Retail Roundup

Cherry pickers rule the Life Saver world

Life Savers, those little candies that come in myriad colors, has

conducted the “hole truth survey” to determine how many people actually

suck the candies rather than bite them. It turns out that, of 1,500

people polled, suckers outnumber biters 4 to 1.

Yeah, the company, which sells 46 billion Life Savers annually and

obviously had too much time on its hands recently, also found out that

nearly nine of 10 Chicagoans are suckers. That may explain why they never

give up on the Cubs.

Anyway, the survey also found that suckers tend to be women, usually

Democrats at that, who earn $40,000 or less. The biters, on the other

hand, are often Republican men who earn $60,000 or more. No word on what

candies those in between those tax brackets prefer.

The company also produced an obvious result: Most people prefer the

cherry flavor, with butter rum and winter green sharing second. Mmmm,

cherry.

It happens. Shut-eye, that is

Speaking of surveys, the people at Serta conducted one determined to

find out how men and women fall asleep. The mattress company found that

most Americans find it most difficult to sleep during the summer -- well,

duh -- and that nearly three of every 10 Americans take more than 20

minutes to fall asleep -- sounds low.

A really interesting stat -- Zzzzzz, huh? -- found that 31% of men

between ages 18 and 34 have admitted to -- Zzzzzz, what? -- sleeping on

the job. That’s nearly twice as many as the general population. Wonder

what else can be said about that stat other than those guys need livelier

jobs or more sleep?