Some business stuff in the news:
- Conoco-Phillips Selling Stations. Conoco-Phillips, better known on in the west as the purveyors of “76” gasoline (formerly Union 76, then Unocal), is selling its company owned stations to PetroSun Fuel of Seattle. PetroSun planned major upgrades in product offerings to focus on the more profitable convenience store side of the business. The company will emulate upscale and Asian convenience store chains such as Famima that focus on high-quality fresh foods sold in clean, stylish surroundings. They are working on the concept of a small grocery store that sells gasoline rather than a gasoline station that sells food and other items. They expect gasoline to account for no more than 40% to 45% of total sales compared with 75% for the typical convenience store-gas station. It is unclear what the “brand” of these stations will be, and if one’s Conoco-Phillips-76 card will still be good at them.
- No More Double Coupons At Vons. Vons (which the NoCal folks know as Safeway) is joining Ralphs in curtailing their double coupon policy. Basically, they are capping the value of doubled coupons at $1, and coupons above $1 are at face value. I remember the doubling wars, when stores were doubling and tripling everything under the sun, as well as accepting any coupon under the sun. They claim they are lowering prices as a result, but I doubt that.
- Now All They Need Is The Mud. In response to the latest lawsuit results, Mattel is trying to shut down production of Bratz dolls. Specifically, Mattel attorneys said they intended to file an injunction to stop MGA from making more Bratz dolls in the wake of Tuesday’s verdict, which held MGA, Chief Executive Isaac Larian and subsidiary MGA Hong Kong liable for copyright infringement and awarded $10 million in damages.
- Just Use Your Seat Cushion. Jazz Airlines, a regional carrier of Air Canada, to save money, is removing all the life vests from their plane. Evidiently regulations permit them to just use flotatation devices if they never go more than 50 minutes from the coast. Jazz is flying Dash-8 with 50 seats, and the move will save them about 50lbs per flight.
