Cut Costs

Shop around 1 According to Tod Marks, a senior editor at Consumer Reports who focuses on prescription drugs, many consumers don't realize that drug costs can vary widely from one pharmacy to another. He recommends shopping around, and he says you can save hundreds of dollars if you are willing to do some price comparisons. "Pharmacies expect it," he says of the price questions. "These days there's complete price transparency. If you want to shop around, there's no doubt you can get the information you need."

Starbucks Corp. said yesterday that it will eliminate about 6,700 jobs because of the difficult economy. The company becomes the latest to announce job losses and joined major employers such as AOL and Boeing yesterday in detailing layoffs to cope with the current recession. Starbucks said its profit dropped 69 percent in its fiscal first quarter, to $64.3 million. Starbucks said it will close 300 underperforming stores in addition to the 600 it already planned to close in the United States.

Proposed state budget cuts are expected to cost the Howard County government up to $13 million next fiscal year, but county officials say they are relieved because it could have been worse. County Executive Ken Ulman said county budget officials are working on a detailed accounting of Gov. Martin O'Malley's $310 million in proposed cuts to local government. But he is particularly relieved that the cost of teacher pensions wasn't shifted to local governments. "Once you start down that road, every year there's a tough time, you increase it a bit," Ulman said.

Retailer Filene's Basement is trying to renegotiate leases and maintenance fees with the landlords of its Towson and Hunt Valley stores as it tries to cut costs amid a weak retail environment. The retailer has been discounting everything in stock at the two stores and not taking returns on new purchases, sometimes a sign that a shop is preparing to close. But President Mark Shulman said that Woburn, Mass.-based Filene's, which moved to the Baltimore area in 2004 and has four stores in the region, is not at the point of closing.

More creative ways to curb trash costs Mayor Sheila Dixon suggested that one way the city could reduce costs to grapple with the budget shortfalls was to reduce trash collection to one day a week and cut back the number of recycling days ("City cuts fire, police OT and extends hiring freeze," Oct. 21). That is one trial balloon that should be deflated immediately. Despite the slogans about a cleaner and greener Baltimore, the city is still very much awash in garbage scattered in our alleys, streets and parks.

We've been hearing a lot about universal health care. But before you give up on market competition, consider that government regulation of hospitals and medical professionals makes medical care much more expensive than it need be. We seldom hear about difficulties in finding a doctor, rationing of services and poor-quality care under universal health care schemes - even though such problems are already happening in government-run programs in California....

One woman was using the wrong type of insulin, causing the 65-year-old to faint one to three times a week. A 47-year-old homeless man drank a liter of vodka a day, and concerned citizens frequently called 911 after seeing him unconscious on the street. And another woman, 88, was just lonely and liked when the emergency responders showed up at her home. They are among a group identified as some of Baltimore's most frequent ambulance callers, 10 men and women representing more than 500 emergency responses in a year.

NEW YORK - Nine times out of 10, cutting costs makes sense. It's painless to go without an expensive lunch every day or to live without the latest and most up-to-date television or cell phone. But there are some purchases that you shouldn't cut back on. In fact, cutting back on these can do more harm than good. From Liz Pulliam Weston of MSN Money, consider these three occasions when you shouldn't cut back: *Car maintenance. If you ignore car maintenance, it will only come back to bite you. Follow your car manual and bring your car in for tune-ups at the recommended mileage.

The Baltimore Sun Media Group, which publishes The Sun and community newspapers, will eliminate 100 jobs by early August to cut costs and stay competitive, Publisher Timothy E. Ryan told employees yesterday in an e-mail. The company said it plans to reduce the 1,400-person work force through voluntary buyouts, layoffs, attrition and by closing open positions. A majority of the cuts are expected to come from the newsroom. "In the face of today's tough economy, adapting to consumer trends while maintaining our fiscal strength is proving to be even more difficult, yet even more critical," Ryan said.

Theresa Jenkins is a coupon queen. By combining coupons with sales, she has accumulated a lifetime supply of dishwasher detergent in her garage, as well as 30 cans of tuna for a penny each. But she was upset when a Giant Food supermarket confiscated her coupons after one she had printed from a manufacturer's Web site for Rice-A-Roni wouldn't scan properly. As the price of food and everything else rises, consumers are increasingly turning to coupons to cut their bills.