The newsstand is getting thinner. Hearst Magazines, which shut down Cosmogirl last month and Quick & Simple over the summer, has decided to fold O at Home, the quarterly extension of O, The Oprah Magazine. According to a Hearst press release at Portfolio (which also let many staffers go last week), the final issue will be winter 2008, on newsstands Nov. 25.

WWD, a Conde Nast title, reported on the bleak outlook at its parent company, as well as offered a roundup of the latest clenching throughout the industry.

"Every publisher is dissecting its cost structure and stable of titles, from Hearst Magazines to Hachette Filipacchi Media and Time Inc. to Rodale. And in recent days, American Express Publishing, whose titles include Food & Wine, Travel + Leisure and Departures, said it would cut 22 jobs, or 5 percent of its workforce. Hearst quietly began going "floor by floor" to cut costs, notably at the upscale Harper's Bazaar and Town & Country."

The past two weeks have been flat-out bad. Culture + Travel announced it would close up shop, and among other Conde Nast news, the majority of the staff at Men's Vogue was re-absorbed into Vogue classic and will now come out twice a year, rather than 10 times a year.

Even the smaller niche magazines are hurting. Gawker reports that the titles at M. Shanken Communications -- the publisher of Cigar Aficionado, Wine Spectator and Food Arts -- lost people, too.

See also: Major Toymaker to Cut 1,000 Jobs

Continue reading Oprah Spin-Off Bites the Dust

Oprah Spin-Off Bites the Dust originally appeared on WalletPop Blog on Sun, 09 Nov 2008 13:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Continue reading Target ordered to pay woman $3.1 million

Target ordered to pay woman $3.1 million originally appeared on WalletPop Blog on Sat, 25 Oct 2008 18:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Imagine if Wal-Mart decided to add 10% to your bill every time you shopped there. You wouldn't get a choice -- well, you'd have the choice of not shopping there anymore. Now pretend it's happening only at the Wal-Mart stores in the Hispanic part of town. Sounds pretty illegal to me, but that's exactly what's happening at some grocery stores in Colorado. And they freely admit it -- sort of -- according to a recent report by 9News.com, a local TV station.

"The 'shelf-plus' pricing program is only used in certain store formats," said Brian Numainville, Public Relations for Nash Finch Company, which operates 50 grocery stores nationwide. "These stores tend to be located where consumers are more price-conscious, as compared to our more conventional supermarkets." Only the company's Avanza, Food Bonanza and Wholesale Food Outlets stores have the 10% price add-on.

The way it works is wrong on so many levels. Next to all of the prices are signs that say "A great way to save - Plus 10% at the Register." So you see, the company is informing customers, but how would you know it's supposed to mean plus an extra 10% at the register rather than a 10% discount.

But the store says it's legal, and here's why. "Given the need to attract and retain customers, our stores cannot afford to alienate its customers by charging unexplained fees or unanticipated mark-ups. Our pricing is attracting customers, rather than losing them, demonstrating that the pricing policy is in fact fair, obvious and well-understood by shoppers," Numainville said.

Somehow I doubt that the shoppers at these stores really understand what's going on. I don't even live in Colorado, and this makes me mad. If you found out your local supermarket was tacking on 10% to your bill would you ever go back?

Grocery stores' bogus 'low prices' originally appeared on WalletPop Blog on Sun, 12 Oct 2008 18:14:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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