Consumers looking to buy flowers at a competitor's site who discover hidden costs, and instead buy on FloraFlora can send an e-mail to hiddenfees@floraflora.com and receive 10% off their purchase. FloraFlora defines hidden fees as any fees that appear in the shopping cart that are not the actual price of the flowers, required taxes, or cost of advertised shipping. They would include, for example, handling fees, service fees, and previously unspecified delivery charges.

FloraFlora also is guaranteeing the freshness of its products, and is backing up its promise with a 25% refund for shoppers who feel their flowers are not as fresh as those they have purchased from other retailers. To claim the refund shoppers can e-mail freshness@floraflora.com.

It's the largest drop recorded so far during the past decade's steady decline in paid readership - a span that has coincided with an explosion of online news sources that don't charge readers for access. Many newspapers also have been reducing delivery to far-flung locales and increasing prices to get more money out of their remaining sales.

The latest decline outstripped a 7.1 percent decrease in the October 2008-March 2009 period and a 4.6 percent decline in last year's April-September window.

Patrick Callan, president of the National Center for Public Policy and Higher Education, called the increases "hugely disappointing."

"Given the financial hardship of the country, it's simply astonishing that colleges and universities would have this kind of increases," Mr. Callan said. "It tells you that higher education is still a seller's market. The level of debt we're asking people to undertake is unsustainable.

"A lot of people think we can solve the problem with more financial aid, but I think we have to have some cost containment. For all the talk about reinventing higher education, I don’t see any results."

In the past 20 years, more than half of America's mailboxes have been taken out of service, leaving just 175,000 nationwide.

It may make commercial sense, but it has dismayed letter-writing aficionados.

"Mailboxes are like phone booths, that part of the scenery that you take for granted until one day you need one and it is no longer there," said Nancy Pope, curator at the Smithsonian National Postal Museum.

"It's a sad day when you make your morning commute and see that familiar blue box isn't there anymore."

Times Co. is contemplating additional sources of revenue as marketers slow spending on the Internet. Ad sales at the publisher's sites, also including about.com and boston.com, fell 8 percent and 3.5 percent in the first quarter and fourth quarter of 2008 respectively. They gained 6.5 percent last year.

"The question here for consumers is the psychological barrier of now paying when you were getting it for free before, and you're going to lose some readers as a result," said Ken Doctor, an analyst at Outsell Inc. in Burlingame, California. "The New York Times will also have to evaluate what this means for ad rates as they lose readers."

DISH Network Corporation (Nasdaq: DISH) today reported total revenue of $2.91 billion for the quarter ended March 31, 2009, a 2.1 percent increase compared with $2.84 billion for the corresponding period in 2008.

Net income totaled $313 million for the quarter ended March 31, 2009, compared with $259 million during the corresponding period in 2008. Basic earnings per share were $0.70 for the quarter ended March 31, 2009, compared with basic earnings per share of $0.58 during the corresponding period in 2008.

DISH Network lost approximately 94,000 net subscribers during the quarter ended March 31, 2009, giving the company approximately 13.584 million subscribers as of that date.

But the Postal Service's red ink is already deep. Postal Service officials said today that they ended the fiscal second quarter on March 31 with a net loss of $1.9 billion. The primary reason was what the service described as an "unprecedented" decline in mail volume as customers either mailed less often or switched to using the Internet.

“The economic recession has been tough on the mailing industry, and we have seen an unprecedented decline in mail volumes and revenue that continued to accelerate during the second quarter,” Postmaster General John Potter said. In the second quarter, the Postal Service said, its mail volume totaled 43.8 billion pieces, down 7.5 billion pieces, or 14.7%, compared to a year earlier.

"We understand that the economy has affected many people in a very profound way, and we want to help," Brian Philips, president and CEO of FedEx Office, told Reuters. "In January, nearly 600,000 people found themselves out of work. I understand that in February, by the time they add up the numbers, it could be worse."

Philips, who said hard copy resumes have not fallen out of favor despite the growth of online job search sites, admitted that there is nothing to stop a job hunter from getting free resumes at more than one of its stores.

"We weren't worried so much about people going to multiple stores and gaming the system. We just want to make sure people have access to this service in a time of need."

"They are all the people that want to speak with me through internet, because I will talk with them," said Cavalli yesterday afternoon at his Via Senato showroom. "They can ask me what to wear that night, they can ask me how to look fantastic with a boyfriend--and once a month, I will decide, maybe in New York, to have dinner with people."

"We sent the offer out to a select number of card members," said Molly Faust, a company spokeswoman. "We are looking at different ways that we can manage credit risk based on the costumers overall credit profile."

The company did not say how many card holders would receive the offer and did not disclose the total of their card balances.

Card holders have until the end of February to accept the offer and must close their accounts in March or April. Each card holder will receive a $300 pre-paid American Express card.

American Express, often seen as catering to relatively wealthy customers and companies, has been expanding its credit card business in recent years by reaching out to a wider range of clients.