Consumer confidence has been taxed

Summary

Marketplace Podcast Summary: "Consumer Confidence Has Been Taxed" Release Date: December 23, 2024 Host: Amy Scott (in place of Kai Ryssdal)

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1. US-China Tensions Over Legacy Semiconductor Chips

In the latest developments of the ongoing chip wars, the Biden administration has initiated an investigation into alleged unfair trade practices by China concerning legacy computer chips. Unlike high-end AI-powered chips, these older chips are integral to everyday devices such as cars, household appliances, and medical equipment.

Key Points:

• Chinese Investment: Over the past decade, China has significantly invested in its semiconductor industry, allocating billions annually to subsidize loans, grants, and share acquisitions in Chinese chip manufacturers.
• Market Impact: This substantial investment has enabled Chinese firms to sell chips below market prices, threatening the market share of Western companies. As Chris Miller, a professor at Tufts and author of Chip War, explains:

  "[...] the Chinese government has given out subsidized loans and grants, even buying up shares of Chinese chip makers." [02:17]

• US Concerns: The Biden administration fears that continued Chinese subsidies could stifle US investment in new chip manufacturing capabilities, potentially making such investments futile. Stacey Razgon of Bernstein Research counters by suggesting that:

  "Low prices might not be enough for Chinese production to be a global threat." [03:06]

• Potential Tariffs: An investigation could lead to tariffs not only on chips but also on products containing Chinese chips, such as refrigerators and cars, raising concerns about disruptions in global supply chains. Jason Oxman, president of the ITI, warns:

  "Clearly, global supply chains are at risk." [03:27]

Conclusion: The investigation underscores mounting tensions between the US and China, with significant implications for the global semiconductor market and broader economic relations.

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2. Disaster Aid for Hurricane Helene Victims

The federal government, under President Biden, has enacted a $100 billion disaster aid package to support communities affected by recent storms, including Hurricane Helene, which devastated businesses like the Asheville Tea Company in North Carolina.

Interview Highlight: Jesse Dean, owner of Asheville Tea Company, shares his experience rebuilding after the hurricane:

"Overall there's very much a situation of duality here where we've had a lot of wins and a lot of progress and also still, still a long road to travel." [05:19]

Key Points:

• Support Received: The aid package includes low-interest loans from the Small Business Administration, crucial for businesses like Dean's to resume operations.
• Business Recovery: Dean successfully launched pre-sales for his tea products, with notable success in selling out holiday blends:

  "We've had a lot of support... we expect our tea to start shipping out to customers within about a week." [05:52]

• Challenges Faced: Despite progress, Dean highlights ongoing obstacles such as lingering debris in Asheville and delays in receiving full financial support:

  "We're almost three months out from the storm and we still haven't received affordable loans to be able to recover our businesses." [07:14]

Conclusion: While federal aid has provided essential support, business owners like Jesse Dean continue to navigate significant challenges in the path to full recovery.

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3. Decline in Consumer Confidence Index

Contrary to recent trends of rising consumer confidence, the Conference Board reported a 7% decline in December 2024. This downturn raises concerns about the economic momentum typically driven by consumer spending.

Key Points:

• Survey Insights: Dana M. Peterson, Chief Economist at the Conference Board, notes that while consumers aren't feeling negative about the economy overall, their sentiment has worsened compared to the previous month:

  "Consumers aren't necessarily feeling bad about the economy. What's important here is they feel worse than last month." [11:49]

• Influencing Factors: Consumers cited inflation as a more significant concern than political factors for the first time in recent months. Kayla Brune from Morning Consult adds:

  "Even if prices aren't rising that fast anymore, everyone's still annoyed with the fact that most prices have stayed high." [12:35]

• Demographic Impact: Older consumers (55+) are particularly disheartened due to lower confidence stemming from reduced interest income as the Federal Reserve cuts interest rates. Stacey Razgon explains:

  "Now that those interest rates are falling, older people who rely on interest from retirement savings are most likely to bring that confidence number down." [13:04]

Conclusion: The decline in consumer confidence signals potential headwinds for the economy, particularly affecting older demographics reliant on fixed incomes.

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4. Legislative Update: Social Security Fairness Act

In a significant bipartisan move, the Senate passed the Social Security Fairness Act, aiming to restore full Social Security benefits to approximately 3 million former state and local government workers who had their benefits reduced due to dual pension systems.

Key Points:

• Historical Context: Under a Reagan-era reform, these government workers received reduced Social Security benefits in addition to their pensions to save costs. Daniel Horowitz from the American Federation of Government Employees states:

  "Those 3 million former state and local government workers get reduced Social Security benefits alongside their government pensions under a cost-saving reform enacted during the Reagan administration." [18:51]

• Bill Impact: The Fairness Act will eliminate the provision that reduced Social Security benefits, thereby restoring full benefits to affected workers. However, this comes at a substantial cost to the Social Security system, estimated at around $200 billion:

  "Congress created a very expensive benefit," says Maya McGuinness from the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. [20:02]

• Economic Implications: The additional strain on Social Security could accelerate the program's insolvency timeline by six months, necessitating either benefit cuts or increased revenues within the next nine years.

Conclusion: While the Social Security Fairness Act addresses long-standing inequities for government workers, it poses significant financial challenges for the Social Security system's sustainability.

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5. Rise in Volunteering and Nonprofit Support

The holiday season sees a resurgence in volunteerism, with over 75 million Americans contributing their time to nonprofits in 2024, up from 60 million in 2021. This uptick follows a pandemic-induced decline in volunteering rates.

Key Points:

• Increased Participation: Olivia McMahon, Associate Director of Volunteer Programs at City Harvest, emphasizes the critical role of volunteers:

  "They're really, really essential to the work that we do." [22:14]

• Nonprofit Challenges: Organizations face unprecedented demand for services, especially in food assistance, driving the need for more volunteers:

  "Unfortunately, the need for food assistance in New York City is the highest on record." [22:26]

• Community Stories: New volunteers like Danielle Allen are motivated by personal experiences and a desire to give back:

  "I have felt a real drive to give back now that I'm older and in a position to help." [24:54]

Conclusion: The revival of volunteerism strengthens nonprofit capacities to meet heightened community needs, highlighting the essential role of civic engagement in supporting societal resilience.

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6. Retail Challenges in Holiday Season

As the holiday shopping season winds down, retailers like Ashley Morgan of Unglued in Fargo, North Dakota, share their experiences navigating reduced sales and heightened stress due to expanded teams and inventory challenges.

Key Points:

• Sales Fluctuations: Morgan reports initial sales declines but recent improvements:

  "We were down about 20% for the beginning of the holiday season and now we're down only about 8%." [26:19]

• Inventory Management: Working with local makers allows for flexible stocking strategies, although individual consumers exhibit more cautious spending:

  "They had me take all that back and they chose to only buy for their gift list." [27:12]

• Operational Pressures: With team growth, the pressure to ensure a successful holiday season is paramount to maintain full-time positions:

  "I have the weight of the responsibility of having grown our team this year to make sure that the holiday season does really well so we can maintain their full-time positions." [26:38]

Conclusion: Retailers face a delicate balance of managing sales performance and operational responsibilities, particularly when expanding teams to sustain business continuity beyond the holiday season.

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7. Gasoline Prices Update

For holiday travelers, gasoline prices present a mixed scenario. According to Gas Buddy, the national average price is projected at $3.01 per gallon, marking a slight increase from the previous week but remaining $0.09 lower than a year ago. Notably, 32 states still enjoy average prices below $3 per gallon.

Conclusion: Consumers planning holiday travel can anticipate relatively affordable gasoline prices, contributing to lower travel costs during the festive season.

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Final Notes:

The "Consumer Confidence Has Been Taxed" episode of Marketplace delves into critical economic and social issues impacting the United States as the year draws to a close. From international trade tensions and disaster recovery efforts to shifts in consumer sentiment and legislative changes, the episode provides a comprehensive overview of factors influencing the economic landscape. Additionally, the resurgence in volunteerism and the challenges faced by retailers highlight the interplay between economic indicators and community resilience.

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This summary captures the essential discussions and insights presented in the December 23, 2024 episode of Marketplace. For a deeper dive, listening to the full episode is recommended.

Transcript

[Public Investing]

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[Fortune]

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[Amy Scott]

The federal government's been busy in the final days of 2024, we'll take a look at what some recent actions from the White and Congress mean for the economy. From American Public Media, this is Marketplace in Baltimore. I'm Amy Scott in for Kai RYSSDAL. It's Monday, December 23rd. Good to have you with us. A new front has opened up in the chip wars. The Biden administration announced today it's investigating alleged unfair trade practices by China. China not related to the high end chips that power AI and seem to get all the attention these days, but the older everyday computer chips found in cars, household appliances and medical devices. Marketplace's Sabri Benishore gets us started with a look at why China's investment in these so called legacy chips has US Officials concerned.

[Chris Miller]

When the Chinese government invested hundreds of billions of dollars in solar manufacturing in China, solar manufacturing in many other countries was nearly wiped out, invested hundreds of billions in shipbuilding and US Shipbuilding was almost erased. Now the Biden administration says the same is about to happen with traditional computer chips.

[Amy Scott]

Over the past decade, the Chinese government.

[Stacey Razgon]

Has been pouring many billions of dollars each year into its semiconductor industry.

[Chris Miller]

Chris Miller is a professor at Tufts and author of Chip War. He says the Chinese government has given out subsidized loans and grants, even buying up shares of Chinese chip makers.

[Stacey Razgon]

That's letting Chinese firms sell chips well.

[Jason Oxman]

Below market prices and this is giving.

[Amy Scott]

Them the opportunity to grow their market share at the expense of Western firms.

[Chris Miller]

To the extent, he says, that some US Chip makers are becoming hesitant to invest in their own new capacity for fear that artificially pumped up Chinese competition might make such investment pointless I'm actually.

[Amy Scott]

Not convinced that that level of risk actually exists for the bulk of these older generation semiconductors.

[Chris Miller]

Stacey Razgon is a managing director at Bernstein Research. He says low prices might not be enough for Chinese production to be a global threat.

[Amy Scott]

Price can be a factor certainly in.

[Chris Miller]

Your purchase decision, but it's not nearly the only factor. The Biden administration's investigation would open the door to tariffs on chips, which the US doesn't actually import many of, and on anything that has Chinese chips in it, from refrigerators to cars, which the US does import. A lot of that has Jason Oxman concerned. He's president of the iti, a global technology trade association.

[Jason Oxman]

Clearly, global supply chains are at risk.

[Stacey Razgon]

In an escalating trade war between China.

[Amy Scott]

And the U.S. nobody wins.

[Chris Miller]

For its part, China's Ministry of Commerce told Marketplace the investigation was protectionist and pointed to multi billion dollar American subsidies for US Based chip manufacturing. It said it would take all necessary measures to protect its interests in New York. I'm Sabri Benishore for Marketplace.

[Amy Scott]

Wall street was in a festive mood on this Christmas Eve Eve. We'll have the details when we do the the appropriations bill President Biden signed over the weekend keeping the government running until mid March includes $100 billion in disaster aid for communities recovering from recent storms. That was welcome news for business owners in Asheville, North Carolina who've been waiting on low interest loans from the Small Business Administration. One such business owner is Jesse Dean, whose Asheville tea company was wiped out by Hurricane Helene back in September. We checked back in the other day to hear how recovery efforts are going so far. Jessi, good to talk with you again.

[Jesse Dean]

Hi Amy, it's so nice to talk to you again. Thank you for having me.

[Amy Scott]

Well, first of all, how are you doing?

[Jesse Dean]

Well, I'm doing okay. I think. Overall there's very much a situation of duality here where we've had a lot of wins and a lot of progress and also still, still a long road to travel. So I'm feeling good overall. Definitely making progress and still dealing with quite a bit as well.

[Amy Scott]

Yeah, I'm sure. So the last time we spoke, you said you were hoping to start selling tea again in time for the holidays. Any updates on that front?

[Jesse Dean]

Yes, I mean, that's one of the good news pieces and really exciting pieces is that we launched pre sales of our tea just before Thanksgiving and we sold out of our holiday trio of teas, which is amazing. We've had a lot of support. Wow. Yeah. And we still have pre sales up for many other tea blends that we're able to produce that still feature ingredients from our local farmers. And yeah, we expect our tea to start shipping out to customers within about a week.

[Amy Scott]

That's great news. I mean, is it anything close to what you would have done this time of year before, Helene, or is it a lot less?

[Jesse Dean]

It is a lot less than we would have usually done this time of year. Yeah. So, you know, that duality is there too. There's a ton of support and, you know, kind messages and purchases of our products and things like that. And at the same time, yeah, I mean, we've lost well over half of the revenue that we would have typically seen this time of year, you know, and we're definitely not the only ones in that position here either.

[Amy Scott]

So you mentioned there have been a lot of challenges as well. What have been some of the obstacles to getting back up and running?

[Jesse Dean]

Right. I mean, I think for us it's a lot. I mean, I think the. Just the personal side of things is really difficult. Like on one hand, downtown Asheville is starting to see visitors again. And this is wonderful. We need that so much. And then at the same time, when we're running around town ourselves, holiday shopping or running errands or going to work or whatever, you know, everyone does day to day, there's still debris everywhere in parts of town as well, so. And I mean, tremendous amounts of debris and mud. And so it's personally challenging, I think, just to kind of still be living in that. And then I think for our business specifically too, it's. It's a lack of kind of broader scale financial support and you know, it's really getting kind of dire I think for so many businesses here. We're almost three months out from the storm and we still haven't received affordable loans to be able to recover our businesses. Folks are getting pretty worried.

[Amy Scott]

How have you personally been able to support yourself during this time of trying to rebuild?

[Jesse Dean]

Well, our team and I all filed for disaster unemployment pretty quickly following the storm because of the kind of obvious physical impact to our location. With it, with it completely being gone, it was pretty obvious that we all would need some help there. So we have all been on disaster unemployment, but we're definitely anxious to get our team back on board and start payroll up in the new year as soon as we can.

[Amy Scott]

So I gotta say, Jesse, you do sound down or maybe worn out. I mean, how are you holding up?

[Jesse Dean]

Oh, thanks. Well, I think it's both. I think that that's true, you know, I've been working so hard and so has our team, like members of our team behind the scenes, just to try to just get stabilized a little bit as far as getting the business back off the ground, getting some team made, understanding our payroll timeline and those kinds of things. And so it's been a lot of work. And I think I am a little exhausted, to be fair. But I do still feel really grateful, though, too. I mean, I feel like I'm working hard to stay optimistic. And I do feel still really hopeful for the future of Asheville Tea Company and the future of Asheville and western North Carolina, too.

[Amy Scott]

So we gotta talk about some tea. I understand that the Christmas blend is sold out, so apologies to any listeners who want it. But tell me about it. What's in it?

[Jesse Dean]

Oh, thanks. Well, that's one of my favorite topics is the tea. Yeah. So we have three blends that are in that box. And it's the spiced apple butter, which apple butter is like a spiced apple jam that's produced here in western North Carolina. So it's based on that.

[Amy Scott]

Mm.

[Jesse Dean]

And then the snow day, which is inspired by a hot chocolate. So it features locally roasted cacao. And then the Winter Wonderland is the third holiday blend that has actual Fraser fir in it, which is a native western North Carolina plant. So that one's very cozy.

[Amy Scott]

All right. Jesse Dean is owner of Asheville Tea Company. Thanks so much for coming back on the show.

[Jesse Dean]

Thanks so much for having me, Amy. It's such a pleasure.

[Amy Scott]

Economic indicators are a little sparse in the final days of the year, but we did get one update this morning on consumer confidence, which had been rising in recent months and was expected to rise again. But today the Conference Board said its consumer confidence index actually fell in December by about 7%. Marketplace's Kaylee Wells has more on why and what that means for the engine that's been keeping this economy going.

[Dana M. Peterson]

Consumers aren't necessarily feeling bad about the economy. What's important here is they feel worse than last month.

[Jason Oxman]

It is pretty notable, especially after several months of improvement. And then in one month, we have.

[Amy Scott]

A big D down.

[Dana M. Peterson]

Dana M. Peterson is chief economist with the Conference Board, which releases the index. She says the consumers in the survey also note which factors they think are most impacting the economy. For the past few months, consumers continue.

[Amy Scott]

To point to elections.

[Jason Oxman]

President, White House. And also there was a spike in.

[Dana M. Peterson]

The number noting tariffs, tariffs, something that almost no respondents mentioned in recent months. That could be partly why in December, inflation actually beat out politics. On the list of influencers consumers are.

[Jason Oxman]

Expecting that the impact on their costs will be higher.

[Dana M. Peterson]

Kayla Brune is the lead economist at Morning Consult, and she says even if prices aren't rising that fast anymore, everyone's still annoyed with the fact that most prices have stayed high.

[Amy Scott]

I think it's something consumers are very.

[Jason Oxman]

Primed to be upset about, very sensitive to anything that's going to add inflation.

[Dana M. Peterson]

Risk, and there is one demographic that seems to be most upset, says Michael Green. He's chief strategist at Simplify Asset Management.

[Stacey Razgon]

Basically, the older you were, the less confident you became in this environment.

[Dana M. Peterson]

Greene says that's significant because typically the 55 and older crowd is more confident about the economy than less financially stable younger people.

[Stacey Razgon]

Now I'm suddenly looking at a situation as an older person where my income is starting to be cut by the Federal Reserve cutting interest rates.

[Dana M. Peterson]

And now that those interest rates are falling, older people who rely on interest from retirement savings are most likely to bring that confidence number down. I'm Kayleigh Welch for Marketplace.

[Jason Oxman]

Coming up, despite our 9, 9:30 opening.

[Jesse Dean]

Many of them were here at 4:00 this morning.

[Amy Scott]

Whatever it takes. But first, let's do the numbers. The Dow Jones Industrial average picked up 66 points, 2.10% to end at 42,906. The Nasdaq gained 192 points, 1% to close at 19,764. And the S&P 500 rose 43 points 7.10% to finish at 59 74. Retail giant Walmart dipped 2% after the consumer Financial Protection Bureau said it was suing the company for forcing its drivers to open costly deposit accounts in order to get paid. Walmart has denied the accusations. Nordstrom dropped 1 1/2 percent. The department store announced it would become a private company. It'll be bought by its founding family and Mexican department chain El Puerto de Liverpool in a deal worth about six and a quarter billion billion. Bond prices fell. The yield on the ten year T note rose to 4.59%. You're listening to Marketplace.

[Jason Oxman]

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[Public Investing]

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[Amy Scott]

I'm Amy Scott. Over the weekend, Congress not only avoided a government shutdown with that last minute deal to fund the government for another few months. In a rare show of bipartisanship, the Senate also passed something called the Social Security Fairness act. By a vote of 76 to 20. The House approved its version of the bill last month. The act addresses an issue faced by about 3 million former state and local government workers, including teachers, firefighters and police. They've been receiving reduced Social Security, retirement and survivor benefits because they also get separate government pensions. The fix will restore full benefits and as marketplaces, Mitchell Hartman reports, it'll also cost the Social Security system a whole lot of money.

[Stacey Razgon]

Those 3 million former state and local government workers get reduced Social Security benefits alongside their government pensions under a cost saving reform enacted during the Reagan administration, says Daniel Horowitz at the American Federation of Government Employees. So even if you paid into both systems under current law, you stand to.

[Amy Scott]

Lose most of your Social Security benefit.

[Stacey Razgon]

Fortunately, Congress has finally righted this, and.

[Chris Miller]

People will get their full Social Security benefit.

[Stacey Razgon]

But Social Security is progressive, meaning lower income workers get relatively higher benefits in retirement. Some state and local government workers look like low earners because they aren't required to pay much into the system, which means they can then end up with bigger Social Security checks. Congress tried to fix this 40 years ago, says Alicia Munnell at the Boston College center for Retirement Research, but it ended up reducing benefits too much for some retirees, not enough for others.

[Jesse Dean]

So the fury of state and local.

[Amy Scott]

Workers persuaded Congress that they should eliminate the provision altogether. It's a step backwards.

[Jesse Dean]

We should have fixed it, not eliminated it.

[Stacey Razgon]

So now some retired government workers will again get outsized Social Security checks, says Maya McGuinness at the committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. And Congress, she says, created a very expensive benefit.

[Jason Oxman]

About $200 billion did not pay for.

[Stacey Razgon]

It, leading to the program becoming insolvent even sooner than it already is going to be about six months sooner, she says, meaning Congress will have to either cut benefits or raise Social Security revenues in eight and a half to nine years. I'm Mitchell Hartman for Marketplace.

[Amy Scott]

We talked earlier about how consumers are feeling during this holiday shopping season. It's also a time when many people give money to nonprofits and volunteer their time. That volunteering is worth a lot to the economy nearly $168 billion last year, according to a recent survey from the Census Bureau and AmeriCorps. That same survey also found that volunteering is growing again after a big drop off during the height of the pandemic. More than 75 million people volunteered with a nonprofit last year, up from just over 60 million in 2021. Marketplace's Samantha Fields has more.

[Jason Oxman]

Hundreds of people are lined up outside on this freezing December morning to get free fruits and vegetables from a mobile food pantry in the Sunset park neighborhood of Brooklyn. So many that the line stretches down one block, around the corner and down another and never seems to get shorter. Despite our 9, 9:30 opening, many of.

[Jesse Dean]

Them were here at 4:00 this morning.

[Jason Oxman]

Thomas Chen is a volunteer with City Harvest nonprofit that runs this mobile food market here. Twice a month, he and about two dozen other volunteers are passing out bright red net bags packed with fresh oranges, pineapples, carrots and mangoes.

[Amy Scott]

Volunteers we're doing great. This line has not stopped once.

[Jason Oxman]

Chen retired in early 2020 and now volunteers a few hours a day, five days a week, gardening, landscaping, and collecting trash. And so Central park and distributing food here with City Harvest.

[Amy Scott]

This is so energizing. So whenever I chill down sick, wanting to give up on the world, this is a place that inspires me.

[Jason Oxman]

Olivia McMahon, the associate director of volunteer programs at City Harvest, says the organization relies heavily on volunteers. We could not handle the amount of distribution that we do. We could not repack all of the amazing produce into family sized portions without our volunteers. They're really, really essential to the work that we do. About 200 people work at the nonprofit. This year, more than 14,000 have volunteered. Unfortunately, the need for food assistance in New York City is the highest on record. So our need for volunteers is really as high as ever. That's true for many nonprofits doing all kinds of work around the country, according to Michael D. Smith, CEO of AmeriCorps.

[Chris Miller]

Especially coming out of the pandemic, there's an increase in demand for their services.

[Jason Oxman]

During the height of the pandemic, there was a 7 percentage point drop in Americans volunteering.

[Stacey Razgon]

So many people volunteer through their schools.

[Chris Miller]

Or community organizations where they just couldn't go anymore.

[Jason Oxman]

Lots of nonprofits temporarily also stopped inviting volunteers to help in person in 2020 and 2021. And Smith says lots of parents who make up a big percentage of volunteers suddenly lost childcare.

[Chris Miller]

And so the hope was this was a blip and once Americans returned to.

[Stacey Razgon]

Work and public life, that we would see a rebound.

[Jason Oxman]

And that's what AmeriCorps found is happening. Brenna Ververs at the Brooklyn Public Library says they've had more than 1,000 active volunteers this year, more than before the pandemic. We have volunteers staffing the welcome desk here at Central Library. We have volunteers stationed in branches serving as computer coaches and personalized tech help. They also have volunteers facilitating English conversation groups both in person and online, something that's new since the pandemic. These days, Verver says every month when she runs orientation sessions for new library volunteers, I'm kind of surprised at how many more people there were than the.

[Jesse Dean]

Last time we did one.

[Chris Miller]

Good morning.

[Jesse Dean]

Good morning.

[Amy Scott]

Thank you. You're welcome. Have a good day.

[Jason Oxman]

City Harvest has also seen a steady increase in new volunteers. Over the last couple of years. Danielle Allen is one of them. She's 28 and lives in Brooklyn and this is her first day volunteering at a mobile market.

[Amy Scott]

I actually signed up the day after the election. I think I was feeling a real drive to connect with my community and to help out in a tangible way.

[Jason Oxman]

She had already been volunteering with an informal group picking up trash once a month in her neighborhood, but she wanted.

[Amy Scott]

To do more, partly because my family went to food pantries as a beneficiary of them when I was growing up. And so I have felt a real drive to give back now that I'm older and in a position to help.

[Jason Oxman]

Walking up to the mobile market for her first volunteer shift, I was shocked.

[Amy Scott]

To see the line wrapped around the building even on this cold day. So seems like there's a great need in the community.

[Jason Oxman]

But she says it also seems like there's a great willingness to help. I'm Samantha Fields for Marketplace.

[Amy Scott]

I'm going to guess that at least a couple of you are hearing this as you're out running last minute holiday errands. I know I have a few more gifts to pick up before stores close. So as the holiday shopping season wraps up, we thought we'd check in with one of our retail regulars to hear how things have been going. Here's Ashley Morkin, owner of Unglued, a craft and handmade goods gift shop in Fargo, North Dakota.

[Ashley Morgan]

This holiday season has been interesting. We did freak out a couple weeks ago. We were down about 20% for the beginning of the holiday season and now we're down only about 8%. If people are like me this year, we're sure shopping even later than normal. Because the holiday season is so short, it's suddenly like you freak out and realize that Christmas is like basically tomorrow. And so I think I'm seeing that with other people as well, not just myself. I am a little bit more stressed this year than other years because I have the weight of the responsibility of having grown our team this year to make sure that the holiday season does really well so we can can maintain their full time positions. Basically we've been a shop for 13 years. This is the first year I have two other people being full time with me along with our part time crew. And so I really need this holiday season to do well to sustain us through the slow season. That's quarter one. Individual customers are spending about the same as last year with their purchases, but we hear things anecdotally a little differently. So I had a pile of things somebody was going to buy for themselves and they had me take all that back and they chose to only buy for their gift list. They still chose a lot of things for their gift list, but they did set aside the few things that they were going to get for themselves that were more expensive. And so I think I'm seeing that a little bit more because we work with local makers. They are stocking us every single day and they're seeing what's sold and so that's been really cool. That's one of the benefits of doing what we do, very mission focused, is that we work with so many local makers and so now that a lot of their holiday shows are done, they can stock us. So last minute stocking isn't the hardest for us as a local handmade shop.

[Amy Scott]

That was Ashley Morgan, owner of Unglued in Fargo, North Dakota. This final note on the way out today, if you're road tripping for the holidays in a gasoline powered vehicle, filling up will be a little more affordable this year. Gas Buddy estimates the national average price at $3.01 per gallon, up 3 cents from last week, but 9 cents lower than this time a year ago. 32 states still have averages below $3 a gallon. Our daily production team includes Andy Corbin, Nicholas Guillong, Maria Hollenhorst, Sarah Leeson, John McHenry and Sophia Terenzio. I'm Amy Scott. We'll be back tomorrow. This is apm.

[Chris Miller]

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