Retail Hell Underground

Tax Code Quirk Allows Corporations To Save Money Paying Their Employees Little and Their CEO's Millions

From Huff Po:

Fast-food giants save money by paying their typical workers very little, but they also save money by paying their CEOs millions, thanks to a quirk of the tax code. In both cases, American taxpayers cover the cost.

McDonald’s saved $14 million in taxes over the past two years using a loophole that lets companies deduct the costs of performance-based executive pay, according to a report released Monday by the Institute for Policy Studies, a progressive think tank. McDonald’s isn’t alone: Over the past two years, the six largest fast-food companies have used the loophole to save an estimated $64 million in taxes, the report found. 

Companies of all types can and do take advantage of the performance-pay loophole, but this study focused specifically on fast food. It's at least the second way the industry hits the federal government's budget: Low wages at the nation’s 10 largest fast-food companies -- which typically hover about a dollar above the federal minimum wage -- cost taxpayers $3.8 billion per year, because workers have to rely on government assistance to get by, according to a recent study by the National Employment Law Project.

“(Fast food companies) are a double burden on the taxpayer,” said Sarah Anderson, the author of the IPS report. “We’re trying to expose the disparity here between CEOs’ policies when it comes to worker pay versus the generous subsidies that they’re getting from their own pay.”

McDonald's and other fast-food companies have come under fire in recent months over discrepancies between how they treat executives and typical employees. Labor organizers expect fast-food workers to walk off the job in 100 cities on Thursday, demanding a wage of $15 per hour. The company has also taken heat from advocacy groups over a sample employee budget McDonald's released earlier this year, indicating that a worker would need to take a second job in order to survive on McDonald's wages.

McDonald's recently bought a new $35 million corporate jet, and a petition asking the company to cancel the order "until all of your full-time workers earn enough to live without public assistance" has garnered more than 200,000 signatures.

At the same time workers claim they're struggling, McDonald's CEO pay is being subsidized through a tax loophole that is actually the result of a backfired effort to limit executive pay, according IPS' Anderson. In 1993, Congress capped the amount of pay companies could deduct from their tax bill at $1 million, but lawmakers left a loophole in place that lets companies deduct unlimited amounts of performance-based pay, like stock options and certain types of bonuses, from their tax bill.

“It led to this explosion of huge stock-options grants,” Anderson said. “That reform is really pointed to as one reason why CEO pay has exploded so much in the past couple of decades.”

Indeed, CEO pay has grown 127 times faster than worker pay over the past 30 years, according to a May 2012 report.

Despite the discrepancy between McDonald's CEO Don Thompson's $13.8 million compensation package and the $8.94 hourly average pay for a fast-food worker, Thompson claims the company isn't exploiting its workers.

"We're about providing opportunity," Thompson told Bloomberg earlier this year. "When we can help people to be able to have viable incom

via www.huffingtonpost.com

 

 

Black Friday Numbers Shrink, Thanksgiving Day Numbers Rise, All Because Retail Corporations Moved Opening Times

Thank you, Thanksgiving Day Killers - Eddie, Terry, Hu, Glen, Mike, Greg, Ron, Kevin, Tony, and Mryon. Your handy murderous work now shows up in the numbers.

Because these assholes moved Black Friday opening times to Thanksgiving DAY, sales numbers for Black Fri-DAY dropped. And they OBVIOUSLY went up for Thanksgiving DAY. These subhuman men (and their shareholders supporting opening on Thanksgiving day) are truly disgusting, soulless, fearful pigs who have no creative thoughts or ideas on how to have better business than to destroy an American holiday for millions of families and their friends.

The pied piper theory is true. The discount rats all followed the sound of the doors opening and that's when they shopped. The opening early trick of the retail corporations will catch up with them in the years to come. 

And sadly people will enjoy shopping after dinner. It will become a "thing," or "event" for many American families.

I hope The Thanksgiving Day Killers are hard at work figuring out what greedy, underhanded thing they will do when they haul in really big numbers from Thanksgiving sales in the future. 

RIP Thanksgiving 2013

 

From Huff Po:

Thanksgiving Day is no longer all about turkey: It's eating away at Black Friday shopping.

U.S. shoppers spent $9.74 billion on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving. That's a drop of 13.2 percent compared with last year, according to data released on Saturday by research firm ShopperTrak.

The decline appears to show that more Americans shopped on the holiday itself: Combined spending on Thanksgiving and Black Friday, which had been considered the official start to the holiday buying season until this year, rose 2.3 percent to $12.3 billion.

The data reflects that Thanksgiving, which along with Christmas was one of two days a year that most stores were closed, is becoming an important day for major retailers.

Black Friday is a time when big retailers open early and offer deep discounts, but a few started opening and offering those discounts on Thanksgiving a couple years ago. And this year, at least a dozen did so, with a few opening earlier in the holiday than they did last year.

The National Retail Federation, a retail trade group, predicted that 33 million, or almost a quarter, of the 140 million people who planned to shop during the four-day holiday weekend that ends on Sunday, would do so on Thanksgiving. Analysts had questioned whether the holiday openings would steal sales away from Black Friday or result in people spending more overall.

"Retailers were pretty successful in drawing the consumers into the stores on Thursday," said ShopperTrak founder Bill Martin, whose company counts how many shoppers go into about 40,000 stores in U.S. But "Thursday's sales came at the expense of Black Friday's numbers."

The decline in sales on Black Friday was the second one in a row. Last year, sales on that day dropped 1.8 percent to $11.2 billion, though it still was the biggest shopping day last year, according to ShopperTrak.

Despite the big drop this year, Shoppertrak's Martin said he thinks Black Friday will remain the biggest shopping day of the year for the 10th consecutive year. But if retailers continue to promote Thanksgiving as the start of the holiday buying season, he thinks the holiday will eventually surpass Black Friday in sales.

"We're just taking Black Friday sales and spreading them across a larger number of days," Martin said.

There will be a clearer picture of sales for the first holiday shopping weekend on Sunday when The National Retail Federation releases data.

Overall, the retail trade group expects sales to be up 3.9 percent to $602 billion for the season, which encompasses the last two months of the year. That's higher than last year's 3.5 percent growth, but below the 6 percent pace seen before the recession.

Some retailers said the holiday shopping season is off to a good start. Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, said it sold 2 million TVs and 1.4 million tablets on the Thanksgiving, while Macy's said 15,000 people showed up to the 8 p.m. opening of its flagship New York City store on the holiday.

Edwin Molina, 30, a New Yorker who works in construction, waited with his wife in line for an hour at a Best Buy that opened at 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving. He said he likes the holiday openings. "It was better, less hectic," he said.

But not everyone liked the earlier start to the shopping season. Workers' rights groups and some shoppers led small protests to decry the way some store employees had to miss holiday meals at home.

And as his wife shopped in a mall near Atlanta on Black Friday, Curtis Akins, 51, sat on a bench, lamenting the holiday openings.

"It's taking away from the traditional Thanksgiving," Akins said.

via www.huffingtonpost.com

 

 

Why The Religion Of 'Positive Thinking' Needs To Be Burned At The Stake

There's "positive thinking" and then there's something else entirely. RSA Animate created this beautiful clip from a talk by journalist, author, and activist Barbara Ehrenreich — and it's golden!

Darth Vader shows up at 2:15 to dispel the myth of "The Secret." At 4:10 is one of the key causes of the financial meltdown that led to the Great Recession. At 7:00, she hits on something that keeps us alive — if we're paying attention!

via www.upworthy.com

Holidays in Hell With America's Most Dehumanizing Retail Corporations

From Alternet:

Ebeneezer Scrooge knew how a greedy capitalist deals with workers during the holiday season: Consider yourself cheated when they take a day off with pay to celebrate with their families.

But the old miser is bit too soft for many of today’s corporate titans. A day off with pay? Bah, humbug! Across America, workers are faced with no paid holidays at all or “encouraged” to work on Thanksgiving and Christmas. Some get paid extra, some don’t. Unless you have a union contract or work for the federal government, Thanksgiving and Christmas may just be another day on the job.

While Scrooge was forced to bow to Victorian norms and give his employees Christmas Day off with pay, American law does not require such generosity. In fact, the U.S. is a world leader in least generous holiday arrangements.

American misers don’t stop there: From paying starvation wages to abandoning victims of factory disasters, there is no action too heartless for some of our best-known companies.

Here are some of the brands offering “season’s beatings” to hard-working people.  

Kmart

Several stores on this list will be open on Thanksgiving, but Kmart has outdone them all by announcing it will be open 41 hours straight, starting at the obscene hour of 6am on Thanksgiving Day.

According to Kmart spokeswoman Shanelle Armstrong, the company is doing workers a favor, informing the Huffington Post that "We staff with teams & seasonal associates when possible, giving them the opportunity to make extra money during holiday."

Many customers obviously can’t appreciate such generosity, leaving irate messages on Kmart’s Facebook page like these:

“Hey Kmart! Because of you being Open on Thanksgiving and totally disrespecting your employees, Our Family will never spend a $ in your store!”

"I refuse to shop at a store that makes employees work on Thanksgiving so you can earn a buck this store among others takes the fun out of shopping on black Friday.”

Around the country, Kmart’s full-time employees report being pressured to work over holidays, despite the company’s claim of using seasonal and temp workers.

McDonald's

McDonald’s, never one to shy away from screwing employees, recently found itself caught up in a blizzard of negative PR for putting its business principles into writing in the form of a list of holiday budget tips for its workers, whose pay averages $8 per hour. (This just months after a stunningly McStupid employee budget guide that allowed zero dollars for heat and $20 for healthcare.)

The company has some money advice that would make Scrooge giddy. Facing debt? Try returning some of your presents and selling off possessions on eBay. Need to make a purchase? Go to a thrift shop instead of the mall. Feeling depressed? “Try to avoid using shopping as a pick-me-up or as a way to relieve boredom.”

McDonald’s concluded with a cheery holiday message for workers who live below the poverty line: “Financial security is something we all dream of. You can make this dream a reality with a little hard work and a lot of dedication.” 

Thanks, McDonald's. Could we at least have fries with that?

Sears

With an Ayn Rand-worshipping libertarian at the helm (financier Eddie Lampert), it’s no wonder Sears has become the poster child of worker misery (Sears Holdings also now owns Kmart). When he took over Sears in January 2013, Lampert rolled up his sleeves, turning the company into a giant Randian experiment where workers were pitted against each other until the venerable retailer descended into a chaos of screaming matches and infighting.

A year after the horrific factory fire in Bangladesh, Sears, which sold clothing made there, is giving victims the cold shoulder, declining to participate in a global effort to get compensation to injured workers and the families of survivors. According to the New York Times, some European retailers, like the Anglo-Irish Primark, have embraced their moral obligation and are working hard on the effort, but Sears is unmoved by the idea of burned and paralyzed victims, or families trying to survive without a breadwinner. Happy holidays.

Walmart

Walmart, boasting a profit of $15.7 billion last year, has distinguished itself by paying crap wages to its 2.2 million employees . In fact, the majority of its workers with children live below the poverty line.

This year, the company is actually holding food drives so that its own poorly paid employees can donate food to each other for the holidays.

Walmart is really a standout when it comes to caring about workers — for example, not giving a hoot if people die while making its products. The company recently showed what anti-sweatshop activist Samantha Maher calls “an astonishing lack of responsibility” to the victims of the Bangladesh factory fire where a large portion of its clothing was being made. Like Sears, it will not participate in relief efforts for victims.

Walmart has announced it will open its stores at 6pm on Thanksgiving, and according to chief marketing officer Duncan MacNaughton, employees are “really excited to work that day.” Gee, work or get fired? Or end up with so few hours that you can’t eat that week? What an exciting choice!

What MacNaughton does not say is that many Walmart workers would like to work full-time, but are forced to work part-time so the company can avoid offering benefits. They are also forced to deal with erratic schedules that drive them into poverty, making them unable to take second jobs or arrange childcare.

Josh Eidelson reports that Walmart can expect protests and demonstrations across the country during Black Friday, including strikes.

Apple

Apple was planning on increasing the number of stores open on Thanksgiving this year, but CEO Tim Cook made a big show of expressing his goodwill by insisting that only some of his employees should be miserable for the holidays: those working in stores on the Las Vegas Strip, Hawaii’s Waikiki Beach and New York’s Fifth Avenue.

Cook’s largesse is duly noted.

But so is the fact that Apple’s employees are pretty miserable to begin with. According to Glassdoor.com—sort of like Yelp for America’s workforce where employees leave reviews of their experience on the job—working for Apple is no picnic. In terms of satisfaction, Apple ranks #34, far behind tech companies like Facebook (#1), Google (#6) and Linked-In (#14). It also ranks below Shell Oil US (#18), Mastercard (#29) and Bain & Company (#4). Apple employees complain of long hours, difficulty in balancing life and work, and — surprise! — “retail hours involving holiday hours.”

Apple’s per-employee revenue is an off-the-freaking charts $2.13 million, yet the average salary of an Apple store “Genius” is $38,937, which, in locations like New York, is barely subsistence level. Apple is sitting on a tremendous amount of cash right now, but is it going to increase the pay and benefits of the workers who make its success possible? Or maybe invest in the development of new products? Perish the thought! No, it appears Apple is likely to do a massive stock buyback (read: stock manipulation) and enrich executives to the tune of $150 billion (if Carl Ichan has his way). Stock buybacks are a noxious form of redistribution of profits away from workers and an innovation-killer, and should be banned.

Let’s not forget that Apple is facing a class-action suit for conspiring with other tech firms to screw over employees with do-not-hire arrangements. Or that Apple iPhone workers in China work in virtual slavery. Or that Tim Cook sent an incredibly creepy video to employees warning them to read up on “business conduct” guidelines. Et cetera.

Macy’s

For the first time in its 155-year history, Macy’s will be open on Thanksgiving. This is especially ironic given that the iconic store has practically made its name synonymous with the holiday through its nine-decades-running festival of ginormous balloons, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. This year, many Macy's workers will not be able to enjoy the parade, because they will be inside bound to cash registers.

Macy's employees have reported an obnoxious score scorecard system that the company uses to judge and control them. They also complain of low wages, dirty conditions, and poor training — which is no suprise given reports of " Shop and Frisk" incidents involving people of color getting harassed in the store.

Last year, we noted that Macy’s CEO Terry Lundgren was spending his time lobbying to gut Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. Lundgren is part of a notorious group of greedy CEOs called “Fix the Debt” which strives to further distress hard-working people by running ad campaigns, purchasing members of Congress, etc. so that he and his fellow Scrooges can enjoy tax breaks by shredding the social safety net.

According to Forbes, Lundgren took home over $10 million last year.

And there you have it — a corporate climate in America which would make Scrooge himself shudder.

via www.alternet.org

 

One Retail Employee's Thanksgiving Dinner

Reddit

 

 

Pizza Hut Responds to Customer Backlash and Offers Fired Manager His Job Back

Nice to see a positive story of a corporation actually responding to customer comments over the working Thanksgiving Issue and how they handled it. At least PH is trying to make amends. 

From KDVR:

ELKART, Ind. — Shortly after a manager announced he was fired for refusing to open on Thanksgiving Day, Pizza Hut is offering him his job back.

Tony Rohr has worked at the franchise in Elkhart, Indiana, for more than 10 years.

When he refused to open on Thanksgiving Day this year, he says, he was told to write a letter of resignation.

Instead, he wrote one explaining why the store should remain closed.

“I said why can’t we be the company that stands up and says we care about your employees and you can have the day off,” Rohr told CNN affiliate WSBT on Wednesday. “Thanksgiving and Christmas are the only two days that they’re closed in the whole year. And they’re the only two days that those people are guaranteed to have off to spend with their families.”

Pizza Hut manager Tony Rohr was fired after 10 years on the job for refusing to open his franchise on Thanksgiving. Then he was rehired by the company after a backlash about the firing. (Photo: CNN / WSBT)

Rohr told the affiliate he refused to quit and detailed his frustration in the letter.

“I accept that the refusal to comply with this greedy, immoral request means the end of my tenure with this company,” he says he wrote. “I hope you realize that it is the people at the bottom of the totem pole that make your life possible.”

He was fired shortly after, he says.

The local franchise told the affiliate that he was not fired, but he quit. Pizza Hut’s corporate office told CNN the franchise “made a serious error in judgment, one which we hope to help remedy.”

It sent CNN a statement that said the store has agreed to hire him back.

“We fully respect an employee’s right to not work on a holiday, which is why the vast majority of Pizza Huts in America are closed on Thanksgiving,” the corporate office said in a statement. “As a result, we strongly recommended that the local franchisee reinstate the store manager and they have agreed. We look forward to them welcoming Tony back to the team.”

No word on whether Rohr will take his job back.

via kdvr.com

70% of Walmart's Employees Working Today on Thanksgiving

From Huff Po:

More than 1 million people will be spending part of Thanksgiving Day at Walmart -- and they won’t be looking for deals.

The company estimates that more than 1 million associates will staff Walmarts around the country during Thanksgiving, according to an email sent to reporters Wednesday. That’s about 71 percent of the 1.4 million people the retailer employs in the U.S. overall.

Though most Walmarts are typically open on Thanksgiving Day, the retailer is kicking off its Black Friday deals earlier than ever this year -- at 6 p.m. on Thursday. Walmart joins Kmart, Target, Best Buy and others in pushing back the sales bonanza earlier into Thanksgiving Day.

The so-called “Black Friday creep” is nothing new, but the stakes are higher this year as retailers look to squeeze profits out of a holiday season that’s six days shorter than usual. Stores make anywhere between 20 and 40 percent of their annual sales during the holiday shopping season, according to the National Retail Federation.

Shortly after the stores announced their Black Friday plans, shoppers and workers took to Facebook and online petitions, slamming the retailers for injecting consumerism into a holiday typically reserved for family. They also criticized the companies for forcing workers to show up on Thanksgiving.

Like other retailers, Walmart is offering its associates who work Thanksgiving special compensation. They’ll get extra pay that the company says is equal to an additional day’s work, a 25 percent discount on purchases they make during a designated period in early December and a Thanksgiving dinner at Walmart.

Still, some say that doesn’t go far enough. One Ohio lawmaker is planning to introduce legislation that would require retailers to pay their employees triple for working on Thanksgiving. More than 60 percent of Americans say stores should stay closed on Thanksgiving and give workers the day off, according to a HuffPost/YouGov poll.

via www.huffingtonpost.com

Nintendo Doesn't Want to Play The Manners Game

 

 

Retailer Sale Secrets of Black Friday

From Hiedi:

When I worked part time at the regional corporate office for my area for Kmart in the accounting/pay roll department as a temp for 5 months (Sept-end of Jan. that year. I was basically a glorified book keeper. But it paid lab and parking fees for 2 semesters.) I was lucky enough to sit in on a few late stage planning sessions for black Friday that year.

Long story short-in the 6 months prior to Black Friday-they slowly jacked up the prices on shit by 50 cents to a dollar on black Friday clothing deals to where it was $5-$10 MORE by the start of November from what it was in June. High End TV's, VCR's, DVD players and other stuff (high end by Kmart standards) would be slowly jacked up by $25-75 from the price it was in June.

For example if TV cost $299.99 in June, by November 1^st it would be 379.99. Come Black Friday they would slash the price of that TV to like $249.99, while still retaining a good profit margin on said item.

Though it's been 10+ years since I've worked in Retail, I learned how stores market their stuff and price and place items to make people spend spend spend. The players change but the rules sure don't.

So when I read this article it sure didn't surprise me to learn things are still done this way.

From Yahoo:

When shoppers head out in search of Black Friday bargains this week, they won't just be going to the mall, they'll be witnessing retail theater.

Stores will be pulling out the stops on deep discounts aimed at drawing customers into stores. But retail-industry veterans acknowledge that, in many cases, those bargains will be a carefully engineered illusion.

The common assumption is that retailers stock up on goods and then mark down the ones that don't sell, taking a hit to their profits. But that isn't typically how it plays out. Instead, big retailers work backward with their suppliers to set starting prices that, after all the markdowns, will yield the profit margins they want.

The red cardigan sweater with the ruffled neck on sale for more than 40% off at $39.99 was never meant to sell at its $68 starting price. It was designed with the discount built in.

Buyers don't seem to mind. What they are after, especially in such a lackluster economy, is the feeling they got a deal. Retailers like J.C. Penney Co. who try to get out of the game get punished.

"I don't even get excited unless its 40% off," said Lourdes Torress, a 44-year-old technical designer, as she browsed the sale racks at Macy's Inc.'s flagship store in New York on a recent afternoon.

The manufactured nature of most discounts raises questions about the wisdom of standing in line for the promotional frenzy that kicks off the holiday shopping season. It also explains how retailers have been able to ramp up the bargains without giving away the store.

The number of deals offered by 31 major department store and apparel retailers increased 63% between 2009 to 2012, and the average discount jumped to 36% from 25%, according to Savings.com, a website that tracks online coupons.

Over the same period, the gross margins of the same retailers—the difference between what they paid for goods and the price at which they sold them—were flat at 27.9%, according to FactSet. The holidays barely made a dent, with margins dipping to 27.8% in the fourth quarter of 2012 from 28% in the third quarter of that year.

"A lot of the discount is already priced into the product. That's why you see much more stable margins," said Liz Dunn, an analyst with Macquarie Equities Research.

Retailers including Best Buy Co., Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Macy's are warning this will be an unusually competitive holiday season and that all the deals could hurt margins. That can happen when chains have to fight hard for sales or get stuck with excess inventory and have to take heavier-than-planned markdowns. Stores also field loss leaders, true bargains that pinch profits but are aimed at getting customers into their stores. Most deals, however, are planned to be profitable by setting list prices well above where goods are actually expected to sell.

Retailers could run into legal trouble if they never try to sell goods at their starting price. Otherwise, there's nothing wrong with the practice. Companies can be pretty frank about how things work.

Penney, which made a disastrous attempt to move away from discounts under former Apple Inc. executive Ron Johnson, is again playing the standard discount game under new CEO Myron "Mike" Ullman. But first it has to adjust its prices.

"We must and will compete to win," Mr. Ullman said last week on a conference call with analysts. "That means initially marking up our goods to sufficient levels to protect our margins when the discount or sale is applied."

Here's how it works, according to one industry consultant describing an actual sweater sold at a major retailer. A supplier sells the sweater to a retailer for roughly $14.50. The suggested retail price is $50, which gives the retailer a roughly 70% markup. A few sweaters sell at that price, but more sell at the first markdown of $44.99, and the bulk sell at the final discount price of $21.99. That produces an average unit retail price of $28 and gives the store about a 45% gross margin on the product.

Retailers didn't always price this way. It used to be that most items were sold at full price, with a limited number of sales to clear unsold inventory. That began to change in the 1970s and 1980s, when a rash of store openings intensified competition and forced retailers to look for new ways to stand out.

Enter high-low pricing, a strategy designed to create excitement and lure shoppers by dropping prices for occasional sales. Initially, retailers practiced this strategy with restraint. At Mervyn's, a department-store chain that has since gone out of business, discounted items couldn't exceed 30% of total sales, said Mark Cohen, a professor at the Columbia Business School who worked at the company and has held other retail posts including CEO of Sears Canada Inc.

But the floodgates have opened. In a 2012 presentation, Mr. Johnson, then still Penney's CEO, said the company was selling fewer than one out of every 500 items at full price. Customers were receiving an average discount of 60%, up from 38% a decade earlier. The twist is they weren't saving more. In fact, the average price paid by customers stayed about the same over that period. What changed was the initial price, which increased by 33%.

"The silliness of it all is that the original price from which the discount is computed is often specious to begin with, because items hardly ever sell at that price, which makes the discount less legitimate," Columbia's Mr. Cohen said.

The rise of e-commerce has made it possible to track pricing on the Web and see how much time products spend at their list prices. Amazon.com Inc. is featuring a Samsung 60-inch HDTV in its 2013 Holiday Gift Guide. The TV is selling at a 45% discount to its list price of $1,799.99. But, according to Decide.com, a price-tracking firm owned by eBay Inc., the TV hasn't sold for anywhere near the list price in months. The most it has sold for in the past eight months is $1,297.85, according to Decide.com. As recently as October, it was priced at $997.99, about the same as its current sale price.

An Amazon spokeswoman said that "showing the most 'recent' price can be somewhat arbitrary and could be confusing to our customers," since the retailer changes prices so frequently in an effort to provide the best deals.

Another tactic involves raising selling prices ahead of the holidays before the discounts kick in. In an analysis for The Wall Street Journal, price-tracking firm Market Track LLC looked at the online price fluctuations of 1,743 products in November 2012. Prices climbed an average of 8% in the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving for 366, or about a fifth, of the products; the items were then discounted on Black Friday. Toys and tools had the biggest pre-Black Friday price increases—about 23%.

Mr. Johnson lost his job after he abandoned the discount system abruptly in favor of everyday low prices and sales plunged. But retail executives said he hit on an important insight, that prices had lost their integrity.

Retailers are supposed to offer items at regular prices "for a reasonably substantial period of time" before marking them down, according to the Federal Trade Commission.

Cynthia Spann is suing Penney over what she says are phantom discounts. She bought three blouses at 40% off the regular price of $30 in March 2011, according to her complaint. But instead of $30, the prevailing price for the blouses in the three months preceding her purchase was $17.99—exactly the same as the sale price she paid, the lawsuit alleges. Ms. Spann said in the complaint that she wouldn't have bought the blouses if she had known the discount wasn't real.

Through her lawyer, Ms. Spann declined to be interviewed.

A spokeswoman for Penney declined to comment on the litigation, but said the retailer's policy is to sell all items at their original price for a reasonable period of time before putting them on sale.

Similar cases are pending against Kohl's Corp. and Jos A. Bank Clothiers Inc. A Kohl's spokeswoman didn't reply to requests for comment. In its most recent quarterly filing, the company said the legal proceedings it faces likely won't have a material effect. A Jos A. Bank spokesman declined to comment on the pending litigation or the company's pricing strategy, but said two other lawsuits making similar claims were dismissed earlier this year.

Retailers, having trained customers to shop for deals, are stuck with the strategy for now. Macy's tried to cut back on coupons in 2007.

"Customers stopped shopping," said Chief Executive Terry Lundgren, "so we knew that was a bad idea,"

via finance.yahoo.com

Black Friday's Thanksgiving Day Killers May Not Get What They Wanted By Opening Early According To Deloitte Survey

From Huff Po:

The aggressive push to get people in the doors of America's biggest retailers on Thanksgiving may be going awry, according to a new survey.

Just 13 percent of Americans who plan to shop in stores over Thanksgiving weekend say they’ll be heading to retailers on Turkey Day, down from 23 percent last year, a Deloitte survey released Monday found.

A poll released Monday by the University of Connecticut had similar findings -- nine out of 10 respondents in that survey said they wouldn't shop on Thanksgiving Day.

What’s more, the share of Thanksgiving weekend customers planning on shopping on Black Friday is also down 10 percent from last year, according to the Deloitte survey.

The surveys' findings come as retailers prepare for a holiday shopping season that's starting earlier than ever. Stores like Walmart, Kmart, Target, Best Buy and others are offering Black Friday deals earlier on Thanksgiving Day than in years past.

Though the “Black Friday creep” is nothing new, the stakes for retailers are higher this year, since the holiday season is six days shorter than usual due to calendar quirks. That's six fewer days of potential shopping, and since stores make anywhere from 20 to 40 percent of their annual sales between Thanksgiving and Christmas, many companies are feeling the pressure to get Americans into stores early.

Opening on Thanksgiving worked well for Walmart last year. The retailer processed almost 5,000 transactions per second during the “high traffic period” from 8 p.m. to midnight on Thanksgiving Day, the company said in an email to reporters.

But while customers are clearly showing up to stores on Thanksgiving Day, they’re not necessarily happy about it.

Workers and shoppers have vented their outrage at stores on company Facebook pages and in online petitions, slamming them for forcing staffers to work on Thanksgiving and injecting consumerism into a time typically reserved for family.

Even some shoppers who appreciate a good Black Friday deal have argued that stores are ruining the holiday by pressuring them to shop on Thanksgiving or risk missing out on savings.

As the Deloitte survey indicates, the fear of missing a good deal may not be enough to get shoppers to show up in stores on Thanksgiving or over the weekend. Fifty-nine percent of shoppers said they plan to stay home over the holiday weekend in order to avoid crowds; that’s up 10 percent from last year.

via www.huffingtonpost.com

Salon Charges Overweight Custys Extra Tax For Waxing

From Huff Po:

Getting your legs waxed is already a fairly unpleasant endeavor. But a London salon has reportedly made it that much more unbearable by imposing a so-called "fat tax" on its curvier customers.

The Sun reports that MM Bubbles, a salon in South Kensington that offers manicures, pedicures, waxing and body wraps, is charging customers size 12 and larger a fee of £5 (around $8) for a 45-minute leg wax. Women even larger (a size 18 and up) could be charged £10 more.

A British size 12 (equivalent to an American size 8) is actually smaller than the average UK woman's size, the Sun notes, which is actually a size 16 (an American size 12). So the Sun sent a size 22-24 woman to MM Bubbles for a waxing treatment. When being charged for her visit, she was reportedly told by the salon owner, "I know maybe for you it is not very nice but I use more stuff."

As insulting as the concept of a "fat tax" sounds, it's not a foreign concept. Legislation proposed in Nevada this year would impose a 5-cent tax on fast food containing over 500 calories; this month, Mexico's national Congress passed a one-peso-per-liter tax on soda and an 8 percent tax on junk food.

Airlines have debated higher fees for heavier passengers for some time now, reasoning that heavier cargo results in more fuel and CO2 emissions. "Charging according to weight and space is a universally accepted principle, not only in transportation, but also in other services," an economics professor told CNN earlier this year.

Fuel and CO2 emissions is one thing; wax and cotton waxing strips are another. Do you find it justifiable to charge larger customers more money for a leg waxing job?

We've reached out to MM Bubbles for comment and will update should we hear back. Read more at TheSun.co.uk.

via www.huffingtonpost.com

 

McDonald's Defending It's Crazy Website Offering Employee Tips On How To Save

From ABC News:

McDonald's is defending saving tips on its employee website that suggest workers break their food into smaller pieces to feel fuller, seek refunds for unopened holiday purchases, and other advice deemed "offensive" by an advocacy group.

The advice to its employees who struggle to make ends meet was "taken out of context," a spokesperson for the hamburger chain said.

Some screen shots of McDonald's McResource page were distributed on the Internet by LowPayisNotOk.org including tips such as, "Breaking food into pieces often results in eating less and still feeling full," and "At least two vacations a year can cut heart attack risk by 50 percent."

A video on LowPayIsNotOk.org argues, "Two jobs not two vacations is more like it for most McDonald's employees."

Another McResource tip deemed "offensive" and "clueless" by LowPayIsNotOk.org is "Sing away stress: Singing along to your favorite songs can lower your blood pressure."

A financial tip from the website states, "You may also want to consider returning some of your unopened purchases that may not seem as appealing as they did. Selling some of your unwanted possessions on eBay or Craigslist could bring in some quick cash."

There's this stress-management tip: "Quit Complaining: Stress hormone levels rise by 15 percent after ten minutes of complaining."

A spokeswoman for McDonald's provided a statement to ABCNews.com: "This is an attempt by an outside organization to undermine a well-intended employee assistance resource website by taking isolated portions out of context."

LowPayisNotOk.org advocates a $15 an hour wage for fast food workers. The federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour.

Last month, the advocacy group featured a recording of a woman it said was a McDonald's worker who is advised on the company's help line that she may be eligible for SNAP, the supplemental nutritional assistance program also known as food stamps. The worker, according to the video, says she makes $8.25 an hour and has never received a raise.

In response to the help line recording, McDonald's said the video "is not an accurate portrayal of the resource line as this is very obviously an edited video."

"The fact is that the McResource Line is intended to be a free, confidential service to help employees and their families get answers to a variety of questions or provide resources on a variety of topics including housing, child care, transportation, grief, elder care, education and more," McDonald's said.

McDonald's based in Oak Brook, Ill., has 1.8 million employees and more than 34,000 restaurants in 118 countries.

LowPayIsNotOK is a website started by Fast Food Forward, a fast-food worker advocacy campaign in New York City that is supported financially by the Service Employees International Union and other labor groups including Change to Win. Fast Food Forward is one of several campaigns in cities across the country organized by local labor-community-clergy alliances like New York Communities for Change, Jobs with Justice, Action Now, 99% Pastors/Interfaith Coalition and Citizen Action of Wisconsin, a spokeswoman for the campaign said.

McDonald's says its McResource website provides information and resources on topics including health and wellness, stress and financial management.

"The website also includes some rotating 'quick tips' and while we recognize that some of these could be taken out of context, the vast majority of the resources and information on the site are based on credible outside experts and well-published advice," McDonald's statement said. "The content for the site was provided by an independent work-life, health and wellness company and we will be working with them to review the content and make any necessary adjustments to the information to make sure that it stays a trusted, accurate and useful tool for employees who choose to use it."

"The website also includes some rotating 'quick tips' and while we recognize that some of these could be taken out of context, the vast majority of the resources and information on the site are based on credible outside experts and well-published advice," McDonald's statement said. "The content for the site was provided by an independent work-life, health and wellness company and we will be working with them to review the content and make any necessary adjustments to the information to make sure that it stays a trusted, accurate and useful tool for employees who choose to use it."

via abcnews.go.com

Bank of America Tellers Picket ATM Machine In Manhattan

From ABC News:

Alex Shalom is a Bank of America teller but earlier this week he joined a couple other tellers who picketed an ATM machine in Manhattan.

The ATM is one of 150 "ATM with Teller Assist" machines that the Charlotte, N.C.-based bank is testing.

The company says the ATM "combines the technology of an ATM with the human touch of a teller" by allowing you to talk via video connection to a teller at a U.S.-based call center during extended hours, including Sundays.

But Shalom, 20, argues that the machines threaten teller jobs in favor of cheaper labor at call centers in Delaware or Jacksonville, Fla.

"Part of my job is building strong relationships and being able to recommend quality products," Shalom told ABCNews.com. "I don't think you can do that through a video screen when you're never going to know the customer and the customer will never know you."

Tara Burke, a spokeswoman for Bank of America, denies that the ATMs with video tellers are going to eradicate the classic teller.

"We are not planning to replace tellers. We're not cutting jobs," Burke said.

She said there is no difference in pay between the tellers but declined to share details of the firm's wages that it pays.

The new machines are in 61 locations, including Atlanta, Boston, Charlotte, Dallas, Houston, New York and other cities, and the bank has plans to expand the roll-out across the country.

Shalom is presenting a petition to Bank of America, asking the company to halt the roll-out of the machines. He is supported by the Committee for Better Banks, a community labor coalition that aims for a "just and equitable banking industry by improving the working conditions for employees in finance."

Burke said customer feedback about the machines "has been great."

"They like the additional non-traditional banking hours. They like the live interaction with the teller," she said. "Overall feedback from customers has been very good. We are always looking for ways to help our customers bank easier. This provides that and flexibility."

Greg McBride, senior financial analyst, said the way people bank has changed dramatically over the past several years as an increasing number of transactions are conducted online and through mobile channels, instead of at the local bank branch.

"So you don't need the same level of staffing in each and every branch, particularly for routine transactions," he said.

"Some people have gotten used to the self-service model and prefer it. But if they have an issue and have a question, they want somebody to help," McBride said.

So McBride says the job of the teller is by no means extinct or endangered yet.

"Over time you're going to see fewer tellers... The way people bank is changing and you're not going to need the same level of human interaction for routine transactions going forward that preceded in years past," he said.

via abcnews.go.com

 

Black Friday Thanksgiving Day Killers: Faces Behind The Men Responsible For Murdering Thanksgiving and Displacing Millions of People From Their Families and Friends on a Cherished American Holiday

 

The Death of Thanksgiving is now days away and I felt it was important to remember WHO killed Thanksgiving for millions of Americans.

Here is the official Thanksgiving Day Killers List.

Take a good look.

These are the faces of 10 men behind the death of Turkey Day.

I consider these men family-wreckers. They use the power of "sale" and "competitiveness with each other" to draw millions of people away from their families and friends on a beloved American holiday.

These 10 men will go down in history as the ones we will hold responsible for stealing and murdering Thanksgiving Day 2013. They have unleashed Black Thanksgiving, a title I created last year in my book Return To The Big Fancy.

The Thanksgiving Killers are all competing with each other for early bird customers because they will get small increases from opening earlier than last year.

I'm writing this post to document the murder because it is historic this year. The actions of these Thanksgiving Day Killers will have widespread effects on millions of people, creating a domino effect. As their employees and their families scramble to fit Thanksgiving in or cancel it entirely, the customers and their families will also be at the mercy of Black Friday sales, rearranging and changing plans. One family's change in plans affects the other people close to them.

Also suffering will be the employees of smaller chain stores. Because malls have been forced to open due to anchor stores, they will have no choice but to be open as well. The employees of these smaller stores will have to work double shifts because their staffs are smaller and many will not get holiday pay.

Never before has there been such a large scale public attack on family values by so few men. Conservatives love to blame gay people and single parents for the decline in family values, yet here we have 10 men who have wielded their sale power to yank millions of people away from their families and friends.

It's sad and frightening how 10 men can use cheap TV's and computers to influence the American public so easily. 

These Murdering CEO's have all blamed the customers saying, it's what they want and the reason they are opening on Turkey Day is because of "Customer Demand."

They use these retail buzz words like shady politicians twisting the facts.

There is no public record or actual real evidence that millions of customers are demanding stores be open on Thanksgiving Day [Except taking CEO word that they've really conducted polls. Should we trust what these murderers say?].

And the real kicker here is, it makes no sense AT ALL that these CEOs talk about Customer Demand, yet ignore their OTHER Customer's Demands - the ones who want them to be closed on Thanksgiving Day - the 200,000 of them that signed online petitions to save Thanksgiving.

They also blame a shorter holiday shopping season because of the day Christmas falls on. This is another ridiculous retail theory because it happens every few years (as a manager I experienced many short holiday shopping seasons and if you've got the goods it doesn't matter - people need to buy gifts and most do it the week before, regardless of what day of the week it is.)

The CEO reasoning doesn't add up.

And WE ALL KNOW WHY.

Retailers opening on Thanksgiving Day is all about their numbers adding up.

They need to beat last year's figures. Since none of these 10 Men are running stores that have higher inventories than last year, and they appear to be completely uncreative with ideas of how to gain real increases, they only know of one way to get an increase in the Black Friday bag:

Play The Thanksgiving Creep Card.

These Turkey Day murderers are opening their stores 2-7 hours earlier than last year because it's almost a guaranteed small increase. Those hours are "free" volume for them this year. They are going against $0 last year in that time frame (It's important to note the stores that were open last year are opening earlier this year so they too can have hours that are free volume)

This desperate, family-wrecking sale tactic to gain a tiny increase for the Black Friday Sale will catch up to these companies in the next few years. 

Once they have completely annihilated Thanksgiving and everything it stands for, in the years to come they will run out of earlier opening times for their stores and be faced with making up volume for Thanksgiving Day.

And the decreases will follow.

Because of the new business model The Thanksgiving Killers have created for themselves, this year is a milestone in the death of Thanksgiving and it becomes Black Thanksgiving. There is no going back. The CEO's will never again close their stores on Turkey Day.

It's over.

Family values lost to corporate competition.

These men have changed American culture and the way we celebrated a cherished holiday. 

The 4th of July was murdered first and now Thanksgiving is gasping for breath on its deathbed.

There are 14 stores that will remained closed this year - among them are Coscto, Nordstrom, Barnes and Noble, Patagonia, Ross Dress For Less, TJ Maxx, and BJ's Warehouse. While we can be thankful these stores held out this year, it's important to note: 

MANY OF THEM ARE OPEN ON 4th of July.

Retail History will repeat itself and they will be forced to follow the competition in the years to come. It's a given.

This year is also a double holiday murder if you enjoy celebrating Hanukkah. Thanksgiving happens to fall on the first night of Hanukkah candle lighting festivities. It's not one of the important Jewish holidays but candle lighting festivities will be disrupted for people who work in retail and for shoppers attending the Black Friday Sale.  

These 10 men can blame the custys all they want, but they are the desperate Pied Pipers of Black Friday and the discount rats in search of deals will follow the sound of a CEO's voice saying, "Our store will open at...."

And it's really quite pathetic that they could not think of any better ways to squeeze out small increases from their famous Black Friday Sales. Why can't they get together and sign some kind of corporate retail treaty that says hands off Thanksgiving Day? WE WILL ALL OPEN NO EARLIER THAN  12 AM ON BLACK FRIDAY AND RESPECT THE THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY AND IT'S FAMILY TRADITION.

But we know that is not an option anymore, because let's face reality here. Some of these men are notorious for not carrying about the livelihood of their employees. They have become inhuman robots who don't care about people and families. They are machines running machines. 

PLEASE SHARE THESE PICS WITH AS MANY PEOPLE AS POSSIBLE. These 10 men can get away with murdering Thanksgiving, but they can't hide and we can show the world exactly who was responsible for the Death of Thanksgiving. If you have a Reddit account, please post the killers graphic! Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, wherever you can. Make a Thanksgiving Day Killer CEO MEME and share them with your friends. Here's a link to the pics without text. Send to RHU or post wherever you can. Call these guys out on what they are about to do.

Let's never forget how they murdered our Thanksgivings and blamed the customers.

R.I.P Thanksgiving

Here is the full list of Thanksgiving Murderers.

#1 Edward Lampert, CEO of Kmart and Sears

Edward Lampert is the number one Thanksgiving Murderer because he is the CEO of Kmart and Sears and is responsible for destroying the most Thanksgivings. Kmart was the first big retailer that thought it was okay to open their doors and steal Turkey Day from its employees and shoppers years ago. This year, Eddie and his company have reached a new low in Thanksgiving Day genocide as they open at the ungodly hour of 6am and stay open for 41 hours straight. Sears will open at 8pm. Lambert lives in Florida, has a wife and two kids and bought a 38 million dollar mansion last year. Even though he needs to pay for that mansion, will he be working on Thanksgiving Day at 6am along side his retail slaves? I highly doubt it, but thanks to Eddie, Kmart now doesn't recognize Thanksgiving at all, and it's step brother Sears will eventually graduate from the same school.

 

#2 Terry J. Lundgren CEO of Macy's

CEO of Macy's, Terry Lundgren gets deemed the #2 Thanksgiving Murderer but it should actually be a tie. Reason being Macy's major influential power over mall management and how they quickly amassed an army of retailers following them in the trampling death of Thanksgiving for millions of Americans. Macy's stores anchor many of America's biggest malls. Having never opened before on Thanksgiving, the decision to do so this year will cause widespread destruction amongst family and friends on Thanksgiving making Terry and his Macy's true family-wreckers. Mall management follows what the anchor stores do and since Macy's is open, they will require malls to be open, forcing hundreds of smaller chain stores and mom and pop businesses to also be open. As reported on RHU, those small stores like Disney, do not have the staffing and workers will have to work split shifts while not being paid anything extra for giving up their Thanksgivings with family and friends. Thank you Terry! Terry is on his second marriage, has two kids and lives in New York City. He came from a large family having 5 brothers and sisters. Perhaps his large California family never celebrated Thanksgiving? Another sad, shocking fact - this man who is murdering Thanksgiving for millions of people was given a "Father of the Year Award" last June by The National Father’s Day Council. What kind of Dad destroys Thanksgiving by taking parents away from millions of children. Terry Lundgren is a father alright - one of the fore-father's who will go down in history as murdering Thanksgiving. He's no hero.

 

#2 Mike Duke CEO of Walmart

Behind Walmart CEO Mike Duke's creepy smile has to be a heartless alien robot. This guy makes 20 million a year and the Walton family he creeps with are worth 800 million, yet they ignored a Thanksgiving food drive for disadvantaged employees at one of their stores. Sadly, not one of them donated! Times must be tough for Mike and the Waltons if they can't donate some food to the employees they are making work on Thanksgiving! Like Kmart, Walmart as been creeping on Thanksgiving for years. Not only has Mike and the Waltons murdered Turkey Day for millions of families, but they are so aggressive with their Black Friday Sale campaign, they have been making headlines recently by offering the deals days earlier! So not only did they kill Thanksgiving, but it's all for not. Mike who drives a Porsche and lives in an exclusive gated community in Arkansas, is married with three children and five grandchildren. Nice big family. I'm sure their Thanksgiving dinners must be amazing. Mike and his wife Susan are ignorant people that believe gay couples should not have children. They signed a petition in support of a 2008 Arkansas ballot initiative to prevent gay couples from adopting children or serving as foster parents. Jim Walton was one of the initiative’stop contributors. The measure passed and was struck down by the state Supreme Court in 2011. And here we have this "protector" of family values and his company murdering Thanksgiving and taking millions of parents away from their children. You're a family-wrecking robotic hypocrite Mike.

 

#4 Glenn K. Murhpy, CEO of Old Navy, The GAP, and Banana Republic

 

Don't let the playful goofy face fool you. He's a Thanksgiving Day killer. Like Kmart, Old Navy has killed Thanksgiving for three years now opening at 9 am. CEO Glenn Murphy also oversees The Gap, and Banana Republic. Because those stores are in malls that Macy's dominates, they too will most likely be opening at 8pm and forced to stay open through Black Friday. Apparently, the founders of The Gap, Donald and Doris Fisher are still quite involved in operations, so it's important to note they approve of their Thanksgiving Day Killer Glenn. According to the NY Post, a source close to the company said, “he's a very in-your-face, aggressive, numbers-driven kind of executive." That must make his corporate robot parents very proud. Born in Canada, I couldn't find out much about Glenn's family life, so it looks like he doesn't have one. Given the circumstances and his track record, this must make it easier to destroy millions of other families on Turkey Day.

 

#5 Hubert Joly CEO of Best Buy

 
Like Kmart and Old Navy, Best Buy is one of the pioneers of killing Thanksgiving Day. But CEO Hubert Joly is new to the electronics store chain, so he is stepping up is murder game by opening stores earlier so they can further gut Turkey Day for employees and shoppers. Starting at 6pm, Best Buy will stay open to 10pm the next day. Next year Hubert will probably go for a 4pm opening, then 2pm the year after that, and then he (or whoever replaces him) will be forced to join his other murdering accomplices and open the Best Buy doors at 6am. Sounds crazy now, but in the future when Thanksgiving is treated like the 4th of July nobody will care. It's all about the cheap TV and computer. But as for killing Turkey Day, this dude is from France, so it means nothing to him. He also is on Best Buy shareholders shit list because of having to sell off 17 million dollars worth of stock because of a nasty divorce. Too bad we can't make him pay for the lost holiday time and memories of millions of Americans.

 

#6 Gregg Steinhafel CEO of Target

 

Target's CEO Gregg Steinhafel is also one of the original murderers to plunge an axe into Thanksgiving and destroy it for millions of families. Last year they opened at 9pm, ignoring petitions against it that reached 100,000 signatures. This year the petitions resurfaced, but Greg and Target don't care about those customers because they don't really care about family values, or the families of their shoppers and employees. All they care about is competition. So, not to be outdone this year, Target is opening an hour earlier at 8pm to try and squeeze out their tiny increase. Family-wrecking Greg (who also has also been a accused of being homophobic) is a Milwaukee-area native, married with three daughters, and attends Wayzata Community Church. I hope Gregg reaches out to his God and asks forgiveness and prayers for all the families he has destroyed on Thanksgiving Day. 

 

#7 Kevin Mansell CEO of Kohl's

 

Kohl's and it's CEO Kevin Mansell are also opening their stores at 8pm for the frist time on Thanksgiving Day. Like many of his fellow killers, they will stay open through Black Friday. Way to go Kevin. He's is married with five daughters (and probably grand kids). Where will he be on Thanksgiving night? Mostly likely not in a Kohl's store, it's doubtful any of their executive offices will be open at 8pm on Thanksgiving night. Kevin has said, "Our business model is really a value model. So, naturally when people are looking to stretch their dollars a little further because they don't have as many of them, we become a great choice to allow them to do that without sacrificing anything." Ummmm...Sorry to tell you Kevin, giving up Thanksgiving memories with family for shopping in your store to save money is a HUGE and irreplaceable sacrifice.

 

#8 Ron Sargent CEO of Staples

 

Ron Sargent is CEO of Staples and his desperation for increases shows this year as he joins in the gangbang assault on Thanksgiving by having his store open at 8pm for the first time. He is married with two children and came from a long career in Kroger where he probably worked many Thanksgivings. The only difference is will his employees be getting big holiday pay like he got? Doubtful. Where will Ron be on Thanksgiving? His store will open from 8pm to 12 am on Thanksgiving Day. Even though Staples isn't pulling an all nighter like most of the other retailers and will re-open at 6am on Black Friday, they are attempting to get the jump on electronics business. However, that's like a toy poodle trying to get between two pit bulls! We all know Walmart and Best Buy are at war with each other for early electonics custys. This may be a big FAIL for Staples. Ron, you are not a CEO leader with ideas - just an uncreative following poodle. And now you're a Thanksgiving murderer.

 

#9  Antonio Urcelay CEO of Toys R Us

 

Toys-R-Us is another original serial murderer of Thanksgiving having opened at 8pm last year. But what's new for them is their CEO Antonio Urcelay. He only started on October 16, replacing Jerry Storch. Antonio is the perfect Thanksgiving Killer because he lives in Spain, has no plans to relocate to the US and could give 2 shits about an American holiday called Thanksgiving. Having worked for Toys-R-Us for 17 years in Europe, they must think he knows how to be in touch with the American toy customer. One of his claims to Toys-R-Us fame is creating the "Category Killer" concept(where stores offer a wide selection of merchandise in a category at low prices). So Antonio is naturally skilled at killing things. Toys-R-Us is opening 3 hours earlier than last year so they can attempt to get their tiny increase at the expense of millions of children and parents giving up family time for shopping or work.

 

#10 Myron E. Ullman CEO JC Penney

Poor JC Penney's. They are having a horrible time with business this year. This guy Milton is also new, having replaced Ron Johnson, who respectfully said Penney's valued family and would not be open on Thanksgiving. It was a courageous move and would have set a nice example, except he fucked up everything else at Penney's and nearly drove them to their grave. Milton's desperation for increases has his company following the executive Pied Pipers of Black Thanksgiving as he tries to save JCP from it's own death bead.

 

#11  David E. Simon CEO of Premium Outlets

I am adding David E. Simon of Premium OUtlets at the request of an RHUer who has lost their Thanksgiving because this guy decided to join in the killing of Turkey Day. Owned by Simon Property Group, Premium Outlets will open at 6 pm Thanksgiving Day. Because everyone needs discount clothes on Turkey Day, not their families.

 

R.I.P THANKSGIVING DAY

 

TO MAKE A THANKSGIVING DAY KILLER CEO MEME CLICK HERE

 

 

 

 

 

Abercrombie and Fitch's Sales Continue To Fall

Even the teens are turning their nose up at Aberzombie. Could the end me near?

From Huff Po:

Abercrombie & Fitch Co. shares fell Friday after the retailer reported disappointing third-quarter revenue and said weak sales would continue.

The teen retailer expects a low double-digit percentage decline in fourth-quarter sales at stores open at least a year. This is considered a key indicator of financial performance as it strips away the impact of recently opened and closed stores.

Stifel analyst Richard Jaffe said that lackluster merchandise and weak traffic weighed on the retailer. While the company is trimming expenses and closing underperforming stores, the analyst said in a research note that Abercrombie's aesthetic of an "aspirational, New England prep-inspired teenager" is no longer relevant and he expects the company will continue to struggle.

Susquehanna Financial Group analyst Thomas Filandro said that the quarter's performance and holiday outlook don't show that the retailer has made a fundamental turn in its recovery. But he said in a research note that he is encouraged by management's heightened focus on change and kept a positive rating on the stock.

For the quarter that ended on Nov. 2, Abercrombie said Thursday that it earned 52 cents per share, excluding one-time costs, while revenue fell 12 percent to $1.03 billion. Analysts predicted earnings of 44 cents per share on revenue of $1.04 billion, according to FactSet.

The company kept its outlook for adjusted earnings of $1.40 to $1.50 per share for the current quarter. Analysts had predicted earnings of $1.55 per share.

Shares fell 82 cents, or 2.3 percent, to close at $34.15 Friday. The stock has lost 29 percent of its value this year.

via www.huffingtonpost.com