Update the holiday hiring scene

Note to elves: Don’t call us … we’ll call you.

That seems to be the unspoken national trend in seasonal hiring again this year. Consulting firm The Hay Group reported recently that retailers it surveyed plan to hire from 5 percent to 25 percent fewer temp workers this fall than last.

Chain Store Age cites the aptly named consultancy Challenger, ray & Christmas in predicting a possible uptick over 2008’s dismal holiday jobs market, which employed 384,000 extra workers, or little more than half of the temporary help hired in 2007.

Either way, as the fall and winter festivals loom, a good percentage of your audience likely is wondering: What holiday jobs are out there, and is it too late to snare one? Ever the eavesdropper, I’ve overheard such queries from customer to clerk in no fewer than three stores recently. So before the Halloween goblins fly, you can’t go wrong with a localized update on holiday hiring.

SnagAJob.com, the employment Web site for hourly positions, hosts a seasonal jobs Web page; its tips are aimed at workers but can help you generate story angles too. For example, the site notes, stores aren’t the only target for people seeking temporary work.

Restaurants, resorts, banquet halls and other catering facilities need extra helpers, too. Shippers such as UPS and FedEx may hire more people to process packages. Extra traffic at shopping and entertainment venues means more work for greeters, cleaners and other low-skill jobs.

Other angles:

How the hiring process is shifting. Many retailers have made online applications mandatory; thwarting talented self-promoters and people without reliable computer access. Talk with hiring managers and temp firm counselors to create a tips box for job seekers. How likely is it that a seasonal job will lead to a permanent post?

Perks and discounts. Which workers reap the best benefits – wages, markdowns, free meals and entertainment. Which jobs are most fun and which are the most thankless?

Day-in-the-life. While trite, these stories can be a scream, enhanced by audio, video and slide shows. I once was forced by my editor to work a 6 a.m. shift the day after Thanksgiving at a local Target, then rush to the newsroom and whip up a 40-inch feature about my one and only retail experience to date. I nearly got stampeded handing out the freebies at the start of the stint and later got so caught up in finding a “Doodlebug” stuffed animal for a frantic mom that I forgot I really didn’t work there.

A couple of years ago, a chagrinned young co-worker reluctantly donned the stylish yet practical brown uniform of a UPS driver – complete with watch cap and boots – to spend a day hefting packages aboard the open delivery trucks. It made for quite a read.

Any jobs story should have long-term context; for historical jobless data, refer to the Bureau of Labor Statistics employment situation report. For forecasts, check with your region’s Federal Reserve bank or check out this National Association for Business Economics study, released Monday, predicting national unemployment rates at or near 10 percent through the end of 2010.

Come back to Your Daily Tipsheet each morning for advice on where to find sources, background and creative ways to make financial news and trends relevant to your audience.

Eying pizza pies

Experts have released a report noting that if the number of original-crust pizzas consumed in the U.S. each year were stretched end to end, they would reach from Earth to Pluto and back. Actually, I just made that up. You know how it is – you’ve got a tasty story subject but no hot news peg.

Fortunately, earnings season is in full steam this week, and at least until the end of the month there’ll be no shortage of financial updates and other timely tidbits on which to hang colorful and informative stories. (If you haven’t already, check out Yahoo!’s excellent earnings calendar.)

Tomorrow, for example, Domino’s Inc. releases its third-quarter financial report, which is as good a time as any to pause for a look at the nation’s pizza industry.

There’s no shortage of angles: Local mom & pop shops, giant delivery chains, national eat-in chains, frozen grocery pizzas, take-and-bake chains, novelty pizza bites and upscale ready-to-use crusts. By some estimates, pizza is a $41 billion a year industry in the U.S. – with some 69,000 retail pizza purveyors nationwide.

If you don’t have a pizza empire in your territory, you might have a supplier. One real concern to the pizza industry is the volatile wholesale cost of cheese, as illustrated in this University of Wisconsin graph. In fact, DairyReporter.com says in this recent article that non-dairy, rather scary-sounding cheese substitutes are being developed to help pizza makers evade cheese-price fluctuations.

Aside from dairy products, the pizza biz kneads through who-knows-how-many bushels of wheat each year and its other toppings - from pineapple to anchovies to garlic - have to come from somewhere. Poke around and discover your regional link to the pizza supply chain.

So far, signs are mixed regarding the recession’s effect on pizza sales. One school of thought has it that people are turning to the comparatively inexpensive pies as an alternative to more costly dining-out options; other analysts indicate that consumers are eschewing prepared food in favor of cheaper home-cooked meals. Pizza Hut, a division of Yum! Brands, reported last week that its sales were off 13 percent in the third quarter, and California Pizza Kitchens said its sales were down 8 percent in the same period.

Perhaps that’s why you’ve noticed a flood of two-for-one pizzeria coupons and other promotions in your junk mail, which is one place to look for indications of how your local pizza scene is coping.

Other resources:

Pizza Magazine
Pizza Today
PizzaWare.com, a compilation of global industry statistics and recipes.
Food Industry News

Come back to Your Daily Tipsheet each morning for advice on where to find sources, background and creative ways to make financial news and trends relevant to your audience.

The Business of Boo!

Fire up those chain saws!

It’s that time of year again, when fodder for some of your most fun and picturesque business features is rising from the dead.

This season, forget the same-old Halloween costume-shop story and instead immerse yourself in the eerie world of professional haunters.

Part subculture, part business, part performance art, the U.S. fright industry has thousands of venues and an estimated annual revenue approaching half a billion dollars.

Haunters plot year-round for their brief fall seasons, lining up actors, special effects make-up artists, props and costumes, audio-visual aids and even specialty Web site creators. Tickets, flyers, food concessions, portable toilets – the haunts spawn all sorts of spin-off revenue.

If you’re near a major theme park, it’s no secret that they’re trying to stretch their seasons with spooky October nights. Give readers a behind-the-scenes transition, special supplies and other preparations that take a park from wholesome to hoary.

Other business angles: Sales of ads in specialty directories, fright-night tourism, suppliers and ancillary autumn attractions cider mills, corn mazes and hayrides. Scrutinize the haunts as you would any other business: What are the trends in ticket prices? Pay? Insurance – how do you figure the liability at a haunted house, anyway? Do zombies qualify for workers compensation?
If you’re thinking to yourself “But there are still three weeks until Halloween,” think again. Most haunts open in late September now and a few run “encore” weekends after All Hallows’ Eve itself. To make the most of behind-the-scenes video, audio and slide-shows, as well as give your graphics folks time to prepare interactive maps, etc., it’s none too soon to pay a call on these ghoulish entrepreneurs.

Here are a plethora of resources to get you started; keep in mind not all haunters pay for placement in directories so dig around (pun intended) for the ones that haven’t yet become your regions’ media darlings.

Attend rehearsals and take notes of the nitty-gritty reality behind the screams. What do they spend each season on make-up, hair spray, fake blood and circular-saw blades? What are the trends in haunt themes? Pirates? Harry Potter-esque wizardry? Slasher-flick gore? More live actors? More interactive vignettes? How are they working kid-friendly hours and toned-down tours for the younger set?

Are any going year-round? If not, what do the haunters do for day jobs? The living dead are just crawling with human interest stories.

Here are some industry resources to get you started:

HauntWorld, an online directory with interactive maps.
Haunted House Magazine
Haunted House Association
Haunted House.com
Haunting Industry Network
HauntersNetwork.com
HauntingIndustryDirectory.com
Hauntmax.com, a specialty Web site provider.

And if you really get hooked, mark your calendar for next year’s TransWorld Halloween trade show, Feb. 26-March 1 in Chicago. It features product exhibits, trade seminars and the famous costume fashion show.

Come back to Your Daily Tipsheet each morning for advice on where to find sources, background and creative ways to make financial news and trends relevant to your audience.

Greenbacks for green appliances

Readers whose car didn’t make the clunker cut might still be able to cash in on government stimulus money by junking those old refrigerators and other items.

The U.S. Department of Energy has given states until October 15 to outline how they will allocate $300 million in federal stimulus funds set aside for appliance rebate and recycling programs. Among the eligible items – which must be replaced with efficient Energy Star-rated models – are refrigerators, dishwashers and laundry machines as well as air conditioners, furnaces, freezers and others.

Here’s the DOE’s July release on the campaign, which says most funds should be released by Nov. 30.

This MSNBC article explains the pitfalls of the mission, which unlike the nationally standardized cash-for-clunkers auto incentive program, is going to operate differently in each of the 50 states.

This section of the DOE Web site, which provides a breakdown on how its share of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds, includes an interactive map; you can click on your state for a breakdown of stimulus cash allocation. Note also the links to state budget requests to the DOE and other resources.

Then, check with your state’s energy or environment department to find out who’s in charge and what shape the local program will take.

Obviously retailers, manufacturers (what few appliance makers still reside in the U.S.), scrap handlers and other affiliates are key interview targets. As with all such programs, skeptics abound and you’ll want to include their viewpoints.

One interesting question: Will replacing these big ticket items in time for the rebate sap consumers’ cash away from the usual fourth-quarter big ticket items: personal electronics destined for holiday gifts? Talk with dealers about what they’re anticipating and how they may be shifting inventory or promotions. (Buy a freezer, get half off on a DVD player? Who knows?)

As always, keep an eye out for local dealers doing a riff on the clunker theme. My junk mail this week included a catchy “cash-for-clunkers” trade-in offer from Husqvarna, the maker of upscale sewing and embroidery machines. The offer isn’t chump change, either: It’s worth up to $3,000 on qualifying equipment.

No doubt more retailers will be trying similar copycat sales. Round them up under one Web link from your business pages as a handy reader service and a catchy complement to your substantive business story.

Come back to Your Daily Tipsheet each morning for advice on where to find sources, background and creative ways to make financial news and trends relevant to your audience.