Dec 20, 2018 3 min read

McCune retires from bank boards

CB Financial Services Inc., the holding company of Community Bank, announced Wednesday that Barron P. “Pat” McCune Jr. notified the company and Community Bank boards of directors he would retired from both boards, effective Jan. 1.

Because of his length of service with and knowledge of both, CB Financial appointed McCune as emeritus director of its board.

The Company and bank have appointed Ralph Burchianti to fill McCune’s vacancies on both boards. He has served as executive vice president and chief credit officer of Community Bank.

CB Financial also is the holding company for Exchange Underwriters, Inc., a wholly owned insurance subsidiary of Community Bank.

Home sales

are up this year

Home sales in Western Pennsylvania are up this year compared with 2017, according to West Penn Multi-List Inc.’s monthly residential real estate report.

A comparison of January to November sales with same time period in 2017 shows:

• Closed sales are up 2.77 percent (24,559 units in 2018, 23,898 in 2017);
• Closed sales volume is up 9.4 percent ($4,759,460,523 from $4,350,463,614);
• The average sales price is up 6.46 percent ($193,797 from $182,043);
• Home listings are down 2.28 percent (31,611 from 32,348).

West Penn Multi-List Inc. tracks residential real estate information for its 17-county service area – Washington, Greene, Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Cambria, Clarion, Crawford, Fayette, Indiana, Jefferson, Lawrence, Mercer, Somerset, Venango and Westmoreland.

More returns expected this year

NEW YORK (AP) – The gifts under the tree haven’t been opened yet, but people are already returning some of their holiday hauls.

Delivery company UPS said that it expects its busiest return day to occur before Christmas for the first time.

The company said Wednesday there are many reasons for the pre-Christmas return boom, including more people buying stuff for themselves that they want to send back.

UPS said it expects to handle 1.5 million returns on Wednesday, and predicts another spike on Jan. 3, when it anticipates it will handle 1.3 million returned packages. Kathleen Marran, vice president of marketing at UPS, said its busiest return day has creeped up earlier and earlier in the past six years as retailers offer their holiday deals weeks before Thanksgiving, giving shoppers more time to change their mind.

UPS said it used historical data and information from retailers to come up with its figures.

Retailers have also made it easier for shoppers to return goods. Walmart and Target have been adding special areas in stores to make online returns quicker, and Amazon has opened shops inside Kohl’s department stores where returns can be dropped off.

Other reasons for earlier returns: Hanukkah fell in early December this year and more people are using rental clothing companies for holiday party outfits that they need to send back, said Marran.