जनता का आदमी

(C x 2)

You know the feeling when you reach into the pocket of some jeans or a jacket you haven’t worn in a while and come up with a $5 bill? Multiply that feeling by a whole lot and imagine what it’d be like to find a suit stuffed with cash for a grand total of $43,000.

This wasn’t a long-lost winter coat pulled out of seasonal storage though, but a donated set of clothing at a Goodwill store in Michigan, reports the Monroe News.

The manager of the store was going through a suit and robe that had recently been donated when he found a wallet and several envelopes stuffed with cash. Before even counting it out and thus, creating the inevitable caviar wishes and Champagne dreams, he called the cops.

The manager handed over all of the cash and the wallet with the owner’s identification information, and cops discovered about $43,100 in total. Police were able to track down the person who was probably quite distraught over losing so many stacks of $100 bills.

“We might find a quarter in somebody’s jeans,” the manager explained. “But that blows my mind.”

He didn’t even think twice about turning the cash in instead of squirreling it way in his pockets, he said. There was no doubt about it — the money had to go back.

“My biggest concern was getting the money back to the rightful owner,” he said. “I certainly can’t imagine losing that kind of money. I was so nervous having so much of someone else’s money.”

It turns out the person who’d donated the clothing had been cleaning out an elderly relative’s closet and never checked the pockets — what’s more, he had no idea there could possibly be that much money in his relative’s belongings.

“I am really proud of those people at Goodwill,” the man said. “It makes me feel good there are people out there like that, especially in this day and age.”

Worker Returns $43,000 Discovered In Donated Clothing [Monroe News]

by prakash chandra via Consumerist

जनता का आदमी

(Morton Fox)

In spite of the salads on the menu, most fast food eateries cater to omnivores. I remember working with a vegetarian who would (willingly, mind you) go with me and my fellow co-workers to local fast food joints and order cheeseburgers without the meat, content to eat just the bun and cheese slices. Perhaps, all these years later, she’s one of the nearly 90,000 people who have signed a petition asking McDonald’s to put veggie burgers on the menu.

Burger King already offers a veggie option at some locations, and McDonald’s sells them at its restaurants in India, but not stateside.

The creators of this Change.org petition, which currently has 87,800 signatures, are asking McDonald’s CEO Don Thompson to please give non-meat-eating consumers a reason to visit the Golden Arches.

“Adding plant-based protein options at McDonald’s will appeal to workers out for a quick lunch, families with health-conscious members out to dinner, children on field trips, and anyone looking for something different than the current menu at McDonald’s where even the french fries contain beef flavoring,” reads the petition.

The author of the petition tells the Wall Street Journal that she believes McDonald’s is being short-sighted by not having a proper veggie option.

“They’re not only not getting the new customers who are health-minded, they’re losing customers to competitors,” she claims.

Of course, McDonald’s may be reluctant to release a veggie burger after another quarter of flat sales. The company recently blamed its overly complicated menu — which included too many limited-time and test offerings — for consumers becoming alienated with the brand.

[via Eater.com]

by prakash chandra via Consumerist

जनता का आदमी

(frankieleon.)

Ordering stuff online for in-store pickup is convenient and saves on delivery fees, but would you do it with groceries? Would you do it with groceries at Walmart? That’s what the mega-retailer hopes to find out by testing “Walmart To Go” service in Colorado. They’ve combined their grocery delivery and in-store pickup business models, which just might be the logical coc

The system is pretty much what it sounds like, and similar to the Site-to-Store service that the company has provided since 2007. Customers place their orders online, then stop by the store to pick them up. Simple.

What about impulse buying? Interestingly, more than half of customers that Walmart surveyed said that in-store pickup appeals to them because it gives them the option to run in the store and pick up things that they forgot to add to the original order.

Walmart has been testing grocery delivery services in different regions since 2011, but the in-store pickup concept is new for grocery items. Customers pull up to a dedicated pickup area, or to the drive-thru pharmacy window in stores that already have them.

At $5 to $7 per order, Walmart’s delivery service is more accessible than the Amazon Fresh pricing model, which charges $299 per year for access to delivery in limited markets. They don’t plan to ditch delivery, and are continuing the service even in greater Denver.

Wal-Mart picks Denver for online/pickup test [Denver Business Journal]

Walmart Begins Testing Online Grocery Shopping With Local Store Pickup Option In Denver [Techcrunch]

by prakash chandra via Consumerist

जनता का आदमी

(The Britax BOB Motion, B-Agile and B-Agile Double)

It’s been quite a bad news week for babies and their parents — on the heels of yesterday’s recall of 200,000 baby pacifiers by Fred & Friends, Britax has announced it’s recalling 216,000 strollers over the risk of amputation.

Little fingers have a habit of going wherever they want, but that could be the very wrong place if it’s a Britax B-Agile, B-Agile Double or BOB Motion stroller, the Consumer Product Safety Commission says in announcing the recall.

“The hinge on the stroller’s folding mechanism can partially amputate consumers’ fingertips, break their fingers or cause severe lacerations, among other injuries, when they press the release button while pulling on the release strap,” the CPSC says.

The three types of strollers were sold in many color schemes including black, red, kiwi, sandstone, navy and orange. Major retailers nationwide sold the strollers, along with Amazon.com, albeebaby.com, buybuybaby.com, diapers.com, ToysRUs.com and other online retailers from May 2011 through June 2013 for between $250 and $450.

Check for the following model numbers on the label inside the stroller’s metal frame near the right rear wheel to see if your stroller is included in the recall:

• B-Agile strollers: U341763, U341764, U341782 and U341783

• B-Agile Double strollers: U361818 or U361819

• BOB Motion strollers: U391820, U391821 and U391822

So far there have been eight reported incidents, including one partial fingertip amputation, one broken finger and severe finger lacerations.

Stop using the recalled strollers immediately and contact Britax for a free repair kit: toll-free at (866) 204-1665 from 8:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. ET Monday through Thursday and 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Friday or online at www.britaxusa.com or www.bobgear.com and click on “Safety Notice” at the top right corner or on “Learn More” at the bottom center of the page, or e-mail strollerrecall@britax.com for more information.

Strollers Recalled by Britax Due to Partial Fingertip Amputation Hazard [CPSC.gov]

by prakash chandra via Consumerist

जनता का आदमी

Chipotle is about to launch “Farmed & Dangerous,” a 4-part satirical look at industrial farming, on Hulu.

Last year, gut-busting burrito chain Chipotle quietly became the first restaurant of its type to begin identifying which of its ingredients may contain genetically modified ingredients, while also publicly stating that its long-term goal is to eliminate GMO ingredients from its menu. This can be a costly move in a business with relatively thin margins, but it may be working in Chipotle’s favor.

BusinessWeek takes a look at the Colorado-based chain’s sales since it made its anti-GMO stance known to the public.

Chipotle recently reported a 30% increase in quarterly profits and sales at stores open more than a year were up 9.3%. In the last quarter of 2013, stores were averaging an additional $622/day over the same time period in 2012.

“The most obvious difference in the company’s approach was its vow in March to eliminate genetically engineered ingredients,” writes BusinessWeek’s Kyle Stock.

The eatery chain also has a position against the unnecessary non-medical use of antibiotics in farm animals, though last August it did leave open the door to buying some beef from antibiotic-treated cows, claiming there may not be enough drug-free beef to go around.

Chipotle sees its position on these matters as good for marketing and will soon launch a four-part satirical look at industrial farming called “Farmed & Dangerous” on Hulu. The trailer for the series is below.

“That’s why we create marketing designed to make people more curious about these issues,” Co-CEO Steve Ells explained in a conference call about earnings on Thursday. “We believe the more curious they become and the more they learn, the more likely they’ll come to Chipotle.”

by prakash chandra via Consumerist

जनता का आदमी

Consumers could have another option when looking for their next flight. After more than 20 years away from the tarmac, Eastern Air Lines Group filed paperwork this week to begin service.

The airline, which last flew in 1991, has begun the long process of gaining approval to begin service by filing applications with the Department of Transportation and the Federal Aviation Association, CNN Money reports.

Although the approval process can take up to 18 months, officials with the airline hope to begin flights as early as December.

The Miami-based airline would begin as a provider of charter services and work up to scheduled service when more investors come on-board, Ed Wegel, Eastern Airline CEO tells CNN Money.

Eastern Air Lines was founded in 1928 and earned a reputation as the major carrier along the East Coast. The airline filed for bankruptcy protection in 1989 and stopped service as a result of labor unrest and a drop in air travel following the Gulf War.

The group of former airline personnel purchased rights to the Eastern name and logo from bankruptcy court in 2009, but couldn’t begin the process to restart service until receiving several millions of dollar from investors.

Even with strong name recognition and a rich history, Eastern Air Lines faces an uphill battle in today’s airline industry. Four major carriers – American Airlines, United Continental, Delta Air Lines and Southwest – control 80% of the air traffic in the United States.

Additionally, the FAA has revised a number of air travel rules that make things tougher on smaller airlines. A new requirement for longer rest periods for pilots has already wreaked havoc on small airlines; JetBlue had to ground more than 300 flights during a snowstorm earlier this year to abide by the new rule.

Still, smaller airlines have been making up ground recently. In order for American Airlines and US Airways to complete their merger last year, the Department of Justice required they give up several gates and slots at busy airports. JetBlue and Southwest came out the big winners in that deal nabbing most of those slots.

Group files to bring back Easter Air Lines [CNN Money]

by prakash chandra via Consumerist

जनता का आदमी

(JD Hancock)

Not so many years ago, the folks at AT&T were so confident they could acquire the little pink wireless company called T-Mobile that they bet billions of dollars in cash and spectrum that the deal would go through. Then both the FCC and the Justice Dept. said they would fight the merger and AT&T ultimately left T-Mobile stranded at the altar. The head of the DOJ’s Antitrust division says that what has happened since that failed marriage is evidence that regulators did the right thing.

In prepared remarks [PDF] for a presentation to the New York State Bar Association, Assistant Attorney General Bill Baer says that since the planned AT&T/T-Mobile merger came to an abrupt end in 2011, “competition in the wireless sector has flourished and consumers have benefitted.”

Taking the money and spectrum it received as a consolation prize from AT&T for not being able to make the merger happen, T-Mobile invested in improving its network and rethinking its position in the wireless marketplace, explains Baer.

“It then made a series of moves to offer cheaper and better customer contracts, including offering plans without annual contracts and selling Apple’s iPhone 5 on better terms than the competition,” he writes. “Just this month, T-Mobile announced a deal with Verizon Wireless to acquire additional spectrum. And T-Mobile recently offered to pay the early termination fees of its competitors’ customers, if they switch to T-Mobile… These moves are paying off. T-Mobile announced gaining 648,000 wireless subscribers in the third quarter of 2013 — its second straight quarter of subscriber growth — besting both AT&T and Sprint.”

And though T-Mobile is the smallest of the four major wireless players, these changes have had a ripple effect throughout the industry, claims Baer:

“Pushed by T-Mobile, the competition has responded. Sprint began offering unlimited plans with aggressive prices and innovative service arrangements. AT&T recently offered T-Mobile customers a $200 credit, plus money for smartphone trade-ins, to switch. And, after T-Mobile announced a plan which allows subscribers to trade in their handsets for an upgraded model twice a year, AT&T, Verizon and Sprint all announced plans that allow customers to upgrade more often. Competition today is driving enormous benefits in the direction of the American consumer.”

Of course, Baer’s comments come at a time when Sprint — and more precisely Japanese wireless company SoftBank, which owns a large chunk of Sprint — is reportedly pursuing an acquisition of T-Mobile, presumably under the notion of both bolstering its own subscriber base while eliminating a pesky competitor.

Sprint reps have reportedly met with DOJ officials in recent weeks and rumors are that the administration is not exactly keen on seeing T-Mobile vanish from the marketplace.

Baer’s comments don’t address this situation directly, but there is a portion where he speaks of takeover attempts where the larger company had assumed the merger would be approved with a handful of concessions to help smaller players in the market.

“I have seen some companies and their advisors assume the antitrust agencies will approve a problematic deal so long as the parties offer up a fig-leaf asset divestiture or an unworkable conduct remedy,” he recalls. “Often in horizontal mergers the strategy seems to be to eliminate a big rival while proposing a remedy that allows for a small rival or new entrant with limited resources to nip at the heels of the few remaining big players. Experience, our past antitrust enforcement, and our merger guidance should put companies on notice that this strategy is unlikely to succeed.”

Baer once again points to the AT&T/T-Mobile bid, in which the larger company had to fork over a “massive break-up fee” when the deal fell through.

He also cites Anheuser-Busch InBev’s recent acquisition of Grupo Modelo, in which ABI “apparently thought it could acquire a leading U.S. rival by offering up some modest concessions,” but had to divest all of Grupo Modelo’s participation in the U.S. market, “including a state-of the-art Mexican brewery that will be built-out to supply anticipated growth in U.S. demand.”

by prakash chandra via Consumerist

जनता का आदमी

Power up.

After earlier test drives up and down the East Coast last winter, the next obstacle for the Tesla Model S in its quest for acceptance was the task of setting up superchargers across the country, to enable the kind of American road trip everyone says they’re planning to take someday. Anyway, you can now drive cross-country in a Tesla, but you’ll just have to take a bit of a detour.

Two teams of Tesla employees are in the midst of a publicity stunt to showcase the network of charging stations, reports CNNMoney. The teams left L.A. on Wednesday and hope to be in New York in three days.

“Easy! I did 2,800 or so miles in less than two days and with only one case of energy drinks and 18 packs of Slim Jims!” you might be saying.

But it’ll take these Teslas a bit longer, as the cars aren’t driving the most direct route due to the twisty, windy ways of the supercharger network. It spreads across 3,600 miles (according to Google maps) and more than 600 of those are on small highways instead of faster interstate freeways.

Tesla claims the route is more like 3,400 miles, which is still miles and miles longer than the usual route. This path meanders north a bit, skirting Mt. Rushmore, before it joins up with the more direct northern route. Then it swoops down to Maryland and Delaware before hitting the New Jersey Turnpike (a route that is never fun for anyone, believe me).

Each station’s chargers are supposed to juice up the cars for about 170 miles of driving, and there are 32 stations on the route Tesla will be taking.

At the rate it’s going, Tesla says there will be a new supercharging station every day, so that by the time we’re ringing in 2015, drivers can opt for a more direct route.

Tesla’s 800-mile cross-country detour [CNNMoney]

by prakash chandra via Consumerist

जनता का आदमी

(chinguri)

For years, Amazon has been charging an annual fee of $79 for Amazon Prime membership, which includes free two-day shipping on many items and access to a library of streaming movies and TV shows at no extra cost. For people who take advantage of both aspects of the service, it’s a pretty good deal at under $7/month, but is that all about to change?

In a conference call to discuss its fourth quarter earnings report on Thursday, Amazon admitted that it’s considering — not definitely doing it, but considering — raising the annual fee for Prime by twenty to forty dollars.

Amazon says there are “tens of millions” of Prime members around the world, growth that has likely been encouraged by increased use of tablets and other wireless devices that can stream Amazon Prime videos.

In its earnings report, the e-tailer says it increased the size of its Prime video library from 33,000 titles to 40,000 in December. It’s also recently begun getting into original programming with the launch of two shows, Alpha House and Betas.

It’s possible the additional costs of content acquisition and creation may be causing Amazon to look at that $79 and dream of a bigger number. Maybe the company will have different tiers of Prime service for people who want the video plan and those who just want the free shipping benefits? We don’t know as Amazon isn’t saying.

Amazon has made changes to Prime that some say make it less worthwhile. First, it began labeling some items as “add-on” items that did not count toward the minimum purchase total to qualify for free shipping. Then it raised that minimum from $25 to $35. For customers who had used Prime for many, smaller-dollar purchases and didn’t watch any of the streaming video selections, these changes took away a lot of the value for the program.

Amazon considering $20 to $40 price hike for Prime service in US [TheVerge]

by prakash chandra via Consumerist

जनता का आदमी

(YouTube)

Have you ever been ice fishing? There you are, out on the frozen expanse, huddled in a shack and focuses all your attention on a hole in the ice. Well, half your attention. The other half is all about talking to your friends and throwing back a beer. But one local brewery got in a spot of trouble for trying to make the beer part easier with a drone that delivered frosty cold drinks right to your ice fishing shack.

The Federal Aviation Administration frowns on people sending out their own drones into the skies, but the owners of Lakemaid Beer figured they were just doing thirsty fishermen a favor by ferrying drinks through the air so they wouldn’t have to leave their toasty shacks.

The company — which calls itself the fishermen’s lager — had just started the local deliveries near Stevens Point, Wis., but the Minnesota-based company had its eye on a bigger slice of the ice fishing pie, reports NPR’s The Two Way. It’d hoped to use the drones to shuttle beer to ice shacks from bait and beer shops all over the wintry north.

Though it had only recently arrived in the skies, the FAA told the company its drones had to be grounded afer this first test.

“We were a little surprised at the FAA interest in this since we thought we were operating under the 400-foot limit,” one of Lakemaid’s managing partners said. Everyone at the company “figured a vast frozen lake was a lot safer place than [what] Amazon was showing on 60 Minutes.”

Drones aren’t allowed for commercial delivery, however, and as such the brewery can’t go on with its plans to use American airspace to bring thirsty fishermen (and woman, don’t you doubt it) a cold one.

The FAA told Lakemaid in an email that it “recognizes that people and companies other than modelers might be flying UAS with the mistaken understanding” that their actions are legal. But those rules only apply to people flying model airplanes.

The partner says he can see where the FAA is coming from (until someone from the FAA goes ice fishing and runs out of beer).

“I understand their concern,” he says. “Drones whizzing around piloted by any knucklehead is probably not the Jetsons future we all imagined.”

Watch the test video below:

Beer Drone Can Buzz The Skies No More, FAA Says [The Two Way]

by prakash chandra via Consumerist

जनता का आदमी

Days after Royal Caribbean’s Explorer of the Seas had to return to port early after hundreds of passengers fell ill, Carnival’s Caribbean Princess returned home to Houston last night, a day ahead of schedule, with at least 170 sick people on board.

Much like the Explorer of the Seas situation, it’s believed that the norovirus, which can cause severe vomiting and diarrhea, may be to blame for the sick passengers on board the Caribbean Princess.

The Centers for Disease Control is investigating the matter. In its preliminary report, it found that 162 of the ship’s 3,102 passengers had reported feeling ill during the cruise, while 11 of the Caribbean Princess’s 1,148 crew members admitted to feeling sick.

“We have already been working with the crew in getting some stool samples so we can send that back to our labs for testing,” a rep for the CDC tells the Houston Chronicle.

Early test results turned up positive results for the norovirus.

“We were confined to our room for three days,” one passenger recalled after finally being allowed to disembark the ship. “They threatened us saying if we left they would call the coast guard. The cruise sucked.”

The official reason given to passengers for the early return to port was that fog would be cutting their trip short.

“We are upset they told us it was fog,” says another passenger after exiting the ship. “If they had said in the first place it was sickness it would have been better. We knew it was a lie when they were predicting the fog as early as Tuesday. It was a shame to miss Belize.”

The Caribbean Princess is owned by Carnival and operated under Carnival’s Princess Cruise subsidiary. The ship will undergo a “thorough sanitization” before it heads out on its next trip, which is scheduled to depart tomorrow afternoon.

A rep for the cruise line tells the Chronicle that because of the early return to port, some passengers will be put up in local hotels for the final evening of the scheduled itinerary. Passengers will also be offered a 20% discount on future cruise travel with the company.

According to the CDC’s round-up of outbreaks on international cruise ships, this is the third known outbreak already in 2014. In addition to the 700 or so people who fell ill on the Explorer of the Seas, another 142 people on board the Norwegian Star complained of vomiting and diarrhea during a cruise earlier in January.

by prakash chandra via Consumerist

जनता का आदमी

Here are ten of the best photos that readers added to the Consumerist Flickr Pool in the last week, picked for usability in a Consumerist post or for just plain neatness.

(1- Scoboco)

(2 – Karen_Chappell)

(3 – chuckthewriter)

(4 – pjpink)

(5 – Joel Zimmer)

(6 – Fujoshi)

(7 – cookedphotos)

(8 – C_Dubyaa)

Our Flickr Pool is the place where Consumerist readers upload photos for possible use in future Consumerist posts. Want to see your pictures on our site? Just be a registered Flickr user, go here, and click “Join Group?” up on the top right. Choose your best photos, then click “send to group” on the individual images you want to add to the pool.

by prakash chandra via Consumerist

जनता का आदमी

In news that makes you long for the days of handwritten correspondence, Yahoo has announced that usernames and passwords for an unspecified number of have been compromised.

“Recently, we identified a coordinated effort to gain unauthorized access to Yahoo Mail accounts,” writes the company that is not Google on its Tumblr page. “Upon discovery, we took immediate action to protect our users, prompting them to reset passwords on impacted accounts.”

The statement continues:

“Based on our current findings, the list of usernames and passwords that were used to execute the attack was likely collected from a third-party database compromise. We have no evidence that they were obtained directly from Yahoo’s systems. Our ongoing investigation shows that malicious computer software used the list of usernames and passwords to access Yahoo Mail accounts. The information sought in the attack seems to be names and email addresses from the affected accounts’ most recent sent emails.”

Yahoo says it is resetting passwords on accounts affected by the breach and requiring secondary sign-in verification for these users to prove they are who they claim to be.

If affected account-holders have associated a wireless number with their account, Yahoo may notify these users by text that they need to change their password.

Yahoo says it is working with (the very busy) federal law enforcement to investigate.

Even if you are not told to reset your Yahoo password, you would be well advised to do so as you’d hate to find out too late that this data breach is larger than initially thought.

And just as a reminder, you should never use the same username/password pairing on multiple sites.

by prakash chandra via Consumerist

जनता का आदमी

We hear that In-N-Out is a very popular burger-slinging establishment. We’ll take its fans at their word, because we don’t believe in leaving the East Coast. What we do know is that the combination of tasty burgers and car culture leads to such long drive-thru lines that you can see them from space.

(Foodbeast/Google Earth)

Well…from the mapping satellite images available through Google Earth, at least.

We don’t know what time of day the satellites swept over these restaurants, but there were always impressive lines waiting for burgers.

The 8 Longest In-N-Out Lines According to Google Maps [Foodbeast]

by prakash chandra via Consumerist

जनता का आदमी

(From left to right: Fred & Friends Chill Baby Artiste, Panic and Volume pacifiers.)

Look that baby! She’s got a mustache and a tiny little beard! Isn’t that just so adorable, because see, babies can’t grow facial hair and also she’s a girl? Sure, it might be cute, but the company behind three novelty pacifiers, Fred & Friends, has announced it’s recalling 200,000 over safety concerns. Namely, that a baby could choke on some of the parts included.

In conjunction with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission as well as the government of Canada, Fred & Friends is recalling the Chill Baby Artiste, Panic and Volume pacifiers. On the Chill Baby Artiste, the beard can detach, as well as the knob on the Volume pacifiers, posing a choking hazard. In addition, the ventilation holes on the Volume and Panic pacifiers are too small.

Most of the recalled pacifiers are in the U.S. — 183,000 — with the rest in Canada. The pacifiers were sold at various online stores and other retailers from April 2013 through December 2013.

If you’re unsure if your hipster pacifier is one of those in question, check the name and UPC on the packaging:The Artiste’s UPC is 728987021282; the Volume style’s UPC is 728987020599 and the Panic style’s UPC is 728987020605.

So far Fred & Friends says it’s received one report of the knob on the Volume pacifier coming loose, but no injuries have been reported yet.

Pull those pacifiers from your babies’ mouths immediately, folks, and return them to Fred & Friends for a full refund. For more information, including how to get a prepaid envelope from the company to return the pacifiers, call Fred & Friends at 855-346-6372 or visit fredandfriends.com.

Fred & Friends Recalls Infant Pacifiers Due to Choking Hazard [CPSC.gov]

by prakash chandra via Consumerist

जनता का आदमी

Mike had a simple desire. He wanted a lighted skiing pig Christmas decoration. He wanted several of them, actually. Sears had them available, so he placed an online order, choosing in-store pickup. Sears e-mailed him that his order was ready, and he happily drove 40 miles to Sears in winter weather to pick it up. If you’ve ever placed an online order with Sears, you know what happened next.

Look at the photo: if you don’t understand why he would want such a thing, we question your judgement. Heck, we’d keep those up around the Consumerist office year-round if we were able to get our hooves on one, but we can’t. The pigs were very popular and sold out.

We saw the e-mail that Mike received: the other items in his order were listed as “Processing,” but the pigs were ready. He scanned his barcode at the kiosk and waited for the clerk to come out with his pigs. He waited. The clerk came out and scanned the e-mail at the kiosk again. The pigs were not there.

“This wasn’t the first time that the Sears store clerks had no problem in making [me] stand there while they argued about what they were supposed to do on what system to deliver (or not) merchandise on the easy ‘ship to store’ promise,” grumbles Mike. Is a 40-mile round trip and waiting for people and systems to actually communicate worth a skiing pig?

Where did they go? Sears doesn’t know. We wrote to Sears with the facts of what happened and Mike’s order number, but they didn’t answer us. Based on past experiences, a few days after we publish this post, we’ll hear from two or more different departments at Sears offering their assistance without having communicated with each other. None of them will be able to bring the pigs back, of course.

You can still buy the pig decoration online now…for $130 on eBay. Mike paid a little over $25 for the two he ordered.

by prakash chandra via Consumerist

जनता का आदमी

The zombies/robots/aliens/other villainous beings are probably on their way right now, this very minute, to become our cruel overlords. And while signing up to receive Consumerist’s newsletter every week won’t save you from certain extinction, at least you’ll know a bit more about the world before you depart it.

That got dark quickly, didn’t it? But really, we want you to have all the Consumerist you can possibly handle.

If you sign up before the zombie/robot/alien destruction that is nigh, we won’t sell or rent your email and we’ll collectively breathe a gasp of relief that the world is still ours each time we send you a newsletter, which is every Friday.

Fill out the form below or OR CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE .

by prakash chandra via Consumerist

जनता का आदमी

(tjean314)

When US Airways and American Airlines finally got the go-ahead from federal regulators to get hitched, one of the conditions was that the merged company divest itself of takeoff and landing slots at airports around the country, especially at Reagan National Airport outside of Washington, D.C., Southwest Airlines announced today it will be taking over half of the newly available slots.

According to the Dallas-based airline, it was the winning bidder on 27 of the 54 slots recently put up for auction by the combined airline. This will increase Southwest’s number of daily departures from 17 to 44.

Southwest says it will announce destinations, schedules, and fares for these additional flights later this quarter and expects to begin flying these new routes in the third quarter of 2014.

“Consumers who appreciate the value and reliability that Southwest and our People deliver are the real winners in this deal,” said Gary Kelly, Southwest Airlines Chairman, President, & CEO. “Reagan has long been a convenient but high-fare airport. Southwest plans to change that by bringing much needed competition to the nation’s capital.”

Meanwhile, JetBlue says it won itself a dozen slots in the auction, increasing its daily departures from Reagan from 18 to 30.

Like Southwest, JetBlue has not announced the planned destinations but says it hopes to introduce nonstop service to cities it does not currently serve out of the D.C. area.

JetBlue says it has also reached an agreement with American that would permanently transfer eight additional slots to JetBlue.

by prakash chandra via Consumerist

जनता का आदमी

(scurzuzu)

Bank may have exited the payday lending business this month, but that doesn’t mean their next foray into small dollar loans will be any less predatory. That’s why the National Consumer Law Center is urging banks to show leadership in developing affordable credit options for consumers.

Since the beginning of January, Wells Fargo, U.S. Bank, Fifth Third Bank, Regions Bank, Bank of Oklahoma and its affiliates and Guaranty Bank responded to new regulatory pressure by discontinuing their deposit advance programs. However, many of the banks said they plan to develop an alternative short-term credit option for customers.

The National Consumer Law Center wants to make sure those new programs offer affordable, responsible small dollar loan options for consumers. And one way banks can achieve that is by capping the annual percentage rate at no more than 36%.

While a 36% APR is still a relatively high interest rate for a small loan, it would be a marked improvement to the typical payday loan APR of 200-300%.

The report points out the lower rate has been endorsed repeatedly at the state and federal level, results in payments that consumers can realistically afford and gives lenders incentive to offer longer term loans with a more affordable structure.

“The foundation of every responsible loan, whether it is a mortgage or a $300 loan, is ensuring that the consumer has the ability to repay the loan while meeting other expenses without reborrowing or entering into a cycle of debt,” Lauren Saunders, managing attorney for the NCLC says in a statement.

Other criteria set forth in the document that banks should consider are:

• Underwriting for ability to pay, not for ability to collect.


• Amortizing installment payments instead of balloon payments.


• At least 90 days to repay the loan.


• No check holding or required (or coerced) automated repayment.

Banks’ deposit advance services differed little from the typical storefront payday loan operation – both offered high-interest, short-term loans meant to get consumers out of emergency financial situations, but in reality have been found to trap them in an ongoing cycle of debt.

Criticism over bank-backed short-term, high-risk loans grew louder in the past several years, both from consumers and regulatory agencies.

Last summer, a California woman told a Senate panel how a $500 loan from Wells Fargo’s Direct Deposit Advance program resulted in $3,000 in fees.

In November, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), which oversee institutions such as Wells Fargo and U.S. Bank, issued a 22-page guidance document essentially telling the banks to end payday loan-esque practices.

by prakash chandra via Consumerist

जनता का आदमी

(dianaschnuth)

For all the times you’ve stomped into a Starbucks with a caffeine-craving dragon inside you that that needs to be slain before you can be expected to be a human being and found yourself instead thwarted by an impossibly long and frustrating line of customers in front of you, well, salvation might be on its way. Or maybe not. Dragons!

According to a report from MarketWatch, Starbucks is maybe, possibly and perhaps mulling the idea of tweaking its app (which lets you pay for orders on your smartphone) so customers could pre-order their drinks and pay for them before ever entering a store to pick them up.

During a media conference call this week, CEO Howard Schultz told reporters: “You can assume that over time we will lead in this area.”

And while a spokeswoman confirmed that express orders are something the company is working on, there’s no details about exactly how it will work as of yet.

But the big question on your mind is probably — “Will it save me any time in that damnable line to eternity?”

Eh, maybe not, a professor of engineering systems at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology tells MarketWatch. “There’s a risk of [orders] not being ready or cold.”

Which means maybe you won’t have to speak your order out loud to the barista but you’re still going to have to wait until someone actually makes it for your, or risk a cold latte. Unless a cold latte is what you wanted and then, congratulations!

Others in the food industry have had little success in speeding up lines with pre-order apps, notes MarketWatch, citing Seamless — an app that allows you to order food from restaurants in your neighborhood, also known as “I only have to put on pants to pay the delivery guy” service as an example:

In 2013, the average wait time for all restaurants was around 23 minutes, according to a 2013 report of 8,500 restaurant managers by Long Range Systems, or LRS, which supplies software to the hospitality industry. And over the last year, 54% said wait times actually increased, 15% said they stayed the same, while only 31% said they fell.

To answer the question we posed for ourselves — will that Starbucks line ever whittle itself down? Don’t get your hopes up. You’ll just have to learn to tame that caffeine dragon inside of you.

Previously: Starbucks Admits That Its iPhone Mobile Payment App stores Unencrypted Personal Info

Will pre-ordering shorten wait at Starbucks? [MarketWatch]

by prakash chandra via Consumerist

जनता का आदमी

(Drew P)

We told you earlier today that the FCC was scheduled to vote on whether or not to allow landline telephone service providers to initiate regional tests that would replace existing landline networks with Internet-based VoIP phone service. The Commission has met and agreed that it will permit regional tests to move forward.

Telecoms are not required to take part in these tests, and surely some smaller companies will just let the bigger guys like Verizon and AT&T incur the costs of running these trials. Additionally, consumers in test markets will not be required to switch to VoIP service but will be given the option by their landline provider.

Even though there are several VoIP services available — from Skype and Vonage to phone service that comes bundled with TV and Internet service from cable companies — those existing services have never been considered as replacements for an area’s entire network of copper phone lines. The telecoms ultimately want their VoIP services to completely take the place of existing landline service.

Removing that old copper network from the equation is cause for concern for some consumers and advocacy groups who worry about interoperability of networks, compatibility of VoIP with business systems like credit card machines and alarm systems, and public safety. What happens when there’s a power outage?

Thus, the FCC says these regional tests will be used to “ensure that the nation’s communications networks continue to provide the services consumers want and need in this era of historic technological transformations.”

Among the Commission’s requirements for any VoIP network that replaces landline service:

• Public safety communications must be available no matter the technology

• All Americans must have access to affordable communications services

• Competition in the marketplace provides choice for consumers and businesses

• Consumer protection is paramount

Telecoms interested in these regional tests must submit proposals to the FCC by Feb. 20. There will then be a public comment and reply period lasting until March 31, with the FCC making its final decisions at its May meeting.

by prakash chandra via Consumerist

जनता का आदमी

With thousands of tickets still available on StubHub and elsewhere for merely exorbitant prices, Super Bowl ticket scalpers are unable to charge their usual extortionate rates.

Can we pause for a moment to reflect on the plight of the lowly Super Bowl ticket scalper? He toils thanklessly for his art and all he asks in return is that you pay him several thousands of dollars to watch a football game in which you probably have no personal stake. With heartless, penny-pinching fans taking a risk by purchasing their Super Bowl tickets through “legitimate” means, this year’s scalpers may be forced to sink to selling NHL or NBA tickets just to pay the rent.

One scalper tells NY Magazine he’s been making football fans’ dreams come true by selling them insanely overpriced tickets to a game that is available to watch for free just about anywhere in the world, but that the lack of interest in this year’s game has made it the “worst Super Bowl ever.”

“Nobody likes the cold weather, they always want a warm climate,” explains the veteran scalper, ignoring the fact that there have been Super Bowls in cold weather cities, just not outdoors, and that baseball stadiums in cold-weather cities have been selling out NHL Winter Classic games that are played outdoors in January. “Usually around this time I’d be up $20 to $30,000. Last year, New Orleans was beautiful — I made $40,000. New York, I don’t know why they did it. I’d be happy if I make $5,000.”

Did you hear that? He may only make a profit of $5,000. Assuming he’s been pounding the pavement trying to sell his tickets for a full 50-hour week, that means his hourly wage was only $100/hour. And we’re sure he’s going to pay taxes on whatever profits he makes.

As of right now, folks with $1,450 in their pockets can still get tickets via StubHub, which currently has more than 3,400 tickets available for Sunday’s game. And that’s only a fraction of the tickets that people are trying to sell on other sites or that scalpers are pushing on the streets of Manhattan

That’s a significant drop from a week ago, when the least expensive ticket was $2,700.

“They’re dropping, and they are dropping fast,” another old-timer ticket scalper tells NY Magazine. “It’s going to be freezing out there. The people I deal with, the brokers firm I work with, it was on the board for $3,000, now it’s half that.”

He admits that he did sell some tickets for $7,000 recently and that he has made $6,000 in commission thus far.

A third scalper predicts that gameday tickets will be sold at bargain-basement price.

“I believe these are going to go down to $500,” he claims, looking into his scalper’s crystal ball. “You’d wait until the day of the game, and then you’d go over there to the stadium.”

Or just watch the game from home and spend that money on really good food (or invest it for your retirement).

by prakash chandra via Consumerist