The retail industry has queued itself into the economic bailout line with requests for free tax days, but president-elect Barack Obama has a different bailout package for retailers. It’s called Inauguration Day, 2009.

Savvy retailers have been cashing in on American political fever since last summer and are using next week’s historic Inauguration Day as an excuse to sell special Barack Obama merchandise and launch special promotions and freebies. Inauguration Day is the new Black Friday.

QVC has already sold more than 100,000 Obama-related items, and plans to peddle more with its live Inauguration Day coverage. QVC cameras and personalities will be strategically position in D.C. to broadcast the parade, interview parade spectators, and provide live coverage of the pricey Inaugural Ball shindig thrown by the Creative Coalition.

Although it hasn't disclosed exact sales figures, QVC says 1997 was their best year for hawking presidential paraphernalia. Barack bibelot sales have already surpassed that best, QVC told MSNBC.

California e-tailer Zazzle, Inc. may beat the home shopping giant’s record as well, with the 113,000 Obama-related products on the Zazzle e-commerce website. A Zazzle spokesperson said that sales of presidential items have increased 50% week over week since the holidays. Who needs Black Friday and Cyber Monday when you’ve got Inauguration Tuesday to motivate shoppers?

Internet auctioneer eBay was hoping to cash in on some Inauguration Day event ticket auctions, but congressional pressure quickly made that politically incorrect. Nonetheless there are more than 20,000 auctions with “Obama” in the title currently running on eBay, including the sale of the 2005 Chrysler 300C once owned by the president elect. Bidding had reached $101,000 for the car, but due to “erratic bids,” the auction was restarted and there are no “qualified bidders” for the car yet. No matter what the car sells for, eBay will only keep $125 for itself, which is the standard Successful Listing Fee charged for cars. Right about now, though, eBay should be grateful for any kind of positive publicity.

TGI Friday’s is also hoping to get some publicity for its “Give Me More Stripes” customer loyalty program by hosting “The World’s Largest Inauguration Party” at 920 restaurants in 62 countries. Stripes members will get free buttons, free chips and half-priced appetizers. Both a membership drive and an all-American branding effort, Friday’s is using the patriotic event to fight the downward slide in casual dining caused by recessionary eating habits. Undoubtedly there wil be plenty of people around the world who will be saying “TGI Inaugruation Day” along with them.

The retail industry benefited from the surge of consumer hopefulness by staging Election Day promotions. Many retailers are hoping that Inauguration Day promotions and freebies will trigger optimistic spending again. One thing is certain. Barack Obama has a heavy load to drag around on his coattails for the next four years.

Along with the depressing Bureau of Labor Statistics unemployment figures in the news last week were references to another measuremment, the "underemployment" rate.

The "underemployed" label is officially applied to the collection of people who are completely unemployed, the people who are working part-time because they can't find full-time work, and the people who are so discouraged that they have stopped looking for work altogether. As of last week, that group is estimated to be 8 million people.

Beyond this official definition though, there is a significant number of people who, after having their careers interrupted by recessionary layoffs, are now working in jobs for which they are overqualified and overeducated. Uncounted, unlabeled, and unacknowledged, this can be the most depressing group of all. This growing number of actively "underemployed" people are now wondering how they will ever find their way back to a career path that makes sense in an industry they care about.

I was recently helping a client fill a newly created administrative position. It was a basic, entry level position paying a basic hourly wage, with the hope of a small performance bonus. A single Craig's List posting yielded dozens of replies, and we quickly found a candidate who was extremely overqualified, but seemingly eager to fill the position.

Christy turned out to be a textbook case study in how to manage underemployment. She moved into her new position with ease, she listened, she learned, and she quickly got up to speed with performing her duties, no matter how unchallenging they were.

Rather than flaunting her experience and taking a know-it-all stance, Christy offered ideas based on her own past successes with diplomacy. With her peers she offered support instead of supervision, even though she was well qualified to manage them all. She quickly established herself as a positive and valuable member of the team.

Beyond what she did, it's what Christy didn't do that helped her quickly transcend her entry level status. She didn't complain, she didn't act superior, she didn't try to assert authority she wasn't given, and if she felt she was above any of the tasks she was performing, she didn't show it.

After just six weeks, meetings were happening to figure out how to create a position and a respectable wage to keep Christy around. Once Christy got in the door, she gave everyone a reason to want to keep her at the party.

For the 8 million people officially labeled as "underemployed," the millions more who are overqualified in their current jobs, and the additional numbers who will find themselves accepting positions they never thought they would be willing to take, some good solid underemployment strategies like Christy practiced will be essential. As Christy demonstrated, when you bring your "A" game to a "B" job, you can change your own fate and forge yourself a new path from the involuntary u-turn in your career.

Your new employer and co-workers might be sympathetic to your underemployment challenge, but they will have little patience if you have a resentful, superior, or self-indulgent attitude about it. If you can't find a way to be grateful for your job, whatever it is, then you might need to be unemployed for a little bit longer. Rather than shortchange yourself and your new employer, it would be better for you to go back to the unemployment office until the best version of yourself is ready to work.

The world watched as the U.S. retail industry reported the dreaded December 2008 same store sales figures this week. While the decline of many top U.S. retailers fell in line with analyst predictions, the notable rise in sales of some major retail chains was surprising, yet largely ignored.

The Buckle Inc. tops the list of December retail gains so far, with an impressive 13.5% increase in same store sales, compared to December 2007. This is the 17th month in a row that Buckle has posted double-digit same store sales.

While headlines have been focused on Wal-Mart's discount strategies, it's Buckle's customer loyalty and service culture that really deserve the spotlight. Most U.S. retailers were focused on outpricing each other in 2008, but Buckle remained focused on its mission "to create the most enjoyable shopping experience possible for our guests." Buckle is proving that a truly strong customer-centric operation can transcend the forces of external economic conditions.

Another notable economic trend buster has been regional appliance and consumer electronics chain, Conn's Inc. While the overall consumer electronics category posted an 8.7% comparable store sales decline for December, 2008, Conn's posted a 5% increase.

Unable to compete on price with national competitors like Best Buy, Sears, and Costco, Conn's competes with customer services like in-house financing, same-day delivery, optional product pickup at its distriution centers, and 48-hour complaint resolution. While failing competitor Circuit City has been busy blaming the poor economy, weakened consumer confidence, and a rough retail environment for its plummeting sales, Conn's CFO, Mike Poppe said, “It’s a great opportunity to gain market share.” Apparently at Circuit City the cash register is half empty and at Conn's the cash register is half full.

A look at the complete list of December 2008 same store sales figures shows that the majority of positive results were posted by retail chains which operate fewer than 1,000 stores in the U.S. These results seem to debunk the theory that the retail giants will decimate all of their smaller competitors in the recession, creating a homogenized American retail landscape that lacks imagination and variety.

December's same store sales successes indicate that size doesn't matter when it comes to surviving the first great recession of this millennium. For just about every U.S. retailer except Wal-Mart, that is the positive aspect of this week's U.S. retail news.

While the retail industry has been hyperfocused on pricing, the retailers who have continued to focus on customer satisfaction, like Amazon and Apple, have emerged as the winners in a losing holiday season.

The link between customer satisfaction and sales is not breaking news. The confirmation that overall customer satisfaction still matters in a price-conscious economy is definitely headline worthy. According to the "2008 Holiday Top 40 Online Retail Satisfaction Index" report from Foresee Results, the most satisfied customers still spend more, make more repeat purchases, and make recommendations to friends.

Proving that theory, Amazon.com reported its best holiday season ever, with a 44% increase in units shipped, a 7% increase in web visitors, and 6.3 million items ordered in a single day. Coincidentally, or not, Amazon.com also had the highest customer satisfaction scores in the first half of December. When rating Amazon based on the merchandise available, the functionality of the website, the product information and descriptions, and the prices charged, Amazon customers awarded a score of 84 out of a possible 100. Amazon shoppers were happy with Amazon experience, and they made Amazon purchases in record numbers.

Some will argue that Amazon's 2008 holiday season success was really only motivated by price, but the numbers from liquidation e-tailer Overstock.com refute that argument. Despite its everyday clearance prices, additional "Red Line Deals," and $2.95 shipping, Overstock's web traffic decreased by 16% this holiday season. Coincidentally, or not, Overstock had the third lowest customer satisfaction rating of the 40 major online retailers studied. Overstock's customers are dissatisfied despite its low price offerings, and they're avoiding the website in droves.

While this particular customer survey was focused on e-commerce, the connection between customer satisfaction and retail success is clear for traditional retailers as well. Apple saw a 19% increase in web visitors, is planning to open 30 or more new stores in 2009, and coincidentally, or not, has overall customer satisfaction ratings that far exceed any of its direct competitors.

On the other side of the satisfaction spectrum, in 2008 Circuit City saw a 21% decrease in holiday web traffic, was delisted from the New York Stock Exchange, closed 100 stores, and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Last year Circuit's City's overall customer satisfaction was the worst compared to its direct competitors, and could have been viewed as a predictor of future failure. Or perhaps its simultaneously low customer satisfaction ratings and poor performance are just a coincidence.

Retailers in all channels would do well to heed the warning. While pricing seems to be the main consideration for fearful consumers, it is still not the only consideration. A hyperfocus on pricing to the exclusion of other aspects of good retailing will result in a diminshed customer experience, decreased satisfaction, and eventually, the loss of reputation, the devaluation of brand, broken loyalties, and, as we will observe repeatedly in 2009, complete business failure.

Good pricing alone still doesn't take the place of good retailing.