National Business Digest

NATION

Hanesbrands Inc. to close two distribution centers

HOMETOWN, Pa. — The company that makes products under the Hanes, Champion, Playtex and Bali names is closing two distribution centers in eastern Pennsylvania.

Hanesbrands Inc. says it is reorganizing its distribution system. Two facilities near Hometown in Schuylkill County will be closed in the first part of next year.

The closures will mean the loss of 155 jobs.

The work done at the two facilities will be transferred to North Carolina and Virginia.

Blockbuster, NCR plan to install rental kiosks

DALLAS — Blockbuster Inc. and NCR Corp. will be putting out 50 automated kiosks that provide DVD rentals as a pilot program that could result in 10,000 kiosks within 18 months.

Blockbuster, the video rental chain, and NCR, the maker of ATMs, have previously announced plans to deploy kiosks. In their release earlier this week, they did not say where the first kiosks would be located.

The Blockbuster-branded kiosks will initially provide only rentals, but could in the future also sell DVDs and video games, or accept downloads of new content. Blockbuster showed off a downloading kiosk in May that could transfer movies to a portable media-playing device from Archos. The first two of those machines are expected to be installed in two Dallas stores this summer.

USPS posts loss in 3rd quarter topping $1B

WASHINGTON — The Postal Service had a net loss of more than a billion dollars in the third quarter of the fiscal year, the agency said Wednesday.

For the quarter that ended June 30, the loss was $1.1 billion, which officials attributed to reduced mail volume in the slowed economy, coupled with rapidly rising transport costs because of high fuel prices.

The post office is working to deal with its losses by cutting costs. The agency has reduced its staff by about 100,000 since 2000 and is offering early retirement to some clerks, mail handlers and supervisors.

Associated Press