The shipping and delivery market is not doing well right now. Companies are facing bigger losses and have to do something about it because they simply cannot lay off any more people.

So now, these companies are going to start raising rates and it’s going to begin with the world’s biggest shipper: UPS.

In 2010, the company has announced that it plans to hike rates an average of almost 5% for ground packages and nearly 7% for air packages. If you thought shipping something “express” was expensive before…it just got even worse.

UPS isn’t the only company to step forward and say that it plans on increasing rates, FedEx has also said that it plans on raising rates by an average of 6% starting in January. However, FedEx didn’t give specifics because it raises rates every year by about 6%.

The only company that has said that it won’t be raising rates so far is the USPS which is odd considering how many billions of dollars it has lost in the past year. Regardless, it has announced that the price of a stamp won’t be going up.

This means that if you want to ship something, it will obviously start to cost you more. At an increase of 7%, the shipping increase is now more expensive than tax in my state. I agree that companies should raise their rates, however. It isn’t like no one knew that they would be raising rates.

At one point, online shopping was cheap because not only were items less expensive than in brick and mortar stores, but because many stores didn’t charge tax and shipping was relatively inexpensive, it was just simple to shop online. There are now stores that have decided to begin charging tax on items and shipping has gotten outrageous. On small items, a $10 shipping charge is a bit much. Recently I purchased a few makeup items and the shipping was actually more expensive than the order!

Starting as small business can be difficult and time consuming. Here are a few tips to help the process go smoother:

Save up as much money as possible before starting.
It is too often that people go into a business without any form of savings and only borrow money from banks, friends, and the small business association. No business needs to start out in debt. Many think that they can just simply start a business and begin making money, but it usually takes months or years to actually profit from a business. The last thing that you want to do is take out a home equity line of credit to fund your business because that is the best way to lose your house if things were to go south for your business.

Start on a shoestring.
Start small. You shouldn’t just rent a building or office space to work at and begin hiring employees. If you look at the first tip and have already made that mistake, then don’t make this one. You can only have employees once you have enough work to keep them business. Some people who start their businesses small start in their homes. Many even take losses on what they pay themselves to get the business off the ground.

Protect your personal assets.
You have to be able to protect whats yours when it come to your business. When you start your own business, you become liable for all the debts that your business incurs, including loans, money owed to suppliers, taxes, etc. The problem is, if you aren’t careful and don’t protect yourself, a creditor may be able to come after you and your personal assets.
The best way to protect yourself, especially if you plan on running up big debts, is to form a corporation or a limited liability company. It isn’t much more difficult than forming any kind of sole proprietorship and protects your personal assets.

Make a business plan, no matter how short.
You need to be able to have a long term business plan, you really need to know where the business is going and how it plans to get there, at least how it does it in your mind. You can obviously tinker around with your business idea every now and again, especially when the environment changes or you begin making or losing money, but the core business plan should be there…in writing…from the start.

Get and keep a competitive edge.
I think that if you have a great product, then with a bit of marketing and money behind it, people will buy it. However, if your product or service isn’t competitive, it will be very hard to play “catch-up” with the players already in the field. I call this a “chase” strategy in marketing and it doesn’t often end too well. You really need to have that competitive edge against those who are entering the market or are already in the market if you want to succeed.

Some of the domestic banks had even received their own share of government bailout money.

Eighty percent of AIG is owned by the U.S. government and the taxpayers. It has received over $170 billion inn bailout money and was one of the firms that was “too large to fail.”

Some of the biggest recipients of the AIG money were Goldman Sachs at $12.9 billion, and three European banks — France’s Societe Generale at $11.9 billion, Germany’s Deutsche Bank at $11.8 billion, and Britain’s Barclays PLC at $8.5 billion. Merrill Lynch, which also is undergoing federal scrutiny of its bonus plans, received $6.8 billion as of Dec. 31.

The money went to banks to cover their losses on complex mortgage investments, as well as for collateral needed for other transactions.

Other banks receiving between $1 billion and $3 billion from AIG’s securities lending unit include Citigroup Inc., Switzerland’s UBS AG and Morgan Stanley.

Source

At the trial on Thursday, where he told the judge today he would plead guilty, he is expected to hear from 25 jilted investors who lost their life savings in his scams. While they are unlikely to receive any kind of compensation for their, most likely, heart felt testimony, the judge will also hear it and be able to sentence this criminal to jail for at least the rest of his life.

From the AP:

Subaru’s December sales fell 7.7 percent to 17,287 units from 18,739 in December 2007, as a big increase in Forester sales failed to overcome declines in its remaining models.

But Subaru sales for all of 2008 rose by 0.3 percent to 187,699 vehicles from 187,208 in 2007, as consumers snapped up its top-selling Forester and Impreza models. The company is likely to be the sole large automaker to report higher sales for 2008, as the troubled economy pummeled new car sales across the industry.

Source

China’s Dairy Industry Association announced that 22 producers will make a one time payment to the families of the victims, but did not disclose a dollar amount. The companies decided to compensate the families on their own accord because Chinese courts haven’t accepted one lawsuit so far filed by the families.

Melamine was used to artificially increase protein levels in the milk that the dairy suppliers watered down after purchased from farmers.

At least the families will be getting something, meaning that the problem was at least acknowledged and the companies are feeling some sort of remorse.
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In the 1920′s and 30′s depression, the government didn’t intervene before it was too late. Now, our government has taken many steps to stave off a depression. The FDIC is already in place, so there hasn’t been a run on the banks. There are federal work programs in place as well as unemployment insurance, so I don’t see unemployment reaching the 25% it was back then. Also, we aren’t facing a natural disaster like we did then (the Dust Bowl).

The government now, though, needs to put in regulations on the market. The SEC was created in the Great Depression, now there needs to be some other regulations put in place to help cut the losses and keep the credit crisis from happening again.

It lost $4.97 per share in the quarter ended Nov. 30, last year in the same quarter it earned $3.17 billion or just over $7 a share.

Other investment and banking firms are expected to report losses this week also. Amid the current financial crisis, there isn’t a lot of good news floating around on Wall Street, or any financial sector.

Goldman Sachs posts first loss since going public – Yahoo! News

Analysts are predicting 3 million more job losses between now and spring 2010.

Not that any time of the year is a good time to lose your job, but especially around this time of year. Many families will have to scale down the holidays this year, or skip the gift giving altogether.

You have to really dig around to find the good news in all the economic bad news. Even experts are saying the economy is in a free-fall.

Half-million jobs vanish as economy deteriorates

Capital One says it expects cumulative losses from the acquisition, but the purchase of the bank will give Capital One a greater presence in the Washington D.C. area. That could also help those in need of loans because Captial One would be able to lend more at a less expensive rate.

With the fed reducing rates, unemployment on the rise, companies posting consecutive losses, and other problems building up, there is little to look forward to in the near future.

The company said that it plans to scale down marketing, development, and technology advancements to help with the budget cut. As a result, most of the 7,000 employees to be laid off will be management.

Here’s another big company that has to reduce their workforce to cut the budget. It seems like this scenerio is happening more and more. With retail sales down and people more focused on not using their credit cards, American Express is likely not to be the only company to resort to huge layoffs.

In a recent trip to Jackson, MS my husband and I noticed that the one store in Ridgeland looked closed, all the time. It wasn’t until later I realized it wasn’t.

With the new health craze, the doughnut king has fallen. Doughnuts are the epitome of sugar and grease, so therefore have no place in our health conscious society.

Now, to increase profits and minimize losses, Krispy Kreme is going to offer new menu items like ice cream and make stores smaller (opting not to have stores that produce the sugary concoction in view of customers). Oh well, hopefully a microwaveable doughnut will still be acceptable.

It doesn’t help that people are more and more unhappy with airline service. People are paying more for tickets and also having to pay for things that were always free like sodas and the first checked bag. I have never been a frequent flier. I’ve only really flown 5 times. I do look though. I mean, if we wanted to take a trip somewhere besides Memphis, St. Louis, Atlanta, or the Gulf Coast, we’d have to fly, because I’m not driving. We drove to Dallas in January and I promised Chris I would never drive that far again.

Airlines are talking about becoming more fuel efficient. They have a long journey ahead of them to find something that will get them off the ground though. It takes a lot of energy to keep a plane in the air. So good luck airlines.

Next week we’ll see the reports from Washington Mutual (woohoo) and Wachovia. They are expected to report losses as well. Of course, you know why everyone is reporting losses? I won’t default on my credit cards because I’m working hard to build my credit.

I’d like to see how my creditors are doing. I can’t think of who they are off the top of my head, but I think I’m keeping them in business with my student loan debt. It could be worse I suppose.