Snow & Cold Leaves Winners And Losers In Business World

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- This miserable cold weather may be driving us all nuts -- but some companies are going gangbusters because of it.

"Metro Heating & Cooling, may I help you?" an employee says.

"And you have no heat?" they ask.

"I can have someone there between the hours of two and four."

Plumbers for broken water pipes, heating repairs for a down boiler -- cold weather can be good for business, says Tom Wessner of Metro Heating & Cooling.

"Yes, sir," he says. "It definitely sparks the phone to ring. On Monday, we logged 36 phone calls by 11 o'clock."

They are not the only ones who benefit from winter weather.

"A very good year," says John Swentosky.

Snow is a Godsend for landscapers who plow in the winter, like Swentosky who clears commercial properties of snow.

"We leave around two or three in the morning," he says. "Most places open between five and eight. Everything's completed and the ones that are open later, we finish later."

Not far away, one mechanic notes, "From the cold weather, it breaks the seam on the radiator."

At Flynn's Tires, cold weather means more car repairs, new batteries, and -- of course -- tires made brittle by the cold.

"Rubber hardens, so you don't get as much traction. If your tires worn out, and the rubber turns harder, you're going to start slipping and sliding a lot more, and you'll notice it," says Joe Flynn, co-owner of Flynn's Tires.

So are there any losers?

Well, cold and snow does cut down on outdoor neighborhood shopping -- and even the malls can feel it, too.

There were many empty stores Monday, but it's no surprise.

One place that tends to lose business in sub-zero weather are the ice cream shops.

But even there, they're people who can't go through a blizzard without their ice cream.

This Dairy Queen closed early on some slow days and to get employees home safely

"They're still those customers that kind of get a little upset we closed early because they like their ice cream. They don't care," says Mallory Pomaibo of Dairy Queen.

Sometimes even the losers are winners.

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