Current Events in April 2016

Regular dental check-ups are important, but kids may not see it that way. No matter how many end-of-visit stickers are involved, a trip to the dentist is still no day at the park.

Children may eventually realize that routine dental exams are generally quick and painless, but they may encounter some doubt on the way to reaching this conclusion.

The American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry (AAPD) recommends children have their first dental visit by age 1 or within six months after their first tooth erupts. A survey finds, however, that parents tend to put off that first trip to the dentist. The average age of a child’s first dental visit is 2.6.

Babies may be too young to experience dentist-related fear, but toddlers visiting the dentist for the first time may be hit with a tinge of anxiety. So what’s the best way to help your little one shake off those jitters?

Play pretend

Enlist the help of your child’s favorite doll or stuffed animal and have a pretend dental exam. Use toothbrushes, floss, mirrors, and flashlights to help simulate the experience of a real check-up.

Use your fingers to count your child’s teeth starting with the letter A or the number 1. After you’ve played the role of pretend dentist, turn the tables and have your child be the dentist.

As you play, be sure to use the right tone and vocabulary. Put a positive spin on the experience that lies ahead by using phrases such as, “clean, strong, healthy teeth.” But when the day comes, avoid telling your child that “everything will be fine.”

“If you child ends up needing a treatment, he might lose trust in both the dentist and you," Joel H. Berg, D.D.S., M.S., Director of the Department of Dentistry at Seattle Children's Hospital tells Parents.com.

Let the pros help

It can be beneficial to get kids mentally prepared for their first dental visit, but it can also be important to prepare yourself. It’s quite likely that your child’s first exam won’t be smooth sailing all the way.

“It’s normal and age-appropriate” for kids to wiggle and fuss when they’re being examined by a stranger, explains Rhea Haugseth, D.M.D., president of the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry.

Staying calm and letting dental care professionals lead the way is important. Dentists are used to tantrums and can use their own special vocabulary to help kids though the experience.

Maybe it's time to update that old real estate truism that the most important influence on a sale is location. Words seem to have a lot of impact too.

Real estate marketplace site Zillow conducted an analysis of property descriptions, looking for keywords linked to faster sales. It found that when the description included "barn door," "shaker cabinets" or "subway tiles," homes not only spent less time on the market, they sold for up to 13% more than expected.

The analysis, by Zillow Digs, included more than two million homes that sold between January 2014 and March 2016.

The words, of course, represent what buyers appear to be looking for in the home they want to purchase. Barn doors refer to a rustic type of sliding door sometimes found on bedroom closets and kitchen pantries.

Barn doors are in demand

They are proving to be so popular that some homeowners who don't have them are actually adding them as a retrofit. And it could be a sound investment. Of the 60 keywords in the Zillow Digs analysis, “barn door” produced the best results.

"When it comes to real estate listing descriptions – words matter," Dr. Svenja Gudell, Zillow chief economist, said in a release. "Your listing description is an opportunity to highlight specific details and finishes that might not be visible in photos.”

Gudell says the research results suggest that demand is very strong for Craftsman-style homes and amenities. Homeowners who have these features, she says, should make a point of highlighting them when their homes go on the market.

Subway tiles

Subway tiles, which refer to the type of white, tightly grouted tile used to line New York subway tunnels at the start of the 20^th century, are also a popular feature in kitchen and bathrooms. They are now so trendy that Gudell says if you are able to put “subway tiles” in your home's description, it suggests to the potential buyer that the home probably has other desirable features, like an open floor plan and well-appointed kitchen.

It all comes down to understanding trends and knowing what's hot. It is especially important for homeowners who are remodeling. Being able to later advertise that the home has a “farmhouse sink” might produce more traffic and a higher price.

A picture might be worth a thousand words, but when it comes to selling your home, the right word could be worth thousands of dollars.

Are you one of the 40 million adult Americans who suffers from anxiety? If so, you’ve probably been on the receiving end of such comments as, “Just calm down” or “Don’t sweat the small stuff.”

To others, your heightened sense of dread may seem unwarranted. But what well-meaning friends may not know is that your anxiety can’t simply be switched off -- the way you see the world is different.

According to a study in the journal Current Biology, anxiety is the result of a fundamental difference in a person’s brain. That difference? The brain's plasticity, or its ability to change and reorganize itself by forming new connections.

Researchers from the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel found that this brain difference dictates how a person responds to stimuli. For the anxiety-prone brain, it may be tricky to tell the difference between neutral or “safe” stimuli and threatening stimuli.

Overgeneralizing emotional experiences

The scientists found that those with anxiety experience lasting plasticity even after an emotional experience (or a “stimulus”) ends. In other words, when a person with anxiety comes across a new and completely irrelevant situation, their brains might still be sending “possible threat” alerts; this results in characteristic feelings of anxiety.

Anxious people tend to overgeneralize emotional experiences, the researchers note. This means that even if a new scenario hasn’t yet proved itself a threat, anxious brains will be primed and ready to dish out anxiety, regardless.

Perhaps the most important finding in the study is that anxious people can’t control it. This response is due a fundamental difference in their brain. “It’s a perceptual inability to discriminate,” lead researcher Rony Paz said in a statement.

Destigmatizing anxiety

People with anxiety, depression, and other mental illnesses often report feeling somewhat misunderstood. But Paz says these findings might help shed some light on the fact that people with anxiety aren’t responsible for it and that the response in itself isn’t “bad.”

"Anxiety traits can be completely normal, and even beneficial evolutionarily,” says Paz, "Yet an emotional event, even minor sometimes, can induce brain changes that might lead to full-blown anxiety.”

What can you do if you suffer from anxiety? The Anxiety and Depression Association of America (ADAA) recommends the following coping strategies: 

• Take a time-out. Yoga, music, and meditation are just a few of the relaxation techniques that can help you clear your head.
• Eat balanced meals. Maintain a healthy diet and don't skip meals. This can help prevent any possible dips in energy.
• Get enough sleep. The body needs extra rest when stressed.
• Talk to someone. A problem shared is a problem halved, as the saying goes. Tell family and friends how you're feeling or get professional help by talking to a physician or therapist.

Losing weight can be a difficult enough challenge as it is, but being able to maintain that weight loss over time can be even more daunting. It is often very difficult for the body to adapt to new lifestyle changes like increased exercise and dieting; however, new research shows that there is a measurable timeframe, after which the body will adjust and accept the changes.

Researchers at the University of Copenhagen conducted a study on obesity and weight loss and found that if a person can lose weight and keep it off for a year, then the body will accept the change.

“This study shows that if an overweight person is able to maintain an initial weight loss – in this case for a year – the body will eventually ‘accept’ this new weight and thus not fight against it, as is otherwise normally the case when you are in a calorie-deficit state,” said Signe Sorensen Torekov, associate professor with the Department of Biomedical Sciences and Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Basic Metabolic Research.

Adapting to change

But what exactly changes over the course of a year that allows the body to accept its new weight? Researchers concluded that the change is primarily hormonal, specifically with two appetite-inhibiting hormones called GLP-1 and PYY.

Normally, when someone first begins to lose weight, a hormone called ghrelin spikes up and causes hunger; it’s the body’s way of reacting to the changes. GLP-1 and PYY levels are usually pretty low at this point. However, after a year of maintaining this weight loss, researchers found that GLP-1 and PYY levels actually get higher and ghrelin stays at normal levels; this translates to a person not feeling as hungry anymore, which, in turn, makes it easier to keep weight off.

Obese people, in particular, have very low GLP-1 levels, but improvements can be made if they try to adhere to a healthier lifestyle.

“We know that obese people have low levels of the appetite inhibiting hormone GLP-1. The good thing is that now we are able to show you can actually increase the levels of this hormone as well as the appetite inhibiting hormone PYY by weight loss and that the levels are kept high (=increased appetite inhibition) when you maintain your weight loss for a year,” said Eva Winning Iepsen, first author of the study.

Encouraging news

This research comes as good news to consumers who may be struggling to maintain their weight loss. Although it may be difficult for some time, the study shows that there will come a point when things get easier.

“The interesting and uplifting news in this study is that if you are able to maintain your weight loss for a longer period of time, it seems as if you have ‘passed the critical point’, and after this point, it will actually become easier for you to maintain your weight loss than [it] was immediately after the initial weight loss. . . Thus, the body is no longer fighting against you, but actually with you, which is good news for anyone trying to lose weight,” says Torekov.

The full study has been published in the European Journal of Endocrinology. 

There are a couple of strategies that most fast food places use in order to stay relevant and in the consumer eye. One, obviously, is to offer rock bottom prices that attract consumers who are looking for a deal. Another is to create a new menu item or offer that appeals to a certain consumer group that the company is looking to tap into.

Unfortunately, it seems that the second strategy didn’t exactly pay off for McDonald’s. According to a Bloomberg report, the company is choosing to take wraps off its menu, an item that was meant to attract younger, healthier eaters.

Wraps come up short

Millennials are becoming a big part of the consumer base, so it only makes sense that companies would want to try and tailor their business models to draw them in. For McDonald’s, this meant the introduction of its Premium McWraps in 2013; the new items had few calories than the franchise’s iconic burgers and were viewed as a healthier alternative.

Unfortunately, the wraps ended up being something of a flop, according to Jack Russo, an analyst for Edward Jones. Putting them together proved to be time consuming for McDonald’s employees, and consumers never really seemed to latch onto them, perhaps just because the items were just not what they were looking for.

“A lot of people who eat at restaurants aren’t interested in health and wellness. . . You’ve got to give the people what they want,” said Russo.

Looking forward

So, as a result, McDonald’s has begun phasing out wraps from the vast majority of its 14,000 U.S. locations, including both the large and snack-sized options. Some establishments may be holding on to certain varieties of wraps, such as the chicken ranch snack wrap, but consumers will find it increasingly difficult to find.

Don’t fret too much about McDonald’s well-being, though. The company’s latest promotion of offering all-day breakfast has proven to be a hit with consumers and has been a chief reason for stopping the franchise’s seven-quarter U.S. sales slump. Still, executives at the company may still be looking for a new menu item that will propel them into the future.

“We need something that’s really got some juice to it – something that really can bring some excitement again,” said Russo.

The banking landscape has gotten extremely competitive in recent years, and much of that competition has been coming from online banks, with no brick and mortar locations.

Without that overhead, and the personnel it takes to staff physical locations, online banks are in a position to offer consumers better deals and still be profitable.

Personal finance site WalletHub has studied online banks, choosing what it says are the best checking and savings accounts. What they have in common is an absence of fees and higher rates of interest than you'll find at brick and mortar banks.

Best overall

Earning best overall honors is the Bank of Internet USA Rewards Checking Account. Right off the bat, it earns big points for not charging fees – no monthly fee, no overdraft fee, no insufficient funds fee. It's even free to use ATMs.

Customers can earn a higher rate of interest on their checking account balances, but to earn the highest rate – 1.25% – you have to meet monthly goals, such as making direct deposits and engaging in a certain number of debit card transactions.

WalletHub has identified AmericaNet Rewards Checking as the account with the best interest rate. It pays up to 1.5%, but imposes a number of conditions, such as using your debit card a certain number of times.

There is no monthly maintenance fee, you can open an account with as little as $1, and the bank will reimburse you up to $25 per month for ATM fees.

The Bank5 Connect High-Interest Checking Account takes the honors for the best rewards package.

A rarity

“It’s pretty rare to find rewards in the checking account space these days, as most programs merely provide discounts on certain types of purchases,” the study authors write.

The Bank5 program works like this: you get one point for every $2 that you spend. That works out to about 0.5% cash back when used for gift cards, travel, and merchandise.

Another bonus: the account pays depositors 0.76% APY – admittedly not much, but at least it isn't charging a monthly maintenance fee. There is also a reimbursement of ATM fees up to $15 per month.

The study found 63% of online-only checking accounts do not charge a monthly maintenance fee, an increase from 56% last year. The authors say that works out to an average monthly savings of $10.75.

Consumers seem to want to spend less time in the supermarket and any number of companies are harnessing technology to make that chore easier.

Walmart has taken a slightly different approach than Amazon and other specialized delivery services. It allows customers in certain markets to send in their grocery orders and then pull up to a nearby Walmart store, where their purchases are waiting at the curb.

The company says the curbside service has been successful enough that it is being expanded. It is now available in a total of 30 U.S. markets.

The latest additions are Kansas City, Mo.; Boise, Idaho; Richmond, Va.; Virginia Beach, Va.; Austin, Tex.; Charleston, S.C.; Provo, Utah; and Daphne, Ala.

Positive feedback

“Customers tell us they’re excited about online grocery because they’re putting the time they’re saving back into meaningful parts of their lives (like spending time helping their kids with homework or having a date-night with their spouse),” Walmart vice-president Michael Bender writes on the company blog.

“They have the option of shopping whenever and wherever they want – adding to ongoing lists all week, or placing a quick order through our mobile app – putting them in control of the entire process, all the way down to when they pick up. Even better is that our grocery pickup service is 100% free to use.”

According to Walmart, 90% of curbside delivery users have used the service in the past, suggesting they find it useful. The orders are filled by store personnel specifically assigned to the task.

To use the service, consumers fill their basket online, using their computer or mobile app. Orders placed by 10 a.m. are available for pickup the same day.

Walmart rolled out the curbside pickup service last September.

Toyota Motor Sales is recalling approximately 16,880 Model Year 2016 Avalon and 41,630 model Year 2016 Camry sedans.

The front passenger seat is equipped with an Occupant Classification System (OCS) which activates/deactivates the front passenger air bag system, depending on the weight of the occupant.

There is a possibility that some vehicles may not have received proper OCS calibration during the vehicle manufacturing process. With the improper calibration, under some conditions, the front passenger airbag and the front passenger knee airbag may not deploy as designed in a crash, increasing the risk of an injury to a front seat passenger.

What to do

Toyota will notify owners of the recalled vehicles by first class mail and Toyota dealers will re-calibrate the OCS.

Owners may call Toyota customer service at 1-800-331-4331.

Amazon's Kindle is one of those little devices that started a revolution. It made more books accessible to more people than ever but also included quite a bit of collateral damage, to wit, the virtual sacking and burning of the nation's bookstores. 

The hardest thing about revolutions, of course, isn't starting them, it's keeping them going. Amazon has worked hard to keep the Kindle current, tweaking the display, controls, and battery life with each new edition.

The latest edition, the Kindle Oasis, made its debut today and features, among other things, a cover that includes a charger-battery combination that helps extend battery life to months instead of weeks -- assuming you don't read much.

We're told you can also hold the Kindle in one hand. That sounds simple, but those of us who are more or less permanently attached to the previous Kindle, the Voyage, will tell you that it can be hard to hold one-handed without inadvertently hitting page-turn controls located along both sides of the screen.

The Oasis, by contrast, is thicker on one side than the other, creating a sort of natural handle. It works for both right-handed people and southpaws. Just flip it over and the right side becomes the left, and so on.

One thing about the Kindles -- they only do one thing: deliver and display books. You can't call a friend, play a game, or pay your bills. But in their defense, each generation of the Kindle has gotten just a bit slicker than its predecessor and thus displays books very well indeed. 

They've gotten pricier too. The Oasis, when it ships later this month, will set you back $290 while the original Kindle was somewhere around $80. 

One consolation: the Oasis includes a leather cover, which was an option for earlier editions. 

A modest suggestion

For awhile there, it looks like Amazon was more or less giving away the Kindle to help it sell more books, which were once priced beginning at 99 cents. Now the books are more expensive and so are the Kindles, but those who are hopelessly addicted to reading or allergic to streaming videos continue to cling to them.

Oh, about those leather covers: they all come in dark shades, like brown, black, and merlot. Those of us who carry our Kindles around all day are constantly losing them because the dark-colored covers blend into most backgrounds. 

Maybe we could get a canary yellow or flaming red next time? Or a "find my Kindle" app?

--

Shocking disclosure: We order our Kindles and pay full price for them, just like everyone else. No promotional considerations accepted. 

Flying with children can come with a lot of anxiety for parents. In addition to making sure that all the essentials are packed and kept track of, it can be difficult to manage getting through security and boarding the plane, not to mention making sure everything goes smoothly during the actual flight.

In order to make things easier, an amendment has moved through Congress that would ensure that children can be seated next to parents on flights at no additional cost. According to the Washington Post, the proposal, which was voted to be a part of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reauthorization bill by the Senate, would also create new rules for security screening and boarding procedures.

"Commonsense protections"

The amendment could be a potential lifesaver for parents and pregnant women at the airport. It would allow the former to escort their children through security checkpoints and the latter to receive accommodations to pre-board their flights. Additionally, it would make it much easier for parents to secure adjacent seating with their young ones, something that has been harder to accomplish in recent years.

Many airlines now allow passengers to pay an extra fee for “preferred” coach seats, so unless parents are able to shell out extra money to ensure that they have seats that are together, it often doesn’t happen. Currently, many parents have to rely on altruistic passengers to switch seats with them or for gate agents to persuade those who are less willing.

“Our amendment puts in place commonsense protections that will reduce the extra and unnecessary stress applied to families and pregnant women traveling by air,” said Sen. Michael Bennet, who introduced the new stipulation.

Opposition

The amendment has met some opposition from airlines and trade groups, who say it is unnecessary. One such trade group, Airlines for America, says that passengers already have the ability to secure seats that are together without incurring any additional fees.

“Airlines have always worked to accommodate customers who are traveling together, including those traveling with children, and will continue to do so – without unnecessary federal mandates. . . We believe that customer service decisions are best left to the dedicated and experienced airline employees who interact with and receive feedback from their customers every day – not the government,” said Airlines for America spokesperson Vaughn Jennings.

Although the amendment passed unanimously in the Senate, the bill that it is attached to is still being debated – so there is still time for it to be tweaked or taken out. A spokesman for Sen. Bennet said that the real challenge will be trying to keep it attached to the bill through conference negotiations. 

The U.S. real estate market appears strong, with tight inventories driving home prices higher in most markets.

And it's not just primary residences that are in growing demand. The National Association of Realtors (NAR) reports sales of vacation homes – while down in 2015 from the year before, are nonetheless on a red hot pace.

In fact, the Realtors' group says the median sales price of both vacation and investment properties surged last year, though the number of sales declined from the previous year.

As they have done throughout their adult lives, Baby Boomers are driving this trend.

Boomers propel demand

"Baby boomers at or near retirement continue to propel the demand for second homes, although headwinds softened the overall volume of vacation sales last year," NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said in a release.

Yun says there are more buyers competing for a dwindling number of bargain-priced properties. This tighter supply in the face of rising demand may have resulted in fewer sales, but the homes that did sell sold at a premium.

Perhaps because of the popularity of cable TV shows about home “flipping,” sales of investment homes posted a significant increase in 2015, rising from 1.02 million to 1.09 million, a 7% gain. The numbers represent purchases by individual buyers, excluding institutional investors.

Yun says vacation home sales have helped Florida recover from the housing debacle of the last decade, since the bulk of vacation home sales are occurring in the south.

The downside, says Yun, is that the significant run up in price has probably squeezed out less affluent buyers looking for a vacation home.

Seeking rental income

Meanwhile, the trend in investment property is shifting away from flipping and more toward income.

"Steadily increasing home prices and strong rental demand appear to be giving more individual investors assurance that purchasing real estate will diversify their portfolios and generate additional income if they decide to rent out the home," Yun said.

The NAR survey shows the median investment home buyer last year had a household income of $95,800, and most bought a detached single-family home not far from where they lived.

Forty-two percent of buyers said they made the move to gain rental income. Only 14% cited price appreciation as a main reason for the investment.

Years ago consumers opened checking accounts at their local bank and rarely paid a fee, unless they overdrew their account.

Sometimes, even then there might not be a fee. A consumer might get a polite call from the bank manager asking that he or she put some more money in their account. It's a different story today.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the move away from free checking began when regulators clamped down on banks, making it harder to collect debit card fees. Banks are making less money by making fewer loans, with near record low interest rates.

While big banks may offer fee-free checking accounts, they usually have minimum balance requirements that depositors may or may not be able to meet. Fees, in short, make up for a lot of lost bank revenue.

What became of the unconditional, no-fine-print checking account? Has it followed the dodo bird into extinction? Not at all, you just may have to look a little harder to find it.

Look for a small bank

If you live in a small town, it's a pretty easy task since most small, community banks still offer free checking with no or minimal balance requirements. Even some larger regional banks offer the same thing.

First Citizens Bank, which operates in 200 markets with 571 branches, offers free checking. There's no monthly fee and no minimum balance requirement. It takes just $50 to open an account. If you'll look around your community, you can probably find a bank that offers something similar.

There are also online options that are available no matter where you happen to live. Here are three worth considering:

Ally Bank

Ally Bank's Interest Checking Account not only doesn't charge for checking, it pays you. You earn a small amount of interest on your balance, which admittedly won't make you rich, but at least they're paying you instead of the other way around.

There is no monthly maintenance fee and customers have free use of Allpoint ATMs. Out of network ATM fees are refunded each statement cycle, up to $10 – another nice feature.

Capital One 360

Another online option is Capital One 360. Again, there are no monthly fees and you earn a small bit of interest in your checking account. It also gives you fee-free access to Allpoint and Capital One ATMs.

USAA

For consumers in the military, or veterans and their families, USAA offers a wide range of financial services, including a free checking account. The account does not levy a monthly service fee and carries no minimum balance requirement. It offers free direct deposits, free transfers and bill pay, and free use of ATMs nationwide.

Checking account fees at banks that do charge them might not sound very high at $5 to $10 a month, but they add up over time – and they are completely unnecessary for consumers who shop around.

March turned out to be the third straight month in row for disappointing retail sales.

After falling 0.4% in January and not moving at all in February, sales were down 0.3% last month, according to figures released by the Commerce Department. Despite that decline, sales were 1.7% above the same period a year earlier.

The biggest drag came from a 2.1% drop in auto sales, followed by declines in sales by clothing and clothing accessory stores (-0.9%), food services and drinking places (-0.8%), and department stores (-0.6). Those declines were partially offset by gains with building material & garden equipment & supplies dealers (+1.4%), health and personal care stores (+1.0%), and gas stations (+0.9%).

Stifel Fixed Income Chief Economist Lindsey Piegza says the March report does not bode well for the overall economy. "This morning’s confirmation of a third consecutive month of absent consumer activity," she said, "will no doubt prompt a further downward revision to first-quarter growth, potentially into negative territory.”

The full March retail sales report is available on the Commerce Department website.

Applications for mortgages rose for a second consecutive week as contract interest rates headed downward.

Data from the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) shows that applications surged 10% in the week ending April 8.

“Helped by a persistently strong job market and low rates, applications for both conventional and government home purchase loans increased last week,” said MBA Chief Economist Mike Fratantoni. “The purchase index was at its second highest level since May 2010. Applications to refinance also increased as the 30-year contract rate decreased to its lowest level since January 2015.”

The Refinance Index jumped 11% from the previous week to its highest level since February, with the refinance share of mortgage activity increasing to 54.9% of total applications from 54.5% the previous week. The adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) share of activity increased to 5% of total applications.

The FHA share of total applications dipped to 10.8% from 11.3% the week prior, the VA share dropped from 12.2% to 11.9%, and the USDA share of total applications was unchanged at 0.8%.

Contract interest rates

• The average contract interest rate for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages (FRMs) with conforming loan balances ($417,000 or less) slipped four basis points -- from 3.86% to 3.82%, with points increasing to 0.33 from 0.32 (including the origination fee) for 80% loan-to-value ratio (LTV) loans. This is the lowest since January 2015. The effective rate decreased from last week.
• The average contract interest rate for 30-year FRMs with jumbo loan balances (greater than $417,000) dipped to 3.74% from 3.76% percent, with points increasing to 0.31 from 0.27 (including the origination fee) for 80% LTV loans. This is the lowest rate since February 2016. The effective rate decreased from last week.
• The average contract interest rate for 30-year FRMs backed by the FHA fell seven basis points to 3.66%, with points decreasing to 0.29 from 0.36 (including the origination fee) for 80% LTV loans. This is the lowest rate since April 2015. The effective rate decreased from last week.
• The average contract interest rate for 15-year FRMs was unchanged at 3.10%, with points steady at 0.37 (including the origination fee) for 80% LTV loans. The effective rate was unchanged from last week.
• The average contract interest rate for 5/1 ARMs was 2.94%, with points decreasing to 0.2 from 0.26 (including the origination fee) for 80% LTV loans. The effective rate decreased from last week.

The survey covers over 75% of all U.S. retail residential mortgage applications.

Volkswagen has turned into one of those brands that never seems to have a good day anymore. In the latest bit of bad news, Best Buy's Geek Squad is ditching its fleet of VW Beetles for the Toyota Prius C. 

And in Europe, some Volkswagen diesels are being recalled a second time because the first attempt to reprogram emissions systems didn't work as planned.

Best Buy announced its trade-in plans yesterday, saying its 1,000 Priuses are more efficient and more tech-savvy than the aging Beetles.

"The new Geekmobile, boldly bearing the updated logo, better reflects today’s new Geek Squad — the nationwide tech-support task force that is continually expanding its services to keep pace with ever-changing technology," said Best Buy's John Vomhof Jr.

The new, greener Geekmobile will cut the Geek Squad fleet’s emissions by 50 percent, as compared with the previous vehicle, which rolled out nationwide in 2004, Vomhof said, adding that the switch to the hybrid will help Best Buy make significant progress toward its commitment to reducing its own carbon emissions by 45 percent by 2020.

European fix failed

In Europe, thousands of Volkswagens recalled over the diesel emissions scandal will need to be recalled again, Reuters reported. The news agency said a software update installed on 160,000 2.0-liter diesel cars fixed the emissions problem but triggered an increase in the cars' fuel consumption.

A VW spokesman said the company will have to "go back to work on the software again."

Volkswagen has admitted that it rigged emissions control software on its TDI diesels to operate at legal levels when the cars are being tested. The rest of the time, emissions are as much as 40 times greater than regulations permit.

Analysts have warned that fixing the emissions problem may affect the cars performance or fuel consumption, or both. 

Federal and state regulators in the U.S. have rejected VW proposals to fix the problem and a federal judge has given the company until April 24 to come up with an acceptable plan. 

Although profits have never been more lucrative for airline companies, that doesn’t mean that consumers have seen the last of price hikes.

The Arizona Republic reports that Southwest Airlines has increased the fee that consumers pay in order to board flights early. Previously, the company charged consumers $12.50 to board early, but the price has now been raised to $15, a 20% increase.

Being able to board early is especially important to Southwest passengers because the company does not have assigned seating; in other words, being able to get on the plane sooner directly affects the quality of the seat you’ll get and the amount of room you’ll have to work with in the overhead luggage compartments.

Boarding groups

Currently, Southwest has three boarding groups that travelers are put into when they check in for their flight – simply named Group A, Group B, and Group C. Passengers who are on the ball and check in early have the greatest chance of being put into Groups A or B, which allow them to board earlier.

However, those who pay the extra fee for the EarlyBird Check-In option don’t have to worry about their check-in time; they are automatically put into a boarding group 36 hours before the flight – 12 hours before other passengers can even attempt to check in.

Although opting for EarlyBird Check-In doesn’t automatically guarantee that a passenger will be in Group A, it does give them a significant advantage over other passengers. Its popularity with travelers has brought in millions of dollars for Southwest over the years; it earned the company an additional $280 million in 2015 and $230 million the year before. Now, with the price hike, it may be poised to make even more.