UPS Expanding 3D Printing Services To 100 Stores

(UPS Store)

Because not everyone has a professional 3D printer at home, but because everyone might have an interest in printing out say, a mug, a lamp, or even a bike, UPS says it’s adding 100 more stores to the list of locations that offer 3D printing.

UPS has been testing 3D printing services at six locations, and apparently deemed that pilot successful as the company announced today that 100 more UPS Stores will have the option for customers to print 3D objects, according to a press release.

While UPS specifically mentions its small business customers, it noted that “startups, inventors, artists and a wide range of professionals” have taken advantage of the printers to make their designs and prototypes a reality.

“We are committed to offering small business owners, entrepreneurs and consumers high-tech solutions in order to assist with all of their business needs,” said Michelle Van Slyke, vice president of marketing and sales at The UPS Store.

The 3D printers are part of a partnership with Stratasys, who is providing uPrint SE Plus printers for the UPS Stores.

But why can’t you just print your own stuff at home? you might be wondering. You can, but it won’t be the same, UPS says, as professional printers differ greatly from the kind you have at home, UPS says.

For a full list of which stores will have the 3D printers, click here.

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

Let’s All Breathe A Sigh Of Relief That These Paper Clips Packed In A Huge Box Arrived Safely

(@DsladeNews)

When you’re expecting a box of paper clips in the mail, there are some very tense moments where one must come face to face with the reality that those paper clips might arrive damaged, unable to clip pieces of paper to each other. Breathe easy, folks — ordering from Staples means those fragile metal clips will get from point A to point B safely, thanks to the help of a huge box and plenty of air pouches. Whew. [@DsladeNews on Twitter]

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

Jewelry Stores Hide Price Tags So Customers Don’t Bolt For The Door Immediately

(DCVision2006)

There’s nothing quite like cruising around the aisles of a jewelry store or department like a creep, stealing glances at baubles and bangles while trying not to act too interested. Because there are no price tags on many of those items, so heaven forbid if someone were to come up and ask if you want to check it out, and then if turns out to be nine majillion dollars you have to back out, embarrassed. There’s a reason there are no price tags proudly on display, of course.

It’s to keep us all from bolting for the door immediately upon seeing a price tag reading 9 Majillion Dollars, and perhaps get interested enough to stick around and possibly purchase something despite the price, reports NPR’s Planet Money.

They spoke with one store proprietor who has been writing teeny tiny price tags and hiding them behind boxes or under displays since the days she worked at her parents’ shop.

She says there’s such a wide range of prices, she doesn’t want anyone to be put off from finding a nice $80 item just because there’s an $2,000 necklace right next to it.

“They’ll go, ‘Oh, this is crazy,’ and they’ll just walk right out,” she said.

The lack of a price tag forces customers to interact, which gives the store the time it needs to talk you up and maybe change your mind.

Nowadays there’s another reason to skip price tags, she adds — customers are looking things up before they arrive and know exactly what things costs.

“They’ve already pre-shopped, and they know exactly what they’re looking for,” she said.

*Thanks for the tip, K.C.!

Why Jewelry Stores Hide The Price Tags [Planet Money]

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

Different Brands Of O-Shaped, Oat-Based Cereals Don’t Taste Alike

(Kyle)

Are all oat-based, O-shaped cereals basically the same? Sure, they look pretty interchangeable, and their nutritional profiles are all basically the same. That doesn’t mean that they taste exactly alike, though, and our colleagues on Consumer Reports’ sensory panel recently turned their taste buds to Cheerios and its imitators.

Which cereal tasted the best? Cheerios won that contest, with high ratings for texture and flavor. What’s surprising, though, is that two brands that are ÷≥more expensive than Cheerios per serving basis received low ratings for flavor and texture. These were Aldi’s version of an organic Cheerio, called Simply Nature Organic Toasted Oats, and Whole Foods’ house brand, 365 Everyday Value Organic Morning O’s. It’s noble to seek out organic cereal and all, but tasters found that the Aldi version tasted like “cardboard,” and Whole Foods’ cereal had a “stale texture.”

While milk can improve texture issues, it can’t really mask serious problems with flavor. A cheaper cereal from Dollar General tasted like “cornmeal,” and Walmart’s version was “bitter and cardboardlike.”

The winner of these tests? Trader Joe’s version, called Joe-Os, which had slightly lower flavor ratings than Cheerios, but is much cheaper. It’s interesting to note that Trader Joe’s “Honey Nut O’s” have ground almonds, while the General Mills version doesn’t.

Cheerios beats store-brand ‘Os’ for taste [Consumer Reports]

by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

21 Deaths Now Tied To GM Ignition Defect

(Louis Abate)

The number of deaths tied to defective ignition switches in General Motors vehicles continues to increase. A week after the overseer of the independent compensation fund revealed that the death toll had swollen to 19 from the original 13 that GM had previously admitted, comes news of additional fatalities linked to the defect that went ignored for more than a decade.

Ken Feinberg, the lawyer appointed to head up the fund, is now providing weekly updates of the status of claims submitted to the carmaker.

This morning, his office said that 21 death claims have been approved, along with four additional claims for serious injuries and a dozen claims for minor injuries.

In total, the fund had received 143 claims for death compensation, accounting for more than 20% of the 675 total claims received thus far.

The fund says that a number of claims submitted were initially ineligible because they were incomplete, but it is working with claimants and their lawyers to get the paperwork completed properly and before the Dec. 31 deadline.

It’s expected that those with approved claims will begin to receive settlement offers from the fund later this week. When the fund was launched over the summer, GM said there would be no cap to the claims, but that compensation would be tied to the level of injury and loss experienced. An approved death claim is expected to result in an offer of compensation for at least $1 million, plus payments of $300,000 to surviving family members.

The claimants are not obligated to accept the compensation, but if they do take the money they give up their rights to pursue legal action against GM with regard to the ignition defect.

GM’s initial tally of 13 deaths only included drivers and front-seat passengers who were killed when their airbags failed to deploy because the ignition had inadvertently been turned off. That means that passengers in the backseat were excluded, as they would have died regardless of whether or not the airbags deployed.

But if the ignition defect itself was the cause of the accident — the engine turns off while driving, causing the driver to panic and taking away the vehicle’s power steering and brakes — then it is responsible for any injuries to the backseat passengers, right? That’s the approach being taken by the compensation fund.

Additionally, the fund is considering claims from pedestrians and people in other cars that were harmed by an out-of-control GM vehicle.

GM CEO Mary Barra said on Friday that she wasn’t surprised to see the number of deaths rising.

“[W]e’ve always said all along that was the information that we had available to us,” she explained. “So there’s no surprises. Our goal has been that every person impacted is a part of that program and that’s the process that we’re working through.”

GM ignition death toll hits 21 [Detroit News]

by Chris Morran via Consumerist

Study: Housing Market Poised To Lose $83M This Year Because Of Consumers’ Student Loan Debt

(Robert Fairchild)

Back in February we reported that student loan debt was preventing some first-time home buyers from entering the housing market. Now a new study aims to put a price tag on those missed opportunities for the real estate world.

The study [PDF] by real estate firm John Burns Consulting found that $83 billion in home sales, or 414,000 homes, won’t happen this year in part because of consumers’ high student loan debt, the Los Angeles Times reports.

The figure works out to be about 8% of all home sales for the year, the firm estimates.

Researchers found that for every $250 per month in student loan debt that consumers owed their home purchasing power decreased by $44,000. With more than 5.9 million consumers under the age of 40 owing more than $250 a month in student debt, that would significantly affect the housing market.

Additionally, the report found that most households paying $750 or more per month in student loans are essentially priced out of the housing market all together.

“We actually think it’s pretty conservative,” said Rick Palacios, director of research at John Burns Consulting, tells the LA Times. “We’re only looking at people age 20 to 40. We know there’s a big chunk of households over age 40 who have student debt, too.”

As reported previously, consumers with student loan debt face an uphill battle when it comes to purchasing a home thanks in part to a new federal rules that went into effect last month. The new rule gives mortgage lenders broad legal protections as long as they do not approve loans for buyers whose total months debt exceeds 43% of their monthly gross income.

Additionally, the Federal Housing Administration is looking to scrap a waiver that helped many first-time home buyers in the past. Currently, the agency allows mortgage lenders it works with to ignore student loans debt that’s been deferred a year or more when assessing a borrower’s eligibility for a loan.

Not only does higher student loan debt make for more high-risk borrowers, but higher monthly payments on loans means more consumers are struggling to scrap together enough money for a down payment. The National Association of Realtors reported that 54% of first-time home buyers said student loans made it tough to save money.

Student loan debt curbs housing market by $83 billion, study says [The Los Angeles Times]

by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist

FIFA Exec Says Qatar Is Just Too Hot To Host 2022 World Cup

A rendering of the under-construction stadium in Lusail, Qatar, that is intended to play host to the opening and closing games of the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

There are numerous reasons why Qatar was a questionable choice to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup, from the conditions for the workers building the venues to allegations of corruption in the bidding process to basic issues of human rights. But for one exec at the international soccer association, it’s just too darn hot in Qatar.

“I personally think that in the end the 2022 World Cup will not take place in Qatar,” FIFA Executive Committee member Theo Zwanziger told the German media earlier today, according to Reuters. “Medics say that they cannot accept responsibility with a World Cup taking place under these conditions.”

Qatar has maintained that it is developing technology that will actually harness the sun’s rays to cool the stadia, but not only have these promises not been sufficient to quell criticism, Zwanziger pointed out that, “They may be able to cool the stadiums but a World Cup does not take place only there.”

“Fans from around the world will be coming and travelling in this heat and the first life-threatening case will trigger an investigation by a state prosecutor,” he explained. “That is not something that FIFA Exco members want to answer for.”

FIFA is trying to minimize the importance of Zwanziger’s statement by saying that it’s just the personal opinion of one official.

There has been discussion of rescheduling the 2022 World Cup to the winter months, instead of the traditional June and July dates, in the hopes that the cooler temperatures will make the event more manageable for all involved. Problem is, doing so would screw with the schedules of many of the leagues in which these players are involved in when they’re not sporting the colors of their home nation (or in the case of the U.S. team, the home nation of one of their parents that maybe they visited when they were a child).

Just for fun, let’s now watch John Oliver discuss his love/hate relationship with the World Cup, or rather, his love for the World Cup and his hatred for FIFA:

by Chris Morran via Consumerist

DSW Will Pay $900,000 Former Workers To Settle Age Discrimination Lawsuit

(Timothy J Silverman)

Shoe retailer DWS is on the line for $900,000 after agreeing to settle an age discrimination lawsuit brought by former employees, who said the company fired older workers just because of their ages. And if other employees refused to fire workers based on their age, the plaintiffs claimed DWS retaliated against them as well.

The Chicago District Office of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said DSW gave older workers the boot, reports the Chicago Tribune, including seven former managers and about 100 other former workers who joined in on the suit filed on Sept. 15.

Only one short week later, DSW said it’d agreed to pay those workers back $900,000, and will also report to the EEOC for three years to monitor any employee complaints of ageism. DSW also has to update its anti-discrimination policy.

The EEOC has had about 36% more charges filed under the Age Discrimination in Employment act than in 1997, with an uptick around the time of the recession. Many employers used that economic downturn to pass of age discrimination as layoffs, supervisory trial attorney Diane Smason told the Tribune.

“We see this often where it’s easy for employers to use a need for a reduction in force and financial problems as an easy excuse to let go of older workers,” Smason explained. “We think that’s what happened here at DSW.”

DSW to pay $900,000 over age discrimination accusations [Chicago Tribune]

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

Lululemon Sends Customer 19 Extra Running Hats, Lets Him Keep Them

The Men’s Cool Running Toque from Lululemon costs $32, and it’s exactly what it sounds like. It is a sweat-wicking hat to wear while running. While a hat that keeps you both warm and cool is valuable to runners, even the most laundry-averse runner can’t possibly need twenty of them. Yet Lululemon sent one customer 20 hats, then told him to just go ahead and give them away.

This all began when he tweeted the company about the extra hats that arrived on his doorstep.

@lululemon I'm guessing you didn’t intend to ship me 19 extra running toques. Returning them now;) #namaste http://ift.tt/1r0swRK

— Angelo Lagdameo (@AngLives) September 19, 2014

Like other cases where customers have received extra iPods and crates of tablets, most likely the hats come in crates of 20, and someone slapped a shipping label on a whole box of hats by mistake instead of picking out only one hat to ship to the customer. At least, we hope that’s the case, and that Lululemon isn’t shipping out cases of items to everyone.

Of course, he was perfectly willing to send the hats back, but Lululemon said that wasn’t necessary.

@lululemon Instead of sending me ONE toque, you sent me ONE FULL BAG of toques! I know you're generous but lol. On their way back to you.

— Angelo Lagdameo (@AngLives) September 19, 2014

@AngLives On second thought – if you haven't already sent them back, keep them. Pay it forward and give them to friends!

— lululemon athletica (@lululemon) September 19, 2014

If you haven’t done the math in your head yet, that is $608 worth of extra hats that the company is letting him keep. Sure, it’s expensive brand goodwill, but might be worth it to Lululemon once enough outside sites pick up the story. Right?

Thanks to Ashley at Business Insider for bringing this exchange to our attention!

by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

Woman Breaks Car Windshield With A Tire Iron To Rescue Child Left Inside

(WFAA)

While reports of concerned strangers breaking into hot cars to rescue children trapped inside aren’t always what they seem, that didn’t stop one woman from breaking a car’s windshield with a tire iron to save a one-year-old child who’d reportedly been left in there for 40 minutes.

According to a report from WFAA, a woman in a supermarket parking lot spotted a baby sitting inside a locked car on a hot day in San Antonio.

Instead of leaving the child, and despite warnings from those around, including a security guard, reportedly, the woman smashed the windshield with a tire iron and crawled through the broken glass to unlock the door and get the baby out.

“I don’t care if I get arrested; I’m going to save this baby,” she said, adding that it was worth the risk.

Surveillance footage from the store showed the child in his father’s car for almost 40 minutes while he and another child were inside the store, police say. He was taken to the hospital and treated for dehydration, and will be taken care of by Child Protective Services for the time being.

The police say the man said he forgot the baby was in the car, and have charged him with child endangerment.

San Antonio woman saves tot in hot car [WFAA]

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist