Bizzy’s AM Coffee Biz-Econ-Life Links (071706)

Free Links:

• Was That Ken Lay I Saw at the K-Mart in Kalamazoo? — “Ken Lay has taken his place alongside Elvis Presley in the pantheon of people whose deaths have not been fully believed. ….. Some disbelievers are serious.”
• No matters how it turns out, be it a three-way alliance with Nissan and Renault or a strategic alliance with Toyota, the idea that GM has to be rescued by foreign firms has to be galling to its management.
• The person who filed this antitrust lawsuit acts as if newspapers are the only existing local media outlets. This is a 20th century lawsuit in a 21st century world.
• As long as the year-over-year number stays above 3.5% or so, I’m not too worried — “Excluding gasoline sales, June retail sales fell 0.2 percent. ….. Still, the $363.8 billion estimated to have been rung up in June marked a 5.9 percent increase from the same month in 2005.
• This looks financially suicidal:

Unions target Peugeot salesrooms
Union activists have been protesting at Peugeot salesrooms across the UK as part of a campaign to stop the firm closing its factory near Coventry.

The French firm announced in April it was to close the plant in Ryton with the loss of 2,300 jobs. Since then workers have protested at dealerships.

Amicus and the Transport and General Workers’ Union were behind the rallies.

An Amicus spokesman said they were targeting at least two dealerships in every region the union represents.

….. Owners Peugeot-Citroen has said it had looked at proposals by the unions to keep the factory open but said they were not viable.

The firm said it had consulted fully with unions and was now committed to helping workers find alternative work - giving £5m to help them do so.

That 5 million pounds is the same as $272,000 dollars at Friday’s exchange rate of 1.83639 pounds to the dollar — About $118,000 per employee. Though I’m sure there are heavy legal requirements when closing a plant in the UK, I believe that Peugot doesn’t have to ante up all that it has promised. I’d be inclined to withdraw whatever portion of the offer I could, especially if sales decline as a result of the union’s action.

• More of this, please:
  

  Responding to customer complaints, Dell Inc. (DELL) said Thursday it plans to gradually reduce its use of mail-in rebates and its often confusing array of other promotional offers.

  Ro Parra, senior vice president of Dell’s Home and Small Business Group, acknowledged the various programs had become increasingly complex and cumbersome for customers trying to get the best deals on computers and other electronics.

  Consumer rebates are a cynical ploy to make earning discounts so cumbersome that a certain percentage of buyers won’t follow through on the offers. Surveys show that a ridiculous percentage of the rebates (20% - 50% depending on the product involved) aren’t redeemed. I would strongly suggest avoiding them unless you promise yourself to do all that it takes to redeem the rebate within 24 - 48 hours, and actually schedule the home time to do so when you’re still in the store. Otherwise, you’ll let it slip or forget about it entirely. Better yet, demand that the rebate be given to you at the cash register, and walk out if it’s not. A few million consumers doing this would end the rebate game pretty quickly.