Although two-thirds of Americans believe their efficiency is above average, percentage of men who believe they are more efficient than women, according to data released by Crucial.com: 67

Percentage of women who believe they are more efficient than men: 90

Source: Crucial.com.

Cost to produce a penny in the 2014 fiscal year -- down from 2.4 cents in 2011, but still more than face value -- according to research by Jeffrey Sparshott in The Wall Street Journal: 1.7 cents

Cost to produce a nickel in 2015, down from 11 cents: 8 cents

Cost to produce a dime: 3.9 cents

Cost to produce a quarter: 9 cents

Amount of money the U.S. Mint could save if it simply eliminated the penny: $52.9 million

Source: Wall Street Journal.

Number of days prior to domestic travel when the lowest ticket prices are found, according to data released by Expedia in partnership with the Airline Reporting Corporation: 50 to 100

Average savings in the price of tickets sold during this period: $85

Percentage of cost that customers can save (up to $568) if they book both flight and hotel together on Expedia: 20

Source: Expedia.

Percentage of workers who said they’re likely to contact a company with feedback after a good customer-service experience, according to a Robert Half survey: 71

Percentage who would reach out after receiving bad service: 79

Source: OfficeTeam.

Percentage of employees who said they are very satisfied with their organizations, according to Mercer: 45

Percentage who said they are very satisfied with their jobs: 42

Percentage of all workers -- regardless of their satisfaction level -- who are seriously considering leaving their organizations: 37

Percentage of senior managers surveyed who are seriously considering leaving their current roles: 63

Source: Mercer.

Estimated number of Americans who plan to celebrate Halloween this year, according to a National Retail Federation study: 157 million

Amount that the average person celebrating will spend: $74.34

Expected total spending on Halloween: $6.9 billion

Source: National Retail Federation.

Percentage of Americans who cited "inattentive parents" -- parents who let their kids run wild -- as the most aggravating hotel guests, according to a study, commissioned by Expedia and conducted by GfK: 67

Percentage of respondents who are frustrated by "hallway hellraisers": 64

Percentage who complained about "the complainers," or guests who berate hotel staff over minor inconveniences: 54

Source: Expedia.

Percentage of high-net-worth individuals who say that they anticipate making an investment in real estate this year, up from 48 percent in 2014, according to a survey of the wealthiest 1.5 percent of the U.S. population by Coldwell Banker Previews International: 54

On average, number of homes that high-net-worth individuals own: 2.1

Average percentage of net worth that is comprised of residential real estate for these individuals: 38

Source: Coldwell Banker Real Estate Corp.

Percentage of information technology decision-makers within small- and medium-sized businesses who say IT vendors should simplify technology, according to a survey by Techaisle: 72

Percentage of respondents who say they ignore some technologies, even though they may be useful: 61

Source: Techaisle.

Percentage of Americans who think that foreign aid spending should be higher than the current level, according to a poll conducted by Ipsos in 17 foreign aid donor countries, including the United States: 63

Percentage who think that spending on foreign aid should be nothing at all: 16

Percentage of Americans who think that spending on foreign aid gives the United States influence in the global community: 62

Source: Ipsos Public Affairs.

Idle Thought

"When you're traveling, you are what you are right there and then. People don't have your past to hold against you. No yesterdays on the road." -- William Least Heat-Moon, travel writer

(Readers can contact John MacIntyre at johnmacintyre@bwr.eastlink.ca.)

Percentage of Americans who get stressed at just the thought of relaxing, according to a survey of Princess Cruises: 33

Percentage of Americans who feel guilty about relaxing: 42

Source: Princess Cruises.

Percentage of Americans who think the United States should limit the number of refugees allowed into this country, according to an Ipsos Public Affairs poll: 60

Percentage who say the U.S. should take in more refugees from Syria: 20

Source: Ipsos Public Affairs.

Percentage of children age 18 and under who have accumulated savings for college, according to data, drawn from the College Savings Foundation's annual State of College Savings survey: 72

Of those, percentage who had savings started by age 5: 76

Percentage who started saving between the ages of 6 and 10: 21

Percentage all respondents' children who did not yet have savings set aside for college: 28

Source: College Savings Foundation.

Percentage of workers who report having experienced an increase in health care costs in the past year -- down from 59 percent in 2014 and a historical low for the survey, according to research by the Employee Benefit Research Institute: 50

Percentage of workers experiencing cost increases who said the cost increases led them to try to take better care of themselves: 69

Source: EBRI.

Percentage of women ages 18 to 54 in the United States who wear makeup, according to a survey by Albolene Moisturizing Cleanser: 83

Source: Clarion Brands.

Percentage of Americans who say the federal government poses "an immediate threat to the rights and freedoms of ordinary citizens," according to a Gallup Poll: 49

When this question was first asked in 2003, percentage of Americans who held this belief: 33

Source: Gallup.

Percentage of Americans who admit to making mistakes on social media who are concerned they might adversely affect their careers with a questionable social media post, according to a YouGov Omnibus survey: 21

Percentage who are afraid they may hurt relationships with family or partners by sharing misguided images or messages: 14

Source: YouGov.

Percentage of Americans who believe U.S. public schools provide an excellent or very good education nationally, at both the primary (19 percent for grades K-6) and secondary (18 percent for grades 7-12) levels, according to the results of a Harris Poll: 17.5

Percentage of Americans who believe religious private schools provide an excellent or very good education: 40

Percentage who say the same of private schools without religious affiliations: 38.5

Source: The Harris Poll.

Ranks of the Texas cities of Odessa, Frisco, Midland, Mission and College Station on the list of the fastest-growing cities in the U.S., as calculated by 10 key metrics, ranging from population growth rate to unemployment rate decrease, according to an in-depth analysis by WalletHub: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5

Of the top 10 cities on this list, number that are in Texas: 9

Source: WalletHub.

Percentage of consumers who revealed the top reason they hesitate to purchase gifts online is the worry about buying the wrong size, according to a survey by Loop Commerce: 25

Percentage who cited worrying about the hassle of returns as the most common reason they hesitate to buy gifts online: 24

Source: Loop Commerce.

Idle Thought

"It's a shallow life that doesn't give a person a few scars." -- Garrison Keillor, radio host and author

(Readers can contact John MacIntyre at johnmacintyre@bwr.eastlink.ca.)

Percentage of Americans who commute to work in their car, according to Convergex: 85

Percentage who do so alone: 75

Source: Convergex.

Rank of Social Security on the list of the largest government programs in the world, accounting for 26 percent ($906 billion) of total U.S. federal spending in 2014 ($3.5 trillion), according to research by ProCon.org: 1

Percentage of unmarried retirees who relied on Social Security for 90 percent or more of their income: 47

With the Social Security trust fund paying out more in benefits than it collects in employee taxes since 2010, year that the fund is projected to run out of money: 2034.

Source: ProCon.org.

Percentage of all men who tuck in their shirts at least three days a week, according to a Fruit of the Loom survey of men ages 25 to 60: 49

Percentage of tuckers who report being happier on the job: 60

Percentage more likely that tuckers are to report being socially outgoing: 10

Percentage more likely they are to say they're optimistic about the future: 22

Source: Fruit of the Loom.

With 3,130 ultra-wealthy individuals among its alumni, rank of Harvard University on Wealth-X's list of universities with the largest ultra-high net worth alumni population: 1

Ranks of the University of Pennsylvania (1,580), Stanford University (1,240), Columbia University (940), New York University (860) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology MIT (670) on the Wealth-X ranking of universities with the largest ultra-high net worth alumni population: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

Source: Wealth-X.

Percentage of employers who believe the minimum wage should be increased in their state, up from 62 percent last year, according to a new CareerBuilder survey: 64

Percentage of employers who said they plan to hire minimum wage workers this year: 26

Percentage of all employers who believe the federal minimum wage ($7.25 per hour) is fair: 6

Source: CareerBuilder.com.

Date that a 29-year-old female passenger pigeon named Martha died, marking the extinction of the species that once covered North America in enormous flocks, according to the U.S. Census Bureau: Sept. 1, 1914

Today, estimated number of zoos and botanical gardens in the U.S. devoted to conserving and preserving threatened species: 600

Source: U.S. Census Bureau.

Percentage of millennials (those born in the early 1980s to the early 2000s) who said they have college-related debt, according to a survey conducted by the nonprofit Investor Protection Institute.: 49

Percentage with debts of $1,000 to $20,000: 20

Percentage with debts of $20,000 to $50,000: 16

Source: Investor Protection Institute.

Approximate number of verses there are in the Bible about money -- twice as many as verses about heaven and hell combined, according to Crown Financial Ministries: 2,300

Percentage more likely that parents are to have talked with their children about the importance of good manners than about the value of money: 95

Percentage more likely they are to have talked about the benefit of good eating habits: 87

Percentage more likely they are to have talked about the risks of smoking: 82

Source: Crown Financial Ministries.

By 7 a.m., percentage of new parents with a mobile device who have visited their Facebook page for the first time in the day, according to research provided by Facebook: 56

Percentage of non-parents who have done the same: 45

Source: Nielsen Insights.

Percentage of Americans who agree that racism is a major problem in the U.S., according to a poll conducted by Reuters/Ipsos: 70

Percentage who say America should deport most or all illegal immigrants: 56

Source: Reuters/Ipsos.

Idle Thought

"Every government has as much of a duty to avoid war as a ship's captain has to avoid a shipwreck." -- Guy de Maupassant, short story writer and novelist

(Readers can contact John MacIntyre at johnmacintyre@bwr.eastlink.ca.)