THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, July 2, 1996 TAG: 9607020394
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
LENGTH: 50 lines
Mobil Corp. said it will produce prepaid long-distance telephone calling cards with MCI Communications Corp. and sell them at as many as 4,600 outlets, beginning this month. The two-year deal with Mobil represents one of the largest outlets for MCI's prepaid cards, marking the oil company's first foray into the telephone card market. Under the multimillion-dollar contract, Fairfax-based Mobil will pay MCI for network services and the production of the cards. One unit will equal one minute of domestic long-distance calling for all 50 states, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. (Bloomberg Business News) Decision due Wednesday on rail companies' merger
The federal government's decision whether to give a green light to the proposed $5.4 billion merger of Union Pacific Railroad and Southern Pacific Rail Corp. turns on the question of competitiveness. The fate of the proposed merger, which would create the nation's largest railroad, lies in the hands of the three-member Surface Transportation Board. It will decide Wednesday whether to reject the merger or accept it in whole or with certain conditions attached. Union Pacific and Southern Pacific acknowledge they would pare 3,400 jobs, primarily in San Francisco and Denver. (Associated Press) Local union members picket post office
Postal workers across Virginia and the country - rallied outside post offices Monday to protest proposals to privatize the U.S. Postal Service. Outside Norfolk's downtown post office, Local 262 American Postal Workers Union members carried picket signs reading ``Save Our Postal Service'' and handed fliers to passers-by. Protesters also picketed outside the main post offices in Richmond and in Fairfax County. On June 19, mail carriers around the country staged a similar one-day protest. (AP) Snapple will give away drinks in marketing plan
Quaker Oats Co. said it will give away tens of millions of samples of its Snapple beverage brand as part of a major new marketing campaign to revive sales. Quaker will spend about an extra $20 million on the campaign, or more than a 50 percent increase from what it had budgeted for the brand's summer marketing, said company spokesman Ronald Bottrell. The company said it will give away Snapple fruit and iced tea drinks in more than two dozen markets across the country at sites ranging from beaches to Little League games. The campaign starts in about two weeks. (Bloomberg) by CNB