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TAKE NOTE
BOBBING FOR APPLES
No question: Whenever a major manufacturer of a hot product announces an upgrade or style change, ripples are sent throughout hundreds of businesses whose existence depend on it.
The Apple iPod is a classic modern example. Manufacturing add-ons for iPods—from carrying cases to lounge chairs with built-in slots to hold the device—has been estimated to be a $1 billion business. Last year Apple reportedly sold 32 million iPods and Steve Baker, an analyst for research firm NPD Group, estimates that for every $3 spent on an iPod, at least $1 is spent on an accessory—about three or four additional purchases per iPod.
Retailers may be the happiest of all. Their profit margin on the accessories—some 2,000 different items at one count—usually is much higher than on the actual device.
HAVE YOU SEEN MY SWINGLINE?
Missing office supplies—all those pens, pads of paper, staplers and paper clips likely taken home by an employee—is more than just a nuisance. Estimates put stolen office supplies at more than $50 billion a year for U.S. companies and one survey indicates that young workers probably are the culprits.
The Spherion Workplace Snapshot, an online survey, reports 20 percent of workers aged 18 to 24 years did not feel it is wrong to take home office supplies and 25 percent in this age group admitted to having taken office supplies in the last year.
Among older workers aged 65 and up, just eight percent said they felt it is not wrong to take office supplies and only 12 percent said they took supplies home.
Of course, for both age groups, those are just the employees who admit it!
MUST SEE TV
Here’s one way to take your mind off high prices while refueling at the gas pump: Watch television!
Gas Station TV, Oak Park, MI, has been testing its
service in Dallas, TX, which provides TV monitors above gas pumps that show news, weather and traffic clips along with advertising, of course.
This fall the company plans to expand its program to 100 stations owned by Murphy Oil USA in Dallas and Houston and Atlanta, GA.
ABC reportedly will provide local news and weather from its affiliate stations. |
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