Business

Economy

Cities Must Strategize To Boost Service Workers' Pay

10:51am February 06, 2013

Urban scholar Richard Florida has found a problem with the way our cities are evolving. He talks to Steve Inskeep about who wins and who loses as the highly skilled, creative class clusters around certain metro areas. Florida is the author of The Rise of the Creative Class.

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National

Postal Service Plans To End Saturday Mail Delivery

10:51am February 06, 2013

The U.S. Postal Service is expected to announce Wednesday that letters will no longer be delivered six days a week. The move starts this summer and should save $2 billion. Saturday package delivery, however, will continue.

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Hasbro's Monopoly Trades Its Old Iron For A New Cat

10:51am February 06, 2013

The iron will no longer be passing go or stopping at Park Place. The company ran a "save your token" campaign, and only 8 percent of respondents fought for the iron. The winner? That little Scottie dog, which might prefer the old iron to the token replacing it: a cat.

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In Cost-Saving Move, Post Office Cuts Saturday Delivery

10:51am February 06, 2013

The U.S. Postal Service on Wednesday announced that it plans to halt Saturday mail delivery, a major shift in operations that the agency says it must make in order to keep from bleeding billions of dollars every year. Package deliveries would continue under the plan.

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The Xlerator hand dryer is made almost entirely of American components and assembled in Massachusetts. But the company's owner says it's simply not cost-effective to use an American-made motor.

Why Is It So Hard To Make A 100 Percent American Hand Dryer?

8:17pm February 05, 2013

by NPR Staff

The Xlerator high-speed hand dryer is made almost entirely of U.S.-made parts and manufactured by a small workforce in Massachusetts. But its motor, like almost all nonindustrial motors, is made in Asia — meaning it's very difficult for small manufactured goods to be entirely American made.

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Economy

S&P Lawsuit Puts Ratings Firms Back In The Spotlight

7:17pm February 05, 2013

by Jim Zarroli

The Justice Department says it could seek more than $5 billion in damages from the nation's biggest credit ratings company. Critics of the agencies say the firms have for decades built their business on revenue from the Wall Street firms they are rating, instead of being a resource for investors.

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Miguel Fontanez Sr., the owner and founder of Pioco's Chicken in Kissimmee, Fla., serves customers at his restaurant. He opened the restaurant 11 years ago, and it has become a hub for the area's large Puerto Rican community.

One-Way Tickets To Florida: Puerto Ricans Escape Island Woes

6:09pm February 05, 2013

by Greg Allen

Life in Puerto Rico is tougher than ever. The U.S. territory — popularly known as "the island of enchantment" — faces a decaying economy and escalating violent crime rate. Many residents are leaving the island in record numbers and embracing the mainland as home.

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Craig McCarl dips Xlerator covers two at a time into a chrome bath. He has worked for Excel Dryer in East Longmeadow, Mass., for 31 years.

How One Company Reinvented The Hand Dryer

4:52pm February 05, 2013

by NPR Staff

Bathroom hand dryers used to be a hated product because they took too long to work. But a decade ago, a family-owned business in Massachusetts came out with a new product that changed the way we dry our hands.

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BP Announces Lower 4th Quarter Earnings

1:47pm February 05, 2013

The British oil company said its net profit was about a billion dollars lower than a year earlier. BP has been shrinking as assets have been sold off to pay for its liabilities tied to the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

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Pizza Hut Makes Eating Pizza Easier

1:47pm February 05, 2013

For decades, Pizza Hut has been vigorously researching ways to improve the pizza consumption process. The company has come up with pizza sliders. Imagine pizza, but presented in cute hamburger-slider size. Each mini pizza is 3.5 inches across.

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