PSoTD

Literally.

Hershey's Joins Harrah's in Sweet Seat World Series of Poker Main Event Promotion

Two American icons are coming together as the World Series of Poker and Hershey’s unwrap a “Sweet Seats” promotion in April. America’s largest chocolate company is offering consumers a chance to win $10,000 WSOP main event entries, alongWorld Series of Poker Logo with other secondary prizes, including travel and accommodations to Las Vegas.

“The number one name in chocolate is now teamed with the number one brand in poker,” said WSOP commissioner Jeffrey Pollack.

Harrah’s sweetened the deal by naming Hershey’s the official chocolate of the 2007 WSOP. Hershey’s will have the right to use the World Series of Poker name, logo, image, and design when promoting its own products.

The promotion is scheduled to hit in-store displays April through June of 2007 throughout the United States. More than 20,000 units of Hershey’s standard bar chocolate products will feature the WSOP logo and Sweet Seats sweepstakes.

I wonder who is in charge with their image management...

But will it be Hershey Chocolate?

SMITHS FALLS — The union representing workers at the imperilled Hershey plant here is expecting at least 3,000 people to attend a rally at the chocolate factory Saturday.

"We hope to send a message to the U.S. that we want to save our town as well as our jobs and our plant," Boyd Pryce, plant chairman of Canadian Auto Workers Local 462 told The Recorder and Times this morning.

"The whole town is behind us 100 per cent here. They'll be out to support us."

The rally begins outside the Hershey Chocolate Shoppe on Hershey Drive at 10 a.m.

"They'll be paying attention because they probably will be getting 3,000 customers in the Chocolate Shoppe, maybe more," said Pryce when asked if he thinks the message will get through.

He added the rally is to be taped with a copy to be delivered to Hershey's brass in Pennsylvania.

Hershey officials stunned plant workers Friday morning when they announced there is a "very high probability" the plant will cease operations within a year.

With 500 employees, Hershey is the largest employer in Smiths Falls and is also a major tourist draw.

Pryce said the rally is being organized by the union's plant negotiating committee and is an attempt to show the widespread impact a closure would have on the town.

"Let's keep Smiths Falls as the Chocolate Capital of Ontario," said Pryce. "That's what our intentions are."

He said CAW area representative Harry Ghadban, Smiths Falls Mayor Dennis Staples as well as other councillors and members of the town's business community are expected to speak at the rally.

Since the possible closure was announced, the union and town have been scrambling to see if anything can be done to secure its future.

Pryce said the union expects to meet the company next week to discuss what conditions the company requires to continue operating in Smiths Falls, a plant it opened in 1963.

Meanwhile, Staples said Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty was unable to connect with Hershey officials yesterday.

The premier had committed to reaching out to the company after a teleconference with Staples on Monday.

I didn't realize that frequent travelers have been asked to make their picks for the best frequent travel programs via the Freddie Awards. For 19 years now.

It appears that there is an opportunity to be part of the "Chocolate Capital of Canada".

It appears Hershey has given the kiss of death to its plant here.

In what was an ominous start to the workday Friday morning, the plant's workers gathered in the cafeteria where they were told there's "a very high probability" the plant will close.

With 500 employees, Hershey is the largest employer in Smiths Falls.

The blow, while devastating economically, also strikes at the very identity of this town of 9,200, which bills itself as the 'Chocolate Capital of Canada.'

Indeed the Hershey logo is emblazoned just below the town's name on its water tower. Signs throughout the town direct visitors to the east-end factory and its iconic Chocolate Shoppe, which in 2005 attracted more than 400,000 visitors.

Yesterday morning's announcement comes one day after Hershey said it was embarking on a major three-year cost-cutting plan to slash 1,500 jobs.

"The next year most of it is going to be phased out and the next year will be just dribbling away whatever's left," said veteran employee Rick Kirkwood, who was on hand to hear the bad news.

He said the information was delivered by plant manager Rene Albert.

"It doesn't sound good for most of us," he said.

Speaking from his office in Pennsylvania, company spokesman Kirk Saville refused to answer questions about why Hershey is looking to close the plant.

"I can confirm that the company has expressed its willingness to resume negotiations in order to reach a contract settlement and to discuss the effects of a potential closure on our employees," Saville said, reading from a prepared statement.

He would not say if contract talks, put off recently at the company's request according to the union, had anything to do with the potential closure.

Hershey's contract with the plant's 500 workers, represented by Canadian Auto Workers Local 462, expired last month.

Cut by half. Is this a secret Hershey recipe?

When the candymaker announced a restructuring plan Thursday, it said it was looking at a "net reduction" of 1,500 jobs, but workers at the main chocolate plant said double that number was mentioned by company officials during a meeting with employees yesterday morning at the Hershey Theatre.

It's not just central Pennsylvania getting the bad news...

Meanwhile, workers and union officials at Hershey's plant in Smiths Falls, Ontario, were told yesterday that there is a "very high probability" the Canadian plant will close.

It's the only Hershey plant that has received that kind of ominous warning since Hershey's announcement that it intends to eliminate more than a third of its production lines and shift some work to a plant under construction in Monterrey, Mexico. About 500 people work at the Smiths Falls plant.

Paying attention?

ResMae Mortgage, a Brea-based lender with 1,037 workers, has filed for bankruptcy protection and agreed to sell its assets to Credit Suisse Group for $19 million.

It's the latest bad news for the subprime industry, which is being roiled by borrowers missing mortgage payments in ever increasing numbers.

ResMae is the first major subprime lender to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the county since homes sales plummeted last year. It has just enough cash to last through Friday, the day after its next payroll, it said in its filing Monday.

It's selling for $6 million less than it raised in venture capital four years ago, when it entered the crowded field of lending to consumers with poor credit.

The sale to Credit Suisse is its best, and perhaps only option to avoid insolvency, the company said in court documents. Its doors are open and should stay open, if the sale goes as planned, the company said.

The lender still needs court approval to get operating cash from Credit Suisse and for the asset sale, which includes all money it's owed, its contracts, and equipment.

ResMae, which made nearly $8 billion in loans last year and is one of the top 25 subprime lenders in the nation, hopes the sale will allow it to preserve more than 800 jobs, or 77 percent of its work force.

...

In recent months, several smaller lenders based here have closed all or part of their operations or been sold. And two large lenders, New Century Financial and Option One, both based in Irvine, lost money in one or more quarters last year. What's crushing these lenders is a sharp rise in borrowers who miss the first or second payment on their mortgages. When that occurs, an investor who bought such a loan can compel the lender to buy it back – a very costly move for the lender.

In December, Merrill Lynch, the largest buyer of ResMae's loans, demanded it buy back $308 million in loans, according to the bankruptcy filing. ResMae disputes the amount, saying the buyback period has expired for many of them. The issue is unresolved.

That was the average Wall Street bonus last year. Wall Street is in trouble with jobs going overseas? Shrug.

Okay, okay, these Dollar Stores and Family Dollars and all the other "Dollar" stores are going great guns, but...

Aren't they gonna be screwed with costs concerning their name change as inflation increases the price of product? When was the last time you were in a five and dime?

Dear First State Map and Globe Company, of 1800 Lovering Avenue in Wilmington, Delaware:

I received a spam fax from someone purporting to be your organization yesterday, offering to sell a laminated county wall map. I'm not interested, and even if I were interested I will never buy anything from a company that spam faxes. Ever.

Apparently there's a rush to buy flat screen TVs this week - hastened by the upcoming Super Bowl.

But shouldn't prices be lower next week, with less demand for remaining stock on hand?

The Super Bowl has become a key time for selling televisions. The game is one of the few times of the year when people have parties that are focused on their sets -- leading many to think about upgrading, says Brian Lucas, a spokesman for Best Buy.

``For people who have been waiting, watching and harboring this desire (for a TV), this is a pretty good tipping point for them,'' Lucas said.

On the other hand, the post-Super Bowl season is a slow time for the consumer electronics business in general and for television sales in particular. Most such sales typically come during the holiday season. With lean months ahead, retailers are using the sales to lighten inventory, analysts say.

``Everyone is seeing this as the last push to sell TVs'' for the next several months, Patel said.