Do you know where your roses really come from?
This short 2008 Frontline documentary exposes some pretty heinous human rights abuses in Ecuador’s flower industry.
Try googling “fair-trade flowers” for your bouquet this year.
Posts Tagged ‘holidays’
This Valentine’s Day, Try Not To Poison A Pregnant Farmworker
Friday, February 11th, 2011The Art of Christmas Money
Monday, December 27th, 2010
Merry Christmas from Money Is Not Important!
Merry Christmas from TILE, too, although we think money is pretty darned important. Not having the most of it, but knowing how to use it. The real art of money is more than budgeting. It’s about spending thoughtfully, planning for the future, and giving to causes and charities you believe in. (And it’s also a little bit about folding up dollar bills into pine trees.)
Santa’s Skipping The Credit Card Debt This Year
Friday, December 10th, 2010Credit card companies are freaking out as they try to entice shoppers to pay for gifts with credit. But those 5% cash back offers aren’t exactly worth taking on thousands of dollars in debt.
- Even though holiday spending is up compared to last year, shoppers are less likely to whip out their credit cards at the register this year.
- Some shoppers are trying to avoid taking on more dangerous debt, and some simply lost their cards because of the recession and last year’s credit card reform. Outstanding credit card debt is “bad debt” because it lowers your credit score.
- Card issuers make money when customers run up their credit bills and then fail to pay the entire balance at the end of the month. If they miss payments, their interest rates go up, and so does their total amount owed.
Facts & Figures
- Use of Visa and Mastercard cards fell 11% in the past year
- Spending on Black Friday was up more than 6% over last year
- 15 million Americans lost their credit cards because of the recession and new credit card regulations
Best Quote
“With the interest rates, it just seemed like I never paid it off.” – Liz Gonzalez, talking about her credit card debt
Black Friday’s Supertroopers
Friday, November 26th, 2010It’s Black Friday, the biggest and most aggressive shopping day of the year. Stores slash prices and determined shoppers wait up all night, push each other, bribe each other, and occasionally trample one another to get their hands on the goods.
This year has seen an increase in the number of shoppers from the broke years after 2008, and the L.A. Times was kind enough to interview some of the consumer warriors swarming the local malls.
Best Quotes
- “It’s cold, cold, cold, frustrating and stressful standing for five hours but you just do it. My mother-in-law put me in this spot.” – Monica Ferreira, 27, hoping for a $600 washer-dryer from Sears
- “We are in it to win it. Go hard or go home.” – Ilene Agan, 27, veteran Black Friday Shopper at Toys R Us
- “This is professional shopping for a lot of these customers, and they know exactly what they want. They plan these things, they have their routes and they make a beeline.” – Mike Boylson, Chief Marketing Officer, JCPenney
- “Maybe I’m sacrificing too much for this TV.” – Vanessa Barrera, 20, Sears
Christmas In November for Tiffany
Wednesday, November 24th, 2010Thinking about wrapping your gifts in a certain blue box this season? Whatever, Tiffany doesn’t really need your money.
- The company has already seen profits way higher than projected, and the upcoming shopping nightmare known as Black Friday will probably boost sales even more.
- Other luxury goods brands are looking up as well – both Coach and Hermes are reporting strong sales this quarter.
- The National Retail Federation says this holiday season is probably going to be the best in four years. (If you’re a retailer, that is.)
Facts & Figures
- Sales have increased by 14% over last year
- The biggest increase in purchases is coming from big-ticket items – those that cost $500 or more
- Sales of items under $500 have continued to decrease
Best Quote
“We continue to see bifurcated performance, with declines in sales and transactions below $500, but double-digit percentage increases in most every other higher priced category. This indicates to us diverging effects to one degree or another that the economy is having on consumer spending.” – Mark Aaron, Tiffany’s Investor Relations Chief
The Haunted House Gets A Spooky Modern Makeover
Friday, October 22nd, 2010Looking for a thrill this Halloween? There’s a haunted house for everyone, including evangelical Christians. But a new style in New York City is catering to adults… with strong stomachs.
- Today’s haunted houses are more complicated and sometimes much more shocking than productions of the past. The NYC Halloween Haunted House is only open to audiences 18 and older.
- It’s more expensive to put on a large production in NYC, but the city has the advantage of a huge community of theater pros. They bring modern and impressive acting, costumes, makeup, and set design to the old haunted house.
- Many of the new shows use creepy, psychologically troubling plot lines to set up the scares. But in the end, it’s usually all about the man jumping out from behind the curtain. Boo!
Facts & Figures
- In “NYC Halloween Haunted House,” an actress playing a mental patient removes one of each participants’ shoes.
- In “Nightmare: Superstitions,” in NYC’s NoHo neighborhood, participants somehow travel through huge rooms and tiny tunnels in the course of their visit.
- Haunted houses around the country generate hundreds of millions of dollars every year.
Holiday Airfares Rebounding From 2009
Monday, October 18th, 2010The airline industry hasn’t had it easy in many, many years. But now that things are starting to look up in the economy, airlines are happily finding themselves with more paying customers paying more for their tickets.
- The airline industry is finally recovering from the blows dealt by 9/11 and the global economic crisis… which means higher ticket prices for everyone.
- This holiday season – the biggest travel season of the year – customers can expect to see fare increases of 7% to 18% over last year’s prices.
- Because many travelers have been avoiding flying to save money, recent optimism about the economy is catapulting them back into airports. At the same time, airlines haven’t increased the number of routes or planes in their fleets.
Facts & Figures
- The airline industry lost $58 billion between 2001 and 2009.
- For the first time in 10 years, 86.3% of all available seats were filled on major airlines in June.
- An estimated 41 million Americans will fly this November and December.
Best Quote
“It’s all about supply and demand. When people want to travel, it’s going to be more expensive.” – Tim Smith, Spokesman for American Airlines
Black Friday 2009 In Review
Monday, November 30th, 2009Shoppers showed up the day after Thanksgiving, but their cash went to bargains, sales and less expensive items.
- More shoppers hit the stores this holiday weekend than last year, but this time they were in search of sales and small appliances.
- Department stores were a big hit, with just over half of all shoppers visiting at least one during the weekend (a 13% increase from last year!)
- Cyber Monday, the Monday after Thanksgiving weekend, attracts many shoppers to the Internet for large sales on items that did not sell as well during the weekend. Cyber Monday is an important day in sales for many e-commerce sites, but projections are lower based on the fact that many people who would normally shop during their lunch hours at work are too worried about job security to do so.
Facts & Figures
- 195 million shoppers ventured into stores during the holiday weekend, as compared with 172 million last year.
- Average spending, per consumer, dropped to $343.31 per person, down from $372.57 a year ago.
- 63.8% of shoppers shopped for themselves this year (though Black Friday is traditionally popular among gift shoppers). Also, 31.2% of shoppers were in line for stores at or before 5:00 am.
Best Quote
“During a more robust economy, people may be inclined to hit the snooze button on Black Friday, but high unemployment and a focus on price caused shoppers to visit stores early in anticipation of the best deals.” – Phil Rist, Executive Vice President for Strategic Initiatives at BIGresearch
U.S. Nonprofits Brace For Less Cheer This Holiday Season
Thursday, November 19th, 2009American-based charities are still reeling from the significant decline in charitable contributions and starting to prepare for a lean holiday season.
- The same number of people are giving money to nonprofit organizations as before the recession, just with smaller donations.
- Many nonprofits are having to make the tough decisions to cut back on staff while the demand for their services has only increased.
- Charities report that volunteerism is up this fall.
Facts & Figures
- 74% of Americans plan to increase their charitable giving once the economy improves.
- The most successful fundraising organizations expect to see their income go down by an average of 9% this year.
- State unemployment rates remain at 10%.
Best Quote
“I say this to our staff all the time: ‘Our mission is not in a recession.’” – Nancy Brown, CEO of American Heart Association