Day 136 Nat'l Emergency: Person of the Year Choices, Turkey Time Off, Jobs Off, School Time

Five months before Time magazine releases its Person of the Year issue it is safe to say there are three significant candidates whose image could grace the front cover: 

*George Floyd, whose cellphone-recorded death at the knee of a Minneapolis policeman sparked nationwide outrage and galvanized Black Lives Matter protests; 

*Dr. Anthony Fauci, whose calm Dutch uncle counsel on the coronavirus has soothed and informed a frightened and conflicted nation; 

*The embattled frontline healthcare worker, who has selflessly placed themself in danger to heal a sick country and comfort the dying in the absence of quarantined loved ones.

Even if he wins the presidency, Joe Biden would not be elevated to cover boy status. Not this year. 

Similarly, Donald Trump wouldn’t qualify even if he manages a comeback to secure a second term. 

Chief Justice John Roberts has received lots of ink for his high-wire role in shepherding the Supreme Court, but he, too, falls short in overall dominance of the year. 

For sure, the two main stories of 2020 have been the coronavirus with its worldwide impact on health and the economy, as well as international political repercussions, and the outpouring of protest and energy for racial equality after the killings of unarmed Blacks and actions by ordinary white citizens to physically and verbally assault minorities.

It’s About Time: More than a dozen years have passed since I called on retail chains to keep their stores closed on Thanksgiving so employees could spend time with their families instead of aiding in the pursuit of every last disposable dollar. Consumers, as well, would benefit from not running out to the store once dessert has been shoveled down their throat. 

My perch as editor and publisher of Chain Store Age is long gone, but it is pleasing to note that Walmart, the nation’s, nay, the world’s, largest retailer has decided it would not open Thanksgiving. Apparently, Walmart listened to the suggestion advanced by one of its employees in a letter to management.

“We know it’s been a trying year, and you’ve stepped up. We want you to enjoy the day at home with your loved ones,” John Furner, president and CEO of Walmart USA, wrote in a memo to employees. 

Fewer Jobs: Donald Trump promised to bring back manufacturing jobs if elected in 2016. How’s he doing?

Not so great. Though manufacturing jobs increased in the first two years of his presidency, the last two have been not so good. 

Compared to when he took the oath of office there are almost 300,000 fewer manufacturing jobs. Of course, the pandemic is a key factor, an excuse Trump will surely cite if challenged on his record. 

But as The New York Times pointed out, “U.S. factory output declined throughout 2019, as Mr. Trump’s trade war intensified, and it has dropped further this year, suggesting there is no boom in new American factories. Since peaking in mid-2019, corporate investment has  declined for three consecutive quarters. Total foreign direct investment in manufacturing was nearly one-third lower in the first three years of Mr. Trump’s tenure than it was in the final three years of President Barack Obama’s.

“Mr. Trump ostensibly fought his trade war on behalf of American manufacturing. But economists say it has actually been a drag on most U.S. factories, by increasing prices for components and inciting foreign retaliation.  It has also coincided with a plunge in Chinese investment in the United States to $5 billion in 2019, the lowest level since 2009, according to Rhodium Group, a research firm” (https://nyti.ms/2CClSib).

School Time? As part of his reelection strategy Trump is pushing for a September opening of schools. But evidence on the impact of bringing children back to classes where they could become infected, and then sending them home where they could transfer the coronavirus to other family members, is mixed (https://nyti.ms/2ZjbJj5). 

New research has shown that children under 10 years are not as susceptible, but transmission is more prevalent as student age hits double digits. If schools open before the general public has appropriately contained the pandemic, a rebound in cases could occur, as happened in Israel.  

Few dispute the benefit of having children resume classes. But just as most parents believe in inoculations to protect their offspring from childhood illnesses, most also would think twice about placing their children at risk with the added fear they could be exposing themselves and other family members, especially grandparents. 

Day 93 Nat'l Emergency: Firestorm in Publishing, Plague in a World Without End

My professional world—the business of journalism—has been roiled for the last week (longer, to be sure, but let’s stick with the current firestorm) by publication of an Op-Ed in The New York Times by Senator Tim Cotton, Republican of Arkansas, and the subsequent ignominious departure of the newspaper’s editor in charge of the Opinion section, James Bennet (https://nyti.ms/3h3F6N9).

The most damning explanation for the publishing of Cotton’s submission was an admission by Bennet that he never read it before it was posted. 

I don’t expect the editor of any publication to read everything that appears in their trust. Trust. That exactly is what a newspaper, magazine, blog or any form of written or electronic communication is, at least for those that purport to be committed to the public good. It is a bond between audience and purveyor that stringent standards have been met pertaining to accuracy and truth. 

Note I did not include objectivity in that bond. Publications may choose to be advocates, to take sides. But not at the expense of accuracy and truth.

Note also that at the beginning of this post I said the “business of journalism.” No one enters this endeavor with the intention of losing money (perhaps with the exception of Jeff Bezos, the world’s richest human and the owner of The Washington Post since 2013, though I am sure he would prefer to make some shekels rather than have them depleted from his ever enlarging fortune). 

When I was editor and publisher of Chain Store Age the president and owner of our publishing house chided me for spending what he considered to be too much time reading copy and insufficient time marketing and selling the publication. I replied that while I did not read every little tidbit, I felt it was my obligation to read any story that could have an impact on how Chain Store Age would be perceived.

I was responsible for the trust our readers placed in our magazine. I wasn’t always the first person to read through an article. But nothing, nothing, would appear in print or bytes that I could not confirm as to its veracity. 

Bennet failed to properly monitor Cotton’s op-ed, either by his own editing or by that of a subordinate. The senator’s essay should not have been shelved. Rather, it should have been edited more diligently, as The Times itself acknowledged in a preface to Cotton’s submission on its Web site (https://nyti.ms/2XWCrMx).

White and Black: Next time anyone suggests that Blacks and Whites are treated equally by law enforcement, ask them to imagine what the body count would have been if Black Americans had turned out for protests armed to the teeth with assault rifles and other weapons of destruction like the anti-quarantiners did in Michigan.

Ponder if this passage from “World Without End” strikes a familiar chord with you: 

“Caris could not remain silent. ‘The plague spreads from one person to another,’ she said angrily. ‘If you stay away from other people, you’ve got a better chance of escaping infection.’ 

“Prior Godwyn spoke up. ‘So the women are the physicians now, are they?’ 

“Caris ignored him. ‘We should cancel the market,’ she said. ‘It would save lives.’ 

“‘Cancel the market!’ he said scornfully. ‘And how would we do that? Send messengers to every village?’ 

“‘Shut the city gates,’ she replied. ‘Block the bridge. Keep all strangers out of the town.’ 

“‘But there are already sick people in town.’ 

“‘Close all taverns. Cancel meetings of all guilds. Prohibit guests at weddings.’ 

“Merthin said: ‘In Florence they even abandoned meetings of the city council.’ 

“Elfric spoke up. ‘Then how are people to do business?’ 

“‘If you do business, you’ll die,’ Caris said. ‘And you’ll kill your wife and children, too. So choose.’ 

“Betty Baxter said: ‘I don’t want to close my shop—I’d lose a lot of money. But I’ll do it to save my life.’ 

Caris’s hopes lifted at this, but then Betty dashed them again. ‘What do the doctors say? They know best.’ 

Caris groaned aloud. Prior Godwyn said: ‘The plague has been sent by God to punish us for our sins. The world has become wicked. Heresy, lasciviousness, and disrespect are rife. Men question authority, women flaunt their bodies, children disobey their parents. God is angry, and His rage is fearsome. Don’t try to run from His justice! It will find you, no matter where you hide.’ 

“‘What should we do?’ 

“‘If you want to live, you should go to church, confess your sins, pray, and lead a better life.’”

That’s how Ken Follett in his book “World Without End” depicted the official and communal response to an outbreak of plague in 1349 England after it had ravaged Europe. Follett published his novel in 2007. 

As I read that passage a few days ago I could not help but reflect on the similarities between reality and fiction. For sure, Follett wrote his story with 21st century sensibilities in mind. There’s no way of knowing if the sentiments expressed by Caris, mother superior of a nunnery, could have conceived them. 

No matter. It made for absorbing, timely reading. 

Day 39 of Nat'l Emergency: Back in the News

Have you ever talked with a reporter? I mean, for an on the record interview? Your name and all in print, or on the air?

It is among the most ego boosting of experiences, yet also among the most frightful. Will the reporter quote or paraphrase me correctly? Not just the actual words but, more importantly, the correct context in which I said them. Even if you submit written responses to questions context can be combustible. 

During my time as editor and publisher of Chain Store Age reporters often called for comment on the latest news or trends in retailing. I was happy to oblige, though wary they could easily, not purposely, misalign my input with their output (i.e., slant) they hoped to convey. Even the most perfect and beautiful publication, to use descriptors favored by Donald Trump, cannot always guard against opinions or subtle biases drifting into an article, either in the way questions are framed or in the way an answer is revealed. 

Long story short—Monday, I was quoted in Newsweek.com by the Web site’s executive editor, Hank Gilman, in his weekly “On the Street” column (https://www.newsweek.com/street-drugs-stocks-stores-kentucky-face-masks-opinion-1498737). Hank and I have a long history. He served as one of my field and associate editors in the early 1980s. From those “lofty” positions he went onto key posts at Fortune, The Wall Street Journal and the Boston Globe. 

(One of my proudest achievements has been my trade magazine’s role as a springboard for journalists on prestigious business publications. Aside from Hank’s sterling resume, another alumnus, Dan Scheraga, is currently the publishing editor of The Wall Street Journal. Joanne Gordon left Chain Store Age to join Forbes. She is now an author. After serving as my executive editor, Steve Malanga served 14 years as managing editor and executive editor of Crain’s New York Business. He currently is a contributing editor of City Journal. If you watch CNN, perhaps you’ve seen pieces by its technology editor Samantha Murphy Kelly. While she was simply Samantha Murphy she was Chain Store Age’s associate editor and Web editor.)

Back to the present. For those who didn’t bother to click on the earlier link, here’s the segment Hank devoted to the future of in store retailing. To those who read it, skip down to the next paragraph:

“There Will Be Stores: I love speculating about the future, even when I have little to back it up. But I have to admit the ‘how life will be post-COVID-19’ predictions are getting a little tiresome. You know, we’ll never commute to work again. And we’ll just sit at home watching Netflix, President Trump’s daily briefings and ordering Papa John’s pizza online. Then there's in-person shopping, which everyone says is doomed. For you investor/shoppers and such, don’t despair. It will take some time—and a vaccine—but people will still go back to stores and malls. For one thing, cyber-retail is great but it may not be that great. Some are reportedly struggling with distribution, largely because of the pandemic demand. That wasn't supposed to happen. (I still shop in-person at the supermarket, mask on, and get my groceries and disinfectant wipes a lot sooner than my pals who queue up to shop on PeaPod.) To get to the bottom of this, I got in touch with my pal Murray Forseter, who now writes a business/politics/life blog. Murray, in another life covered retail for a living. (He wrote about Walmart when people actually liked Walmart.) His take: The stores and malls that have great service, ambiance, and unique products will still be in demand. Second tier malls and chains, like JCPenney are doomed—just like they were doomed before the pandemic. Furthermore, do you actually think people will be looking to spend more time with computers and smartphones after all this? Says Murray: ‘To believe that anyone can predict that in-store retailing will almost vanish, is to believe in Santa Claus.’ (And, by the way, what will happen to those guys if all the cheesy malls close?)”

I can’t find anything to fault in that tidbit, but to give you a fuller view of the thoughts I provided Hank, here’s what I emailed him: 

“To believe that anyone can predict what will happen to retailing, especially that in store retailing will almost vanish, is to believe in Santa Claus. Or in unicorns, Or that everything Donald Trump says is true (sorry, couldn’t resist that political jab).

“I would suspect that anyone who predicts the demise of in store retailing has an urban orientation. More specifically, an upper middle class to upper class orientation. They also are more focused on apparel and home furnishings than on hardware, convenience store products, drug stores, and other stores that cater to people who need products right away and don’t want to wait for a delivery. Food stores, as well, from bodegas to Aldi-type discounters, to Trader Joe’s to full-fledged supermarkets will still be important though there may be some erosion, again focusing on the affluent shopper. 

“Perhaps most important to the discussion on what will happen to retailing after the pandemic is over or at least controlled is that stores that cannot differentiate themselves from their competitors will fall. They need to differentiate based on price not so much but rather on service, product assortment and selection, location, in stock position (nice way of saying logistics/distribution), staffing, store ambiance—in general what makes a retailer a place you would want to spend some time in, whether it be for a grab and go purchase or a lengthy buying session. 

“By the way, foodservice is another part of retailing. No way home delivery food tastes as good as the in restaurant experience. Of course, in restaurants and other retail formats there will be changes including at times limiting the number of customers/diners in an establishment and retaining shields at cash registers to protect cashiers, and eliminating salad bars and food tastings (much to the regret of Costco customers). 

“There will be lots, lots of empty storefronts, but that was going to happen even before the new coronavirus struck. And lots of empty malls. Consumers will gravitate toward regional shopping centers, leaving B and C malls to go dark. Again, that was already happening. As a country we need to find secondary uses for these centers. I’ve always advocated turning them into senior housing, or low risk penal institutions, or, if high rise apartments can be built above them, mixed use housing complexes with the former mall turned into stores that sell convenience services like hair/nail salons, gyms, doctors’ offices, local theaters. 

“There is much more I could say but this already is pretty long. Keep in mind when you talk about the amount of internet buying that it includes airline ticket purchases which have mostly replaced buying through an agent. Same thing for hotel and car rentals, and cruises if they manage to rebound. Actual old fashioned retailing, if I am still correct, is still 80-85% transacted in stores.”

Day 3 of Lockdown Since Trump Declared National Emergency

COVID-19 is having a reverse effect on my calendar. Instead of filling up appointments and social engagements in my calendar, I am crossing out commitments and obligations.

With no symptoms of the novel coronavirus, Gilda and I have initiated a self-imposed quarantine, meaning we are restricting visits with friends and family while making only necessary trips to stores. 

I’m supposed to get a haircut on Thursday. I think I will reschedule it. We’ve asked our house cleaners to forego their regular cleaning but have arranged for them to receive their customary remuneration. Those who can afford it, and thankfully we can, have a societal obligation to make sure the less fortunate are not overly affected by the curtailment of daily norms. 

I go to Costco about once a week. Given the huge lines there at present—itself a threat of exposure to the virus—I am taking a break from Costco. However that presents a problem with my monthly purchase for the food bank for the hungry and homeless. Somehow I will manage. 

There will be a corporate toll added to the human toll of COVID-19. Undercapitalized companies are in danger. Unless overwhelming, speedy federal action is taken, commercial landlords will demand rents, as banks will demand loan payments from them. Even with Small Business Administration loans, timing—processing paperwork and receipt of monies—will be a life or death matter for many companies.

Banks will demand mortgage payments from homeowners. Not every mortgagee will work for a company that extends their paycheck when the business is closed or under reduced production.

Line staff in stores, restaurants, assembly lines, you name it, will be most affected as they often have the least socked away in “rainy day” accounts.

In announcing his company’s bankruptcy filing last week, Michael Modell, CEO of Modell’s Sporting Goods, highlighted factors that felled his family’s 131-year old enterprise. They included a shorter holiday selling season, a warmer than normal winter, online competitors, especially Amazon, lackluster records for most New York sports team that inhibited purchases by fans, and, the coronavirus pandemic that kept people from shopping. 

Modell’s wasn’t the first retailer to file for bankruptcy protection. It surely won’t be the last to do so in the coming weeks. 

I’m glad I am retired from Chain Store Age, especially during this time of contraction and upheaval in the retail industry. 

With Gilda also retired we try to take walks most days. Today we passed a house that was disposing of a toy stroller and two-sided easel board with a post-it note saying, “Take me.” We didn’t need them for our grandkids but friends of ours could use them, so I drove back after we came home and tossed them into my trunk. 

I left them on their porch and called. Why didn’t I knock on their door? Good question. It’s because they were under a real 14-day quarantine. 

Last week grandpa took his granddaughter to a music class. Two days later he received a note saying the music teacher tested positive. How stupid of that teacher to carelessly expose children and their parents/grandparents to the coronavirus. There is no way he could not have been symptomatic at the time of class.

The only way we are going to defeat the violent spread of this killer is by being smart and considerate. 

Sweet Dreams: Saving on Meds, Selling Unwanted Furniture

How would you like to save money? Maybe even make a buck or two?

I’m not in the habit of promoting specific companies but will make two exceptions based on personal experience. My reluctance to hype a company perhaps stems from policies in place when I started at Chain Store Age 43 years ago. Back then, writers were forbidden to include in their copy brand names no matter how ubiquitous they might be. Let me illustrate: a “retractable spinning device” was our way of describing a ... yo-yo. Instead of five characters we had to use 25 with two spaces between words. Why? Because yo-yo was a trademark of the Duncan Toys Company and the founder of our company, Arnold D. Friedman, forbade us to include brand names in our articles. After Arnold died the rule was relaxed.  

Cutting Prescription Costs: Recently I received a text message from my AARP-affiliated prescription mail order drug provider. My 90-day supply of Dutasteride (generic for Avodart) was due for a refill. Cost would be $152.30. $609.20 for the year.

So I looked up what Dutasteride would cost on the GoodRx app on my iPhone. After surveying pharmacies near me GoodRx provided five choices, the cheapest of which was at a Stop & Shop supermarket—$28.55 for 90 day supply. $114.20 for the year.

No brainer from which pharmacy I will get my Dutasteride and other drugs IF the cost is lower than AARP’s provider. Gilda and I already selectively use GoodRx for some half a dozen meds (mostly mine). 

GoodRx costs nothing to use. Zero. Nada. Just download the app on your smartphone and input the drug you want, the number of pills, the dosage. When you pick up the Rx show the pharmacist the price quoted on your smartphone. That’s all it takes to save lots of money.

Keep in mind not all of your meds will cost less on GoodRx but it sure pays to compare prices. You don’t have to be a senior citizen to use GoodRx. You just have to want to save money.

Kaiyo Is A Knockout: Old furniture. Wha-dya do with it? Throw it out? Donate it to Habitat for Humanity or some other charity that will pick it up from your home? Sell it on Craig’s List? Give it away on Free Cycle?

Gilda and I found a better way to dispose of our 16-year old leather couch? We sold it on consignment through Kaiyo.com.

This was no ordinary couch. It was an attached sectional with recliners at each end. It fit into a curved wall in our family room. Its longest side measured 132 inches. The short side measured 68 inches. No way Gilda and I were going to be able to move that sucker.

The couch, or sofa if you prefer, was in excellent shape. As luck would have it I saw a Kaiyo truck one day. Its side panels advertised Kaiyo’s service. 

Kaiyo handles good quality used furniture. In our case, I first sent in several pictures of the couch. Kaiyo set up a pick-up date during which an on-site inspection verified the condition of the couch. Had it not passed, Kaiyo would have left empty-handed. No charge. 

Our couch passed. Off it went to the Kaiyo warehouse for further examination and cleaning. On the Kaiyo app I noted how much the couch would be worth. I determined the percentage of the sale price I would receive. Kaiyo set the sale price.  

Our couch sold within two weeks of posting on the Kaiyo Web site, kaiyo.com.

Truth be told, even if it didn’t sell we would have considered our experience a good one as just getting our couch removed from our home was a big, big plus. The $300-plus dollars we made on the sale was a nice bonus. 

For now Kaiyo serves the tri-state New York City metropolitan area and Philadelphia. 

Counting sheep: If you’ve stayed with me this long perhaps you’d also appreciate a sleep tip I read about several weeks ago. Most people I know go to sleep with their eyes closed. I do, too. Most nights.

Sometimes, though, I cannot. So I employ this sleep aid—I go to sleep with my eyes open. As counter-intuitive as it sounds, it works.

Simply stare at an object while in bed. Try not to blink. In no time at all your eyelids will get heavy and close. You’ll fall asleep. I used this trick in the middle of the night yesterday after waking up at 2 am.

Sweet dreams. 

A Different Look at Gun Control Laws

Now, don’t take this the wrong way, but is it politically unwise for Democrats to unequivocally support gun control laws? Hear me out—generally, the most vociferous Second Amendment advocates are hard right, militant militia members, crazies who fear they won’t have any guns around to protect themselves from left wing nuts who may take over our government. They claim they need long guns and assault rifles to combat the demise of the republic.

Far fetched, perhaps, but what if they are onto something, only in a bizarro, reverse world? What if it’s right wing conservatives—led by an orange-tinged elected president and his intolerant-Constitution-be-damned cronies—who want to strip the populace of rights after rights and liberties after liberties, leaving just leftists who want to save America? How could the left offer resistance if their right to bear powerful arms was denied them?

I’m not saying it’s going to happen, that we should all march down to our local guns and ammo store to stock up, but you have to admit, if you’re a progressive thinker, it could. Of course, we could negate the possibility by voting the orangutan out of office November 3.

So there you have it—either mark off the Democratic candidate (whomever he or she may be) on your electronic ballot, or pull down the Democratic lever on your manual voting machine, or register for firearms instruction at your local shooting range before it’s too late. America’s future is in your hands. 

(In case some of you didn’t realize it, what you have just read is a piece of satire.)

Classified Material: I opened the Sunday New York Times to find something rarely seen over the last decade or longer: pages of classified ads. Advertisements for jobs ranging from an advisory consultant at an accounting firm to vice president of a bank. Two and a half pages in tiny agate type. 

Now, the volume was nothing like it used to be, pre-Internet. It wasn’t a separate section. The ads were tucked into the back pages of the SportsSunday section. But just as Web-based retailers are opening brick and mortar stores, perhaps we are at the dawn of a rekindled age of newspaper classified ads.

I have a soft spot for “help wanted” ads in print. Between jobs back in early 1977 I answered a classified ad in The Times. We were living in New Haven. Gilda had said she would relocate anywhere but New York, but four months into my unemployment she consented to my responding to the ad. She further agreed to return to New York after a job offer was extended during my interview in Manhattan. Thus began my 32 year career with Lebhar-Friedman, publisher of Nation’s Restaurant News (my first year’s assignment as a field editor) and Chain Store Age for the remainder of my tenure. 

Section By Section: Not everyone reads the Sunday Times page by page, section by section. I surely don’t.

So this item is for those who offhandedly toss the SundayStyles section into the discard pile. Take a moment to read how the spirit of the holiday season in Washington has become another victim of the polarized political climate in the nation’s capital. It’s a humorous if not nostalgic remembrance of better, bygone days (https://nyti.ms/2McMMiv).

Gilda’s New Nickname: I have a new nickname for Gilda—Corduroy. Not the fabric. Rather, the winsome Teddy Bear now considered a classic children’s book character. 

In the second book of the series originated by Don Sussman, Corduroy notices his green corduroy overalls lack a pocket. His escapades at a laundromat endeavoring to find a pocket is a warm-hearted adventure tale that ends with Lise, his young owner, sewing some plaid material into a pocket on his right overall leg.

Around our house Gilda often wears sweat pants. Some have pockets. The ones that don’t, however, have continually frustrated her ability to keep her cell phone nearby. Until she recalled the story “A Pocket for Corduroy.”

For several hours Friday she rummaged through leftover fabric swatches, picking out a grey plaid pattern with enough material to adorn two sweat pants with pockets deep enough to hold an iPhone. Just like Corduroy’s, the pockets are angled on the right pants leg.

News of the Day and Tomorrow: Nikki Haley, Trees, Thanksgiving and Black Friday

Profile in Discouragement: Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley appeared Sunday on CBS Sunday Morning. In a segment of the interview conducted by Norah O’Donnell about the impeachment inquiry, Haley said, “The biggest thing that bothers me is the American people should decide this. Why do we have a bunch of people in Congress making this decision?”

For a public figure who many are touting as a future Republican presidential candidate, the former South Carolina governor demonstrated a naive understanding of government. Haley should realize that senators and representatives are sent to Washington not just to rubber stamp their state’s voter preferences or to blithely rubber stamp or reject a president’s agenda, but also to be leaders, to exhibit profiles in courage by supporting positions that are good for the country even if they are not compatible with the narrow interests of their respective electorates or political parties. They, after all, swore an oath of allegiance to the Constitution. No such avowal is required of the general population, though newly enfranchised citizens and members of the armed services swear their allegiance to our country.

Moreover, to follow through on Haley’s premise, surveys have shown a sizable majority of Americans believe in compulsory background checks before a gun may be purchased. Similarly, other gun control measures are majority-favored. Yet Republicans continue to refrain from enacting any such proposals. 

Taken a step further, what Haley seems to be endorsing is the supreme executive, a president who really does not require any other branch of government. His or her way or the highway for anyone who disagrees with the chief executive. 

The impeachment proceedings and a Senate trial will show in startling relief just how far Republicans have subsumed their allegiance to the Constitution in favor of service to a president who has obstructed justice and encouraged foreign interference in our “free” elections. 

Later in the interview Haley acknowledged that Donald Trump’s verbal assaults on four first term congresswomen, telling them to go back to their own countries even though they are all U.S. citizens, was unbecoming from a president. But she defended his actions, saying of the representatives categorized by Trump as “the squad,” “Don’t bash America over and over again and not do something to try and fix it.” 

Huh? Has she not been keeping abreast of policy initiatives they have put forward? I don’t agree with all of their proposals but clearly they have been trying to do something to improve our country.

Tree Time: Last week a Norway Spruce from upstate New York started its travel to Manhattan for its crowning as the annual Christmas Tree in Rockefeller Center. The tree will be festooned with appropriate decorations—some 50,000 lights— in time for a December 4 unveiling on live television. 

Gilda and I are “big tree” fans, and by that I mean we really like trees, especially big trees. Our favorite is a copper beech, or mostly any beech variety. 

One of our more interesting days while visiting Scotland recently was a visit to Dawyck Botanic Garden, a 65 acre garden and arboreta eight miles south of Peebles. The trees are magnificent, especially the Douglas firs. 

You might be interested to know that the majestic Douglas fir, so common in the Pacific Northwest, is named for a Scottish botanist, David Douglas, who “discovered” them during an 1824-27 expedition. He brought seeds of the Douglas fir and about 10 other conifers back to Britain.

While on the subject of trees, Normandy, France, is known for its apple trees. But the French, at least in Normandy, don’t eat the fruit. Rather, they wait until their particular specie of apple tree drops its fruit. The apples are then gathered and fermented into hard cider. As the climate in Normandy is not conducive to growing grapes for wine, cider with an alcoholic kick makes life très jolie. 

Once an Editor …: I’ve been retired for more than 10 years now from Chain Store Age but my LinkedIn page still attracts onlookers every week. Recently I’ve been inundated by one head hunter organization sending me job opportunities. I’m flattered but not interested.

Perhaps my admirers are impressed that retailers are coming around to my way of thinking, at least when it comes to one of my fervent opinions. About a dozen years ago I editorialized that the madness of Black Friday was demeaning to customers and store employees. As retailers desperately tried to corral more consumers they chose not to wait until Friday morning. Many opened their doors on Thanksgiving Day itself, another intrusion on family get-togethers, particularly for store personnel who had to leave hearth and home to harness hostile shoppers intent on beating anyone in their way to a desired purchase.

It’s not a tidal wave yet, but I am encouraged by the number of chain store companies that will be closed all day on Thanksgiving. Here’s a list of the retailers I am aware of: Army and Air Force Exchange Service, Academy Sports and Outdoors, Ace Hardware, BJ’s, Costco, Hobby Lobby, HomeGoods, Lowe’s, Marshalls, Petco, Sam’s Club, Sierra Trading Post, Stein Mart, T.J. Maxx, True Value. 

Marcal Blaze Reminiscent of Famous Sponge Rubber Products Fire 44 Years Ago in Shelton

The spectacular eight-alarm fire at the 45,000 sq. ft, Marcal paper plant in Elmwood Park, NJ, Wednesday night illuminated not just the sky but also memories of a similar conflagration 44 years ago. 

Gilda and I had just gone to bed about half an hour before midnight on Saturday, March 1, 1975, when the phone rang in our Seymour, Conn., apartment. We were living in the small town about 13 miles northwest of New Haven because I was a reporter for The New Haven Register. My initial beat had been the towns of Seymour and Derby. After a year, I was reassigned to cover another town in the economically depressed Lower Naugatuck Valley: Shelton (side note: in my new beat I succeeded Dan Collins, husband of Gail Collins—yes, that Gail Collins). 

My bureau chief, Don Anderson, called asking what I was doing in bed while downtown Shelton was in danger of being wiped off the map, consumed by fire. From nearby Ansonia Don had been rocked out of bed by an explosion several miles away in Shelton. 

I hastily dressed and sped south in my Chevy Vega. The sky became redder the nearer I approached Shelton. The largest structure dominating the downtown, the 475,000-square-foot Sponge Rubber Products Plant 4 perched along the Housatonic River was ablaze. Hundreds of volunteer and paid firemen from dozens of fire departments in southern Connecticut were attempting not so much to extinguish the inferno in freezing weather but rather to keep it from spreading to Main Street. 

Stretched out along 2-1/2 blocks, the plant had once been owned by the B.F. Goodrich company. Foam mattresses were it main product. Declining sales promoted Goodrich to sell the plant to Charles Moeller, an Ohio businessman who renamed it the Sponge Rubber Products Company. 

The fire had broken out shortly after 11:30 pm. As I talked with the police chief the reason it had spread so quickly and devastatingly became known. It was deliberately set. Arson. 

More astounding, the suspects were said to be members of the Weather Underground. They had tied up the night watchmen, strategically distributed 500 pounds of dynamite and 24 55-gallon drums of gasoline throughout the plant, and told the watchmen who they left unharmed in a nearby woods they were Weathermen. 

It didn’t make sense. Of all places, why would a radical group target the Sponge Rubber plant in Shelton in what turned out to be the most costly case of arson in the nation’s history?

Well, it turned out the Weathermen were not responsible. Moeller had a spiritual guru, the Rev. David N. Bubar of Memphis, Tenn., a Baptist minister and self-proclaimed psychic, who sought to relieve him of the financial mistake he made in buying the factory in 1974. Bubar recruited men from Ohio. They rented a Ryder truck to convey their explosive materiel. It was through the Ryder rental that they were nabbed. 

Moeller, as well, was charged but found not guilty. The others were convicted. 

Watching a fire can be exhilarating. But for a reporter, more emotional may well be the followup interviews with workers who no longer had jobs and whose prospects in Shelton and the other river towns of the Lower Naugatuck Valley were dim at best. Some 4,000 workers lost their jobs.

Several months after the fire I was promoted to bureau chief of West Haven, Bethany, Orange and Woodbridge. We moved to New Haven. Within two years I had taken a job in New York City. We moved to White Plains. 

Shelton slowly, ever so slowly, recovered. It converted the plant site “into open, public space with a veterans memorial, a pavilion, an annual farmers market and a riverwalk” (https://www.ctpost.com/news/amp/40-years-ago-fire-marked-turning-point-for-6106842.php). With the completion of a multi-lane Route 8 Shelton became a hub of clean, light manufacturing and an affordable bedroom community to Fairfield County Fortune 500 company executives. 

A little more than a year after moving to New York and writing for Chain Store Age I was assigned an article on a new trend in supermarkets—generic products. To understand the economics of these non branded alternatives I talked with a marketing executive from a then-family owned paper goods company: Marcal. 

Marcal was sold to an investment firm several years ago. The workers who saw their livelihood flame out Wednesday night face the same tough future as those who witnessed arson most foul 44 years ago. 

Old Names in the News: Sears, Zakheim, Saporito

Did you get all the presents you wished for during this holiday season? I purposely chose the word “wish” as it conjures up the image of the Sears Wish Book, the once-giant retailer’s annual encyclopedia of gifts for all ages. “In 1968,” according to Sears Archives, “the Wish Book totaled 605 pages, with 225 pages devoted to toys and 380 pages to gifts for adults.”

During this all important shopping season, when merchants often garner most of their sales and profits,  several articles have surfaced about the fall of Sears (and sister company, Kmart) from iconic to catatonic (https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2018/12/19/sears-plans-more-store-closures-as-challenges-mount-for-lampert-bid-.html and https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-12-20/layoffs-loom-large-as-banks-weigh-funding-lampert-s-sears-bid). 

Today, Friday, CNBC reported Sears will shutter 80 more Sears and Kmart stores on top of the 182 closings it announced after it filed for bankruptcy protection October 15 (https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2018/12/28/sears-closing-80-more-stores-in-march-faces-possible-liquidation.html). 

Amazon and other Internet retailers are being blamed for the truncation and potential demise of the once largest retailer in the world. Amazon et al might be hammering the nail into Sears’ coffin, but the truth is Sears was fading into obscurity years before Jeff Bezos conceptualized Amazon in 1994. 

Consider the January 1980 edition of Chain Store Age. The cover story: “Why America Is Not Shopping Sears.” In 15 pages backed by extensive consumer research, articles detailed the troubles Sears faced, some of its own making, some because of newer, more focused competition, some the result of new market conditions including the proliferation of large shopping centers and the elimination of retail price maintenance laws that allowed brand name goods to be sold at discount prices. Shoppers no longer had to wait for sales of major appliances, consumer electronics, sporting goods, tools and other desired merchandise. They were available every day at the discount store located closer to their homes. 

Though still the largest retailer in the world back in 1980, Sears could not maintain that position as more nimble, more focused retailers took bites out of its market share. Best Buy. Circuit City. Home Depot. Lowe’s. Toys “R” Us. Sports Authority. Target. Wal-Mart. Even Kmart snatched sales from Sears. 

Sears reacted by turning commissioned sales people into hourly workers. Bad decision. They lacked incentive to sell. 

Apparel never was a Sears strong point. Baby boomers wouldn’t be caught dead wearing Sears clothing, not when the mall had dozens, even a hundred, specialty stores offered fashion right styles. 

Besides, walking into most Sears stores was like entering a mausoleum. Whereas department store mannequins were freshly dressed and lifelike, Sears mannequins appeared lifeless. Store decor and lighting were old fashioned and stark. There was no drama inside. It was as if Sears executives had never heard of the concept of retailtainment. 

When Sears filed for bankruptcy protection I posed the following: “Will Sears and Kmart be salvaged or scuttled? Ask yourself these questions: When was the last time you shopped Sears or Kmart? If one or both stores disappeared, would you notice? Would you miss them?”

(https://nosocksneededanymore.blogspot.com/search?q=sears)

Nothing has transpired to make me change my opinion.

Designer Prices: I have always eschewed clothing that outwardly displays a designer’s name or brand logo. I am okay with wearing Adolpho blazers or Givenchy suits with the labels discreetly sewn onto inside breast pockets (though since my retirement I rarely wear suits). 

Outward chauvinism is not my style. In fact, I have long advocated a reversal of the standard bill of fare. Rather than charging more for a polo shirt or pair of jeans that shout out the designer’s or brand’s name, I believe such walking billboards should be sold at a discount as payment for the publicity they provide.   

Two of my cousins are optometrists. As their practices are in Philadelphia and Jacksonville it was not convenient for me to patronize them when I needed new eyeglasses. 

But I did pick their brains about the differences between designer and generic frames you might find in a mass market optical store such as Lenscrafters or Visionworks. 

Their responses: If you are concerned about the quality of a generic frame, don’t be. If you find a generic frame you like, buy it. Designer frames may provide a design that intrigues you, but the cost will be much higher. 

Their bottom line—find a lower priced generic frame. 

Which brings us to the recent scam Payless ShoeSource performed on fashionistas in Los Angeles. Payless tricked them into believing its $19.99 man-made women’s shoes were leather, designed by Bruno Palessi and worth hundreds of dollars. Here’s a Washington Post article to click on in case you missed the charade: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2018/11/30/they-had-us-fooled-inside-paylesss-elaborate-prank-dupe-people-into-paying-shoes/?utm_term=.46128e293bcc

Degrees of Separation: Many of my blog postings are generated by current events that bring up incidents or people/companies from my past (the Sears piece above is an example). 

So I was doubly stimulated when reading The New York Times on line in the middle of the night earlier this week.

The first article, a profile of acting secretary of defense Patrick Shanahan, referenced “Dov Zakheim, a former top Pentagon official in the George W. Bush administration” (https://nyti.ms/2Rbn95i).

Dov and I were elementary school classmates at Yeshiva Rambam in Brooklyn some 60 years ago. He, and I, were considered Talmudic scholars by our teachers. Apart from his service in the Pentagon, Dov went on to become a rabbi. 

The second article was an Op-Ed piece entitled “Trump’s King Minus Touch,” by Bill Saporito, a contributor to The Times editorial board (https://nyti.ms/2Rfxj4Q). Bill and I worked together on Chain Store Age Supermarkets 40 years ago. He left to become a photographer for a Pittsburgh paper, if memory serves me right, and afterward began a long association with various Time Inc. magazines including Fortune and Time. 

Seeing their names in print is a nice way to keep up with old acquaintances. 

Facing Up to Mistakes

Have you ever made a mistake at work? Perhaps you are an accountant and you put an extra zero at the end of a number or placed a decimal point one column to the right. Or maybe you are an attorney and failed to file a motion in a timely manner. Or you are a shipping clerk who sent a package to London, England, instead of London, Ontario (that last one is a homage to All in the Family and the reason Archie Bunker did not get a Christmas bonus one year and thus could not buy Edith the vacuum cleaner she desired). 

The point is, people make mistakes, and so do computers if they are programmed incorrectly by humans, of course. No matter how many levels of review an organization has, human error cannot be totally eliminated. 

Try talking out loud for several straight hours a day without fumbling your words. Naturally, you will mispronounce some words. But when I refer to fumbling I mean something far more sinister, far more detrimental, to your societal position and ambition. 

In the age of instant mass communication any gaffe, any untoward remark, may be blown up out of proportion to your intent. The tragedy, the threat to our civil and political comity, and potentially our democracy, is that it usually is. 

Did Hillary’s “basket of deplorables” comment cost her the election? Didn’t help. Howard Dean’s outburst of enthusiasm after the Iowa caucus in 2004 surely blew up his presidential hopes. In 2006, George Allen got caught on a cell phone camera calling one of his opponent’s campaign trackers a “macaca” (monkey). It submarined his re-election bid as a U.S. senator from Virginia. 

Which brings us to a recent brouhaha over an erroneous news report. I classify it as a “brouhaha” not to discount the culpability of the media, in this case, NPR, but rather because when journalists make mistakes they are held to a higher standard than politicians who regularly and deliberatively lie. 

NPR screwed up in a report linking Trump ex-attorney Michael Cohen’s plea deal confession to testimony Donald Trump Jr. provided to the Senate in 2017. NPR alleged Trump lied to the Senate about the family’s business plans in Russia. NPR issued a correction shortly thereafter. https://www.foxnews.com/politics/npr-issues-correction-after-falsely-accusing-trump-jr-of-being-in-legal-jeopardy-for-lying-to-senate.amp

But admitting its mistake did not stop right wing journalists and Web sites from excoriating NPR. Indeed, a Google check of “NPR Donald Trump Jr.” finds that the top sites covering this faux pas were Sputnik News, The Daily Wire, The Daily Caller, Breitbart, RT.com, National Review and The Federalist. It is a conservative onslaught when the most objective site I could cite was Fox News.

Only Trump Sr. seems immune from fallout from vocal flatulence. Indeed, his base laps up his lies and libertine lewdness. Of course, foreign governments and independent entities such as the stock market are not necessarily impassive to Trump’s discordant trumpet. Here’s an article from The Washington Post highlighting the chaos from Trump’s erraticism: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/chaos-breeds-chaos-trumps-erratic-and-false-claims-roil-markets-again/2018/12/04/824506fa-f7ff-11e8-863c-9e2f864d47e7_story.html?utm_term=.0681c19ad319.

The PC police long ago lost the war with Trump. But the PC police remain vigilantly active when it comes to Trump’s detractors. Eric Holder and Hillary Clinton are held to a higher standard. As is The New York Times. 

Back in September The Times published an erroneous report that U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley had spent lavishly on draperies for her official residence in a high rise building near the U.N. The Times apologized for the error and issued a correction stating it was the Obama administration that authorized the purchase. 

In no other profession are mistakes as publicly acknowledged as they are in legitimate journalism. 

I made my fair share of mistakes as a reporter and editor. My most egregious mistake was not one of fact but of judgment. After a particularly negative experience trying to buy an electric snow shovel at a now defunct local home center chain, I avenged my treatment by recounting the details in the editor’s column of the next issue of Chain Store Age. I not only named the chain but also the store manager. I overstepped the bounds of civil criticism. In the next issue I apologized.

My most amusing mistake was printed on the cover of a December 1992 issue profiling retail industry entrepreneurs of the year. Chain Store Age partnered with Ernst & Young as part of the latter’s national all-industry program to recognize corporate leaders.

From the 29 retailers selected as winners that year, we chose to put Randy Acton, president of U.S. Cavalry, on the cover. U.S. Cavalry, now part of Galls LLC, sold military and law enforcement apparel and accessories. 

For the cover shoot Acton dressed in a military camouflage outfit, helmet and all. The headline read, “Soldier of Fortune,” under which we printed, “Randy Acton, president U.S. Calvary.”

Did you catch the mistake? I didn’t, until I received a thank you note from Randy. He gently pointed out his company was U.S. Cavalry, not U.S. Calvary.

Jesus, what a mistake that was!

Convenience vs. Affordability, The Ethical Dilemmas of the World We Live In

“Time and again, when confronted with the choice between convenience and affordability and the less tangible benefits of emotional intimacy, humans have opted for the former.”

Let’s face it. Aside from living in a material world, we have succumbed to a life of leisure in lieu of exertion. We no longer get up to change the TV channel. We don’t manually roll down car windows anymore. We don’t open the freezer door to get ice. We live in a push button world. 

Mattresses no longer have to be turned every month. For most products we don’t have to trek to the store. Our exercise, instead, is to pick up the Internet or mail order package from the front porch or apartment lobby. 

The premise having been set, if not accepted, please contemplate the shared meaning of three articles I pass along for your edification. The first is from a philosopher, S. Matthew Liao. Writing an Op-Ed in The New York Times, Liao wondered aloud (if you can do so in print) if one has a moral duty to jettison one’s relationship with Facebook given its unconscionable and inexcusable behavior in the 2016 presidential elections and in other activities that have undermined democracy in America and abroad (https://nyti.ms/2zqSUx8). 

Aside from posting my blogs to Facebook, I have a financial interest in professor Liao’s opinion. My broker talked me into buying some Facebook stock shortly after it went public. Am I a silent sinner in the debasement of democratic values? 

It’s not every day, but hardly a week goes by that a box with a smiley face on the cardboard exterior doesn’t land on our front porch. I spent almost all of my journalism career in support of physical retail stores. Chain Store Age, by its very name, heralded my bias. Though the magazine covered mail order and Internet retailers, our first allegiance was to brick and mortar stores. 

When Amazon erupted on the scene, it was as an attack on book stores, most prominently exemplified by Barnes & Noble, B. Dalton Booksellers, Borders, Books-a-Million, Crown Books, to name but a handful.

Now, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is ranked the wealthiest man in the world as his creation sells virtually all types of merchandise. And through Amazon Prime I download programs not available on cable or basic television stations.

With bigness comes inevitable vilification. From the Web news site Vox, here’s an article suggesting the time is ripe to cancel one’s Amazon Prime subscription (https://www.vox.com/platform/amp/the-goods/2018/11/26/18112769/amazon-prime-cancel).

Could I really give up watching the upcoming second season of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel? Or pay for shipping on all those purchases? And what would become of all those UPS and FedEx, not to mention USPS, delivery men and women who rely on Amazon to keep them on the road? 

On the one hand, the Vox article correctly notes Amazon’s history of “monopolistic practices to tax avoidance, poor treatment of both white- and blue-collar workers, union-busting, environmental damage, and most recently, the year-long publicity stunt of HQ2, a bad-faith ploy to extract private data from US cities that ended with Amazon plopping its supposedly economy-boosting offices into the two most established markets on the East Coast.”

On the other hand, the history of retailing, and for that matter almost every industry, is that market leaders are attacked. As Sears in its heyday was, and then Walmart was and still is, Amazon is scrutinized for practices that virtually all other retailers undertake in their own spheres. Target might emit a nicer aura in which to shop, but it treats its workers no better than Walmart, or Amazon. 

So I swallow any bile I might have toward Amazon and continue to log on. As long as I’m getting value for my dollar, I will continue to do so.

The third article presents in stark terms perhaps the penultimate consequence of society’s acceptance of the depreciating value of human labor. From Vox, here’s an article that asks, “Sex doll brothels are now a thing. What will happen to real-life sex workers?” (https://www.vox.com/the-goods/2018/11/26/18113019/sex-doll-brothels-legal-sex-work?_gl=1*13fjbq5*)

Returning to the opening quote taken from the sex doll article, here’s an added line to it: “Time and again, when confronted with the choice between convenience and affordability and the less tangible benefits of emotional intimacy, humans have opted for the former. There’s no reason to think that the sex industry will prove the exception to the rule.”

And to think, just a few short paragraphs ago I was worried about the future of truck drivers!