Was The Secret Coca-Cola Formula Published?
The Coca-Cola formula is one of the most closely guarded trade secrets in the history of the United States. The syndicated radio show “This America Life” revealed that the original Coca-Cola recipe was discovered in an old newspaper column. The Coca-Cola Company keeps the Coke recipe locked in a tightly guarded vault, but the radio show said all the ingredients can actually be bought online.
How the secret Coca-Cola Formula recipe was revealed
The formula for Coca-Cola was concocted by a doctor in Atlanta named John Pemberton in 1886. It has been reported that only two people who know how to mix [...]
The relationship between email and creditworthiness?
According to one website, there may be a correlation between your email and credit worthiness and your ability to repay credit. One credit score website took a look at its clients by email server and found some surprising results. There does seem to be a correlation between Internet server and credit score.
Statistic based on one free credit score website
The advertising-subsidized website Credit Karma provides free credit scores for its clients. The site has a database of about 100,000 users. The site recently ran the numbers to determine the average credit scores based on user’s e-mail servers.
Results similar three years ago
The [...]
CFPB to oversee nonbank student loan servicers
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) proposed a new rule on March 14 that will allow it greater oversight of non-bank firms that collect and keep records of student loans, both federal and private.
CFPB ‘oversight to the student loan market’
The new rule would give the federal watchdog the authority to audit the activities and procedures of non-bank student loan debt servicers that have more than a million clients. These companies handle billing and collection chores for student loan leaders. The CFPB already has oversight of large banks that act as student loan servicers.
“Our rule would bring new oversight to the [...]
The prodigal Twinkies shall return after all
Many looked upon the end of Hostess and the Twinkie, and lo, did they do much despairing. However, an offer has been accepted for the Twinkie as a brand and the little cream-filled snack cake is set to return to stores.
Twinkies, like MacArthur, shall return
Millions were stunned in late 2012 as Hostess Foods, erstwhile manufacturer of such products as Wonderbread, Ding Dongs, Zingers, rubbery tasting chocolate donuts and, of course, Twinkies, was going out of business. Union shenanigans doomed the brand to extinction, as a baker’s union could not reach an agreement over retirement benefits to keep the company in [...]
Doritos Locos tacos, apparently, are job creators
One of the terms that gets flung around, especially during presidential campaign seasons, is “job creators.” A lot of things can be job creators, apparently even tacos as Taco Bell’s Doritos Locos tacos reportedly added 15,000 jobs to Taco Bell’s payrolls.
Doritos Locos were a great idea
Ever watch those “TED” Talks? It’s basically a series of symposiums where rich people talk about things in front of other rich people. One was controversial. Nick Hanauer, a venture capitalist and founding investor in Amazon, said that business people weren’t really job creators – consumers are.
If people want a commodity, that demand gives rise [...]
Use Airbnb to reduce lodging costs when traveling
Airfares and lodging rates keep going up, making travel increasingly difficult in a fragile global economy. However, with sharing sites like Airbnb, the lodging costs at least can be significantly reduced, if you are willing to embrace the unconventional.
Unconventional lodging through Airbnb
The website Airbnb matches up travelers with those willing to rent out rooms or spare homes, often for a fraction of the cost of standard hotel lodging. Others, willing to share with strangers, are also cross-indexed. By typing in your destination and the dates of your stay, you can see what is available for your travel plans.
Oddly, the site’s [...]
Three surveys back telecommuting, in spite of Yahoo
Last month, Yahoo’s CEO Marissa Mayer made the unpopular decision to end telecommuting programs for the ISP’s employees. Best Buy was quick to follow suit. However, not one but three recent surveys say she may have been too short-sighted.
Staples Advantage telecommuting poll
On March 8, Boston.com reported on a survey commissioned by Staples Advantage, the business-to-business division of the office supplies giant. It polled 150 business decision makers and 150 telecommuting employees about the practice of employees logging in and working at home from their own computers.
Of the employees surveyed, 93 percent endorsed the idea. And 53 percent of the business [...]
LA chapter expelled from the Better Business Bureau
It is getting very difficult to know who consumers can trust anymore. The Better Business Bureau has, for the last century, been held up as the one bastion of integrity consumers can turn to for the real scoop on businesses. Now, however, the Southern California chapter has been stripped of its BBB status for its alleged “pay to play” scheme, offering higher ratings for paid members.
Largest Better Business Bureau chapter ousted
BBB of the Southland, the nation’s largest Better Business Bureau chapter, served the greater Los Angeles area. However, in the wake of an ABC investigation, it has been expelled from [...]
Used car sales tactics to watch out for
In their efforts to save money, many car shoppers go the used car route. Unfortunately, that means that they’re forced to buy into the used car sales experience of hard sell hyperbole. Know what you’re getting into before you buy. Here are some used car sales tactics to beware.
Used car sales tactics No. 1 – The hard sell
Aggressive salespeople figure that they can twist an indecisive or otherwise weak customer into a big sale. You’re on the defensive, and the salesperson doesn’t give you a moment to breathe or walk out of the dealership. The best defense is knowledge of [...]
Never give up on your Peeps
Colored eggs and chocolate bunnies be damned, for many, no treats say Easter quite like the chick-shaped marshmallow confections knows as Peeps. This Easter, the pop-culture holiday sensation will be 60 years old, with no intention of retiring.
Power to the Peeps!
Just Born Inc. has been making Peeps since 1953. And while growth has been slow compared to other companies, it has never lost money and closed with record profits in 2012. Sweet things, it appears, are resistant to recession.
In that time, the humble, unassuming marshmallow chick has gained pop icon cult status. A new holiday TV ad for the confections [...]
Secret menu items hiding at fast food franchises
Are you tired of the same old Big Mac for lunch? Why not try a Monster Mac, featuring eight all-beef patties? Don’t remember seeing it on the menu? That’s because it isn’t! It is one of the many hidden or secret menu items available at your favorite fast food chains. You only have to know to ask for it.
Secret menu items buzzing on social media
It is a trend picking up steam, mostly driven by buzz on the social media. Most of the major fast food chains now have such hidden items. Panera Bread bakery-cafes, for instance, offers bread-less “Power Bowls” [...]
Laundering money nearly standard procedure in banking industry
A recent Congressional hearing was held, where Congresspersons lit into the Federal Reserve and Treasury officials over money laundering enforcement. There isn’t a single large bank that hasn’t been implicated and the industry apparently isn’t able to not engage in illegal activity.
Oversight lax as government regulators don’t catch money laundering
Money laundering is probably the oldest form of financial crime. Ill-gotten gains obtained by criminals like drug cartels or terrorist groups, is deposited in crooked banks and “cleaned,” so criminals can conduct financial transactions. It’s a crime basically everywhere, but the most relevant American law is the Bank Secrecy Act, which [...]
Common mistakes managers make – and how to fix them
Managing others takes particular aspects of character, presentation and experience to do well. Sometimes, however, it is instructive simply knowing what not to do. Here are some of the most common mistakes managers make, wringing every drop of malaise and misery from what should be an energetic, collaborative workplace – as well as some tips for making things right.
Common mistakes managers make No. 1 – As clear as mud
If a manager is unable to deliver clear instructions, it becomes impossible for the group to work toward a satisfactory common goal. Employees without clearly defined goals are more prone to whiling [...]
Mixed results for DipJar, the tip jar that takes plastic
Last year, a curious invention called “DipJar” was released for testing in small number of businesses, which has a credit card reader so people can tip using plastic. Results haven’t been fantastic, though there are issues with non-cash tips to begin with.
DipJar not exactly a smashing success
In summer of 2012, buzz got around the news wires about a new invention called the DipJar. It was not, as some might have believed, a jar that is marketed exclusively to tobacco chewing enthusiasts, but instead a tip jar, for the twenty-first century.
It’s a plastic contraption about the size of a coffee grinder. [...]
Sleep concierge helps keep travelers sharp
To sleep: perchance to hit the next day’s meetings hard. Nowhere is this more true than on the road, where the frequent business traveler, weary from shuttling in and out of connecting flights, rental car counters and taxis, needs to be broken like a wild colt. Such is their inability to rein it in for sleeping and waking. And there are now hotels that offer a sleep concierge to go along with the traditional wake-up call. Be sure to ask for your work-down call during your next stay, when mornings need to be focused on things other than what’s on [...]
Costco CEO supports raising the minimum wage
Unlike most retailers, Costco is siding with President Obama in his call to raise the federal minimum wage to $9 an hour. In fact, it would do the President one better, supporting a minimum hourly wage of $10.10.
New bill to raise minimum wage
In his last State of the Union address, President Obama recommended raising the federal minimum wage from $7.25 an hour to $9 an hour. Since then, a new bill, the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2013, has been introduced, seeking to raise it even higher, to $10.10 per hour, and thereafter indexing it keep up with inflation.
The federal [...]
Freelancers! Learn how to deal with deadbeats effectively
Freelancing can be a great way to make money, whether it’s on the side or full time. However, what can an individual do with late-paying customers, or ones that do their best to be deadbeats? Here are the most common types of problem customers freelancers face, as well as how to deal with deadbeats.
Deadbeats claim the check is in the mail
Every freelance worker has clients at one time or another that are absent-minded, cash-clutching, or both. The key to keeping them on track after invoicing clients is to remind them regularly via collection letter that they have an outstanding balance [...]
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