Mental Floss magazine thrives in struggling industry

When Pluto was demoted from planet status, the founders of Mental Floss, a quirky and offbeat magazine, found an opportunity in its demise.

A reader wrote in suggesting the publisher create a T-shirt for those mourning the loss of the solar system’s former ninth planet. And Mental Floss did just that. It produced a T-shirt which reads, “Pluto: Revolve in Peace.” The T-shirt became the first in a line of merchandise now accounting for almost one-third of the magazine publisher’s revenue.

Trivia geeks got their T-shirt and their favorite magazine got a lifeline.

It is that kind of opportunism and flexibility that has given Mental Floss, now 12 years old, a comfortable niche in the turbulent world of magazine publishing. Its success relies on its diversified revenue stream, which allows the company to reach a wide variety of people seeking a fun way to keep their minds sharp. It just so happens that people who enjoy reading the trivia lists in Mental Floss’s magazine or playing word games on its blog, are also willing to open their wallets for witty T-shirts or an Albert Einstein bobble head figurine – especially if they’re sold by Mental Floss.

“I’m not sure what we’re doing is revolutionary or completely new, but we knew when to tap into it,” said co-founder and president Will Pearson when asked about the merchandise sales. “We recognized that this brand could live in other ways besides the magazine.”

The magazine continues to be published eight times annually, and feature trivia lists like 10 facts about France’s coolest tree house as well as briefs on a variety of topics, like the history of the Statue of Liberty. (The sculptor charged World Fair visitors 50 cents to climb Lady Liberty’s only completed limb in 1876, her torch-carrying arm, to raise the funds needed to finish constructing the statue.) The Mental Floss blog posts games and flashes quick facts along the top of the web page. Did you know that Toyota held a vote last year determining the plural of Prius to be Prii?

Class action lawsuit shows strength of Hurricane Sandy

The lights went out on Long Island when Hurricane Sandy barreled into the coastline on Oct. 29 and for some, the lights didn’t come back on until 16 days later.

Some residents say that is too long and are suing the utility company responsible for providing electricity to the island. 

The Long Island Power Authority (LIPA) has said that more than 1.1 million of its customers experienced power outages in the wake of the storm. The utility company is the only electric provider in Nassau and Suffolk counties, as well as the Rockaway Peninsula in Queens.

Those who live on the island jutting out into the Atlantic Ocean were not alone in their distress. The hurricane, which became known as a Superstorm Sandy, hit the east coast just as high tide peaked and the storm surge caused severe flooding, wind damage and days-long power outages from North Carolina to Maine.

One week after the storm hit, LIPA reported that 219,000 of its customers remained without power, those in areas where it was deemed unsafe to deliver electricity. It was not until Nov. 14 that LIPA restored power to all its customers whose homes were structurally sound ands able to accept service.

Cleanup and recovery efforts continue four months later and if that’s not enough of a reminder of Sandy’s strength, a class action lawsuit filed in New York Supreme Court against LIPA is clearly indicative of the storm’s powerful impact.   

Four separate lawsuits were filed in New York Civil Supreme Court against LIPA and its service provider National Grid Electric Services over the companies’ response to Hurricane Sandy. Nine Long Island residents have been named as plaintiffs in the lawsuits, which will be consolidated into one class action suit. 

Mark Gross, a LIPA spokesman, said in an email that the company is not able to comment on the lawsuits at this time.

The plaintiff’s lawyers are entering uncharted waters. There have been very few class action lawsuits filed against utility companies in the past, said Mollins, a Melville-based attorney who in early November was first to file a complaint with the court.

But the lack of communication after Sandy — which came just a year after tropical storm Irene left some Long Island residents in the dark for more than a week – left people disgusted to the point where they felt compelled to take legal action.

“People are so frustrated because they couldn’t get answers about how long it would be before power was restored,” Mollins said in a telephone interview.

One complaint filed by Wolf Haldenstein Adler Freeman & Hertz on behalf of residents Joseph and Sandra Weiss, alleges that LIPA’s record system is so antiquated that workers often have to use paper maps and documents to locate damage. The outdated system makes it hard for the authority to communicate when crews will arrive and when power will be restored, according to the complaint.

The mayor of Lawrence, in Nassau County, told the New York Times in November that the map posted to LIPA’s website about where power had been restored was “fictional” and “preposterous.” The map portrayed power being restored to more customers in the town than there are actual homes, according to the mayor, Martin Oliner.

What makes Long Island residents even more frustrated is that a study completed by New York State in June of 2012 warned LIPA that its systems were antiquated and should be improved. The widespread outages following tropical storm Irene in August of 2011 prompted Gov. Andrew Cuomo to commission New York’s Public Service Commission to evaluate the state-owned utility company and its ability to prepare for a storm.

The report reads: “A major issue of public concern was the inability to provide LIPA customers and public officials with accurate and timely ETRs (estimated response times).” It suggested that LIPA collaborate with municipalities to develop more proactive communications during storms and modify its tree trimming policy to meet industry standards. Downed trees complicated the power restoration process after both storms.

An amended complaint filed by Mollins, Parker Waichman, and Doulgas & London law firms in December alleges that LIPA did not act on what the commission suggested. In the governor’s State of the State Address earlier this month, he called for the privatization of LIPA.   

“The substance of our complaint, at the moment, is in deception, fraud and breach of contract,” Mollins said. He believes his clients can win if he proves that LIPA took customers’ money, some of which was slated for maintenance of it system, and did not use that money for maintenance.

 A tariff for electric service LIPA files with the New York State Public Service Commission allows the utility company to charge a certain percentage for maintenance, which is incorporated into the monthly fee LIPA customers pay. Mollins believes the report completed in June of 2012 demonstrates that this money was not used properly for maintenance.

“The bottom line is that utilities have to know they are held accountable,” Mollins said. “We want to make sure that this doesn’t happen again.”