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North Carolina Representative Hayes Cosponsors Rental Purchase Agreement Act For First Time; House Count at 57, Senate 19
Although he voted in favor of the Consumer Rental Purchase Agreement Act in 2001, North Carolina Representative Hayes has never before cosponsored an industry supported bill...more

Who Uses Payday Loans?; CPLA Publishes Surprising Demographic Survey of Canadian Payday Loan Consumers
"This data puts to rest a number of widely-held misconceptions about the payday loan industry. For the first time, we can now talk about this industry's customers in terms that are real and statistically-relevant." - Michael Marzolini, Chairman, Pollara...more

DC City Council Approves Payday Lending Act; Bans Short Term Lending In District
"The Council members who voted to eliminate payday lending in DC will have to answer to the tens of thousands of citizens who will be left without a regulated, short-term credit option and the employees left without a job and health care benefits." - Darrin Andersen, President of the Community Financial Services Association of America...more

HDTV Prices To Plummet; Units Will Top 2007 Holiday Shopping Lists
"High Definition Televisions top consumers’ holiday wish list, most likely due to plummeting price tags for these product." - Stephanie Ethier, In-Stat analyst...more

England Retires From La-Z-Boy; Otis Sawyer, SVP Ops, Named Successor
England has had a career spanning 43 years, beginning as a teenager working the delivery dock of his grandfather's store...more
 

New York Rental Dealers Donate Computers To Learning Centers
Companies donating computers on behalf of NYSRDA include Rent-A-Center, SEI/Aaron's, Great Rentals, and Syracuse Rental Systems Inc. dba Premier Rental Purchase...more

Check n' Go Claims Payday Advance “Whistleblower” A Convicted Felon; Falsified Employment Records
The company believes that the former employees worked with the Center for Responsible Lending to mislead the public in order to cause intentional harm to Check ‘n Go and to influence public perception and the legislative process. The company also claims that Center for Responsible Lending and the former employees employed questionable tactics, such as unauthorized eavesdropping and otherwise illegally obtaining confidential communications...more

Dick Armey, FreedomWorks Hammer EU Ruling Against Microsoft
At the end of the day, this was a case about rival companies bickering about market share, not a case of consumer harm. Some companies may appreciate the big stick provided by European regulators, but consumers will see little benefit...more

42% of Online Consumers Switch To Competitor After Experiencing Online Transaction Issues; Another 52% Experienced Bad Customer Service at a Contact Center
Bad customer service received from contact centers led to a second wave of abandonment, resulting in major business impacts -- about half of those who experienced bad customer service from a company's contact center decided to stop doing business with the company entirely...more

Half Of Consumers Filling Out Online Financial Services Applications Abandon The Process Midstream
As consumers continue to utilize the internet in greater numbers to purchase financial services products online, there is a critical need to understand why more than half of online applicants abandon the application process midstream...more

Digital Camera Inventor Steve Sasson Gets Consumer Electronics Hall Of Fame Nod
In 1975 while working at Eastman Kodak Company, Sasson accepted the challenge of building a camera using solid state electronics. In 1978, he and his supervisor, Gareth A. Lloyd, were issued a U.S. patent for the first digital camera...more

Job, Local Economy Fears Drive U.S. Consumer Confidence To 16-Month Low
Expectations about job loss grew gloomier as only 49 per cent of consumers reported that it is unlikely they or someone they know will lose their job in the next six months, down from 56 per cent last month...more
 

Premier Companies 2008 Convention Set For San Antonio
The Premier Companies will hold its 2008 franchisee convention at the La Mansion del Rio in San Antonio, Texas January 21-24...more

High Point Market To Feature Showroom Competition
A panel of consumer and trade magazine editors from ten leading publications will serve as judges for the competition...more

Poll; People Twice As Likely To Trust Bloggers Than Congress
Distrust of elected members of Congress and Senate is consistent among both sexes and all age groups...more

Environmentally Friendly Retail Marketing; Hype or Consumer Preference
Environmentally friendly products and services are all the buzz. But is it just politically correct noise, or are consumers willing to pay more for eco-friendly products? According to a recent Maritz Retail Group poll, a slim majority are not...more

Gateway Tops Customer Satisfaction Poll
For the past year, Gateway's mean satisfaction rating has been significantly higher than the industry average...more

Pressure Building On Retailers To Ad Local Online Advertising
As more consumers let their fingers do the walking across a keyboard instead of a phone directory to locate nearby businesses, the millions of US small and midsize companies will be compelled to follow them...more

Powerlock Shipping Wireless Custom Wheel Anti-Theft System
The company claims the Wheel Safe system installs easily and permanently to the inside of the wheel and will not affect the wheel balance...more

The Innovative Conservative; An exclusive podcast interview with Gary Ferriman, owner of Showplace Rent-to-Own
Gary Ferriman is the owner of Showplace Rent to Own, operating 14 locations in Northern Ohio. Showplace began as a retailer in 1982 and became one of the first rent-to-own companies in the region, adding the RTO purchase option to TVs and satellite systems in 1983...more

RTO Expo Wraps; Podcast Interview With Association President Mike Tissot
"We can make sure that all of our professionals are truly professional. If we can teach that skill, then our image and our business will improve." - Excertpt from RTO Online's podcast interview with Mike Tissot, president of the Ohio Rental Dealers Association...more

Religion At Work; Companies Struggle to Accommodate Employees' Religions
Religious beliefs need not be acceptable, logical, consistent, or comprehensible to others in order to merit protection according to the law...more

HP Maintains Top Position in Worldwide Notebook PC Shipments
HP maintained its leading position in worldwide notebook PC shipments for the third consecutive quarter, with 4.7 million units shipped...more
 

Matt Baker Opens Covington Georgia Premier Rental Purchase
Matt’s long-established business philosophy is simple and always on the tip of his tongue: customer satisfaction comes first. Not unlike other Premier dealers, he also sees this philosophy as vital to success...more

Bestway Rent-to-Own Convention In Full Swing; Interview With CEO David Kraemer
Sales at Bestway are tracking well above last year. The challenge now, says Kraemer, is adding increased retention to those sales. "Deliveries are up well over 20% in the last nine months but we're seeing returns creep up. We feel like we can improve results by focusing on keeping customers rather chasing after new ones"...more

RentDirect Nationwide Extends PrimeTime! Show Specials To APRO Convention
RentDirect Nationwide has selected some of the most popular offers from their recent PrimeTime! buying show and extended them for APRO’s upcoming convention in Reno. These limited time offers will be available exclusively to attending RentDirect Nationwide members...more

Liberal Group Plans "Tell-All" Payday Loan Press Conference
The press conference will be hosted by D.C. Councilwoman Mary Cheh and will feature former payday loan company employees as "whistleblowers"...more

Mizati's Wheel Lots Custom Wheel Rental Reports Sluggish First Month
"Most people think summer is an opportune time for retail businesses; however, based on our research of similar retail stores, we know that this is not the case." - Hazel Cu, CEO, Mizati Luxury Wheels...more

Over 80% Of Small Business Decision Makers Research New Products Online; Online Buys To Exceed $70 Billion by 2012
82 percent of small business decision makers research products or services for their business online, monthly or more frequently. As relationships with online suppliers mature, small businesses are likely to provide them with greater portion of their business...more
 

Barack Obama Generates More Unique Website Visitors Than Top Three Republicans Combined; Thompson Leads Among Republicans
BarackObama.com, HillaryClinton.com and John Edwards.com had 1.5 million unique visitors in July. This compared to an anemic 621,000 reported for the websites of Fred Thompson, Rudy Giuliani and Mitt Romney - the top three republican sites...more

LCD Shipments Continue Growth; Dell Leads Worldwide Shipments
Dell remained top worldwide vendor for LCD monitors. LGE showed the biggest quarter over quarter unit volume growth, rising 15% quarter over quarter...more

Las Vegas Furniture Market ‘Topping Out’ Ceremony For Building C
The 2.1 million square-foot building is scheduled for completion in 2008 and will open during the Summer Las Vegas Furniture Market, taking place July 28 through Aug. 1, 2008...more

Silko Named Official TRIB Vendor
SILKO is nearing completion of its interactive website. Once complete, RTO customers will be able to place orders instantly...more

Two Southern Republicans Cosponsor Rental Purchase Agreement Act; House Count at 55, Senate 18
Tennessee Republican Representative Marsha Blackburn and Florida Republican Representative Tom Feeney, have cosponsored the House version of the Consumer Rental Purchase Agreement Act of 2007 (H.R. 1767). Blackburn and Feeney bring the total House cosponsor count for the 110th Congress to 55...more

Employee Confidence Down in August; Over One-Third of Workers May Seek New Jobs in the Next 12 Months
37 percent of workers surveyed are likely to look for a new job in the next 12 months, compared to 36 percent in the previous month...more

Online Advertising To Surpass Radio Spend By End of 2007
"Advertisers should not abandon radio in favor of the Web, but combine the two to take advantage of the unique attributes of each." - Ben Macklin, Senior Analyst, eMarketer...more

Former Nationwide Club Administrators Exec David Kaye Joins Benefit Marketing Solutions
Kaye will begin his role on September 10th with attendance at the annual Florida Rental Dealers Association meeting in Tampa, Florida...more

High Point Furniture Market To Host Reception For Vendors, Sales Reps Prior To Market Open
"We created this new event because we want to have an opportunity to show our appreciation for them and their hard-working sales forces." - Brian D. Casey, President . High Point Market Authority...more
 

West Virginia Attorney General McGraw Sues 17 Internet Payday Lenders; Files Contempt of Court Against 10 Others
In late 2005, McGraw’s office commenced an investigation of companies making payday loans to West Virginia consumers over the Internet. According to McGraw, 28 Internet payday lenders have signed settlement agreements promising to stop making and collecting payday loans...more

Use of Social Security Numbers Causing Increased Concern; Eighty Nine Percent of Americans Want Lawmakers to Restrict Use
The poll also revealed 78 percent of Americans would prefer not to provide their number, but are concerned about the consequences of refusing to do so. Social Security numbers are routinely required by rent-to-own companies as part of the application process...more

Country's Largest Buy-Here-Pay-Here Automobile Company Continues To Struggle; CEO T.J. Falgout Steps Down; President to Take Over As CEO
T.J. Falgout, CEO of America's Car-Mart, the largest publicly held automotive retailer in the United States focused exclusively on the "Buy Here/Pay Here" segment of the used car market, will step down effective October 16, 2007...more

Tight Credit Market Has Small Business Owners Concerned; Optimism Drops In July
"Economic fundamentals remain solid but the chill of tighter credit is curbing small business owner optimism at a time when the vibrancy of consumer demand is in doubt." - Dr. Scott Anderson, Wells Fargo senior economist...more

La-Z-Boy Sells Pennsylvania House To Universal
"The 'value added' of consumer brands coupled with better-end products made in China is a direction we feel will ultimately create a 'win-win' equation for the corporation and our Universal Furniture retail dealer base." - Kevin O'Connor, President and CEO of Samson Marketing, parent company of Universal...more

Havertys August Sales Plunge 10%; CEO Sees Some Signs Of Market Improvement
"Early September sales are trending better with total written business for the Labor Day weekend off 3% compared to last year's mid-teen percentage increase." - Clarence H. Smith, President and CEO, Havertys...more
 

Toshiba Shipping World's Thinnest LCD TV
"Our new 40" SNB model fits in the space of a standard Toshiba 37. Consumers can now fit a 40" model into their existing home theater furniture." - Scott Ramirez, Toshiba America's Vice President of Marketing...more

Poll Shows Conservatives Favor Fred Thompson Over Next Closest Republican 2-1 Even Before Announcement
When asked whom they would vote for if the Republican primary were held today, 28 percent preferred Fred Thompson (up from 26 percent in May), whose closest rival, Mitt Romney, gained 14 percent of the vote...more

Government Accountability Office Finds Serious Flaws In Department of Defense Payday Loan Ban
"Our suspicion that the DOD worked closely with payday lending critics and relied on limited information and flawed methodology to come up with their recommendations has been confirmed." - Darrin Andersen, President, CFSA...more

Apple Launches Wireless iTunes; Wi Fi Downloads Expected To Boost Already Soaring iPod Sales
In a move sure to boost the already monster sales volume of Apple iPods and iPhones, Apple unveiled the iTunes Wi-Fi Music Store, offering consumers the ability to browse, search, preview, purchase and download songs and albums from the iTunes Music Store over a Wi-Fi network directly onto their iPod touch or iPhone...more

Brand Value Of Being Green; American Consumers Influenced By Environmental Initiatives
Regardless of your personal view of global warming or the impact of technology on the environment, the average consumer cares very deeply. That's the indication of a recent Ipsos survey of 1,300 Americans on the brand value of being Green...more

Acer Adds Blu-Ray To Notebooks As High Definition Demand Grows
Through the first half of 2007, Blu-ray Disc movie titles have accounted for 66% of the high definition movie sales in the US and 60% of high definition movie sales in Europe...more

Employee Turnover On The Rise; Hiring Manager Survey Indicates Wage Increases On Horizon
Thirty-one percent of hiring managers said their firms have instituted new policies and programs to increase staff retention rates in the last 12 months. Primary measures taken include bonuses (23 percent), increasing pay (16 percent), improving the office environment (15 percent)...more
 

Slippery Slope; Consumer Groups Want More Rules For Lending To Military Men and Women
Just days after the Pentagon released rules capping interest rates at 36% for loans made to service members, consumer groups are already whining for more...more

Best Buy Founder Richard “Dick” Schulze Voted into Consumer Electronics Hall Of Fame Hall of Fame
Best Buy was founded in 1966, when Schulze opened the first Sound of Music store, an audio components systems retailer in St. Paul, Minnesota...more

Rentcash Net Falls 80% Year Over Year; Spin-off Of Ailing Rent-to-Own Division Nears
After removing the rental division's operations, Rentcash's net income for the year ended June 30, 2007 would have been approximately $8.4 million, compared to the reported amount of $5.9 million...more

American Furniture Manufacturing Acquired; Top Management To Stay On
American Furniture Manufacturing operates 29 production lines from a 1.1 million square-foot facility, encompassing both stationary and motion product categories...more

RTO Online Releases Website Traffic Numbers For August, 2007
RTOonline.com registered over 410,000 visitor sessions* and 4.2 million page views in August, 2007; an 83% increase in visitor sessions over August 2006...more

Wal-Mart To Recruit Local Operators For Bedding Shops Inside Super Centers
Each location will be managed by a local, established bedding retailer who knows the local market, is seasoned in the bedding business and operates the store as an independent retailer...more

ColorTyme Icon Pat Sumner Leaves Corporate To Become Franchisee; Plans Dallas - Ft. Worth Franchise
"For some time, I’ve entertained the idea of opening my own ColorTyme store, now my family and I have reached the point where we’re ready to take that step." - Pat Sumner, Director of Franchise Development, ColorTyme...more

Buying Group Reports Continued Momentum Despite Challenging Market; Selling the experience works for independent retailers
"Collectively, our group members experienced double digit growth in unit sales for flat panels last year." - Mike Decker, Vice President of Marketing, Electronics, Nationwide Marketing Group...more

Rent-A-Center Sponsors Child Safety Event In New York; Program endorsed by National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
"Rent-A-Center has a strong commitment to the communities in which it does business." - Cathy Skula, Regional Director, Rent-A-Center...more

Stealth Security Announces New Video Surveillance Product for RTO
Stealth Security, a leading provider of video surveillance for the rent-to-own (RTO) and home-goods leasing industry, announced a new video security product for rental-purchase companies...more

RTO Online Launches YouTube Video Channel; Rent to Own Industry News Channel Will Include Popular RTO Online Podcasts
"As the primary information source for the rent-to-own and home-goods trade, RTO Online continues to find new ways to share information with the over 50,000 rental purchase professionals in North America, Europe, Australia, Asia and around the world." - Roy Griffaw, President and CEO of RTO Online Inc...more

Sharp Increase European LCD Capacity With Plant Opening In Poland
Like the US, Europe has been experiencing increasing demand for LCD TVs. It is estimated that demand will grow to 36 million units by 2011, accounting for 30% of worldwide LCD TV demand. Now that the time frame to phase out analog broadcasts has been decided on in Europe, Sharp officials believe demand for large full-HD LCD TVs on the continent will increase even more...more

High Point Furniture Market Announces Fall Entertainment Lineup
Market-goers will also want to check out the “Parties in the Courtyard” series, featuring live entertainment and complimentary food and drinks in the Century Courtyard at Market Square, 6-8 p.m. nightly...more

LCD TV, Notebook and Monitor Shipments Post Record Highs; 32" Continues To Dominate; 52" Shows Impressive Growth
LCD TV panel shipments hit an all-time high in July with 7.2 million units shipped, up 72% from July, 2006. The most popular LCD TV size continued to be 32", with a 36.2% shipment share in July, followed by 26" at #2 with 13.0% shipment share...more
 

Gateway Rated Number One in Customer Satisfaction for Third Consecutive Quarter
Gateway rated significantly higher than the industry average in replacement parts availability and ease of doing business...more

Workplace Unfairness Costing U.S. Employers $64 Billion Annually in Employee Turnover
"Unfairness in the form of everyday inappropriate behaviors is a very real, prevalent and damaging part of today's work environment." - Freada Kapor Klein, Ph.D., Chair, Level Playing Field Institute...more

easyhome CEO Delivers Backpacks In Big Yellow Bus; Event Caps Another Successful Backpack Challenge
David Ingram, President & CEO of easyhome, Canada's largest rent-to-own company, rode a BIG YELLOW school bus to drop off 200 backpacks to the Hamilton East Kiwanis Boys and Girls Club. The event capped off another successful Backpack Challenge for easyhome. The company's employees and vendors raised enough money to purchase 2,000 backpacks full of school supplies for needy children across Canada...more

D&H Distributing Expands Rent-to-Own Industry Incentive Rewards Program
"We're working to grow our customer base in the RTO marketplace. By adding HE and digital lifestyle items to the list of IT products that were already part of the incentive program, we're extending its usefulness to a whole new community." - John Alifano, Manager, Home Entertainment Division, D&H Distributing...more

Median Income Rises, Poverty Rate Declines For First Time Since Millenium
Despite the hopes of consumer groups and doomsayers, the nation’s official poverty rate declined for the first time this decade...more

Consumers Cautious Survey Suggests
Consumers, once again, turned cautious in their short-term outlook. Those expecting business conditions to worsen in the next six months rose to 10.6 percent from 8.2 percent...more
 

U.S. Home Prices Post Record Decline; No Sign Of Slowing
"The year-over-year decline reported in the 2nd quarter of 2007 for the National Home Price Index is the lowest point in its reported history, which dates back to January 1987. On a regional level 17 of the 20 metro areas are showing declines in their annual growth rate from what was reported in May." - Robert J. Shiller, Chief Economist, MacroMarkets LLC...more

Rentcash to Webcast September 4th Conference Call
Rentcash operates 425 stores across Canada under three banners: The Cash Store, Instaloans and Insta-rent...more

Acer Acquires Gateway; Combined Company Will Be Third Largest PC Company in the World
Acer will purchase all the outstanding shares of Gateway for $1.90 per share. The acquisition has been unanimously approved by the boards of directors of both Gateway and Acer. Assuming government approval under Hart Scott Rodino, the acquisition is expected to close by December 2007...more

Only Eleven Percent Of Consumers Say Video Primary Reason To Buy Portable Media Player; Experts Predict That Will Change By 2009
Audio, not video, remains the primary reason consumers purchase media players...more

General Motors CEO Rick Wagoner To Keynote 2008 Consumer Electronics Show
Other CES keynote speakers include Microsoft’s Bill Gates, Panasonic’s Toshihiro Sakamoto and Intel’s Paul Otellini...more

Study Shows Sixty Four Percent Of Women Use Internet To Research Products After Seeing Ad
Marketers targeting moms through any kind of advertising campaign should be sure to integrate a well planned Search campaign. Sixty-four percent of women reported using a search engine to gather more information after seeing an advertisement...more

Sixty One Percent Of Americans Happy at Work; Westerners, Hispanics Happiest
A survey of U.S. workers conducted earlier this month by IPSOS Public Affairs found that 61 percent of American workers are very happy in their current positions. Those who are living in the West, married, and Hispanic showed the highest incidence of workplace contentment...more

Federal Reserve To Hold Underbanked Consumer Conference; BAI To Host Webinar on Tools for Unbanked Consumers
The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia and the Center for Financial Services Innovation are cosponsoring “Innovative Financial Tools for Serving the Underbanked,” a day-long conference on new products and services for underbanked consumers...more
 

September A Busy Month For RTO Pros; Upcoming Rent to Own Industry Events
The Bestway Rent to Own Annual Meeting and the Midwest RTO Expo will both be held in September. RTO Online is also planning other special events for the month for our 16,000 daily readers...more

Jim Ratner and John Reichenbach Partner In Maine Premier Rental Purchase
Jim and John had met at a Premier Rental-Purchase dealer convention in Miami not long before. And while there couldn’t be a more unlikely pair, according to Jim, their acquaintance has turned out to be an amazing partnership...more

Video
Video; Interview With Michael Garner, Director Of The Southeast Auto Rental Dealers Association
Michael Garner, Director of SEADRA, the South East Automobile Dealers’ Rental Association, explains how there’s never been a better time to get into the RTO automobile business...more

Did You Know?; Women Owned Businesses Grow At Twice The Rate Of All Others
Women-owned firms employ 13 million people and generate $1.9 trillion in sales...more

Croft Resigns As Mizati Chief Operating Officer
Less than 30 days after the grand opening the company's first custom wheel rent-to-own store, Mizati Luxury Alloy Wheels, Inc. Chief Operating Officer Fred Croft, has resigned citing personal reasons...more

Washington D.C. Residents To City Council; Payday Loans Should Not Be Your Priority Zogby Poll Shows
Less than one-half of one percent (.3%) believed that restricting payday loans should be the top priority of the Council. Issues such as education/schools (54.9%) and crime (18.4%) were thought to be much more important...more
 

Samsung Leads LCD Shipments In July
On a revenue basis, Samsung Electronics maintained its No. 1 position with a 22.8% market share, followed by LG.Philips LCD at 20.5% and AUO at 19.3%...more

Advance America Names Investment Banker O'Shaughnessy Chief Financial Officer, Executive Vice President, and Member of the Board
O'Shaughnessy will replace John I. Hill who will be leaving the Company after serving as its Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President for the last five years...more

Juvenile Furniture Expo Set For September 7 – 10; Retailers and Vendors Look Towards Growing Juvenile Category
"Right now, the trends to be looking for in juvenile furnishings include an increase in textured-type products and an increase in sustainable furnishings. Today’s youth, thankfully, are very much in tune with Mother Earth, more so than previous generations." - Delia Glass, President of the San Carlos, California-based California Kids...more

Survey Finds Correlation Between Willingness To Apologize and Income
High-earners apologize twice as often as low-earners, according to a study of 7,590 Americans, which found there to be a near perfect correlation between how much people earn and how often they say sorry...more

More Than One Use For RTO Store Surveillance Video
"We have used our video surveillance system many times to record video footage that has helped settle customer disputes, payment issues, locate missing merchandise and identify more than one thief." - Greg Christian, Store Manager, Aaron's, Corinth, Mississippi...more

Canon Named Best Manufacturer Of Digital Cameras
Kodak was the top manufacturer for digital cameras in the U.S. in 2005, but has now fallen to third place in terms of market share for 2006...more

RTO Solutions Saving Rent to Own Companies Time, Money
All the various products available through RTO Solutions are consolidated into one monthly invoice sent to home office and broken down by location and general ledger code. This dramatically cuts down the number of invoices and the cost of processing at home office adding more money to the bottom line...more

LG Front-Load Laundry Captures Number Market Share
Front-loaders represent more than 30 percent of all residential washers and dryers shipped in the United States so far this year, according to the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers...more