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America's trucking industry is in a dire state, which is bad news for the American economy because it serves as an indicator of the mood of consumers and their pocketbooks heading into the holiday season, one expert warned.

Does “Made in America” Still Matter to Consumers?Do American citizens care where their products come from? Well, it depends on who you ask.Over the past few decades, the importance of “Made in America”—labels on products indicating production was done in the U.S.—has ebbed and flowed. As China has grown into the United States’ economic rival and geopolitical adversary, the distinction between American-made and Chinese-made has resurfaced, even as some products have been mislabeled or locally produced but Chinese-owned.How do people currently feel? This chart uses survey responses from May 2023 out of Morning Consult, in which a representative sample of...

Weeks after admitting that some of its international-themed product labels might have fallen short of an “attempt at inclusiveness,” the grocery store chain Trader Joe’s is rejecting criticism of the labels — some with names like Trader José and Trader Ming’s — as racist. After an online petition denounced the company’s use of labels such as Arabian Joe’s, Trader Giotto’s and Trader Joe San as racist because it “exoticizes other cultures,” Trader Joe’s announced that it would keep names that it felt still resonated with customers.

Revealed: the truth at the bottom of a bourbon shot Scientists discover that spilt Jim Beam has forensic value. Share Tweet A drop of American whiskey evaporated to form a distinctive web-like pattern of solutes. Adapted from ACS Nano 2020 By Barry KeilyThe mark of a particular bourbon, it turns out, is not its taste, nor its price-point, nor even the clever design on its label.No. Scientists have now demonstrated that what truly distinguishes a drop of Bulleit from a drop of Knob Creek, or a snifter of Jimmy B from a slurp of Wild T is the mark it...

Key Points: Expired food is regularly sold to consumers via third-party vendors on Amazon. Amazon's marketplace has grown to millions of sellers, making it hard for the company to adequately police the platform. Many brands have grown so frustrated by the abundance of expired products that they're taking steps to clean up the marketplace themselves. ------------------------------------------------- Amazon's sprawling marketplace, consisting of millions of third-party sellers, has become a go-to site for many grocery shoppers, especially since the company's acquisition of Whole Foods over two years ago. But an increasing number of consumers are finding that, just as the broader Amazon...

New Coke was considered one of the biggest marketing blunders, but the soft drink company is now bringing back the item for a limited time as a partnership with the Netflix series “Stranger Things.” New Coke’s revival brought back memories of other product failures from major companies in the past. Here are some memorable blunders.

BEIJING (Reuters) - China will cut import tariffs on textile products and metals, including steel products, to 8.4 percent from 11.5 percent, effective Nov. 1, the finance ministry said on Sunday.

The not-especially-modestly titled Industrial Revolution III (IR3) is a next-gen 3D printer that will not only print out your designs, but will assemble them with your non-printable components to create fully functional, sophisticated products in one streamlined process. Creator Buzz Technology claims that this will encourage the reuse of neglected household items and electronics into new, useful items while advancing the development of 3D printing in professional and at-home maker scenes. According to the IR3′s creators, UK-based Buzz Technology, the 3D printer features a pick and place head that “enables it to produce fully assembled, working products incorporating electronics, motors,...

Israel will end its export of poultry and dairy produce to the European Union from Jewish communities beyond the Green Line, Israeli and European officials said on Sunday, according to AFP. The restrictions stem from directives issued by the European Commission in February and affect chicken and milk products from communities in eastern Jerusalem, the Golan Heights and Judea and Samaria. "In keeping with previous decisions, the EU no longer recognized the authority of the veterinary inspections services of Israel to approve the export of poultry and (dairy products), the origin of which are in settlements," a European official told...

The year is halfway over, but there's still plenty of time for new major tech products to hit the market. Here's a look at the most important stuff we're expecting to launch before the end of 2014. 1. All eyes are on Apple's iWatch. Apple is expected to launch its first major new product, the so-called iWatch, in October. According to numerous reports from sources like 9to5Mac, the iWatch will focus heavily on health and fitness monitoring. For example, it'll be able to track your steps, hydration, heart rate, and other vitals. The iWatch is also said to have a...

Rough day bunky? Obamacare got you down? WELL.... there is ALWAYS time for an INFOMERCIAL. My absolute favorite: "The Tiddy Bear". I am NOT going to explain it. You'll have to watch.

I'm sort of ashamed to admit that Friday night's baseball game between the San Francisco Giants and Colorado Rockies is the inspiration for this article. As a sidebar to the actual game itself, the broadcasters noted that someone had built a replica DeLorean hovercraft and was riding it around McCovey Cove in San Francisco, Calif.This got me thinking (yes, a replica hovercraft DeLorean inspired me; laugh all you want), what if we could travel into the past, or better yet, into the future to see what products, concepts, and ideas survived and which ones drifted away. Back to the...

In 2010, Chinese manufacturing surpassed the United States’ by $600 billion, raking in $1.92 trillion in domestically manufactured product sales compared to America’s $1.86 trillion. China is responsible for 19.8% of the world’s manufacturing output, while the US trails close behind with 19.4%. But just because America’s manufacturing crown has slipped to the People’s Republic, and American manufacturing jobs declined roughly 33% between 2000 and 2010, do not second guess America’s competitive edge. While it might come as a surprise, the United States still makes stuff, and in many cases, we remain the best at making it. In America, quality...

Ryhmes with 'weirdo'- get it? beardo

“My Israel,” a grassroots Zionist group that boasts a membership in the tens of thousands, announced Thursday its activists will mark products of Judea and Samaria with stickers. The stickers will be placed on the products on the shelves of retailer outlets nationwide, the group promised. The move is a response to an initiative by far-left Meretz activists, who entered stores in Tel Aviv Wednesday and placed stickers on products made in Judea and Samaria. There is no difference in the wording of the stickers – only in the graphic design. Meretz’s stickers say “produced in the settlements” against a...

Does anyone here think that running a business from home is going to be the new way that businesses are run and how do you think this will affect hiring policies?

Here is the list of Apple products that will be considered as obsolete on December 14th. After that date, Apple will not provide support or spare parts for those devices: iBook (800 MHz VRAM 32 MB ) iBook (900 MHz VRAM 32 MB) iBook (14.1 LCD 900 MHz VRAM 32 MB) iMac (2003 flat screen) PowerBook G4 (17") PowerBook G4 (12") PowerBook G4 (15" 1.67/1.5GHz) PowerBook G4 (17" 1.67Ghz) iBook G4 (12" and 14" end of 2004) Power Mac G5 (early 2005) Mac G5 ALS (17" and 20") AirPort Extreme (early 2003)

Tune out those frenzied, annoying infomercial pitchmen -- Consumer Reports says a lot of their products just slice and dice your wallet. In a feature titled "Should you 'buy this now!'?" in its February issue, the magazine said that, based on its tests, the answer is usually no. After testing 15 products, the experts at CR suggest some of the items consumers can skip are the Slap Chop dicer, the Snuggie, the ShamWow, the AbCircle Pro, Debbie Meyer Green Bags and the iRobot Looj gutter cleaner.

In the current political discussion we are having on the need to drill or not to drill for oil, often the discussion comes down the need for more fuel to drive the vehicles we use for transportation. What the libs fail to see, is that oil is truly the common man's best friend. We must not forget that we live in a world that thrives upon synthetic products. That is products made from materials other then natural substances, like rubber from rubber trees or silk from cocoons made by silkworms, (the larvae of the Asian moth Bombyx mori) etc. etc....

Most of us recognize brands we use everyday. Picking coffee at Starbucks, visiting Trader Joe's for groceries or stopping by Home Depot for materials for the weekend home improvement project are things we often do without thinking. Yet the reason we buy something, visit a store or contribute to a particular effort is based on how we know about it, how we understand it, and how we value it - its brand. Even paying attention to something we know nothing about is a conscious decision and could be a rejection of known brands. Most brands we easily identify and use...