Auto Cad Training Designs Great Careers | Automotive Diagnosis

A career in auto CAD (computer aided design) means you get to use the latest computer technology to help design and draft automotive parts. In this visual and symbol-based communication method, you?ll be able to tailor your expertise to the automotive field and to the career within the automotive field that you want to enter into. This will ensure a long-term, high tech career path that?s not only relevant today, but for tomorrow as well. The following types of individuals may be good candidates for a career in auto CAD:

Students who are a good blend of ?right? brained creativity and ?left? brained logical thinking.
Young professionals looking to make their mark in the transportation industry, with particular emphasis on automotive part development, execution and implementation.
Older professionals wanting to re-establish themselves through a unique, highly technical career path involving the automotive industry.
Those individuals who have a passion for cars, auto parts, technology and the concepts of auto part creation, development, manufacturing and similar applications.

Once you determine computer aided design is the field for you and you have an idea of what occupation within the automotive industry you may want to pursue, you can begin your auto CAD education.

ITT Technical Institute not only has an in-depth computer aided design training curriculum that combines classroom study with real-world training, the institute also offers the option of taking certain required courses online, which makes it easy for you to balance your CAD education with your work and personal life.

At ITT Technical Institute, the auto CAD courses online carry the same high value as those offered in the classroom. Here, you will not only learn the fundamentals of auto CAD, you?ll discover how to apply what you?ve learned. This makes the transition from the classroom to the real world that is the automotive industry much easier.?

Whether you choose to get your entire CAD training in person by attending class or to supplement your education through online courses that suit your lifestyle, you?ll be on your way to a rewarding career in a field that?s shaped American culture and will continue to greatly influence the ways in which we get from one place to another. Who knows, perhaps you?ve got the ability to design the next supercar, the most advanced hybrid vehicle ever, or maybe a solar-powered car. Even if your biggest goal is simply to enhance current technology, and not necessarily to invent anything new, auto CAD training from ITT can get you there.

For more information, please visit: ITT Tech: Computer Drafting & Design

Source: http://www.riredistricting.org/auto-cad-training-designs-great-careers.html

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The Standard | Online Edition :: Virtual affairs

Updated 6 hr(s) 39 min(s) ago

It starts with a harmless chat that gradually becomes naughty and sneaky. Then blood starts rushing somewhere else, and it?s not to the brain!? ALLAN OLINGO delves into online infidelity

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An online corrupted version of the wacha mpango wa kando campaign by the Population Services International and the Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation has been doing rounds in Facebook and part of its contents reads: ?Wewe hapo kwa computer, ati unajifanya uko kwa Facebook, ...eeh, na jee? Huyo mtu huwa mna inbox na yeye, si mpenzi wako, sivyo? Je unajua yeye hu inbox wengine kama wewe? Kuna njia moja tu ya kuepukana na hiyo kudanganywa. Wachana na mpango wainbox! Kuwa mwaminifu.?

(Hey, stop pretending you are busy on Facebook yet all you do is have intimate chats with strangers on inbox. Do you know that he also does the same with other women? Be faithful. Stop the inbox chats). This advert depicts the new mode of cheating ?? online infidelity. So how does it happen?

Recently a friend broke up with his girlfriend because he found out that she was having multiple affairs on Facebook.

He had borrowed her laptop and when he went online, her Facebook account was still active and the chat history made him curious.

He went through it and what he saw shook him.

?She was having online flings with two of her male friends on Facebook. It?s like they were having sex on Facebook ,? he says.

When he confronted her, she initially denied any wrongdoing but when he showed her the evidence, she apologised and promised to change.

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So what is online cheating?

Therapist Laura Berman, PhD, a New York Times best-selling author on sexual health, says sexual infidelity means you have the urge to have sexual contact with a person who is not your partner, and emotional infidelity means that you?re confiding in and emotionally connecting with a person outside of your relationship without the sex.

?We?re dealing with a whole new category here!? writes Dr Berman who has labelled sexting, social media, and email flirting as ?cyber infidelity?.

Sociologist Dr Agnes Zani says that online infidelity can ruin a relationship.

She says: ?When someone is committed to such online relations, then they can be unfaithful because their commitment, interest and engagement is with the other person.?

According to Angelina Mao and Ahalya Raguram in their article Online Infidelity: The new challenge to marriages, online? infidelity? now includes a romantic and/or sexual relationship with someone other than the spouse, which begins with an online contact and is maintained mainly through electronic conversations that occur through email and chat rooms.

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So is online infidelity cheating?

Many would respond in the negative. But this begs the question, would you like your partner to see the information you share on your Facebook chat or inbox?

Dr Zani says online infidelity is indeed cheating at the psychological level as it breaks the trust between two people in a relationship.

emotional connection

The moment the shared online emotional connection is pulling you away from your primary relationship, you will be weakening your love.

This will be an emotional affair, which is cheating.

She adds: ?If there is no physical contact, then one may think of it as not cheating, but it can easily lead to physical cheating because with time, the two may actually meet.?

Emotional infidelity usually starts with a harmless online chat that drifts to provocative flirting.

This can lead to an actual affair that elicits stronger emotions and causes greater emotional anguish.

Walter Kituyi, a project manager, says online infidelity depends? on the intentions of these relationships.

Kituyi says: ?What matters is the kind of personal information? you share online. If you would not want your partner to find out? about these online exchanges, then that is cheating.?

Dr Zani says the level of personal commitment to this kind of relationship is the key factor in determining whether it is indeed cheating.

Online infidelity is more damaging compared to the old fashioned infidelity? due to its emotional nature and the secrecy involved.

Sociologist Dr Gidraph Wairire says: ?Emotional intimacy is often much deeper and stronger than? sex. Strong emotional connections can be developed online even though there?s no physical contact.?

According to the Internet World Stats, over four million Kenyans have Internet access, with Facebook alone having 1.7 million? users as at June this year.

This means that thousands of social networking sites and chat rooms are more accessible, increasing the chances of online infidelity.

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Breaking the cycle

So can one break out of this cycle of online infidelity?

Dr Wairire says? in most cases, the online cheating starts because two people are looking for an exciting emotional connection.

?Falling in love is unique and the feelings it evokes can make daily life more exciting and adventurous. Being told that you are special by a stranger online builds one?s self-esteem,? he explains.

When you get such attention, within no time one starts drifting off their primary relationship.

Dealing with emotional infidelity can be challenging mainly because of the dynamics of the social networks.

Some couples resort to splitting up while others choose to work things out.

So why is this innocent yet harmful emotional infidelity dangerous to a relationship?

Dr Zani says online infidelity gives a good reason not to work on the actual relationship and because of the easy nature of hooking up within the social networks.

She adds: ?Many could be searching for something new and exciting that their relationships cannot offer. The gaps in one?s own relationships, the unavailability of a partner as well, lack of shared interests, are some of the reasons people are seeking affection online.?

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Online heartbreaks

So what do you do when you realise your partner is having an online affair?

Assess the circumstances before making a decision.

Says Dr Wairire: ?If you arrest the online affair early enough, talk to your partner and understand what they were looking for.?

It could be attention, excitement, companionship or sex.

It is important to reassure your partner that you are ready and willing to provide it.

He adds: ?If your partner is spending too much time on social networks, it could be an indication of neglect. The remedy is to focus on each other and spend more time together.?

Online flirting and infidelity are addictive and if you are willing to salvage the relationship, you have to help your partner stave off the cravings.

?Dr Zani, however, cautions against distractions noting that the social networks are now part and parcel of relationships and it might prove difficult to provide a distraction.

She says: ?If your partner is truly committed to strengthening the relationship, you should let them know that they have to co-operate.?

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Source: http://www.standardmedia.co.ke/InsidePage.php?id=2000041656&cid=300&

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Threat of propane blast ends in California

Authorities say thousands of evacuees are returning home early Thursday after fire crews contained a burning propane rail tanker and ended the threat of a major explosion.

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Lincoln Fire Chief Dave Whitt says firefighters allowed the propane rail tanker burn itself out after determining the car held less propane than previously thought.

He said that the blaze from the tanker burned out before midnight, but then crews reignited it to allow vapors caught in the tank to also burn away.

But he says the threat of a catastrophic blast no longer exists and an evacuation order for Lincoln was lifted just after midnight.

Between 4,000 and 5,000 homes in the northern California city of 40,000 people had been evacuated, and more than 6,000 students missed their first days of classes.

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Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44269146/ns/us_news/

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Lanzarote Restaurant Review, Emmax | Lanzarote Information

Earlier this month we wanted to treat ourselves to a nice lunch at a good restaurant and Emmax came to mind. We parked without any difficulty close to the promenade in Playa Honda even though the weekly Saturday rastro market had just finished, we were in luck there was a table available in the shade on the terrace.

Emmax Promenade Playa Honda

Because Emmax have a daily specials board you can be sure of a tempting selection of different dishes each time you visit depending upon what?s fresh and in season. This restaurant is owned by Max and Mortiz, they specialise in Italian cuisine with an Asian fusion, there is always homemade pasta, fresh fish, meat and vegetarian options on their menu.

Emmax Specials Board

Miguel ordered tagliatelle with beef strips and decided on the mustard sauce from the options given, I asked for the pork fillet wellington style with mushrooms and truffle oil. Two seeded rolls and a homemade dill sauce were brought out to the table along with our drinks.

?Emmax Terrace Emmax Bread

There is a fabulous view from the terrace at Emmax, the sea is just a few metres away, there are lots of people passing by as well as the planes landing and taking off from Arrecife airport in the distance. We watched the last stall holder from the second hand market pack his goods back into his van with not an inch to spare, then our food arrived.

Emmax Pasta Tagliatelle with beef strips Emmax Pork Wellington

I was served a full pork fillet which had been rolled with mushrooms into the pastry casing, this was cut into two and served on a bed of ratatouille, it was cooked to perfection and simply stunning. Miguel said that his dish had been beautifully cooked, there was a surprising amount of beef which was very tender and the mustard sauce gave the pasta a spicy kick.

Sadly faultless food was marred by poor service, something I was not expecting from Emmax. As the food arrived we asked for a second drink which was never brought to the table. We waited some 20 minutes after requesting the bill and had to go inside to remind the waiter who did apologetically say he?d forgotten us.

Price wise, the main dishes were ?14 each, I thought the drinks were reasonable at ?1.50 ? ?2.00 for a coca cola, water and coffee and we weren?t charged for the missing drink. There was a charge for the bread of ?2 and we received a chupito of our choice with the bill.

Still one of my favourite restaurants in Lanzarote and we?ll be back for more fabulous food in Playa Honda.

View the forum thread.

Source: http://www.lanzaroteinformation.com/content/lanzarote-restaurant-review-emmax

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Two List Building Errors to Avoid | Sfs Cyber Corps

Upon learning of people raking in thousands of dollars through their online business and through compiling an email list by themselves, it is normal to think, ?How simple is it to put together a targeted list?? The Internet marketing realm is known for relative ease, at least when compared to other arenas of business. However, the process of building a list is not only critical to your online business success, it?s the area of Internet marketing that consumes the lion?s share of your time, attention and energy. The other piece that complicates the process is the fact that there are numerous strategies and helps out there to assist you with building your list. On the one hand, that?s great. We like getting help doing things we don?t know how to do. But on the other hand, it makes it so much easier to become flustered and before you know it, you?ve gone and made some pretty serious blunders. Several of these are mistakes which are expensive, resulting in lost money, time and strenuous effort. Internet marketing is surrounded by a vast amount of data and it is sometimes hard to determine just what the proper steps to take are. There are two things you should always do when launching an online marketing campaign ? getting targeted traffic to your site and building a solid, targeted e-mail list. In this article we will be looking into a few common mistakes new marketers make when they?re trying their hand at list building. FHTM reps ought to be looking at list building for increasing their small business possibilities. FHTM has turn into a frontrunner within the direct selling market and definately will continue to keep breaking barriers for generations into the future. FHTM offers an chance for 1000?s to be successful in achieving financial freedom.

The first most prevalent error that online marketers commit when they are just getting started is that they are provided a list from an errant source. What does this mean? There are many people that are under the assumption that email lists can simply be bought. Wouldn?t lists that are all ready to go be nice? Too good to be true? If it sounds too good to be true, then chances are it is. A purchased email list just doesn?t deliver the way many people think it will. You will probably receive a lot of complaints from people getting unwanted emails. Another thing, paying big bucks for your list isn?t the end of it. You purchased a email addresses for people that have no idea or concern for what you are trying to sell. Most of the time, you?ll be shocked to learn that the emails you send to people aren?t ever opened, since a large portion of them are sent to invalid addresses. You will be extremely disheartened to discover that out of the thousands of emails you sent, you only get approximately 5 who are interested. Don?t fool yourself into believing that such nonsense as these scheme could ever possibly work the way you hoped. You have to get your hands dirty if you want to make it big. List building is actually a great way for FHTM representatives to build relationships. Listing building will aid you grow with FHTM. FHTM genuinely loves recognizing Independent Representatives who are dedicated to hard work in addition to working together .

The second mistake new online marketers make is adding attachments and images to their email offers. Do not forget that email programs are different and you certainly do not need your email being filtered out. Should you require that people download anything, you ought to direct them to your website. Pictures can prevent emails from being delivered due to their size or even because your prospect?s personal settings, so it?s not recommended to send product images. Your email should be capable of being opened rapidly and without effort. Other than that, people don?t like long, drawn out emails that are confusing and contain to much information. You?re readers will appreciate a short, easy to read, email from you that has working links.

As a successful Internet marketer, your goal is persistence in building your customer list, but ensure that you go about it the right way. This is because your whole business depends on how you tackle this one element.

Your list will still be there to help you generate income, even if all else is lost. Pamper your list as the asset that it is by investing intensive effort into creating a dedicated relationship with your subscribers; occasionally emailing beneficial information is a great way to do so. As long as you grant your list building the attention it deserves, you will avoid many costly mistakes and build a solid consumer base.

Source: http://www.sfscybercorps.org/sfs-cyber-corps/two-list-building-errors-to-avoid

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Understanding Resume Objectives and Their Signification ? Niche ...

Anyone that has undergone training on the way to write a resume realizes the seriousness of a resume objective and the instrumental role played by it in shaping the direction of interview. This short statement is placed at the beginning of the resume and since it is the first sentence read by a potential employer it must introduce the purpose of the resume, appropriately highlight the applicant?s hopes and draw attention to his suitability for the job.

Rightly named as the doorway to an interview, a resume is the 1st contact point between an applicant and a prospective employer and the last chance for the second to consider the previous for filling in the vacancy. In itself this could be reason enough for the candidate to make his resume compelling to the point of enticing an interview invitation from him. If at a total loss as to the right way to create a deserving display, assistance should be sought from a specialized agency or service.

One of the key pitfalls which applicants make while framing objectives is that they focus only on their personal viewpoint and fail to consider the possible employer?s view. Thus there exists a difference between the two lines of thought which could irritate to the point of the applicant not being considered in any way. While a few of the people by-pass this issue by excluding an objective at all, a better advice would be to keep the options open and decide as laid out in the situation.

Keeping in mind the fact that any hiring chief would not spend more than thirty seconds on a single resume, it is essential for a candidate to learn the easiest way to write a resume. Nothing may be more negative than an obscure or an unfocussed resume objective as such a statement would only discourage the employer to look farther down looking for positive qualifications and features. Therefore , efforts should be directed at conquering this constraint in the best possible way.

On the other hand, a resume objective might be intensely supportive in the event of an applicant who is knowledgeable about the position he is signing up for. In reality in such a situation, a candidate might as well make different resumes each saying a different objective and hence being relevant to the individual job position to be asked for.

A brief, to-the-point resume objective which informs the employer about background, goals and career changes is the one with the best impact and is effective not only for new entrants but for job changers too. How to make a resume for job
is an art which the sooner the candidate learns, the better it is for him in his career planning and goal setting.

Mike Moos was always hunting for techniques on how to make a resume. After a lot of random attempts he perfected his resume and he will show you some examples of resumes on his website.

Source: http://www.niche-articles.co.za/business/resume-cover-letters/understanding-resume-objectives-and-their-signification/

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Estate Planning: It's About the Clients, Not the Lawyers | Elder ...

AUGUST 22, 2011 VOLUME 18 NUMBER 30
Of course it usually makes sense to place your estate planning wishes in the hands of your lawyer to make sure documents are correctly drawn and your wishes carried out. Lawyers can be very protective of what they perceive as their clients? wishes and best interests, and sometimes that can even get in the way. Take, for instance, the will and trust of Missouri resident William R. Knichel.

Mr. Knichel had two grown children. He also had a 20-year relationship with Anita Madsen. In 2002, shortly after he was diagnosed with brain cancer, he signed a new will and powers of attorney. He named his children as his agents and left his entire estate to the two of them.

At about the same time Ms. Madsen began living with ? and taking care of ? Mr. Knichel. Two years later, he decided that he wanted to put her in charge of his finances and leave a significant portion of his estate to her. He transferred his home and one bank account into joint tenancy with her, and named her as beneficiary on his life insurance policy.

In 2004, Mr. Knichel and Ms. Madsen made an appointment with St. Louis attorney Charles Amen, of the law firm Purcell & Amen. Mr. Amen prepared a new will and powers of attorney, and a living trust. These documents named Ms. Madsen as personal representative, agent and trustee. The trust was intended to hold Mr. Knichel?s retirement assets, and to distribute them in three equal shares to his two children and Ms. Madsen.

One unusual provision in the trust document: Mr. Amen himself was named as ?special co-trustee? with some specific powers. He was to make final decisions about distributions among the beneficiaries, to decide whether any beneficiaries could challenge Ms. Madsen?s administration or distribution decisions, and act as arbitrator if any disputes did arise. Then Mr. Amen and Ms. Madsen began the process of transferring Mr. Knichel?s retirement assets into the trust.

Among the accounts they tried to transfer to the trust was an IRA held at UBS Financial. For reasons not spelled out in the reported court opinion, UBS declined to change the IRA ? even though Mr. Amen and Ms. Madsen made several attempts. When Mr. Knichel died a few months later, his children were still named as beneficiaries, rather than the trust.

Mr. Amen continued to work with Ms. Madsen to try to get UBS to change the beneficiary designation, but unsuccessfully. Ultimately UBS distributed the IRA account to the two children. Mr. Amen advised Ms. Madsen to simply make an equivalent distribution from the other trust assets to herself. She did that, and also paid herself a $6,000 fee as trustee and Mr. Amen?s fees of $2,400 for his representation of her as trustee.

In the three years after Mr. Knichel?s death, his children regularly requested a full accounting from Ms. Madsen and Mr. Amen. They did not receive complete information and so, in 2007, they filed suit against Ms. Madsen and Mr. Amen. They specifically sought removal of Mr. Amen and his firm as special co-trustee, arguing that there were multiple conflicts of interest in acting in that capacity while also representing Ms. Madsen, and that Mr. Amen had breached a fiduciary duty to treat the trust?s beneficiaries impartially.

After the trial judge denied Mr. Amen?s motion to dismiss the lawsuit, he withdrew as attorney form Ms. Madsen individually and as trustee. As a result of the proceedings, the court ultimately removed Ms. Madsen as trustee and Mr. Amen and his firm as special co-trustee, froze the trust?s assets and ordered Ms. Madsen to return distributions she had made to herself, her fees and the fees she had paid Mr. Amen. The Judge specifically found that Mr. Amen had breached his fiduciary duties as special co-trustee, because he had not been impartial to the three beneficiaries in his advice and representation of Ms. Madsen.

Mr. Amen appealed the finding. The Missouri Court of Appeals summarily dismissed his appeal, finding that he was not an ?interested person? within the meaning of Missouri?s version of the Uniform Trust Code. He did not have a property right in (or a claim against) the trust itself, according to the appellate judges. Consequently, he had no standing to claim that the trial judge had made a mistake.

The Court of Appeals noted that this was not the first case they had heard in which members of Mr. Amen?s firm had named the firm as ?special co-trustee.? In an earlier case, Mr. Amen?s partner had named the firm as ?special co-trustee? in a trust for a man who was at the time the subject of a guardianship proceeding. When that man?s children dismissed their guardianship petition, Mr. Amen?s partner attempted to appeal the dismissal; the appellate court ruled in that case that he lacked standing to bring the appeal.

Though the circumstances and the legal arguments were somewhat different, the result was the same ? dismissal of the appeal. The appellate court was equally unimpressed, incidentally, by Mr. Amen?s other argument ? that he would be required to report the finding of breach of fiduciary duty to professional licensing boards and might get in trouble with them, too. In Matter of Knichel, August 16, 2011.

The Knichel case raises a legal question separate from Mr. Amen?s standing to appeal the finding that he breached his fiduciary duty. What is a ?special co-trustee,? and what are the duties and powers of such a position?

Under Arizona?s version of the Uniform Trust Code (which is not identical to Missouri?s), the position spelled out in Mr. Amen?s trust would probably be analogous to a ?trust protector,? at least to the extent that Mr. Amen?s ?special co-trustee? could change the respective shares of beneficiaries. Arizona?s legislative decision to expressly limit any fiduciary duty to beneficiaries might complicate that designation and the analysis of a similar case if one were to arise in the Arizona courts.

Source: http://issues.flemingandcurti.com/2011/08/21/estate-planning-its-about-the-clients-not-the-lawyers/

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1977: Retail Business | As they saw it

Highlights.

Old retail firms continued to make news headlines, some upbeat, some not so heartening. The J. C. Penney Company Inc., one of the largest of all U.S. retail chains and a true merchandising success story, celebrated its 75th birthday in 1977. Founded in Kemmerer, Wyo., by James Cash Penney, with an investment of $2,000, the company has grown from a single 25-by-40-foot store in a small frame building into a huge department store-and-catalog chain of over 2,000 units, with annual sales of more than $8 billion.

In depressing contrast to the J. C. Penney story, United Merchants and Manufacturers Inc. padlocked its 36-state, 366-store Robert Hall Clothes division this year and auctioned off the inventory. Competition from discount stores and domestic production difficulties were cited as reasons for losses of $100 million over the last three years in the retail chain operation.

In another retailing demise, Lit Bros. Inc., one of Philadelphia?s oldest and largest department stores, finally closed its doors in April. The move was a shock to city planners, who had accorded Lit Bros. and Strawbridge and Clothier the role of commercial anchor at one end of Market Street East, a key street in Philadelphia?s downtown rebuilding program. In retrospect, Lit?s seemed ordained for failure. Housed, like so many other downtown department stores, in an ancient complex of decrepit buildings, with floor areas broken into odd shapes and sizes on many levels, it proved unduly costly to maintain and operate and unattractive to modern-day consumers in a hurry.

The New York City area also lost major retail outlets this year. (There were 26 Robert Hall stores in the New York City metropolitan area alone.) S. H. Kress and Company closed its 65,000-square-foot flagship store at Fifth Avenue and 39th Street, one of the oldest and largest variety stores in operation in Manhattan. And R. H. Macy and Company Inc. shut down its 30-year-old Jamaica, N.Y., store in November. The same month Abercrombie and Fitch, the exclusive specialty store, closed its doors.

Among other retailing events of interest was the decision of Gimbel Bros. Inc. to close up its decades-old corporate buying office and shift the function to an independent office. The decision left Gimbels as the first chain with annual sales of over $500 million that did not have its own corporate buying office. Also, Carter Hawley Hale Stores Inc., a Los Angeles?based chain, announced plans to sell its $67.7 million investment?a 20.5 percent interest?in the House of Fraser Ltd., the largest British retailer, to Lonrho Ltd., a British company that is partly Arab-owned.

Downtown shopping malls.

With increasing frequency, blighted urban downtown areas are being converted into shopping malls. In Portland, Ore., for example, a 15-block section is being revitalized with modern stores, wide sidewalks, special bus lanes, and attractive passenger shelters. Baltimore is turning decaying inner-city areas into pleasant pedestrian malls; there are plans at present for a $210 million Lexington Square Mall and a $25 million downtown people-mover. New York City is considering reserving parts of Fifth Avenue and Wall Street and some entire residential neighborhoods as pedestrian precincts. Complementing the urban pedestrian malls is a growing tendency toward the installation of retail complexes on the ground floors of downtown office buildings, to attract business from office workers. In New York City, for example, the Citicorp Center, a 59-story building covering almost an entire mid-Manhattan block, includes a six-story wing designed specifically for retail occupancy.

Retailing in the economy.

The many contributions to the national economy of retailing are all too often downgraded or nearly ignored by observers, but statistics show that the role of the retailing industry is substantial. From 1954 to 1972, retailers invested huge sums of money to renovate old stores and to build and stock roughly 200,000 new retail outlets. From 1950 to 1974, retailers added about 3 million new jobs to their work force and more than quadrupled their contribution to the national income.

Retail sales.

January?July 1977 retail sales were $410.3 billion, a $38.5 billion (10 percent) gain over sales for the same months of 1976. Of the component sales groups, automotive sales made the best relative gain, posting $11.8 billion (16 percent) more than for the same months in 1976. Only the variety stores group failed to either equal or exceed its 1976 sales total in the January?July period. Groups bettering their January?July 1976 sales with substantial gains in 1977 included building materials, hardware and farm equipment, department stores, and nonstore retailers.

Apparel sales.

January?July 1977 apparel sales were disappointing, registering only a 4 percent sales gain over the January?July 1976 level. Women?s apparel and accessories registered a surprising 2 percent drop in sales, the only apparel group that failed to match its January?July 1976 dollar sales total in 1977.

Chain stores.

In 1977, chain store sales for January?July were 9 percent higher than those for the same months of 1976, a full percentage point below the gain reported by retailing overall. Encouragingly, major chain stores across the United States reported sharp September sales increases this year over last year.

Automotive sales.

January?July automotive dollar sales were 16 percent higher in 1977 than in 1976. Through August of this year, new car unit sales totaled 6,194,581, as compared with 5,816,705 in 1976, an increase of 6.5 percent. The General Motors Corporation and the Ford Motor Company enlarged both their absolute and their relative shares of the market during 1977, while the Chrysler Corporation and the American Motors Corporation suffered losses in each category.

This year has seen a sharp reversal of last year?s downtrend in foreign-car unit sales in the United States. January?August foreign car unit sales totaled 1,457,606 in 1977, as against 977,377 in 1976, or 49 percent more. In addition, foreign manufacturers boosted their truck sales from 153,391 units in 1976 to 228,901 units in 1977, representing a gain of 49 percent again. It was estimated that Americans bought another 170,000 foreign cars in September 1977, while their purchases of American-made cars slumped 6.7 percent below the September 1976 level. If sales of foreign cars, oriented toward energy thrift, continue at their present growth rate, they may win 20 percent of the U.S. market.

Retail inventories.

May 1977 retail inventories were $87 billion, or 11 percent, higher than the May 1976 total of $78 billion. Durable goods accounted for $47 billion of the May 1977 total, and 53 percent of the increase; nondurable goods accounted for $40 billion, and 47 percent of the increase. The greater increase in durable goods inventories compared with nondurables, both in absolute and in relative terms, can be credited to the higher rate of sales generated by the former during the early part of the year. Both durable goods and nondurable goods enjoyed reduced inventory-sales ratios at the end of May this year, compared with the same period last year. The durable goods inventory-sales ratio relative decrease, however, was four times that for nondurable goods.

Personal consumption expenditures.

At the end of the second quarter of 1977, U.S. consumers were spending at an annual rate of $1,194 billion, an increase of $115.6 billion, or 10.7 percent, over the $1,078.4 billion annual rate at which they were spending during the same period last year. Their expenditures for services in the second quarter of 1977 were running at the annual rate of $539.6 billion, or 45 percent of their total annual expenditures. With growing public pressures for shorter work weeks and an expanding interest in sports, travel, and other leisure activities, consumers may soon spend more for services than for goods.

Consumer credit.

If outstanding installment credit is used as a criterion, going into debt seems to have become an accepted way of life for many Americans. At the end of May of this year, consumer debt totaled $185,280 million, which is $21,179 million, or 13 percent, more than at the end of May of last year. During 1977, Americans seemed to increase their borrowing especially sharply for automobiles and for bank credit card purchases. While commercial banks hold the largest share of consumer debt, consumer unions are increasing their share more rapidly than any other type of holder.

Prospects.

Retail sales should total around $717 billion for all of 1977. With inflation continuing, it is unlikely that retail unit sales gains in 1977 will match their 1976 level of between 5 percent and 6 percent.

Retailers? problems are not fading away. Sales productivity, for instance, is a long-standing problem. Despite rapidly increasing store construction, maintenance, and operating costs, there is evidence that many retailers are using their space less productively today than in earlier years. According to data compiled by the National Retail Merchants Association, the average department store produced $97 in sales per square foot of selling space in 1950, compared with only $92 per square foot in 1975. When adjustments are made to take account of the decline in purchasing power over these years, it appears that actual dollar productivity per square foot of selling space of the average department store retailer fell by almost 60 percent from 1950 to 1975. This loss in space productivity accounts in part for the need of retailers to raise markup prices.

Consumerism is likely to provide retailers with ever increasing problems. An omnibus credit card and electronic-banking consumer protection measure is presently being considered by a U.S. House committee. There is continuing government effort to protect consumers from hazardous and shoddy merchandise. Finally, there is the study of retail markups on textile and apparel imports made by the Library of Congress Congressional Research Service at the request of the House Ways and Means Committee. The study concludes that low-cost imports do not result in any price benefit to the consumer but simply allow retailers to take bigger markups than they are able to on apparel made in the United States.

Advertising

U.S. advertising volume continued to expand at an accelerated rate this year. Preliminary figures prepared for Advertising Age by Robert J. Coen, vice-president for research at McCann-Erickson Inc., indicated that total expenditures would reach a record level of $37 billion, exceeding the 1976 figure by more than 12.5 percent. The growth reflected, in part, a continued effort on the part of business firms to expand sales volume despite indications that the pace of economic recovery was leveling off during the latter part of the year. The growth also reflected additional rate increases by the advertising media?particularly television?following substantial cost increases in 1976.

New FTC chairman.

Michael Pertschuk, former chief counsel for the Senate Commerce Committee, was nominated and confirmed as chairman of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). He succeeded Calvin Collier, who continued as a member of the commission. Pertschuk, who took office in April, promised a more aggressive stance for the FTC. His priorities were correction of abuses in children?s advertising and protection of ?vulnerable? groups (the aged, the poor, and the non?English-speaking).

Advertising and free speech.

A 1976 Supreme Court decision on drug advertising, which for the first time clearly extended a degree of First Amendment protection to ?commercial speech,? had repercussions on advertising curbs by other professional groups this year. In a case challenging the antiadvertising rules enforced by the Arizona Bar Association, the Supreme Court, in a 5-4 decision on June 27, held that lawyers could not be prohibited from advertising their fees for specific, routine legal services. The Court agreed, however, that bar associations may continue to regulate the ?time, place, and manner of advertising of legal services.? Following this decision, the FTC in September began hearings on the restraints placed upon members? advertising by the American Medical Association.

Comparative advertising.

FTC encouragement of direct product comparisons, on the grounds that they provide more helpful information to the consumer (and presumably stimulate competition), produced various examples of advertisements in which one brand was pitted directly against another with (it often seemed) no holds barred. In the wake of the bitter Datril-Tylenol confrontation in 1976, a wider dispute broke out this year, involving Johnson & Johnson (manufacturers of Tylenol) and two competitors: American Home Products (Anacin) and Sterling Drug (Bayer Aspirin). In their advertising, American Home Products and Sterling Drug made direct comparisons between their products and Tylenol, claiming that the acetaminophen ingredient of Tylenol was potentially harmful and also less effective than aspirin as an anti-inflammatory agent. On August 18, Johnson & Johnson secured a federal district court injunction against continued use of the Anacin ads and threatened similar action against Sterling Drug.

Meanwhile, controversy continued among advertising industry leaders on the effectiveness of comparative advertising. Some spokesmen contended that the approach only served to create confusion in the minds of prospective purchasers. Others argued that comparative advertising made messages more pointed and informative by allowing them to stress specific product attributes instead of emphasizing such intangibles as the glamour or romance associated with the product.

Media.

Television advertising volume continued to grow at a rapid pace. Network television, augmented by additional price rises, showed about a 20 percent gain in dollar expenditures during the year, although the amount of commercial time did not increase significantly from 1976. Time purchased from individual stations grew rather slowly, influenced in part by shifts of funds by some advertisers to meet the higher costs of maintaining network schedules.

The escalating costs of network time over the past two years, coupled with the continuing scarcity of available network time (which was sold out well in advance for most time periods), led to increased discussion about the desirability of a fourth network. With the advertising firm of Ogilvy & Mather acting as a catalyst, two companies?Paramount and Metromedia?announced during the year that they were organizing programming for such a venture. Metromedia abandoned the idea, but Paramount went ahead with plans for two projects (a Saturday night movie and a new Star Trek series) to be aired in 1978.

In May the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) ruled that broadcast stations do not have to give political candidates the same access to air time as they give commercial advertisers. The ruling reversed recent FCC interpretations of the Federal Communications Act, in effect during the 1976 election.

Magazines continued the advertising upsurge that began in 1976, showing an increase of around 20 percent for the second year in a row. There seemed to be a revival in usage of magazines by many national advertisers?perhaps in part because magazine rates were increasing more slowly than those of most other media. Newspapers and radio also showed substantial gains in volume during the year.

In August the FTC filed a complaint against the Los Angeles Times for alleged price discrimination, because it offered cumulative-quantity (?bulk?) discounts to advertisers. The FTC contended that the discounts illegally discriminated in favor of advertisers purchasing a higher quantity of lines during a contract year. The action caused considerable concern in newspaper advertising circles and among large retail newspaper advertisers, since the bulk discount is an almost universal element in newspaper retail advertising rates.

Agencies.

According to figures compiled by Advertising Age, J. Walter Thompson was again the largest U.S. agency in total world billings during 1976. Dentsu Advertising of Japan continued to be the overall leader in world billings, but the other nine of the top ten firms were American. Five of the nine had greater billings outside the country than at home, suggesting the continued deep involvement of U.S. agencies in the international advertising scene.

The annual report of the American Association of Advertising Agencies, released in August, indicated that agency profits reached their highest levels in ten years during 1976. Net profit after taxes for incorporated agencies averaged 4.52 percent of gross income, again the highest figure recorded since 1966 (when net profit was 4.98 percent of gross income). Net profit as a percentage of total agency billings rose from 0.77 percent in 1975 to 0.97 percent in 1976. Part of the gain was attributed to sharp rises in television and newspaper rates, which increased agency commissions faster than operating costs rose. Financial reports of publicly held agencies for the first half of this year indicated that the profitability trend was continuing, as client spending kept up at high levels and agency cost controls instituted several years earlier during the cost-price squeeze were still proving effective.

The switch of the $40 million Datsun account from Parker Advertising to William Esty Company created considerable talk in the industry this year, primarily because of the way in which it was handled. Datsun engaged the services of a New York consulting firm?Carter, Achenbaum, and Heekin?to assist in the selection of a new agency; a lengthy screening process then narrowed down the choice to three firms, which were asked to make complete presentations in terms of specific problems outlined by the consultants. One of the finalists, Grey Advertising, dropped out of contention with a charge that the consulting firm was prejudiced in favor of another finalist?Wells, Rich, Greene?by whom the consultants had been retained in the past. According to Nissan Motors, Datsun?s manufacturers, the final choice of Esty over Wells, Rich, Greene was made strictly on the basis of presentations. However, the use of a private consulting firm to make this type of decision raised questions in many minds.

Source: http://astheysawit.com/12722-1977-retail-business.html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=1977-retail-business

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