A gate provider's delight

On Monday, the New York City Council decided to ban the use of opaque storefront gates in favor of eliminating graffiti and beautifying city neighborhoods. However, the Council is not supplying funds for new see-through gates, laying the responsibility on store owners to carry out the legislation.

The ban will officially go into effect in 2026, a whopping 17 years from now. I suppose they figure that it will take that long for some of New York City's store owners to save up for a new gate. New meshed security gates can cost thousands of dollars, which is a lot of money for inner city store owners who are already struggling to protect their money and keep their businesses afloat.

And while this is a very bad thing for business owners, it's a very good thing for local gate providers and locksmiths.

With all new storefront gate installations required to be mesh after 2011, the storefront security gate industry will certainly spike overnight. The demand for mesh gates will rise and since currently there are not a significant amount of providers, the costs of gates will skyrocket, making them even more unreachable for small business owners. In an economy as tight as it is now, this law is sending local small businesses into a downward spiral.

Is the elimination of residential expression worth the demise of local economic stimuli?

Lunch Duty Rap - Week 2, War of the Gift Shops

It never fails that what ultimately saves my magazines is the ever-present and vicious competition among local consignment shops in Tifton.

It was drilled into me over and over in my economics classes that competition is good for local economies. Of course, there's all kinds of data to prove it. I've always understood it from a consumer's point of view. More competition means better prices for consumers and less chance of the formation of monopolizing and price-controlling businesses. But I never thought about how beneficial competition is for local advertising, as well.

Tifton has an abundance of small consignment stores, or gift shops, spread throughout the area. They specialize in Vera Bradley, host bridal registries and sell myriad interior decorating essentials. I can think of at least six stores off the top of my head, but I know there are many, many more. Currently, all six of those stores advertise with me and continue to advertise. Know why? They all secretly, or not-so-secretly, want to best each other.

When I started working on the magazines, only three of the shops advertised with me. As an experiment, I presented my magazines to another store and slyly mentioned the fact that some of the other shops were advertising with me. Immediately, the shop bought the back page to two of my magazines, our most expensive positions. Score one for Kelly.

Today, I visited another gift shop and the owner agreed to start advertising and get in on the action, also giving me the lowdown on all of the other shops she's in competition with, a.k.a. ammunition for future sales.

So without the graphs and microeconomic equations, I can personally vouch for the fact that competition is good not only for consumers but also for advertising. And we need all the economic stimuli we can get, even if it means getting my hands a little dirty in some small-town drama.

Pop goes the weasel

I knew this would happen eventually. I think we all did.

After a long hiring freeze, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution announced today that it's going to cut 30 percent of its newsroom staff in order to save money. With a large metro paper like the AJC, that's about 90 reporters out of a job - just like that.

It's interesting to think about who within the AJC wrote the article referencing the paper's impending doom. Was it a handful of metro editors who are safe from the mounting layoffs? Or was it a reporter who has yet to discover that he's on his way out?

Now what?

State of the media? Not so bleak, IMO.

The State of the News Media for 2009 was released today. However, I'm still reluctant to jump on the we're-headed-for-disaster bandwagon.

The results certainly were "bleak." However, in today's economy, every business is struggling. Newspapers and other media just got a head start.

Newspapers, magazines and local TV are a few of the media that took the hardest hit. Understandable, considering they're some of the oldest media with quite a history - at least compared to the Internet, cable and social networks.

In the State of the News Media there is no in-between. While most media are currently floundering, cable TV and the Internet are flourishing. Heads above the rest, these two areas show inspiring growth and potential.

The results are to be expected, in my opinion. They only confirm what we all knew to be true. Print and long-established media are suffering while new technology enables other, newer media to rise above the rest.

The solution is simple: "old" media must mold and adapt to this new media environment in order to successfully compete with "new" media, which is definitely do-able. All we need are some dedicated journalists who will take this opportunity for evolution and run with it.

Riding the WOTY wave

Every year, the American Dialect Society chooses a Word of the Year, usually a well-known term or phrase that most Americans can instantly connect with.

GovGab brought up an interesting point: this year's word bailout has a much more serious tone than 2005's word truthiness (coined by Stephen Colbert) which led me to do a little research and comparison of my own.

Take a look at this list of Words of the Year from Wikipedia.

From 1990 to 2008, you can determine the tone and comfort of Americans from Words of the Year.

Compare 1999's Y2K and 2000's (hanging) chad to 2001's 9-11 and 2002's weapons of mass destruction. The carefree attitude of the prosperous late '90s is evident. People were excited about technology and the future. However, the year 2001 brought everyone down to a very careful, very serious level very fast.

By 2003, the jovial words return with metrosexual, and my personal favorite, 2006's plutoed. However, in 2007, subprime takes the cake, followed by last year's bailout.

Times are tough in 2009. People aren't as lighthearted or spontaneous about their habits or their lives. But the Word of the Year cycle is evidence that when things are bad, they do get better and we do learn to laugh again and appreciate the people and opportunities around us.

Yes, I'm sure

I think I worry people a lot when I tell them what I want to do with my life.

The usual responses:
"Are you sure?"
"Newspapers are dying, Kelly Ann. What do you think you're doing?"
"Do you have a backup plan?"
"Don't put all your eggs in one basket..."
"There won't be a newspaper in 10 years. Where will you be?"

My response:
Chill.

The economy is on its way to hitting rock bottom. People save an average 0 percent of their incomes. (Seriously. In 1998, Americans saved -0.2 percent. Really, America?) The housing market has flopped. Unemployment is up. And you're really worried about newspapers? I think we've got bigger fish to fry.

Let me reassure the weak of heart. Newspapers are in a transition period. Up until a few years ago, newspapers were making a 23 to 25 percent profit margin. Things were good. We built big news buildings, gave away lots of vacations and put out niche publications like there was no tomorrow.

Unfortunately, tomorrow is here. Instead of our usual inflated margins, we're making about a 15 percent profit. Keep in mind that an average business enjoys about a 3 to 5 percent profit margin. So we're still rakin' in the dough; it's just not as much as we're used to. It all boils down to making adjustments. Right now, we're going to whine and scratch our heads because Mommy's not giving us the lollipop we want. Once we figure out why she's not giving it to us and what we can learn from it and then learn to live with it, we can come out of this with renewed passion for the industry and ideas to take the "newspaper" to new heights.

Give newspapers five, maybe 10 years. We'll come out of it. People will always need information. Journalists will always provide that information.

Anxious to be 100% journalist

I'm aghast that I haven't posted in a week. I feel like the antithesis of a journalist, who's supposed to be a provider of information. I haven't been providing any information. Of course, I'm technically only a journalist about 25 percent of my time. The other 75 is split among classes, two choirs, National Issues Forums, being the coordinator of the Catholic Student Association, and working in a lab for the computer science department. When I put it on (virtual) paper, it's kind of overwhelming.

But enough of my excuses. Let's get down to business.

First of all, this lady is amazing.

Secondly, I got a little taste of reality last week. The newspaper company that I worked for this summer and that I basically pledged my allegiance to is having major financial issues. It's no question that they'll pull out of it. They can definitely weather this economic storm; they just made a few mistakes that are hurting them now. No, I'm confident in the company. The question is, when will they pull through? Will they be able to financially support me when I enter the job market in May? Let's just say I don't want to put all my eggs in one basket.

So I've gotten some resume advice and as soon as I have a free minute, I'll sit down and document all of the amazing opportunities I've been given in this field. I'm not going to exhaust any of my contacts. I'm going to send out resumes and emails and phone calls until the cows come home. I don't care where I end up - Alaska, New Jersey, Arkansas, Florida, Texas (actually, the cows may actually come home there). I'm not picky at this point. I just want to find a place to plant my journalism roots - all of my roots, not 25 percent of them - and get a firm start on the management track that I've chosen for myself.

Our secret weapon? Responsibility.

It's been interesting watching this economic mess unfold.

I feel like I'm sort of on the outside looking in. I haven't yet run out of gas trying to find a gas station that still has fuel in its tanks. I still get a paycheck every two weeks. I still go to the grocery store once a week and spend roughly the same amount of money. I'm living my normal life, and I think I'm in denial.

I realized I have to start making adjustments because things certainly aren't normal. Five gallons of gas cost me $24 today. Gas stations and convenience stores are devoid of any activity, like those abandoned 1940s gas stations that you find on old highways in Florida. In fact, the entire country feels like it's a little devoid of activity right now. At least for me, it's like we're all holding our breaths, just waiting to see what's going to happen. Maybe if we sit tight for a while - take a rain check on that camping trip, postpone buying that new lawn mower for another week or two - maybe then things will settle out and we can get back to normal.

Things aren't going to get back to normal.

We've got to stop waiting for someone else to step up, and we've got to start being responsible. We have to learn to say no to things we don't need. We have to respect each other. And we have to respect this country.