Support small business by paying with cash

Small Business Saturday 2013 is scheduled for November 30th this year, the day after the Black Friday shopping frenzy. Although the event’s promotion is supported primarily by the American Express company, keep in mind that merchants pay a premium to give the convenience of credit card payment and that can drive prices up and profits down.

We’ve all done it. You stop for gas and pay at the pump with your debit or credit card, generally a substantial purchase of $20 or more. But then you remember you need a gallon of milk or decide on a candy bar.

You go inside and pay for that with your card as well, spending under $5. Many people just don’t carry as much cash as they used to and, while some stores have minimum restrictions on credit card purchases, most will accept the loss to avoid losing the sale altogether.

When you use a credit card, the retailer loses a percentage of the sale to processing fees. The more prestigious the card is, the higher the fees.

Companies like Master Card and Visa require merchants to accept all versions of the cards they offer to customers. Premium credit cards, like gold and platinum “preferred” cards, have much higher processing fees, resulting in greater losses to the store. Imagine buying a Hershey bar on a Visa Super, Platinum Extra Gold Card (That’s not a real credit card, but sounds like it, doesn’t it?). From a 99-cent chocolate bar, the store will see only around 20-30 cents in profit after wholesale costs and processing fees.

Unfortunately, merchants have virtually no choice in whether or not to accept credit cards as payment, since using actual money has become something from a by-gone era. A class action suit a couple of years back resulted in merchants now being permitted to add a surcharge for the use of certain credit cards. That’s a double-edged sword, though, because it also discourages people from using credit and either prevents the sale completely or drives the buyer to spend less with the retailer.

You might wonder how any of this affects the consumer? When credit card companies take more from the retailer he or she will have to raise prices, across the board, to compensate. So everyone loses here, the retailer, the consumer and the manufacturers of the goods. Well, everyone except – you guessed it – the credit card companies. They’re raking it in by the billions because the general public wants the convenience of swiping a card rather than the risk and trouble of carrying cash around.

Additionally, debit cards have the banks double-dipping on fees. When a customer uses a debit card, two fees are levied – one against the merchant and the other on the customer. Buyers may even be charged one more time by the bank who issued their card, even though it’s their own money, probably in a checking or money market account, and not actually credit.

If you’re not sure which kind of transaction you’re processing, it’s easy to distinguish. Whenever you swipe the card and are prompted to input a PIN (personal identification number), that’s a debit sale. Credit card purchases require no password or PIN, but may ask you to input your billing zip code for security purposes.

Hopefully you are planning on filling some of those holiday gift orders with local small shops and that you’ll keep all of this in mind before you reach for your wallet at the cashier. If you really want to help small businesses this year, park that platinum and fork over some greenbacks. Cash is accepted everywhere and helps keep small business healthy and thriving. With cash, money circulates within a local community faster and more efficiently and it’s available right away.

Gery L. Deer is an independent columnist and business contributor to WDTN-TV2’s Living Dayton program.

 

Small Town Christmas returns to Jamestown, December 6 and 7.

Jamestown ca. 1913: It may not look like this anymore, but Jamestown, Ohio residents bring back the days of old with this year’s Small Town Christmas celebration Dec. 6 and 7.

JAMESTOWN – A Small Town Christmas celebration returns once again this year to Jamestown beginning Friday, December 6^th at 5:30 p.m., downtown, with the Sensations show choir. At 6:30, the official town Christmas tree lighting will kick off a parade and the arrival of Santa Claus. Festivities continue through Saturday evening. Here is a general rundown of events:

Friday, December 6:

St. Augustine Catholic Church, 44 E. Washington St., is hosting a holiday bazaar and chicken noodle dinner from 4 p.m. until 8 p.m.

Saturday, December 7:

Santa returns to visit with children beginning at 11 a.m., downtown at his cottage.

The Senior Citizen Center (located in the back of the Jamestown Opera House) and many businesses will be hosting open house hours beginning at 9 in the morning.

Arts and craft fair Saturday December 7, from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m. at the Jamestown Opera House, 19 N. Limestone Street. Vendor space is still available, $25 for a 6-foot table. Contact Sandy Williams for details at (937) 675-7141. There will also be vendors inside the Phoenix Restaurant, 13 E. Washington Street.

Several area churches are hosting bazaars beginning at 9 a.m. including Jamestown United Methodist Church and the Jamestown Presbyterian Church. St. Augustine Catholic Church will host a Tyke Shop and at 1:30 p.m., an “Old Bag” auction as well.

From 6-8p.m., the Xenia Hospitality Chorus will perform at the Jamestown Opera House.

No events are scheduled for Sunday. For more information on specific venues, contact the organization hosting the event. Complete event fliers are available from the Jamestown Area Chamber of Commerce website, jtchamber.com.

Jamestown salon featured on Dayton television program

JAMESTOWN – Local hair salon owner Samantha Cox was featured on a recent edition of the WDTN-Channel 2 daytime talk show, Living Dayton where she showcased her shop’s hair extension services. She was joined on the show by her hair model, Ryan Bush and interviewed by Living Dayton co-host, Vanessa Freeman.

Named after Cox’s two-and-a-half year old daughter, Charley, the shop is located at 9 W. Washington Street, in the historic area of downtown Jamestown. “Uptown Charley’s” is a full-services salon offering haircuts for men, women and children, as well as color, highlights, perms, manicures and pedicures, facial waxing, and licensed therapeutic massage.

Cox is a specialist in hair extensions and customers are coming from all over the Miami Valley to experience the quality and service and “downtown style with an uptown flair.”

“I was very nervous,” Cox says about her first television appearance. In addition to demonstrating bonded hair extension, she also explained that her shop is looking for qualified stylists. “We are looking for more help; a managing cosmetologist.

The program originally aired on a live broadcast but the Uptown Charley’s segment can be seen online by going to this link: http://www.wdtn.com/living-dayton/fashion/hair-extensions-in-jamestown

For more information on Uptown Charley’s, call (937) 675-7224 or visit them online at http://uptowncharleys.com/.

 

Obamacare: Politicians lie to cover bad legislation

How ever the White House and the Democrats want to spin it, President Obama lied about the Affordable Care Act – and he wasn’t the only one. But it’s “his” plan and legacy that are on trial now.

Denying that he ever said the line is ridiculous and just makes liberals look worse. It has been fact-checked repeatedly even by liberal news media. The first appearance of the empty promises came at a town hall on August 15, 2009 when the President said, “I just want to be completely clear about this; I keep on saying this but somehow folks aren’t listening — if you like your health care plan, you keep your health care plan. Nobody is going to force you to leave your health care plan.”

Less than a year later, he said essentially the same thing at a speech on March 25, 2010 in Iowa City, Iowa. Speaking of those who were skeptical and cynical of his health reform President Obama said, “They’ll have to finally acknowledge this isn’t a government takeover of our health care system. They’ll see that if Americans like their doctor, they’ll be keeping their doctor. You like your plan? You’ll be keeping your plan. No one is taking that away from you.” If you’re curious, none of this is out of context and full texts for these speeches are available at the White House website.

Without beating a dead horse, this is thoroughly inaccurate or, as the Democrats would say about a Republican president, he lied. There is no caveat stated in any of these remarks related to grandfather provisions or referring to existing medical plans that must meet some set standard required by the new law. It says, very clearly, no one would lose their existing coverage.

So how can anyone say he did not lie about it? Making excuses for lying politicians – on either side of the aisle – does not an honest man make. It’s no secret I’ve never really been a fan of this president, nor the last one either for that matter. But regardless of your loyalties, to deny that he misled the public is just feigning ignorance. He didn’t misspeak or stumble on his phrasing, and leaving out a vital piece of information is a lie by omission, so Dems need to stop trying to defend it.

The Affordable Care Act is a badly written piece of legislation that was pushed through to meet a political agenda rather than to benefit the population as a whole. Overall, I agree with the concept that we need some way to cover those people who cannot afford health care. But at the same time, those already paying their own way shouldn’t be punished by having their current policies systematically cancelled just to meet a set of arbitrary requirements established to force enrollment in the government’s new insurance monopoly.

Speaking of monopolies, wouldn’t it have made sense to have something in the law requiring premium caps and policy cost regulations? What about some kind of legislation that would control the pricing of health care services and keep the cost lower in the first place? One would think our government is more concerned with the expensive cost of a pack of bubble gum than the outrageous price of a critical medical test.

Lobbyists from the medical and insurance industries are extremely powerful, far more so than the average small business owner or individual health insurance consumer. Since most legislators are in the pocket of some major lobbying group, it would be financial suicide for them go against anything as massive as the insurance industry.

The only practical solution to this issue is to correct the problems within the content of the Affordable Care Act; not by presidential mandate, but through the legislative system. Congress needs to re-open the letter of the law and grab an eraser. Force the insurance companies and hospitals to lower costs and let people keep their insurance. Bad legislation only gets worse and wastes taxpayer dollars instead of more efficiently allocating that money to more productive purposes.

Greene County Safe Communities Coalition urges: Buckle Up – Every Trip, Every Time

XENIA, OH – With Thanksgiving right around the corner, people will soon flock to the roads to visit and celebrate with family and friends. The Greene County Safe Communities Coalition reminds all travelers, whether they are heading across the country or just across town, to ensure a safe arrival and a happy holiday by buckling up – Every, Trip Every Time.

“The risk of being involved in a serious or deadly car crash increases when the number of cars on the road increases, and the long Thanksgiving weekend is one of the busiest travel times of the year,” said Laurie Fox, Safe Communities Coordinator. “So we want to remind everyone that your seat belts can save your life – and those you are traveling with.”

According to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety administration (NHTSA), seat belts saved almost 12,000 lives nationwide in 2011. Research shows that with proper seat belt use, the risk of fatal injury to front seat passengers is reduced by 45 percent, and the risk of moderate to serious injury is reduced by 50 percent.

Such a simple step can save a life, but too many lives are being lost because some have still not gotten the message. During the 2011 Thanksgiving period, 249 passenger vehicle occupants were killed in motor vehicle traffic crashes nationwide. Fifty percent of those killed were not wearing seat belts.

In 2011, 52 percent of the 21,253 passenger vehicle occupants killed in motor vehicle crashes were NOT wearing seat belts at the time of the crash.

Nationally in 2011, 62 percent of the 10,135 passenger vehicle occupants who were killed in nighttime crashes were not wearing their seat belts, compared to 43 percent during the daytime hours.

“All too often, we see crash victims who were caught up in the excitement of the Thanksgiving holiday and didn’t arrive safely at their destination,” said Lt. Doug Eck, Xenia Post Commander, Ohio State Highway Patrol. “We want to remind everyone who will be on the roads to please buckle up – Every Trip, Every Time – so you can give thanks this holiday season and enjoy the time with your loved ones.”

For more information about traveling safely during Thanksgiving, please visit www.trafficsafetymarketing.gov.

 

Long holiday season diminishes purpose

Maybe it’s because I’m getting older, but I really don’t understand the concept of having the Christmas holiday season start before the last kid has knocked on the door and yelled, “Trick or treat.” Yet, every year, its arrival seems to advance a few more days.

From artificial Christmas trees to holiday-themed tableware, it all hits the shelves even as parents are still helping the kids carve a Jack-O-Lantern. Then, as if signaled by the dousing of porch lights after Beggars’ Night, municipal workers swiftly hang garland and lamp post banners cheerfully lettered with the bland and ever faith-neutral greeting, “Happy Holidays,” so as to avoid offending anyone.

To cash in on early shoppers this year, Walmart announced it would open at 6 p.m. on Thanksgiving Day, no doubt in response to the flood of competitors who started opening early last season.  Over the last couple of years, many department stores were criticized for allegedly forcing employees to work on national holidays, supposedly threatening them with dismissal if they failed to show up.

It’s hard to criticize the merchant companies, however, because if people weren’t lining up around the block to get in, they wouldn’t bother opening early. Clearly, shoppers want to get in on the best deals as early as possible and store management simply met their demands. Of course, it’d be easy enough to argue that people wouldn’t do that if merchants weren’t enticing them with exceptional savings. So who is really to blame? I’d say it looks like the fault lies equally with both parties.

Even so, last year some employees went on strike, for lack of a better description, and refused to work on Thanksgiving and Christmas. Many lost their jobs when they didn’t show up for the new holiday shifts, despite intervention by civil liberties supporters.

No one wants to have to work on a holiday unnecessarily. But, and not to be too blunt about it, if you’re going to work a retail job, there are certain responsibilities that come with that – like it or not. An ever-changing, irregular work schedule is probably one of the most common aspects of a retail sales job and if that’s a deal-breaker, you may need to find some other line of work.

So why are more and more retailers backing up the shopping season? Mostly retailers are trying to cash in on a higher volume of sales and make some kind of effort to steer consumers away from online competitors.

Over the last five or six years, holiday purchases have become increasingly Internet based. Many web-savvy shoppers find it far more rewarding and easier to just point and click, even taking advantage of free shipping, gift wrap and last-minute delivery offered by online retailers like Amazon and eBay.

Perhaps you’ve also noticed that TV networks and radio stations are in on the backward rush to ring in the merry season. Networks like Hallmark Channel and Lifetime began showing Christmas-themed movies and television show episodes during the first week of November. Locally, one of the best multi-genre radio stations for in the Dayton, Ohio market, Mix 107.7, has already started playing 24-hour Christmas music.

It’s not that there’s anything wrong with celebrating, or even getting into the spirit of the season a bit early, but doesn’t all this commercialism and dragging out the festivities diminish the purpose of having a holiday? After all it is a – “Holy Day” – holiday; not a holi-month, or holi-quarter. Even Hanukkah has been lumped in with Thanksgiving this year; the whole thing is just becoming a blur of shopping and pointless present-buying.

Maybe it’s time we slow down a bit and think about the point of all of this. This season shouldn’t be about endless shopping or nonstop Christmas media. Whatever your plans may be, remember to reflect on the meaning of the holidays, especially Thanksgiving. Religious or not, be thankful for whatever prosperity you have and share it with those less fortunate however possible. That’s what Christmas is all about.

 

Deer In Headlines author, Gery L. Deer

Gery L. Deer is an independent columnist and business contributor to WDTN-TV2’s “Living Dayton” program. More at http://www.deerinheadlines.com

Evolve or die: More occupations are becoming extinct.

Deer In Headlines

By Gery L. Deer

What would you do if, not just your particular job, but your entire occupation was no longer needed – ever again? There are on dozens of job categories that are either slowly becoming unnecessary or have already suffered the fate of mechanized extinction.

Already gone are the ice and milk delivery man (they were just men back in the day), the telephone operator, record player repairman, elevator operators, professional typists, and a host of others. Those occupational positions feeling the Grim Reaper nipping at their heels may include the gas station attendant, the postal delivery worker, video store clerk, department store sales person, newspaper delivery workers (the paper boy), travel agents and the old-fashioned barber.

Oddly enough even newspaper columnists, like yours truly, are fading away. Modern publishers can use syndicated filler columns or hire “bloggers” who often possess little or no journalistic experience – and pay pennies for the material if anything. Most of my freelancing colleagues have adapted to commercial writing or do as I have, by taking on a wider variety of work to earn a living.

Printing press operator jobs, once abundant in the Dayton, Ohio region are now all but gone. The more publications move toward fully electronic versions, the fewer press jobs there will be and the skill will be in higher demand with those companies still rolling out ink and paper.

As time passes, some of these occupations will have to either evolve into other forms or go the way of the door-to-door vacuum cleaner salesman. Librarians, for example, may have been headed towards obscurity but now manage a variety of media, both on the shelf and online. But others may not be able to adapt to serve alternative functions and will simply die out, like the salaeratus maker (that’s someone from the 1800s who made baking soda). See what you can learn from Deer In Headlines?

So what is to be learned from all of this professional progression? Clearly, more education is going to be necessary and the market will adapt to the need. New types of jobs will be created as others fade away.

But are there any jobs unlikely to be replaced by technological breakthrough? Oddly, anyone who is required to create, build and repair that technology has a goldmine ahead of them. Let’s face it, the nerds rule the world and they’re not going anywhere! There are whole television shows about them now.

Incidentally, it isn’t merely technology that causes occupational evolution, but the economy and changes across a business sector, particularly where several types of industries overlap. Consolidation of responsibilities combined with changes in technology can result in the need for more highly-trained workers, but requiring fewer to do the same jobs.

Doctors and nurses will probably always be required, even though patients will pay more to see them less. Hospitals are in a constant state of change as well. Budget cuts and lack of necessity have long-since done away with the helpful but redundant “orderly” position. Today, nursing and medical assistants have taken the place of orderlies, having more education and medical training that can serve a larger need than merely as a gurney driver.

On-air radio professionals, once called “disc jockeys,” have had to evolve as well. Digital media and station automation have made these jobs scarce, but those who are surviving are evolving through other types of media like Internet-based entertainment and even creating their own online listenership.

Whatever the job, workers should make an effort to stay ahead of the game through personal enrichment, continued education and, above all, keep an open mind. Those people who are very resistant, even defiant, toward technology will have a much harder time adapting.

The bottom line here is that occupational evolution is a necessity of any economy. As technology changes and America continues its slow but steady recovery from recession, more workers will be needed while some jobs disappear because they’re just obsolete. *

Gery L. Deer is an independent columnist and business contributor to WDTN-TV2’s “Living Dayton” program. Learn more at http://www.deerinheadlines.com