The Columbian from Vancouver, Washington • 31

The Columbian Friday August 13 1993 C7 Julia Anderson editor 699-6006 coupons to debut OowiumJ The Columbian CliMHitd yt HELP WANTED LINAGE Safeway discount program will cater to individual buying habits By JULIA ANDERSON The Columbian Safeway grocery store shoppers in Clark county will be getting at the checkout stand within two months Using unique computer software checkout scanners will record what a shopper buys and then print customized coupons each related to that customer's purchases The customer will be given the coupons to use for future purchases According to Safeway officials the program works this way: A customer buying a jar of peanut butter might a coupon certificate for a competing brand of peanut butter a larger size of the same brand of peanut butter ora jar of grape jelly Coupon certificates which are handed to customers during the checkout transaction along with their change and receipt hive an average face value more than 45 percent higher than traditional mass-delivered coupons goal is to give customers big discounts on store purchases linked to their shopping habits The move positions Safeway to meet the growing competition from discount food outlets such as CUB Foods Inc Safeway will begin offering the checkout coupon program Sunday in some of the 102 stores within its Oregon and Southwest Washington district Installation of the coupon system in the eight Clark County Safeway stores as well as those in Kelso and Longview will begin Oct 15 company officials said Complete program implementation in all stores will take approximately three months and will be completed by mid-November have found in this market area customers don't just like coupons they love them" Bridget Flanagan public affairs manager for Safeway in Portland said few years ago when we tried eliminating our double coupon program we never had so many complaint calls We are continuing the double-coupon program and expect the new program to capitalize on what customers want Good value is the marketing strategy for the Lyle Waterman vice president and marketing operations managers of Safeway's Portland division said the company was customers will like the convenience of receiving a coupon 'on the that corresponds to items they are already buying This will save them money on products they're likely to buy with virtually no effort on their he said 1990 1991 1992 1993 HQwwldlnQaiapwi6elcMamounloladwlllmpuictiaMdlnTheCcluffiblan cMMdjMnMbyanviDyMiMHHgiiHrwivtoym Iwrand toga IndkMa an Inwortig lobfMrM OUACEfheCBlMwbiw 9IGES? COMPILED FROM NEWS SERVICES tow New Labor and Industries fees take effect on Sept 1 A new schedule of fees for medical services that will be paid by the state Department of Labor and Industries goes into effect Septl The new fee schedule applies to the reimbursement of fees charged by medical providers to injured workers covered by the state worker compensation fund which is administered by The new schedule covers medical doctors osteopathic physicians advanced registered nurse practioners physician assistants physical and occupational therapists massage therapists optometrists podiatrists psychologists speech therapists chiropractic physicians and naturopathic physicians THE NORTHWEST SPROUSE EXECS ON LEAVE: Four executives from financially troubled Sprouse-Reitz Stores Inc have taken a leave of absence to work on an unspecified project the company announced A brief statement by the retail chain did not say how long president and chief executive Donald Tripp and three other executives would be gone or what they would be doing A three-member committee has beat formed to manage the day-to-day affairs during absence the statement said A call placed to Sprouse after business hours Thursday went unanswered 1 THE NATION Labtec PC gear is hot Vancouver-based business has found a profitable niche in the computer accessory market ByKORRIE SCHUBERT Columbian Correspondent Charles Dunn is smart and lucky During the past 13 years his Clark County company Labtec Enterprises Inc has developed a line of personal computer accessories: speakers headphones microphones and other gear that have become hot sellers This year the company which employs 20 people at 11010 NE 37th Circle off 112th Avenue will generate estimated gross revenue of $25 to $30 million Dunn 37 launched his company 13 years ago making headphones for the airline industry It was a natural step into headphones for personal computers Branching out three years ago the company began making computer speakers The speakers are popular with people who like better sound as they play electronic golf football hockey or one of a hundred other games on the market They also are used with educational software because the computer can talk to the user through the speakers There are three parts to the company Dunn said One is the airline headphones business another area is manufacturing cables wires adapters switches and junction boxes for the audio video and telephone industries also the company makes products for the computer industry such as headphones microphones and speakers make products for other products" Dunn said Labtec makes about 115 products According to Dunn after Japan's giant Sony Corp Labtec is the second largest supplier of headphones He acknowledges his company is "quite diverse" For instance it's the only company in the Northwest making computer speakers now the biggest part of its business Labtec's headquarters packaging and distribution operations are located in 25000 square feet at Vancouver Commerce Park The company has been in Clark County eight years Dunn is involved in all product and package design The company also maintains offices in Hong Kong and in Taiwan where manufacturing is done "We want to be in the manufacturing Dunn said Besides labor costs are cheaper in China The company sells most of its products in the US but also to Canada Mexico Europe and Asia Dunn said exports represent about 7 to 10 percent of total sales are growing rapidly he said HEALTH FOOD STORE8 PROTEST: For many health food establishments throughout the nation today is Blackout Day The health food industry is hanging crepe to protest stricter government regulation of dietary supplements which range from amino acids used by bodybuilders to bee pollen ginseng root and green algae doing is asking people to sign a petition supporting bills in Congress and taking black crepe paper and covering up items in the store that would disappear if the legislation does not get said Steve Edlin manager of Capitol Health in Huntington NY At the big Integral Yoga Natural Foods store in Manhattan manager Manu Dawson said his people were putting labels on what the industry calls its list The $4 billion health food industry chose Friday the 13th to warn Customers that the Food and Drug Administration wants to restrict or ban many food-supplement staples starting next year THE WORLD Charles Dunn 37 is Labtec's founder (MifiQiowiietoto Labtec speakers produce a good quality of sound" in a price range where few alternatives exist Labtec makes nine models of computer speakers One model the CS1000 fits between the monitor and hard drive The speakers and controls are part of one unit making the system compact The company's other speaker models sit next to the computer system Some are as small as 5 inches high The company also sells a speaker model in upgrade kits that are assembled by other companies The kits come can come with CD ROMs a laser disc drive and a sound card Computer speakers are magnetically shielded and won't cause discs to erase or monitor Please see Labtec Page C8 Labtec products targeted to the lower end of the market are found in Fred Meyer Target Payless Northwest and Hi-School Pharmacy stores Labtec also markets to computer specialty stores Dunn said the two retail worlds are fast becoming one industry as stores such as Fred Meyer and Target sell more and more computer items A recent report in Multimedia Magazine cited the company's computer speakers as being most prolific on the Hi-School electronics buyer Bryon Henry said speakers priced between $1999 and $149 were selling well Tim Margeson owner of Mauna Vista Computers a Vancouver retail outlet said YEN RISE WORRISOME: For Japan's new government there won't be any honeymoon as far as the economy is concerned A week into Prime Minister Morihiro Hosokawa's term the yen has leaped to record highs against the US dollar And while everyone has a remedy all agree that the government needs to stop the yen quickly before Japan's economy falls back into the doldrums The dollar closed Thursday in Tokyo at 10337 yen a record low and more than 21 yen below its level in early February It also fell to a new low of 10291 yen in New York That means a sharp drop in profits for exporters such as Toyota or Sony that form the backbone of Japan's economy The dollars they earn overseas are worth nearly 20 percent less when translated into yen Tax bill and the national mood STAYING AHEAD HOW TO OKT STOCK QUOTES USING By JANE BRYANT QUINN Washington Post Writers Group 699-6000 Toll-Free The elderly have also lost clout especially those who are well-to-do The new rules affect Social Security beneficiaries whose exceeds $44000 for couples and $34000 for singles In this bracket 85 percent of your Social Security benefit is subject to tax (Provisional income is your adjusted gross income your tax-exempt interest from municipal bonds certain foreign income and half your Social Security benefit) That's around 13 percent of all recipients and their lobbies are in full cry To me however their new tax is fair A worker earning $50000 and paying a tax on all his income may have children to feed and educate Why should retirees with the same $50000 income pay taxes at a lower rate? Fifteen percent of a retiree's Social Security benefit represents the return of his own contributions so that amount should pass tax free But the other 85 percent should be treated the same as income from any other source Angry elders should read the handwriting on the wall The baby boomers have more votes and are willing to use them to impose more parity between young and old privileged political perches will pay most of the new personal income taxes This marks the end of private interest's Golden Age From the stir they raised think half the nation was being hurt In fact out of a total of 116 million tax filers only 14 million are actually subject to the big rise in income-tax brackets Under the new bill a 36 percent tax rate on single people with a taxable income (after deductions) of $115000 heads of households with $125500 and married couples with $140000 Those break points conservatively reflect adjusted gross incomes before deductions of around $140000 $150000 and $170000 respectively The tax rate rises to 396 percent for taxable incomes exceeding $250000 regardless of whether married or single That reflects a gross income of perhaps $300000 or more The jump in tax rates is retroactive to January 1 with a sweetener tossed in The payments for extra tax can be stretched over three years with the first payment due next April 15 You pay no interest on the outstanding balance so no point paying this tax early even if you can afford it urns out the president told the truth In poll after poll Americans claimed that his tax plan would flay the middle class As promised however it flays only the rich and the well-to-do Everyone does pay a gas tax but it's chump change Most Americans are not being asked to contribute to the federal fiscal fix And it is a fix or at least a start No single bill can correct the monster imbalances run up in the 1980s but this one moves the budget in the right direction Any change in taxes reflects shifting power mix A president can talk himself hoarse about But politics and the Zeitgeist designate the groups that will actually pay the price what the tax bill shows of the national mood: The middle class is again ascendant after relinquishing its place in the early 1980s to the love affair with the rich They'll contribute only a gasoline tax to budget reduction and that hardly qualifies as hardship The HouseSenate compromise cut the new tax to 43 cents a gallon starting in October But the price of regular gas at the pump is down 6 cents from two yeags ago Camat-Washougal 834-6000 SSmwS BM toScalK KP 71-M-71 Ms IM1 la HUM USV B2-7M1 tows Slaw ja SI-71 it yartstyaar stack CaMneilawedby tMMaaYba'ia Rtw rtaiy to stock uiotfl Os year salt stock code or press the they te oat ta ether cateiarfes aalafsHJao Whei tha system aaswsis ester 4001 for the AP Stock quota Nee lb lean how to asetha system eater 4002 that reports the Petroleum Industry Research Foundation so still 17 cents ahead Assuming no change in price the average household should spend $13 less next year than it did two years ago even after the new tax rising concern for the working poor whose social bene- fits were greatly reduced a decade ago An enlarged earned-income tax credit will offer many of the poor a bigger reward for taking a job rather than going on welfare For the first time some childless workers will be covered not just workers who make a home for a child The rich falling from their Hatch voor a-xi tn i-o m-oi mi o-aa v-aa B-22 F-33 J-51 N-62 R-72 V-83 Z-03 Stock SjfROOl e23 041 K-52 0-63 8-73 W-81 11 using this code d-si H42 l-ss mi t-si x-02.