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Ten Ways To Help Your Employees "Get It Done" Every Day
Companies frequently develop vision and mission statements about being number one in their industry, the great service they provide to customers, and their rewarding work environment. Yet more often than not, these statements are so far from reality that they become joke fodder for customers and employees alike...more

Fitch: Weaker 2008 for U.S. Retail Will Force Back to Basics Strategy
While economic factors will impact lower income consumers more significantly than those at higher income levels, consumers at all but the highest income levels are expected to moderate discretionary spending with fewer aspirational purchases and more trading down among retail channels...more

Pioneer Electronics Sees Luxury Buyers As Growth Area After Re-branding
"In our rebranding effort, we are looking to position Pioneer with other great premium brands." - Russ Johnston, Executive VP, Marketing and Product Planning, Pioneer Electronics USA...more

Scott Savell Resigns As President of Premier Wheel Rentals
"We will now begin the search to find a seasoned wheel-and-tire professional whose skill set can take Premier Wheel Rentals to the next level of development." - Trooper Earle, Chief Executive Officer of The Premier Companies...more

Payday Lending Association Requires Poster-size Fee Displays in All Stores
"The steps taken by CFSA will help achieve one simple, but critically important, goal: To make sure that every customer who enters a CFSA member company store or visits its website will have access to all the fee information they need to make an informed choice before they begin the transaction process." - Darrin Andersen, President, CFSA President...more

Aaron Rents Increases Dividend, Stock Repurchase
Aaron Rents raised its quarterly dividend rate 6.7%...more

Consumer Spending Caution Will Continue Into 2008; One in Four Say They Will Delay Furniture, Appliance Purchase
Sixty-six percent of over 1,000 consumers polled by TransUnion this month say they will postpone a major purchase in 2008 because of the economy and their personal finances...more

Thanksgiving Trivia
President Franklin Roosevelt clarified that Thanksgiving should always be celebrated on the fourth Thursday of the month to encourage earlier holiday shopping...more

Oklahoma Rental Dealers Flourish Despite Tight Regulation; Interview With Oklahoma Association President Randy Braucher
The Rent to Own industry in Oklahoma is tightly regulated. In addition to being licensed, all locations are physically audited annually by a state auditor attached to the Department of Consumer Credit. Randy Braucher, President of ORDA, says that despite the oversight, RTO companies prosper in Oklahoma...more

Online Registration Now Open for RentDirect Nationwide Marketing Group’s March 2008 PrimeTime! Convention
Online Registration is now open for RentDirect Nationwide Marketing Group’s upcoming PrimeTime! convention. The event will be held March 2nd to March 5th at the Hilton Anatole in Dallas, TX. Attendees and exhibitors can register here...more

LG Electronics Wins CES 2008 Innovations Awards In Five Categories
LG has earned more than 60 CES Innovations Awards over the past four years...more
 

Rentcash Implements Sweeping Consumer Protection Measures
"Rentcash has been a longstanding advocate of consumer protection measures for the payday loan industry. Through the Public Utilities Board process we have learned that the broad array of industry fee structures can be confusing to consumers who want to comparison shop." - Gordon Reykdal, Chairman and CEO, Rentcash...more

Consumers Increasingly Respond Online To Direct Mail
Twenty-one percent of total adults in 2007 have responded to direct mail advertising in the past month by visiting a sender's Web site...more

DSI Partners With Consumer Electronics Exchange
"The new program will help drive additional foot traffic and increase revenues and profits for our retailers." - Dave Robison, CEO, DSI...more

Panasonic Plasma Has Lowest Repair Rate of All Flat Panels; Rear Projection Repair Rate Six Times Higher Than Flat panel
On average, flat-panel sets are much more reliable than rear-projection sets with their average 18% repair rate...more

Jay Muir Brings Premier Rent to Own To Manchester New Hampshire
Jay began his career in RTO just out of high school delivering for Rent-A-Center. He moved up the corporate ladder from service representative to assistant manager and endured a buy-out. He managed his first store in Somersworth, NH, and after a successful year moved to Concord, NH where he ran the third most profitable store in the county. After becoming a district manager he took over the most profitable market and ran it for four straight years...more

Gas Prices Impacting Consumer Spending; Survey Shows Future Spending Plans Decline
Over the next 90 days, consumer spending plans are down across most merchandise categories with the exception of sporting goods and lawn & garden versus November 2006...more

ColorTyme of Alaska Rescues Goose Bay Boys and Girls Club; Donates Entire Budget Shortfall
The Goosebay Club's 2007/2008 budget was $7,000 short and the club was in danger of closing its doors. ColorTyme of Alaska VP of Financial Service Operations, Megan Kirkingburg found out about the shortage and approached Alaska franchisee Mark Childers about making a donation to keep the Club open...more

Amscot Financial Supporting Programs for At-Risk Girls In Florida
PACE Center for Girls provides non-residential delinquency prevention programs, targeting the unique needs of females 12 to 18 who are identified as dependent, truant, runaway, ungovernable, delinquent, or in need of academic skills...more

Premier Wheel Rentals Holds Successful Grand Opening Of St. Petersburg Location
Franchise owner Keith Slater said the grand opening was a rousing success. "Customers streamed in and out of the store all day. I'm very pleased with the grand opening and look forward to adding more Premier locations in the near future." A successful Florida real estate developer, Slater signed a ten store development deal with Premier in June...more
 

EZCORP Revenue Up 22%; Will Open 100 Payday Loan Stores In 2008
"In fiscal 2008, we plan to open approximately 100 EZMONEY locations and seven to ten Mexico pawnshop locations." - Joe Rotunda, CEO, EZCORP...more

California, Texas Residents Have Highest Discretionary Income; Midwest Lowest
Households with earnings of less than $50,000 represent nearly 60 percent of all households and 29 percent of households with discretionary income. However, they account for only 3 percent of aggregate discretionary income. Average discretionary income among this market is about $1,900...more

What Is An Alloy Wheel; Mizati VP Gives Detailed Explanation
An 'alloy' is a homogeneous hybrid of two or more elements, at least one of which is a metal, and whereby the resulting material has metallic properties...more

Consumers Report Decreasing Trust In Businesses They Frequent; Furniture Stores Among Least Trusted
Consumers were asked to consider what one company, large or small, that they regularly deal with in everyday life, do they trust most -- and what does that company do to earn their trust. From unprompted, top-of-mind responses, competitive, low prices were cited as a key trust factor by 29 percent of respondents, with nice and friendly personnel at 29 percent as well. Good customer service (non-specific) was ranked third by consumers as a core component of trust in companies at 26 percent...more

Retailers Twitchy As Black Friday Looms and Wal-Mart Hawks 50" Plasma Under $1,000
Black Friday is a crucial day for retailers when annual profits usually cross from the red into the black. Black Friday 2006 was marked by extraordinary promotions that pushed Q4 TV shipments to record highs and average selling prices to record lows, particularly for flat panel LCD and PDP models...more
 

Rentcash Same Store Sales Up; Losses Trimmed In Rental Division
In the rent to own division, same store sales for the 60 locations open since the beginning of the first quarter last year averaged $87,000 in the first quarter this year, an improvement of 12% compared to $78,000 in the same quarter last year. Management believes that the improvement is due to initiatives over the past year including the closure of poor performing stores and the consolidation of accounts with nearby stores...more

Dell Launches Spanish Language Sales, Support
A Spanish-language newspaper, radio and outdoor advertising campaign publicizing the new sales and support initiatives is under way in Houston, Chicago and Atlanta, with a national rollout planned for early next year...more

Former Rent-A-Center CEO Bud Gates To Keynote RentDirect Nationwide
Former Rent-A-Center (RCII) CEO and pioneer of the rent-to-own industry Bud Gates will keynote the RentDirect session being held during the Nationwide PrimeTime! buying show in at the Hilton Anatole in Dallas, Texas March 2-5, 2008...more

Nebraska Senator Chuck Hagel Supports Rental Purchase Agreement Act; Senate Cosponsor At 21
Nebraska senior Senator Chuck Hagel (R) has cosponsored the Senate version of the Consumer Rental Purchase Agreement Act of 2007 (S 1012). The addition of Hagel brings the total number of US Senators in the 110th Congress supporting federal legislation regulating the rent to own industry to 21. See RTO Online's Complete Senate Contact List and Facebook...more

Veterans Day is November 11th; Veterans Day History, Facts
Veterans Day originated as "Armistice Day" on Nov. 11, 1919, the first anniversary of the end of World War I...more
 

Highest Online Usage By Small Business Owners Tied to Industry-Specific Web Sites
Nineteen percent of owners polled by Discover Financial Services said they were a member of an online community that was specific to their industry, which was higher than their reported participation at some of the more popular general-interest sites, which attracted from 3 percent to 18 percent of small business owners...more

Small Business Owner Confidence Continues Decline
On the brighter side, the survey found fewer owners were having temporary cash flow issues, 42 percent, compared to 46 percent in September...more

Providence Rhode Island Mayor's Task Force Recommends Allowing City To Ban Rent to Own And Other Services
The Providence Task Force final recommendation states that the City should include legislation in its state legislative package creating state laws banning services such as check-cashers, rent-to-own stores, payday loans, and refund anticipatory loans...more

Employee Confidence In Economy Drops Slightly In October
Last month's decrease in overall confidence was minimal, however, and expected during periods of economic uncertainty...more

Soaps Or NASCAR - Women More Likely To Watch Sports; Marketers Should Focus On Sports To Reach Key Demo
Which is more effective for reaching female consumers, advertising on soap operas or during NFL games? If you guessed soap operas, you would be very wrong. Aaron Rents is one company that has found success in sports marketing....more

New York State Rental Dealers To Combat Negative Rent to Own Industry Perceptions
"Our industry works hard to provide high-quality rental goods and services that are valued by our customer and our members strive to support the communities where our stores are located. That’s the positive side to our industry that needs to be communicated to many audiences." - Cathy Skula, Regional Director, Rent-A-Center...more
 

Krygoske and Wood Open Portage Indiana Premier Rental Purchase
According to Ted Krygoske, the most exciting part of RTO is opening up a store. It’s what he did for a major RTO company until he discovered it was even better to open up his own store. He made that discovery in 2005 as a new Premier Rental-Purchase franchisee in Knox, Indiana. And now once again he’s enjoying that thrill in Portage, Indiana where he opened a second store in August...more

Rentcash to Webcast November 8th Conference Call
A link to the live webcast will be available from My RTO Portfolio...more

easyhome Reports Same Store Sales Up 8.9%; Revenue Up 17.8%; Earnings Flat
"A solid platform is in place for future growth in Canada, and we have had a healthy start with our first stores in the United States and there is significant interest from potential U.S. franchisees." - Donald K. Johnson, Chairman of the Board...more

Fed Updates Consumer Lease Disclosure Requirements
The Federal Reserve Board on Thursday announced the adoption of amendments to five consumer financial services and fair lending regulations, including the Regulation M which implements the Consumer Leasing Act...more

RTO Online Reports 5.5 Million Page Views In October; Releases Website Traffic Results
RTOonline.com registered over 5.5 million page views in October, 2007. The average visitor viewed a record 17.17 pages per visit in October, a 50% increase over the same period in 2006. Total page views saw a 65% increase over October 2006...more

Rent’N Go Supports National Beat the Heat, Cops & Kids Program
Rent to Own custom wheel franchisor Rent’N Go is supporting the Cops & Kids Beat the Heat program in partnership with the National Hot Rod Association...more

RentDirect Nationwide Predicts Record Attendance For March Buying Show
The March buying show will be the biggest ever in the history of Nationwide and RentDirect. With as many as 200 rent to own companies attending, it will also be the largest largest gathering of RTO dealers of the entire year...more

Sharp Reclaims Top Position in LCD and Flat Panel TV Shipments; Panasonic Leads In Plasma
Sharp led the North American LCD TV market with an 11.3% share, rising from #3 in Q2'07, on 65% quarter over quarter and 88% year over year growth. This is the first time since 2005 that Sharp has led LCD market share...more

Sub Prime Fallout Hurts Payday Loan Collections; QC Holdings Reports Dramatic Increase In Loan Losses; Same Store Sales Up 17%
"As the economy continues to grapple with the fallout from the sub-prime loan and other related difficulties, it is reasonable that our customers would feel the challenges associated with this type of macroeconomic stress and our ability to collect on defaulted loans would be more difficult." - Darrin Andersen, President and Chief Operating Officer, QC Holdings...more

FTC Publishes Final Identity Theft Rules
The final rules require each financial institution and creditor that holds any consumer account, or other account for which there is a reasonably foreseeable risk of identity theft, to develop and implement an Identity Theft Prevention Program...more
 

Fed to Banks, Get A Piece Of Payday Loan Pie; FDIC Launches Study to Identify Profitable Alternatives to Payday Loans
Profitable loans to the millions of payday loan consumer in the U.S. is the carrot. The stick is the Community Reinvestment Act...more

Wal-Mart Jumps The Black Friday Gun; Will Reduce Pricing Three Weeks Early
Wal Mart announced today that it would offer black-Friday prices three weeks early. The nation's largest retailer is expected to reduce prices on certain electronics items beginning Friday, November 2nd...more

Dollar Financial Same Store Sales Up 7.3%; Revenue Up 26.5%
"Total revenue growth of 26.5% and pro forma net income growth of 46.7% underscore the continued success of our multi-country, multi-product, multi-channel strategy." - Jeff Weiss, Chairman and CEO, Dollar Financial...more

Consumers Will Shop Later, Spend Less This Holiday
"Our findings suggest that consumers are tightening their wallets this year more so than last year." Tod Marks, senior editor, Consumer Reports...more

Only 13% Of US Households Have HDTV; Nielsen Releases HDTV Household Estimates
According to the latest Nielsen Company data released today, only 13.7% of TV households in the U.S. are equipped with an HD television and HD tuner capable of receiving signals in High Definition...more

Extend The Life Of Rental Appliances With Anti Vibration KE Shake Away Pads
Using pads ensures that the vibration and noise is dramatically reduced, extending the life of rental merchandise and improving the customer's experience...more
 

Consumer Confidence Declines For Third Consecutive Month
Consumer Confidence posted its third monthly decline and continues to hover at two-year lows...more

Demographic Study of Payday Loan Consumers Blows Away Consumer Activists View; Consumers Deliberately Choose Payday Loans Over Banks And Credit Unions
Contrary to claims by consumer activists, the average payday loan customer is employed, educated and is not representative of 'low income' households. The most recent demographic study of Payday Loan customers in Canada found the average payday loan customer is 40 years old, 77% of customers are currently employed full-time and more than half (53%) have completed post-secondary education....more

30% Say Total Revenue Most Important Measure Of RTO Store's Success
When forced to choose one, 29.89% of rent-to-own professionals say Total Revenue is the most important variable in judging a rent to own store's performance. 23.56% said Customer Count is most important. Total BOR (units on rent) rounded out the top three with 17.24%...more

LG Leads In Washer Dryer Customer Satisfaction For Second Year; 25% of Consumers Purchase Extended Warranties For Home Appliances Despite Reliability
For two consecutive years, Bosch has ranked highest in the dishwashers segment and LG has ranked highest among clothes washers, while Samsung has earned an award in a refrigerator segment for three consecutive years...more

Survey; Stress Management Key to Employee Retention
"It's not just about treating the symptoms of stress with massages and yoga classes, but actually delving into the company's work processes and culture to figure out potential causes of pressure such as lack of supervisor and co-worker support, inadequate feedback, workload or scheduling issues." - Kathie Lingle, Director, Alliance for Work-Life Progress...more
 

Rent-A-Center Same Store Sales Drop 1.8%; Settles Walker Class Action for $3.6 Million
"Our third quarter financial results for total revenue and earnings per diluted share were within our guidance range; however, the business environment was very challenging throughout the quarter." - Mark Speese, Chairman and CEO, Rent-A-Center...more

Poll; What is The Most Important Factor In Judging A Rent to Own Store's Performance?
RTO Online wants to know what you think. Please complete the following poll. We realize that all factors have some level of relevance, but which is "first among equals." Results will be displayed after you vote. Comments are welcome...more

HD DVD Versus Blu-Ray Format War - Who Cares?; Consumers Avoid Both Formats
CDs and DVDs both offered a clear value proposition to consumers when they were introduced to the marketplace. There was a visible difference in the experience that was easily grasped. The real competitor that both these formats face is not each other, but rather low cost DVD players with up-scaling capabilities that pass the ‘good enough’ test for most consumers.”...more

Whirlpool Sends 35 Employees and $250,000 To Support Habitat for Humanity's Jimmy Carter Project in Los Angeles
To help additional families in one of the most expensive and overcrowded metropolitan areas in the United States, Habitat for Humanity Greater Los Angeles made a three-year commitment to build and repair 150 additional homes throughout the area to help more low-income families...more

Margaret Casey Named Programming Director For Las Vegas Furniture Market
Casey has been hired to develop new initiatives and focused educational programs for the semi-annual Las Vegas Markets designed to engage, educate and empower retailers and the industry at large. Among her responsibilities will be to work collaboratively with a number of trade associations and organizations...more

Olevia 747i Named Best TV in Wired Magazine’s Test Issue
Wired Magazine's Winter 2008 Test Issue names the 47" Olevia 747i LCD HDTV "best of test" in the 38 to 49-inch category. Street price for the 747i is $2,499....more

Center for Women’s Business Research To Build National Research Panel of Women Business Owners
The research panel will complement other research methodologies used by the Center to generate knowledge about women business owners and their enterprises...more

New York ColorTyme Collects Canned Goods To Feed Over 800 People
The Queensbury, New York ColorTyme collected enough food to feed 880 people during this month's Canned Food Drive to benefit The Open Door Soup Kitchen - serving the the hunger needs of the local poor and homeless community...more

Small Business Creates 1.9 Million Net New Jobs, Latest Data Shows
In 2006, the nation had an estimated 26.8 million small businesses, of which 6.1 million were employer firms...more
 

British Columbia Passes Law to Regulate Payday Loan Industry
"The Government of British Columbia has shown great leadership in wanting to protect consumers and allow for a viable payday loan industry." - Stan Keyes, President of the Canadian Payday Loan Association...more

Seven Term Mississippi Representative Roger Wicker Supports Rental Purchase Agreement Act; House Cosponsor Count at 61
Congressman Wicker has served Mississippi's First Congressional District since 1995. He was re-elected to a seventh term in November 2006. Prior to going to Congress, he was elected to two terms in the Mississippi State Senate, serving from 1987-1994...more