Would you like plastic with that⢠McDonald's Corp. customers will be able to pay for their food with credit and debit cards beginning next year under a plan long in the works at the leading fast-food chain. As many as 25 percent of McDonald's 13,300 U.S. restaurants are targeted to receive the technology by the middle of 2003, a spokesman for the Oak Brook, Ill.-based company said Tuesday. "It is ultimately about speed of service," spokesman Bill Whitman said. "The target for service time is 90 seconds or less, and this is going to shave some time off of that at the front counter as well as the drive-through."
PNC tops Money survey
PNC Financial Services Group, Inc. is ranked 23rd overall in the Money magazine Corporate America's Best Benefits survey sent to Fortune 300 companies, the highest ranking among banks in the survey. The magazine's December 2002 edition looks at what the nation's largest corporations are offering their salaried, nonunion employees. PNC, with more than 24,000 employees nationwide, was given high marks for it's total benefits package, including 401(k) savings plan, pension plan and other features, including adoption assistance, tuition reimbursement and a financial planning Web site.
United savings at $14 billion
United Airlines expects the combined labor concessions negotiated in the past several weeks, reduced flight capacity and increased sales will add $14 billion to profit over 5 1/2 years, or $2.6 billion a year on average. UAL Corp., owner of the world's second-largest airline, also reiterated in a statement that its flight and seat capacity will drop 6 percent next year from this year's level as the airline tries to reduce costs and staff to better match lower demand. United is trying to avoid a possible Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing that may come next week as a Dec. 2 deadline for repaying $375 million of debt approaches.
Airport chamber moves
The Pittsburgh Airport Area Chamber of Commerce has moved to new offices on Beaver Grade Road in Moon Township, enabling the chamber to better serve its 850 members in the airport corridor. The new 2,500 square-foot facility includes a conference room, the WestAir-Comm Federal Credit Union and the chamber plans to develop desk space for people from outside the area who are interested in growing businesses in the Pittsburgh region, and especially in the airport corridor. The office will also provide maps, business start up assistance, and information about products offered by its members to visitors and members of the community.
Bank profits up
Credit card loans written off by the nation's commercial banks jumped 35.6 percent to $3.9 billion in the three months ending in September as credit quality problems continued to grow. The surge in writeoffs, compared with the third quarter of 2001, came as banks earned $23.4 billion, only $11 million short of the record set in the second quarter of this year, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. reported Tuesday. The third-quarter profits were up 34.8 percent from the July-September period last year.
Sunbeam plan OK'd
A federal bankruptcy judge approved Sunbeam Corp.'s bankruptcy reorganization plan, giving nearly all of the company's shares to lenders. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Arthur Gonzalez approved Sunbeam's plan, which gives lenders, led by Morgan Stanley, Wachovia Corp., and Bank of America, shares worth one-third of the $1.6 billion in loans Sunbeam currently owes. Bondholders get 1.5 percent of the stock in the new company while current shareholders of the Boca Raton-based company get nothing.
Other business news:
MEDjet, of Birmingham, Alabama, requested a $7.7 million loan guarantee. Corporate Airlines, of Smyrna, Tennessee, requested a $7 million guarantee.
