Company holds on to weather insurance

NATION

Company holds on
to weather insurance

NEW YORK — Last October, gearing up for the pitch of the pre-Christmas winterwear season, Weatherproof Garment Co. President Freddie Stollmack and Chief Executive Eliot Peyser decided that after 2006 — the warmest year on record in the United States — they needed to insure their coat sales against 60-degree December days.

They called in Storm Exchange Inc., which offers a “weather hedge” against unseasonal temperatures.

Weatherproof deemed the winter weather risk to its sales to be up to $10 million. If temperatures throughout November and December, the prime full-price retail season, rose a certain amount above average, Storm Exchange would have to start paying up.

Winter stayed blustery in 2007. But the company plans to keep up the insurance.

Seasonal hiring hit
big low in December

NEW YORK — Seasonal workers were lucky to be folding sweaters and stocking shelves this holiday.

Seasonal hiring for December was the lowest ever, according to a Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc. analysis of government data. This holiday shopping season saw retailers adding the fewest seasonal hires since 1991, when the economy was in recession.

Retailers “really were cautious about bringing too many people on,” said John Challenger, chief executive of Challenger Gray. “They were obviously concerned that the consumer was tapped out.”

And the retailers were right. Sales in December were down the most since June, reported the U.S. government.

Associated Press