third quarter financial results boast several increases including a 8.7 percent spike in net sales from $5.9 billion to $6.4 billion.
The company also received a 20 percent effective income tax rate, a decrease of 15 percent from 35 percent, due to President Donald Trump’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act from December 2017.
Even so, wages remain low for the average six-to-nine workers the company employs at each site.
As of Jan. 25, statistics from job seeker site Indeed list wages of Dollar General cashiers and clerks between $7.97 and $8.34 per hour, or about minimum wage in most states.
That means an Oregon Dollar General worker making minimum wage at $10.75 an hour would take in about $22,000 annually.
A recent food assessment released by Oregon Institute of Technology and the Klamath-Lake Counties Food Bank dives deeper into health and wellness concerns in Klamath County, also covering cost issues.
Out of 400 individuals who took the survey, more than 40 percent say that locally produced meats, produce and other farm goods are too expensive. In addition, 20 percent say they do not know where to find these options.
The assessment also notes Hispanic and Native American populations as more vulnerable groups. There are more than 2,200 Native Americans in Klamath County and at least 7,800 Hispanic residents, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
The research from ILSR says that these discount stores often use such factors as low-income to seek out profit, which can further impact minority populations.
Betty Riley, executive director of South Central Oregon Economic Development District, said the appeal of discount grocery stores makes them appear ideal for rural communities. SCOEDD is a regional economic development group that offers help to small businesses with startup solutions.
Filling a niche
In many cases, dollar stores arrive in an area where their products — which includes hardware and consumer electronics — were either not offered before or were too expensive for low-income shoppers.
For instance, Crescent, a town of less than 600, has no other major chain stores besides Dollar General.
Klamath County’s lower income base makes it an ideal locale for such chain stores as unemployment in the area remains at 6.6 percent. The state’s rate is 4 percent.
In addition, approximately 2,900 people work retail jobs in Klamath County, while another 3,000 work for food service and hospitality, according to the Oregon Employment Department. Combined, that’s about 32 percent of all jobs in the area.
More often than not, these positions typically pay no more than $6,600 in quarterly wages, Riley added.
“That’s $24,000 a year average in wages,” she said.
Riley also points to the struggles of trying to attract unique, higher-paying businesses into rural communities, adding that it is often a catch-22 in perpetuating a cycle of poverty.
It has become common, Riley said, for people to take on retail or service jobs as their sole source of income. In the past, they used to be for younger workers looking for extra spending cash.
“Unfortunately we have a lot of the population that this is how they’re trying to support themselves,” she said.
Not a done deal
In 2017, Dollar General expressed interest in a gateway property near downtown Klamath Falls.
Leaders of the Klamath Falls Downtown Association (KFDA) were not thrilled with the premise of a Dollar General occupying the former Medo Bel creamery site.
Nicholas Phair, KFDA president, said that travelers coming in from Highway 97 would see this corridor of downtown before anything else.
“The first retailer is a Dollar General,” Phair said at the time. “How does that present us?”
Months later, the building was scheduled for demolition, though Dollar General representatives said they would not comment on any potential plans for the area.
Talks of a downtown Dollar General faded from public view, though another company spokesperson said they were still going through a “due diligence” period.
Then, in December 2018, commissioners voted to move forward with the contract for the 1500 Esplanade Avenue store.
Though the company made an offer for the Esplanade property, Commissioner Derrick DeGroot says the deal is still up in the air.
“They had a period to do that due diligence,” DeGroot said. “And there are some issues they have with the site, so that may not work out.”
Open to new business ventures
KFDA Executive Director Darin Rutledge said that a newer board of downtown business owners and stakeholders have yet to discuss how they feel about chain dollar stores being in the area.
Rutledge says he and the association remain open to new business ventures. He said all of this had an element of “free enterprise and private property.” It was not his or the downtown association’s goal to discourage any business from coming in, regardless of intention.
“They’re the ones who are willing to put up the money to invest in our downtown,” Rutledge said. “It’s hard to discourage any businesses who are willing to make an investment and do their part to make downtown more vibrant.”
If they do arrive, the downtown association says it also has plans to work with Dollar General on how the store would be designed — the company has worked extensively with cities on building facades in the past.
“When it comes to that property, we’re sensitive to make sure whoever we do sell it to is willing to conform to the overall aesthetics to downtown,” DeGroot said.
Signs of progress
Meanwhile, on a blustery day in January, three illustrated banners with the company’s yellow logo wave in the wind outside the Chiloquin Dollar General store. They read “Save time, save money, every day.”
Dozens of cars come and go from the store between noon and 1 p.m. The parking lot stays mostly full.
There are other stores, businesses and a community center in the heart of downtown Chiloquin, though many properties on some side streets remain vacant or boarded up.
Chiloquin Mayor Mark Cobb sees Dollar General as a sign of progress. The town has two other grocery stores and a handful of small businesses, several of which Cobb said were against Dollar General coming into the city.
He also said that he hopes people stopping into the store off Highway 97 would then be more likely to stop in to see the town’s community center and other businesses.
“Chiloquin has been pretty stagnant for a long time,” Cobb said. “It was progress to have Dollar General come in.”
Other business owners in Klamath and Lake counties also shared their own experiences competing with Dollar General.
Shop owner Mike Beeson struggled to keep up when the Dollar General first arrived in Lakeview. His own store, the Warner Valley mercantile in Lakeview, sells several items at a variety of prices.
Previously called The 39er, Beeson said that he used to stock some lower-price items, though he had to move specifically to higher-end, “Made in the U.S.A.” products when the chain store entered town.
“We discovered in order to stay in business, we needed to change — so we did,” he said.
Beeson said that local stores could always help more in terms of community outreach efforts, donations and local school support.
“Dollar General doesn’t do a lot of that,” he said. “You don’t see a lot of giving back to the communities from them.”
Dollar General does often speak on its literacy improvement programs, which gave more than $159 million to areas nationwide, though it is unclear how much of it has gone to rural Oregon areas.
Welcoming the competition
Merrill, a small town of more than 800 off Highway 39, had a Dollar General store move in three years ago. Before then, Martin’s Food Center was the central food stop in town.
Martin Hicks owns and runs the store, which he first opened more than 37 years ago. A humble man with much love for his community, he views it as the way things are with fair competition.
He did, however, say that he lost at least 11 to 12 percent of his sales when the discount store first moved in. Hicks said he has since made up for the losses.
Hicks has no personal concern with the store in Merrill, saying that he works hard to stay in business and offers a different kind of service than one can get at Dollar General.
“You just try to adjust and make it work,” Hicks said.
Another concern is business taken from Holiday Market in Klamath Falls, which recently opened the shuttered Safeway store downtown.
But Store Leader Jesse McAuliffe says he and others at the company are far from worried about the impacts.
Like Hicks, McAuliffe said he believes Holiday Market will continue to stand out because of its service and welcoming environment. McAuliffe also has experience working at prior Holiday stores that compete with similar dollar chains.
He has no concerns for Klamath Falls, but says that smaller communities often face the bulk of the impacts.
“You put in a second store, it’s probably going to take a bigger bite,” McAuliffe said.
Focusing on growth
Unlike smaller communities, Klamath Falls may be in a stronger position to choose what happens next.
With a population of 41,000 within the urban growth boundary, it continues to be the central hub for all things shopping and retail-related in Klamath County and parts of Northern California.
But the city has its own set of struggles, whether it be from a lack of affordable rental properties or new living wage jobs for those who want to stay in the area.
Several new businesses have set up shop either downtown or commercial district in the past two years, with more people trying their hand at the American dream. This includes Grocery Pub in the Mills Addition, a Farmers Market co-op store in the heart of downtown and several new restaurants along South Sixth Street.
Several initiatives have also worked to reinvent the community in terms of image, healthy choices and shopping options.
Dan Burden, a city planning and transportation design expert who has been to more than 40 other Blue Zones Project areas and 3,700 communities across the globe, visited Klamath Falls to work on such projects.
Burden, who founded Walkable Communities Inc., was not thrilled to hear about the fact that not one, but two Dollar General stores were setting up shop in town. Burden and the groups he serves work to make towns more pedestrian-friendly for the sale of boosting local economies.
In his own words, specifying that he did not speak on behalf of Blue Zones, he described the box chain retailers as a “blemish” in rural communities.
“When you’re bringing in a company like Dollar General, you’re basically accepting the cheap date,” Burden said. “You’re essentially degrading the quality you’re trying to build.”
Burden was in Klamath Falls Jan. 24 for a built-in environment workshop. He spoke extensively with Mayor Carol Westfall, City Engineer Scott Souders and many others on ways they could further strengthen their own local economies for the people who lived there.
He was optimistic overall. Still, he had faith in the strength of Klamath Falls’ leadership to keep its own mission moving forward, calling any potential Dollar General a “low point.”
“You’ve got strong enough city council, planning staff and folks — I think you’re going to get beyond it,” he said.
Correction: This story has been updated to clarify that a Dollar General was built in Crescent, not Chemult.


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Korean auto giant Hyundai has doubled down on hydrogen as its route to reach carbon neutrality by 2050 with an announcement at the start of technology conference CES in Las Vegas that it will offtake three million tonnes of hydrogen by 2035, for use in “logistics”, green steel and power generation.
While the company did not expand on exactly how it would source these vast volumes of H2, the car manufacturer — one of the few to sell fuel-cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) — also revealed that it will start to manufacture polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) electrolysers at the megawatt scale, with an eye to sharing components with the fuel cells used in its vehicles.
However, it has only given a vague timeline for commercialisation — “within the next few years”.
While Hyundai noted that PEM technology is currently around 1.5 times the price of alkaline electrolysers, it expects that component sharing will make its equipment cheaper.
“Hyundai’s hydrogen solutions go beyond passenger cars, trucks and buses to include trams, special equipment, vessels, power generators and advanced air mobility,” the automaker stated in a press release. “The company is driving the energy transition as a major hydrogen off-taker.”
Hyundai has also provided an update on its plans to produce hydrogen from biogenic waste, while also reaffirming its ambition to generate H2 from non-recyclable plastics.
The auto giant, which is one of the partners on a 500kg-a-day biogas-to-H2 plant in the South Korean city of Chungju, plans to develop a waste-to-hydrogen pilot in the Indonesian province of West Java, although a specific location is yet to be confirmed.
Similarly, while Hyundai had announced in 2021 that it would spend 400bn won ($303.4m) on a plastics-to-H2 plant in Dangjin, South Korea, which at the time was expected to start operations in the first half of 2024, no details on this project were announced at CES.
Hyundai was also quiet on the upcoming 2024 version of its flagship Nexo FCEV, with no new products in the wider mobility space unveiled.
While the company mentioned that it was involved in several initiatives in the US to roll out its XCIENT fuel-cell trucks, such as deploying them on-site for its “Metaplant” EV manufacturing hub in Georgia and providing 30 units for the NorCAL ZERO project at California’s Port of Oakland, it did not reveal any new products or projects in this region.


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The Internet of Things has been in thriving over the past few years. According to the Boston Consulting Group market analysis “Winning In IoT, It’s All About The Business Processes,” by 2020, $267 billion will be spent on IoT technologies, products, and services. The greatest market sources of revenue will come from services and IoT applications investments.
The compound annual growth rate till 2020 for all revenue layers of the IoT technology has been, and forecast to continue at, 20%. We are finally looking at the widespread adoption of IoT, especially at the industrial level. Therefore, my concern is how will the repeal of net neutrality affect its growth.
There are two schools of thought when it comes to net neutrality. Recently, Stuart Carlaw, Chief Research Officer at ABI Research, expressed his opinions about the repeal. “The repeal of the net neutrality legislation will enable the communications industry to work within the bounds of a more natural market condition. It will allow those companies that are burdened with the massive expense of rolling out new networks to support 5G (both fixed and wireless) and IoT solutions to be able to generate sufficient revenues to justify investment.”
The repeal of net neutrality allows internet service providers (ISPs) to not only scale service, but also possibly provide priority access to those who pay for a premium. Essentially, by letting companies invest more money for better internet services, they can expand their IoT services quicker. Carlaw also states “if anything, this legislative move will likely provide the much-needed boost to timelines for more meaningful technological deployments that will enable companies to transform digitally and allow consumers to benefit from technology-driven improvements in service from multiple industry segments based on best-of-breed communications.”
While this new possible internet market does allow for those willing to pour more money into faster and dedicated services, it naturally restricts access to internet pipelines to the wealthiest of companies.
Net neutrality does not just cover internet access. Besides preventing ISPs from creating “fast lanes” or “slow lanes” for dedicated or competing services, respectively, it also protects device access to the internet. Currently, an ISP cannot limit the number of devices you connect to your internet or charge you extra for using a Wi-Fi router. If the repeal of net neutrality becomes law, ISPs could start charging consumers and companies for every device connected to its network.
Comcast, for example, is already working on producing its own smart-home device platform. Without net neutrality, nothing prevents the company from prioritizing network access to its devices over competitors like Apple or Google. This forces consumers to choose between buying Comcast devices or paying for higher internet packages to ensure that their competitor smart-home products perform adequately.
Several research firms like Gartner and Visual Capitalist predict IoT devices to reach 50 billion by 2020. (Courtesy of Visual Capitalist)
An IoT Game-Changer?
Connected devices form the heart of IoT. Companies are installing sensors and decentralized servers to connect to cloud-based analytics and storage for their infrastructure. With the rise of IoT, more devices depend on wireless connections. For the time being, many devices can stay within their own organization’s wireless intranet. However, as companies expand globally and scale up their IoT services, they will rely on internet access to communicate with different job sites.
Former FCC chair Tom Wheeler ushered in the agency's net neutrality rules back in 2015. Then, the rules of net neutrality were considered essential to the growth and innovation of IoT in the U.S. He now sits on the board of IoT software company Actility. Recently, Wheeler spoke with Wired.com and pointed out that even if the majority of the data moves across a private network, interference from an ISP is possible if that data were to transmit over the public internet.
"Latency, as computers are talking to computers, becomes a very important thing. The reality is that I need to know that information with low latency,” says Wheeler. If an alert needs to be sent to a mobile device, that data has to be sent over the internet. He continues, “The question becomes whether there will be different levels of service, will there be paid prioritization?”
This is what troubles me about the repeal of net neutrality. For consumers, it will become another service they will need to negotiate, just as many do today in regards to their cable service—upgrading or downgrading on different cable packages based on price.
However, IoT devices and networks are poised to infiltrate every aspect of our lives, not just smart homes, but hospitals, schools, and infrastructure. How will that information be treated by ISPs? What gets priority? Which hospitals get to send out their information faster—public or private? Which smart cars will connect to a city’s IoT network quicker? What education systems get faster internet access to teach the engineers of tomorrow—the private school system or the public education system? Net neutrality at least ensured that no matter who was accessing the internet, it was fair to anyone that tried.


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Newly rich thirsty for top vino
Updated: 2011-01-04 09:48
By Farah Master (China Daily/Agencies)
For wealthy consumers in Beijing and Shanghai, drinking and collecting wine is becoming the next big thing to display their rising social status. Wine producers are taking measures to cater to the growing market, which is predicted to outpace Western demand. [Photo / China Daily]
SHANGHAI - Following the explosion in demand for designer bags, Italian suits and fast cars, expensive French and Italian wines are set to be the next must-have accessory for the wealthy Chinese consumer.
Wine bars are proliferating rapidly in Shanghai, the country's glitzy financial capital, where young Chinese professionals congregate after work and regularly splurge around 1,000 yuan ($152) on a bottle of wine.
"Chinese people are very aspirational and materialistic so once they have bought the best local brand then they start looking for something even better and more expensive," said Ch'ng Poh Tiong, wine columnist and publisher of The Wine Review.
While China has a growing domestic wine market, industry experts say it is more fashionable to drink wine made abroad and predict consumption will double within the next five years.
Favorites include wines from French estate Chateau Lafite Rothschild, which start at around $1,000 a bottle, and Chateau Latour.
"There are at least two layers of wine appreciation in China. If the person is buying and serving the wine to thank someone who has done them a favor, then there is a social going rate which means they will pull out the expensive wine," said Ch'ng.
"Then you have the same person drinking with friends and family and there is no more status attached to the bottle of wine."
Chateau Lafite Rothschild has incorporated the Chinese character of the number eight on its vintage 2008 bottles, set to ship in 2011.
The winemaker has not only used the auspicious number "eight" but also the color red, considered lucky in Chinese tradition, to help boost sales.
Chateau Mouton Rothschild has used a design by Chinese artist Xu Lei for its 2008 vintage bottle.
In cosmopolitan cities such as Shanghai and Beijing, there is also a robust appetite for purchasing wine as an investment.
Tim Tse, president of Roosevelt China Investments Corp, a private wine cellar and vault in Shanghai, said a select proportion of wealthy Chinese were increasingly starting to collect expensive wine.
"People in Shanghai not only drink wine but they are making an investment in wine. People appreciate wine far more than before. It seems like they have been studying and doing tours in the Burgundy area," Tse said.
Despite this, experts note that many people are drinking expensive wine simply because it is expensive, rather than appreciating the taste.
For the majority of young Chinese professionals, decked out with their iPads and designer suits, wine is just the latest way to display upward mobility in the increasingly consumer-driven society.
"The key in Shanghai is - it is fashionable to drink wine. Every year the growth rate should be double-digit. There is no question about that," Tse said.
China and the world set to embrace the merciful, peaceful year of rabbit
Historical records and Caucasian features of locals suggest link with Roman Empire.
Coastal Yantai banks on little things that matter to grow
The State Council launched a new round of measures to rein in property prices.


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Late last month South Australian Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment the Hon David Ridgway visited the newly established Detmold Medical facility to see it transformed.
The space has been converted from a finished goods warehouse to a manufacturing facility, with quick work from Detmold Group employees and external contractors to transform the facility and set-up for production.
With an initial two machines installed ahead of the Minister’s visit, the Hon David Ridgway was one of the first people to see machines running.
“As Industry Minister I have been deeply impressed by how promptly and efficiently companies across the country have ramped up their existing operations, or adapted and pivoted to produce essential medical equipment for frontline health workers and ventilators for sick patients.
“From the onset, the Morrison Government has been working closely with local industry and the states and territories to establish a domestic manufacturing footprint for a range of PPE, to expand domestic supply chains, and to keep people in work.
“We’ve helped South Australian packaging manufacturer Detmold Group pivot to produce millions of surgical masks and respirators – 100 million for the National Medical Stockpile and 45 million for South Australia,” Minister Karen Andrews said.
As the production facility continues to come together, masks will be put through accelerated testing ahead of full production commencing.
The project team is working to an ambitious timeline to allow capacity to manufacture 20million masks per month by the end of June.
Although face mask requirements are constantly changing throughout Australian states and territories, face masks are currently mandated to be worn on board all commercial (domestic and international) aircrafts and in Australian airport terminals in order to limit the spread of COVID-19 before and in-flight. Read on to learn more about which mask is best suited for air travel.


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The European Union is trying to mandate standardized air travel rules across the continent – a move that may end the ‘one-bag’ carry-on policy of low-cost carriers such as Ryanair.
Ryanair currently allows only one item of hand luggage, weighing less than 10 kilograms, per passenger and charges steep additional fees for extra bags.
The European Commission plans to introduce new rules later this year to safeguard air travelers’ rights. This includes uniform cabin baggage rules. The move is also being supported by airport retailers as strict cabin baggage rules cause travelers to restrict shopping at the airport.
Read more here:
One bag per passenger? Not anymore, hopes EU


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Oxnard mulls system to regulate medical pot deliveries
When recreational marijuana legalization becomes official in January, there will still be no retail location in Oxnard that can legally sell it, but patients might be able to have medical marijuana delivered.
The Oxnard City Council discussed a regulatory system for medical marijuana deliveries on Tuesday, and most members agreed it should be in place. Councilman Bryan MacDonald, however, wondered how the city would be able to enforce any regulations on deliveries.
Under the proposal, deliveries of medicinal pot from a licensed facility to a patient or a caregiver would be allowed. The delivery driver would be subject to a background check and would be limited to the hours of 6 a.m. to 6 p.m.
MacDonald said he sees the need for medical marijuana but doesn’t think such regulations make sense.
“Why put something in the books if it’s impossible to enforce?” he said.
MacDonald said if he were to start a delivery service himself using his personal car, police wouldn't know if he got the required permit.
“How do you know I’m not Grubhub?” MacDonald asked.
Read more:Oxnard OKs medical marijuana deliveries, shows some openness to dispensaries
Councilwoman Carmen Ramirez said MacDonald made a good point, but a regulatory system might be good to have in place when a problem arises. She said it’s akin to the city’s smoking ban in certain outdoor areas.
“We’re not going to put police in the parks to see if somebody lights up, but I do think having it there gives us the ability to bring some consequences,” Ramirez said.
Medical marijuana deliveries, as well as dispensaries and commercial cultivation, are currently banned in the city. The city staff will draft a medical cannabis delivery ordinance for final council consideration at a future meeting. It is not certain whether that will be at the end of this year or early next year.
The proposed ordinance would prohibit cannabis advertising or dispensary information on the delivery vehicle. Cash transactions also would be prohibited.
Assistant City Attorney Jefferson Billingsley said a quick internet search will show there are already a number of delivery services operating illegally in the city.
“The fact that it happens doesn’t mean we shouldn’t attempt to set up a regulatory system,” Billingsley said.
Last year, California voters approved the legalization of recreational marijuana use, but the ballot measure lets local jurisdictions craft their own laws to ban or regulate various aspects of the marijuana business.
The council voted 3-2 on Tuesday to clarify land-use laws, continuing the current ban on commercial marijuana activity throughout the city. Like cities throughout the state, Oxnard is racing to put marijuana ordinances in place ahead of Jan. 1, when the state will begin issuing licenses to marijuana businesses.
“If you don’t have restrictions in place, it’s an open market,” Mayor Tim Flynn said.
Council members Bert Perello and Oscar Madrigal did not support a continued ban on commercial marijuana activities.
“There should be cultivation in the city,” Madrigal said. “I feel we’re limiting ourselves.”
City staff members said it’s important to have the ban in place at the start of the new year when the state begins issuing licenses. That will give the city time to consider the merits of relaxing the ban.
Ramirez said she supports considering cannabis testing labs in the future.


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Brassware manufacturer Hansgrohe has developed the PowderRain spray, which is designed to allow water fall softly onto the skin without bouncing off, claiming it reduces shower sound by around 20%.
Instead of one spray outlet per nozzle, PowderRain utilises six fine opening that transform the spray into micro droplets.
The PowderRain spray is featured in the company’s latest range of Raindance showers.
Chairman of AKDO Erdogan Akbulak talks us through the company’s range of natural stone products at its first UK showroom in the recently opened Turkish Trade Centre, London. It will be launching a super slim stone for the ‘affordable luxury’ market in New York. We’ll keep you posted on www.kandbnews.co.uk #bathroomdesign #kitchendesign #kbn #interiordesign #naturalstone #architecturalproducts
Nov 7, 2018


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Infographic: ATM fees on the rise
ATM surcharges are on the rise, but consumers are pretty adept at avoiding them, according to an April 2013 report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office.
According to the report, which was based on bank surveys and market research data, the approximately 420,000 ATMs throughout the U.S. had surcharge fees that averaged $2.16 at banks and $1.99 at credit unions in 2012. That's a 20 percent rise from 2007.
Only about 14 percent (275 million out of the 1.67 billion ATM transactions) resulted in a surcharge in 2011, however, which suggests that many consumers are finding ways to avoid the charges, such as using in-network ATMs.
The chart below shows the average ATM surcharge amounts for banks and credit unions for the years 2007 through 2012.
See related: GAO: ATM surcharges climbing
To use the graphic on your site, use the following code:
- Going cashless? Millennial women in the South lead the way – While three in 10 Americans say they never or rarely carry cash anymore, millennial women in the the Southeast and Southwest are leading the way, a Capital One study finds ...
- Cardholders desire security features from their mobile wallets – The No. 1 desired mobile wallet feature: A "No, I didn't buy that" button ...
- Half of new credit accounts are opened online – Half of new credit accounts are opened online, but the percentage differs by generation, a Jumio survey finds. For example, millennials lead in starting and completing a credit application by smartphone ...


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German Car-Rental Company Sixt Seizes Opportunity in U.S.
Despite lower demand due to coronavirus, Europe’s second-largest car-rental company is pushing ahead with rapid expansion
As the coronavirus pandemic has crushed the car-rental industry, Germany’s Sixt SE is seeking to accelerate its expansion in the U.S.
The parent company of Sixt Rent-a-Car, which specializes in premium vehicles and is Germany’s largest car-rental company by market share, acquired concessions at 10 U.S. airports from the parent company of Advantage Rent a Car in a bankruptcy sale earlier this month.
Alexander Sixt, the company’s chief strategy and technical officer, said the $16 million deal, which closed Friday, would give the company concessions at New York City’s three major airports: John F. Kennedy International, Newark Liberty International and LaGuardia.
Some car-rental companies are floundering after the pandemic exacerbated longstanding debt problems amid fierce industry competition. The parent company of Advantage Rent a Car filed for bankruptcy protection at the end of May, the same month as Hertz Global Holdings Inc.
Sixt is less burdened than its competitors by debt and is better suited to survive a recession, said Constantin Hesse, an analyst at Jefferies International Ltd., in London.
Sixt is one of Europe’s largest car-rental companies, posting revenue last year of €3.3 billion ($3.7 billion). The company has a small footprint in the U.S. Before the Advantage deal, Sixt had 75 locations in the country, mostly off-airport, and just 2% of market share, according to Jefferies. U.S. sales last year totaled about $475 million.
The U.S. is the world’s biggest car-rental market, worth an estimated $30 billion, according to analysts at German bank Hauck & Aufhäuser. Mr. Sixt said more than half of that business is conducted at the nation’s 58 largest airports.
Sixt began to expand beyond Germany 30 years ago, growing to become Europe’s second-largest car-rental company. It first entered the U.S. in 2011. Mr. Sixt said competitors have held on tight to concessions spaces, especially within terminals at major airports, forcing Sixt to make do with off-airport locations.
The deal with Advantage will see Sixt take over terminal concessions in cities such as Boston, Houston, Orlando and Denver. Sixt executives particularly prize the three airports in the New York metro region, which served a combined 141 million passengers last year.
The company said it aims to secure a 10% market share across the 10 U.S. airports where it has acquired the new concessions. At Miami International Airport, where Sixt has had an on-airport presence since 2011, it has an almost 13% market share, according to analysts. The company has a U.S. sales target of $1 billion in the next five years.
First it must survive the pandemic, which has decimated air travel.
In the New York region, airline-passenger volumes are recovering more slowly than other forms of transportation. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the three airports, said weekday passenger volumes in early June were 92% lower than the same period last year. The Port Authority forecasts that passenger levels won’t recover to 2019 levels until sometime between the second quarter of 2021 and the third quarter of 2023.
At most airports, like in the New York area, car-rental companies must pay the operator a minimum annual payment on top of a percentage of sales. A Port Authority official said car-rental companies continue to ask the agency for relief.
Mr. Sixt, a great-grandson of founder Martin Sixt, said the pandemic is the greatest challenge the company has faced. In the first quarter of this year, the company lost €5.1 million. Mr. Sixt said second-quarter results would be significantly worse.
Still, he added, there are signs in Europe that leisure travel is picking up. And with competitors struggling, the family spots an opening.
“I read this beautiful quote about Ayrton Senna the other day,” Mr. Sixt said, citing the Formula One champion, “where he said it’s hard to win a race when it’s sunny, but he can easily overtake 16 cars when it’s raining.”
Write to Paul Berger at Paul.Berger@wsj.com