Author: Chris Walters

I’ve stopped shopping at the two large drugstores in my neighborhood because they’ve put all the antiperspirant behind plastic flaps, like bagels at a supermarket. When you lift the flap to grab a Right Guard or Speed Stick, an alarm goes off that makes it clear to everyone in the store that you’re a potential criminal with stinky pits. My guess has been that this embarrassing anti-theft deterrent is needed because there’s almost no staff at either store anymore, and a new retail survey and a couple of loss prevention experts seem to back that up.

The Retail Industry Leaders Association just released a new survey on retail crime trends, and they report that 78% of retailers have seen an increase in amateur and opportunistic shoplifting. (I can’t vouch for the accuracy of the report–you can download it here (PDF) and judge for yourself.) The study doesn’t give reasons why crime has gone up, but a VP at a loss prevention firm told RetailWire that during the same period, retailers were cutting staff levels.

Derek Rodner, VP, product strategy at the retail loss prevention firm Agilence, Inc., told RetailWire, “The economic downturn in 2009 created a perfect storm for retail theft. Retailers significantly scaled back expenditures and capital projects in all areas, most significantly loss prevention. In addition, many retailers cut their LP staff up to 50 percent. At the same time, more people were losing jobs and otherwise honest folks were forced to resort to theft just to get by. These two factors combined to cause a dramatic increase in shrink. Retailers are now redoubling their efforts to combat this trend and are being forced into updating their legacy technologies and procedures to adapt to the changing dynamics.”

Another loss prevention company executive said it’s not just a problem with loss prevention staff:

The real problem has been the actual reduction of sales staff in the store. We have literally tens of thousands of stores in the U.S. opening each day with only one staff member on duty. Here lies the real opportunity for [organized retail crime] thieves and I assure you this is where they go.

Which leads us to drugstores empty of shoppers and staff, where a hidden speaker goes off whenever you try to buy a stick of deodorant.

“Staffing Levels Playing Into Retail Crime” [RetailWire] (registration required)
“Leading Retailers Report Continued Growth In Retail Crime” [RILA]

The future of Disney merchandising will hit a lot more demographics than the mostly kid-oriented stuff of today, if Disney has any say over it. Disney has already angered theater chains by shortening the theatrical release window on its new movie-like product Alice in Wonderland, cutting into theaters’ profit models in order to bump up the DVD release date. But CNBC notes that it’s also launching the “most wide-ranging array of consumer products ever” for a Disney flick–and that includes thousand dollar necklaces, nail polish, and dresses that cost as much as $600.

Disney’s consumer products chief Andy Mooney told CNBC that they don’t expect to actually sell much of the high end stuff, but that raw sales aren’t the point:

Disney’s consumer products chief Andy Mooney says it’s really about creating a “halo” for the brand.

The media giant wants fashionable adults to think Disney and its brands are cool, not cheap or tacky. Inclusion in a fashion magazine and fashion-forward looks does just that.

[…]

Mooney tells us that he expects ‘Alice’ to yield a consumer products line that will last for a decade. How much is it worth this year? He wouldn’t say, other than it’s somewhere between $100 million and $1 billion. The better the movie does, the better these products will sell.

“Alice’s $1 Billion Consumer Products Tea Party” [CNBC]

The FTC has designated this week National Consumer Protection Week, so all scams will be put on hold and businesses won’t overcharge you until next Sunday. What, no? That’s now how it works? Ah… it looks like it’s more about consumer education, which is also a good thing since that will help consumers protect themselves year round. For adults, here’s a whole page of various scam prevention tips, fact sheets, and videos. If you’re an educator, you can enroll in the National Financial Capability Challenge and get an “educator toolkit” to help you teach students how to be smart consumers. There’s a section for businesses too, with information on how to protect customers’ personal info and deter ID theft.

“National Consumer Protection Week 2010” [Consumer.gov]

A security company says that one easy way to find recently closed laptops hidden in cars or bags is to search for Wi-Fi radios, because some laptops can take half an hour or more before going into sleep mode. You need a specialized scanner to do sniff out Wi-Fi radios, but NetworkWorld.com says you can get one for about $50. The security company, Credant Technologies, says a group of lottery scammers in Jamaica were using stolen laptops that they found in this way. The solution: disable your Wi-Fi before you close the lid on your laptop.

“Laptop theft can be reduced by turning off WiFi” [infosecurity via jen_h]
“Wi-Fi finders let thieves track down hidden laptops” [Network World]

Rent-A-Center, the furniture/appliance rent-to-own company (“For When You Want to Piss Away Your Paycheck!”), has settled with the Washington Attorney General’s Office over charges that its employees harassed customers who were late on payments. Last year, the company’s employees in Washington were accused of trying to kick in one customer’s door and threatening another one with jail, among other things.

Rent-A-Center has agreed to pay the AG $340,000 in legal fees, and promised not to speak to customers more than 6 times a week, not to impersonate other people, and to avoid violence, among other things.

“Washington state AG’s office settles with Rent-A-Center” [Puget Sound Business Journal via BBB]

Inc21 supposedly sells web hosting and other Internet-related services, but the FTC says that in reality it contracted with offshore telemarketers who helped it cram charges onto unsuspecting customers’ phone bills, earning $19 million over the past five years. Customers who complained about the charges said they were either never contacted in the first place, were promised a free trial, were told that the telemarketer was just verifying business information, or explicitly refused Inc21’s offer and were charged anyway.

A judge issued a Temporary Restraining Order and a Preliminary Injunction against the company pending trial. The judge wrote that Inc21 “orchestrated this overall scheme and set in motion an army of telemarketers who committed fraud. Even if Inc21 did not approve of the fraud (and it seems likely that it did approve), the fact remains that Inc21 is responsible for organizing this engine of fraud and reaping its profits.”

Inc21 gave the FTC recordings that it said proved the charges were authorized, but the FTC says they aren’t convincing:

The FTC alleged that in many cases, the recordings were doctored to misrepresent the call and the consumers’ responses. In other cases, the voices on the tapes are not those of the consumers who were supposedly on the calls.

The FTC charged the defendants with unfair and deceptive acts, in violation of the FTC Act and the Telemarketing Sales Rule.

Inc21 also does business as Inc21.net, Inc21 Communications, Global YP, NetOpus, Metro YP, JumPage Solutions, GoFaxer.com and Fax Faster.com, Jumpage Solutions Inc., and GST U.S.A. Inc.

“FTC Halts Massive Cramming Operation that Illegally Billed Thousands” [FTC via ConsumerAffairs.org] (Thanks to MichiganTelephone!)

The United States Postal Service is continuing its long slide into suckage according to a new report delivered by Postmaster General John E. Potter this morning. People sent far less mail last year (“more than double any previous decline,” says the Washington Post) and labor costs continue to rise, which helped the USPS lose $3.8 billion in 2009.

Potter tried to implement cutbacks last year but was denied by Congress, so this year he brought three independent studies with him. Their verdicts:

The agency’s business model is so poor, consultants concluded, that privatizing it is untenable. As for Postal Service plans to sell banking, insurance and cellphone services through post offices, the consultants point to the agency’s lack of start-up funds and inability to afford potential short-term losses.

Instead, here’s what Potter wants to do:

• Cut out Saturday delivery.
• Increase postage rates beyond the rate of inflation.
• Explore “hybrid mail products” that would deliver some mail to customers via email.
• Be allowed more flexibility in dealing with upcoming union negotiations, particularly with respect to health care expenses.
• Consolidate and close locations.

“Postmaster delivers bundle of bad news” [Washington Post via Digital Journal]

Harry’s got a problem: the Bank of America card he’s had for years is paid off, but now it’s been set to explode in Harry’s wallet if he ever uses it again because the variable APR will jump to 29.99 percent. What’s worse, his other card has been canceled. Now Harry doesn’t know if he should start using the BofA card or back away quietly from it.

He writes:

I have a question for the Consumerist Hive Mind.

I recently paid off a longstanding balance of $5300 on my ten year old Bank of America credit card (woo!). But now I am left with a quandary. In June, I was one of the thousands who were notified of the automatic and wholesale rate hike on my card, from 19.99 variable to a whopping 29.99 var! I opted out, and basically agreed to never use my card again (lest they automagically raise the rate by my implicit agreement to the new terms). Flash forward to today, when I have recently had my rarely used Chase card cancelled due to inactivity, which was no big deal given it’s low limit and high interest rate, thus my concern.

My question is: What should I do about my BofA card? I don’t want my oldest and largest line of credit cancelled for inactivity, but I also don’t want to use it and have my interest rate jacked up! I’m older and smarter now, and am finally Credit Card debt free, but I also understand the importance of this account with regards to my credit score. I was planning on setting up my netflix account to auto post to this CC and then pay it off every month in order to keep it active. What are your thoughts on this matter?

I’ll start! My advice, Harry, is to start shopping around for another card on sites like Billshrink or Bankrate. There may be nothing now, but keep checking periodically–Billshrink’s co-founder Samir Kothari said last month that he’s hopeful that some issuers will start to get more aggressive about new business in the coming months.

As for your current issue, whether you use your ready-to-explode BofA card depends on two factors: your ability to control your spending for the next 6-24 months until the card market improves enough that you can find a better deal, and how badly you want Netflix.

You’ll probably always want to use a credit card for bigger purchases since it normally provides more protection than paying via cash or debit card. However, if you can use the fear of a sky-high interest rate to keep yourself from touching the BofA card, or if you can promise yourself to never use it unless you have the cash to cover the full balance each month, you might be able to use the threat of that ridiculous APR to maintain discipline during this one-card phase of your financial life.

Yesterday we covered Slate’s look at what’s wrong with airline seating–it’s not just overweight people who feel cramped on flights these days. Slate asked its readers to come up with some practical solutions to the problem, and today they printed the top ten suggestions.

The first one is something that might help people like our commenter yesterday who said she was flying in a couple of months and dreading being squished into a seat too small for her size: use seatguru.com to research seat sizes before buying a ticket.

Others ideas include:

• advertise seats by cost per inch so a consumer can better select the seat that works;
• bribe passengers to switch seats once everyone’s on the flight so that larger passengers get the bigger seats;
• put a few wider seats on each flight to sell at a slight premium, so that passengers who can’t afford to buy two seats can still buy a ticket.

But my favorite idea is to segregate the reclining seats from ones that don’t move. I’d prefer to just carry a club and knock out reclining passengers, but I’m intrigued by Slate’s method as it doesn’t require the inevitable being-handcuffed-to-my-seat-by-the-air-marshal embarrassment.

“Fat vs. Tall: Plane Common Sense” [Slate]

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“Slate Looks At What’s Wrong With Airline Seating”

Almost a year ago, Sonya Capri Ramos was in the news because she’d lost her home over a $68 dental bill. Last week, the Utah Court of Appeals gave her some hope that she might be able to get it back from the title company that bought it at auction for $1,550.

The trouble started in 1995, when Ramos failed to pay off the last of a dental bill. The debt was sold to a collections agency, and it quickly ballooned up to $950. The collections agency sued her for the money, but Ramos claims she never knew about the lawsuit, and at any rate she didn’t contest it. A judge subsequently ordered some of her property sold to pay it off, but since the title to her home is considered indivisible, the entire thing was sold to pay the collections agency. A group of investors bought it at auction, and although Ramos says she paid the group $1,550 in 1998, they have refused to return the title to her.

Last May, the court ruled that the statute of limitations had expired and Ramos couldn’t dispute the investors’ claim to the title.

But she may have a second chance. According to this AP article sent to us by reader Pdxguy,

The Utah Court of Appeals ruled Capri Ramos is entitled to another opportunity to void the sale of her house at a county auction for $1,550.

[…]

On Thursday, the Utah Court of Appeals sent the case to 3rd District Court for a hearing on whether Ramos had proper notice of the sheriff’s sale and whether the sale price was “grossly inadequate.”

“Utah woman loses home over unpaid $68 dental bill” [The Columbus Dispatch]

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“Woman Loses Home Over $68 Dental Bill”

If you need to reach someone in Chile this week, try calling on a Verizon or T-Mobile phone. Both carriers have announced that they’re temporarily waiving charges on calls. Verizon says that all calls from the U.S. to Chile will be free until March 6th. I couldn’t find a similar press release from T-Mobile, so you might want to call first to confirm. Just remember that only these two carriers are offering free calls, and they’re only free if you call from the U.S.; you don’t want to end up with an unpleasant surprise like those U.S. soldiers in Haiti last month.

“Free Verizon and T-Mobile Calls to Chile: Text Donations to CHILE” [Wireless and Mobile News]

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“Want To Help With Chile Earthquake Relief? Here Are Some Ideas”
“Did You Make Calls From Haiti On Verizon? Better Start Saving.”

As a product, NBC’s broadcast of the 2010 Winter Olympics seemed pretty disappointing to a lot of online users. TechCrunch points out that a recent analysis of comments on Twitter, blogs, and forums, shows a wide range of dissatisfaction with NBC’s coverage, with the biggest percentage focused on content: 19% of the complaints were about the tape delay of events (what a former NBC sports exec once called “plausibly live”), and 20% were about there not being enough actual sporting events shown.

Were you happy with how NBC handled the coverage, or did you find yourself going elsewhere for your Olympics fix?

“How We Hate NBC’s Olympics Coverage: A Statistical Breakdown” [TechCrunch via CZ]

Although we’ve discussed it here plenty of times, the recent twitstorm caused by Kevin Smith after he was booted from a Southwest flight has brought more mainstream coverage to the issue of airline seating. Slate asked its readers for input, and today it published the most consistent arguments, like it’s not just a problem for overweight people, and we might have to buy our way out of it.

2. Tall and broad-shouldered people use extra width, too. Fat people aren’t the only ones who spill into adjoining seats. […] Dani Martinez raised another objection: “What about overhanging shoulders and arms? Why is it not okay to take someone else’s space on the bottom but perfectly okay to take someone’s space on the top portion of the seat?” Dani noted that lots of men whose waists fit between the arm rests “do NOT fit in the seat up top. If sitting naturally, their shoulders and arms are wider than [the allotted] 17 inches.”

[…]

9. Airlines double-book the space behind each seat. When a passenger wants to recline and the passenger behind her objects, whose rights prevail? The airlines’ official “contracts of carriage” don’t address this question. Slate intern Jenny Rogers contacted several airlines and asked for clarification. JetBlue said it had no formal policy for resolving such conflicts; other airlines didn’t respond.

Tomorrow, Slate says it will publish the 10 best solutions offered by its readers.

“Fat vs. Tall: The Wisdom of Crowded Planes” [Slate]

Roger is annoyed that the package of Andes mints he bought is much larger than it needs to be. In fact, it looks suspiciously like the company is trying to convince the casual observer that there are more mints inside than there really are. I’m not sure how making a consumer feel disappointed about a candy purchase is good for repeat business, but maybe parent company Tootsie hopes you’ll eat a mint and forget the sadness.

You know how there are those people who, no matter what job they have, somehow retain a cheery outlook? And if you’re grumpy like me you wish they’d go away, but secretly you marvel at how they spread cheer to everyone around them and make the day more pleasant? Well, that’s one thing you’ll no longer find at a Burger King in a Concord, NH, mall. The district manager put a stop to it.

According to the Digital Journal, shift supervisor Chuck McMurphree has been with BK for 10 years, and has been singing out orders for the past 4. McMurphree says he told his manager, “This was going to be hard for me because I have a happy outlook on life, and I express myself by singing. It’s like telling me to stop being left-handed.” Burger King won’t comment except to say, “We expect our team members to follow these customer service guidelines.”

What do you think: is a singing fast food employee too eccentric for a national chain? Maybe he should seek employment with Southwest Airlines; they tend to like that kind of attitude.

“Burger King Gives Singing Server the Royal Thumbs Down” [Digital Journal]

Mark Smith just got suckered into buying travel insurance that turned out to be worthless to him. There was a huge hole in the middle of the coverage, which meant he and his two kids were stuck overnight in Denver on his own dime. Luckily the policy only cost $40, but that’s $40 that now belongs to Access America in exchange for providing a useless service.

Here’s his story. (I’ve changed his last name.)

I live in North Dakota and wanted to take my two youngest boys, 8 and 10 years old to see my Dad and their Grandpa who lives in Oregon. I kept checking for United’s e-fares on Tuesday to find a cheap flight and found one a couple of weeks ago, got three tickets for $225 each round trip, leaving Bismarck Friday Feb. 19th @ 7:35 p.m. Central time, routing through Denver @ 9:03 p.m. Mountain time, and landing in Portland @ 10:30 p.m. Pacific time.

While buying the tickets this little option pops up, that says…

Travel Options by United
Comprehensive Trip Protector

Great vacation memories shouldn’t be left to chance. Everyday travel inconveniences can quickly turn your perfect vacation in the wrong direction. Unexpected illness or injuries to you, your traveling companions or family members can cause you to miss or cut short a trip. There’s no shortage of potential travel problems; that’s why we offer protection. Access America has been protecting millions of travelers for more than 25 years.

And 40.50 gives me the option to buy this insurance through a company called Access. I figure, travelling in February is risky in North Dakota and Denver, so this seems like a good idea, and so I buy it.

On the day of our flight, the incoming flight from Denver is late by about 20 minutes, because there was light snow in Denver and the plane had to be de-iced. There was also light snow in Bismarck and so the plane was about 25 minutes late taking off back to Denver, flight 6176, and so we were later still getting into Denver. We didn’t have any checked luggage, but our bags had to be gate checked because the plane was a small commuter jet, so my boys and I waited and then dashed to the gate in Denver for our connecting flight to Portland, Oregon. It was a long ways, but we made it with about 15 minutes to spare. Too late, we were told by the gate attendant. Our seats were already given away and our flight to Portland had already departed, 15 minutes before the scheduled 9:03 departure.

I was mad. I was then told to report to the Customer Service counter down the concourse. We were rebooked on a Noon flight, United 369, the next day Feb. 20th. I asked about whether we were going to be put up in Denver and given meals, and they said no because our delay was caused by the weather, and United does not cover weather events. (Actually it was caused by them leaving early, as I pointed out, but they said I needed to be in our seats at least 15 minutes before takeoff.) Whatever. I was not worried I had insurance. Or so I thought.

I didn’t have the Access information, so I called my wife, she gave me the number. An Access CSR couldn’t initially find my policy, and so on a crowded terminal area, I had to tell them my credit card number because they insisted they had e-mailed the policy to me, which they had not. Turns out they had mangled my name with Mark MRSMITH, and then they found it.

I explained what happened. When I told them I was in Denver, then the CSR said, “Oh sorry we don’t cover that because you did not buy the ‘delayed’ trip coverage option.” They said my insurance would only cover me if I had not left Bismarck because of the weather or could not get back from Portland because of the weather, but not because I was stuck in Denver because of the weather!!! We went round and round and round on this, as I had a lot of time at this point and little patience.

Turns out, according to Access and United “Comprehensive Trip Protector” and “Everyday travel inconveniences” and “No shortage of potential travel problems” [does not cover] the most basic of circumstances, weather delays when you have already started your trip. That’s why Access does offer “delayed” trip protection. I would have known that, of course, if I had read the policy which they did not send me. Of course I wouldn’t have read it anyway, because to me “COMPREHENSIVE TRIP PROTECTOR” means exactly that–that we are protected comprehensively on the trip. Not according to Access or United. No, you are stuck paying for a hotel, and your meals when weather is a factor on your trip.

We don’t have a lot of flying options out of Bismarck. There is Delta, United and Allegiant, so it’s not like I will never fly United again. I know for dang sure I will never ever pay for the COMPREHENSIVE TRIP PROTECTION, because it doesn’t protect your most basic issue here in the Northern Plains, weather delays!

Remember to always find out exactly what’s covered before you buy any insurance, including service warranties. Mark could have found the Access America policy on their website (PDF), and after a few minutes of reading through it he would have realized that the policy is carefuly worded to avoid covering the most common types of delays and interruptions. (Even when it might actually cover weather delays, it leaves a loophole by saying that you have to demonstrate you left enough room in your itinerary.)

That in no way means that United or Access America are off the hook. Why would you try to sell such insurance that’s riddled with loopholes and exceptions as an impulse purchase? To get the consumer to buy it without looking too deeply into the fine print, that’s why.

The bottom line is, never let an emotional appeal sway you when you’re planning any sort of vacation. Travel is a very emotional consumer activity, which makes it easy for peddlers like Access America to trigger the risk aversion part of your brain.

In fact, let’s unpack that Access America spiel that United threw at Mark:

• Great vacation memories shouldn’t be left to chance. – Red alert: you’ve just been targeted with an emotional appeal. This company could care less about your “great vacation memories,” so don’t listen when they talk to you on that level. Emotional appeals from companies are never authentic.
• Everyday travel inconveniences can quickly turn your perfect vacation in the wrong direction. – There’s an implied offer here–that what they’re about to try to sell you will protect you from “everyday travel inconveniences.” The only problem is, that phrase covers pretty much everything, and there’s no way an insurance policy will cover everything. You’re being deliberately misled, which is a second strike against the trustworthiness of the company.
• Unexpected illness or injuries to you, your traveling companions or family members can cause you to miss or cut short a trip. – Ah, finally some specifics. This is the only thing that’s been described that fits into a legitimate offer so far. Use this as your reference point when you decide whether to look deeper or pass.
• There’s no shortage of potential travel problems; that’s why we offer protection. – Who cares? More junk. They’re wasting your time. All they’ve really said is that they might cover illness or injuries, even though they want you to feel in your heart that they cover a lot more.
• Access America has been protecting millions of travelers for more than 25 years. – Meaningless drivel.

I don’t blame Mark for thinking something called “Comprehensive Trip Protector” would be, you know, comprehensive. But his experience is a perfect example for all of us: you should never buy any sort of travel insurance unless you’ve got the opportunity to fully read through the policy first.

Lucy the Slut is one of the puppets in the musical “Avenue Q,” and like the other puppet characters she’s frequently displayed in their advertising. But not in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where a billboard company refused to put up ads showing Lucy’s cleavage. An exec for the billboard company told the local paper, “If I have to explain it to my 4-year-old or my grandmother, we don’t put it up.” Hey four-year-old, it’s a puppet. Hey grandma, those are boobs. Problem solved.

“‘Avenue Q’ puppet too busty for Colorado Springs” [Los Angeles Times via The Daily Beast]

Update: As several readers have pointed out, it’s a Coney Island publicity hoax, which probably explains why CNN yanked the clip.   *   People are calling it the caveman hot dog. Okay, nobody is calling it that. But one person interviewed by CNN News12 Brooklyn said, “That’s unbelievable, finding hot dogs that are 140 years old. That’s crazy, to me it’s crazy.” Another person said, “These things are irreplaceable, they’re priceless. And it’s great that they found it, and that it will be here for generations to come and see and learn.”

A Coney Island restaurant, Feltman’s Kitchen, is being demolished, and the reporter in the video says the frozen hot dog was found underneath it by an archeologist. No really, she says archeologist. Apparently that archeologist left to go battle Nazis or something because in the video, someone is de-icing the hot dog with a water hose. Anyway, it’s going to be put on display in March, which will only sound like a scam to you if you’ve never been to Coney Island.

Update: Aww dang, CNN has cut all ties to the story, and News 12 Brooklyn won’t let me embed it. You can watch the clip on News12.com.

140-year-old hot dog found in Coney Island [News 12 Brooklyn]