Centives

Barbara DeLollis and Keri Anderson wrote about the “Clean the World” initiative:

• Hotels that sign up collect their used soaps, shampoos, and other products.
• The products are then sterilized. Depending on their state of use they are repackaged, or melted and reformed. These are then donated to those that can use them.
• It’s a global initiative – Sands China has collected over two tons of products.

Read more here and here.

Source: USA Today, Boarding Area

Nicholas Thompson spent time with an “elite money hunter”: a 67 year old gentleman who, since 1987, has been collecting and recording all the spare change he finds abandoned on New York streets and sidewalks:

• Chilly mornings when people are wearing gloves and thus fumble with their wallets are a good time to find loose change.
• Too cold though and people won’t go outside, making it more difficult to find stray coins.
• Bus stations where people have to find exact change are also promising hunting grounds.
• Night birds may want to keep a watch on stumbling patrons reaching into their pockets around bars in the evenings.
• Up until 2006 one could expect to make around $58 a year this way in New York City.
• Then Apple bought in the era of the modern smartphone and people became more focused on their screens. Annual takings jumped to $95 a year.

Read more here.

Source: The New Yorker

Via: Marginal Revolution; Kottke

Yep, Barbie, the doll, has a team that manages her Instagram account for her, writes Julia Rubin:

• Barbie enjoys a celebrity lifestyle. In her photos she’s at elite events wearing the most fashionable clothes and accessories.
• Her style and celebrity have drawn 700,000 followers to her account.
• She’s clearly fond of taking selfies. Her friends, boyfriend, and dog sometimes feature but she seems to prefer to be alone in them.
• The team that managers her Instagram account use her star status to get her into top events around the world, such as The Golden Globes, where she’s given the same status as other, realer celebrities.
• The management team travels around the world with Barbie, prepping her wardrobe and managing her social calendar.
• Currently Barbie doesn’t accept sponsored money from the designer dresses she exhibits – but that’s something that advertizers could look into down the road.

The full article discusses how the idea came about, the secret to ensuring the Instagram posts are well received, and more. You should read it here.

Source: Racked

Want a business with a relatively stable demand base unaffected by recessions or the wider business cycle? Look into the graveyard business! Sarah Stone created a handy dandy guide to explain some of the key considerations:

• Graveyards have a difficult problem: unlike most other businesses what they sell – land to bury people in – is limited and will run out.
• Luckily most graveyards are run as non-profits so they don’t have to worry too much about taxes as a part of their cost base.
• It’s important to build a long term trust fund that can keep the graveyard financed for generations to come.
• If a graveyard does fill up its life could be extended by creating new graves in the spaces between, and under the pathways around, existing graves.
• In countries such as Germany, Australia, and New Zealand graves are thought to be more of a lease on land. After the lease runs out the remains are exhumed and cremated, creating space for a new grave.
• When all else fails cemeteries can look into multi-story stacked graves to continue to pay the bills.
• If, as eventually all business do, the graveyard goes bankrupt then the local municipality may agree to take over control of the land.
• It may also be sold to investors who would pay for the remains to be reburied somewhere else – nobody really wants to live or work in property built atop a gravesite.

Read about what makes the United States unique in its treatment of burial plot rights, what happens to those who pre-pay for a plot after a graveyard goes under, and more over here.

Source: Today I Found Out

Over the past few weeks a campaign to replace the portrait of former US President Andrew Jackson on an American $20 bill with that of a woman has been picking up speed. Jaime Fuller looked at some of the complications involved:

• In theory the Treasury Secretary could unilaterally decide to change the portrait on the banknote.
• The only real requirement is that the person being memorialized be dead.
• The last time the Treasury made a change was in 1929 when Andrew Jackson replaced Grover Cleveland.
• Not that there haven’t been prior attempts – the most frequent one is to have Ronald Reagan replace Alexander Hamilton on the $10.
• The $10 bill has always looked a promising candidate for change since the current occupant of the portrait was never President.
• Not all modern campaigns to change currency have failed. An effort to make American currency suitable for the blind with tactile features was successful.
• The mission to get a woman on currency has targeted the $20 bill, as the current face belonged to Andrew Jackson, known for having a controversial history with Native Americans.
• The initiative will be fought tooth and nail by the National Automatic Merchandising Association – a lobby for vending machine owners who would have to redesign their systems.

Read more here.

Source: New York Magazine

Tuition costs are high and rising. Yet few people pay attention to the cost of university room and board which is often rising even faster writes Jill Barshay:

• At one university students pay what averages out to $24 a day for food – twice what the average American spends on food every day.
• The rent comes out to $786 for a shared room – the same as the median monthly rent for an entire house in the US.
• These costs are rising. Universities have raised prices for room and board at a rate 6-9% a year – after adjusting for inflation
• The universities have a bit of a monopoly on their customers as they often require that students remain in campus housing and have a campus meal plan.
• One reason for the increase in price is the increase in quality – students can now get gourmet food at their dining halls.
• Universities will also go for organic, locally sourced food which is more expensive.
• Students now expect dining halls to be open late at night during exam times.
• Many university buildings are old need to be refurbished.
• Yet after taking all this into account university revenues are higher than their costs for providing food and accommodation.
• Part of the drive to increase these prices is because such increases receive less scrutiny by prospective students and regulators than normal tuition increases.

Read how one university was able to keep room and board costs unchanged for three years, the most expensive schools for room and board in America, and more over here.

Source: Vox

To deal with its debt problems European governments are looking to sell works of art writes Doreen Carvaljalapril:

• In light of government budget cuts a British museum sold a 4,500 year old Egyptian statue for $27 million to create a new endowment to fund the museum.
• Germany is selling its national treasures to finance a state owned casino.
• Another German museum’s collection may be used to pay back the debts of a failed bank.
• Critics point out that once these works are sold to private collectors they may never be seen by the public again.
• Defenders retort that museums can typically only display 10% of their art anyway, and all the stuff stored in inventory should probably just be sold to help in a time of crisis.
• On the plus side, news of the sale of works of arts drives up museum visitors as people flock to see famous works for one last time.

Read about some American museums that have resorted to the same tactics, the use of ethical guidelines in sales, and more over here.

Source: The New York Times

Stephanie Vozza summarized research that looks at how the colours of the walls of an office affect performance:

• Red increases the heart rate and raises blood pressure. It is a good wall colour for employees who have to focus on details.
• Blue settles the nerves and is good for those working on creative tasks, or looking to brainstorm.
• Green is similar to blue in that it’s good for innovation.
• Yellow creates optimism but too much seems to create anxiety. People are more likely to yell at each other in a yellow room.
• In contrast walls painted white – the preferred colour of offices around the world – seem to lead to an increase in errors.
• Personality matters. “High-Screener” individuals aren’t as affected by the colour of walls as “Low-Screener” ones.

Read about the studies, the methodologies, why grey isn’t that great a colour either, and more over here.

Source: Fast Company