Shopping at warehouse club stores comes at a price: Costco’s basic Gold Star membership costs $55 (and will go up to $60 on June 1), and a basic Sam’s Club membership costs $45.
But with the savings from various products and services, there are plenty of ways to make back the fee while enjoying the perks of membership.
Read the label on most soaps and you’ll find a few words about freshness and lather. But pick up a bottle of Dr. Bronner’s and you’ll read this: “Whatever unites us is greater than whatever divides us! … Only if constructive-selfish work, perfecting first me, like every arctic owl-penguin-pilot-cat-swallow-beaver-bee, can I teach the Moral ABC.”
It goes on. And on. Hundreds of these tiny, preachy, semi-coherent phrases cover every inch of the bottle. All of them are the work of late visionary Emanuel Bronner, a German-Jewish soap maker who escaped Hitler, then came to America to preach his vision of a unified mankind. Bronner’s mystical rantings landed him in a mental institution (he escaped that, too), after which the good doctor (who wasn’t really a doctor) started selling his family-recipe peppermint soap to finance his itinerant sermonizing—only to begin printing his sermons on the label once he realized people were more into his soap than his teachings.
Cases of Lyme disease in Michigan have risen dramatically in recent years, and a new study links that trend to larger and more widespread tick populations.
Researchers collected data from the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services on 1,057 Lyme disease cases diagnosed between 2000 and 2014, and aligned them with a new analysis of tick distribution across the state. Results showed that not only did the number of yearly infections in the state increase significantly over the 15-year period, but so did the number of counties where ticks had been seen, or found to be established.
And the number of infected people may be much higher than the records indicate, the researchers said. Because Lyme disease is frequently misdiagnosed as other illnesses, reported cases likely represent only a fraction of true Lyme disease infections — perhaps as little as 10 percent, the study authors reported.
LAST WEEK, AS tens of thousands of US and South Korean soldiers gathered at a base in Iwakuni, Japan for an annual joint military exercise, North Korea fired four ballistic missiles from Pyongyang into the sea off Japan’s northwest coast. In a world where the US is headed by a Twigger-happy political neophyte and the risk of a Cold War reboot looms larger with each Wikileaks disclosure, this demonstration wasn’t just an empty display of dictatorial propaganda. It was a reminder that the nuclear threat is still alive and well.
Indianapolis tops our list of the best cities for renters this year thanks to astonishingly low average monthly rents and astonishingly high levels of affordability.
The average Indianapolis rent is just $806, eating up a mere 17% of the median household income for the city. That makes Indianapolis the cheapest place to rent of the cities we analyzed and the second most affordable. Only Kansas City, Mo., has a better rental affordability score at 16% of income.
And Indianapolis has a 5.6% apartment vacancy rate, which makes it easier for renters to find a place and harder for landlords to hike prices — rent increased just 2.5% last year in the city.
Hop Jack’s is locally famous for its brews, burgers, and neighborhood feel. The company has 12 restaurants, with three more under construction, mostly around Seattle and Tacoma, Washington. It employs 800 people and does more than $30 million in annual sales. The casual-dining juggernaut is the creation of a first-time entrepreneur who found himself unemployed in his 50s.
Mark Eggen, 62, spent most of his life working for the Red Robin chain, where he learned two things: how to run restaurants and how to scale restaurants. Eggen would likely have been a Red Robin lifer had the company’s IPO not required he relocate from Seattle to Denver. Unwilling to move while his kids were in high school, Eggen joined another company, from which he got fired.
Sometimes, it can seem like your brain is teeming with thousands of ‘useless’ ideas that you do not actually need at the time. But, when you are asked to come up with an innovative business idea – whether as part of a marketing campaign for your current business or because you want to create a new, niche business from scratch – it can feel like the fount of your creativity has run dry. No need to panic, however: just use one of these five easy techniques for stimulating those creative juices.
With so many marketing methods available, business owners can find it tough to decide what will benefit their company the most. Whilst there are numerous successful strategies, the real question is: is there a marketing method that best suits your industry?
Leaflet distribution specialist Direct Letterbox Marketing has compiled some data on the best marketing methods for different industries. Where does your business sit? Find out below…
Direct marketing
Target Marketing Magazine analysed some of the most successful companies’ direct mail campaigns of that year. In the top 10 results – the following industries appeared:
I get asked a lot of questions about airplanes. The one I get asked more than practically any other is: If airlines banned smoking, why do new airplanes still have ashtrays?
You may not have noticed it, but on the wall right next to the lavatory door is a tiny ashtray that pulls out from the wall. Each lav has two, on or next to the inside and outside of the door, despite smoking’s full prohibition on flights in and out of the U.S. since 2000, it is an essential safety feature of every flight.
Because there still needs to be a safe place to put out a lit cigarette.
It’s no secret that running a business takes a lot time and dedication. You’re in charge of executing the day-to-day tasks, the long-term strategic planning and everything in between — and if you don’t have the budget for help, you may feel like you’re running a one-person circus.
Succumbing to stress and burning out might seem inevitable when you’re responsible for so many business and personal obligations. But allowing yourself to get caught up in the stress can take its toll on your physical, mental and emotional health.
Dispatches From The Front 