Why take a long lunch to get a break from your cubicle when you can call in “sick” and blame it on a chicken attacking your mom?
Almost three in 10 workers have played hooky from their jobs by calling in sick at least once this year, according to CareerBuilder’s annual survey of workplace absenteeism. More than a quarter of employers attribute the bogus sick days to the job stress and burnout that’s continued in a weak economy. Get the full story »
From USA Today | Kimberly-Clark on Monday will begin testing a tubeless toilet paper roll, selling Scott Naturals Tube-Free toilet paper at Walmart and Sam’s Club stores in the Northeast. If sales take off, it may introduce the line nationally globally — and even take the tubes out of paper towel brands too.Get the full story>>
Gas City, Ltd., the Frankfort-based operator of 55 gas stations, sought Chapter 11 protection from creditors late Tuesday and plans to put itself up for sale.
The bankruptcy filing, made in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Illinois, listed estimated assets of between $50 million and $100 million and liabilities of between $100 million and $500 million. According to the court documents, Gas City has between 1,000 and 5,000 creditors. Get the full story »
Companies that claim to settle your debts for less than you owe can no longer charge up-front fees for their services. Instead, they have to wait to collect from consumers until they actually deliver on the promise.
The new rule goes into effect Wednesday and is part of the Federal Trade Commission’s effort to clamp down on deceptive debt-settlement practices. Get the full story »
Ray Ozzie at a Microsoft event in 2005. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu/File)
Consumers have turned their backs on Microsoft. A company that once symbolized the future is now living in the past.
Microsoft has been late to the game in crucial modern technologies like mobile, search, media, gaming and tablets. It has even fallen behind in Web browsing, a market it once ruled with an iron fist.
Outgoing Chief Software Architect Ray Ozzie called out Microsoft’s lost ground in a blog post over the weekend. Get the full story »
Americans love their beef, but with prices expected to remain high for the next few years and other options plentiful, their loyalities might be challenged.
Average retail prices of beef have climbed from $4.18 per pound in July 2009 to $4.44 per pound last July, a change largely due to a tight supply of cattle. Ranchers and feedlots have reduced supplies in response in large part due to rising prices of corn and soybeans fed to cattle, economists said. Get the full story »
And now, a word from our sponsors. A very brief word. TV commercials are shrinking along with attention spans and advertising budgets. The 15-second ad is increasingly common, gradually supplanting the 30-second spot just as it knocked off the full-minute pitch decades ago.
For viewers, it means more commercials in a more rapid-fire format. For advertisers, shorter commercials are a way to save some money, and research shows they hold on to more eyeballs than the longer format. Get the full story »
Reports: Durable goods for September, 7:30 a.m.; New home sales for September, 9 a.m.
Major earnings:Allstate Corp., Comcast Corp., ConocoPhillips, General Dynamics Corp., IAC/InteractiveCorp., Northrop Grumman Corp., Norfolk Southern Corp., Procter & Gamble Co., Sprint Nextel Corp., Visa Inc., Whirlpool Corp.
Grupo Bimbo is the lead bidder to buy Sara Lee Corp.’s North American bread business for about $1 billion, though a deal could be several weeks away, Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday.
Sara Lee, which declined to comment, had said last month it planned to spend more on its North American bakery business and raise some prices as it looks to improve performance in that lagging business.
That announcement to invest in the business had come after some suitors walked away from the bakery auction, sources familiar with the situation previously told Reuters. Get the full story »
Electronic connector maker Molex Inc. posted a quarterly profit that beat market estimates, partly helped by new product launches and strong demand, but forecast second-quarter earnings below estimates, sending its shares down 4 percent in after-market trade. Get the full story »
Attorneys general in Illinois, Oregon and California said on Tuesday that Bayer AG agreed to a $3.3 million settlement over misleading claims that the drug maker’s vitamins reduced men’s risk of prostate cancer.
Under the terms of the settlement, Bayer cannot make claims that its One A Day Men’s multivitamins can prevent or cure prostate cancer or any other disease without scientific evidence, Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan said in a statement.
“When manufacturers like Bayer make marketing claims with insufficient scientific proof behind them, they are misleading consumers,” she said.
Get the full story »
Michigan’s auto industry could get a boost — including the possibility of more than 2,000 additional jobs at the Detroit area’s biggest carmakers — from projects assisted with state tax incentives announced Tuesday.
Ford Motor Co., General Motors Corp. and Chrysler Group LLC were among the 16 companies with projects granted tax incentives by a state board.
It’s not clear exactly how many new jobs might be created directly at the companies awarded the tax incentives. But the new jobs could top 2,000 with the Detroit-area automakers alone, if all projects — including some in the early stages — materialize as planned. Get the full story »
Panera Bread Co. reported third-quarter profit that matched analysts’ view, and shares fell 4.6 percent despite its better-than-expected profit targets for the fourth quarter and next year. Get the full story »
The first global crackdown on the $615 trillion derivatives market gained momentum on Tuesday as U.S. regulators unveiled a new tool to police fraud and European officials urged tighter controls.
Moving to rein in vast, only loosely-regulated markets that were blamed for contributing to the 2007-2008 financial crisis, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission laid out plans to foil traders who seek to manipulate prices or defraud investors. Get the full story »
