CarMax, Virgin America, Others Ditching L.A. Clippers Over Owner’s Alleged Racist Comments

If we learned anything from Deengate last year, it’s that if people don’t like what you’re allegedly saying, big companies will no doubt cut ties and run in order to avoid as much of the fallout as possible. Joining Paula Deen and others before her in the rejected corporate sponsorships arena is the L.A. Clippers, whose owner Don Sterling has been accused of making racist comments.

So far CarMax, Virgin America and Kia Motors have confirmed they’ll be terminating sponsorship deals with the Clippers after Sterling allegedly was heard on tape telling a female friend not to bring black people to Clippers games.

CarMax said in a statement to the Huffington Post:

“CarMax finds the statements attributed to the Clippers’ owner completely unacceptable. These views directly conflict with CarMax’s culture of respect for all individuals. While we have been a proud Clippers sponsor for 9 years and support the team, fans and community, these statements necessitate that CarMax end its sponsorship.”

According to CNBC, Virgin America has also ended its sponsorship deal with the team:

ALERT: Virgin America has made the decision to end its sponsorship of the L.A. Clippers. (via @RyanRuggiero)—

Sports Biz (@CNBCSportsBiz) April 28, 2014

A spokesman confirmed, saying: “While we continue to support the fans and the players, Virgin America has made the decision to end its sponsorship of the L.A. Clippers.”

Kia Motors is yanking the plug after working with forward Blake Griffin on ads, according to a statement given to USA Today:

“The comments allegedly made by Clippers owner Donald Sterling are offensive and reprehensible, and they are inconsistent with our views and values. We are suspending our advertising and sponsorship activities with the Clippers. Meanwhile, as fans of the game of basketball, our support of the players and the sport is unwavering.”

Meanwhile, State Farm is playing a bit coy, saying it’s putting things on “pause while those involved sort out the facts”:

“State Farm strongly supports and respects diversity and inclusion in its workforce and customers. The remarks attributed to the Clippers’ owner are offensive. We are monitoring the situation and we’ll continually asses our options.”

It sounds likely that State Farm will eventually jump ship as well, as the CEO of a marketing firm called Translation, which represents the insurance company and other brands, says it’s going to happen eventually:

“What I’m going to do and what I think is important from my side is I’m telling the brands immediately ‘let’s pull sponsorship’ starting with State Farm,” Steve Stoute told ESPN Radio. “When you have things like this taking place, somebody has to stand up.”

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

Frontier’s “Ultra-Low-Cost” Fare Structure Includes Fees To Use Overhead Bins, Reserve Seats

Frontier’s new fee structure offers discounted flights, minus standard amenities like carry-on bags. Here’s a look at what the fares for a flight from D.C., to Las Vegas in June.

Is Frontier Airlines the newest Spirit Airlines? Minus the always entertaining missives of Spirit CEO Ben Baldanza, the Denver-based carrier is taking a page from its cheapo fellow airline and changing up its price structure to include, among other things, a fee for carry-on baggage and a reserved seat.

On its way to morphing into an “ultra-low-cost” carrier, Frontier announced an overhaul of its pricing structure, USA Today reports.

Effective immediately, customers can choose from two fare types that the airline says has “simplified its fee structure for carry-on bags, checked bags, and seat assignments.”

The Classic Plus fare includes the traditional travel package fliers have become accustomed to, complete with refundable fare, a free carry-on bag, a free checked bag and an advanced seat assignment.

Frontier’s new Economy fare will slash prices by about 12% and won’t include amenities like carry-on bags or reserved seats. However, a passenger can pay a fee for the ability to use the overhead storage bins or reserve a seat.

These seating options are available for customers beginning today.

Frontier also unveiled the Discount Den, a club that allows travelers to receive a $5 savings on the lowest-cost carry-on and first checked bag prices. Currently only EarlyReturns loyalty program customers are eligible for the promotion.

“With an unbundled product, customers can save even more by choosing to pay for only the products that they want, allowing them to customize their flight experience for each and every flight,” Frontier CEO David Siegel says in a statement.

Frontier Travelers who chose the Economy fare can pay the above fees for their carry-on and checked baggage.

In an e-mail sent to frequent-fliers on Monday, Siegel says the changes will ensure those passengers have a change of getting the seat they want and over time they won’t have to worry about finding room for carry-on bags in the overhead bins.

Siegel also hypothesizes that the changes will help to ensure customers get to their destinations on time since there will be fewer bags to check at the gate.

This isn’t the first time Frontier has taken a Spirit-like approach to becoming a low-cost carrier.

Last May the company announced a range of carry-on fees if consumers book travel through third-party sites. Travelers who booked on a site other than FlyFrontier.com could expect to pay between $25 to $100 for carry-on items and in-air beverages.

Additionally, the airline made a change to its frequent-flier program last July. Consumers who book their tickets on third-party sites will only earn somewhere between 25% and 50% of the miles they fly, while reserving with Frontier directly will earn fliers the usual 100%, 125% and 150% accrual rate.

Frontier revamps fare structure in ‘ultra-low-cost’ move [USA Today]

by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist

Harper Lee’s Birthday Present To Readers: ‘To Kill A Mockingbird’ Will Be Published As An E-Book

(UPS2006)

Parents, rejoice: If you can’t get your kid to look up from whichever screen is currently occupying his time, at least now he can get some good reading in: Harper Lee announced today, on her 88th birthday, that her classic To Kill A Mockingbird will finally be published as an e-book.

While Lee herself says she prefers “dusty old books,” the time has come for the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel to join the ranks of electronic literature. It was one of the last remaining holdouts to be only available in a print version, reports the New York Times, and will be published on July 8 as an e-book under HarperCollins Publishers

“I’m still old-fashioned. I love dusty old books and libraries. I am amazed and humbled that Mockingbird has survived this long,” Lee said in a rare public statement. “This is Mockingbird for a new generation.”

The book has sold more than 30 million copies worldwide since it first hit shelves in 1960, and has remained a big seller every year due to its cozy spot as required reading in classrooms across the country. It’s just too bad there’s no way to infuse e-readers with that dusty old book smell, huh?

The e-book release will coincide with the 54th anniversary of the original’s publication. Happy 88th birthday, Ms. Lee! The parents of tech-addicted children everywhere are thanking you. Now it’s your turn, Catcher in the Rye.

‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ Finally Becoming an E-Book [New York Times]

Follow MBQ on Twitter if you don’t mind that there’s no print version of Twitter: @marybethquirk

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

Comcast Deal With Charter Isn’t About Improving Competition; It’s About Carving Up Marketplace

(Sterling Davis)

Earlier today, Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Charter Communications finally confirmed reports that the three would be playing swap-the-subscribers in an effort to make the unappetizing Comcast/TWC merger slightly less sickening. But while Comcast wants consumers and regulators to believe this sacrificial offering is about keeping the marketplace competitive, it’s really just an easy way for the players to rearrange their customers for better regional monopolies.

From the moment Comcast and TWC announced their mammoth merger earlier this year, the companies said they would be shedding a few million customers to keep their total, combined customer base at the 30% market share that is often cited as a maximum, but which courts have shrugged off.

But this isn’t really about keeping marketplace competitive. Because, as Comcast CEO and scion Brian Roberts has already admitted, there is no real competition in the cable marketplace thanks to decades-old monopolies.

This is not Charter suddenly being granted access to compete in areas dominated by TWC or Comcast. Nor is “SpinCo” — the company formed by Comcast’s spinning off of 2.5 million customers into a new business partially owned by Charter — a new player that will enter into Comcast/TWC or Charter markets to compete. This is just a lot of shuffling and rearranging being done under the pretense of competition that doesn’t exist.

“This is a very complicated deal,” explains our colleague, Delara Derakhshani, policy counsel for Consumers Union, “but it looks like Comcast and Charter are trying to carve up the marketplace to their benefit.”

The biggest win for Comcast is Los Angeles. As you can see from the following map of Los Angeles that we produced for a recent story on the lack of broadband competition, most people in L.A. are either TWC customers or Charter customers. As part of this deal, Comcast would get Charter’s L.A. holdings, giving it a lock on the L.A. customer base:

Likewise, in Minneapolis, where Comcast has dominated the market with Charter nibbling at the edges, it looks like those customers will become part of the SpinCo family, meaning Charter benefits greatly as it now has a stake in the entire Twin Cities pay-TV and broadband market:

The current state of broadband competition in Minneapolis-St. Paul; but it will all change if the Comcast deal is approved.

The companies argue that having contiguous coverage in an area will allow them to offer better service and better prices, but what they really mean is that it will allow them to save money (which won’t be passed on to you) and will give them more monopoly power in these regions.

“It’s hard to see how any of this benefits consumers or competition,” says Derakhshani.

by Chris Morran via Consumerist

Dump Expedition Uncovers “E.T.” Atari Cartridges After 3 Hours

(Alana Grimstead)

Every society needs its legends and cautionary tales, and the Atari graveyard in New Mexico was one for Americans of the video game generation. Did the company really dump millions of unsold games in the desert in 1983 and never speak of it again? As part of an upcoming documentary on Atari, a crew excavated the rumored dump site in Almogordo, NM. Within three hours, they freed the first cartridges from the pit.

That’s what allegedly made the game so terrible, you see. Here’s a playthrough from 1983 that makes it look fabulously easy, but many players remember falling into a pit and being unable to get out.

According to the legend, Atari overpaid for the rights to make a game based on the movie “E.T.: the Extra Terrestrial,” then rushed the game to the market. Sales were disastrously low: the entire gaming sector had been heading toward a slump, and no one wants to spend $30 in 1983 dollars for a crappy game.

The legend says that the company dumped millions of cartridges in the New Mexico desert in the middle of the night, then poured concrete over them. This has captured the public’s imagination for decades, which is why the film’s producers decided to confirm or deny the rumors. Though the tale of the New Mexico dump and layer of concrete didn’t begin as an urban legend. At the time, both elements of the legend were reported as fact by the New York Times.

It turns out that the rumors were true: the dig found the first cartridges in only three hours.

“I’ve been carrying this thing, the theoretically worst video game of all time, for 30 years now,” the game’s designer, Howard Scott Warshaw, told CNN. “It was a game that was done in five weeks. It was a very brief development. I did the best that I could, and that’s OK.” Warshaw should know something about coming to terms with one’s past and finding the best in it: he’s now a psychotherapist.

Searchers unearth grave of “E.T.,” the video game Atari wanted us to forget [CNN]

by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

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Pizza Hut Manager Helped Boyfriend Rob Her Own Store… 3 Times In 4 Months

(Misfit Photographer)

It’s bad enough when a fast food manager assists in the robbery of the very store she’s entrusted to manage. It’s even worse when the person robbing the business is that manager’s boyfriend. But helping that no-good boyfriend pull off three robberies in only a few months, well… to quote Jaime Lannister, “The things I do for love.”

Cleveland.com reports that the first robbery at the Pizza Hut in Mayfield Heights, OH, took place on Dec. 1 and that $2,000 was stolen from the eatery.

Two masked gunmen “forced” their way into the Hut while the manager was opening up. They told her to open the safe, then used a cellphone charger cord to tie her up and lock her in the bathroom.

The second heist too place two months later, on Feb. 3. This time, a masked gunman entered the Hut through a backdoor and tried to get the only employee on duty to open the safe. The worker claimed to not know how to get into the safe, and so the robber left without cash — but not before pulling the old “tie her up with the charger cord and lock her in the bathroom” thing again.

After that robbery, the manager (who would eventually be arrested) told police she’d been the one that had closed the store the night before, but that she’d had trouble with the alarm, and that she’d never checked to make sure it was locked before leaving.

Then there was the third robbery, on April 13, during which the now-familiar masked gunmen switched up their M.O. by using plastic bags to tie up employees. The manager was freed from her baggie bondage and told to open the safe, which she did, allowing the gunmen to make off with $1,200.

Surveillance video from the Hut and surrounding businesses helped police to put the pieces of the puzzle together. Not only did it capture footage of the gunmen fleeing the last robbery, but it also had the robber dropping the manager off in her car earlier that morning before parking it on a nearby side street. The boyfriend was then found driving that car three days after the last hold-up, leading to his arrest and that of his girlfriend, who had worked at the restaurant for two years before these crimes.

He faces three first-degree felony aggravated robbery charges and the manager is on the hook for three counts of aiding and abetting the robberies.

All for a grand total of $3,200, presumably split three ways with the other gunman. It’s like they always tell kids: Crime doesn’t always provide a good return on investment.

by Chris Morran via Consumerist

Obnoxious Or Delightful?: Couple Paints Victorian Home Like The House From ‘Up’

(NBC Bay Area)

The first thing I think of when hearing that a family painted its home to look just like the colorful house in the animated movie Up is, “Aww/I wonder if it’d float if you attached balloons to it?” But for some of the neighbors of a California family who outfitted their Victorian house in Up colors, the whole thing is downright obnoxious.

On the one hand, a homeowner should be able to paint a house whatever hue of the rainbow he or she fancies. On the other, say residents of a historic stretch of homes in Santa Clara, it’s a disgrace to paint an old lady up in such garish colors.

The homeowners spent two years renovating their home, reports NBC Bay Area (warning: link has video that autoplays), in the city’s Old Quad neighborhood, and felt like doing something a bit different with the Victorian house for their kids.

“They love the movie ‘Up’ and we just thought we’d give them something fun to be proud of and actually all the kids in the neighborhood really love the colors,” the husband said of their daughters.

But others on the oldest street in the city say it’s a shame.

“I don’t think it fits in,” one neighbor said. “It really, in my opinion, is atrocious that this Victorian is a gracious old lady and it’s being painted up to look like a clown.”

Not everyone sees it as an eyesore, or at least, not a permanent one.

“I like historical houses to be historical,” another neighbor said. “On the other hand, it’s his home and I feel that sometime down the line it’s going to be repainted again anyway.”

To the poll cave!

Old Victorian in Santa Clara Remodeled to Resemble Home in Movie “Up” Sparks Controversy [NBC Bay Area]

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

Krispy Kreme Offering BOGO Deal On Dozen Doughnuts In Honor Of “Hero Day”

(Chris Rief aka Spodie Odie)

As that ancient Babylonian proverb goes that we know so well, “When someone inspires you, give’em doughnuts.” Krispy Kreme must be reading the same ancient tome, as it’s announced that in honor of “Hero Appreciation Day” today, customers who buy a dozen doughnuts will get another dozen free to give to whoever inspires you. And whoever that is better be hungry. [Krispy Kreme]

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

Mobile Wallets Failing To Tear Consumers From Their Cold, Hard Cash – And Credit Cards

(daveynin)

Nothing beats good old paper money and credit cards. That seems to be the consensus among most Americans when it comes to preferred ways to pay for goods and services. The impending explosion of mobile wallet use has once again taken a back seat to traditional payment methods.

Despite a number of start-ups and established technology firms racing to develop a mobile wallet system – where a purchase can be made by just hitting a button a smartphone – American consumers have yet to embrace the payment option, the New York Times reports.

In 2013, Americans spent about $37 billion through mobile transactions, up from $24 billion in 2012, research firm Gartner reports. However, that number is less than 10% of the $235.4 billion in mobile payments made worldwide in 2013.

Researchers say the reasons for the slow growth in consumer use of mobile payment systems is three-fold: consumers don’t know the product exists, the number of options is confusing and there is no specific benefit in using the system rather than cash or credit cards.

“There was the assumption that there was going to be some sort of spark that ignited the marketplace, and there was going to be a mobile payments revolution,” Denée Carrington, a Forrester analyst who studies the mobile payments market, tells the Times.

But that revolution has failed to take place. In fact, only about 25% of large retailers and 5% of small retailers use mobile payment systems.

While a mobile payment revolution hasn’t occurred yet, it’s not for lack of trying on the part of technology companies.

Start-ups like Square and LifeLock have developed apps that allow consumers to pay for products with just the tap of a button. For years, more established brands, such as Google, have offered products, like Google Wallet, that allow consumers to add their credit card information digitally and then tap their phone on merchant terminals to complete purchases.

However, none of those systems have found the magical equation to lure consumers to their products. And before consumers can be expected to flock to the products changes must occur, technology analysts tell the Times.

Currently mobile payment systems are not widely available at retailers, so when a consumer wants to make a purchase with a mobile payment system they must first investigate what retailers offer the option and what smartphone technology that store accepts.

To remedy the issue retailers would need to install new payment software and hardware, something industry insiders say won’t happen unless a large number of consumers were already using the service. And some argue that consumers won’t use the service because there is no advantage to using it over readily available cash or credit cards.

A former Verizon Wireless executive who worked on the company’s own mobile payment systems says for companies to attach consumers to the option they need to offer incentives that cash and credit cards cannot, like coupons and discounts.

Still, the pursuit of mobile payment systems continues. Earlier this year, Visa and MasterCard endorsed a tap-to-pay technology that already comes built into the latest Android mobile operating system.

This particular host card emulation (HCE) allows payment card information to be stored in the cloud, letting mobile apps access the information without using the secure element hardware embedded in the phone. Previously, mobile carriers have been able to control who gained access to the secure element, thus limiting the apps consumers could use for transactions. With HCE, consumers can bypass restrictions since mobile carriers can’t control the cloud.

Few Consumers Are Buying Premise of Mobile Wallets [New York Times]

by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist