PORTLAND, Ore. -- The holidays may not be so sweet this year.
Nestle - which sells nearly all the canned pumpkin in the U.S. - says poor weather hurt its harvest, creating a potential shortage of its Libby's pumpkin pie products through the holidays.
The company said heavy rains made it nearly impossible to pick its pumpkins during this year's harvest. The longer the pumpkins sit in the muddy fields, the more they deteriorate. As a result, the company announced this week that it would not pack any more pumpkins for the season - which means it may be hard to find its canned pumpkin and pumpkin pie filling product until next year's harvest.
Fliers can expect to pay on holidays
CHICAGO -- Holiday flights are more expensive this year thanks to ever-increasing surcharges on top of rising ticket costs and baggage fees.
The nation's largest airlines already have boosted the holiday-travel surcharges they first announced in September. Plus, they've added another 31 dates next year when the extra fees will be in effect.
"Airlines like these surcharges because it lets them tinker with their prices," said Rick Seaney, chief executive of FareCompare.com. "It's really hard for airlines to raise base airfares because people quit buying tickets."
For holiday travel, travelers can expect to pay a $20 surcharge - that's doubled since September - for travel on 10 days in December. Most of those dates are before and right after Christmas and New Year's Eve.
Chase dropping arbitration clause
BOSTON -- JPMorgan Chase & Co. said Friday it is dropping a clause from its credit card contracts that required disputes with customers to be handled through binding arbitration, a move that could lead to consumers filing class-action and other lawsuits.
A spokesman for the New York-based bank's Chase Card Services unit confirmed the change after a law firm that sued banks over arbitration clauses announced a tentative settlement.
Chase decided to stop sending credit-card disputes to arbitration in July, and now is removing the arbitration clause, spokesman Paul Hartwick said.
Gold continues to rise in price
NEW YORK -- Gold prices finished higher for a sixth straight day Friday, rising even as the dollar strengthened.
The December contract added $4.90 to settle at $1,146.80 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange. For the week, prices gained 2.7 percent.
Gold has been on a record-setting climb since early September.
- From wire reports
Posted in Local on Saturday, November 21, 2009 7:10 pm Updated: 7:09 pm. | Tags: Business
© Copyright 2010, The Post-Star, Lawrence & Cooper Streets Glens Falls, NY | Terms of Service and Privacy Policy
