Percentage of Americans who say they are more likely to purchase something when the ad touts it is “Made in America,” according to a Harris poll: 61
Percentage of U.S. adults who say they are neither more nor less likely to purchase a product when an ad emphasizes it is “Made in America”: 35
Salary trends Salary for a production worker, reflecting only a 1 percent increase since 2009, according to the 2010 Compensation Data Manufacturing survey: $29,400
Salary for a tool-and-die maker, 2.4 percent higher than last year: $47,300
Salary for warehouse workers, up from $28,800 in 2009: $30,200
Seasonal pay Percentage of employers hiring seasonal workers in the fourth quarter this year who said they plan to pay more than $10 an hour, according to a survey from CareerBuilder: 54
Percentage of hiring managers who said their No. 1 pet peeve when hiring seasonal workers is a lack of enthusiasm: 59
Percentage of hiring managers who said they are turned off by workers who appear to want employee discounts more than the job opportunity: 31
Product confidence Percentage of adults who have less confidence in Apple products due to iPhone 4 reception problems, according to a survey by Zogby International: 40
Percentage of adults who believe electronics products are becoming more reliable: 32
Percentage who say they are less reliable: 22
Food on the table Since the global financial crisis, percentage of Americans who have become more concerned about the price of food, according to a survey by the Financial Times and Harris Poll: 58
As a response to rising food prices, percentage of Americans who are spending more money on the same type of food that they have always purchased: 35
Percentage who are spending less money on either less food or on less-expensive food: 23
Store brand versus national brand Average percentage of money that can be saved on groceries by filling a shopping cart with store brands over national brands, according to a study from Consumer Reports: 30
In 21 head-to-head taste match-ups, number of times national brands won: 7
Number of times the store brand came out on top: 3
Number that resulted in ties: 11
Software spending Average percentage of revenues that software companies with more than $100,000 in annual revenue spend on customer acquisition, according to a survey by TrialPay: 15
Average percentage of revenues that smaller vendors with under $100,000 in annual revenue are spending to acquire customers: 54
Accidental product line? Year that one of America’s favorite snack foods is said to have originated when chef George Crum – irritated at a customer for sending back his fried potatoes because they were too thick and soggy – decided to slice potatoes paper thin and stir-fry them as potato chips: 1853
Worldwide estimated annual value of the potato chip market, according to the U.S. Census Bureau: $16 billion
Estimated number of pounds of potatoes each American eats annually, a good part of which is chips: 39
Gimme a dog In 2009, amount consumers spent on hot dogs and sausages in U.S. supermarkets, according to the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council: $1.6 billion
Rank of Los Angeles on the list of cities that consume the most hot dogs, beating out New York and San Antonio/Corpus Christi, Texas: 1
Number of times more hot dogs are eaten at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport than Los Angeles International Airport and LaGuardia Airport combined: 6
Battle of the brands When wealthy Americans were given a list of 25 brands from various consumer product categories and asked which made them happiest, number of technology-based brands that headed the list, according to the results from the Affluence Collaborative research from AgencySacks: 4
Number of fashion brands among the Top 15 responses: 0
When asked which brands respondents were most bored with, number that were from the fashion category – true for both men and women: 4
Billion-dollar babies Value at retail of the baby care market’s six categories – disposable diapers, wipes, body care preparations, feeding accessories, play and discovery toys, and pacifiers/teethers – according to a Packaged Facts report: $7 billion
John MacIntyre is a Nova Scotia-based author and former city magazine editor. His “Figuratively Speaking” column, launched in 1989, is published in more than 40 newspapers and magazines.[[In-content Ad]]
Dame Chiropractic LLC emerged as the new name of Harshman Chiropractic Clinic LLC with the purchase of the business; Leo Kim added a second venture, Keikeu LLC, to 14 Mill Market; and Mercy Springfield Communities opened its second primary care clinic in Ozark.
