Ann

Commerce

Champagne taste, beer budget

My husband and I now buy Rolling Rock beer instead of longtime favorite Bass Ale -- just to save $3 bucks (and only a six pack at a time).

lauren thibodeau

Behavior

change counters getting a workout

The local bank that charges just 2 percent to non-account-holders now has long lines of people waiting to dump bags of collected pocket change. It's free to account holders, and we're lining up too: Just collected $30. Funny to hear people discussing which grocery stores give the best break on change; it's about 10 percent and you can only use store credit for food. We just moved from NYC to the Finger Lakes near Rochester so this report comes from a small lake town.

Bea

Commerce

A Tower Grows in Newark

I commute to Newark NJ every day, exiting at 15E off the Turnpike. Over the years I've noticed piles of empty shipping containers at a supply depot right off the road. They are usually stacked about 4 high - now, they are starting to resemble skyscrapers!!

Exit 15E NJ Turnpike

KM

Bright

The Office Fridge

Our office fridge has become more and more crowded with leftovers from home. It, in fact, predicted the downturn as this behavior stated in early 2008.

West 33rd St.

Rich Buley-Neumar

Behavior

Adoptions are down

I work for a small not-for-profit adoption agency that specializes in placing children from the foster care into adoptive homes. We also place infants, and do services for people adopting internationally. The phones had slowed recently, and now have all but stopped ringing. We can only guess that people are not willing to take the risk of building a family through adoption when they can't be sure they will have incomes... or even homes. With the budget cuts in New York State, we are concerned about the necessary services that children in care receive, but even more that, they may be missing out on the one thing they need most - a loving "forever family" - because people are afraid it is too much of a financial risk right now to adopt.

Eliza

Employment

relocating overseas

Hi, I'm responding to the current segment about IBM employees being offered employment overseas. I'm a former New Yorker currently living in Argentina with my boyfriend, who is also a US citizen working at a local Argentine company.
I love living in Argentina and it's been a really great experience, but I think the major issue for US citizens living and working abroad on foreign wages, is the issue of debt. We both have student loans and a bit of credit card debt, which we must pay on every month in US Dollars. I think this is a pretty common situation for younger US Citizens; USA is a culture of debt! so that is the one huge problem with this idea.
I also feel badly for Argentine workers, who need the work too!
However, for anyone who has no debts, or has some money saved up, this would be an amazing way to get to know another country and another culture, study another language and expand their horizons.
Eliza

Buenos Aires, Argentina

Stephanie Gueldner

Commerce

no love on valentine's day for florists...

As a florist, this valentine's day has become the perfect storm for disappointing sales.... the economy is terrible, valentine's day is on a saturday so people tend to go to restaurants instead (no one to impress at the office with a flower delivery) and it is a long weekend for many people so many choose to go on a weekend getaway. Adding to this, my own studio has an extra challenge with a telephone issue- I switched providers last week and my number was supposed to port over to the new provider, however it got bungled and as a result I had no working number for days until verizon finally agreed to change the message so it didn't say it was disconnected.

120 West 28th st. , new york ny

Dee

Housing

Can't Pay the Rent

I just moved a brownstone over the summer.

Last month I have found out that the tenants on the 2nd floor can't pay their rent but don't want to leave. This week I found out the tenants on the 1st floor are moving out.

Hancock Street, Brooklyn, NY 11216

Sandy P. Yuen

Employment

Redesign your kitchen...or not...

I work for a very small business that makes customized mosaic tiling for residential and commercial spaces. After the bank troubles and housing bubble burst in September, we were predicting our continuing busyness with the rationales that (1) people would remodel their homes (with our lovely glass mosaics) rather than buy new homes and (2) new businesses (in need of unique decor) continue to spring up during times of recession.

While we still have many projects to work on, my bosses had to lay off 4 artists today. The bosses said sales calls were less frequent and that they're taking on projects with no profit margin just to fill payroll and pay the rent--"to keep the business going."

The studio feels much bigger now that there are less people, (nobody has to share a table anymore, it's great!) but the atmosphere was less playful and cheery.

35th street and 8th avenue New York NY

Sandy P. Yuen

Employment

AM NY (the other free paper)

Last week, on my way to the Fort Hamilton Parkway F Train Station, I found that the AM New York (free weekday newspaper) box was no longer beside Greenwood Playground. I always take a peek at the headlines and shake my head at how many editions were left over when I come home from work. (What a waste!)

And when I get to work, I see that metal racks of AM NY (and Metro NY) now replace a newspaper man who used to hand out editions on the corner of 34th Street + 8th Avenue. There used to be several bundles of the free newspapers littered on the corner of 35th outside a Starbucks, but they don't appear on a daily basis anymore.

Fort Hamilton Parkway and East 5th, Brooklyn New York, 35th Street and 8 Avenue, New York New York

anonymous for tax reasons

Employment

Found new shores: metaphor here?

Hi Brian,

Having been cut loose from Bear Stearns,
I look back at my career as nothing more than
a prostitute for greed mongers and deceptive commerce.

A woman called in this week to Eugene Mirman
about her embarking on a new career as a prostitute.

I too recently charted that career course; in the testosterone division.

My economic observation:
I was cast overboard the bow Bear Stearns,
and with a clear conscience
and my own dinghy, I now bare stern .... if you catch my drift.

Fondley,

"Johnny XXX" (it's my nom de plume)

ps I love your show and listen post haste thanks
to your podcasts. What a blessing. Thank you thank you.

Daniel Goode

Commerce

After groceries, what?

The last green grocer in Soho folded last Spring. Boarded up for a long time, suddenly last week, the corner space sprang into renovation. What will it be:
earings, shoes, make-up, fashion, baby clothes, grown-up clothes? Surely not green groceries!

87 Greene St. @ Spring St.

Jeff Golick

Employment

Where are they now? -- Publishing edition

Not sure if this has been noted already, and not a pure "economic indicator," but Publishers Weekly, the professional organ of the book publishing industry, has begun tracking (in addition to the usual job news) outgoing/laid off workers, posting new contact info for this growing list of folks: http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6633547.html.
It's a good, if grim, idea.

Adam

Swindlers

Pre-indicator

Two years ago I said to my wife : "This can not be good if our mortgage can be SOLD to another bank without asking us, it is like banks treating people as slaves ". Something like this should be a warning sign for regulators.

Dale Swift

Commerce

Don't forget your car's anniversary!

i just received a call from my auto mechanic's secretary reminding me that car is overdue for a check-up. (The previous yearly check-up was last May.) This is the first time they've ever called with such a reminder.

Laura Zaks

Employment

No more water cooler

I work for an international NGO in downtown Manhattan. Because of the economic downturn management in my office decided they could no longer afford the water cooler. Instead they installed a water filter on the sink in the kitchen.

120 Wall Street , New York, NY 10005

kristin

Behavior

teeth grinding

I went to the dentist and was told, for the first time, that I'm grinding my teeth. The dentist told me that she's noticed an increase in "grinders" and the need for people to wear night guards. I wonder if this is a measure of the psychological and dental wear and tear of the downturn?

Erica Reiner

Behavior

Lucky Money Scarcity

My husband and I collect found money. When you find a coin on the street it brings you good luck so we've saved all the money we've found since we met. It's very interesting- since the economic downturn, there has been far less money to be found around the city than when the economy was good. I guess you can gauge how the city is doing by whether people are willing to bend for their pennies. The only exception to this is bad weather- on one of the recent freezing cold nights I made four separate scores of found money- even in a bad economy New Yorkers have their limits!

Alaina Lynn

Behavior

Smokers

Usually, in my 20 minute walk to work through midtown, I only have to scurry out from behind a smoker once or twice. I have been noticing more and more people smoking, and last night I encountered at least ten smokers before I had gone even two blocks. I understand people are stressed, but I can think of few fasters ways to blow through your unemployment check...

Avenue of the Americas and 46th Street, New York, NY

Vince

Commerce

Where's the Cashews?

So I went to my neighborhood Chinese takeout place here in Brooklyn and ordered my favorite dish, the Cashew Chicken Combo. After taking the food back home I discovered to my shock that the meal's namesake Cashews where nowhere to be found, and in their place...garden variety peanuts. Very disappointing!

I also noticed the amount of chicken was less and had been replaced with more vegetables. It's disappointing to know that profit margins are so tight that even main ingredients in popular dishes can suffer.

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