Now through March 3 Redbox customers can earn promotional codes for rental discounts just by sending a text message.
When you text DAYS to 727272 you'll be rewarded with one of three codes: 50 cents off a one-day rental, $1 off a one-day game rental, and rent one DVD, get one free.
Over the last month, government data have pointed to cnn weather.com/2014/02/07/news/economy/january-jobs-report/">weak job growth, as well as declines in retail sales, new home construction and manufacturing.
"Part of that softness may reflect adverse weather conditions. But at this point it's difficult to discern exactly how much," Yellen told the Senate Banking Committee in a hearing Thursday. (Ironically, the hearing, originally scheduled for two weeks ago, had been postponed due to a snow storm in Washington.)
Related: A cold start for the U.S. economy
But here's the big question: If weather is not fully to blame, and the economy is indeed weakening, what will the Fed do? The central bank is currently in the process of winding down its bond-buying program -- a process Wall Street has nicknamed "tapering."
Cue a question from New York Senator Charles Schumer: "If it's not mostly weather, would you consider pausing or changing the rate of tapering?" he asked Yellen.
She replied with what has become a standard line for Fed officials, often uttered by Yellen's predecessor, Ben Bernanke.
"Asset purchases are not on a preset course," she said. "So if there's a significant change in the outlook, certainly we would be open to reconsidering, but I wouldn't want to jump to conclusions here."
So it seems the Fed could put the taper on hold, but only if the numbers start pointing to a lasting slowdown in economic activity.
By the time the central bank meets again in mid March, it will have received February reports on jobs, retail, construction and manufacturing -- but these too could be skewed by blizzards. It's not until its late April meeting that the Fed is expected to have a clean set of data unaffected by weather.
In the meantime, the Fed is widely expected to continue tapering at a steady pace, and Yellen seemed to confirm that plan Thursday.
"We expect to continue reducing the pace of purchases in measured steps, which would mean ending completely the purchases, winding down and ending some time next fall," she said.
In the rest of her testimony, Yellen once again stressed her deep concern for Americans grappling with bouts of long-term unemployment.
"These are spells that are very damaging to families, put great burdens on families both in terms of income and even health burdens ... burdens on children and marriages," she said.
Related: Fed debated how to signal a rate hike
For the last year, the Fed has said it's waiting for a 6.5% unemployment rate before raising its key interest rate.
The unemployment rate came awfully close in January, when it fell to 6.6%. Minutes released from the Fed's January meeting have since shown that officials are discussing a new communications strategy, given the unemployment rate has neared their goal but the economy still seems weaker than they would like.
Yellen addressed those concerns Thursday, by stressing she's looking at qualitative data and not just a numerical trigger. The unemployment rate alone, she said, is "not a sufficient statistic to measure the health of the labor market."
The Fed is also monitoring the numbers of part-time workers who want to work full-time and Americans who've been unemployed for more than six months.
Meanwhile, low inflation gives the Fed some leeway to continue stimulating the economy through low interest rates. The central bank typically aims for inflation around 2% a year, but lately, it's been hovering around 1.2%, after stripping out energy and food prices.
"Inflation is running well below our 2% target ... that gives us ample scope to continue to try to promote a return to full employment, and we're committed to doing that," Yellen said.
Yellen's prepared remarks were, for the most part, identical to those she delivered two weeks ago before the House Financial Services Committee. The Federal Reserve is required to report to Congress on monetary policy twice a year. 
First Published: February 27, 2014: 9:59 AM ET
Consumer-electronics retailer Amazon Deal Online is set to report its fourth-quarter earnings on Feb. 27. The company announced disappointing holiday sales last month, with same-store sales falling by 0.8% amid a difficult and highly promotional holiday season, and the stock was severely punished as a result. But, as I argued in a previous article, Best Buy's holiday was a setback, not a disaster, and same-store sales growth is not the only important number to consider.
With online retailers like Amazon.com posing a constant threat, Best Buy has made significant progress in becoming more competitive. Here's what to look for in Best Buy's earnings report.
What analysts are expecting
Analysts are expecting revenue of approximately $14.7 billion for the quarter, down 12.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Store closings and the sale of Best Buy's European business in 2013 are the main drivers of this revenue decline, and analysts expect full-year revenue to fall to $42.7 billion, down from $49.6 billion in 2012.
Earnings per share are expected to come in at $1.01, representing a 35% decline compared to the fourth quarter last year. Analysts have revised this estimate down from $1.61 before the holiday sales announcement, a large shift that might be an overreaction. Best Buy has beaten analyst estimates significantly in the past three quarters, and while the company talked about a reduced operating margin caused by intense competition, another earnings beat isn't out of the question.
Important things to look for
Best Buy's holiday sales report wasn't all bad news, and the earnings report and accompanying conference call should shed some light on the continued progress of the company's turnaround. Best Buy actually gained market share during the holidays, according to the company, and its Net Promoter Score, a metric used to quantify customer satisfaction, has been rising ever since CEO Hubert Joly took the reins in late 2012. A 400-basis-point increase during the holiday period is a sign that Best Buy is taking the necessary steps to improve the customer experience.
Online sales surged 23.5% over the holidays, a significant acceleration compared to the 10% rise during the previous holiday season. Part of Best Buy's strategy has been a heavy focus on improving its e-commerce channel, and those investments look like they're paying off. One driver of this growth has been the company's ship-from-store initiative, whereby online orders can be fulfilled from online distribution centers as well as directly from stores. The program has expanded to more than 400 stores, turning Best Buy's physical retail locations into a key e-commerce asset; over the holiday period, Best Buy actually had a lower average delivery time than Amazon.
The fact that Best Buy achieved faster shipping times during the holidays compared to Amazon is important, as it shows that having physical retail locations can be an advantage. Best Buy has more than 1,000 potential online distribution centers, spread throughout the country, and while Amazon has been aggressively expanding its distribution network, Best Buy's ship-from-store program is something that an online retailer can never match.
The conference call should provide some details on the progress of the ship-from-store rollout, which still includes less than half of Best Buy stores in the United States. Another update to look for is the progress of Best Buy's cost-cutting initiative, part of Joly's "Renew Blue" strategy. The company cut an additional $45 million in annual costs in the fourth quarter through Jan. 16, bringing the total number to $550 million. And Joly's commitment to more quickly and deeply lower the cost structure, stated in the holiday sales release, suggests that the original goal of $725 million in cost cuts may be a conservative estimate.
These cost cuts will help reduce the negative effects of aggressive pricing and are necessary for Best Buy to remain competitive with its online rivals. One area offering ample opportunity to cut costs is reverse logistics, which includes returns, replacements, and damaged products. The company estimates that $400 million in annual losses are associated with reverse logistics; and on the third-quarter conference call Joly stated that the first quarter of this year will see an initial quantity of returned items and open-box inventory available online.
This represents one of the biggest opportunities for Best Buy to cut costs, and investors should look for a progress update during Best Buy's conference call.
The bottom line
Best Buy's holiday season was disappointing to be sure, but the company's earnings report should make it clear that the long-term turnaround story is still intact. Best Buy is becoming more efficient, focusing on e-commerce, and taking advantage of its physical locations in order to boost online sales. While profits in the short term will take a hit, the panic caused by the holiday sales numbers was extremely overdone.
Retail winners
Best Buy isn't the only retailer worth watching. To learn about two retailers with especially good prospects, take a look at The Motley Fool's special free report: " The Death of Wal-Mart: The Real Cash Kings Changing the Face of Retail." In it, you'll see how these two cash kings are able to consistently outperform and how they're planning to ride the waves of retail's changing tide. You can access it by clicking here.
NEW YORK ( The Deal) -- With Amazon Deal.com writing down its investment in LivingSocial to nothing, the future of yet another social media startup is very much in doubt. While the company insists it will soldier on, sources said it's more likely to end up absorbed by the online retail giant.
John Bax, the CFO of the Washington-based company said LivingSocial's board has elected to re-invest $260 million it recently reaped selling Korean e-commerce company TicketMonster to competitor Groupon .
Bax also insisted that cash received for the sale of Groupon shares that LivingSocial picked up as part of the TicketMonster transaction were likewise going back into the company.
The company's revenue fell to $399 million in 2013 from $455 million in 2012, and it lost over $180 million last year, according to a regulatory filing from Amazon.
Granted, it had lost $653 million the year before, but it had also dumped TicketMonster -- at a loss, since it had acquired it for a reported $350 million.
Amazon also said, in the same filing, that its "investment in LivingSocial has been reduced to zero due to our recognition of equity-method losses."
That's quite a comedown for a company that, in rosier times, reportedly valued itself at up to $15 billion, chatting up bankers for an initial public offering to follow Groupon's 2011 debut and raising hundreds of millions of dollars.
Despite Bax's insistence that LivingSocial was focused on the future, the CFO acknowledged that Amazon was a "likely" acquirer of the company, specifically noting that Jeff Bezos' company "has an interest in [LivingSocial's] local offers" business. So despite those continuing losses, LivingSocial is hoping that a right-sized business will soon turn a profit.
Along with its ownership of TicketMonster, LivingSocial's events business is no more.
Back in February 2013, LivingSocial had to fight off what it characterized as an inaccurate report regarding its last $110 million round -- the company raised a little under $1 billion -- after financial data site PrivCo reported the startup needed to secure emergency debt to stave off failure.
CEO and co-founder Tim O'Shaughnessy acknowledged the company raised "a down round, which I'm sure is not a shock to anyone," but didn't offer any clarity into the nature of the funding, other than to say "we hope to turn the corner to become profitable soon" and acknowledging "there were some bells and whistles" that came along with the round.
Bax said the comment about "bells and whistles," did not entitle Amazon, which led the last fundraising round, to anything specifically pertaining to M&A. But sources said that Amazon is the only potential buyer of LivingSocial's assets.
O'Shaughnessy said last month he would step down from his CEO role as soon as his replacement is found.
When O'Shaughnessy sought to quell questions over his company's future last February with a well-publicized staff memo, he stated, "we sold 7.5% of the company for $110" million, adding "this should give you some idea of the current valuation of the company."
That appeared to give the company a valuation of nearly $1.5 billion.
That was in stark contrast to Amazon, which said in a regulatory filing at the end of March that it valued its 31% stake at $36 million.
To be certain, LivingSocial hasn't been the only e-commerce startup to stumble upon hard times.
For instance, ideeli, another online retailer, sold to Groupon recently for substantially less cash than it raised.
Amazon declined to answer when a request for comment was sent to the company and Amazon and, separately, to Bezos.
Thoughts and Perspectives
Many Friday nights we'd load up the car and head to the drive-in theater across the Wabash River in Westport, Ill., where one of the films we saw in 1959 was "The Legend of Tom Dooley." By being so young, the fact that the lead character was played by Michael Landon, later of "The Little House on the Prairie" fame, was lost on me until a little research was completed.
When Grandpa Douthitt got his Social Security check, we'd have to travel to Vincennes, which had a Kroger store. Grandpa always had a few things on his shopping list that he didn't believe he could get at Warren's store at home.
So, the trips to Vincennes became the highlight of the week as it allowed a break in the perceived monotony of small town life. Vincennes, the oldest city west of the Allegheny Mountains, was a wonderland of about 14,000 people with a JC Penney, sears tires, Kresge and other such big brands of the late 1950s and 1960s.
One of the cool things was that sometimes Dad would sit me on his lap and "let me drive" the car as we drove south out of Emison. Of course, I never really had control but what a thrill -- and it made my brother and sister jealous.
Naturally, Vincennes became the promised land after a teenager had cruised up and down every street and alley of our little town. We just needed a change in scenery. So, we'd run down U.S. 41 to Vincennes, stop at the Frostop Drive-In for a root beer and check things out. In reality, there really was not much more going on there but the scenery was just a little different -- the old routine broken.
One day sitting at the kitchen table after supper, my dad started talking about his days as a youngster. The Morrison family lived five miles west of town on a farm that provided the sustenance for what grew into a family of 13.
On Saturday night, Grandpa Morrison would load the kids up and take Grandma to the grocery store where she'd stock up on all she needed that was not raised on the farm. Grandpa and the older boys would go over to the Town Tavern for some refreshment.
But the thing which struck this young mind was Dad talking about how the town's streets and sidewalks were packed with people and it was often difficult to find a parking spot without leaving your car or truck a couple of blocks away.
Seriously?
That didn't look like the Oaktown I experienced on Friday and Saturday nights in the early 1970s. It was a pretty sleepy place in which the final neon light flickered off at the same time each night -- and not very late at that. The only things moving were over at the tavern or Cliff's Card Room across the streets and church kids didn't go there. They might get corrupted like my Uncle Judd Douthitt did in the 1930s down at the cabins south of town. They always had plenty of alcohol, and women, during the height of Prohibition. Legend has it they even had the gangster John Dillinger as a guest for a few nights as he hid out from Melvin Purvis and the FBI.
Dad explained that driving that five miles into town was a major adventure. It was like my weekly trips to Vincennes -- the highlight that broke one out of their usual environments.
A trip to Vincennes was a major expedition -- something we could not image even before U.S. 41 went from two lanes to four. Vincennes lay 13 miles to our south and it could take all morning to get there, and all afternoon to return -- depending upon how many flat tires one had.
Roads in the 1930s were nearly as smooth and pothole free as we expect today. Neither was the quality of the cars and even the tires. Dad talked about many times they might have to fix a flat two or three times on a simple trip from Oaktown to Vincennes. I often wondered if that was the reason Dad never wanted to drive places for sightseeing or family visits -- the fear that he'd break down with his wife and kids in the car and something go horribly wrong.
As I grew older and bought a new car, it was nothing for me to drive three or four or eight hours to a see a race two or three states away. The biggest change between the 1970s and the 1930s or 1940s was the improvement in the quality of vehicles and the roads used in the transportation system.
Today, my sister's children think nothing of piling into the car and driving from Vincennes to Evansville or Terre Haute for an evening of shopping. That's like going from Vinton to Davenport or Des Moines in Iowa. We don't give it a second thought.
And we don't think of just how big an impact the interstate highway system fostered by President Dwight Eisenhower changed our world.
It's common for people in a smaller community to the big box stores and the number of local people visiting the bigger cities for their offerings.
Maybe of bigger importance is the ability of people to travel to them.
Dallas, TX -- ( SBWIRE) -- 01/27/2014 -- There's much to celebrate and look forward to with the start of 2014. NordStrom, Inc., a leading fashion retailer that has been in operation for over a hundred years now, has continued to bring their keen fashion sense and their line of products and offers well into the 21st century. This year would be no different. Taking their 117 shops in 35 stores to just one online shop, the Nordstrom following can only expect more exciting offers, discounts, time limited sales and promos on nothing less than some of the top fashion brands in the industry.
2014 NordStrom Coupons and Coupon
First off on the Nordstrom list for 2014 are their NordStrom Promo Codes. Shoppers can enjoy a hefty $25 off on their first order priced above $50. Shoppers will only need to copy and paste the coupon code upon online check out of the item at NordStrom and they automatically enjoy a slash in their purchase.
For US shoppers, as much as 50% off discounts can be had on, baby gears, women's dresses, coats, sandals, men's clothing, and winter pieces on brands that include - but are not limited to Decleor, Dr. Martens, Dior, Cashmere, and Military.
To avail of these big discounts and price slashes, shoppers don't even need any codes. These offers are, however, good and valid only to US shoppers.
The list can only get better, and the discounts can only get higher. NordStrom has a lot in store for the active outdoorsmen with a 55% discount on all men's active and outdoor apparel, as well as on men's jeans. And while the men may have a lot of reason to dress up for, come Valentine's Season, NordStrom makes sure the women are not to be left under-dressed for their dates - outdoors or otherwise - with 65% discounts on all women's designer collections including sunnies, shoes, pants, capris, dresses, designer sweats, yoga, sports, and outdoor apparels.
NordStrom Special Offer
NordStrom special offers are regular things that shoppers can keep watch of. These special offers of NordStrom to their US shoppers come mostly in forms of rock-bottom prices for regular items such as the 2014 offers on all junior apparel and accessories starting at only $12, women's new arrival clothing starting at only $18, and women's designer items starting only at $45.
This NordStrom list of 2014 special offers extends beyond the closet. For shoppers who feel like they need to redo their home's 2014 look, home and garden deals are also available starting from $4.9.
Looking Ahead to Valentine's Day 2014 Deals
NordStrom knows that the next most awaited holiday after the New Year is the Valentine's Day. With or without dates, NordStrom understands that shoppers can't wait to prep up for the day. With this in mind, the Special NordStrom US Valentine's Deal can already be enjoyed as early as January with Valentine's Day gifts offered starting at only $6. The gift selection are as wide and as varied as watches, jewelries, dresses for Valentine's, or as safe as a gift card.
Another gift card promotion for the US market lets you buy a gift card between $25 to $1000. Offering a NordStrom gift card as low as $25 enables students, teenagers, and basically their non-earning following to make a good impression on their recipients as one with classy, impeccable tastes in brand selection.
The NordStrom Bi-Annual Sales
NordStrom regularly holds bi-annual sales. For kids' and women's clothing, these regular bi-annual sales are held in May and November. And just when shoppers are beginning to think that the mid-year June and July months are long and boring, NordStrom comes through for them with men's clothing sale at June, and the NordStrom Anniversary sale in July.
NordStrom Retail Credit Card and Debit Card
There's an even bigger, better way of enjoying more savings and rewards throughout the year with the NordStrom Rewards Card. Shoppers have the option of choosing between the NordStrom Retail, the NordStrom Debit Card, and the NordStrom Visa Signature Card.
With no annual fee and with very competitive APRs, the NordStrom Retail Credit and Debit Cards are classy addition to your wallet's shopping power. Every use of the card earns you 2 points for every net dollar spent at NordStrom, NordStrom.com, and NordStrom Rack. An accumulated 2,000 points entitles you to a $20 NordStrom Note that can be used to redeem any item of your choice at NordStrom.
What's great about the cards is that shoppers don't even need to wait to earn the 2,000 points to enjoy the cards' benefits and privileges. Simply by purchasing any item at $100 or above with your NordStrom card upon the day of application, shoppers can already enjoy a $20 NordStrom Note.
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