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If you are a local subscriber to multiple daily deal sites, you’ve no doubt received several offers — $5 for $10 or $6 for $12 — for Joe Fassi Sausage & Sandwich Factory.

Every week it seems like another deal from this one-man shop on Sublette Avenue on the Hill pops up in my inbox. This week alone, it had deals running on Groupon and Wedeal. I would venture that this restaurant is, if not the most prolific, then at least one of the most active merchants offering daily deals in the region.

While some businesses may be reluctant or wary of offering these deep discounts, that shop seems to be a true believer.

So I decided to stop in earlier this week and check out the place. It started out as a grocery in 1926 and is now run as a sandwich shop by Tom Coll, the grandson of Joe Fassi.

“I know you hear a lot of bad stories about coupon sites,” he said after fixing a sandwich for a customer. “But it works for me. I have no complaints.”

So just how many deals has he offered?

“Oh my gosh,” he said. “I probably use 14 different sites. You see all those clipboards? That’s how we keep them all straight.”

Coll motioned to a dozen clipboards hanging on the wall behind the cash register. Each one is for a different deal site such as Deal Chicken, Eversave and Urban Dealight. Names of customers who have redeemed the offer are highlighted in a green or yellow marker. A handful of other sites he uses have computerized systems.

So why does he do it?

“We’re just so off the beaten track so we needed to find a way to market our business,” Coll said. “It’s a great way to get your name out there. Someone told me … that you need to brand your name. You do that by being everywhere.”

And this way he doesn’t have to spend much money on marketing, he added.

Since he offered his first deal through Groupon about a year ago, he estimates that he’s sold about 3,000 to 4,000 deals. Most people end up spending more than the coupon value. And about 60 percent of his customers who use the deal come back and pay full price. So overall, sales have increased about 20 percent, he said.

Daily deals may not work for everyone, Coll cautioned no fax pay day loan. You have to do the math to make sure you’re covering your costs. And it may be that it works better for him because he is a small business with fewer overhead costs, he said.

Now that he’s become a deal regular, he fields a lot of calls from other obscure sites around the country wanting to carry an offer for him.

“But you ask them how many emails they have in St. Louis and they’re like a thousand,” Coll said. “That’s not worth the time. But yeah, people come out of the woodwork.”

WE LIKE OUR TACO BELL

Taco Bell’s new “Doritos Locos Taco” — yes, that’s a taco in a shell made of nacho cheese-flavored Doritos chips — has apparently been doing quite well in the St. Louis market.

At least that’s the word from the new owner of about two-thirds of the Taco Bell locations in this area.

Marjorie Perlman, a spokeswoman for Alabama-based Tacala LLC, said the new product’s success is a sign of how well Taco Bell is received in the St. Louis region.

“Folks in St. Louis like to eat out — we like that,” she said. “And it seems like you guys are kind of risk takers when it come to your culinary choices.”

Some critics may take issue with her last point. But I guess she means that St. Louisans don’t just eat burgers — but also are willing to “branch out” to tacos.

Tacala, the largest franchise operator of Taco Bell restaurants in the nation, now owns 61 of the 90 Taco Bell locations in this region, making it the company’s largest market. The company just acquired 34 locations from Yum Brands, which franchises the fast-food chain. And a month ago, it bought Wentzville-based GenXMex Foods’ portfolio of 27 local Taco Bell locations.

“We’re primarily in the Southeast,” Perlman said of Tacala, whose second biggest market is Birmingham, Ala., with 43 stores. “We’ve been wanting to expand for awhile.”

She added that the company plans to invest in the stores it has acquired — remodeling and putting in new equipment where needed.

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The number of Americans claiming new unemployment benefits dropped to a four-year low last week, offering further evidence the jobs market recovery was gaining traction.

Initial claims for state unemployment benefits fell 5,000 to a seasonally adjusted 348,000, the lowest level since February 2008, the Labor Department said on Thursday.

The prior week’s figure was revised up to 353,000 from the previously reported 351,000. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast claims rising to 354,000 last week.

The four-week moving average for new claims, considered a better measure of labor market trends, declined 1,250 to 355,000.

The claims data covered the survey week for March nonfarm payrolls. Claims dropped 5,000 between the February and March survey periods, suggesting another month of solid job gains.

“That’s another indication that the labor market is healing. That’s good news for the March payroll report,” said Gus Faucher, a senior economist at PNC Financial Services in Pittsburgh.

“We are looking at net job growth of 200,000, which will be another good month. On the labor front, we have dug a deep hole but we seem to be digging out of it.”

Employers added 227,000 jobs to their payrolls in February, taking the tally for the past three months to 734,000. The unemployment rate currently is at 8.3 percent, having dropped 0.8 percentage point since August payday loan.

The Federal Reserve has said it expects the jobless rate to “gradually” decline.

U.S. Treasury debt prices fell on the data and the dollar extended gains against the euro. U.S. stock index futures held their losses as investors worried about slowing growth in China.

A Labor Department official said there was nothing unusual in the state-level data and that only two states - Alaska and Minnesota - had been estimated.

The department next week will introduce new seasonal factors for 2012 and revisions for claims data from 2007 through 2011.

The number of people still receiving benefits under regular state programs after an initial week of aid fell 9,000 to 3.35 million in the week ended March 10, the lowest since August 2008.

Despite the improving labor market picture, long-term unemployment remains a major problem and about 43 percent of the 12.8 million out of work Americans in February had been jobless for more than six months.

The number of Americans on emergency unemployment benefits dropped 24,312 to 2.85 million in the week ended March 3, the latest week for which data is available.

A total of 7.28 million people were claiming unemployment benefits during that period under all programs, down 142,499 from the prior week.

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Holland Construction Services Inc. completed building the Center for Orthopedic and Neurosciences at Memorial Hospital in Belleville, which recently opened and is offering medical services.

The 85,000-square-foot building is the third office building and the first free-standing structure on Memorial Hospital’s campus in Belleville. In addition to providing additional office space for doctors, the $24 million building offers pain management, physical, occupational, hand and speech therapy, sports medicine and other services.

ACI/Boland Inc. provided architectural services for the project.

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Natural gas prices are falling again as balmy weather stretches across most of the nation and supplies remain plentiful.

Natural gas dropped 5 cents to $2.215 per 1,000 cubic feet in trading in New York. That’s the lowest price in a decade.

The price has dropped about 26 percent this year. Warm winter weather has allowed Americans to use less heat. And booming production is keeping stockpiles well above the five-year average.

Meanwhile, benchmark oil rose 20 cents to $106.54 per barrel. An increase in retail sales provided the latest sign of an improving economy. Brent crude rose 16 cents to $125.50 per barrel in London trading.

At the pump, AAA says the national average for retail gas rose less than a penny to $3.805 per gallon.

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Is the muni party over? Is the hangover about to begin?

Maybe. So, let’s take a look at prospects for one of the favorite investment havens of widows and orphans.

The past year was a lovely year for widows and orphans with money. They made more of it.

Conservative investments – bonds and dividend stocks – outshone sexier choices. And the homeliest wallflower of all, municipal bonds, turned into a star.

Long-term muni bond funds are up an average of 14 percent over the 12 months ending Thursday. Intermediate munis are up almost 10 percent and high-yield munis are up nearly 16 percent, according to Morningstar.

Those topped the one-year returns for the vast majority of stock and bond mutual funds classes. The worm has since turned, however, with domestic stocks showing higher gains over the past three months.

The question now is whether munis have run their course, at least for a while, and whether the risk-shy investor should look elsewhere.

“Few believe you can get the same kind of return as you got last year and the year before,” says Patrick Early, muni analyst at Wells Fargo Advisors, downtown. “If you’ve seen several years of upticks in munis, ask ‘Should I lighten up some?’”

Munis last year prospered on the soothing of fear. The year began just after star analyst Meredith Whitney — she who predicted the Citibank disaster of 2007 — turned prophet of doom for munis, warning of “hundreds of billions” of dollars in defaults on the way.

The muni market is dominated by mom and pop investors, not institutions. Mom and pop followed the prophet and fled for the hills.

Down went muni prices and up went yields in late 2010 and early 2011. A glut of new muni issues hit the market about the same time, pushing prices down and feeding the panic.

That turned out to be a buying opportunity. Whitney’s prophesy did not come to pass, and by mid-year, the panic had faded and munis were on a roll.

Most of the past year’s gain came from price recovery, not interest yield, as Morningstar analyst Miriam Sjoblom noted in a commentary last month. For instance, the Vanguard Long-Term Tax-Exempt fund gained 10.7 percent in 2011. But 60 percent of that was the gain in price, not interest payments.

As price went up, interest yields got skimpier. That fund now has an SEC yield of 2.5 percent (a yield defined by Securities and Exchange Commission). Its intermediate-term sister fund yields 1.8 percent.

It’s hard to imagine yields going much lower, and that limits the upside on price. Looking forward, it would seem that the best investors might expect is that skimpy interest yield. (Of course, muni interest is exempt from federal income taxes.)

Muni investors are risk-shy as a rule, and that’s also reflected in today’s market.

“Super high quality” bonds, such as State of Missouri general obligation bonds are probably overvalued, says Brian Musielak manager of the Commerce National Tax Free Fund in Clayton.

Those looking for higher yields are going to have to crawl out farther on the limb.

“You have to go down in credit quality and take some risk,” says Musielak.

And you may not get much for it. Vanguard’s High Yield Tax Exempt fund yields all of 2.94 percent, using the calculation method blessed by the SEC.

There are other worries as well. Credit rating agencies recently have been downgrading more bonds than they upgrade. That’s a minor negative, considering that muni defaults are still rare events in the investment-grade bond market.

A possible bigger worry involves supply and demand. State and local governments have been shrinking as their tax base shrivels. So, they haven’t launched a lot of new projects that would require bond financing. The supply of new bonds was a third below normal last year.

The dearth of bond supply helped hold prices up and yields down. That will change eventually, although no one is sure when.

Muni investors also share the fear of all bond fund investors – dreaded prosperity. The economy is picking up a bit, and eventually that will mean higher interest rates and lower bond prices.

The Fed predicts it will keep short-term rates near zero until 2014, although that falls short of a promise. The Fed might also use its heft to keep intermediate and long-term rates tame, as it’s done in the recent past.

Still, bond investors should be ready to hot-foot it out if the economic news gets too good.

If, after all that, you’re still interested in Munis, here are some top fund picks from Morningstar.

Among long muni funds: Fidelity Municipal Income, Fidelity Tax-Free Bond and Franklin Federal Tax-Free Income.

Among intermediate-term funds: Morningstar likes Fidelity Intermediate Municipal Income.

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Hong Kong Chief Executive candidate Henry Tang pledged to boost government spending to tackle a widening wealth gap as he sought to reverse a slump in public support ahead of this month

The ratings agency Moody’s downgraded Greece to the lowest rating on its bond scale late Friday, following a deal with private investors that would see them ultimately lose an estimated 70 percent of their holdings in Greek debt.

Moody’s lowered Greece’s sovereign rating to C from Ca, arguing that the risk of default remains high even a bond-swap deal with banks and other private investors, due to be completed this month, is successful.

It said it would “re-assess the credit risk profile” after Greece issues the new bonds.

Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s took similar action on Feb. 27.

The swap deal aims to cut euro107 billion ($144 billion) from the country’s debt, and would see private investors lose more than half the face value of their Greek bonds in exchange for new ones issued with more favorable repayment terms for the crisis-hit country.

The exchange is an integral part of a second bailout package for Greece by other eurozone countries and the International Monetary Fund.

“Looking ahead, the EU program and proposed debt exchanges will reduce Greece’s debt burden, but the risk of a default even after the debt exchange has been completed remains high,” Moody’s said.

“Moody’s believes that Greece will still face medium-term solvency challenges: its stock of debt will still be well in excess of 100 percent of gross domestic product for many years, the country is unlikely to be able to access the private market once the second assistance package runs out, and its planned fiscal and economic reforms will still face very significant implementation risks.”

Greece has been relying since May 2010 on rescue loans from eurozone partners and the IMF. But despite receiving euro73 billion from its initial euro110 billion bailout and pushing through tough austerity measures in return, the country has consistently missed its reform targets.

To limit a threat to Europe’s single currency, its leaders have agreed to extend the country a second bailout, this time worth euro130 billion ($172 billion), which is accompanied by the debt reduction deal.

So far, the eurozone has agreed in principle to release the first batch of bailout loans to Greece to finance the bond-swap, with the final green light to due till come next week.

But harsh austerity has pushed the country into a fifth year of recession and seen the unemployment rate reach nearly 21 percent.

Earlier Friday, provisional figures from the finance ministry figures showed Greece posting a deficit in January of euro490 million ($652 million), in contrast to last year’s equivalent surplus of euro154 million.

The ministry’s General Accounting Office said revenues during the month were hit by the expiry of a one-off business tax, as well as reduced revenues from consumption.

Revenues in January totaled euro4.87 billion ($6.48 billion). Though a little bit better than the government’s latest target, it’s markedly worse than last year’s equivalent of euro5.12 billion.

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Aurora Bank is closing a loan office in Chesterfield in April that employs 146 people.

The Delaware-based bank operates its Corresponding Lending business unit at 390 South Woods Mill Road in Chesterfield. The unit is part of the bank’s residential mortgage servicing business.

It is unknown whether the Chesterfield employees have been offered other positions at Aurora. A bank official did not immediately return calls for comment.

On its website, Aurora Bank posted a message that says that it is closing its residential lending unit, which includes its Correspondent Lending business. The bank said it will continue to service its current customers no credit check payday loans. “We will continue to be staffed to support your needs and ensure a seamless experience for you and your customers,” the message said.

Aurora Bank submitted a WARN notice to the state of Missouri on Thursday that says the office is closing April 30. The federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act requires employers to give advance notice of layoffs or closures.

Aurora Bank is based in Wilmington, Del.

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The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has decided to postpone the creation of a new rule that would have required rearview back-up cameras in all new cars, pickups and SUVs by 2014.

The agency had been expected to announce the rule Wednesday. Instead, NHTSA issued a statement saying that "further study and data analysis" were needed before a final regulation could be issued.

"The Department remains committed to improving rearview visibility for the nation’s fleet and we expect to complete our work and issue a final rule by December 31, 2012," NHTSA said

According to a proposal the auto safety agency announced in late 2010, drivers would be required to be able to see directly behind the vehicle whenever the vehicle is shifted into reverse. Since virtually all cars and trucks have significant "blind spots" — areas in which the driver cannot see either by turning around or using the mirrors — that would require video cameras.

Rear back-up cameras are especially helpful in trucks and SUVs because those vehicles can have very large blind spots due to their size and design.

Under that proposal, the rule would be phased in over the next few years, starting with 10% of new cars sold expected to comply with the mandate by September 2012; 40% by September 2013 and 100% by September 2014.

Cars also have increasingly large blind spots as the demands of style and improved aerodynamics — needed for better highway fuel economy — hinder rearward visibility in many newer models.

"Every vehicle has a blind zone immediately behind the rear bumper. It can be five feet or 50 feet, depending on the car’s styling. Lost in that space might be a fire hydrant, a pet, or even a child," said Ami Gadhia, senior policy counsel for Consumers Union, in a statement.

While Consumers Union is eager for the new rule to be created, Gadhia said the group understands the need for more research.

While the systems first became popular on luxury cars they have become available on all types of cars. Usually, an image of what’s behind the vehicle is displayed in a screen similar to a computer monitor. Some cars now display the video image in the rearview mirror itself, however.

The new rule was demanded by legislation passed in 2007 called Cameron Gulbransen Kids Transportation Safety Act. The act was named after a 2-year-old boy who was killed when his father accidentally backed over him in the family’s driveway.

Consumer’s Union, the non-profit group best known for publishing Consumer Reports magazine,

Benefits vs. costs: According to NHTSA’s 2010 proposal, this "blind spot" regulation could save 95 to 112 lives per year, and prevent 7,000 to 8,000 or more injuries.

The agency estimates that the addition of rear-view camera equipment would cost between $159 to $203 per car, or $88 to $158 on vehicles already equipped with some sort of display screen, such as one used for navigation.

NHTSA says the total approximate cost to equip its estimate of 16.6 million vehicles sold in 2014 would be between $1.9 billion and $2.7 billion.

Within their proposal, NHTSA said that the additional costs of this regulation would be worthwhile, because so many of those killed are children.

Backover accidents cause an average 229 deaths and 18,000 injuries per year, according to NHTSA. The agency said that small children and the elderly are particularly vulnerable. Of those killed each year, 44% are under the age of 5, and 33% are over the age of 70. 

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