Reform needed over wood product certification 
By Oregon Small Business Association

Oregon’s federal lawmakers have taken a strong stand against China’s unfair and manipulative trade practices that have made its government-subsidized wood and paper products artificially cheap in the U.S. market. Chinese firms are also reaping huge profits from illegal logging.

“American manufacturers can’t compete when the deck is unfairly stacked against them,” Congressman Peter DeFazio said, in support of a Congressional investigation of Chinese plywood manufacturers. “We cannot afford to allow China to get away with manipulative trade practices that hurt American companies and cost us jobs.” Read more »

By Oregon Small Business Association

Ordering a double-shot latte is easier and faster these days using Starbucks’ mobile payment program. Even before its recent $25 million investment in Square, the San Francisco mobile payments startup, Starbucks had been processing a million mobile-phone transactions per week.

The Seattle-based coffee chain released its first mobile app in September 2009 which helped customers find stores, learn about coffee, and get nutrition information. In January 2011 the chain released a more powerful Starbucks Card mobile app, which also let consumers pay at the register by waving a bar code on their phone’s screen in front of a scanner. Customers have been able to load Starbucks’ digital prepaid card with an existing credit card. Read more »

By OSBA

Consumer Cellular opens 650 jobs

When T-Mobile closed its call center earlier this year, 359 workers lost their jobs. Those employees were offered positions at other T-Mobile locations. But now they have another option. Consumer Cellular, a Portland-based wireless and cellphone service provider, leased the 77,000 square-foot call center and plans to eventually hire 650 people to staff the facility. “We are very proud to announce that we are now officially operational with our first wave of nearly 50 employees,” said Consumer Cellular CEO John Marick in a statement. “We will continue to hire in waves and phases so that we can effectively train our new employees..” Read more »

OSBA President TJ Reilly speaking at a dinner event in Portland this week while detailing important business ballot measures on the November ballot.
By Oregon Small Business Association,

TJ emphasized Measure 79 the ban on real estate transfer taxes which if local real estate transfer taxes spread to other counties would greatly increase the cost of Oregon commercial property which is already suffering from vacancy problems in this economic slow down. TJ also highlighted Measure 84 which repeals Oregon’s death tax. Small businesses are hit hard when a business owner dies and tries to pass on the business to his/her family. TJ also highlighted the measure which takes the business kicker income tax refund. Businesses have appreciated the refund checks when state government over-collects tax revenue and voters have affirmed the kicker issue at the ballot box several times.

Consumer rating shows nation’s favorite businesses
By Oregon Small Business Association

Red Lobster is more satisfactory to American consumers than any other restaurant this year; in fact, it earned the highest score in the 18th annual ratings of the American Customer Satisfaction Index. Americans love their pizza, too; Papa John’s also earned an 83% satisfaction rating. Meanwhile, United Airlines remains stubbornly unpopular. Only 62% of customers were satisfied this year, and United hasn’t earned a rating above 70% since 1996.Even the overpriced, bureaucratically inept Postal Service got a 75%. But apparently United is the McDonald’s of airlines: like United, McDonald’s got the lowest rating in its class. But though nobody likes either, everybody uses both. Sometimes actions speak louder than satisfactions. Read more »

By Oregon Small Business Association,

The Oregon Small Business Association supports common sense efforts to add public input into important and expensive decisions on public transit rail projects.   OSBA supports the Clackamas County measure 3-401 to require public approval of light rail projects which is set for a September 18th vote.

We see this issue play out in California where their rail project proposal has been mismanaged by tens of billions of dollars and has gained national attention for being a project of epic pork-barrel proportions for the benefit of politicians at the expense of the population is was originally meant to serve. California’s rail system was estimated to cost $68.4 billion which is a staggering 52% higher than the $45 billion estimated in 2008. Read more »

By TJ Reilly
President
Oregon Small Business Association

Small businesses today rely upon mobile connectivity more than ever before. Just as consumer demand for smartphones and tablets has skyrocketed, small businesses also increasingly depend on mobile devices for everything from daily operations to connecting with their customers and clients. Read more »

By Oregon Small Business Association

The 787 Dreamliner, an all-new airplane design with advanced features increasing efficiency and improving air travel experience, stopped in Portland for two days at Boeing’s Paint Hangar at Portland International Airport. The Dreamliner is uses 20% less fuel than previous models and with already over 800 orders represents a giant opportunity for the NW airline manufacturer.

However, three problems loom on the horizon for Boeing to overcome in order to achieve another historic success. Read more »

By Oregon Small Business Association

One of the NW’s largest employers, Microsoft, is laying off employees in its marketing division. About 25,000 of the company’s 90,000 full-time employees work in sales and marketing, and CEO Steve Ballmer apparently doesn’t think that the software giant’s sales justify the nearly $14 billion it spent on sales and marketing in fiscal 2011. The latest reports indicate that around 200 people were let go. Read more »

By Oregon Small Business Association

A smart phone App called MailStop and a new Dish Network DVR dubbed “The Hopper” give consumers the power to eliminate junk mail and commercials.

Junk Mail-Blocking Apps

The United States Postal Service, plagued by financial woes, now must deal with a new smart phone App called MailStop that notifies advertisers to remove contacts from their mailing list. MailStop launched in January. As of mid-April, it had been downloaded over 10,000 times and processed about 105,750 requests.

In 2007, Catalog Choice created a searchable online database of 10,000 brands with opt-out links. Over the past five years, it processed 22.5 million stop-mail requests. Meanwhile, cash-strapped cities seeking to save landfill and recycling costs are launching their own junk mail sites, powered by Catalog Choice software.

Read more »