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Friday belonged to the malls, but today is known among e-tailers as "Cyber Monday." It is the day when people get back to work and use their high-speed computer lines to order stuff online. Reuters says:

"Most people who shop online do it at work, not at home," despite rising rates of high-speed home Internet connections, said Jay McIntosh, Americas director of retail and consumer products at Ernst & Young. Work connections tend to be faster than those at home, he said.

You can compare online and bricks-and-mortar store prices.

What local retailers benefit from online sales? Can you find small businesses that were once threatened by big-box stores, but now have found a national or worldwide clientele online? Check with local Web designers to find out who they have been doing work for lately -- especially somebody who launched a significant site this year.

 

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States Going After Online Sales Tax

How aggressively are states going to go after sales tax from online transactions this year? Entrepreneur.com says that generally, if you sell something to another person who is in the same state as you, you should collect sales tax. And, increasingly, states are setting up agreements, or compacts, with adjoining states to collect sales tax on purchases made on the Internet.

 

Tennessee is taking an aggressive approach, trying to "educate" consumers to pay a sales tax -- even if the seller does not charge it. Pretty much everybody has ignored the warnings so far. 

 

Eighteen states formed a sort of compact to try to convince retailers (but not force them) to start collecting sales tax on Internet purchases. Those states include Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Jersey, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, West Virginia, Arkansas, Ohio, Tennessee, Utah and Wyoming. Nevada will become a member of the coalition in January.

 

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"Missing Children" not Really Missing?

The Chicago Tribune says:

Almost three months after Hurricane Katrina struck, the faces of hundreds of missing children are still posted all over the Internet. Their names and descriptions are on computerized lists on Web sites for everyone to see.

But officials in Louisiana, where almost all of the children lived, insist there are no missing children from the state.

The National Center for Missing and Exploited Children now lists 874 children from Louisiana, compared with 4,470 children reported missing after the hurricane struck. The list also includes 28 children from Mississippi, down from the initial 336, and three from Alabama, down from the original 39.

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Freegans

Freegans are activists who try to exist only on food and other products that others discard. The point they try to publicize is how much we throw out in the trash and how we could, if we tried, do more to feed others with our excess.

An Associated Press story included this passage:

Timothy Jones, an anthropology professor at the University of Arizona, conducted a 10-year study that concluded the country wastes 40 percent to 50 percent of its food. A 1997 U.S. Department of Agriculture study put the loss at 27 percent of total U.S. food production, or 96 billion pounds of food.

"The number-one problem is that Americans have lost touch with what food is for," Jones said. "We have lost touch with the processes that bring it to the table and we don't notice the inefficiency."

Some freegans hope to call attention to food waste by publicizing their unusual lifestyles. [Self-described freegan Adam] Weissman runs a Web site for the freegan community, offering practical tips, like which city's trash bins yield the best treats in places from Vancouver to Cincinnati.

The freegan Web site even lists what the group calls its favorite dumpster sites.

Of course, there are other effective and less-dramatic solutions. Groups like Nashville's Table exist around the country. They help recover unserved food from restaurants and use it to feed the poor and homeless. Maybe it is time for you to see how your local programs are going. If you have no such program, maybe you could tell about the cities nearby that do. There is federal legislation that gives some protection to the donors. Schools can get involved, too.

 

Several years ago, the United States Department of Agriculture named a number of school systems around the country as having outstanding gleaning programs, which taught kids not to waste so much [PDF]. The schools were in Wyoming, West Virginia, Wisconsin, New York, South Carolina, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Iowa, Pennsylvania and Kansas. I wonder how these programs are doing these days. The government claimed that as a result of district-wide food recovery program in Tulsa, Okla., 4,000 pounds of food are recovered each month from 20 participating schools. This means approximately meals are served to needy families and individuals in the area.  Many other schools have also run successful programs.

 

Resources to help you localize the idea: 

• America's Second Harvest is a national network of food banks that claims to be the largest charitable hunger-relief organization in America. It oversees the distribution of surplus food and grocery products through nearly 200 regional food banks and nearly 50,000 charitable agencies.
• The California Integrated Waste Management Board (CIWMB) reuse program publishes a list of statewide food rescue programs.
• For local governments.
• For businesses, especially restaurants and grocery stores.
• For schools: donation information geared specifically toward elementary, middle and high schools.
• Food waste prevention for businesses.
• Resources: A list of food banks and food rescue organizations, as well as helpful publications. 
  

The freegan group adds:

Lots of used items can also be found for free or shared with others on Web sites like Freecycle and in the free section of your local Craigslist. To dispose of useful materials check out the Environmental Protection Agency's Materials and Waste Exchanges directory. In communities around the country, people are holding events like "Really, Really Free Markets" and "Freemeets." These events are akin to flea markets for free items. People bring items to share with others and take items that they can use, but not a dollar is exchanged.

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Hit-and-Runs

I just keep seeing stories like this one, all around the country. I am starting to wonder if hit-and-run incidents are increasing.

 

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LAX Close Calls

I am in Los Angeles teaching today. It's always reassuring to fly into an airport that has recorded no fewer than six close calls on runways since May.

 

Editor's Note: Al's Morning Meeting is a compendium of ideas, edited story excerpts and other materials from a variety of Web sites, as well as original concepts and analysis. When the information comes directly from another source, it will be attributed and a link will be provided whenever possible.

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