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Nov
8

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JCPenney Or J.C. Penney? Do You Know The Proper Names Of These Companies?

Category: Interesting Facts Tags: Leave a Comment

(Great Beyond)

When we eventually hit the lottery and fulfill our dream of opening the world’s largest chain of Skee Ball parlors, we’re going to name it “Consumerist’s’s’s’s” in honor of all the inexplicably abandoned apostrophes that rightfully belong in retailers’ names but have been left to die by marketing executives or company owners who didn’t want to seem too possessive.

But this got us thinking about all the retailers and fast food chains that confuse people with their dropped apostrophes, and possibly inserted hyphens, periods, asterisks, etc. So to end this week, we thought we’d leave you with a quiz to see how well you know the names of these businesses.

Keep in mind, the answers to the quiz below only deal with the public-facing names of a company. So if a store is called “John’s” but its corporate name is actually “John Inc.” the answer is still John’s.

That should be a hint for those of you who read those financial newspapers and websites that insist on only using corporate names.

Anyway, enough chit-chat… take the quiz, or just cheat by scrolling all the way down to the answers and explanations at the bottom of the page.

ANSWERS:

1. JCPenney

The name that the company wants to be known as is JCPenney, but their official name is J. C. Penney Company, Inc.

Not that everyone remembers this all of the time: Consumerist once received a press release that spelled the company’s name three different ways in the same document. From the company itself.

2. Walgreens

The store name is Walgreens, no apostrophe, after founder Charles R. Walgreen Sr.

Officially, the company is called Walgreen Co. Unofficially, everyone inserts an apostrophe.

3. Tim Hortons

This name has an odd history. The company began as “Tim Horton Donuts,” named after original co-founder, hockey legend Tim Horton. Early on, the name was shortened to just “Tim Horton’s,” which stuck for decades until the apostrophe ran afoul of the bilingual signage laws in the province of Quebec.

Instead of branding the chain “Chez Tim Horton” in only one province, they removed the apostrophe, which doesn’t make sense in any language.

4. Kohl’s

Founded as Kohl’s Department Store in 1962, the chain has dropped the “Department Store” over the years but has kept its apostrophe.

5. Popeyes

The original restaurant was named “Chicken on the Run,” but that name didn’t catch on. The name Popeyes came from a character in The French Connection, and never had an apostrophe, though that doesn’t make much sense either since there is only one Popeye in the movie.

And not even every Popeyes gets this right. It’s hard to see from this Google Street View pic, but those of us familiar with the Yonkers/Hastings-On-Hudson area of New York can tell you that this sign at the rest stop on I-87 most definitely reads “Popeye’s.”

popeyes

6. Wegmans

Similar to Walgreens, this name has no apostrophe. The surname of the family who founded the company is Wegman, so presumably this chain of supermarkets is just celebrating all the members of that family.

7. Ralphs

Another confusing family name. But unlike Wegmans or Walgreens, where the apostrophe is ditched in favor of the plural, Ralphs is actually the last name of supermarket founder George Albert Ralphs. But rather than go with Ralphs’ or Ralphs’s, the store has been sans apostrophe since starting in 1873.

8. Lowe’s

Lucius Smith Lowe opened his first Lowe’s in North Carolina in 1921, and the apostrophe has been there ever since. What causes confusion for a lot of people is the Lowes Foods chain of supermarkets in the Southeast and of course the company that is the answer to question 9…

9. Loews

110 years ago, Marcus Loew opened his first theater in Ohio and slapped his name, in the possessive, on it. Then Lowe’s theaters grew until the Tisch family purchased it several decades later — and decided it didn’t need that apostrophe.

That no-apostrophe Loews was then used for the corporation that would run the Tisch’s Loews hotel empire, along with the Loews theaters. Then Loews sold its movie venue business in 1985 to TriStar Pictures, which kept the name. The Loews theaters continued to use that name even as they were acquired, merged, and passed around for three decades, until finally merging with, and taking the name of AMC in 2005.

The Loews name continues on in its hotel and resort business, which is still owned by the Loews Corporation.

10. Walmart

Despite what everyone in the area of upstate New York where I live says, the name of this chain is not Walmart’s.

This one is tricky when it comes to formatting, since the company’s official corporate name is Wal-Mart Stores Inc., and during the period from 1992 to 2008 when there was a star in the logo, some publications printed the name as “Wal*Mart.”

The current, hyphen-free version of the name came into use in 2008, and is how the company refers to itself in branding materials… but not corporate governance.

Sourced from consumerist.com

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Nov
2

By

The top 10 myths about working retail

Category: Interesting Facts, Retail Stories Tags: , Leave a Comment

rp_BRC-reports-retail-sales-006.jpg

Over 1 in 10 US jobs is in retail trade. The notion that these workers are mostly young, lazy and unskilled is false

Myth 1: Most retail workers are teenagers or young adults who do not really need the money

Reality: The average age of a retail worker is 37 years old (pdf), and more than half of year-round retail workers contribute a significant portion (pdf) of their family’s total income. For example, researchers found that a third (pdf) of New York City retail workers support at least one dependent.

Myth 2: Retail workers are unskilled

Reality: 28% of retail workers (pdf) have completed some college, and 15% have a bachelor’s degree or higher. Employers have deskilled a lot of the work, but still report in surveys that they want employees with both soft and hard skills, including product knowledge, ability to relate to customers, and increasingly, familiarity with technology for assisting with online sales.

Myth 3: Retail workers may earn a low wage, but most of them are only doing the job temporarily until they move up to higher level jobs or other careers

Reality: While the retail industry has higher turnover than many industries, most retail workers stay in the industry – which means that the turnover is high for individual employers, particularly those that pay low wages and treat workers poorly. In a large national survey (pdf), about half of retail respondents said they were not very likely to try to change employers in the next year. Workers do not lack a work ethic or commitment to retail, but are often forced to look for another job that provides more hours or more predictable schedules.

Myth 4: Retail work is meant to be just an entry-level job

Reality: Over 15 million people work in the retail sector, and that number is expected to grow, as retail sales worker occupations make-up thesecond largest job growth projections in the country, after food preparation occupations. More than 1 out of every 10 jobs in the country is in retail trade, which makes it a major part of our economy. It is unlikely that most retail workers will leave the sector for other work.

Myth 5: Retail jobs are pretty good jobs – at least workers are inside where it is warm, and conditions are safe

Reality: While many retail workers enjoy aspects of their job, such as working with customers, the average job is missing most aspects of a “good job”. According to the Department of Labor, the median wage is $9.53 for retail salesworkers and $9.13 for cashiers, and 15% of all retail workers live in or near poverty. A survey of New York retail workers (pdf) found that only 29% receive health benefits from their employer. Theinjury rate in retail (pdf) is higher than the average for all industries, and workers commonly experience injury from contact with objects or equipment, overexertion, falls, sprains and strains. In 2012, 262 retail workers were killed on the job.

Myth 6: If retail workers really had problems on the job, they could approach the employer and ask for a raise – or report legal problems to the government

Reality: All workers have the right to report problems to government authorities, and they have the legal right to ask for higher wages – including working with co-workers to demand improvements. But in fact, studies show that employers frequently penalize workers (pdf) who organize in the workplace, such as firing, surveilling or harassing in other ways. Last week, the National Labor Relations Board issued findings thatWalmart had illegally fired and disciplined employees who had participated in protests or strikes. Furthermore, while workers can file complaints with OSHA or the Department of Labor about unsafe working conditions or discriminatory treatment, processing those complaints can take years as most government regulatory agencies, particularly the Department of Labor, are grossly understaffed and under-resourced(pdf).

Myth 7: Most retail workers prefer to work part-time, so retail scheduling works well for them

Reality: Many retail workers do want part-time work due to their school or childcare responsibilities, but the majority of part-time workers do not have control over their schedule. According to reports (pdf), 13% of all retail workers, and 18% of low-wage retail workers, are working part-time but would like more hours if they could get them.

Myth 8: A lot of retail workers are lazy and do not work hard enough to help customers

Reality: Many retail workers report that they like working in the industry, and want to make a career in the field. Yet employment practices make it difficult for them to do their job well. Employers look to cut labor costs by keeping staffing to a bare minimum, making it hard for workers in some stores to provide adequate service to customers. In other stores, retail workers have to meet quotas for selling certain items or getting customers to enroll in credit cards or loyalty card programs. Employer demands interfere with workers’ ability to provide quality service to customers.

Myth 9: Raising retail worker salaries would get passed on to consumers, resulting in much higher prices

Reality: Studies show that higher wages do not necessarily translate into significant price increases. In fact, one study (pdf) found that if Walmart raised wages to $12 an hour for associates, and passed 100% of that onto consumers, prices would increase by only $0.46 per shopping trip, or $12.49 per year, for the average shopper. But Walmart could also cover the wage increases in other ways, such as a cut to its CEO salary, now at almost $21m a year. The same is true for other large retailers, who could easily raise wages with little impact on prices (pdf).

Myth 10: Most retail workers want to work on holidays in order to get more pay

Reality: Employers are not required by law to pay extra to workers working on holidays, unless that extra work puts their total work week above 40 hours. Retail workers report frustration that they have little control over their schedules, and some note that they could be penalized for refusing to work on holidays. Even if workers do get paid time and a half and holiday shifts are “voluntary,” most retail workers are underemployed and need more work. Only with sustainable schedules and living wages, would the decision to work on a holiday truly be voluntary.

Sourced from theguardian.com

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Oct
24

By

45 Surprising Facts About Your Favorite Fast Food Restaurants

Category: Food Retail, Fun Facts, Interesting Facts Tags: , Leave a Comment

1. McDonald’s hamburgers don’t rot. The low moisture of the burgers leaves the meat dehydrated, basically turning it into jerky.

2. McDonald’s Chicken McNuggets come in four shapes and they have names: the boot, the ball, the bone, and the bell.

3. A 32 oz. McDonald’s sweet tea has as much sugar as two and a half Snickers bars.

4. You cannot be more than 107 miles from a McDonald’s in the contiguous USA.

5. McDonald’s turns away a higher percentage of applicants than Harvard.

6. McDonald’s Filet-O-Fish was originally developed for Catholic customers, since they tend to abstain from meat on Fridays.

7. Burger King is called “Hungry Jack’s” in Australia.

8. Wendy’s founder Dave Thomas went back to school to earn his GED in 1993 at the age of 61. He didn’t want people to see his success and feel inspired to drop out of high school.

9. Taco Bell’s meat mixture “does not meet the minimum requirements set by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to be labeled as ‘beef.’”

10. Taco Bell has twice attempted to open stores in Mexico. Their food was even labeled as “Authentic American Food.”

11. Chipotle buys some of their avocados from singer Jason Mraz.

12. There is a secret menu item at Chipotle called a “quesarito” where a burrito is wrapped using a cheese quesadilla.

13. After graduating from culinary school, Steve Ells wanted to open up his own fine dining restaurant. In order to raise the necessary money he started Chipotle.

14. After he left the company, Colonel Sanders disliked KFC so much that he described it as “the worst fried chicken I’ve ever seen” and called the gravy “wallpaper paste.”

15. Because of a successful marketing campaign 40 years ago, KFC chicken has become a traditional Christmas dinner in Japan. KFC is so popular that customers place their Christmas orders two months in advance.

16. Two companies prepare KFC’s Original Recipe chicken. One company only has half of the secret recipe, and the other company has the second half. The complete recipe only exists in one place: locked inside a vault at KFC’s headquarters.

17. Subway’s most popular sandwich, the Italian B.M.T., is named after the Brooklyn Manhattan Transit.

18. After receiving complaints that their “footlong” sandwich was only 11 inches long, Subway responded by saying, “”With regards to the size of the bread and calling it a footlong, ‘Subway Footlong’ is a registered trademark as a descriptive name for the sub sold in Subway Restaurants and not intended to be a measurement of length.”

19. Subway is the largest restaurant chain in the world, with more restaurants than McDonald’s.

20. To accommodate workers at the World Trade Center building, Subway installed a mobile restaurant that moved up the building as they finished each floor.

21. At a cost of around $1,000,000, Pizza Hut made a delivery to the International Space Station in 2001.

22. Before 2013, the number one buyer of kale was Pizza Hut. They didn’t serve it, they used it as a decoration for their salad bars.

23. Pizza Hut once sued Papa John’s because they claimed that “fresher ingredients” didn’t make “better pizza.”

24. Pizza Hut uses 300 million pounds of cheese each year, which accounts for 3% of U.S. cheese production.

25. Arby’s got its name from the acronym “R.B.,” which doesn’t stand for “roast beef,” but rather “Raffel brothers,” who founded the restaurant.

26. Five Guy’s fries are the most unhealthy in America, with nearly 1,500 calories and 71 grams of fat.

27. Shaquille O’Neal owns 10% of all Five Guys restaurants in North America.

28. Chick-Fil-A is not closed on Sundays for religious reasons. They close on Sundays because the founder didn’t like working on Sundays.

29. The first 100 people who go to a new Chick-Fil-A when it opens get a free meal every week for a year.

30. Panera Bread once sued Qdoba and argued that burritos were sandwiches.

31. On average, Starbucks has opened two new stores every day since 1987.

32. The original doughnuts from Dunkin’ Donuts had a handle (to make dunking easier).

33. Domino’s Pizza had to cancel their “30 minutes or less” guarantee because drivers kept causing accidents while rushing to deliver pizzas on time, resulting in at least one fatality.

34. Mark Cuban once criticized someone by saying that they “would not even be able to manage a Dairy Queen.” Dairy Queen offered Mark Cuban a chance to manage Dairy Queen for a whole day, which he accepted. He didn’t do a great job.

35. Dairy Queen restaurants in Texas have a different menu from all other DQ restaurants in the world. You can only get a Steakfinger Basket at a Texas Dairy Queen.

36. IHOP adds pancake batter to their omelettes in order to make them “fluffier.”

37. Ben and Jerry’s ice cream has chunks in it because Ben has anosmia and relies on “mouth-feel” when eating.

38. Because of the restaurant’s reputation to stay open after disasters, the “Waffle House Index” is used to informally assess the damage of a storm.

39. Waffle House sells more steak than any other restaurant.

40. If you laid all of the bacon that Waffle House serves in a year end-to-end, it would wrap all the way around the equator.

41. White Castle burgers have five holes punched in each patty so they cook faster and don’t need to be flipped.

42. Founded in 1921, White Castle was the first fast food restaurant.

43. Colonel Sanders’ favorite food was White Castle.

44. Denny’s was once open year round, so when they decided to close for Christmas, many of the stores had to hire locksmiths because their doors didn’t have locks.

45. The founders of Outback Steakhouse never visited Australia, and have no interest in going.

 

Sourced from buzzfeed.com

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