Current Events in October 2018

On Monday, Chipotle Mexican Grill announced that it had launched a loyalty program in three pilot markets: Phoenix, Kansas City, and Columbus. The burrito chain said its Chipotle Rewards program will be released to all U.S. consumers next year.

Customers who order online or use the Chipotle app can earn 15 points for every $1 they spend, while those who order in the restaurant receive 10 points. Customers are eligible for a free entrée once they have earned 1,250 points through the program.

Customers in the three cities in which the program is being piloted will also get free chips and guac after their first Chipotle Rewards order.

Restoring faith

The roll-out of the new loyalty program follows another foodborne illness outbreak at the chain, this time at one of the company’s restaurants in Powell, Ohio. Following the outbreak, which sickened nearly 650 people, all Chipotle employees are preparing to be retrained in food safety. Previously, the chain was rocked by two E. coli outbreaks in a total of 14 states, as well as norovirus outbreaks.

Burt Flickinger III, managing director of the Strategic Resource Group, told USA Today that the new loyalty program is an attempt to target two different consumer groups.

"It's trying to get existing customers to spend more," he said. "It's to get the people who lost faith in the company with really aggressive promotional pulses."

With November now just one month away, BestBlackFriday.com has released its official 2018 Thanksgiving Day store closings list.

While many retailers choose to remain open on Turkey Day, an increasing number of brick-and-mortar retailers are opting to combat encroaching Black Friday start times -- a trend that began in 2010 when stores began opening earlier and earlier until they started opening on Thanksgiving Day.

Phil Dengler, head of editorial and content marketing for BestBlackFriday.com, notes that while every store has its own reason for deciding to keep their doors closed on Thanksgiving Day, family time has surfaced as a common theme over the years.

“Retailers understand that Thanksgiving is one of the top family-oriented holidays, and people just do not want to work,” Dengler wrote. “In addition to taking care of employees, many stores have also told us they do not want to force their customers into thinking they must shop in-store on Thanksgiving Day to get the best deals.”

Confirmed closings

Here are the 60 retailers that won’t be open on November 22, according to the site.

• A.C. Moore

• Abt Electronics

• Academy Sports + Outdoors

• Acme Tools

• Allen Edmonds

• American Girl

• At Home

• AT&T (Company-Owned Stores)

• Big 5 Sporting Goods

• BJ’s Wholesale Club

• Blain’s Farm & Fleet

• Bob’s Discount Furniture

• Burlington

• Christopher & Banks

• Cost Plus World Market

• Costco

• Craft Warehouse

• Crate and Barrel

• Dillard’s

• dressbarn (majority of stores)

• Fleet Farm

• Gardner-White Furniture

• Guitar Center

• H&M

• Half Price Books

• Harbor Freight Tools

• Hobby Lobby

• Home Depot

• HomeGoods

• Homesense

• IKEA

• JOANN Stores

• Lowe’s

• Marshalls

• Mattress Firm

• Music & Arts

• Nordstrom

• Nordstrom Rack

• P.C. Richard & Son

• Patagonia

• Pep Boys

• Petco

• PetSmart

• Pier 1 Imports

• Publix

• Raymour & Flanigan Furniture | Mattresses

• REI

• Sam’s Club

• Sierra Trading Post

• Sportsman’s Warehouse

• Sprint (Retail Stores Closed Unless Mall Dictates Otherwise; Mall Kiosks May Open)

• Staples

• Stein Mart

• Sur La Table

• The Container Store

• TJ Maxx

• Tractor Supply Co.

• Trollbeads

• Von Maur

• West Marine

BestBlackFriday.com has found that that a majority of consumers don’t mind stores being closed on Thanksgiving.

In 2017, nearly 60 percent of shoppers polled said they were against stores being open on Thanksgiving. This year, the same survey found that only a quarter of Americans actually favor Thanksgiving openings; approximately half of respondents said they dislike Thanksgiving openings.

Fitbit, the wearable activity tracking pioneer, has launched Fitbit Care, a new health platform focused on wellness, prevention, and disease management.

Fitbit Care’s business model is to fuse wearables, digital interventions, and health coaching through a smartphone app, with the goal of producing a personalized healthcare experience and, hopefully, better health results. And, with Fitbit’s recent purchase of Twine Health, a cloud-based collaborative care platform for chronic disease management, this add-on puts it in a head-to-head battle with CVS in the burgeoning remote healthcare market.

“With Fitbit Care we are delivering a solution that empowers people to take control of their health, by providing the accountability, support, guidance and resources that remove some of the most difficult barriers to behavior change,” said Dr. John Moore, Fitbit Health Solutions’ Medical Director in the company’s announcement about the new plan.

“Supporting patients beyond the walls of the doctor’s office is one of the most important things we can do to drive successful outcomes, and as a clinician, I see great potential for Fitbit Care to help tackle some of the biggest challenges in healthcare and improve health outcomes at scale.”

Despite the lucrativeness of the wearables market, Fitbit has its work cut out for it if it wants to capture the demographic that makes the most frequent visits to the doctor's office -- adults 65+. While nearly 87 percent of them visit their primary care physician at least every six months, only 4.4 percent of the folks in that demographic are activity tracker users.

How Fitbit’s plan will work

If all goes according to plan, patients will be able to have a personalized care plan that serves as the foundation for their own virtual “care team” of physicians, nurses, health coaches, family, and friends.

Fitbit’s combination of devices and software will allow individuals to track activity, sleep, heart rate, and other metrics without interruption. If a user consents to it, their data will be shared in real-time with their care team so proactive decisions can be made earlier and quicker in the face of, say, the incubation of an illness.

While it will take another sign-off, Fitbit Care users can also take part in private social groups within Fitbit’s social feed and guided workouts that provide anywhere, anytime training.

“With more ways to customize social communities and digital tools to support healthy behavior, enterprise customers can provide members and employees with even more motivation and encouragement to achieve their health goals,” Fitbit wrote.

The third and final piece in Fitbit’s new initiative is health coaching. Using in-app messaging, phone calls, and even in-person conferences, coaches will work with participants to support a patient’s goals such as managing their weight, cutting back on smoking, even chronic conditions like diabetes or depression, as well as more complex conditions like congestive heart failure.

Humana Inc. is the first to sign up for Fitbit Care, and quite the plum for Fitbit given the 5 million members Humana will give Fitbit access to.

The nation's largest banks were shaken to their core by the financial crisis of 2008, and some consumer services suffered because of it.

But 10 years later, a study by J.D. Power and Associates finds banks have improved convenience to consumers, offered seamless digital tools, and beefed up their checking account and credit card offerings. As a result, customer satisfaction with banks is improving.

According to the J.D. Power 2018 U.S. National Banking Satisfaction Study, Chase ranks highest by consistently performing well in this new banking environment, earning points for preventing and resolving customer problems.

The study reviewed the performance of six national banks that account for 44 percent of the nation's deposits.

Consistent customer experience

"The core value proposition for the largest retail banks is delivering a consistent customer experience anywhere, anytime, and across all interaction channels," said Bob Neuhaus, financial services consultant at J.D. Power. "As we dig into the results, it becomes clear that consistency, above all else, is what sets the top performers apart from the pack."

Neuhaus says one clear trend in the report is that the banks that ranked the highest tend to be most consistent in the level of service they provide. Chase led the pack with a score of 854, but PNC was close behind at 849, followed by U.S. Bank with a score of 839.

While reviews posted at ConsumerAffairs are mixed, J., a Chase customer from Arlington, Texas, cites many of the attributes contained in the J.D. Power study as the reason he's happy with the bank.

"They have convenient hours and great locations," J. writes in his post. "They also offer state of the art services that help you avoid standing in line. You can easily make check and cash deposits and get bills in any denomination you choose without ever having to speak to a teller. The mobile app is great too."

Fewer “unbanked” consumers

Banks came in for a lot of criticism in the wake of the financial crisis when they imposed new fees and unilaterally closed some checking and credit card accounts. Because of that, many consumers joined the ranks of the "unbanked," not having a relationship with any financial institution.

A survey conducted by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) in 2015 found 15 million U.S. adults had no banking relationship. FDIC now estimates that number has fallen to 10 million.

Following a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) over his statements on social media, Tesla chief executive Elon Musk has agreed to step down as the company’s chairman. Additionally, both Musk and the company will pay separate $20 million fines.

The fraud charges spun out of Musk’s Aug 7 tweet, in which he said he was “considering taking Tesla private at $420. Funding secured.”

Tesla stock prices soared immediately following the tweet, but they dropped once it became evident that the CEO had not discussed specific deal terms with any source of potential funding. The Commission alleges that Musk’s statement caused significant market disruption.

While Musk will be stepping down as board chairman, he will remain the company’s CEO.

In a statement over the weekend, SEC chairman Jay Clayton said the conditions of the agreement are in the best interests of U.S. markets and shareholders.

“This matter reaffirms an important principle embodied in our disclosure-based federal securities laws. Specifically, when companies and corporate insiders make statements, they must act responsibly, including endeavoring to ensure the statements are not false or misleading and do not omit information a reasonable investor would consider important in making an investment decision,” Clayton said.

Conditions of the settlement

As part of the settlement, Tesla “agreed to add two new independent directors to its board and monitor the billionaire’s public communications more closely,” according to The Washington Post. Musk will resign as chairman within 45 days and will not be eligible to be re-elected Chairman for three years.

Musk was not required to admit wrongdoing under the terms of the settlement. Last week, the CEO said he was “deeply saddened and disappointed” by the SEC’s “unjustified” legal action.

“This unjustified action by the SEC leaves me deeply saddened and disappointed. I have always taken action in the best interests of truth, transparency and investors,” Musk told TechCrunch. “Integrity is the most important value in my life and the facts will show I never compromised this in any way.”

A new study out of Michigan State University found that checking emails can have as many negative effects on bosses and managers as it does on employees.

The study, which was recently published in the Journal of Applied Psychology, found that when managers feel overwhelmed they tend to stick to smaller tasks in an effort to feel more productive.

“Like most tools, email is useful but it can become disruptive and even damaging if used excessively or inappropriately,” said lead researcher Russell Johnson. “When managers are the ones trying to recover from email interruptions, they fail to meet their goals, they neglect manager responsibilities, and their subordinates don’t have the leadership behavior they need to thrive.”

Emails interrupt progress

Emails can interrupt a good portion of workers’ days; the researchers found that both employees and managers spend over an hour and a half per day recovering from email-related interruptions. As troublesome as this can be for everyone in the workplace, the findings suggest the effects could be worse for managers.

Johnson and his team came to their conclusions after evaluating surveys collected from a group two days a week for two weeks. The surveys had managers report on their frequency in engaging in leadership behaviors, frequency and demand of emails, initiation of leadership behaviors, and their perceived progress on core job duties.

Johnson noted that on days when the managers reported more email interruptions, they not only engaged in fewer leadership-related behaviors, but also had lower perceptions on their work-related progress. He suggests that the effects go beyond just the managers’ own work, but can filter out into their other employees.

“The moral of the story is that managers need to set aside specific times to check email,” Johnson said. “This puts the manager in control -- rather than reacting whenever a new message appears in the inbox, which wrestles control away from the manager.

“As we cite in the paper, findings from prior research suggest that it takes time for employees to transition between email and work tasks, so minimizing the number of times they have to make that transition is to their benefit.”

Increased anxiety

Previous studies have shown the effects that answering emails can have on employees -- both during the workday and during their commutes.

At the end of last month, a study out of the University of West England found that if employees were on the clock while checking/responding to emails during their commutes, it would likely “allow for more comfort and flexibility.”

Based on interviews with commuters, the researchers found that many workers appreciate their commuting time and use it to tie up loose ends, both before and after the work day. Additionally, many workers use their time commuting to transition roles -- for example, those with children will need to get them ready for school at home and may use their commute as time to prepare for their responsibilities at the office.

Additionally, a study from Virginia Tech found that just the thought of being expected to check emails during non-work hours caused workers to experience anxiety. There were 100 employees in the study who experienced negative effects from excessive email checking, and their spouses were also affected.

The research team hoped that the study would encourage employers to set clear boundaries where checking emails are concerned, as being upfront about expectations can help assuage anxiety in employees.

“If the nature of the job requires email availability, such expectations should be stated formally as part of job responsibilities,” said study co-author William Becker, a Virginia Tech associate professor of management in the Pamplin College of Business.

American Honda Motor Co. is recalling 232,140 model year 2018 Accords and model year 2019 Insights.

In certain cases, the back-up camera center display may not function properly.

Failure of the rearview camera to show what is behind the vehicle can increase the risk of a crash.

What to do

Honda will notify owners, and dealers will reprogram the display audio unit software, free of charge.

The recall is expected to begin November 5, 2018.

Owners may contact Honda customer service at 1-888-234-2138. Honda's numbers for this recall are K2G and V2F.

Continental Tire the Americas is recalling 1,990 Conti Hybrid HS3 tires, size 11R22.5 LI 146/143, Load Range H with DOT codes A33TKWUY 0818 through A33TKWUY 1318.

The tires may have cords visible through the innerliner.

Tires that have cords visible through the innerliner can have sudden air loss, causing a loss of vehicle control, increasing the risk of a crash.

What to do

Continental Tire will notify owners, and dealers will provide replacement tires, free of charge.

The recall was expected to begin in September 2018.

Owners may contact Continental customer service at (800)726-7113.