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As if getting to work during the transit strike wasn't bad enough, retailers in New York City are saying that traffic to their stores has fallen due to the strike. Retailers like Macy's, Bloomingdales, and The Gap say the customers are staying away. That can't be good with only three days left in the Christmas shopping period and the oodles of people who delayed their holiday shopping (cough, cough). While estimates for financial losses due to the strike are as high as $660 million per weekday and as low as $100 million total for the weekend, if the strike lasts that long, there's no doubt that there is money being lost. Some market analysts for the retail sector don't like the strike at all. Stacy Pak of Prudential told Bloomberg.com, "The holiday selling season has not been particularly good so far and a New York City transit strike was basically the last thing the retail sector needed." What better way to help make those losses smaller than to shop! Sure Federated or Gap Inc aren't local businesses, but any tax $$ can help soften the blow. Even the nut vendors on the street aren't making that much money off pedestrian traffic!
Some stores are extending their hours until midnight for anyone that wants to shop and try to get a cab home when they're done. Just this morning, Gothamist was blasted with a "Macy's One Day Sale" commercial. A stop at Macy's would be a perfect way to kill time during the evening rush at Penn Station, no?
Will you be spending any money at stores or are you too busy fuming at the MTA, TWU and trying to get home? Maybe you're just too broke after paying a taxi to get home.
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I got an e-mail from j.Crew this morning offering free express shipping to get your stuff in time for X-Mas -- just for people living in NYC. Thought that was kind of interesting targeted marketing. Too bad I don't need any $80 jeans with embroidered wales.
that's pretty brilliant.
The Gap is suffering diminished sales?! Bullshit, there's one on every block in Manhattan.
I'd like to know if Starbucks and Dunkin Donuts have increased sales because of the number of pedestrians who need energy and warmth for their long walks.
The strike is preventing terrorism on the train, how smart of the TWU/MTA!! It was a christmas present for them to save us! Take that! falafel man!
I walked and picked up some last minute items, but nothing sizable, since I have to CARRY it home now, either on the bike or by hand... blah
came into town for aunt's 90th birthday monday and left car in a garage ... wouldn't miss a transit strike for all the tokens in the world ... mike quill a personal hero after all...
last night, for all the commotion on the streets of manhattan below 96th, there were real soft spots ... some shops empty, or closed during business hours for lack of staff... dropped in on east side home depot to check out high end products there, but miriam and i were the only customers on the premises... a starbuck's we walked past never opened tuesday... bloomie's sooo quiet... no shopping bags from anywhere on the streets yesterday...
just me and miriam at e.j.'s and a young mother with her two daughters for breakfast ... zabar's this morning, where we go to load up on supplies for our southern vermont inn, zabar's, my zabar's, the lox cutter just shaking his head sadly... no wait at the checkout at fairway on 125th ... but the inbound traffic waiting for the 11:00 a.m. curfew was humongous on broadway and the cross county parkway ... miles and miles of single-occupied vehicles queued up for the long haul in, traffic not moving at noon in westchester - what are these guys thinking (?)...
A PRETTY GOOD TIME TO GET OUT OF TOWN...
special offer to gothamists: if you have a new york city area code, we'll give you a fourth night free if you stay three nights at hickory ridge house from now til the end of january -- but you must reserve before the strike is declared over ... woodburning fireplaces, no traffic jams, wi-fi access for telecommuters, and no horns, sirens or arguments.
escape to southern vermont for a change.
How the hell are we even gonna get to macy's? I delayed my shopping again this year but if this is how it's gonna be then it's gonna be online. now I'm actually rummaging for regular household shit for presents. Granny ella is gonna get a really nice heavy duty office stapler this year.
MTA - cook the books, crooks.
Union - want better benefits and raises than the rest of us working stuffs? Bugger off.
Despite my politics, I come down against the union on this. I've had to contribute more of my salary to health care. Why should you be any different?
i wanna spend money at stores, but now it's too cold and far to shop...and online shopping is costing more than usual with express shipping...wished i didnt push it off to this week to shop for xmas...cash for xmas gift is ok too right?
I bet the MTA "workers" are PRAYING they get cash for Xmas!
I'm with the union on this one; what's the point of a union if you're not allowed to strike. Where is your leverage? A bad attitude? A slow down?
To think that for all of these hundreds of millions of dollars lost, all that would be needed in order to end the strike is $20MM. That's peanuts compared to the surplus that the MTA had. And they devoted $100MM of that to free rides: for what? They could have avoided the strike entirely by simply putting that money towards their people.
Also, (and I don't mean this to sound charged) if you're upset about your working conditions and your compensation, I suggest that you engage in some collective bargaining and stand up for what you believe you're owed. That's all the TWU is doing.
It's a shame that the PBA and Firemen's Unions worked without contracts for so long; they really gave Pataki and Bloomberg carte blanche to try and walk all over every other city union, because what are they going to do? The fact that a starting salary for a police officer is 25K is criminal. It makes me want to spit. But because police officers can't strike, what leverage do they have?
And now the TWU is standing up for themselves and are being called thugs. Some unions are definitely corrupt and greedy; the TWU does not appear to be one of them -- they're not asking for anything more than what they already had. The TWU is just doing what the other unions should have done: stood up for themselves.
I will not shop at Macys..
I don't like Scooby Doo..
scooby doo reminds me of phyllis diller and
halloween..not christmas..I didn't buy one thing
at MACYS this year..
amen, what laurence said, amen.
FUCK THE TERRORISTS WORKERS UNION!!!!!!
I have news for you, stores on 5th Avenue in Park Slope, Brooklyn, are raking it in this week with the strike. Everyone is staying home and shopping.
Those thugs broke the fucking law. I hope people take the privilege to make their lives miserable once they get back to work. If 7 million people depend on the subway, and just 4 million of them are as angry as me, TWU workers should really watch their own asses,because there are ALOT of people who wish to inflict bodily harm on them. They're going to need those health benefits fo'sho.
I just tried shopping at home, in Williamsburg, and while I guess I shouldn't be surprised that I get bad service in the boutiques on Bedford - well, I'm surprised I got bad service in the boutiques on Bedford. I'm going to drive out to the suburbs and spend my money. idiots.
"I hope people take the privilege to make their lives miserable once they get back to work. "
I don't see how their lives could be anything but miserable: practically living underground, inhaling steel dust all day long, dealing with crazy passengers who hate them no matter what they do, and not getting any slack even though service on trains (up until this month) was the best that it's been in fifty years. Seems pretty crappy to me without any help from you.
If you remember the 1980s, track fires, derailments, grafitti, violence, filth, and an altogether unreliable service was the what they called service. I'd say they do a really good job, actually and deserve to be rewarded for it. Unlike the MTA who has kept two sets of books and run surpluses for the past three years (and hid them) and yet continues to raise fares. But Pataki would never ever fire his good old buddy Kalikow -- I'd call that a union too -- one that I'd happily spit in the face of.
Folks,
if you're wondering, "laurence" does in fact work for the twu local 100. There's 40,000 of them and you can bet a lot of them are online attempting (and failing) to defend themselves, now that every major paper in the city and the public is against them. I will say I've had to deal with some real animals in the subway, and many of them were transit workers. These unskilled simpletons would be flipping burgers or on welfare if they weren't at the MTA making $55,000 a year with free medical care and a fat cats pension after 25 years, and now they want a 25% raise financed by the public. Absolutely despicable.
"$55,000 a year with free medical care and a fat cats pension after 25 years"
Are you kidding me with this? Your morning bus-driver isn't weekending in the damn hamptons on $55k/yr, friend. But, hey, if your visions of class warfare have TWU members sitting back in a chaise lounge sipping martinis made from the sweat and tears of the commuters, be my guest.
following yesterday's comments: if you don't think you're going to walk several miles or drive in traffic for several hours, then:
1) you're already shopping online, or
2) you're waiting for post-Christmas sales, which in the core of ny metro should be just awesome this year...
but, up here in southern vermont, where there's no traffic, the roads are clear of snow, the blanket of snow in our meadow stretches right up to distant treelines, the firewood is stacked and ready for our fireplaces, people are polite and waiting for serious winter to begin, then...
think about a b&b gift certificate for the special people on your christmas list...
hickory ridge house, southern vermont bed and breakfast...
winter is waiting for you (and the people you love)
I feel like a genius for baking cookies this year. Everybody got cookies from me, and they all got them Monday, just in case there was a strike.