Santa’s warehouse workers

Summary

Marketplace Episode Summary: "Santa’s Warehouse Workers"

Release Date: November 23, 2024
Host: Kristen Schwab
Guests: Sadeep Reddy (Politico), Courtney Brown (Axios), Kimberly Adams (Marketplace), Ellie Yu (LAist), Stevie Bell & Amanda Calhoun (Fantasy Island Toys)

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1. Economic Overview: Retail Earnings and Holiday Spending

Kristen Schwab opens the episode by discussing the significant retail earnings reports from major companies like Walmart, Target, and Gap. She introduces guests Sadeep Reddy and Courtney Brown to dissect what these earnings indicate about the upcoming holiday spending season.

• Divergent Retail Narratives:
  Courtney Brown highlights the conflicting signals from retailers, stating, “Walmart says yes [to a strong holiday season], Target says no. And so now it's a question of which one should you believe?” (01:35)

• Consumer Sentiment Split by Political Affiliation:
  Updated consumer sentiment numbers reveal a partisan split: “Democrats are more likely to feel bad about the economy. Republicans are more likely to feel good.” (02:22)
  Sadeep Reddy adds, “This has been one of these, the last few election cycles, one of these enduring features of consumer sentiment, that the national mood is so tied up with who is winning the White House.” (02:53)

2. Inflation Concerns and Tariffs Impact

The discussion shifts to inflation and potential tariffs affecting the economy.

• Global Inflation Trends:
  Sadeep Reddy explains, “In the US it really means that we've got to be on the lookout for a potential resurgence of inflation.” (06:10)
  Inflation rates in countries like Canada and the UK are rising, prompting concerns about a global inflation resurgence.

• Tariffs and Business Reactions:
  Courtney Brown shares insights from business owners: “There was an influx of calls from clients asking how could they get goods from overseas faster in order to kind of front load on inventory to escape tariffs.” (04:38)
  Companies like Stanley Black & Decker are increasing inventory in response to anticipated tariffs, though the severity remains uncertain.

3. AI Adoption in Businesses

A segment explores the current state of Artificial Intelligence (AI) adoption among businesses.

• AI Tools and Business Utilization:
  Justin Vineyards mentions, “Google has a relatively new AI product called Notebook LM that can basically turn anything you feed it into a podcast.” (12:10)
  Despite the availability of advanced AI tools, adoption rates remain modest outside of tech and finance sectors.

• Enterprise Accountability:
  Sadeep Reddy emphasizes, “Large enterprises, all enterprises, they are accountable for the content they produce.” (13:04)
  Ethical and legal accountability is a barrier for many businesses in adopting AI technologies more broadly.

• Adoption Rates Comparable to Early Computer Era:
  Courtney Brown notes, “Our overall adoption rate among workers looks very similar to the overall adoption rate of computers in 1984.” (13:38)
  This comparison underscores the slow integration of AI into the broader workforce.

4. Labor Market and Holiday Hiring

Kimberly Adams provides an overview of the holiday hiring landscape, highlighting the challenges and strategies retailers are employing to attract seasonal workers.

• Seasonal Hiring Goals:
  “With holiday sales expected to increase between two and a half to three and a half percent this year, the National Retail Federation estimates stores will need to hire between 400 to 500,000 seasonal workers.” (09:24)

• Strategies to Attract Workers:
  Retailers are adopting flexible shifts and app-based scheduling to accommodate diverse worker needs. Additionally, there’s a push to hire retired workers and individuals with disabilities to fill roles in transportation, warehousing, and retail. (10:04)

• Challenges in Staffing:
  Despite these strategies, “unemployment is pretty low too, which means retailers are struggling to fill all those jobs this season.” (09:51)

5. Shortage of Nurse Midwives in California

Ellie Yu reports on the critical shortage of nurse midwives in California, a vital workforce segment for maternal healthcare.

• Educational Program Constraints:
  Cal State Fullerton is the only institution currently training nurse midwives in California, graduating about 10 to 12 midwives annually. The other program at UC San Francisco has paused admissions to transition to a doctoral degree, increasing training duration and costs. (18:45, 20:35)

• Impact on Maternal Health:
  The shortage exacerbates disparities in maternal care, particularly affecting communities of color. “Black birthing parents are three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related complications.” (20:14)

• Industry Response:
  Critics like Ginger Breedlove of the American College of Nurse Midwives argue that the shift to doctoral programs may not enhance care quality and could hinder workforce expansion. (21:55)

6. Featured Business Story: Fantasy Island Toys

Stevie Bell and Amanda Calhoun, sisters and co-owners of Fantasy Island Toys in Fairhope, Alabama, share their preparations for the holiday season.

• Business Acquisition and Legacy:
  The sisters purchased Fantasy Island Toys in 2021, aiming to continue its legacy as a beloved local toy store. “This store is a landmark in the city of Fairhope and it's really an honor to be able to continue its legacy.” (23:22)

• Seasonal Sales and Community Support:
  Despite a slow start, they’re optimistic about increased sales as the holidays approach. Emphasizing local shopping, they’ve hired two additional seasonal employees to manage the anticipated surge. (24:25, 25:10)

• Staffing Diversity and Expertise:
  The store's seasonal staff includes retired teachers and individuals with specialized education, enhancing customer experience by discussing both the fun and developmental benefits of toys. (“We have retired teachers. We have retired art teachers. We even have a seasonal employee that has a master's degree in dyslexia education.” 25:16)

7. Final Consumer Advice: Credit Card Interest Rates

Kristen Schwab concludes with a cautionary note for consumers regarding rising credit card interest rates.

• Rising Interest Rates:
  A new survey by Bankrate indicates that over half of major retailers have increased credit card interest rates, elevating the average rate to over 30%. “At least 50 of them, including Macy's and TJ Maxx, have raised credit card interest rates.” (27:35)

• Implications for Holiday Spending:
  Consumers are advised to be mindful of these higher rates, especially when considering promotional offers that involve credit purchases. This rise contrasts with the Federal Reserve’s recent interest rate cuts, presenting a unique challenge for shoppers. (28:17)

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Key Takeaways

• Retail Performance Signals Mixed Economic Indicators: Conflicting earnings reports from major retailers make predicting holiday spending trends challenging.
• Consumer Sentiment Influenced by Politics: Economic perceptions are heavily divided along party lines, but actual consumer behavior may not align perfectly with these sentiments.
• Potential Inflation Resurgence: Global and domestic factors, including tariffs and labor costs, could lead to renewed inflation pressures.
• AI Adoption Lagging Outside Tech and Finance: Despite powerful tools, broader AI integration in businesses remains slow due to accountability concerns.
• Holiday Labor Market Tight: Retailers face significant challenges in hiring seasonal workers amid low unemployment rates, prompting innovative staffing strategies.
• Critical Shortage in Maternal Healthcare: The reduction in nurse midwife training programs threatens essential maternal health services, particularly for marginalized communities.
• Local Businesses Thrive Through Community Support: The story of Fantasy Island Toys exemplifies how local businesses can successfully navigate the holiday season with community-focused strategies and diverse staffing.
• Cautious Holiday Spending Recommended: With soaring credit card interest rates, consumers should approach holiday purchases with financial prudence.

Notable Quotes

• Courtney Brown: “Walmart says yes, Target says no. And so now it's a question of which one should you believe?” (01:35)
• Sadeep Reddy: “When you look at consumer sentiment, watch what consumers do, not what they say.” (02:53)
• Kristen Schwab: “Black birthing parents are three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related complications.” (20:14)
• Courtney Brown: “Our overall adoption rate among workers looks very similar to the overall adoption rate of computers in 1984.” (13:38)

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This comprehensive summary captures the multifaceted discussions from the "Santa’s Warehouse Workers" episode, providing insights into the economic landscape, labor market dynamics, technological adoption, and spotlighting the challenges and successes of local businesses during the holiday season.

Transcript

[Justin Vineyards]

This Marketplace podcast is supported by Justin Vineyards and Winery. Since 1981, Justin has been producing world class Bordeaux style wines from Paso Robles on California's Central coast. As the pioneer of Paso, Justin wines are what put Paso Robles on the winemaking map. With a rich history of accolades, Justin produces exceptional wines and is proud to be America's number one luxury Cabernet. Whether you're a first time wine drinker or a wine aficionado, Justin has a wine for every celebration and occasion. Looking for special wine to serve at your holiday table? Visit justinwine.com tis the season for consumption.

[Kristen Schwab]

So today we'll talk about the businesses, workers and shoppers who make it happen. From American Public Media, this is Marketplace in New York. I'm Kristen Schwab in for Kyra's doll. It's Friday, November 22nd. Thanks for listening. Yeah, a lot happened this week, news of the political kind, also about the economy, from inflation to retailers to consumers. To help sort through it all, we have Sadeep Reddy at Politico and Courtney Brown at Axios here with us. Hey, you two.

[Sadeep Reddy]

Hi, Kristen.

[Courtney Brown]

Hey, Kristen.

[Kristen Schwab]

Hello. Hello. Well, it was a big week for retail earnings ahead of a big week for retail. There was Walmart, Target, lows, the Gap, all reported. Courtney, what do you think what they had to say tells us about where holiday spending might be headed?

[Courtney Brown]

Something really unsatisfying is that we kind of got divergent narratives about the state of the US Consumer. And if you're an econ nerd like me, like many of your listeners, maybe you look at these earnings reports from Walmart, from Target, to try to get an understanding of how the consumer is doing. Is this going to be a strong holiday season? Walmart says yes, Target says no. And so now it's a question of which one should you believe? We're in this kind of confusing economic moment where we can't tell whether we're at kind of a pivot point and things are going to start to weaken. And I think that makes it really difficult. It makes it possible that Walmart could be right and Target could be right.

[Kristen Schwab]

A little bit of both. Well, maybe we could turn to consumer sentiment numbers that we got an update on today. Then we got the November revised consumer sentiment numbers, which are on the up and up. And a big bullet point here is that sentiment was split by party. Democrats are more likely to feel bad about the economy. Republicans are more likely to feel good. And I want to know, sadeep, what that tells us about what Courtney was just talking about and Also, if we are so fickle, does consumer sentiment even.

[Sadeep Reddy]

Matter what just happened? An election two weeks ago? That's what just happened. And that's. This has been one of these, the last few election cycles, one of these enduring features of consumer sentiment, that the national mood is so tied up with who is winning the White House that these numbers shift in some direction within weeks of the election, sometimes within days. We'll know with some of these gauges next month. There's a saying when you look at consumer sentiment, watch what consumers do, not what they say. And this is a clear indication that job market is still quite healthy. Layoffs are low. There's no reason to expect that consumers are going to pull back on their spending, even if they feel a little bit gloomier because their candidate did not win two weeks ago. So I wouldn't put too much stock in this. But there are are other factors going on right now that we will see in the coming months. Will Republicans suddenly feel better about the inflation picture after January 20th than they did before November 5th? Will Democrats flip a little bit? Who had been a little bit more on board with where inflation was headed? Will they feel differently? That's actually a really important indicator of inflation expectations. That does matter a little bit more than consumer sentiment does.

[Kristen Schwab]

Mm. Well, we don't know exactly what's to come in January, but we do know that it's likely that tariffs probably will be part of the picture. Courtney, you recently wrote a story about business owners stocking up on goods. What are you hearing from them and how worried are they?

[Courtney Brown]

Yeah, I spoke to someone who said that, you know, the, the moment after, you know, the election was kind of decided the next morning, he felt that he was getting kind of an influx of calls from his clients asking how could they get goods from overseas faster in order to kind of front load on inventory to escape tariffs. And I think that there are some anecdotes that that's actually happening. Stanley Black and Decker, for instance, toolmaker, they told investors this week that their inventory was looking on the heavier side because a few things were happening. But they said that because of tariffs, they had imported more goods than maybe they might need. Now, I want to be clear. I mean, there's only so much stuff you can import to, you know, get ahead of tariffs. I mean, it looks like these tariffs are coming whether retailers want them or not. But how bad they are, you know, we won't know yet.

[Kristen Schwab]

Sure. Well, I want to pull back for a second and look at the bigger picture with inflation, which tariffs may or may not have something to do with because central bakers in Australia, Russia and India have expressed concerns about maybe an uptick in inflation. Inflation rates in Canada and the UK came in a bit hotter than expected this week. Sadib, what does that mean for us.

[Sadeep Reddy]

In the US it really means that we've got to be on the lookout for a potential resurgence of inflation. Inflation as a rate has come down quite a bit. Price levels of course have not adjusted and that's what's got a lot of consumers still concerned. Businesses are now worried about what if that price level goes up and that's where the tariff and the stocking concerns come in. If you were concerned as we we just said, if you're concerned about prices going up overseas, you want to bring product in. But there are other factors as well. If the economy does hold up, oil prices could go a little bit higher and create a little bit of that resurgence. In the US we have other factors with labor costs, particularly low end labor and concern about deportation of workers who might be filling the gap in the lower end and on and farms and factories. These are all things that are going to weigh on mines. The fact that it's a global phenomenon though really is something that has carried on through prior bursts of inflation. So that's why everybody is watching it so closely now.

[Kristen Schwab]

Well Courtney, what are you looking at next week to give us a to thread the story of the macro picture when we get a bunch of data? What data are you keeping your eyes on?

[Courtney Brown]

Okay, data, okay. I won't talk about the fact that I'm looking forward to my mom's cooking for Thanksgiving but very important data front on the data front for what is for a lot of people a short week. There is some interesting data coming out next week including inflation, personal consumption expenditures, price index, not as sexy as cpi but that is the one that the Fed cares about. So we get an update on that next week. One other thing I'm watching is we get a revision on gdp. So we'll see whether the economy was is as strong as we thought it was or is there a bump up a bump lower. I think that'll be on my radar for sure.

[Kristen Schwab]

Gotcha. Sudeep Reddy is at Politico. Courtney Brown is at Axios. Thanks again. You too.

[Sadeep Reddy]

Thanks Kristen.

[Courtney Brown]

Thanks Kristen.

[Kristen Schwab]

Wall street today was feeling a little thankful this week before Thanksgiving. We'll have the details when we do the numbers. Sadeep and Courtney and I were just talking about holiday retail and what it says about the economy. Holiday retail hiring can tell us something too, about how much shopping stores expect people to do and about the job market and how many people are looking for seasonal work. Marketplaces. Kimberly Adams has more.

[Kimberly Adams]

With holiday sales expected to increase between two and a half to three and a half percent this year, the National Retail Federation estimates stores will need to hire between 400 to 500,000 seasonal workers. Ben Meadows teaches economics at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

[Kristen Schwab]

It looks like hiring is back to kind of the pre pandemic level, but on a year by year basis. That is actually a lower hiring level than last year.

[Kimberly Adams]

But unemployment is pretty low too, which means retailers are struggling to fill all those jobs this season. One of the strategies, says the National Retail Federation, Ed Iggy, keep things flexible.

[Kristen Schwab]

Many of my members go out of.

[Sadeep Reddy]

Their way to make sure that their.

[Kristen Schwab]

Employees are accommodated in providing opportunities for.

[Sadeep Reddy]

Them to work at and when they deem appropriate.

[Kimberly Adams]

Flexible shifts, app based scheduling. Another strategy be more accommodating to different kinds of workers, perhaps luring in retired workers who want to make some extra cash over the holidays. And, says Iggy, certainly on the disability.

[Sadeep Reddy]

Front, many of our members have been very aggressive going out to disabled workers.

[Kristen Schwab]

And trying to accommodate them in the.

[Kimberly Adams]

Workplace because there are all kinds of jobs that need filling over the holidays.

[Kristen Schwab]

Transportation, warehousing, retail. Obviously these are the biggest areas.

[Kimberly Adams]

James Atkinson is with the Society for Human Resource Management, or shrm.

[Kristen Schwab]

We have seen kind of a larger.

[Sadeep Reddy]

Percentage of retail hires this year compared.

[Kristen Schwab]

To some of the recent years. So a larger percentage of the overall.

[Kimberly Adams]

All seasonal hiring and more of those jobs are in E commerce rather than brick and mortar shops. So Santa's elves are more likely to be packing a box at a warehouse than ringing you up at a cash register. In Washington, I'm Kimberly Adams for Marketplace.

[Kristen Schwab]

On yesterday's show, we told you about the Department of Justice's plans to end Google's Internet search monopoly. More specifically, its plans to try to restrain Google from influencing the development of artificial intelligence. Which got us thinking more about AI because next week will mark two years since the debut of OpenAI's ChatGPT. Two years of hype and bans and scary predictions about the end of the world as we know it. So we had Marketplace's Matt Levin take stock of how much people and businesses are actually using AI.

[Justin Vineyards]

I hesitate to tell you this, but Google has a relatively new AI product called Notebook LM that can basically turn anything you feed it into a podcast. Economist Anton Coronek at the University of Virginia uses it all the time, mostly to summarize research papers that are a slog to actually read. I sometimes do that now because honestly those voices, they're so engaging and it's so well done. It's, it's quite impressive. Notebook LM is just one of the many leaps that tech has made over the past two years. Generative AI is also less likely to just make things up. And yet AI is not being adopted as quickly as Coronac would have thought. There is this almost free tool that's.

[Kristen Schwab]

Extremely powerful and it's like $100 bills.

[Justin Vineyards]

Lying on this floor and nobody's picking them up. Convincing businesses to pick up those low hanging dollars is part of Shane Cummings job. He's the president of acrolinks, a company that offers AI content standard services to big enterprises. He says while tech and finance have been early adopters, other industries are just more risk averse.

[Sadeep Reddy]

One of the things that hasn't changed in the last two years is that large enterprises, all enterprises, they are accountable for the content they produce. They're legally accountable, they're ethically accountable, they're financially accountable.

[Justin Vineyards]

Yet about 40% of the US working age population uses generative AI in some way according to a recent study co authored by Vanderbilt University economist Adam Blandon. He says the early spread of AI mirrors the pace of a previous tech revolution.

[Kristen Schwab]

Our overall adoption rate among workers looks.

[Courtney Brown]

Very similar to the overall adoption rate.

[Kristen Schwab]

Of computers in 1984. Just to give you some perspective, 1981 was when the IBM PC was released.

[Justin Vineyards]

Blendon also says there may be more AI going on in the workplace than we know about. It may be a few more years until employees are comfortable telling their bosses they use ChatGPT to whip up that PowerPoint. I'm Matt Levin for Marketplace SA.

[Kristen Schwab]

Coming up, people are starting to think.

[Stevie Bell]

About Christmas and holiday shopping.

[Kristen Schwab]

Starting to think about shopping and starting to shop are two different things. But first let's do the numbers. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 426 points, about 1% to close at 44,296. That is a record. The Nasdaq advanced 31 points a 10th percent to finish at 19,003. And the S&P 500 added 20 points, 3/10% to end at 59 69. For the week, the Dow gained nearly 2%. The Nasdaq picked up 11 3/4%. The S&P 500 finished 1.7% higher. Matt Levin just told us about that chat GPT anniversary. OpenAI is private, but checking some public companies. In the AI business. Nvidia lost 3% Meta retreated 7. 10%, Alphabet fell 1.6% and Amazon shaved off 6/10% after it announced a new $4 billion investment in AI startup Anthropic Gap surged almost 13% after the clothing retailer boosted its full year outlook. Department store chain Ross lifted 2% after a quarterly earnings report. Investors liked bond prices rose. The Yield on the 10 year T note fell to 4.41%. You're listening to Marketplace.

[Marketplace]

You turn to Marketplace for up to the minute news for stories that show you the connections between global events and your personal economy. And you're not alone. Marketplace is the most widely consumed business and economic news program in the country. We're proud to make fact based journalism freely accessible and Marketplace investors make it all possible. Your year end donation today will make a real difference in our nonprofit newsroom and in the lives of millions of Marketplace listeners every single day. So please contribute what you can [e-mail].

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[Kristen Schwab]

This is Marketplace. I'm Kristin Schwab. There is a real shortage of medical workers in this country. We need more dentists and physicians and nurses and specifically nurse midwives. These are registered nurses who have graduate level training and provide pregnancy care, including delivering babies, mostly in hospitals. In California, there's just one school training nurse midwives. The only other program in the state has paused admissions as it shifts to a doctoral degree program which requires significantly more training. The move worries maternal care advocates because they say the change will make training longer and more expensive at a time when access to care is dwindling from LAist Ellie Yu reports.

[Ellie Yu]

The room is buzzing at the Women's Health Simulation Lab at Cal State Fullerton. That's because today everyone gets their own anatomic model of a pelvis and a baby head.

[Kristen Schwab]

Pelvis out.

[Ellie Yu]

Professor Angela Sajobe is teaching a class to midwives in training. She holds up an example pelvis and mimics how baby move moves through the birth canal.

[Kristen Schwab]

Go through that mechanism of labor with your baby ending up.

[Ellie Yu]

Today the class is learning about the first stage of labor. Last week, students practiced catching babies with a mannequin in a birthing bed. Next week, they'll learn how to suture using foam and raw chicken for practice. Student Janine Ruiz says it's this sort of hands on experience that helped her choose the school's program.

[Kristen Schwab]

We got to practice, like how do we position our hands?

[Courtney Brown]

And it's not a person, it's a mannequin.

[Kristen Schwab]

So if we mess up, if we.

[Courtney Brown]

Drop the baby, it's okay, nobody's getting hurt. I couldn't imagine my first experience of.

[Kristen Schwab]

This being at the bedside.

[Courtney Brown]

That would be terrifying.

[Ellie Yu]

Ruiz and other students are training to be certified nurse midwives. Studies have shown that being cared for by a midwife has led to fewer C sections and fewer preterm births. But only about 12% of births in the US are attended by a midwife. So Joby, the professor says midwives can fill a critical gap as the country faces a shortage of thousands of maternal care providers.

[Kristen Schwab]

So we need more people providing care for women. Nurse midwives are very capable to provide this care.

[Ellie Yu]

But Cal State Fullerton only graduates about 10 to 12 midwives a year, and now it's the only master's level program left in the state training these nurses. This year, the other program in California, UC San Francisco, paused admissions to switch to a doctoral program. Sajobe says that will make it harder, especially for people of color, to enter the workforce.

[Kristen Schwab]

It's already difficult to recruit people of color. Now we're going to increase the amount of time you're going to be in school and the amount of money you're going to pay for school.

[Ellie Yu]

She says midwives can play an important role in the black maternal health crisis, where black birthing parents are three times more likely to die from pregnancy related complications.

[Kristen Schwab]

For us to be able to start really changing the data on disparities between care. The people to do it are the nurse midwives and those are the people we have less of practicing.

[Ellie Yu]

The doctoral program at UCSF will cost around $150,000, nearly 90,000 more than the master's program. It'll also be longer by six quarters. The school says a shift is part of a national movement to change advanced nurse degrees to doctoral ones and will better prepare graduates with more expertise as they navigate a complex healthcare landscape. Students can take classes in things like health policy, leadership and healthcare innovation, but the American College of Nurse Midwives is opposed to a doctoral requirement. Ginger Breedlove is past president of the group. She says there's no evidence that a higher degree increases the ability to safely provide care. As a midwife, you may want to.

[Justin Vineyards]

Do a post master's doctoral degree if.

[Stevie Bell]

You want to teach, if you want.

[Justin Vineyards]

To build your resume, to go into.

[Kristen Schwab]

Administrative leadership, but not to practice, she says.

[Ellie Yu]

In a time when the maternal healthcare crisis is so pressing, schools need to make programs more accessible. In California alone, nearly 50 maternity wards have closed over the last decade. In Los Angeles, I'm Ellie Yu for Marketplace.

[Kristen Schwab]

I was just a kid when Tickle Me Elmo broke Black Friday, but I still somehow remember all the news reports of shoppers causing an absolute frenzy to get their hands on the toy. Well, a lot has changed since then about how we shop, but Black Friday, which is one week from today, it's still the biggest shopping day of the year and it requires a lot of prep for retailers, especially if you're one selling what's at the top of every kid's list. That's the setup for today's installment of our series, My Economy.

[Amanda Calhoun]

I'm Stevie Bell.

[Stevie Bell]

And I'm Amanda Calhoun. We are co owners of Fantasy Island Toys in Fairhope, Alabama, and we're sisters. We had known before we went into business together that we wanted to own a business together. So when we found out in 2021 that Fantasy Island Toys, a children's toy store, was coming for sale, we knew that we had to figure out how to purchase this business.

[Amanda Calhoun]

Amanda's kids shopped here growing up, and in my quest to be the best aunt that I could be, I certainly shopped in this store for my nieces and nephews prior to us buying it. This store is a landmark in the city of Fairhope and it's really an honor to be able to continue its legacy.

[Stevie Bell]

So far, we are off to a great holiday season we have definitely picked up in the past, I would say about two weeks with Thanksgiving being a week later. We're seeing people like it's been a little bit slower start to the season. But like I said, you know, I mean, in the past two weeks we have definitely picked up and people are starting to think about Christmas and holiday shopping.

[Amanda Calhoun]

That's right. I mean, as a toy store, fourth quarter is absolutely the pinnacle and we are very optimistic. There's a lot of joy in the air. We know that the community is prioritizing shopping local and that is absolutely going to help our bottom line.

[Stevie Bell]

So to prepare for this holiday season, we did hire two employees in addition.

[Amanda Calhoun]

To the six that we have on staff already.

[Stevie Bell]

Yes. So two seasonal employees.

[Amanda Calhoun]

We have retired teachers. We have retired art teachers. We even have a seasonal employee that has a master's degree in dyslexia education. So I mean, like a really remarkable staff that will help talk about not just how fun the toy is, but the developmental benefits of each toy. Like all siblings, we have our moments, but at the end of the day, we know that we're in this together and that we have the support of our families as well as our friends and our staff.

[Stevie Bell]

We definitely balance each other out really well.

[Amanda Calhoun]

Absolutely. And I think that it is very special to work together and also have the same vision for the company, which we definitely do. So it's fantastic. It's actually awesome. It's the best job that I've ever had.

[Stevie Bell]

Yeah, it's great.

[Amanda Calhoun]

And I do say that like multiple times a day.

[Kristen Schwab]

That's Stevie Bell and Amanda Calhoun, sisters and co owners of Fantasy Island Toys in Fairhope, Alabama. Whether you have a business partner or you're flying solo, write to us about what's happening in your [e-mail] my economy this final note on the way out today, we're ending this consumer topic heavy show with a word of caution for you, the consumer, as you start your holiday shopping. In a new survey, Bankrate reviewed data from 100 major retailers and at least 50 of them, including Macy's and TJ Maxx, have raised credit card interest rates. And they did it right before the Fed made its cuts in September and November. Usually the two rates move in the same direction. This has put the average retail credit card interest rate at an all time high of more than 30%, something to consider when you're inevitably tempted by that intro offer at checkout. Our theme music was composed by BJ Lederman. Marketplace's executive producer is Nancy Fargali. Donna Tam is the executive editor. Neal Scarborough is the vice president and general manager. And I'm Kristen Schwab. Have a great weekend. We'll be back here on Monday. This is 8:00pm you turn to Marketplace.

[Marketplace]

For up to the minute news for stories that show you the connections between global events and your personal economy. And you're not alone. Marketplace is the most widely consumed business and economic news program in the country. We're proud to make fact based journalism freely accessible, and Marketplace investors make it all possible. Your year end donation today will make a real difference in our nonprofit newsroom and in the lives of millions of Marketplace listeners every single day. So please contribute what you can [e-mail] donate.