| Costco vs. Sam’s Club
The nation's biggest clubs, Costco and Sam's Club, with 95 million cardholders between them, might seem like clones. But there are differences that can guide your choice if you haven't joined, or lead you to switch clubs. To determine which one deserves your membership ($40 to $100 a year), we shopped at both, compared their prices with those charged by competitors, interviewed experts, and reviewed data from readers surveyed by the Consumer Reports National Research Center. The highlights: Despite the clout of Wal-Mart, Sam's Club's parent, as the largest retailer on the planet, readers gave higher overall scores to Costco for groceries (better perishables), electronics and small appliances (lower prices), and eyeglasses (better service).
Return policies are generous, but Sam's Club is superior for electronics.
Wednesday Newspaper Review - Irish Business News and International ...
The Irish Independent reports that the economy appears to be headed for a soft landing, according to government revenues for the first three months. Revenues from the housing market have held up, and consumer spending is being buoyed by funds from maturing SSIAs in line with Department of Finance expectations, the first-quarter Exchequer returns show. There is also little sign of problems among companies, despite recent closures, lay-offs and complaints. Corporation tax continues to boom, implying strong growth in profits. Figures from the UK yesterday showed British firms' profits rose to a record high in the fourth quarter of 2006. Receipts Corporation tax receipts hit 924m in the quarter, which was a full 26pc more than had been forecast.
Code cracked for web discounts
Shopping online for a train ticket, web designer Mark was asked to key in a promotion code for a discount. After an hour on the internet he found a code for £5 off. It was a lot of effort for a small saving and I thought there must be an easier way to find these things companies issue them all the time, he said. Then I came up with the idea of putting them on an internet site. Mark, 26, founded www.myvouchercodes.co.uk, which now lists hundreds of promotion and discount codes for dozens of top retailers. Thousands of subscribers send in any codes they find so others can enjoy the savings. Some firms, like John Lewis, even supply the site with a list of their promotional discounts. When Joanne Tate was looking for a new vacuum cleaner, she saved £27 by using a discount code from Comet, which gave her 15 per cent off a Miele cylinder model.
Pledged to Greek Gear
When a Kappa Delta needs a shirt for a new sorority sister or a Sigma Chi wants to get a shot glass engraved for his post-initiation party, they know one sure source in the Washington area. It's the University Shop, which opened 14 years ago during the most recent heyday of sorority and fraternity recruitment. This time of year the tiny shop on Route 1 in College Park is crowded with pledges -- new recruits to the Greek system -- who come from not only the University of Maryland but Johns Hopkins, George Mason, Georgetown, George Washington and beyond, ready to plop down some serious cash for custom logo-ed sweatshirts, paddles, flasks and yoga pants. Every March, during the few weeks between rush and initiation, the shop makes more money than it does in the other 11 months combined.
Power to the People
In 1927, the Englishman and travel writer Stephen Graham published the book New York Nights. In it he describes a time he spent walking by Consolidated Edison’s power plants on the East River in Manhattan. "Oh, what is Edison contriving there," Graham asked. "Are they engines of death or life?" On a few occasions in modern New York history, Gothamites found out the answer quickly and abruptly—they are engines of life. In the fall of 1965 and the summer of 2003, massive electrical grid blackouts disrupted life in the northeastern United States and parts of Canada, and cost billions of dollars in damages. We were lucky in 2003. I was living in Queens then, walking distance from the power stations that had gone down. The day was cool by New York summer standards.
Homeopathy Hits Global E-Waves
In time for World Homeopathy Awareness Week, New Internet Talk Radio Show, Inner Health through Homeopathy addresses the mysteries, answers the skeptics, and demonstrates how homeopathy works. Phoenix, AZ (PRWEB) April 8, 2007 -- It's the first of its kind; an Internet radio broadcast dedicated to healing through homeopathy. "Inner Health Through Homeopathy" is a weekly Internet radio discussion about this holistic approach to healthcare that treats the entire body instead of a specific ailment. The philosophy of homeopathy tells us that our symptoms are not good or bad, not something to suppress or hide, but merely guideposts to let us know there is something out of balance in our total organism. Our symptoms provide us with a sign that we need to look at something in our lives.
These days, only the mission remains unchanged
It's all part of a process that begins with considering how people "" potential readers "" actually spend their time. "Actually" as opposed to, "How journalists think people spend their time." Or even, "How journalists want people to spend their time."
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