Costco Wholesale Corp., the largest U.S. warehouse club where everything is more than you need, stopped restocking some Coca-Cola Co. products in its stores after a dispute over pricing.

“At this time, Coca-Cola has not provided Costco with competitive pricing so that we may pass along the value our members deserve,” Costco said in a statement on its Web site.Hmm sound like Walmart might have gotten a better Christmas bonus

Teri Finney, a company spokeswoman, declined to provide additional details. Scott Williamson, a spokesman for Coca- Cola, said it doesn’t comment on negotiations. Speaking for Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc., John Downs declined to comment. The company, Coca-Cola’s largest distributor, sells drinks to Costco with support from Coca-Cola.

The brands subject to the dispute include Coke Classic, Cherry Coke, Black Cherry Vanilla Coke, Diet Coke, Coke Zero, Sprite and Squirt, Dasani Water and Vitamin Water along with several energy drinks.

Costco members pay an annual fee to shop for groceries as well as luxury items. The Issaquah, Washington-based company limits the mark-up on products it sells.

Boardwalk staple will be missed

The Asbury Park boardwalk may be losing its only mainstay, the Mayfair Boardwalk Grill, this year. Madison Marquette has advised the owners, Ted and Diane Heleotis, that they will not be renewing their lease for the 2010 season.

As a longtime patron of the Asbury Park beach and boardwalk, this is a huge mistake. The Mayfair is one of the only establishments on the boardwalk that serves reasonable, children-friendly food, and it has the best hot dogs around.

It is impeccably clean and well run. It also is the only establishment that has weathered some of the tough times in Asbury. Even when most of the stores were vacant, I knew the Mayfair would be open for business when the summer months arrived.

Now, as Asbury Park is beginning a turnaround, this wonderful establishment is being asked to leave. Shame on Madison Marquette for this decision. Many other individuals and families in the area feel the same way.

Keep the Mayfair, please, for its food, its nostalgia and for the perseverance that the Heleotises have shown throughout the years by never giving up on the Asbury Park boardwalk when almost everyone else did.

Patty Kremer

OCEAN TOWNSHIP

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Earlier this week we brought you exclusive screenshots of a new Facebook homepage design featuring, among other things, a “Top News” filter for your news feed.

This morning Facebook announced those changes will be rolling out today, and broke down the reasoning behind the updates, which it says were largely a result of user feedback.

As we reported earlier, when you log in you’ll now be able to toggle between two views: your News Feed, which is essentially what used to live in the Highlights section, and the Live Feed, which is the same real-time feed from your friends that you’re used to. You can edit what appears in that feed via an “Edit Options” link at the bottom of the page.

Your News Feed is now a “summary view of the most interesting activity that’s happened in the last day,” powered by the stories Facebook thinks you’ll most enjoy and based on your past history interacting with the site. Factors include how much activity and attention an item has seen (from friends liking and commenting) and how likely Facebook perceives you might interact with that story.

Also as reported previously, older items have been added back to the News Feed based on user feedback, including when your friends have been tagged in photos or become fans of Pages. Birthdays and events have also been made more prominent again in the right column of your home page.

The changes should be rolling out to all users today — have you seen them yet on your Facebook home page? What do you think of the new views?

Tags: facebook, live feed, redesign
User reviews: Facebook