I learned an important fact a couple of days ago. I can't throw my funky energy-efficient lightbulbs I recently bought at Target to help keep my electric bill down can't simply be thrown away in 12 years when they burn out. There's mercury in them! How did I not know this? Because the packaging didn't tell me.
Now I sort of feel misled. Not that I have a problem with recycling these special bulbs -- which you can do at a Home Depot I'm sure -- I just don't like to be left in the dark (no pun intended).
Had I not read this article in the Portland Press Herald I probably would have thrown toxic mercury into the trash and ruined the lives of local children and pregnant women. How nice.
In the span of 15 minutes on Tuesday I was laid off from my job managing MaineBusiness.com and given a new job as a night content producer for the Portland Press Herald. I went from working from 6am to 2pm, Monday through Friday and having a social life to working 6pm to 2am Tuesday through Saturday and having no social life. It's been a bitter pill to swallow.
Not that I'm not thankful to still have a job -- because I am. But I moved to Portland six weeks ago for a job that no longer exists. A job that I loved and was excited about. I know that I'm not the first person this has happend to but it's the first time this has happened to me. I'm not taking it well.
A half an hour before I was to start my new job last night I had a full blown panic attack. I couldn't stop crying, I was shaking, and my lips were going numb. My sister talked me through it via cell phone. Thank goodness. I felt like a baby. Some people totally lost their jobs all together and here I am hyperventilating because I lost the job I liked and was given another job instead.
Working nights is odd. I'm a single 30-year-old woman who enjoys meeting her friends for a drink after work. Making plans to visit my family or friends on the weekends. Those plans are now out the window. If anyone has any suggestions how to make the most of a crappy situation I'm all ears....
I don’t care if you’re 25 or 55 – putting money away for your retirement years is a necessity. I have compiled some figures from a Fidelity study released yesterday that I got from an article in the Boston Globe.
A 65-year-old couple in 2008 will need, on average, $85,000 to cover insurance costs for long-term care in their retirement. Long-term care insurance refers to visits at home by a caregiver to living in a nursing home.
A couple retiring in 2008 will need $225,000 in savings to cover other medical costs in retirement. This estimate covers expenses from Medicare premium payments, co-payments, and out of pocket prescription drug costs.
Some employers offer long-term care coverage in their benefits package, but the cost is not generally subsidized by the employers.
The average cost to stay in a private room in a nursing home is over $76,000.
Because of the high cost of nursing homes, 75 percent of all long-term care is provided by a family member.
Twenty-nine million Americans spend 34 hours a week providing long-term care to their family members.
By 2050, the number of Americans using paid long-term care services at home, assisted living or a nursing home is expected to double from 2000 to 27 million people.
Save yourself, your kids and your grandkids the trouble and anguish and set money aside now to take care of yourself in your retirement. Think about it the same way people think about pre-paying for their funeral and burial. When the time comes, you are not going to want your children to argue and fight over the best way to care for you. Make sure the decision is yours and that you are financially ready for it.
Have you heard about the new tobacco pouches? I hadn’t either until I opened the latest issue of Advertising Age. The new pouches – called snus -- look like tiny tea-bag pouches and don’t require a spittoon. They just sit there, nestled in between your lip and your gums until your nicotine fix sets in. It’s Big Tobaccos way to fight the high price of cigarettes and the never-ending bans on cigarette smoking in public. But will it work?
Camel snus have three different flavors – original, frost and spice. Marlboro is making four flavors – rich, mild, mint and spice. Pending legislation is taking aim at nixing flavored cigarettes – including smokeless tobacco. But there has been no mention of snus as of yet.
Philip Morris, the makers of Marlboro, said that they support the pending legislation. The reasons? Staying in business while cigarettes are becoming less and less popular.
From the article: We believe that such tough but reasonable federal regulation can benefit shareholders and other stakeholders by ensuring that all tobacco manufacturers and importers doing business in the U.S. operate at the same high standards; by providing a framework for the further pursuit of tobacco product alternatives that are less harmful than conventional cigarettes; and by ensuring transparent, accurate communication about tobacco products to consumers,” said Philip Morris spokesman David Sutton.
The article reports that the American Cancer Society said that if every smoker in America were to switch to snus there would be substantial reductions in heart disease and certain cancers. Hooray for smokers and the people who are affected by second hand smoke? I can’t decide.
Will snus bring back “smoking” in the workplace? Will it catch on like wildfire, leading to other certain cancers that have to do with the mouth and jaw? To me there is no “safe” or “good” alternative to smoking other than not smoking. I’ll be interested to see if these little tea-bags of nicotine goodness catch on.
The Boston Globe reports that the unemployment rate in Maine is the highest it has been in 10 years to 5.4 percent for May.
Labor Commissioner Laura Fortman said last month's increase was "unusually large," adding that several more months of data will be needed to see if a trend develops. A spokesman for Gov. John Baldacci called the increase "alarming."
Is it really alarming? I don’t think so. But maybe I’m pre-conditioned to be pessimistic working at a newspaper that is going through another round of layoffs. Or that I’m paying $4.09 a gallon at the pump.
The State Labor Department officials are also blaming the high numbers on a fluke: the unemployment data was gathered the week after college students ended their academic-year jobs and therefore hadn’t yet started their summer jobs. Normally the data is taken before school gets out. Whatever.
The counties of Piscatiquis and Washington have the highest rate of unemployment while Cumberland and York have the lowest.
The truth is this – people are spending less money on incidentals because the things they need – food and gas – are becoming more and more expensive. In a state like Maine that relies on tourism to drive the economy, this isn’t shaping up to be such a hot summer – no pun intended.
The rest of New England isn’t doing so well, either. Rhode Island has the highest unemployment at 7.2 percent with Connecticut at 5.4, Massachusetts at 4.9 and New Hampshire at 4 percent. Vermont figures were unavailable. Maybe they’re embarrassed.
I understand why unions exist. Fair wages, fair hours, fair benefits. But what happens when you are a part of a union that you don’t agree with?
I am a new hire at MaineToday and the Portland Press Herald. The job I was hired for, the content producer for MaineBusiness.com, is a guild position – meaning that the position is covered under the Portland Newspaper Guild. I am a part of the guild whether I want to be or not.
But to me the benefits – a fair starting wage for my experience and expertise – don’t outweigh the rules I must abide by for being a part of the guild.
For one, I have been working without health insurance since the middle of May. My health insurance doesn’t kick in until July 1. Good thing I haven’t gotten into a major accident and I had enough of my prescription meds to tide me over. Two, I wont have a full two weeks of vacation until sometime so far into the future of 2009 that I have forgotten the date.
MaineToday shares it’s office space in the Portland Press Herald building with The Maine Switch – a free weekly paper that has already been downsized by 70 percent. I offered my services as an unpaid freelance writer to help them fill their business section. The editor thanked me for my team attitude but told me that because I was part of the guild that, because writing for Switch wasn’t in my contract, that I couldn’t publish content. Huh? I’m not even asking to be compensated for my extra time in creating content for the paper. Wouldn’t it save money for me to pitch in rather than to pay a freelancer? These are the things that are outdated and ridiculous to me.
The Blethen Maine Newspapers – The Portland Press Herald, the Kennebec Journal and the Morning Sentinel are up for sale. The Blethen family doesn’t have the resources – financial and personal – to keep running the papers. There have been four rounds of layoffs in the past 12 months. They are looking to sell to someone who has the capital and the desire to invest in the technology the newspapers need. And there are interested parties.
There’s just one problem. The Guild. On Tuesday Blethen Maine Newspapers filed suit against The Portland Newspaper Guild in U.S. District Court. The dispute revolves around whether the new owner(s) of the paper would have to honor the contracts of the existing guild members. The guild thinks it should while potential buyers do not. And can you blame them?
Of course the guild members want to secure their jobs – but I don’t believe this is the way to go about it. If the court finds in favor of the guild than the potential buyers will back out – none of them are interested in having to honor guild contracts – leaving the company in the hands of Blethen until who knows when. If Blethen continues to own the company there will be more layoffs for certain.
If the court finds in favor of Blethen then they will most likely sell the company to one of the interested buyers and the new owners may – or may not – change the personnel. Either way, the chances that guild members are going to lose their jobs neither increase or decrease.
My argument is this: I would rather have an interested party who is committed to the success of these newspapers take over. They will have the funds to keep the papers staffed and running smoothly. They will be able to invest in new technology that will keep us up to date with our competitors. If the Blethen family must keep control of the papers the future is grim. There will be more layoffs and animosity towards the guild.
I see the guild as being selfish. They seem to want to go down with the ship, which is helping no one in the process.
Sovereign Bank has a new television ad out that stars Jerry Remy – the Red Sox analyst on NESN.
I didn’t get this ad at first, even though I know who Jerry Remy is. I read further on down the Boston.com story and found out the significance of Remy playing air guitar. Apparently before a game with Detroit Remy was playing air guitar up in the media booth, lost his balance and fell. It was captured on camera.
Had I not checked out the YouTube video that Boston.com linked to I would have thought the ad was stupid. Even now I think it’s sort of weak. Which makes me wonder how many people that see the ad will know why Jerry Remy is playing the air guitar.
Is having an inside joke a good advertising strategy?
I will not be at work tomorrow because I will be riding my bike with my friends. No, I am not in the 5th grade, I am the team captain of Two Wrong Turns – my team for the 2008 Trek Across Maine.
The team is made up of myself, my sister Jennifer, her husband John, and our friends Kristen and Merri-Beth. We are just five of the over 2,200 cyclists who will be riding their bikes from Sunday River to Belfast this coming weekend. In doing so we are raising money for the American Lung Association of Maine.
I was browsing the list of teams today and noticed that a large number of them are corporate. The Loan Rangers of Kennebec Savings Bank has 48 members and has raised over $34,000. Cianbro has 22 and has raised over $15,000 and Team DeLorme has 27 and has raised over $14,000. What a fun thing to do as a company!
Here at the Press Herald/MaineToday we have our own version of the Summer Olympics. We track how many minutes of exercise we do each week and the team with the most minutes wins some sort of prize. One of my coworkers is also doing the trek so with our combined peddling prowess I think our team is a sure bet to win the Olympics.
A healthy worker is a happy worker – and they’re more productive. Companies know this and thus have been trying to promote exercise programs, especially during the summer months when it’s easy to be outside. The Trek is not only a good way to get fit and support a worthy cause, but it’s also a great team building exercise. Relationships can be built between people who would never work together otherwise. Plus you have a built in cheering section.
The current economic crisis hasn’t affected U.S. Internet advertising spending, according to Massachusetts-based global market intelligence firm IDC. Total revenue for the first quarter increased by 23.9 percent. And although advertising spending is predicted to be cut back for the rest of 2008, Internet advertising will continue to expand.
As a blogger for a web site this is great news. For other traditional print journalists, this could be a nightmare.
"What happens is that the current economic crisis puts pressure on advertisers to save money and find more effective marketing channels," said Karsten Weide, program director, Digital Marketplace and New Media at IDC. "Effectively, the crisis accelerates the shift of advertising budgets from traditional media into new media."
The Portland Press Herald is just one of the many newspapers across the nation that is going through layoffs. People aren’t picking the newspaper up from their front porches as much anymore. Most people in Maine drive to work – so reading the paper on the bus or subway isn’t an option. They are turning to the Internet to get their news and information. I can’t blame them – newsprint is messy.
But what newspapers across the country need to do is capitalize on this change. IDC forecasts that U.S. Internet advertising spending will more than double in five years. Papers can’t just put the paper online anymore – they need to use the medium to their advantage. People can make movies with the cell phones these days – they expect more.
Companies, too, need to rethink their advertising strategies. How can they use the Internet to deliver something that can’t be done in a print ad? How can they engage their computer savvy customers? What websites do these potential clients visit? What can they do to their own website to make it user friendly – more of an experience?
Technology is ever expanding, and business needs to change along with it. If advertising on the Internet isn’t something you are comfortable with, hire a consultant who is. But don’t stick your head in the sand like a frightened ostrich. You can create an effective marketing strategy that doesn’t break the bank.
For more Internet marketing banter be sure to check out Rich Brooks’s blog: Internet Marketing 101.
When I first heard about James Hook & Co. lobster business going up in flames I thought to myself “the owners probably torched it on purpose.” It’s expensive to be in the lobster business in New England these days. Not only are gas prices making it expensive to run the lobster boats, but it’s also caused the bait to shoot up in price as well. Here’s an interesting article on lobster boat builders.
The lobster catch in Maine was down 15% last year, which only adds to the headache. Two brothers, John and Brendan Ready have come up with a new business model to try to combat the cost.
“If you want to be here for 40 years, you can't keep doing something the same way, hoping it's going to change,” Brenden Ready said.
Their new plan is called Catch a Piece of Maine. For $3,000 you get your own lobster trap for the year and every lobster caught gets FedExed to your home. Click here to listen to the story.
I’ve been following the James Hook & Co. and the more I read the more I think it might have been an accident. They were back selling fresh lobsters yesterday and have been working out of temporary quarters. They say they plan to rebuild on the historic site and keep the 83-year-old family company alive. It’s easy to be cynical these days and I hope my first instinct doesn’t come true.
