Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 2, 1994 TAG: 9403020053
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Sandra Brown Kelly
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
If it's not insured, there's a $400 uninsured-motorist fee to pay.
Which box do you think many uninsured motorists check?
From 1986 through 1991, 25,989 motorists were truthful and paid the uninsured fee. Another 96,949 car owners coughed up the fee, but only after being caught fibbing.
The Department of Motor Vehicles runs monitoring programs to catch drivers who check the wrong box. There are several ways the insurance information is monitored, but the most conspicuous is a verification system that asks motorists who checked "insured" to identify their insurance companies.
Each day, DMV mails 1,200 notices to owners asking that they supply the name of their insurance company and a policy number, said Jeanne Chenault, public relations coordinator.
If the information originally reported wasn't accurate, the car owner has to pay a $400 penalty, plus maintain a certified insurance policy for three years.
In 1991 and 1992, there were 17,413 who got nabbed. More got caught in 1993.
Since July 1986, there has been $28,305,327 collected over the cost of operating the spy program. The revenue goes to the State Corporation Commission, which apportions the money to insurance companies based on a formula related to the amount of insurance they write in Virginia.
Ben & Jerry's Homemade makes ice cream and yogurt, definitely the kind of items you want to open. Now partner Ben Cohen has what he hopes is an equally tempting telephone offer.
Cohen, chairman of Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream in Waterbury, Vt., says he has invested in Working Assets Long Distance, which produces a phone bill "I want to open."
His letter to prospective customers says Working Assets has lower rates than AT&T, MCI and Sprint, prints its bills on unbleached, recycled paper and sends "Action Alerts" along with the bill to keep customers informed on major issues.
The company even will pay for a customer's call to government and business decision-makers on Mondays, and it promises to give 1 percent of its long-distance charges to environmental and social change groups. Plus, new sign-ups get a coupon for a free pint of Ben & Jerry's.
The phone company's style is in keeping with Ben & Jerry's, a company that sanctions napping in the workplace. It has a futon room at its central office.
But does the phone deal beat the frequent-flyer miles and rebates being offered by some of the others? One thing for certain, the deals being offered to get people to switch services are so appealing that some customers have begun to play the services like the stock market.
Tidbits:
Ethan Allen, the residential furniture retailer, is spending $47 million on advertising this year, $2 million more than last year to promote the theme: "Everybody's at Home with Ethan Allen."
The Lane Co. of Altavista and Sony have teamed to install "experience" rooms in 17 retail furniture stores. The rooms include one of Lane's eight home-theater wall systems and Sony electronics. Each roomful is targeted to retail around $4,999.
With America aging, it's natural that shuffleboard courts might replace children's swings and slides at some McDonald's Golden Arches. It's being done at a McDonald's in Delray Beach, Fla., where the average age of customers is 65 and eight of the 11 breakfast workers are 60-plus.
"We want to tie it into the condo circuit and sponsor our own tournaments," said Robert Wonyetye, the restaurant's managing partner. His 56-year-old father is the breakfast manager, and there's no salt on the fries.
Ren & Stimpy - the aggravating animated dog and cat duo of Nickelodeon - now are available retail out of the first Nickelodeon Boutique at F.A.O. Schwarz in New York's midtown Manhattan.
Anne Kreamer, senior vice president of the Consumer Products division of Nickelodeon/Nick at Nite, has helped develop a wide array of toys and spinoff products for the creatures.
by CNB