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3/30/2014
Cupcake machine opens in NY (article)
New Yorkers, who live in the city that famously never sleeps, now can satisfy their craving for cupcakes in any of those endless waking hours.
A 24-hour vending machine that dispenses gourmet cupcakes opened for business this week on Manhattan's Upper East Side, and locals are lining up despite the wintry temperatures.
"It's so fun," said Melissa Martelli, a schoolteacher and neighborhood resident as she nibbled on a cinnamon sugar cupcake she bought from the machine. "You could just go in the store and wait on line, but it's just so cool."
Despite the Sprinkles cupcake store connected to the ATM, and the city's abundance of all-night delis and convenience stores, customers said the ATM has novelty appeal.
"It's the experience of buying a cupcake from an ATM. It's an incredible concept," said Amy Benaderet, a financial services account manager who lives nearby. "You can get money at any time. Now you can get cupcakes at any time. It'll be interesting to see if the novelty wears off".
At a price of $4.25 apiece, the cupcake choices include chocolate, coconut, red velvet, vanilla and lemon meringue.
"It's cool, especially if you live around here and it's like the middle of the night and you really want a cupcake. I would so do that," said Margarita Mazur, who works at a local tech startup.
The nine-year-old company behind the machine, Sprinkles, also has installed cupcake machines in Las Vegas, Dallas, Chicago, Atlanta and Beverly Hills, California, where the company is based, and plans to expand into Houston and Washington, D.C.
The New York model holds 760 cupcakes and sells up to four at a time, making it larger than the company's other machines.
But not every New Yorker has caught the sugar buzz.
"I think it's stupid," said Anthony Campagne, who was waiting while his tech company co-workers stood in line for their cupcakes. "It just doesn't make sense. People don't need cupcakes at three in the morning."
Adapted from Reuters
Lufthansa pilots announce three-day strike for next week
Pilots at Lufthansa, Germany's largest airline, will hold a three-day strike next week to pressure the German airline in pay and contract negotiations.
The strike will result in the cancellation of hundreds of flights, and will be the third strike to hit Frankfurt, Europe's third largest hub and Lufthansa's home base, within six weeks.
The dispute is over pay increases and so-called 'transition contracts' awarded to pilots retiring before the legal pension age officially kicks in.
Union Vereinigung Cockpit, which represents around 5,400 Lufthansa pilots, offered suggestions to resolve the pay row but the airline did not take up the offer seriously.
More than 99 percent of the pilots voted in favor of strike action to resolve the transition contract issue in a ballot.
Last Thursday Lufthansa cancelled a third of its 1,800 services due to a strike by public sector workers employed in areas such as baggage handling at German airports.
That strike came after industrial action by security staff caused thousands of passengers to miss their flights at the end of February.
adapted from Reuters
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