Current Events in December 2019

Morris Meat Packing of Maywood, Ill., is recalling approximately 515,000 pounds of various raw, intact pork products.

The items were produced without undergoing federal inspection and outside inspection hours.

There are no confirmed reports of adverse reactions.

A list of the raw, intact items, produced on Saturdays from November 25, 2017, to November 9, 2019, can be found here.

These recalled products were shipped to distributors and retail locations in Illinois.

What to do

Customers who purchased the recalled products should not consume them, but discard or return them to the place of purchase.

Consumers with questions may contact Frank Masellis at (708) 865-8566.

Takata is recalling 1.4 million Non-Azide Driver airbag inflators (NADI).

The inflators were used in some brands of model year 1995-2000 vehicles and do not contain phase stabilized ammonium nitrate propellant.

Due to a manufacturing issue, the NADI inflators may absorb moisture, causing the inflators to rupture or the airbag cushion to underinflate.

In a crash necessitating airbag deployment, an inflator rupture may result in metal fragments striking the driver or other occupants.

Additionally, an underinflated air bag may not properly protect the occupant, increasing the risk of serious injury or death.

What to do

Takata will be working with vehicle manufacturers to determine into which vehicles the affected inflators were installed either as original or replacement equipment during service.

As this work progresses, numerous vehicle recalls will likely be announced by the affected vehicle manufacturers.

The recall is expected to begin on January 24, 2020.

While many consumers prefer rural areas to more populated cities, experts have raised concerns when it comes to health care in small towns. 

Now, a new study conducted by researchers from Saint Louis University found that residents of small towns could be experiencing poorer health care due to a lack of specialists in these areas. 

“People on Medicare with chronic conditions such as heart failure or diabetes who live in rural areas have higher death and hospitalization rates than their urban peers,” said researcher Kenton Johnston, PhD. “The biggest reason for this appears to be that people in rural areas have less access to specialist physicians like cardiologists and endocrinologists.” 

The importance of specialists

The researchers focused on those receiving Medicare benefits in an attempt to understand the effect that a lack of health care specialists can have on residents with chronic conditions. 

In looking at both hospital databases and Medicare claims, the researchers found that patients had better health outcomes when they had access to both primary care physicians and condition-specific specialists. However, the study also revealed that access to such care is incredibly limited in rural areas, and residents typically have no other choice but to see their primary care doctors. 

As crucial as primary care is, the researchers found that the lack of access to a health care specialist increased the risk of patients going to the hospital and the risk of mortality. In rural areas, patients were 40 percent more likely to go to the hospital and had a 23 percent increased risk of death when there was limited access to specialists. 

Increasing access

These findings revealed that countless patients are being hospitalized for conditions that are completely preventable. In order to promote better health outcomes, the researchers hope that legislators take these findings seriously and do more to get health care specialists to rural neighborhoods, even just a few days a week. 

By taking the necessary steps to increase patients’ access to specialists, the researchers say policymakers can help consumers live longer and have better overall quality of life. 

“Our research shows that all Medicare beneficiaries with chronic conditions -- urban and rural -- have lower death and hospitalization rates when they visit a specialist at least once annually,” said Dr. Johnston. “Primary care is important, but it is not enough by itself; specialist care is needed as well.” 

If you asked consumers who they have to thank for their love of mobile phones, most would probably say Apple, or Nokia, or Samsung. Truth be known, though, it’s really Motorola that deserves the nod for creating the world's first commercial handheld mobile phone, way back in 1983.

But, despite all its innovations ranging from bag phones to flip phones and clam phones, Motorola has pretty much fallen off the map in the last few years, losing considerable consumer prowess over the last few years at the hands of Apple and Samsung. 

But, the company says to call off the EMS units because it’s going to try and regain its flagship space

Razr sharp? Better be.

The first box Motorola has checked off is a new Moto Razr, an Android-based foldable smartphone styled after the original Razr.

“The reimagination of the Razr some 15 years after the original isn't just a play on nostalgia, it's a fully formed flip phone with a whole host of fun and functional features,” is how Mike Lowe at PocketLint took to Motorola’s return home. However, he hedged his outlook with a qualifier.

“Sure, the processor isn't the best going, the cameras aren't a particularly prominent feature, and the battery life might well be questionable (we can't say for certain just yet),” Lowe said.

The second -- and maybe more important -- box Motorola hopes to tick is a phone that supports 5G, the highly anticipated technology that will give consumers the fastest service they’ve ever had. Reports say that when the company launches a “premium smartphone” sometime in early 2020, that device will have 5G capability.

None too soon, either

Motorola has taken it on the chin from ConsumerAffairs reviewers, and if Lowe’s comment about the Razr addressing issues with “build quality in a proper and convincing way” is true, then it’s none too soon.

Reflecting on his frustrations with a previous Motorola phone, Mike of Winter Haven, FL wrote that he dreaded turning on his device, “because there are always 20 to 26 updates that need to be made every time I turn it on. It is never endless and it is a pain (in) the butt. So I turned it off forever. I have accomplished what I needed to do and now use it as a doorstop.”

While some consumers having nothing but good things to say about their Moto phones, the company still has some work to do on the customer service end, particularly when things go bad.

“My phone has LED burn for the second time. There (sic) phones are shotty (sic) at best,” remarked David of Orangevale, CA. “They only give options to lose your phone for 10 days or have to redo a new one with a deposit that most people don't get back even after a fight. They need more options for their crappy phones.”

For years, Sprint failed to keep an accurate count of how many low-income customers it serves through the federal Lifeline program, according to regulatory documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. 

The Journal, which obtained the documents through a public information request, found that an error in how the carrier counted subscriber usage of the Lifeline service during the years 2013 and 2014 caused dormant accounts to be kept live. Subsequently, Sprint was allowed to continue collecting subsidies for those customers. 

In one instance, a customer in Oregon died but her account retained its “active” status for months. The problem was found to be widespread, affecting thousands of accounts across the nation. Sprint discovered the problem, but it never commented on how many subscribers it lost after remedying the issue. 

Sprint’s Lifeline mistakes 

Sprint is facing a separate investigation and a potential settlement with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The agency found in September that Sprint improperly collected millions of dollars in federal subsidies for 885,000 Lifeline customers whose accounts had gone dormant. 

The carrier said its error was caused by a 2017 issue affecting the system it used to calculate usage and eligibility for Lifeline subscribers.  

“While the facts make clear that Sprint did make a mistake, it is also clear that Sprint corrected that mistake and cooperated with regulators,” a Sprint spokesman told the Journal, noting that the two incidents are separate and unrelated.

Despite consistent reports which suggest that many workers think they aren’t moving ahead financially, new data shows that people working for small businesses are enjoying increased wage growth.

Paychex, a payroll and HR solutions firm, reports that hourly earnings rose 3.75 percent among small business employees in November. For the year, earnings growth is at the highest point since the company began reporting in 2011.

The company says the reason for rising wages is simple: the labor market is tight and small businesses are having an especially hard time finding and retaining qualified employees.

"Employers are responding to the challenges of the tight labor market," said Martin Mucci, Paychex’s CEO. "We've seen a steady climb in hourly earnings growth, now reaching the highest levels in nearly a decade." 

Broken down geographically, small businesses in the South lead the nation in the number of people who are hired. The West is the leader in pushing up wages.

Dallas retains its position as the top metro for small business job growth while three California metros -- Los Angeles, San Francisco, and San Diego -- lead the nation in hourly earnings growth. Wages are rising fastest in leisure and hospitality businesses.

Different story a year ago

A year ago, employees were complaining about a lack of pay increases. The Washington Post reported that many U.S. workers’ 2018 take-home pay was exactly the same as it was in 2017. The growth in job creation did not necessarily lead to a growth in wages.

"Roughly 14 percent of workers — or one in seven — have seen their earnings stall over the past year, counting only those who have stayed in the same job," the Post reported. "That’s only a slight improvement over the 16 percent rate reached in the hangover years after the Great Recession."

It’s not clear what’s responsible for the discrepancy, but it may be the fact that there is more competition for employees among small business employers than employers in general.

Year-end bonus

Meanwhile, a separate report suggests that you’re likely to get another year-end bonus if you received one last year -- and this one will probably be worth more money. New research from global staffing firm Robert Half found more than three-quarters of senior managers said their company offers year-end bonuses. 

Of those, almost all noted that their organizations plan to either increase bonuses or keep them the same. Only 4 percent suggested bonuses might be lower this year.

Despite some positive news surrounding cannabis, including efforts by more states to legalize it, a new study conducted by researchers from St. Michael’s Hospital found a potential risk associated with the drug. 

According to the researchers, patients are more likely to have a heart attack after surgery if they have a history of misusing cannabis. 

“While cannabis is often purported as being safe or benign, we don’t fully understand the health implications of this drug, particularly in heavy users,” said researcher Dr. Karim Ladha. “The results of this study make it clear that we need to pay more attention to cannabis users undergoing surgery.” 

Reducing risk

The researchers analyzed surgery records from over four million adults between 2006 and 2015 to determine the risk for heart attack when considering excessive cannabis use. 

All of the patients involved in the study had one of the following procedures: cesarean section, hysterectomy, total hip replacement, total knee replacement, breast surgery, cholecystectomy, hernia repair, coronary artery bypass graft, laminectomy, or colectomy. 

The study revealed that patients who had been diagnosed with cannabis use disorder had nearly double the risk of having a heart attack post-op when compared to those who either didn’t use the drug or used it in a healthy way. 

With cannabis becoming more widely used for both physical and mental health benefits, these findings are important because they highlight the risks that could arise when the drug is overused. 

Identifying downward trends

Another recent study found that cannabis use disorder is declining among young people. Experts say the condition arises when someone is overusing the drug, changing plans to use the drug, or starting to engage in risky behaviors to use the drug, among several other concerns. 

The researchers credit changing societal values as one possible reason young people aren’t using the drug as much, though they also found that those who quit the habit may not be doing so because of health concerns. 

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas when Starbucks rolls out its holiday promotion, “Starbucks for Life.”

The coffee chain has done so once again, offering its rewards members a chance at earning one free Starbucks purchase every day for the rest of their life -- or the next 30 years, whichever comes first.

As in previous years, five Starbucks customers will be grand prize winners with others getting secondary prizes. Rewards card members can enter by making a Starbucks purchase with a Starbucks card or through the company’s app. Consumers can also enter for free on the contest website.

Secondary prizes include a free Starbucks product each day for a year or for six months. Some winners will get movie tickets, rewards credit, or a video game console.

Since the contest is designed to promote Starbucks’ rewards program, you must be a rewards member to enter. Once entered you can play twice each day by making a purchase using the Starbucks card or by requesting a free play on the contest website.

Annual event since 2014

Starbucks launched the promotion in 2014 and found it was a traffic-builder. It’s been so popular that at times the contest site has had trouble keeping up.

In conjunction with the contest rollout, the coffee chain launched a new drink for the holidays, Irish Cream Cold Brew. It will be served at participating locations during the holiday period.

The Irish Cream Cold Brew is made with cold brew coffee and Irish cream flavored syrup over ice, topped with vanilla sweet cream cold foam and dusted with cocoa powder. 

It joins other holiday drinks on the menu, such as the Caramel Brulée Latte, Peppermint Mocha, Chestnut Praline Latte, Toasted White Chocolate Mocha, and Eggnog Latte.

Mercedes-Benz USA (MBUSA) is recalling 24,226 model year 2013-2017 of the vehicleslisted here.

Due to a software fault, the date and time for the emergency call system (eCall) may differ from the actual date and time, potentially relaying an inaccurate vehicle location. An inaccurate vehicle location may delay emergency responders, increasing the risk of injury.

What to do

MBUSA has initiated an Over the Air (OTA) remote update. MBUSA will also notify owners, and dealers will check software for a successful OTA or update the communication module software as needed free of charge.

The recall is expected to begin December 31, 2019.

Owners may contact MBUSA customer service at 1-800-367-6372.

Missa Bay of Swedesboro, N.J., is recalling approximately 75,233 pounds of salads that contain meat or poultry.

The lettuce ingredient may be contaminated with E. coli O157:H7.

The list of recalled items, produced from October 14 – 16, 2019, may be found here.

The recalled products, bearing establishment number “EST. 18502B” inside the USDA mark of inspection, were shipped to distribution locations in Alabama, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Virginia and Wisconsin.

What to do

Customers who purchased the recalled products should not consume them, but discard or return them to the place of purchase.

Consumers with questions may contact Mary Toscano (800) 800-7822.

Shoppers flocked to the internet Monday to snap up Cyber Monday deals, spending an estimated $9.2 billion, a new record.

Adobe Analytics, which tracks both in-store and online spending, reports sales increased more than 16 percent over 2018 as shoppers bought toys, TVs, and video games.

Despite those impressive numbers, sales fell slightly short of what retailers were hoping for; but they didn’t miss by much. To get close to the record, Adobe said retailers had to offer consumers better deals than in the past.

“Retailers unlocked sales earlier to combat a shorter shopping season while continuing to drive up promotion of the big branded days including Black Friday and Cyber Monday,” said John Copeland, head of Marketing and Consumer Insights at Adobe. “Consumers capitalized on deals and ramped up spending, especially on smartphones, where activity increased on days when shoppers were snowed or rained in.”

More consumers order with their phone

In fact, the number of purchases made on smartphones continued to rise this year, though most orders were still placed from desktop computers. The Adobe report shows that 36 percent of Cyber Monday purchases were made on smartphones, compared to 59 percent on PCs.

The top items closely mirrored the other designated holiday shopping days. Best-sellers include NERF products, Nintendo Switch consoles, Frozen 2 toys, LOL Surprise Dollars, Samsung TVs, the Jedi Fallen Order video game, and Fire TVs. Among kitchen appliances, air fryers topped the list.

Amazonreports that Cyber Monday was the single-biggest shopping day in the company’s history, shattering last year’s record.

Consumers didn’t wait for Cyber Monday to start buying online. A report from ShopperTrak shows Black Friday sales at brick-and-mortar outlets fell more than 6 percent as more sales moved online. Nasty weather in the Northeast contributed to that trend.

But that didn’t hurt overall sales, as consumers simply did more shopping online on Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and Small Business Saturday. Consumers spent a record $7.4 billion on Black Friday alone.

Consumers’ decreasing tolerance for standing in lines was further reflected in the 43 percent increase in buy-online-pickup-in-store (BOPIS) orders. Adobe said the increase in these sales suggested that many retailers are “successfully bridging online and offline retail operations.”

Earlier this year, researchers found that hospital patients could be contributing to the spread of superbugs through their hands. 

Now, a new study conducted by researchers from Aston University found that household make-up products, like beauty blenders and mascara, could be a hotspot for deadly superbugs. 

“Consumers’ poor hygiene practices when it comes to using make-up, especially beauty blenders, is very worrying when you consider that we found bacteria such as E.coli -- which is linked with faecal contamination -- breeding on the products we tested,” said researcher Dr. Amreen Bashir. 

Keeping beauty products clean

To understand how beauty products could be a host for superbugs, the researchers tested popular make-up products that were donated for the purposes of the study. 

All donated products had been used by consumers and were put into one of five categories before the researchers tested them for various strains of bacteria: beauty blenders, mascara, lip gloss, eyeliner, and lipstick. 

The researchers found that 90 percent of all products donated for the study had been contaminated; the team detected traces of E.coli, the bacteria known to cause staph infections, and Citrobacter freundii.   

The study revealed that beauty blenders, which have grown in popularity recently, were the biggest culprits of such bacteria. The researchers say these products are susceptible to new bacteria as they’re often left damp after each use. To make matters worse, over 60 percent of consumers reported using beauty blender after dropping it on the floor, while over 90 percent never cleaned these products.

Importance of proper hygiene

These findings are particularly important because consumers buy and utilize beauty products on a regular basis, and many are unaware of the bacteria they could be exposing themselves to. 

Moving forward, the researchers hope that consumers taking their beauty product hygiene seriously, as these findings highlight how they could be contaminating themselves with a wide array of life-threatening bacteria. 

“More needs to be done to help educate consumers and the make-up industry as a whole about the need to wash beauty blenders regularly and dry them thoroughly, as well as the risks of using make-up beyond its expiry date,” said Dr. Bashir. 

Trump told reporters in London on Tuesday that he supports the idea of “waiting until after the 2020 election for the China deal.” He said he has “no deadline” for the trade deal.  

“In some ways, I like the idea of waiting until after the election for the China deal, but they want to make a deal now and we’ll see whether the deal’s gonna be right -- it's gotta be right," Trump told reporters in London, where he is attending an international NATO summit. 

The U.S. and China have been engaged in a long-running trade dispute. Since the beginning of 2018, the nations have imposed tariffs on billions of dollars’ worth of each others’ goods. Another round of tariffs on Chinese exports are slated to go into effect December 15 if the two sides are unable to strike a deal before then. 

Impact on major stock indexes

In October, Trump said a “phase one” deal with China was nearly complete. However, his latest comments revived feelings of trade uncertainty and caused stock futures to turn sharply lower. The Dow Jones industrial average plunged more than 400 points, and the S&P 500-stock index and Nasdaq composite also fell, CNBC reported. 

The President said the stock market repercussions to his comments were “peanuts” compared to how much the market has gained since his election, as well as the importance of reaching a favorable trade deal with China. 

“If the stock market goes up or down: I don’t watch the stock market. I watch jobs. Jobs are what I watch,” he said at the NATO summit. Tuesday’s move is “peanuts compared to — We have picked up record numbers so that’s OK. That’s the way I feel.”

Thanks to the U.S.-China trade war, consumer confidence in America has been on a slippery slope for the last few months.

A logical thinker would presume that downturn would impact the holiday buying season. However, come the holidays, logical thinking goes out the door in favor of making sure that friends and family have what they want under the tree.

In fact, shoppers with kiddos are so concerned about not disappointing their children that 61 percent of them would submissively damage their credit score just to make other people happy, according to a new survey by Self and OnePoll.

Season’s reasons

Whether you call it guilt, indulgence, or kindness, all bets are off during the holidays. In addition to dropping an average of $675 on gifts and putting credit scores at risk, consumers are also willing to go to other lengths according to the study:

• Almost half of the parents surveyed (46 percent) said they’ve gone without gifts for themselves or their partner to be able to get their children what they want. 

• Fifty-nine percent or respondents owned up to overspending on their kids

• Parents place some of the blame for overspending squarely on playground pompousness. Seventy-one percent of the study group said they anguish about their children going back to school after the holiday break and having to face the “what’d you get” tsunami.

“Around the holidays there’s a lot of pressure to please everyone – your friends, partner, family, kids, whoever – and be extra generous," James Garvey, CEO of Self told ConsumerAffairs. "Unfortunately, people often equate generosity with spending a lot of money. That can leave you in a tight financial spot for months to come if you don’t prepare for it ahead of time.”

Adding to the load

WalletHub analyst Jill Gonzalez tells ConsumerAffairs that the study results are in line with previous findings about holiday debt. She points out that 35 million Americans are still carrying debt they incurred from last holiday season.

“The fact that so many people were unable to pay their debt throughout the year, and that so much of the population is willing to go into more debt this Christmas, is alarming. Carrying such a large balance for consecutive years has the potential to damage credit scores in the long term," Gonzalez said.

Ok, boomer

Baby boomers might be quick to pin the go-in-debt trend on the millennials, but they’re actually the generation that needs to look at themselves in the mirror because credit card debt is a bigger issue for them.

“As baby boomers reach retirement, often having more debt can be a financial challenge, while millennials have their entire earnings trajectory,” Sarah Sattelmeyer, the manager of Pew Charitable Trusts’ student borrower success project, told MorningConsult.

Beat it before it beats you

Garvey says there are several things consumers can do to cut down on the amount of debt they might incur during the holidays. One of his suggestions is to draw names from a hat and have each person give just one gift, rather than buying separate presents for everyone. 

“Or offer to host and provide food as your gift, but not extra presents,” he said. “A little creativity might be just as well appreciated and keep you from adding to your debt.”

“The best way to avoid overspending on the holidays is to start saving in advance,” Garvey added. “But if you’ve passed that point for this year, consider other ways to be generous.”

In an open letter published Monday, U.S. business leaders pushed for the government to renew its commitment to the Paris Climate Agreement. The letter comes roughly a month after the Trump administration announced that it would begin formally withdrawing from the climate pact. 

Tech executives -- including Apple CEO Tim Cook, Tesla’s Elon Musk, Google’s Sundar Pichai, Microsoft’s Satya Nadella, and The Walt Disney Company’s Bob Iger, among others -- expressed strong support for the idea of staying in the Paris Agreement. 

"There has been progress, but not enough," reads the United For The Paris Agreement letter. "This moment calls for greater, more accelerated action than we've seen. It calls for the strong policy framework the Paris Agreement provides, one that allows the US the freedom to choose our own path to emissions reductions."

Need for government action 

Beyond signaling their support of the agreement, the company executives urged the United States to reconsider its plan to withdraw from the climate pact. On Twitter, Apple CEO Tim Cook said "humanity has never faced a greater or more urgent threat than climate change."

The agreement, they say, will help counter the effects of climate change as well as pave the way for a “just transition” of the U.S. workforce to “new decent, family supporting jobs and economic opportunity.” 

The joint statement was signed by the heads of 75 companies, along with the AFL-CIO, which represents 12.5 million workers. 

“We the undersigned are a group of CEOs who employ more than 2 million people in the United States and union leaders who represent 12.5 million workers,” the letter reads. “Together, we know that driving progress on addressing climate change is what’s best for the economic health, jobs, and competitiveness of our companies and our country.” 

Security researchers recently found an unsecured database housing a massive collection of text messages containing private information. Nearly 1 billion entries belonging to over 100 million U.S. citizens were found in the database, stored in plain text. 

A majority of the messages were sent by businesses to customers, and “hundreds of thousands of entries” included details about users (including full names, phone numbers, addresses, emails, and more), according to cybersecurity experts Noam Rotem and Ran Locar. 

In a blog post, the researchers said "tens of millions" of text messages were left "completely unsecured and unencrypted” for an extended period of time. They believe text messaging firm TrueDialog -- an SMS provider for businesses and higher education providers -- is responsible for the leak. 

Database now offline

TrueDialog operates a service that enables businesses to text marketing materials and alerts to their clients in bulk. Recipients are even able to text back. The firm boasts five billion subscribers worldwide. 

"We contacted the company. We disclosed our findings and offered our expertise in helping them close the data leak and ensure nobody was exposed to risk," the researchers said. "The database has since been closed, but TrueDialog never replied to us." 

Although the database was pulled offline on November 29, Rotem and Locar say the risk potential of the leak may linger for hundreds of millions of users.

“The available information can be sold to both marketers and spammers," the researchers said.

Since the database is now offline, there’s no way to tell who was impacted by the leak. To protect against the possibility of online exposure, security researchers continue to recommend that consumers set up two-factor authentication and frequently change their passwords on Google and Facebook accounts. 

TechCrunch notes that the leak is “another example of why SMS text messages may be convenient but is not a secure way to communicate — particularly for sensitive data, like sending two-factor codes.”