News Cut: November 16, 2007 Archive

Have you had enough coffee?

Posted at 8:21 AM on November 16, 2007 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)

How is it that coffee companies -- we're talking Starbucks and Minnesota-based Caribou here -- can build stores on just about every block and make a buck doing it?

We're finding out today, they can't. America's love with "big coffee" may be over, and we're finding that out by peeking into the financials the companies are reporting this week.

Starbucks reported a 35-percent increase in profits after the market's close yesterday, but there's this nugget: Customer visits to U.S. stores dropped 1 percent for the quarter ended Sept. 30.

It's the first time Starbuck's has seen store traffic drop. Ever.

Meanwhile, over at Caribou, Michael Coles was thrown overboard this week. The company is losing money, its margin is in negative territory and it's closing stores.

As the markets opened this morning, Starbuck's got roasted, losing 10 percent of its value.

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Doorstep delivery? Take a hike

Posted at 12:05 PM on November 16, 2007 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)

Among the things Pioneer Press subscribers could always count on: no matter the weather, the paper would be at their doorstep. Then owned by Knight Ridder, the Press built a massive marketing campaign around it in the '90s. Subscribe to the Press, or walk to the end of the driveway in your underwear to get the competition's paper. If the carriers didn't get it to the front door, Knight Ridder would charge them $1 per complaint. They were that serious.

"Enjoy the luxury of guaranteed delivery to your door -- for just pennies a day!" the postcard being sent to homes in the East Metro this week says, outlining a new 35-cent-per-week charge for top-step delivery. Subscribers are being charged $1.52 a month, unless they opt out and choose the free in-the-bushes delivery plan.

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E*waste made easy

Posted at 5:01 PM on November 16, 2007 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)

So you got shut out of the electronics recycling event in Bloomington. Here are sources you can use to find a place that will take your e*waste.

Green Guardian - Features a Google map of locations in the metro area.

Computer Take Back - An activist organization that tries to prevent shipping e-waste overseas. It lists two Minnesota companies who have signed the Pledge of True Stewardship.

Recycle Minnesota - See "The Curmudgeon's Guide to Recycling."

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Paulose answers allegations

Posted at 7:14 PM on November 16, 2007 by Bob Collins (0 Comments)

U.S. Attorney Rachel Paulose has kept a pretty low profile since three of her top administrators quit earlier this year, and subsequent revelations that her predecessor, Tom Heffelfinger, was one of the U.S. attorneys former Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez wanted gone.

This week the New York Times outlined the various controversies, suggesting that Paulose is one of the first tests for the new attorney general, Michael Mukasey.

Her friend, Scott Johnson, who writes the conservative blog Powerline, today pens an article in the National Review that gives Paulose a voice she hasn't used much, especially on the issue of using a racial slur..

“I NEVER made any such statement. I have told the department so, and the department is defending me against this outrageous and defamatory lie.”

“The McCarthyite hysteria that permits the anonymous smearing of any public servant who is now, or ever may have been, a member of the Federalist Society; a person of faith; and/or a conservative (especially a young, conservative woman of color) is truly a disservice to our country.”

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