By Ariana Perez-Castells, The Philadelphia Inquirer

Job hunters beware: some of the hard-earned skills listed on your resume are going unnoticed by potential employers.

Workers’ profiles on job posting websites often feature general abilities, like leadership, communication, teamwork, and problem-solving, a recent report from the Wharton School says. But they’re not highlighting the “specialized, execution-oriented skills,” employers are seeking. That’s created a “skills mismatch economy.”

“People are not representing their skills in a way that’s necessarily resonating with the skills that employers want,” said Eric Bradlow, the vice dean of artificial intelligence and analytics at the Wharton School, who co-authored the report.

Meanwhile, AI has been speeding the shift from a “role-based labor market to a skills-based economy,” the report outlines, making it all the more poignant to know what skills employers actually want.

Bradlow, says generative AI has been “a positively destructive bomb on roles and titles,” by making workers able to carry out tasks that they didn’t know how to do in the past. So “having a specific job title is becoming less relevant.”

The Wharton School worked in partnership with Accenture, a professional services firm, to analyze millions of job postings and worker profiles for the report. The study used data from Lightcast, a labor market data provider, and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Bradlow spoke with The Inquirer about their findings.

This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

Q: What are some skills included on resumes that don’t make much difference to employers, because everyone seems to have them?

A: Do we think it’s important to communicate? Well, yeah, of course, it is. Do we think it’s important to have leadership skills and manage teams well? Yeah, of course. Last time I checked, those were really important parts of the job — but everybody puts that down. We’re not saying in the report that those skills aren’t important. What we’re saying is there’s an over supply of people stating those skills, as opposed to companies saying these skills are what’s going to get you the job.

Companies are realizing that depth of skill is what’s going to be really important.

Q: Do people lack the specialized skills employers are looking for? Or are they just failing to highlight them on their resumes?

A: That’s something, trust me, I wish I could answer.

If we had people’s transcript data, or if we knew what courses someone had taken, then we could try to get an understanding of what skills people actually have.

I think two things are going to happen, based on this Wharton-Accenture Skills Index gap report. Number one is, you will see a migration where people [will say] “I need to acquire those skills, if I don’t have them, if I want a job.” Second, you’ll see [organizations] — whether it’s an academic institution or a for-profit institution — saying “wait a second, here, we need more people with this skill. We’ll create a certification program.”

Q: You found that some skills are actually tied to higher-paying jobs. Was that surprising?

A: I’m not sure I had hypotheses about which skills would be paid higher or lower.

I think maybe the part that surprised me a little bit was that there wasn’t massive swings and variation like “if you have this skill, your salary doubles.” That’s not what we found in the data.

Q: What advice would you give someone crafting their resume?

A: One is talk about the specific skills you have. Every resume I read says “I’m an effective communicator, experienced leader.” That’s fine, but that’s not what’s going to stick out and become differentiated, because everyone’s going to say that. To the degree that you have specific expertise and depth or skills, those are the kinds of things to put on the resume.

The second thing I would say is that … we should be in the skills acquisition business, be a lifelong learner. Skills will always be valued. Jobs in a particular workflow can go away. People with skills will be hired.

Take, for instance, a customer support agent in a customer satisfaction group. If you’re someone with exceptional problem solving skills, you’re hearing your customer, and you’re able to tie it to some remedy, that skill is not going to go away even if the job you’re currently in happens to go away.

Q: What skills are needed more or needed less because of the adoption of AI recently?

A: I don’t view it as AI replacing humans. I view AI as that decision-support tool you should use for every decision. If I were an employer today, I wouldn’t even consider hiring someone that didn’t recognize the power of artificial intelligence as a decision-support aid. I don’t know what business decision — pricing decision, product launch decision, product design decision, possibly even hiring decision — [for which] I wouldn’t use artificial intelligence as a decision support tool.

I would also say, equally, I’m very concerned about the agentic use of AI — in some sense totally handing over high stakes decisions.

Q: From where you stand, is AI coming for people’s jobs, as we often hear, or is it coming for their skills? What’s the difference?

A: Go through the history of mankind.

The train engine came. So you mean we don’t need as many horses? Electricity came. You mean we don’t need as much coal? Green energy came, and so now we don’t need as much nuclear fusion?

Doesn’t technology always come and translate one set of jobs to another set of jobs? It’s not AI is coming for your job. What companies are realizing about AI is there are certain roles and functions that AI can do extraordinarily well, with high accuracy, and in some cases better than humans can do. These tend to be functions, by the way, that many humans don’t like doing anyway.

I don’t see AI coming for your job any more so than any set of technology. This is an extraordinarily disruptive technology, but we’ve lived through periods of extraordinarily disruptive technology.

©2026 The Philadelphia Inquirer, LLC. Visit at inquirer.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

By GARY FIELDS, JOSH FUNK and ED WHITE, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — An air traffic controller felt a “little overwhelmed” by numerous aircraft around Reagan airport just minutes before an American Airlines jet collided midair last year with an Army Black Hawk helicopter, killing 67 people, an investigator said Tuesday at a National Transportation Safety Board hearing to determine the biggest factors in the crash.

During the hearing’s early stages, some themes emerged: The jet’s pilot had no warning about the helicopter, and airspace was crowded the night of Jan. 29, 2025.

“It will not be an easy day,” NTSB board member Todd Inman said in his opening remarks. “There is no singular person to blame for this. These were systemic issues across multiple organizations.”

Everyone aboard the jet, flying from Wichita, Kansas, and the helicopter died when the two aircraft collided and plummeted into the icy Potomac River. It was the deadliest plane crash on U.S. soil since 2001.

The Federal Aviation Administration made several changes after the crash to ensure helicopters and planes no longer share the same airspace around the nation’s capital, and last week made those changes permanent. The NTSB will recommend additional action, and families of the victims have said they hope that leads to meaningful change.

NTSB chairwoman Jennifer Homendy said she couldn’t believe the FAA didn’t realize the helicopter route in use during the crash didn’t provide adequate separation from planes landing on Reagan’s secondary runway.

“We know over time concerns were raised repeatedly, went unheard, squashed — however you want to put it — stuck in red tape and bureaucracy of a very large organization,” Homendy said. “Repeated recommendations over the years.”

NTSB investigator Katherine Wilson said an air traffic controller felt a “little overwhelmed” when traffic volume increased to 10 aircraft about 10 to 15 minutes before the collision, but then “felt the volume was manageable when one or two helicopters left the airspace.”

Yet about 90 seconds before the collision, Wilson said, “traffic volume increased to a maximum of 12 aircraft consisting of seven airplanes and five helicopters. Radio communication showed that the local controller was shifting its focus between airborne, ground and transiting aircraft.”

The workload “reduced his situational awareness,” Wilson said.

NTSB investigators showed a video animation to demonstrate how difficult it would have been for the pilots in both aircraft to spot the other amid the lights of Washington. The animation also showed how the windshields of both aircraft and the helicopter crew’s night vision goggles restricted views.

Some people were escorted from the room, including two in tears, as an animation of the flights began. Several entered the auditorium wearing black shirts bearing the names of crash victims.

“I hope that we see a clear path through the recommendations they offer to ensure that this never happens again,” Rachel Feres, who lost her cousin Peter Livingston and his wife and two young daughters in the crash, said ahead of the hearing. “That nobody else has to wake up to hear that an entire branch of their family tree is gone, or their wife is gone or the child is gone. That’s what I hope coming out of this. I hope we have clarity and urgency.”

Whether that happens depends on how Congress, the Army and the Trump administration respond after the hearing. Victims’ families say they will keep the pressure on officials to act.

Young Alydia and Everly Livingston were among 28 members of the figure skating community who died in the crash. Many of them had been in Wichita for a national skating competition and development camp.

The NTSB has already spelled out many key factors that contributed to the crash and detailed what happened that night. That includes a poorly designed helicopter route past Reagan airport, the fact that the Black Hawk was flying 78 feet (23.7 meters) higher than it should have been, the warnings that the FAA ignored in the years beforehand, and the Army’s move to turn off a key system that would have broadcast the helicopter’s location more clearly.

Several other high-profile crashes and close calls followed the D.C. collision, alarming the flying public. But NTSB statistics show that the total number of crashes last year was the lowest since the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, with 1,405 nationwide.

Funk reported from Omaha, Nebraska, and White reported from Detroit. AP Airlines writer Rio Yamat contributed from Las Vegas.

The post Detroit Evening Report: MDHHS offers stipends for behavioral health interns appeared first on WDET 101.9 FM.

By CATHY BUSSEWITZ

NEW YORK (AP) — Beth Brown was assigned to a major project at work when hardship struck. First, her 6-month-old daughter fell ill with COVID-19. A few days later, her mother passed away.

Brown, director of health and well-being at a company that provides employee mental health programs and absence management services, sent a note to the senior ComPsych director who was her partner on the project, explaining she would have to miss work to care for her daughter and to make funeral arrangements. “The guilt that I felt for knowing I was going to leave her dry on my end,” she recalled.

Instead of calling to go over remaining tasks, the director reached out to ask whether Brown was OK and to tell her not to worry about the project. “In the grand scheme of things, this is not important,” Brown recalled her colleague saying. “It’ll be here when you get back. I’ll be there when you’re back.” Hearing the kind words, Brown “felt like there was a brick taken off my chest.”

The importance of treating others with kindness is one of the first lessons most parents and guardians try to teach children. But the skill sometimes falls by the wayside in work settings that encourage competition and where adults face deadlines and pressure. Financial worries and fears of layoffs also can stifle generous impulses.

Perhaps that’s why acts of kindness on the job often are so memorable for those on the receiving end. Molly MacDermot, director of special initiatives at Girls Write Now, a nonprofit mentorship and writing program, feels lucky to have a boss who was kind to her when MacDermot’s father died eight years ago and her mother passed away six months ago.

As technology accelerates the pace of many types of work, “it’s really important to feel human, to be allowed to be human, which is getting the grace to just deal with the bumps in life,” MacDermot said.

Kindness can also mean sharing hard truths in a productive way, going out of the way to welcome a new coworker or bending the rules for the sake of love.

Here are some examples of kindness in action and ideas for spreading goodwill at work.

Create safe spaces

Treating others with warmth and consideration may be especially meaningful at a time of heightened political divisions that has many people feeling like they have to choose sides, said Anna Malaika Tubbs, a sociologist and author of “The Three Mothers” and “Erased.”

“Especially in a workplace, where you can level the playing field and really make sure people know, ‘Hey, you’re welcome here and you’re seen here,’ that can really make a difference at a time when on a national level people feel really divided from each other,” Tubbs added.

One way to encourage empathy at work is to create an environment where people get to know each other, Tubbs said. Organizing staff retreats where family members are welcome, bringing in guest speakers, starting book clubs and scheduling fun offsite activities like going to an escape room are ways to generate shared experiences and facilitate healthy dialogues, she said.

The goal isn’t “to erase political difference or erase being able to disagree with each other” but to promote a cultural shift by encouraging behavior and actions different from the ones that often get rewarded at work, Tubbs said.

“Let’s not show up to meetings thinking that we have to compete and show who’s going to be the loudest and who’s going to be the most dominant,” she said. “What would look differently if we were collaborating with each other? If we were more focused on community?”

Creating a supportive culture within an organization requires daily attention, said Maya Nussbaum, the founder of Girls Write Now and MacDermot’s boss. She starts meetings with “heart warmers,” a time for staff members to share their thoughts on topics as simple as a favorite candle. She also encourages actively listening to different perspectives.

“Productivity is better when people feel that they’re valued and they’re listened to and they matter,” Nussbaum said. “They’re going to work harder and they are going to care, and they’re going to channel their passion as opposed to feeling dismissed.”

Provide real feedback

Compassion can mean sharing hard truths in a tactful way. For example, it’s challenging to let people know they aren’t meeting performance expectations, but “sometimes kindness is getting out of your comfort zone and telling someone the truth so they can shine,” said Chantel Cohen, founder and CEO of Atlanta-based CWC Coaching and Therapy, a counseling and life coaching practice in Atlanta.

When providing feedback as a manager, give specific examples to illustrate the behaviors that need improvement, she said. “Kindness isn’t a conflict-free workplace. Kindness is a workplace where repair is possible or improvement is possible,” Cohen said.

However, remember to acknowledge successes. Karla Cen recalls a former boss who she says criticized her several times a day. She learned a lot, but felt unrelenting pressure.

A manager at the retirement community in Florida where Cen works now brought her a potted plant on her first day after driving four hours to meet her. Another manager provides encouraging feedback daily.

“Having her pass by and say, ‘You did that really well today,’ it just really uplifts the mood of the whole department and makes us ready to come in for the next challenges,” Cen said.

Give back time

Before scheduling a meeting, consider whether the goals can be accomplished another way. For example, a manager can tell a working group, here’s what’s on the agenda, take time to think about it and send your ideas in writing, Cohen suggested.

“Sometimes, the gift of time is such a kindness,” she said. “Maybe you can’t give your team time off right now, but what you could do a couple times a quarter is just say, ‘Hey we’re going to skip tomorrow’s meeting and here are the things I want you all to think about. Submit this in writing so that you can have the time for yourselves.’”

Keeping meetings structured and focused also frees up time, Nussbaum said.

Reconsider rules

Meher Murshed began dating a colleague, Anupa Kurian-Murshed, more than two decades ago when they both worked at Gulf News in Dubai. The couple wanted to marry, but the newspaper prohibited spouses from working in the same department. They feared one of them would have to quit if they wed.

So they appealed to their editor-in-chief, who raised the issue with the managing director. The top managers decided the couple could keep their jobs and get married as long as one of them didn’t report to the other.

“It changed our lives. Life could have been very different,” Meher Murshed said.

Share your stories and questions about workplace wellness at cbussewitz@ap.org. Follow AP’s Be Well coverage, focusing on wellness, fitness, diet and mental health at https://apnews.com/hub/be-well

By FATIMA HUSSEIN

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Treasury Department has cut its contracts with Booz Allen Hamilton, after a former contractor who worked for the firm was charged and subsequently imprisoned for leaking tax information to news outlets about thousands of the country’s wealthiest people, including President Donald Trump.

The latest move is in line with Trump administration efforts to exact retribution on perceived enemies of the president and his allies.

In 2024, former IRS contractor Charles Edward Littlejohn of Washington, D.C. — who worked for Booz Allen Hamilton — was sentenced to five years in prison after pleading guilty to leaking tax information about Trump and others to news outlets.

Littlejohn gave data to The New York Times and ProPublica between 2018 and 2020 in leaks that appeared to be “unparalleled in the IRS’s history,” prosecutors said.

In court documents, prosecutors said Littlejohn had applied to work as a contractor to get Trump’s tax returns and carefully figured out how to search and extract tax data to avoid triggering suspicions internally.

Treasury says the agency has 31 contracts with Booz Allen Hamilton totaling $4.8 million in annual spending and $21 million in total obligations.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in statement that the firm “failed to implement adequate safeguards to protect sensitive data, including the confidential taxpayer information it had access to through its contracts with the Internal Revenue Service.”

A representative from Booz Allen Hamilton was not immediately available for comment.

USA TODAY Co., owner of the Detroit Free Press, will acquire The Detroit News and continue to publish it separately, it announced Monday.

The company said it has agreed to a binding letter of intent to acquire The News from MediaNews Group, a transaction it expects to complete by month’s end. Terms of the deal will not be disclosed, the announcement said.

USA TODAY Co. noted it is acquiring the three-time reigning Michigan Newspaper of the Year for journalistic excellence, as honored by the Michigan Press Association. The News is a leading source of digital news and one of the top regional digital news sources in the nation.

“Welcoming The Detroit News fully to our network will enable the continued delivery of trusted, high-quality news and content to our audiences and advertisers in the region,” CEO Mike Reed said in a statement. The acquisition “reinforces our commitment to local journalism in the Detroit metropolitan area.”

It’s the latest twist in ownership for the Detroit dailies, which on Dec. 28 concluded a 36-year joint operating agreement. In that partnership, business operations of The News and Free Press were merged under management of USA TODAY Co., while the newsrooms competed against each other under separate ownership.

As the companies worked to untether those business operations, The News announced on Dec. 26 that it planned to start a separate Sunday paper beginning Jan. 18. It abruptly delayed those plans on Jan. 9.

Formerly known as Gannett Co., USA TODAY Co. did not immediately disclose its plans for The News, except to say, “The Detroit Free Press and The Detroit News will continue to publish separately.”

“We are pleased to reach this agreement with USA TODAY Co. now that the joint operations agreement has expired after decades of successful operations,” said Guy Gilmore, COO of MediaNews Group, in a statement. “Both companies have a mutual desire to ensure that these publications and their distinct journalism continue to serve the greater Detroit area.”

USA TODAY Co. was prohibited from certain acquisitions and increased indebtedness without the consent of its lenders, it said in its 2025 annual report.

On Monday, it said it would finance the purchase of The News in part with cash and also with funds managed by Apollo Global Management, its primary lender. It did not disclose a price.

“Apollo continues to be a great partner of USA TODAY Co.,” Reed’s statement said. “Their commitment enables us to fund this strategic acquisition.”

It is rare for the two major dailies in a metro area to be owned by one parent company, but it is not unprecedented. Cox Enterprises purchased the Atlanta Journal in 1939 and purchased the Atlanta Constitution in 1950. They continued to publish separately until they merged as the Atlanta Journal-Constitution in 2001.

Similar deals have prompted scrutiny from the Department of Justice, such as when The News and Free Press first announced their joint operating agreement in 1986; it was contested in courts until 1989, when the U.S. Supreme Court deadlocked over an attempt to block it.

The sale to USA TODAY Co. marks a return for The News to its former corporate parent.

Founded in 1873 by James E. Scripps as The Evening News, The News marked several firsts in the 113 years before its sale to Gannett in 1986.

The News founded WWJ-AM (950), broadcasting for the first time in August 1920 from the second floor of The News building.

A pioneer in aerial photography, The News purchased a gyrocopter with a swiveling camera to better cover news events in 1931. It was later donated to the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, where it remains on display.

In 1942, News photographer Milton Brooks won the inaugural Pulitzer Prize for photography for his 1941 photograph of Ford Motor Co. strikers being beaten. The News has won three Pulitzers, recognized as the highest honor in journalism.

The News debuted broadcast television in Michigan in 1947, founding WDIV-TV (Channel 4).

By its 100th anniversary, The News had achieved the largest evening circulation of any newspaper in the country. With readers moving toward morning newspapers, The News launched a morning edition in 1976.

In July 1995, The News launched detnews.com, becoming among the first newspapers to distribute content on the internet. It now has nearly 3 million users every month.

After 113 years of independent ownership, the Scripps family sold The News and its array of other newspapers and broadcast stations to Gannett for $717 million, instantly making The News the largest local paper in the Gannett chain.

Almost immediately thereafter, the owners of The News and Free Press filed to create the joint operating agreement, declaring that the Free Press was in imminent danger of failing. When finally approved, it became the largest such agreement in the United States.

In 2005, with Free Press owner Knight-Ridder under increasing pressure, Gannett purchased the Free Press and sold The News to MediaNews Group for $25 million. The two companies entered the 20-year business partnership that ended in December.

The post Detroit Evening Report: Rescue seeks fosters for dogs during extreme cold appeared first on WDET 101.9 FM.

By Sarah Atwood, satwood@detroitnews.com

Lansing — Several of Michigan’s public university leaders gathered last week to reveal the results of a study analyzing the positive economic impact their institutions have on the state, generating $45 billion annually.

As public scrutiny of higher education and its mission has grown over the last five years, the speakers, including Michigan State University President Kevin Guskiewicz and Grand Valley State University President Philomena Mantella, explained on Tuesday how Michigan’s public schools are continuing to improve the lives of all Michigan residents.

It’s been 10 years since the last report on the economic impact of Michigan’s universities, said Britany Affolter-Caine, executive director of Research Universities for Michigan, an organization of the four Michigan research universities.

The report, done by the East Lansing-based Anderson Economic Group, shows that Michigan’s public universities contributed $45 billion in net new economic activity through operations, student spending and alumni earnings for the state. The report pointed out that this revenue was more than 28 times the amount given in state appropriations for the 15 universities.

“This is economic impact that would not exist in Michigan if these institutions were not here,” said Dan Hurley, CEO of the Michigan Association for State Universities.

However, about 70% of Americans now say higher education is going in the wrong direction, a poll by Pew Research released in October showed, up from 56% in 2020.

Guskiewicz and Mantella agreed that the public perception of higher education is something they’re trying to repair. Graduates coming out of college with jobs in their field, more affordable tuitions so students have less debt and showing the impact of universities in local communities are all ways the institutions can rebuild public trust, the speakers said.

Perception of higher education

Americans were losing confidence in higher education because they believe it’s too expensive, doesn’t provide the skills needed for today’s jobs and is “indoctrinating” students, Guskiewicz said.

The misinformation regarding the value of a degree conflicts with the real data that shows, Guskiewicz said, the social upward mobility and the opportunity that come with a degree, along with the improvements to quality of life in all sectors that touch a university.

“We have to do a better job of telling our story, just like we are today,” Guskiewicz said.

But negative perceptions of higher education held by lawmakers, federally and statewide, can hurt a university’s finances. In the past year, President Donald Trump’s administration has cut millions of dollars from Michigan universities, according to Treasury Department data compiled by the Center for American Progress, a liberal group.

Michigan House Republicans toyed with the idea of cutting $291 million from the University of Michigan’s and MSU’s state appropriations to redistribute among the other state universities. This was rejected by the Democratic-led Senate and Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, and all universities saw an increase in their state appropriations in the budget approved in October.

“That was an effort by one caucus in one chamber, which is a pretty distinct minority in the entire public body that ultimately is responsible for passing the state budget,” Hurley said. “All of our universities need to have reinvigorated state investment. … We are thankful for what the Legislature has done in recent years. … But we are conservatively at least 41st out of 50 in this country as it involves per student state support for public universities.”

The worth of a degree

Pew’s poll showed that about 80% of adult respondents said colleges and universities aren’t doing enough to keep tuition affordable, and about half said higher education wasn’t doing enough to prepare students for well-paying jobs.

The speakers acknowledged the longstanding problem of graduates struggling to find employment in their degree’s field, or any meaningful employment at all.

“This is not a new challenge,” Affolter-Caine said. “It happens to maybe be exacerbated in the current cycle.”

However, the report shows that graduates from Michigan universities make double what high school degree holders earn and, on average, about $20,000 more than what graduates from out-of-state public institutions make.

On average, the report said, Michigan university alumni ages 25-24 earn $91,073 yearly.

Mantella said Grand Valley, like other universities, has embraced and strengthened “experience-based learning.” This includes ensuring all students have access to an internship, project-based learning or other professional workforce experience while still in college.

“This is not only an opportunity to accelerate to the workforce,” Mantella said. “It’s so (students) come into the workforce at the appropriate levels, in the appropriate roles. … It also links the individual to a Michigan employer, so there’s a higher probability that they will, in fact, stay in the state and contribute to the state rather than go somewhere else.”

Hurley said about 84% of the top 50 most in-demand jobs over the next few years will require at least a bachelor’s degree.

“(Those jobs) are our state’s economy, our private sector, our non-private sector, our health care sector speaking,” Hurley said. “And so for us to be competitive in the future, we have to continue generating that talent. And of course, it’s the role of the state government to make sure that college remains affordable.”

It will be a while before you can come and get those Motown memories this weekend.

After Monday, Jan. 19 — the Martin Luther King Jr. birthday observance — the Motown Museum will be closed for tours to allow for intensive construction of its $75 million expansion, which is slated to grow the shrine from two houses on Detroit’s West Grand Boulevard into a 50,000-sqare-foot facility housing interactive exhibits, artifacts, a professional recording studio and more, as well as the Hitsville NEXT educational academy.

The expanded museum is slated to open in the spring of 2027.

This week and weekend also feature days themed to specific artists from Motown’s history. The Marvelettes, Teena Marie, Stevie Wonder and the Temptations were covered earlier in the week, while the weekend will focus on the Four Tops (Friday, Jan. 16), Diana Ross & the Supremes (Sat., Jan. 17) and Smokey Robinson & the Miracles (Sunday, Jan. 18, with discounted admission). All will feature immersive tours, curated playlists, video footage and special giveaways.

MLK Day will also feature special immersive tours.

The museum will be open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. each day. Call 313-875-2264 or visit motownmuseum.org.

At the end of 2025, a commitment to getting a new economic development plan out of the Legislature was halted. In this episode MichMash, Bridge Michigan’s business reporter Paula Gardner joins Cheyna Roth and Alethia Kasben to discuss economic development incentives and if they are helping to attract Michigan businesses.

Subscribe to MichMash on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

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The post MichMash: Are economic incentives helping Michigan? appeared first on WDET 101.9 FM.

Q: We have a third bathroom in our finished basement that has a stall shower. My brother-in-law says it’s only considered a half-bath because it doesn’t have a bathtub. Is he correct?

A: Your brother-in-law is wrong. Bathrooms go by the number of fixtures. A bathroom with a sink and a toilet is a two-fixture bath, which is also referred to as a half-bath or a lav. A full bath has a sink, toilet, and either a bathtub or shower, or both, so it can be either a three- or four-fixture full bath.

Home maintenance tip

Are you losing up to 25% of your heat because you don’t have $40 to $80 worth of insulation in your basement? Having been in literally over a thousand homes over the years, I get to observe a lot of things. One thing I have noticed, especially in homes built before the 1980s, is the lack of insulation around the rim joist in the basement. That is where all the joists rest on top of the basement wall. If you see insulation, you’re good, but if you see bare wood, you’re losing money out of your pocket every minute during the cold weather here in Michigan.

The fix is simple: buy a roll or two of insulation and cut pieces to fit up in all of the cavities. (If you have bay windows or kitchen sinks that are in a bay with plumbing pipes, then consult with a professional on the correct way to insulate the bay.) It’s a good idea to wear gloves, long sleeves, safety glasses and a face mask when handling insulation. You can take it a step further and seal all the joints with a foam sealant first before adding the insulation. I recommend consulting your home improvement store or a contractor/handyman as to the best way to go about it for your home. As long as you do something, you will start saving money right away.

Market update

November’s market update for Macomb County and Oakland County’s housing market (house and condo sales) is as follows: In Macomb County, the average sales price was up by almost 3% and Oakland County’s was up by more than 2%. Macomb County’s on-market inventory was down by almost 2% and Oakland County’s was up by almost 4%. Macomb County’s average days on market was 35 days and Oakland County’s was 32 days. Closed sales in Macomb County were up by almost 3% and were down by almost 9% in Oakland County. (All comparisons are month to month, year to year.)

By the long-standing historical definition from the National Association of Realtors, which has been in existence since 1908, a buyer’s market is when there is a seven-month supply or more of inventory on the market. A balanced market between buyers and sellers is when there is a six-month supply of inventory. A seller’s market is when there is a five-month or less supply of inventory. Inventory has continued to stay low. In November, the state of Michigan’s inventory was at 2.6 months of supply. Macomb County’s inventory was at 2.4 months of supply and Oakland County’s inventory was at 2.3 months of supply. By definition, it’s still not close to a buyer’s market.

Steve Meyers is a real estate agent/Realtor at Realty Executives Home Towne in Shelby Township. He can be contacted with questions at 586-997-5480 or emailed at Steve@MeyersRealtor.com. You can also visit his website at  AnswersToRealEstateQuestions.com.

The post Detroit Evening Report: Detroit City Council votes in new leaders appeared first on WDET 101.9 FM.

Michigan’s economy is in flux.

Tariffs have pushed up the cost of some goods. Unemployment has ticked up slightly. Hiring practices are shifting as artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT become more prevalent in workplaces.

Those changes raise big questions for the state’s more than 900,000 small businesses — and the workers who depend on them. How are owners adapting to rising costs and new technologies? What does this moment feel like on the ground? And what should people be doing now to stay resilient?

To explore those questions, Mark Lee, founder of The Lee Group, sat down with The Metro’s Robyn Vincent. Lee hosts several talk shows and writes about business and the economy for Crain’s Detroit, with a focus on how national trends play out locally.

 

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on demand.

Subscribe to The Metro on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

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Empty office spaces and buildings continue to be an issue for owners the COVID-19 pandemic. Rent is too high for small businesses and entrepreneurs to fill in the gap. 

Bamboo is a co-working space seeks to fill the need of office space without the large commitments required when renting a whole building. Bamboo has flexible options to obtain office space and common areas for any business-related needs. 

Bamboo now has five locations across Michigan, including one of its newest locations in Midtown. 

Amanda Lewen says Bamboo started as a grassroots idea from a group of friends. She spoke with The Metro’s Tia Graham about Bamboo and the current state of Michigan’s small business ecosystem.

 

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on demand.

Subscribe to The Metro on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

Support local journalism.

WDET strives to cover what’s happening in your community. As a public media institution, we maintain our ability to explore the music and culture of our region through independent support from readers like you. If you value WDET as your source of news, music and conversation, please make a gift today.

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By JOSH FUNK, Associated Press Business Writer

President Donald Trump’s plan to take control of Venezuela’s oil industry and ask American companies to revitalize it after capturing President Nicolás Maduro in a raid isn’t likely to have a significant immediate impact on oil prices.

Venezuela’s oil industry is in disrepair after years of neglect and international sanctions, so it could take years and major investments before production can increase dramatically. But some analysts are optimistic that Venezuela could double or triple its current output of about 1.1 million barrels of oil a day to return to historic levels fairly quickly.

“While many are reporting Venezuela’s oil infrastructure was unharmed by U.S. military actions, it has been decaying for many many years and will take time to rebuild,” said Patrick De Haan, who is the lead petroleum analyst at gasoline price tracker GasBuddy.

American oil companies will want a stable regime in the country before they are willing to invest heavily, and the political picture remained uncertain Saturday with Trump saying that the United States is in charge — while the current Venezuelan vice president argued, before Venezuela’s high court ordered her to assume the role of interim president, that Maduro should be restored to power.

“But if it seems like the U.S. is successful in running the country for the next 24 hours, I would say there would be a lot of optimism that U.S. energy companies could come in and revitalize the Venezuelan oil industry fairly quickly,” said Phil Flynn, a senior market analyst at the Price Futures Group.

And if Venezuela can grow into an oil production powerhouse, Flynn said “that could cement lower prices for the longer term” and put more pressure on Russia.

Speaking to reporters on Air Force One on Sunday, Trump said oil companies are “going to go in and rebuild this system.”

A major shift in oil prices wasn’t expected because Venezuela is a member of OPEC, so its production is already accounted for there. And there is currently a surplus of oil on the global market.

The price of U.S. crude oil lost 23 cents early Monday to $57.09 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, gave up 18 cents to $60.57 per barrel.

Proven reserves

Venezuela is known to have the world’s largest proven crude oil reserves of approximately 303 billion barrels, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. That accounts for roughly 17% of all global oil reserves.

So international oil companies have reason to be interested in Venezuela. Exxon Mobil didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment Saturday. ConocoPhillips spokesperson Dennis Nuss said by email that the company “is monitoring developments in Venezuela and their potential implications for global energy supply and stability. It would be premature to speculate on any future business activities or investments.”

Chevron is the only one with significant operations in Venezuela, where it produces about 250,000 barrels a day. Chevron, which first invested in Venezuela in the 1920s, does business in the country through joint ventures with the state-owned company Petróleos de Venezuela S.A., commonly known as PDVSA.

“Chevron remains focused on the safety and wellbeing of our employees, as well as the integrity of our assets. We continue to operate in full compliance with all relevant laws and regulations,” Chevron spokesman Bill Turenne said.

But even with those massive reserves, Venezuela has been producing less than 1% of the world’s crude oil supply. Corruption, mismanagement and U.S. economic sanctions saw production steadily decline from the 3.5 million barrels per day pumped in 1999 to today’s levels.

The problem isn’t finding the oil. It’s a question of the political environment and whether companies can count on the government to live up to their contracts. Back in 2007, then President Hugo Chávez nationalized much of the oil production and forced major players like ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips out.

“The issue is not just that the infrastructure is in bad shape, but it’s mostly about how do you get foreign companies to start pouring money in before they have a clear perspective on the political stability, the contract situation and the like,” said Francisco Monaldi, who is the director of the Latin American energy program at Rice University.

But the infrastructure does need significant investment.

“The estimate is that in order for Venezuela to increase from one million barrels per day — that is what it produces today — to four million barrels, it will take about a decade and about a hundred billion dollars of investment,” Monaldi said.

Strong demand

Venezuela produces the kind of heavy crude oil that’s needed for diesel fuel, asphalt and other fuels for heavy equipment. Diesel is in short supply around the world because of the sanctions on oil from Venezuela and Russia and because America’s lighter crude oil can’t easily replace it.

Years ago, American refineries on the Gulf Coast were optimized to handle that kind of heavy crude at a time when U.S. oil production was falling and Venezuelan and Mexican crude was plentiful. So refineries would love to have more access to Venezuela’s crude because it would help them operate more efficiently, and it tends to be a little cheaper.

Boosting Venezuelan production could also make it easier to put pressure on Russia because Europe and the rest of the world could get more of the diesel and heavy oil they need from Venezuela and stop buying from Russia.

“There’s been a big benefit for Russia to see Venezuela’s oil industry collapse. And the reason is because they were a competitor on the global stage for that oil market,” Flynn said.

Complicated legal picture

But Matthew Waxman, a Columbia University law professor who was a national security official in the George W. Bush administration, said seizing control of Venezuela’s resources opens up additional legal issues.

“For example, a big issue will be who really owns Venezuela’s oil?” Waxman wrote in an email. “An occupying military power can’t enrich itself by taking another state’s resources, but the Trump administration will probably claim that the Venezuelan government never rightfully held them.”

But Waxman, who served in the State and Defense departments and on the National Security Council under Bush, noted that “we’ve seen the administration talk very dismissively about international law when it comes to Venezuela.”

Associated Press writers Matt O’Brien, Ben Finley, Darlene Superville and Rio Yamat contributed to this report.

By Summer Ballentine, sballentine@detroitnews.com

A nearly four-decade-long business partnership between The Detroit News and Detroit Free Press ended Sunday, Dec. 28, pitting the newspapers against each other financially at a time when few other U.S. cities support two major papers.

Free Press owner USA TODAY Co., formerly known as Gannett Co. Inc., and MediaNews Group — owner of The News — in June opted against renewing the longstanding agreement, thus ending among the last such tie-ups in the country. The companies have not provided further reasoning behind the split.

The News announced Friday it will launch a Sunday edition Jan. 18, at which point it will once again print newspapers all seven days. Other changes include makeovers for the detroitnews.com website and mobile app, an updated print design and a refreshed eNewspaper, Editor and Publisher Gary Miles said. The changes are expected to take place during a roughly month-long transition period.

The end of the Detroit joint operating agreement (JOA) marks the end of an era in U.S. newspapers. Aside from a contentious Las Vegas partnership that was ruled invalid earlier this year, the Detroit JOA was the last major JOA still in existence, and the only one in which both newspapers emerged to print seven days and compete on all digital platforms.

“To the JOA’s credit, there are two newspapers to this day in metropolitan Detroit,” said Mark Silverman, who was editor and publisher of The News from 1997 to 2005. “So that’s clearly a positive. And both newspapers had very different editorial page positions. That’s a positive for a community.”

Joint operating agreements were cost-saving measures allowed by the Newspaper Preservation Act of 1970, which permitted two newspapers in the same city to merge their business operations to protect diversity in opinion and newsgathering. If approved by the federal government, the newsrooms continued to compete, but companies saved overhead costs associated with newsprint, printing presses and distribution.

“Even in the federal government, there was some understanding of the value of journalism and the value of preserving those voices,” said Carole Leigh Hutton, a former Detroit News editor and the Free Press’ former editor and publisher.

In virtually all cases outside of Detroit, newspapers concluded their partnerships with mergers, one partner shuttering its operations or the smaller paper dramatically curtailing operations.

Bitterly contested in court when it was first proposed in 1986, the Detroit joint operating agreement remains a subject of debate over whether it was a success, although its primary stated goal — preserving two editorial voices — was fulfilled.

“Ultimately, what it intended to do was to keep two papers in Detroit,” said the Poynter Institute’s Kelly McBride, who advises news organizations on best practices. “So yeah, I guess that means it was successful. Clearly, I don’t think Detroit would have two papers now if the (joint operating agreement) had not existed.”

But McBride and former editors of both papers said it’s difficult to separate the role of business partnerships in the survival or death of newspapers compared to the existential loss of funding widely blamed on digital advertising.

“It’s been a really tough environment for newspapers,” Hutton said. “And they have gone to online-only in a lot of places. Many have just gone away. So it’s not far-fetched to think it would have been tough to continue to have two nameplates in this particular area, and I think the JOA probably did keep two nameplates alive. But again, it’s hard to know.”

Ed Wendover, a former Plymouth newspaper publisher who fought the Detroit papers’ partnership in court, said the outlets survived in spite of their agreement. Free to compete on all levels without being tethered financially, the papers “would be stronger than they are today and have more circulation,” Wendover said.

Silverman expressed a similar sentiment, saying that “the business aspect of the JOA was a hindrance to both newspapers.”

“The positive was that it kept two newspapers going,” he said. “The negative was that the business staff tried to serve too many masters and didn’t serve either very well.”

In addition, a bitter newspaper strike marked the early years of the JOA, costing the publications both subscribers and brand loyalty.

“The mismanagement under the JOA drove readers away, and advertisers will always play follow-the-readers. It’s a double-edged sword seeing the JOA end,” Wendover said.

Why did the Detroit papers partner?

In the years before the joint operating agreement, The News and the Free Press were locked in a financially draining, “old-fashioned, intense newspaper war,” said The News’ editorial page editor Nolan Finley, who at the time worked as an editor on the paper’s city desk.

Lucrative ad sales were at stake, and advertising rates were based on circulation, said former News reporter Bryan Gruley, whose 1993 book “Paper Losses: A Modern Epic of Greed and Betrayal at America’s Two Largest Newspaper Companies” details the path toward the joint agreement. Both papers steeply discounted subscription prices to beef up readership numbers and increase the prices they could charge for ads.

“You couldn’t throw a stone in Detroit without meeting someone who got a free Free Press or a free Detroit News that they never paid for and that landed on their doorstep every morning,” Hutton said. “Everybody knew that was part of the war.”

In response, The News ― then owned by Gannett (recently renamed USA TODAY Co.) ― and the Free Press ― then owned by now-defunct Knight Ridder ― in 1986 filed for federal approval to merge business operations in a 100-year partnership, leaving separately owned and competitive newsrooms.

Wendover, the former Plymouth publisher, led opposition to the partnership and sued to block it. He said vying for permission from the Reagan administration reflected poorly on the newspapers’ editorial independence and would reduce journalistic competition between them.

Once the deal was before federal judges, scrutiny increased over claims that the Free Press was in imminent danger of failure if not for the agreement. The reason: federal law on joint-operating agreements required one paper to be failing.

“They were saying these are not failing newspapers,” said Gruley, who covered the legal battle. “They’re not failing because the economics are bad. They’re failing because they’re choosing to fail, knowing that maybe we can push the other guys out and then maybe we get the whole banana, the whole enchilada.”

The U.S. Supreme Court ultimately ruled 4-4 on the case, allowing the agreement to take effect in 1989. The pact was renegotiated as a 20-year deal in 2005 when newspaper ownership changed; Gannett bought the Free Press and sold The News to MediaNews Group.

“I remember that when it came about, it was a matter of survival,” said U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Ann Arbor. “And I think local media matters. I think it’s important that there are two newspapers with different perspectives, and I’m someone that thinks we need more media, not less. People need to be able to go to places where you can really get the facts. And I hope both papers survive.”

Although the rise of digital advertising at the expense of newspapers wasn’t what prompted the tie-up, former Free Press publisher Dave Hunke said the timing of the agreement was unwittingly prescient.

“The JOA was necessary from an economic standpoint to keep two newspapers in place,” Hunke said. “We were within a couple of years heading into the deepest financial crisis this country had seen since the Great Depression, and the business was not good.”

The role of journalism and how to pay for it

The papers’ upcoming split once again raises questions about the market for two dailies and whether current economics can support both outlets.

“People wanted two fiercely independent competitive newspapers in that town,” said Hunke, who became president of the joint business operations when the partnership was reconstituted in 2005. “People wanted their newspapers. And they wanted them competitive, and they wanted them separate.”

Throughout the agreement, Detroit maintained its rare status as a two-paper town.

“It kept two fairly strong newspapers in Detroit with opposing … editorial page viewpoints,” Finley said. “So we’re the only market you could say that about in the country, where you have two competitive, fairly equal newspapers, one on the right (and) one on the left that people can choose from.”

Silverman said both papers served readers well during the JOA.

“The News always had a certain journalistic personality embodied by its name: The News,” he said, adding that during his time in Detroit, the Free Press was known as “the friendly Freep.”

Both newspapers won Pulitzer Prizes during the partnership and “changed lives in the community,” Hutton said. She cited coverage of former Detroit mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, who was convicted 12 years ago of federal racketeering and tax evasion charges after being accused of running a criminal enterprise out of City Hall, rigging bids and pocketing more than $840,000 in bribes and kickbacks.

“Even though there’s a whole political entity out there that likes to trash it and say that journalism is harmful and anti-American, it’s quite the opposite,” she said. “If you think about it, journalism is about preserving the ideals and making sure that people know what’s happening because it’s our money, and it’s our government, and it’s our right, and it’s supposed to be our decision. And it’s just not possible for the average person to oversee what’s happening in the world the way journalists should be overseeing it for them.”

Leadership at The News has said the split will allow the outlet to operate more closely with its sister papers in Michigan, including the Macomb Daily, The Oakland Press, The News-Herald in the Downriver area, and The Morning Sun in mid-Michigan, which share the same ownership as The Detroit News.

Hutton said the success of the papers “all comes down to: What do the advertisers think?”

“You got to unlock the business solution, somehow,” Hunke said. “But you cannot take the shortcuts on the news side. Good journalism, in the end, I swear it will win. I just wish somebody could find a way to unlock the economics.”

On Reddit, a user recently asked if spending money on an expensive hobby can be justified.

Sure, expensive hobbies may bring joy. But does it make sense to splurge on something like golf, sailing or world travel? What if that splurge takes money away from other more “responsible” goals, such as saving or paying off debt?

Responses were mixed: Some encouraged the poster to spend now on what makes them happy. After all, you never know what the future might bring. Those folks shared stories of spending on luxury cars, video gaming accessories and musical instruments.

Others recommended a more balanced approach, suggesting a responsible split between spending on future savings and today’s hobbies.

It turns out financial experts think it’s OK to indulge — in a balanced way, of course.

Take care of your essentials

Before splurging on non-essentials, do a review of your basic needs, suggests Andi Wrenn, an accredited financial counselor and founder of Coaching Capability in the Raleigh, North Carolina area.

Are you covering the important stuff and still feeling good about your financial situation?

It’s a good idea to make sure your bills are paid and you’re saving for the future before turning to hobby-related spending, Wrenn says.

Reflect on bigger goals

What’s your master plan? Thinking about your goals and values is a useful way to decide how to prioritize your discretionary funds, says John Jones, a certified financial planner and investment advisor representative at Heritage Financial in Newberry, Florida.

If you have a partner, it’s useful to talk together about where you want to be in five, 10 and 15 years, he adds.

“How do you want to spend your time? How do you want to spend your financial assets? Is it on golfing, boating or sailing? One might appeal more to one person than the other,” Jones says.

Build hobby spending into your budget

Once you’ve set your financial priorities, you can make room for your expensive hobby in your overall budget, Jones says.

“I like to think through what is sustainable,” he says.

A sustainable expense is one you can pay for with your current cash flow instead of turning to savings or loans.

There might be ways to cut back in other areas to make room for the extra expense. “Maybe we save $10,000 a year for this hobby,” Jones suggests.

Wrenn takes that approach in pursuit of her passions, which include travel and crafting.

“For me, it was important to have money in the budget to do the things that I enjoy doing,” she says, which means scaling back spending in other categories to compensate.

Find creative ways to fund your hobby

To fund her travel passion, Wrenn strategically uses credit cards. She pays them off each month to earn travel rewards. Done right, she can purchase airplane tickets with points instead of savings.

She recently took her family on a trip to Scotland, which was paid for largely by those travel rewards. “I could afford it because I planned for it,” she says.

Another option is to brainstorm ways to make your hobby pay for itself. If you’re a crafter, you can try to sell some of your creations on Etsy. If you love to sail, maybe you can offer charters to paying clients, Jones suggests.

Embrace patience and planning

Sometimes, a big hobby-related purchase requires extra planning, Wrenn says.

For example, she spends big on craft supplies, but only stocks up during her favorite store’s annual sale.

“For me, going to the craft store and spending $300 makes me happy, so I save for that,” she says.

In her case, savvy planning pays off. She used the stamps, ink and paper — all bought on sale — to make her annual holiday, thank-you and greeting cards.

Another tip: Create a separate savings account for the hobby and deposit money into it each month, says Wrenn. That can make it easier to accrue funds for a passion while avoiding debt.

This method also helps head off any potential fights with your partner about how the money is spent. “If the spending is pre-planned, you don’t need to fight about it,” she says.

Taking that approach allowed her to purchase a large sewing machine and a computer to assist with crafting projects.

“Having a dedicated savings account that I just put money into every month makes it very purposeful and allows me to save without being tempted to spend on something else,” Wrenn says.

Expensive hobby. Justified.

Reddit is an online forum where users share their thoughts in “threads” on various topics. The popular site includes plenty of discussion on financial subjects like spending and saving, so we sifted through Reddit forums to get a pulse check. People post anonymously, so we cannot confirm their individual experiences or circumstances.

Kimberly Palmer writes for NerdWallet. Email: kpalmer@nerdwallet.com. Twitter: @kimberlypalmer.

The article Asked on Reddit: Can I Justify an Expensive Hobby? originally appeared on NerdWallet.

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The holiday season will soon come to a close, but the busiest time of the year for product returns is just beginning.

The National Retail Federation estimates 17% of holiday purchases will be sent back this year. More retailers are reporting extended return windows and increased holiday staff to handle the rush this year.

A major driver for returns is uncertainty. When we buy for other people, finding what they want is a bit of a guessing game. Online purchases have higher return rates because finding the right size and color is tough when you’re just staring at images on screens.

“Clothing and footwear, as you can imagine, because fit is such an important criteria, they have higher rates of returns,” said Saskia van Gendt, chief sustainability officer at Blue Yonder, which sells software designed to improve companies’ supply chain management.

Returns come with an environmental cost, but there’s a lot consumers and companies are doing to minimize it.

The impact of returns

If a company sells a thing, it’s probably packaged in plastic. Plastic is made from oil, and oil production releases emissions that warm the planet. If that thing is bought online, it’s put on a plane or a train or a truck that usually uses oil-based fuel.

If you buy a thing and return it, it goes through most or all of that all over again.

And once those products are back with the retailer, they may be sent along to a refurbisher, liquidator, recycler or landfill. All these steps require more travel, packaging and energy, ultimately translating to more emissions. Joseph Sarkis, who teaches supply chain management at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, estimates that returning an item increases its impact on the planet by 25% to 30%.

Roughly a third of the time, those returns don’t make their way to another consumer. Because frequently, it’s not worth reselling.

If, for example, you get a phone, but you send it back because you don’t like the color, the seller has to pay for the fuel and equipment to get the phone back, and then has to pay for the labor to assess whether it has been damaged since leaving the facility.

“It can be quite expensive,” said Sarkis. “And if you send it out to a new customer and the phone is bad, imagine the reputational hit you’ll get. You’ll get another return and you’ll lose a customer who’s unhappy with the product or material. So the companies are hesitant to take that chance.”

Something as expensive as a phone might get sold to a secondary or refurbishment market. But that $6 silicone spatula you got off Amazon? Probably not worth it. Plus, some stuff — think a bathing suit or a bra — is less attractive to customers if there’s a chance it’s been resold. The companies know that.

And that’s where the costs of returns are more than just environmental — and consumers wind up paying. Even free returns aren’t really free.

“Refurbishment, inspection, repackaging, all of these things get factored into the retail price,” said Christopher Faires, assistant professor of logistics and supply chain management at Georgia Southern University.

What consumers can do about it

If you want to reduce the impact of your returns, the first move is to increase their chances of resale. Be careful not to damage it, and reuse the packaging to send it back, said Cardiff University logistics and operations management lecturer Danni Zhang.

If you have to return something, do it quickly. That ugly Christmas sweater you got at the white elephant office party has a much better chance of selling on Dec. 20 than it does on Jan. 5. Zhang said it’s not worth the cost to the company to store that sweater once it’s gone out of season.

Another tip: in-person shopping is better than online because purchases get returned less often, and in-person returns are better, too — because those items get resold more often. Zhang said it reduces landfill waste. Sarkis said it reduces emissions because companies with brick-and-mortar locations spread out across the country and closer to consumers thus move restocked goods shorter distances.

“If I can return in-store, then I definitely will,” Zhang said. “The managers can put that stuff back to the market as soon as possible.”

Obviously the best thing consumers can do is minimize returns. Many shoppers engage in “bracketing behavior,” or buying multiple sizes of the same item, keeping what fits, and returning the rest.

“This behavior of bringing the dressing room to our homes is not sustainable,” said Faires.

If you’re buying for someone else, you can also consider taking the guesswork out of the equation and going for a gift card.

“I know we do really want to pick up something really nice to express our love for our friends or our family. But if we are more sustainable, probably the gift card will be much better than just purchasing the product,” Zhang said.

What businesses can do about it

Sarkis wants to see companies provide more information in product descriptions about the environmental impact of returning an item, or how much of the purchase price factors in return costs.

“But I don’t know if they want to send a negative message,” he said. “If you’re telling someone to stop something because of negative results, that’s not going to sell.”

Sarkis and Zhang both say charging for returns would help. Already Amazon is requiring customers pay in certain situations.

On the tech side, Blue Yonder’s recent acquisition of Optoro, a company that provides a return management system for retailers and brands, uses a software to quickly assess the condition of returned products and route them to stores that are most likely to resell them.

“Having that process be more digitized, you can quickly assess the condition and put it back into inventory,” said van Gendt. “So that’s a big way to just avoid landfill and also all of the carbon emissions that are associated with that.”

Clothing is returned most often. Many sizes do not reflect specific measurements, like women’s dresses, so they vary a lot between brands. Zhang said better sizing could help reduce the need for returns. On top of that, Sarkis said more 3D imaging and virtual reality programs could help customers be more accurate with their purchases, saving some returns.