marv golland

Commerce

On Line Personalized Gift

My wife is an artist, and has been in business for 5 years. She provides personalized gifts for all occasions such as graduation, mothers day, fathers day. This year, for the first time we have received ZERO orders in these categories for the past few month. A true sign of our hard economic times.

On the plus side she has recently added a new product, Troops in Touch post cards for children of military parents as a way for families to stay in touch. This has received significant interest.

[Editors' Note: You can learn more about the author and artist Melissa Seligman by visiting her listing on our Uncommon Economics Indicators bulletin board. http://issues.wnyc.org/wiki/index.php/Bulletin_board]

Julia

Bright

Lower Blood Pressure

Since I am not working, and have less day to day stress, my blood pressure has lowered significantly. I have not changed any of my health or eating habits so unemployment must be the cause!

621 Lefferts Ave., Brooklyn, NY 11203

Ed

Behavior

(Un)flashback

Am seeing people regularly begging for change outside of the PO and fast-food places, plus newly visible 'street people' ... like the bearded, deranged guy I saw roaming down 3rd Ave, wearing layers of rags, scratching himself and ranting. I'd call it a sad flashback to the '70s-80s, except that I never saw this happen here before.

90th and 3rd Ave., Brooklyn

Akiva

Commerce

Burger King Suffering

The burger king in Astoria (33 St & Astoria) has a sign in the window advertising its playground is for lease! I would have though burger king and its cheep food to be doing better, but evidently they are hurting like everyone else, though I can't say I would be sorry to see them go.

[Editor's Note: We spoke with the franchise operator about their sign, which was only up for a day before they decided to pull it down. They said yes, the costs of business are going up and they are always looking for business opportunities, but decided this was not something they wanted to pursue.]

3310 Astoria Blvd Astoria, NY 11103

Charlie

Employment

Foreclosed cats

I was in one of the chain pet stores today, ogling the rescued cats and wishing I could adopt all of 'em. The sign on the cage of one pair of sweet beautiful cats caught my eye. It described their virtues and stated that their owner had to give them up because he lost his job and then his home.

Valley Stream, 11582

Justin

Bright

WNYC matching dollars go from 50% to 100% again

Previous pledge drives during the recent economic downturn featured pledge matching of 50 cents on the dollar and just this morning there was a dollar for dollar match. Must be a good sign.

Alvin in Manhattan

Behavior

Underwear, bellybuttons, and bees

In a Sept. 2007 interview of Alan Greenspan by Robert Krulwich, The Great Greenspan asserted that the rate at which men replaced worn underwear was an economic indicator.:
http://www.npr.org/blogs/bryantpark/2007/09/robert_krulwich_exposes_greens_1.html
A 5/27/09 MSN article discussed this, along with hemlines and bare midriffs, plus bee honey production:
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/CompanyFocus/how-your-undies-track-the-recession.aspx

RB

Commerce

Stooping lower?

It seems to me that here in Prospect Heights there are fewer sidewalk/stoop sales than in previous years--usually the neighborhood is rife with them. Perhaps people are replacing less, selling less, figuring the old stuff can last a bit longer?

Prospect Heights, Brooklyn

Barnacle Bertha

Behavior

More Bicyclists on Court

With the increase of people bicycling to work, Court St. has become a major danger zone. These inexperienced bikers ignore all traffic rules, putting themselves and others in danger.

Yes I support your right to bike but bikers must live up to their responsibilities!

130 Court St., Brooklyn

Michael Gerstmann

Behavior

You know when it's bad when

I am a Family Practice doctor in suburban NJ. You know things are bad when men are making appointments and talking about their feelings

Kathy

Commerce

holiday weekend garage sales

I'm an admitted garage/tag sale addict.

In previous years, holiday weekends, such as Memorial Day were always very quiet . Presumably people took time off ,so sellers and customers would be at a barbecue or the beach instead of flogging stuff in the driveway.

This year Memorial Day weekend sales were plentiful, and the bargains good.

Perhaps "staycationing" and raising a bit of cash on the side?

Queens, New York

matthew Chase

Employment

Craigslist Job Posting

I'm an art director for an apparel company, and I frequently post ads for freelance illustration opportunities on Craigslist. I usually receive about 30 responses, from art students, and professional illustrators.
Two days ago I posted an ad and have already received over 200 responses and counting.
Many are graduating college students, but some applicants have no portfolio or experience in the art field. One applicant was a laid off security guard.
It brought the desperation home to me.

Don Lee

Commerce

The Collapes of the Bling Bubble

Hard times finally hit the Hip Hop community: http://sellyourgoldteeth.com/

Douglas L.

Commerce

Cab Driving

I drive a yellow cab in NYC.
Since there are so many people
out of work, more and more people
have started driving yellow cab.
Very often I call my garages and they
say "no car available today." ":Sorry
no work today."

Some of the Yellow cab garages
have been overcharging the drivers
$12 a day. The TLC has done
nothing to stop the overcharging.
People generally do not tip so great.
So the $12 a day comes out of the
driver's pocket.

Tom Williams

Employment

Free resume work

AT my store in Laguna Beach, CA I offer free computer and internet plus free faxing to all job seekers. The first guy to use this, got a job. My brother's beauty school in Orange is offering free hair styling www.coba.org
Maybe some NY businesses could do the same. Love your podcast.
t

James Flanders

Employment

What about the consultants?

I was the outsourcing manager at a major magazine publisher in Manhattan and was downsized at the end of March. How come more is not said in the press about the enormous amount of 1099 "consultants" being let go. These people in my opinion still employees of their client companies and made up are large part of the head count at investment banks, law firms and publishing firms etc. and have lost their jobs in huge numbers and not been counted since they don't show up or qualify for unemployment rolls because of their 1099 status. The firm were I managed easily had about 1/3 of the staff on as 1099 status, there numbers were in the thousands. Could this be why the your WNYC news anchors last Friday were so surprised that the NYC unemployment numbers looked better than what they expected? Anyway, I used to run on of the largest staffing companies in NYC for 18 years and been in the "staffing and employment business" for about 25 years in NYC and never seen the employment picture this grim. I hope folks will begin realizing we need a jobs program soon in this country.

Reg

Behavior

blogging ghostown

I've noticed a major muting of online activity on once-active sites and blogs devoted to community news and concerns, ongoing interests (sports, dogs, arts, etc) and the like. Some sites are almost moribund, longtime contributors have disappeared, updates/posts are few, and those who do post seem "elsewhere." It's a dramatic change, since these sites have been around forever, and have been "old reliables" for info re: local news and interests.

7302 Ridge Blvd, Brooklyn

Helene

Bright

Able to get vegetarian Indian food delivered to my office.

I work in East Harlem at 106th St. and 2nd Avenue. There are many good restaurants in the area. However, I am vegetarian and really like a vegetarian Indian restaurant near 86th St. Last year, this restaurant would only deliver up to 100th St. and I couldn’t get delivery for lunch. A few times they made an exception, but this was not the norm. However, a few months ago I tried again, and now they will deliver to me at 106th St. with no problem. I didn’t ask specifically why they changed their policy, but I think delivery business might be down. I know it is a long way for someone to bring me my lunch – so I try to be very generous with the tips.

East 106th St. and 2nd Ave.

Karloff Commissiong

Commerce

Empty Storefronts

While riding on the express bus on Madison Avenue to my home in the Bronx, I counted the number of “For Rent” and “For Sale” signs, as well as the number of boarded up storefronts between 54th Street and 96th Street. The total came to about 21, and I think I missed four. I have lived in NYC for most of my life and I’ve taken the trip up Madison Avenue numerous times, and I have never seen so many empty storefronts on this stretch of real estate.

776 Madison Ave.

Dudley

Behavior

Commuter shift

The 6:08 LIRR train out of Sea Cliff used to be packed. Now many of those riders have shifted to the 6:47 and 7:31 trains. One nice thing is that they are just working shorter days rather than not at all.

Sea Cliff Avenue, Glen Cove, NY