Word: shoppers
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...economy began to pick up in the latter half of 1985, buoyed by heavy consumer spending. Outstanding installment credit jumped 15%, to a record $530 billion. Shopper confidence was partly the result of good news in the job market. Unemployment inched downward from 7.3% in January to 7% in November...
...outside the Northrop hangar, wherein the Tigershark resides. Our innocent is not met by a sales rep; rather, Roy Martin, a test pilot, blond and angular and wearing a jumpsuit crosshatched by so many zippered pockets that he could carry a disassembled jeep around in his coveralls, takes the shopper...
...reports aren't always negative. Mystery shoppers also help employers create incentives for exemplary service. Some shoppers see themselves as crusaders, punishing bad behavior and rewarding unsung heroes. Intrawest ski resorts recently handed out $100 bills to workers who scored especially well on a secret-shopper report. And a top-tier hotel rewarded its staff for finding a way to supply an undercover guest with the late-night Pepsi he requested from the Coke-only establishment. "It used to be about catching people doing something wrong," says Mike Bare, MSPA's co-founder. "But more and more, it's validating...
...vacation. Pokodner, an electrical engineer, stays at four-star hotels for free, eats steak dinners gratis and goes on casino sprees totally on the house. For his trouble, he makes $20,000 a year in his spare time. How does he do it? Pokodner, 44, is a veteran secret shopper, employed by cruise lines and hotel chains to travel undercover and evaluate their customer service...
EADS is not alone. In recent years foreign companies have streamed into American burgs to tint themselves red, white and blue enough to tempt the world's biggest shopper: the U.S. Department of Defense. The 25 countries of the European Union spend only about half what the U.S. does on defense, even though the Continent has a larger GDP than the U.S. has. Since Sept. 11, the Pentagon's budget has increased 41%--to $419 billion a year. Ralph Crosby, the West Point graduate and defense-industry veteran who runs EADS's North American operations, says the company, which sells...