Have you ever stashed a spare shirt in your bag in case you spilled something, or brought along a spare pair of shoes in case you got a blister? Former General Electric CEO Jeff Immelt reportedly took similar precautions: According to company insiders, he brought an extra jet along with him on some business trips in case the first one broke down. [More]
cost cutting
Report: Former GE CEO Brought Along An Extra Empty Plane On Some Trips
By 10.19.17 — Updated: 10.20.17
Tim Hortons Franchisees Complain That Burger King Is Flame-Broiling The Brand’s Canadianness
By 7.12.17
While Tim Hortons has restaurants in Canada and in the United States, most people think of the coffee and doughnut chain as an icon of its home country. It is, after all, named after a hockey player and sponsors a national curling tournament every year. If Timmies isn’t Canadian, then nothing is. Only now the chain’s franchisees say that the new bosses are charging them more for basics, and ending community involvement. [More]
Report: JCPenney Slashed Workers’ Hours, Took Other Drastic Measures To Cut Costs
By 5.6.16
According to a new report, JCPenney had to work fast to cut costs recently after sales were unexpectedly sluggish last month. Some of the drastic measures the department store took included telling managers to cut workers’ hours, freeze overtime, and ban store markdowns. [More]
Don’t Leave A Message: JPMorgan Chase Scraps Voicemail For 65% Of Workers
By 6.3.15
When looking to trim billions of dollars from the budget, companies often look at eliminating wasteful spending, reducing workforce and automating some services. While those are all efforts undertaken by JPMorgan Chase, the financial institution also found a surprising amount of savings by cutting the cord on employees’ voicemail. [More]
Walgreens Closing 200 U.S.-Based Stores In Latest Cost-Cutting Measure
By 4.9.15
Walgreens isn’t just doing away with its “Be well” campaign, the drugstore now also plans to shutter 200 of its 8,232 stores in the U.S. over the next two years. [More]
End The Old Year With A Cheap Celebration
By 12.26.11
New Year’s Eve nights out are recipes for big spending with little to show for it. Costs of cover charges, outfits and drinks quickly add up, closing out the year with financial fireworks that burn you out before you try to make a fresh start. [More]
Asphalt Has Become So Expensive That Some States Are Going Back To Gravel
By 3.31.10
Kiplinger says that in the near future, if you’re driving down a rural or less-traveled road, you might find yourself driving on gravel. Road asphalt has doubled in price over the past three years and shows no signs of coming back down, so some states–Michigan, Minnesota, Indiana, Vermont, and Pennsylvania to begin with–are looking for ways to cut corners. Gravel costs $20 a ton compared to asphalt’s current $400/ton price. [More]
14 Ways Hotels Slash Costs
By 3.25.10
Coupon Sherpa came up with a list of ways hotels get sneaky to cut down on overhead. [More]
Utah Considering Making High School Senior Year Optional
By 2.16.10
In an attempt to save money while rendering its high school graduates even less prepared for adulthood than the likes of Arizona and Mississippi, Utah state senator Chris Buttars is proposing the state making senior year optional and let 11th graders roam free, the L.A. Times reports: [More]
We Are Too Poor For Fancy Alcohol
By 2.2.10
The numbers are in for liquor sales in 2009, and last year had the smallest increase in sales since 2001, reports Bloomberg. What’s worse (if you own a high-end liquor company), sales shifted toward the products on the cheaper end of the spectrum, and people bought less at restaurants and other public places. But we’re not actually drinking less, it turns out–we’re just doing more entertaining at home. [More]
Simple Ways To Slash Your Budget
By 1.14.10
Bargain Babe shares 10 easy ways you can cut your budget. Forward the link to anyone who still clings to their land line, which the blogger insists — correctly, in my eyes — nobody with a cell phone needs. [More]
US Airways Shrinks
By 10.28.09
US Airways has announced it plans to lay off a thousand employees, about 3% of its workforce, and will cut flights and focus mostly on four hubs: Charlotte, Philadelphia, Phoenix, and Washington, DC.
You May As Well Start Saving For Christmas Gifts Now
By 9.14.09
A money-saving-themed blog called, well, “Money Saving Blog,” chooses not to gripe about the Christmas Creep and instead roll with it, putting together a well-crafted and seemingly comprehensive guide on how to avoid being hosed by the holidays by budgeting for trips and gifts and scaling down expenses as necessary due to economic circumstances.
Save On Cooling Costs By Installing A White Roof
By 7.30.09
The New York Times says a white roof on your house “can cost as little as 15 percent more than its dark counterpart” yet “reduce air-conditioning costs by 20 percent or more in hot, sunny weather.” This is because, scientifically speaking, the color white hates the stupid sun and won’t have anything to do with it.
Mattel Profits Increase After Cost Cuts
By 7.17.09
Mattel’s revenues are down by 19%. Toy sales from summer movies and flagship product Barbie and Hot Wheels are down. However, the company reported today that profits are way up. So what explains the profits? Blame a visit from Price Hike Barbie.
RyanAir: Bye Bye, Checked Bags And Airport Check-In. Hello, Gambling!
By 6.28.09
RyanAir this week announced that they will soon eliminate all airport check-in counters and require passengers to carry-on their luggage. Starting early next year, passengers will need to schlep their bags through airport security and drop them at the steps of the plane for checking into plane’s cargo hold. Once aboard though, there will be gambling!
Surviving On 99-Cent-Store Food For A Week In NYC
By 3.27.08
Henry Alford of the New York Times writes that sometimes he will “plop a can of chicken broth down on the checkout counter and think, ‘$2.19? For someone to boil chicken bones? I want that job,'” so he decided to try going a week with food from 99 cent stores in New York City.
Cheap Textbooks And Other Discounts For College Students
By 8.12.07
That first trip to the college bookstore for textbooks is a transformative, and possibly scarring, event–for many people, it may be the first time you really understand the phrase “sticker shock.” But today’s students at least have some alternatives, the most popular of which (based on reader comments, articles, and personal recommendations) is abebooks.com. Our cousin, a junior this year, writes, “One book I’m buying this semester is 70 on Amazon, but like 25 or 35 on Abe.”
