Current Events in December 2013

We've all heard of investors who "flip" houses. But puppies? Yes, it's true: New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman has tightened the leash on two individuals who bought puppies online, treated them shabbily, then posed as breeders and resold them online.

In one case, the Attorney General’s office reached an agreement with an individual in the Syracuse area who bought puppies on Craigslist, kept them in poor conditions without access to a veterinarian, and resold them illegally.

In another, the office obtained a court order against an individual in Buffalo who posed as a puppy breeder, when in fact the puppies she sold were purchased online, malnourished, and sold to consumers who reported fleas, filth, and near-death health conditions among the pets.

Both pet flippers have been permanently barred from selling animals or becoming licensed pet dealers.  

“Today’s developments are a win-win. By shutting down operations where animals are being illegally sold, we can help ensure that consumers are purchasing healthy pets, while protecting the animals themselves from those who break the law to turn a profit,” said Schneiderman. “In holding these individuals accountable, we are sending the message that this sort of behavior will not be tolerated.”

Flipping free dogs

Those who flip dogs not only purchase the dogs, but also flip dogs they have received at no cost. Obtaining a dog at little or no cost and then spending a minimal amount (if anything) on the dog’s care quickly maximizes the return. Current pet owners should be aware of this when considering giving up their pet, and should always go through an authorized facility, such as a local SPCA or shelter. 

Puppy flipper Stephanie Arcara bought puppies advertised on Craigslist and then sold them to unsuspecting customers in the Buffalo area. Arcara, who was not a licensed pet dealer, kept the puppies in her home, where they were poorly cared for.  According to one consumer, the puppy she purchased from Arcara was covered in feces and urine, had patches of hair missing on its body and was very thin. Another reported that a puppy he purchased from Arcara was dehydrated and suffered from constant seizures, while others reported that puppies sold by Arcara had worms, fleas and bladder infections. One puppy even died shortly after Arcara sold it.

Arcara illegally sold dozens of puppies to unsuspecting consumers, usually by advertising on Craigslist. She misrepresented herself to consumers as a breeder of the puppies when, in fact, she had purchased them on Craigslist. Arcara also misrepresented the breed of the puppies she sold, sometimes claiming they were purebreds when they were not, and told consumers that the puppies had been dewormed and were current on their shots, which was also not the case. 

Carissa Seaman, of Cleveland, NY, bought animals, or obtained them for free, from Craigslist and the trading post of a local radio station. She would then re-sell the dogs to other consumers for more money than she paid for them – flipping the dogs and pocketing the difference. In just one year, Seaman sold over two dozen dogs.

Seaman, who is not a licensed pet dealer, kept the dogs in her home, but cared for them poorly. None of the dogs sold by Seaman received veterinarian care.  In July of 2013, she offered to sell a five week old St. Bernard puppy that had fleas and flea feces on its skin to two undercover AG investigators. Another seven month old fawn pug for sale had two patches of fur missing from his back revealing raw and irritated skin.  

Quick reminder to anybody tempted to avoid stamp-buying trips to the post office by subscribing to Stamps.com: you will be charged a monthly subscription fee, even for the months you don’t buy any stamps. And make sure you don’t confuse Stamps.com with USPS.com, the official website of the United States Postal Service.

We mention this because we received a handful of complaints from Stamps.com customers who seemed surprised by the subscription charges … and a couple more surprised to learn they were Stamps.com customers in the first place.

Cheryl from Connecticut wrote this week to say “I am getting charged $15.99 for nothing! …. I didn't even realize there was a monthly charge or I never would have signed up. Tried to cancel account and was on hold for 1/2 hour before I could actually get someone to do it.”

The week before, Christina in Illinois wrote us after she noticed “a recurring charge on my credit card for $17.95 …. I looked online to cancel. I figured if it was an online service I could cancel online. Wrong. So I called their customer support number to 1) cancel this subscription account and 2) get a full refund.”

Long story short, Christina’s attempt to get a refund didn’t work. She says she bought from Stamps.com back in July, also not realizing she was actually signing up for a subscription. “Please save yourself the trouble and do not even go to this website. It's not USPS (which is what I originally thought).”

Veronica from Washington State might have made the same mistake. She told us “looked at the Stamps.com site at one point while I was trying to purchase postage online. Ended up going to the offical USPS site. They do look alike. I cannot figure out how Stamps.com got my information and started charging my credit card. What a pain to clear up. They did not want to cancel the account online. They wanted a phone call. … I’m still in dispute with my credit card company.”

We’re going to take a wild guess that maybe Veronica, like Christina, thought she was buying from the post office instead of Stamps.com. The two websites are not clones of each other but do use similar red-white-and-blue color schemes and talk a lot about stamps and postage, and Stamp.com’s main page does sport the United States Postal Service logo (as a “licensed vendor” of the USPS).

On Stamps.com’s Frequently Asked Questions page, we found this: “What is Stamps.com? Stamps.com is a service that allows you to print official United States Postal Service® postage directly from your PC and printer. Our services are available for a small monthly fee, there are no taxes or additional fees besides the cost of actual postage printed.”

It does sound as though, even for people who specifically set out to subscribe to Stamps.com, canceling the subscription is much, much harder than starting it. But remember that it is a subscription, not a one-time online stamp purchase.

More details have come out regarding the strange case of Joe Cantrell, the Arizona man who said he was banned from Walmart after trying to take honest advantage of their price-matching deal; now, it’s starting to look like Walmart’s version of events might be the more accurate.

Cantrell originally said that he went to Walmart to buy Christmas ornaments. Though he had an advertisement showing those same ornaments listed for a lower price somewhere else, the store associate refused to honor the listed price (in apparent violation of Walmart’s price-matching policy), and when Cantrell complained to management, the manager reported him to the police as a threat. When Cantrell returned to the store a few days later, he said, deputies handcuffed him and informed him he’d been banned form all Walmart stores for life.

That’s the basic story most of America (including us) knew about at the beginning of this week. But on Dec. 12, the Phoenix New Time’s Valley Fever blog reported that, according to representatives of the Pinal County Sheriff’s Department, Cantrell (and the ABC affiliate that first reported his story) left out some important details:

Cantrell was heard threatening employees with statements "I'm going to mess this mother f_ _ _ker up" while yelling at a cashier, he told employees he didn't care if he got kicked out of the store because he "was going to f_ _ k up, the cashier and he would be waiting outside for him in the parking lot and he was going to do him in."

The Sheriff's Office was called by Walmart, but Cantrell had left the store before deputies arrived. Before leaving, he told the manager "I'm not the person to F _ _ k with, next time I come in I will beat his ass." A deputy investigated the case as employees were afraid for their safety. A video was captured by store security and PCSO deputies recognized Cantrell from prior contacts. Deputies were unable to locate him at his last known address...

Cantrell posted on his "Facebook" account (December 2nd, 2013) "Tonight I almost whipped a Walmart employees ass." One of his Facebook friends responded to his post and said, "I know you heard Joes gonna kill you in the back of your head. But you did the right thing by walking away mad and not kicking his ass and doing to jail." (sic.) Cantrell then responded back to that post by saying, "I have to be honest with you Richard I came very close."

And why did the store associate initially refuse to match the Christmas-ornament price Cantrell wanted? Initial reports did not say, but it turned out Cantrell was trying to price-match an expired Black Friday ad, well after Black Friday, according to later reports.

The first generic versions of Cymbalta (duloxetine delayed-release capsules), a prescription medicine used to treat depression and other conditions, has been green-lighted by the federal government.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has given approval to

Aurobindo Pharma Ltd., Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories Ltd., Lupin Ltd., Sun Pharma Global FZE, Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, and Torrent Pharmaceuticals Ltd. to market the drug in various strengths.

“Health care professionals and consumers can be assured that these FDA-approved generic drugs have met our rigorous standards,” said Kathleen Uhl, M.D., acting director of the Office of Generic Drugs in the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. “Generic drugs offer greater access to health care for many people.”

Boxed warning

Duloxetine and other antidepressant drugs have a boxed warning describing the increased risk of suicidal thinking and behavior during initial treatment in children, adolescents and young adults ages 18 to 24. The warning also says data do not show this increased risk in those older than 24 years and that patients ages 65 and older who take antidepressants have a decreased risk of suicidal thinking and behavior.

The warning says depression and other serious psychiatric disorders themselves are the most important causes of suicide and that close monitoring of patients starting these medications is necessary. Duloxetine must be dispensed with a patient medication guide that describes important information about the drug’s uses and risks.

Common adverse reactions reported by people taking Cymbalta include nausea, dry mouth, drowsiness, fatigue, decreased appetite, increased sweating, and dizziness.

Generic prescription drugs approved by the FDA have the same high quality and strength as brand-name drugs. Generic prescription drug manufacturing and packaging sites must pass the same quality standards as those of brand-name drugs.

Depression is characterized by symptoms that interfere with a person's ability to work, sleep, study, eat, and enjoy once-pleasurable activities. Episodes often recur throughout a person's lifetime.

Signs and symptoms of depression include: depressed mood, loss of interest in usual activities, significant change in weight or appetite, insomnia or excessive sleeping (hypersomnia), restlessness/pacing (psychomotor agitation), increased fatigue, feelings of guilt or worthlessness, slowed thinking or impaired concentration and suicide attempts or thoughts of suicide.

This is National Influenza Vaccination Week and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is using the occasion to urge estimated 60% of Americans 6 months and older had who have been vaccinated yet to do so.

To shore up its pro-flu shot argument, the CDC cites a Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report that says flu vaccination prevented an estimated 6.6 million influenza-associated illnesses, 3.2 million medically attended illnesses, and 79,000 hospitalizations during the 2012-2013 flu season.

The agency says the estimated benefits of vaccination for the 2012-2013 season are higher than any other season for which it has produced similar estimates. According to the report, there were a total of 31.8 million influenza-associated illnesses in the U.SD., last season, along with 14.4 million medically attended illnesses, and 381,000 hospitalizations.

“The estimated number of hospitalizations reinforces what we have always known about flu: that it is highly variable and can be very serious,” said CDC Director Tom Frieden, M.D., M.P.H.

Difference of opinion

Not everyone agrees, though

Dr. Donald Miller, a cardiac surgeon and Professor of Surgery at the University of Washington, recommends avoiding the flu shot. He recommends taking vitamin D instead. Writing on the website Mercola.com, Miller claims “Seventy percent of doctors do not get a flu shot.”

While the CDC says children aged 6 months through four years accounted for an estimated 69% of prevented hospitalizations last year, Miller maintains that there is a lack of evidence that young kids benefit from flu shots.”

In fact,” he writes, “a systematic review of 51 studies involving 260,000 children age 6 to 23 months found no evidence that the flu vaccine is any more effective than a placebo. But there is also a risk of harm from the flu vaccine itself, particularly from the mercury, aluminum, and formaldehyde it contains.”

The push is on

Despite the continuing controversy, the CDC maintains that getting an annual flu vaccination is becoming a habit for many people. But says Dr. Anne Schuchat, director of CDC's Center for Global Health, “there is still much room for improvement. The bottom-line is that influenza can cause a tremendous amount of illness and can be severe. Even when our flu vaccines are not as effective as we want them to be, they can reduce flu illnesses, doctors' visits, and flu-related hospitalizations and deaths.”

With further increases in influenza activity across the U.S. expected in the coming weeks, she says, “If you have not gotten your flu vaccine yet this season, you should get one now.”   

Another drop in wholesale prices -- the third in a row.

The government says its Producer Price Index (PPI) for finished goods dipped 0.1% in November, seasonally, following declines of 0.2% in October and 0.1% in September. For the 12 months ended in November, the PPI is up just 0.7%

Energy and food

Much of last month's decline can be traced to a 0.4% decline in energy prices. Nearly three-quarters of that can be is attributed to gasoline prices, which were down 0.7%. Lower prices for diesel fuel and home heating oil were factors as well.

On the other hand, food prices were unchanged in November after shooting up 0.8% the month before. Higher pork costs were offset by lower prices for processed young chickens.

The “core” rate of inflation, which excludes the volatile food and energy components, was up a tiny 0.1% in November -- the third advance in a row. Higher prices for agricultural machinery and equipment also contributed to the advance in the core.

The full PPI report can be found on the Labor Department website.

Trek Bicycles of Waterloo, Wis., is recalling about 6,800 model year 2013 Madone bicycles.

The bicycle’s front brake can fail, posing a crash hazard. The company has received five reports of loose front brake attachment bolts. No injuries have been reported.

This recall involves model year 2013 Trek Madone bicycles with model numbers 5.2, 5.9, 6.2, 6.5, 7.7 or 7.9, and serial numbers starting with WTU and ending with G or H. A list of all serial numbers included in the recall is at www.trekbikes.com. Some of the recalled models are custom-ordered Project One Madones. The model number is printed on the bicycle frame. The serial number is printed on a sticker underneath the frame of the bicycle. The bicycles were sold in a variety of colors.

The bikes, manufactured in Taiwan, the U.S. and Germany, were sold at bicycle stores nationwide from July 2012, through December 2013, for between $3,400 and $6,300, and between $4,000 and $15,000 for custom models.

Consumers should immediately stop using the recalled bicycles and take them to a Trek dealer for a free replacement front brake system.

Consumers may contact Trek at (800) 373-4594 from 8 a.m. through 6 p.m. CT Monday through Friday.  

Volkswagen Group of America is recalling 62,155 model year 2009-2011 Tiguan vehicles manufactured July 2007, through June 2011.

Due to a problem with the fuse for the exterior lights, the holder for the fuse that controls the vehicle's exterior lights circuit may melt. If the holder melts, there may be a partial loss of exterior lighting. Reduced vehicle illumination diminishes the vehicle's visibility, increasing the risk of a crash.

Volkswagen will notify owners, and dealers will replace the fuse, free of charge. The recall is expected to begin in December 2013.

Owners may contact Volkswagen at 1-800-893-5298. Volkswagen's recall number is 97Z9/2V.

The German word fremdschämen refers to that feeling of vicarious shame or embarrassment you feel on someone else’s behalf when you watch them make fools of themselves. We came down with a mild case of fremdschämen a couple of weeks ago, when we told you the embarrassing story of how the new Yahoo email is so bad, even Yahoo’s own employees don’t want to use it.

Not that Yahoo executives paid any attention to customer complaints about the new email; they only kept insisting, “This new email is great, especially all the rich new features we added” and “Don’t you just love our feature-rich new email system? It is great,” and “This new email differs completely from the old one. Ergo, greatness ensues. Check out all these rich new features!”

Unfortunately, these new features apparently don’t include “ability to send email” or “ability to receive email,” which is why our personal fremdschämen levels rose right off the charts when we read the latest installment in the Yahoo email saga: Certain Yahoo users found themselves unable to access their email, starting Monday night – and as of Thursday, some still can’t.

New account? Forget it

Our editor, by the way, reports that he tried to open a Yahoo account a few days ago to see for himself how good/bad it was. Unfortunately, the process hung about halfway through and he was never able to complete it. Not a good sign, really.

Just to add to your holiday cheer, there’s a chance any emails sent between Nov. 25 and Dec. 9 might have vanished altogether. So if you’re a Yahoo email user wondering why you haven’t been getting responses to things like job-application emails or Christmas gift orders — well, it’s possible the problem lies in the quality of the job application itself, or the mail-order-company’s customer service. But it might also be true that these emails never arrived in their intended recipients’ inboxes.

To console you, here are some reassuring words from that magnificent memo written by Yahoo execs Jeff Bonforte, SVP Communications Products, and Randy Roumillat, CIO, urging employees to switch to the new feature-rich Yahoo email:

“Certainly, we can admire [other established email systems Yahoo employees stubbornly insist on using] for its survival, an anachronism of the now defunct 90s PC era, a pre-web program written at a time when NT Server terrorized the data center landscape with the confidence of a T-Rex born to yuppie dinosaur parents who fully bought into the illusion of their son’s utter uniqueness because the big-mouthed, tiny-armed monster infant could mimic the gestures of The Itsy-Bitsy Pterodactyl.”

Confession: we still don’t know exactly what this means, possibly because every time we try reading it our vision gets blocked by enormous blinding clouds of fremdschämen. We were going to ask that you email us if you can explain it, but if your email account is with Yahoo you’d just be wasting your time anyway. Forget we even brought it up.

Pete Thomson is President/CEO of McQ Media Inc, a media and advertising firm based in Dallas, Texas.   Thomson’s weekly radio program, The Consumer Team, airs on CBS Radio’s KRLD Radio in Dallas, Texas.

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During the holiday season, many Americans open up their wallets to support a favorite charity. From local non-profits to major national charities with $1 million-plus advertising budgets, the non-profit landscape is more crowded and competitive than ever.

Just how important are the holidays to your average charity? Non-profits will often admit that over half of all their contributions are received in the fourth quarter, with much of the money being received in December.

Largely because of the strategically crafted marketing campaigns, it’s easy to assume that non-profits are good managers of the money we give them. The images of hungry children being fed or other acts of kindness that result from a donation are indeed powerful. Yet, the reality in today’s marketplace is that a high percentage of non-profits are not effective at managing the donations they receive. 

Some of the biggest, most reputable-appearing non-profits and ministries that dominate television and radio make big promises in their marketing.  However, in many cases, a relatively small percentage of donations actually reaches the needy.  In the case of many of the web-based charity campaigns, little or no money is going to the cause that is advertised. 

Like the Wild West

Charities and ministries that were founded with a mission of helping people, can lose focus of their foundational purpose because of the jaws of overhead.   CEO and leadership salaries, marketing and other infrastructure expenses can easily turn even the best-intentioned non-profit into an organization that is overtaken with the costs of doing business.  

Thanks to several charity watchdog groups, consumers now have access to reliable and unbiased information regarding charities. Charity Navigator is a New York based non-profit that rates non-profits in a number of key criteria. The Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability (ECFA) offers a similar service which rates Christian charities.

Sandra Miniutti, VP/CFO at Charity Navigator, says that donors need to be very careful before giving money to a charity. She said, “There’s a lot of scoundrels and thieves out there. There are more than a million public charities in America today. The IRS is charged with overseeing them at the federal level and there’s very little oversight. It’s a little like the Wild West and donors need to dig deeper into a charity’s performance before they hand over their hard earned money.”

Financial transparency, according to Miniutti, is an important cornerstone to responsible non-profits. Ms. Miniutti indicated that many non-profits open their books to donors and the general public. Such transparency gives donors a way to confirm that their gifts are being utilized appropriately.

Lack of transparency

Still, a number of non-profits don’t open their books to the public. Many of these, according to Miniutti, are faith-based non-profits that are not required to share financial information. One such faith-based charity is The Salvation Army. Miniutti said that she finds The Salvation Army’s lack of financial transparency troubling.

“If a group is considered a house of worship by the IRS then we’re not able to rate it. And believe it or not, that includes The Salvation Army takes that exemption," she said. "They don’t have to file any financial data with the IRS so we can’t get access to data to evaluate them. We’ve asked them many times to share the data with us and they’ve refused to do so. We’ve found other religious groups that have the exemption with the IRS that will still provide us the data because they know that it’s important to their donors to see how they’re performing financially and to prove that accountability and transparency piece to them.”

Beyond financial transparency, consumers should look at other financial data to ensure that a charity is using donations responsibly. Overhead should be measured as a percentage of total gifts received. According to Miniutti, the most responsible charities keep overhead to less than 25% of total cash gifts received. Another area to analyze is charity CEO salaries, which Miniutti says should be in line proportionately with the size of the non-profit.

Cost of acquisition

The cost of donor acquisition is important because it measures how much a charity pays to third parties for delivering new donors. Radio stations, for example, will sell non-profits large advertising campaigns which are designed to recruit new donors. Charities and media companies attempt to justify the process of charging nonprofits to raise money because the marketing campaigns generate new, incremental donors for a non-profit.

But according to Miniutti, such marketing campaigns cut into charity operations and efficiency: “Anytime there’s a middleman involved, whether it be a telemarketing firm or a radio station trying to take a piece of the pie, that’s very disturbing. The truth is giving doesn’t change much in America from year to year. And if some of that money is evaporating into for profit companies, then the charitable sector has less to fulfill their worthy mission.”

What to do

In spite of the bad charities and scams, it is possible to connect with worthy non-profits. Here are some suggestions.

Use The Watch Dogs  Tap into the vast resources of the charity watch dog organizations we’ve cited. Their services are free and can offer important information.

Don’t Give to Door-to-Door Solicitors Because fake credentials and even uniforms can be easily produced, avoid giving to any charity that comes knocking on your door. Be especially wary of the local organizations with volunteers soliciting for funds on street corners. Charity Navigators generally gives low marks to police and fire fighter charities.

Delete Charity Emails Unless you have an established relationship with a charity that you’ve first initiated, consider all the email solicitations to be bogus.  Even emails that appear to be from a major charity are often a front for a scam, often located off-shore and out of reach of US laws.

Charity Scams Target Older Givers  Older people sadly often fall victim to charity scams.   Their general lack of sophistication with email (see email scams above) combined with isolation and their generosity makes for a perfect profile for the bad guys to go after.   Take time to make sure that the seniors in your life become well informed about charity and non-profit scams.

Charity scams will only get more sophisticated and effective in the future.  Indeed, high technology has given the bad guys a new platform to operate in with great anonymity.  Because of this, consumers need to be even more vigilant in our efforts to separate the good from the bad.    Giving to reputable and responsible charities can truly impact the lives of hurting people.   Before giving, do your research to make sure your dollars are being used wisely.

Vegetarians exclude a sizable source of protein from their diets that carnivores take for granted. To get the required daily allowance of protein, vegetarians have to make it up in other areas.

So when shopping for the vegetarian on your list, don't overlook a gift basket of nuts. They're not only tasty but they are chock full of protein. There are other health benefits too, which are useful to people other than vegetarians.

People who eat nuts as a regular part of their diet can lower the LDL, low-density lipoprotein or "bad," cholesterol level in their blood, according to health experts at the Mayo Clinic. High LDL is one of the primary causes of heart disease.

Believed to promote heart health

The Mayo Clinic experts say eating nuts also reduces your risk of developing blood clots that can cause a fatal heart attack and can improve the health of the lining of your arteries. Food companies, however, cannot make that claim. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) says the evidence about nuts' ability to reduce heart disease risk, while impressive, hasn't completely been nailed down.

The contents of nuts that are thought to provide health benefits include:

• Unsaturated fats – these so-called “good fats” help keep cholesterol levels in check
• Omega-3 fatty acids – Many nuts continue this healthy form of fatty acid that is also found in many types of fish
• Fiber – All nuts have it, providing another check on cholesterol
• Vitamin E – This vitamin is heart-healthy, helping to prevent build-up of plaques in your arteries
• Plant Sterols – Occur naturally in nuts and can help lower cholesterol

Harvard study

Harvard researchers weighed in last month with similar conclusions. In a study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, the researchers found that people who ate nuts on a daily basis were about 20% less likely to die during the study period than those who did not eat nuts.

"This study adds to the current strong body of evidence which demonstrates that eating nuts daily, including almonds, confers health benefits and supports long-term health,” said Dr. Karen Lapsley, Chief Scientific Officer for the Almond Board of California. “Nuts deliver many good attributes in a small, satisfying package."

Earlier this year, a major clinical trial conducted in Spain found roughly 30% of heart attacks, strokes and deaths from heart disease were reduced in study participants at high cardiac risk, simply by switching to a Mediterranean diet rich in olive oil, nuts, beans, fish, fruits and vegetables. The study participants, who were at increased risk for heart disease, followed either a Mediterranean diet or a low-fat diet for nearly five years. 

Gift baskets

Nut producers are jumping onto this trend by marketing their products packaged in attractive gift baskets. Harry & David sells a dried fruit and nut basket that includes cashews, pistachios and honey roasted peanuts for $49.95. 

Norm Thompson markets a Gourmet Nut Gift Box of sweet and salty cashews, cinnamon almonds and pistachios for $29.95.  Of course, you can create your own gift box by buying nuts in bulk at a warehouse supermarket. Choosing unsalted nuts, or nuts without any type of flavor processing, will be even healthier.

A final word of caution -- while the fat in nuts is considered "good" fat, it is fat nonetheless, meaning it's packed with calories. Many of the health benefits of nuts are negated if you eat too many and pack on the pounds.

Consumers are pretty vocal in their complaints about the U.S. Postal Service and no doubt will continue to be. But it's not just Americans who have cause for complaint about things like rising stamp prices or ending Saturday delivery: at least you're not in Canada.

CBC News reports some major changes coming to the Canadian postal system:

Canada Post is phasing out door-to-door delivery of regular mail to urban residents and increasing the cost of postage in a major move to try to reduce significant, regular losses.

The Crown corporation announced its plans Wednesday, saying urban home delivery will be phased out over the next five years.

Starting March 31, the cost of a stamp to mail a standard-size first-class letter will increase to 85 cents if bought in a pack, up from 63 cents. Individual stamps will cost a dollar.

The idea of ending delivery in dense urban environments to cut costs might seem counterintuitive; here in the U.S., after all, even our much-beleaguered post office has little difficulty making a profit in densely populated urban environments; using pack mules and snowmobiles to deliver mail to people out in the sticks is another story.

But even in dense population areas like New York (or Toronto), door-to-door delivery, however profitable, still costs more than delivery to centrally located community mailboxes. These are already commonplace among Canadian and American apartment complexes and similar setups: the mailboxes are all clustered together at the entrance to the complex, rather than divided amongst individual dwellings.

In fact, according to the CBC, individual mail delivery in already much rarer in Canada than its southern neighbor: two-thirds of Canadians already do without individual home mail delivery, instead relying on “centralized mail points,” group mailboxes and other alternatives.

Opposition to Canada Post’s plan comes from many different groups. The Canadian postal workers’ union, naturally, opposes the postal job cuts the plan eventually calls for. Business groups fear the impact increased postage costs might have on their budgets, and senior-citizen groups fear the end of home delivery will cause difficulties for elderly people, especially those with mobility issues.

On the other hand, it doesn’t look as though Canada Post can afford to continue doing business as it has been, either.

There's a lot of talk about electric cars and untold millions have been spent on research and manufacturing but so far that hasn't translated into many of the cars actually hitting the road.

Consumers, concerned about high purchase prices and limited range, have been slow to warm up to the idea of going all-electric but a new study finds that four out of ten U.S. households could use an electric vehicle with little or no change to their driving habits.

“Consumers who might be shopping for a new vehicle this holiday season may be surprised to learn that an electric vehicle could be a good fit for their household,” said Josh Goldman, policy analyst for the Union of Concerned Scientists Clean Vehicles Program. “Drivers may have preconceptions about whether electric vehicles can meet their driving needs and habits, and this survey shows that for many, they can.”

The survey was released by the Union of Concerned Scientists and Consumers Union.

While less than 1 percent of the country are driving electric vehicles (EVs) today, the survey found 42 percent of respondents with cars — equivalent to 45 million households when applied nationally — meet the basic criteria for using plug-in hybrid electric vehicles like the Chevy Volt.  Over half of those households are also able to use a battery-electric vehicle (BEV) like the Nissan LEAF.

“This new survey shows today’s EVs can be practical for many car buyers,” said Shannon Baker-Branstetter, policy counsel for Consumers Union. “It demonstrates that these vehicles could be a viable option for tens of millions of American households that want lower fuel costs and cleaner air without compromising their driving needs.”

While plug-in hybrid EVs have similar driving range to gasoline-only vehicles, the current range of BEVs on the market today can also meet many drivers' needs. The survey found that almost 70 percent of drivers drive less than 60 miles on a weekday, which is within the range of almost every BEV on the market today.

TrueCar.com is a negotiation-free car-buying platform that, if it can get out of first gear, could do to the car business what Amazon has done to just about every other business. And the $30 million infusion it just got from Internet pioneer Paul Allen may be just the tiger in the tank that enables it to do that.

TrueCar announced today that it has raised $30 million from Allen'sVulcan Capital and said it will use the funds to fuel market expansion, invest in product development and further build the TrueCar.com brand.

"The Vulcan Capital investment supports TrueCar.com's mission to bring truth and transparency to automotive retail and provides us with the capital necessary to grow the business and develop better products for consumers and dealers," said Scott Painter, Founder and CEO at TrueCar.com. 

TrueCar.com empowers car buyers by giving them transparent insight into what others actually paid, upfront pricing information, a guaranteed savings certificate and a connection to a trusted TrueCar Certified Dealer to seamlessly complete the car purchase.

Dealers pay a monthly subscription to be part of TrueCar and, while some have embraced the program because it helps gets cars rolling off the lot, others have resisted, fearing their profit margins will be eroded. 

$3,000 savings claimed

Over the past year, the TrueCar.com experience has enabled TrueCar.com users to save, on average, over $3,000 off of MSRP, the company said. TrueCar.com users and its Certified Dealers have completed over 1 million automobile transactions since inception, and nearly 400,000 this year alone.  TrueCar.com works with nearly 7,000 new car franchises and independent dealers operating in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Last month, TrueCar.com users accounted for approximately 2.3% of all new car sales in the US. 

TrueCar.com's nationwide network of TrueCar Certified Dealers is unique within the retail automotive industry because they are willing to provide upfront pricing information and guaranteed savings, where available, as a way of establishing trust with today's car buyers.

"We believe TrueCar.com's negotiation-free car buying platform has demonstrated significant traction in changing the way consumers behave in one of the largest segments of the economy," said Abhishek Agrawal, Managing Director at Vulcan Capital. "Moreover, this remarkable business model has delivered huge value and significant savings to consumers."

A strong auto sector helped propel retail sales up 0.7% in November, very close to the 0.6% increase economists surveyed by Briefing.com were projecting.

Government figures show auto and parts sales jumped 1.8%, giving the sector its best month since February 2007. Other areas of strength included Building materials and gardening supplies, furniture and home furnishings, and electronics and appliances.

The big loser last month was gas stations, where sales plunged 1.1%. But analysts say that was largely due to lower gasoline prices. Sales declines were also registered by grocery stores and clothing and clothing accessories retailers.

The complete November retail sales report may be found on the Census Bureau website.

Initial jobless claims

First-time applications for state unemployment benefits shot higher during the week ending December 7, due partly to seasonal adjustment problems.

According to the Labor Department claims rose 68,000 to a seasonally adjusted total of 368,000. Officials have said repeatedly that seasonal adjustment problems have made it hard to get a handle on the labor situation. Until the problems are resolved, there's likely to be a lot of volatility.

Speaking of volatility, the 4-week moving average which is considered a more accurate barometer of the labor market because it's less volatile than the initial claims data, rose by 6,000 to 328,750.

You can find the entire initial claims report on the Labor Department website.

Bridgestone Americas Tire Operations is recalling 36 H300 315/80R22.5 18 ply tires manufactured January 2012, through August 2013, and sold to customers in Guam.

The affected tires may lose pressure from a crack at the inner liner splice. Such a crack could penetrate into the sidewall, resulting in a bulge on the sidewall causing a tire deflation and subsequent tire failure, which increases the risk of a crash.

Bridgestone will notify owners and dealers will replace the tires, free of charge. The recall is expected to begin in December 2013.

Owners may contact Bridgestone at 1-617-633-3026.

Watch any real estate show on cable TV and some home shopper is certain to gush, “this would be perfect for entertaining.” Read a dozen real estate listings and it's a safe bet at least one listing agent has written the same phrase.

Even those of us who never entertain seem to want a house that's “perfect for entertaining.” But what, exactly, does “perfect for entertaining” mean? A new study suggests it mostly means using a marketing buzzword to its full potential.

ZipRealty, an online residential real estate broker, commissioned a study to find what property features are most commonly associated with the term "perfect for entertaining." The study of more than 1.7 million home listings on the company's website also reveals which metropolitan areas feature the most entertaining-oriented homes for sale – most are in the west or Sunbelt.

Indoor and outdoor features

The term “perfect for entertaining” describes both indoor and outdoor property features. Indoors, it's used to describe an open floor plan. Being able to move easily through the interior space, without having to enter and exit a lot of rooms, is viewed as a major plus.

But homes with outdoor patios, decks, pools or a spacious back yard also fall in the category of “perfect for entertaining.” If your home can possibly be described that way, it may be in your best interest to do it.

"With the added appeal of being a place to entertain family and friends, we found that the median listing price of homes increased significantly when the term 'entertaining' appeared in the listing description of a property," said Lanny Baker, CEO and President of ZipRealty.

Big difference

Quite significant, according to the study. The median listing price with the term “entertaining” was $339,000, compared to $260,000 without the term. Average home square footage with the term was 2,408, compared to 2,161 without it.

"Based on the study, home sellers may be able to enhance their listing by marketing their backyard, common areas and outdoor spaces," Baker said. "Adding an umbrella, chairs and table in the backyard may add as much value as applying a fresh coat of paint to the exterior!"

It's also something to keep in mind when you are shopping for a home. Baker says if you find outdoor space that hasn't been properly staged or utilized, you can easily increase your profit by enhancing it before you sell.

“If a desirable home has an empty backyard or outdoor space that hasn't been put to good use, or hasn't been marketed in the listing, you may be able to get a good deal on a house that can easily be upgraded to an entertainer's delight," he said.

Buyers in a good mood

Home buyers, meanwhile, appear to be in an upbeat mood, with their confidence increasing for the first time since the fourth quarter of 2012. Even so, buyers again expressed frustrations about low inventory, rising prices and fluctuating mortgage rates, in a survey conducted by Redfin, another online real estate broker.

Despite a slight decline in the percentage of homebuyers concerned about rising mortgage rates from the third to fourth quarter, the latest survey suggests that homebuyers are nonetheless highly rate sensitive, even though mortgage rates remain near historic lows. Even so, the buyers still in the market are finding deals.

"With fewer people shopping for homes as the holidays approach, buyers that remain in the market are enjoying greater negotiating power and lower competition than they have seen all year," said Redfin economist Ellen Haberle. "This confidence boost won't last long, however. Our survey this month revealed that many buyers hold wildly unrealistic mortgage rate expectations. As rates rise in 2014, many will face a tough adjustment."

For years, privacy advocates have been wary of the "cookies" that advertisers and marketers use to track consumers around the Web. The industry's response has always been that the tracking is completely innocuous and is used only for such relatively piddling purposes as figuring out which ads to show to which consumers.

Ah, but now the Washington Post reports that the National Security Agency documents released by former NSA contactor Edward Snowden tell a somewhat different story.

According to a slide presentation and other documents leaked by Snowden, the NSA looks at the cookies and at the location data that computers and smartphones routinely spit out to decide which Web users are likely suspects for further snooping. They then hack into their machines and browse around.

The NSA spooks find Google's cookies particularly nutritious, the Post said. While Google's recipe doesn't include the consumer's name, it does contain the unique identification code of each user's browser, which is almost as good.

You didn't know your browser had an ID? It does. And so does your computer or smartphone. Each device has its own unique identifier; they're not normally accessible to users but they're easily obtainable by experienced hackers, which certainly includes the NSA.

According to the Post, the NSA isn't sifting through everyone's cookies. Instead, it's using the technique to zero in on individuals who have already exhibited what's deemed to be suspicious behavior. 

Google, Microsoft and other big tech companies have protested the government's spying on their activities but in Washington, where bombast is cheap, such protestations are not taken very seriously. After all, it's the Internet techies who for decades have been telling us information "just wants to be free." Well, guess what, the feds agree and are freeing up a lot of data that has heretofore been used to determine whether you should see an ad for a Verizon smartphone or a BMW. 

Or as Chris Hoofnagle, a lecturer in residence at UC Berkeley Law, put it in the Post article: "On a macro level, 'we need to track everyone everywhere for advertising' translates into 'the government being able to track everyone everywhere.' ... It's hard to avoid."

When we first noticed a sudden uptick in complaints from customers of the Bradford Exchange — specifically, complaints boiling down to “they promised fast shipping, yet my order still hasn’t arrived” — we initially thought: “Well, it is the middle of December holiday shopping season, and most of the continental United States didget pummeled by a bad winter storm this past week, so maybe some slight delays in shipping are to be expected.”

Then we dug a little deeper and found complaints from people who say they ordered items as early as May and still haven’t received their items, and blaming that delay on Hanukkah, Christmas or the Great Winter Storm of December 2013 strikes us as a definite stretch.

We emailed the Bradford Exchange to ask for clarification regarding their shipping times, as well as how late customers could order items from them and still expect to receive them in time for Christmas — although we just now remembered that, when we sent our message, we neglected to specify Christmas of this year. If and when the company gets back to us, we hope that oversight doesn’t prove a problem.

On Dec. 10 we got two complaints, one from Debbie in West Malling, England and the other from Dawn in Laguna Hills, Calif. Debbie asked: “How [is] a company allowed to take your money then ignore you without so much as a receipt? … Before I paid, I was told I would receive my goods in two days. For reassurance, I tried ringing them few times, number out of order. Then I got through to automated service saying it will call back in one hour. When I log in, I'm told the same as yesterday, information update in 24 hours. By tomorrow, I think my money for the goods will be gone from my account. I don't think I will have my goods tomorrow even though I would have paid express delivery for this date. Watch this space.”

By the time business hours in Britain ended the next day, Debbie had not reported receipt of her items.

Dawn, meanwhile, told us this: “I placed an order on 11/27/13 and the order shipped via FedEx SmartPost. FedEx has no record of the tracking number. Bradford has the same information from FedEx that I have. The rep I spoke to now says because of the holiday, the shipment times may be as much as 15 business days instead of 7-10 as advertised on their website. I had contacted them three times about this shipment and every time was told I had to wait it out. I told the rep on this morning's call that this was unacceptable and to resend the item. She said I would have to pay for it …. Told her that the website was misleading and that my frustration level was reaching its limit due to unacceptable answers.”

Even longer timeframes

But most of the complaints we got involve much longer timeframes. Sarah in Conway, Arkansas, wrote us a week before Halloween to say: “I ordered my ring in May. It was due to be at my house on July 27. Two days before July 27, I get a postcard saying it's on backorder and now I won't be getting it till Oct 24. I wasn't happy but I loved the ring so I went ahead and said, "Go ahead and send it anyway..." Well, once again, right before it's due to be here, I get another postcard saying I won't be getting it till December. Now I'm pissed. I want my stuff. When I call customer service, all I get is, ‘We're sorry. There is nothing we can do, yadda yadda yadda.’ I mean come on, get your ** together, Bradford Exchange!”

Marlena of Sanger, Calif., said on Nov. 25 that she “Placed an order for a ring. It was supposed to ship on a specific date. Every day since then the ship date has changed. Julia at Bradford Exchange customer service couldn't give me any definitive info. I can't even cancel my order because they already authorized my credit card."

Note to Marlena and anyone else in a similar situation: you can indeed still cancel your order, by informing your credit card company of the situation and demanding a chargeback. Incidentally, this also illustrates why, when paying for mail-order goods, credit cards generally offer more protection than debit or prepaid money cards.

But Alienna of Springfield, Mo. didn’t specify how she paid for her Bradford Exchange order, so we don’t know if a credit card chargeback would solve her problem:  “I ordered checks, and they took my payment for them. I waited until a week after they said I would get them, and called them back. They repeated my address back to me correctly and sent me a new shipment of checks which I still haven’t received. They have their money and I have no product.”

"Very mature customer base"

Rose in Ontario likes the company so much, she wrote us on Dec. 4 to say “This is a 40 year old, very reputable company. I got a very nice agent on the phone with me one day who explained to me that most of their customers are very mature (60 years of age +) and these people are dealing with speaking with people with dementia, deafness, etc., etc., many times a day and over and over again. They have a very mature customer base and have been in the business for long enough to prove that they aren't 'scamming' anyone. If you feel that way, it’s because you either did not read the ad properly and thoroughly, or call to double check the appropriate information before placing your order.”

For some reason, we suddenly just now remembered that day in middle school when our much-younger-self learned the important social skill/life lesson: “If someone is very nice to you but constantly insults other people, chances are that someone isn’t actually very nice.”

Regardless, Rose says she’s been a customer for over 10 years now, and “I have been very happy with this company. It is not as instant as everything these days, but I can be patient. [A delay in] Getting my next cat statue, precious moments figurine or personalized ring (while VERY exciting to me) is not the end of the world. Treasure life and not the material things you are waiting impatiently for it to give you because you paid for it. Patience is a Virtue.”

 There’s definitely much to be said for the notion “There’s more to life than the acquisition of material things”; however, it’s a complete non sequitur when discussing “Customers annoyed because they paid good money to acquire material things they have yet to receive.” And while patience is a virtue, it arguably takes a backseat to such virtues as “keeping your word” and “holding up your end of a bargain.”