Uber Caps Surge Pricing During Juno Snowmageddon (Because It Sort Of Has To)

(Christopher Tarr)

As those of us in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast prepare to slaughter a tauntaun and seek shelter from the snow in the warmth of its belly, the folks at Uber say they will put a maximum on surge pricing so as to avoid the backlash it has experienced in the past during emergencies, and because it promised it wouldn’t do this anymore.

Uber, which allows users to hail nearby available drivers via a mobile app, has a long history of seeing prices spike as demand surges.

Bloomberg reports that as the first snowflakes fell in New York City this morning, some Uber passengers were already allegedly being charged nearly three times the normal rate for a ride, but that eventually the prices went back down.

It’s possible the prices dropped as people realized that the worst of the snowfall was still hours away, but Uber says it won’t try to take advantage of snowbound passengers during the storm.

“Dynamic pricing will be capped and all Uber proceeds will be donated to the American Red Cross to support relief efforts,” the company tells Bloomberg in a statement.

Of course it doesn’t have much say in that matter, at least not in New York. Last July, the company reached a deal with NY Attorney General Eric Schneiderman to put a cap on surge pricing during things like, say, when a few feet of snow get dumped on the city.

Uber has been roundly criticized for charging too much in the midst of tragedies and natural disasters. In Oct. 2014, after a deadly train crash in Palo Alto, CA, delayed public transportation, Uber prices temporarily increased. A few weeks later, as more than a dozen people were held hostage in a Sydney, Australia, mall, Uber initially took advantage of surge pricing. Following a public backlash, the company apologized and offered free rides.

by Chris Morran via Consumerist

Empire Today Opening First Retail Stores After Decades Of Getting Jingle Stuck In Everyone’s Heads

Empire Today has been around as a shop-from-home flooring installation business for 55 years, spending 40 of those years getting its phone number jingle stuck in everyone’s heads. But until now, there were no physical stores for shoppers to visit and pick out flooring. After all that time priming potential customers with “588-2300, Empiiiire!” the company says it’s finally ready to open its first bricks-and-mortar stores.

First of all, my apologies for getting that jingle in your head for the bajillionth time, but it comes with the territory.

The Illinois-based company announced today that it’s planning to open its first store in Fairfax, Va. and two more next week, both on Long Island in Commack and Westbury, N.Y., the company said in a press release.

“Like a lot of other retailers, we’ve seen a steady improvement in the economy and the customer willingness to make change and upgrade their living spaces,” Keith Weinberger, Empire’s chief marketing officer told the Chicago Tribune.

The at-home model was popular, but he says many people like starting out in a store environment, as “they want to feel like they’re in control, they can select the styles themselves.”

“We’re able to offer those consumers who are looking for the retail experience something better than what’s out there.”

As for how Empire Today will be different from other stores that offer home improvement services and flooring, the company says there will be dedicated specialists guiding customers through their choices.

“Empire Today is using its 55 years of shop at home experience to create a better kind of flooring store,” Weinberger said in the company’s statement. “Empire Today wants to take the stress out of getting new floors. Empire’s new stores will have a personal flooring specialist who collaborates with customers throughout their project, a hand-selected product assortment, special warranties, and Empire’s great pricing and specials.”

Discounts and promotional prices offered in the company’s national TV ads will also be redeemable in stores.

Flooring retailer Empire Today to open first retail stores [Chicago Tribune]

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

Cablevision Launching Unlimited, Wifi-Only Mobile Plan In New York

This man is so excited about his wifi-based phone that he can’t even look at it, lest he burst.

Regional cable operator Cablevision is jumping into the mobile fray in a big way this week, and they’re doing it an untraditional way. The new service is 100% based on a network of wifi hotspots: Cell phones without the cell.

New York tri-state area cable and broadband provider Cablevision announced the new service today, the Wall Street Journal reports. It’s called Freewheel. Everyone on it gets unlimited talk, text, and data via ordinary wifi. Existing Cablevision subscribers can add it to their bills for $9.95 a month, or customers who don’t use Cablevision at home can get it for $29.95 per month.

This is the first mobile offering to make actual use of those millions of hotspots that cable companies keep putting everywhere. Cablevision does the same thing Comcast does, creating a second wifi hotspot network out of subscribers’ home routers. That contributes to the 1.1 million hotspots the company has in the greater New York area, which would hopefully provide solid coverage to subscribers.

There are downsides. At launch, the program only works with one phone: the Motorola Moto G, as being sold by Cablevision for about $100. That phone will come with apps pre-installed that allow it to detect and authenticate with any Cablevision hotspot. Eventually, the company says, apps will be available on other phones that allow users to connect.

And Freewheel isn’t suited well for everyone. Though Cablevision claims that 80% of all current smartphone usage happens over wifi, that remaining 20% can be pretty critical. Stalled out on the interstate with a blown-out tire? There’s probably not a wifi hotspot there for your phone to connect to. And if you’re on the road, plenty of venues that technically have wifi — airports and hotels among them — still charge consumers big bucks to access it.

Even without a lot of long-distance travel, users are likely to hit some holes in coverage where networks don’t quite meet or overlap. And although Cablevision puts a great deal of stock in having their own hotspot network to use, some of that relies on residential customers both existing and playing along. Consumers who have hotspot-creating modems and routers in their homes can choose to disable the second network, or use their own hardware entirely, which could create holes in Cablevision’s coverage.

Still, Cablevision is right that wifi penetration is growing. Avoiding traditional 4G/LTE mobile data entirely means avoiding the caps and fees that come with it. Cablevision COO Kristin Dolan told the WSJ that the service should be well-suited to consumers who want a budget-friendly option but don’t necessarily travel far afield that often, like college students living on-campus or a senior on a fixed income.

Cablevision to Offer Wi-Fi Phone Service [Wall Street Journal]

by Kate Cox via Consumerist

Post To Hog Even More Cereal With $1.15B Purchase Of Rival MOM Brands

(Listener42)

Piece by piece, cereal maker Post Holdings Co. has increased its portfolio to take on breakfast food behemoths Kellogg and General Mills. The mission to expand its bagged and hot cereal categories continued Monday with Post’s purchase of small, privately held rival MOM Brands Co. for $1.15 billion.

Reuters reports that Post will purchase the smaller company for $1.05 billion in cash and $100 million (equal to 2.5 million) in shares of Post. The deal is expected to close in the third quarter of 2015.

MOM Brands produces a number of value segment bagged cereals including Malt-O-Meal, Golden Puffs and Cinnamon Toasters.

“For Post, this is the right move, at the right price, in the right category,” Rob Vitale, Post’s President and CEO, says in a statement. “After a century of spirited rivalry between MOM Brands and Post, we now look forward to combining our strengths.”

Officials with Post say the purchase of MOM Brands gives the company a boost in its market shares and solidifies its place as the third largest provider of ready-to-eat cereal. Still, the company’s 18% share falls well below that of Kellogg Co, which has a 32% market share, and General Mills, which has a 31% share.

UPDATE 2-Post Holdings to buy MOM Brands to expand in hot cereals market [Reuters]

by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist

Mom Sues Target Claiming Humiliating “Walk Of Shame” Upon Firing Led To Son’s Suicide

(SchuminWeb)

A California Target is facing a lawsuit from the family of a former employee who says he took his own life after being forced to participate in a humiliating “walk of shame” through the store in handcuffs.

The woman who filed the lawsuit claims that her late son, a 22-year-old former cashier at the store was shamed in front of his fellow employees when managers allegedly forced him to parade around in cuffs, reports NBC Los Angeles.

That morning, the lawsuit says he was met immediately upon arriving at work and, upon the direction of two of the store’s management staff, he was put in cuffs and led in front of other workers to an office. After allegedly being interrogated, the suit says he was walked back out to a patrol car in handcuffs and fired, but never charged for any crime.

He “was shocked, confused and mortified at being handcuffed and walked through the Target store in front of co-workers and customers,” the suit states and he “had no idea why he was being arrested.”

The lawsuit alleges that this “walk of shame” event is a Target policy “to purposely cause shame, embarrassment and emotional distress to any Target employee who is suspected of stealing from Target.”

Three days after, he jumped to his death from the roof of a hotel.

“I don’t want any other mother to have to go through what I’ve gone through,” his mother said. “This is my only child.”

Her lawsuit alleges false imprisonment, negligence and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

Target Corp. headquarters issued a statement offering its condolences to the family, and denied to NBC4 that there is any “walk of shame” policy.

“Our thoughts and sympathies go out to the friends and family of this individual,” a Target spokesman said. “As this is pending litigation, we don’t have further comment at this time.”

“My Only Child”: Mom Sues Target Over Son’s Suicide [NBC4]

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

Scammers Manipulate Lowe’s Receipt-Checking Policy To Steal $80,000 In Tools

Many consumers don’t like it when stores check their receipts on the way out of the building, claiming it treats all shoppers like shoplifting suspects. But a trio of scammers had no problem showing their receipt at Lowe’s, running a multi-state shoplifting/return scheme for several months.

According to WAVE3, the men would start out from their home base in the Danville, KY, area and then drive the 90-ish miles to Southern Indiana, swiping stuff from various Lowe’s stores along the way.

But this wasn’t a simple matter of walking out of the store with power tools and hoping no one would notice. No, it actually involved someone first making a legitimate purchase of some pricey equipment.

Once the first scammer had made the purchase, he’d then hand off the receipt to an accomplice, who would head back into that store using that receipt as a shopping list. This second person would then gather up the same items and walk out of the store, showing the receipt as evidence that they’d purchased these products.

Then they would go to another Lowe’s store and use that receipt to return the original, legitimately purchased items for cash before doing it all over again.

Steal, rinse, repeat.

“You’re talking every day, 3-5 stores a day,” explains a detective from Clarksville, IN, where the men were eventually arrested.

Police say that stores began to get wind of a problem in late December, but they believe the scheme had been going on for some time.

“These three individuals had been doing this on a daily basis since the beginning of November,” says the detective.

The suspects say the purpose of the scam was to fund their addictions.

“They admitted that they did have a drug issue and this is why they were doing it,” explains the detective, labeling one of the shoplifters “one of the most honest criminals I’ve ever spoken to in my life.”

by Chris Morran via Consumerist

Good News: iTunes Isn’t Ditching Free Music After All

A few weeks ago, iTunes users in different countries noticed that the free downloadable single of the week, a staple in the iTunes music store since it began, was missing from the front page of the store. Where did it go? It turns out that while the free single feature is gone, Apple has made it easier to find a whole page of free downloads.

Apple didn’t answer comment requests from publications (including Consumerist) about the change, so users were left to speculate wildly about where the free stuff had gone. The best explanation was that the company was phasing out downloads of free items altogether in favor of letting users stream new tunes to try them out. This makes sense in the context of Apple’s acquisition of Beats, the headphone and streaming-audio company, but it isn’t the case just yet.

You can reach the free downloads page from this direct link if you’re using a device with iTunes installed on it, and the section is also easy to find from within iTunes. It’s in the same spot where the free single of the week used to be.

Some readers pointed out that the Google Play store also offers free downloads.

by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

Deal With Hershey’s Puts An End To Import Of Cadbury Chocolates

(Alex Goodey)

It will soon be more difficult for consumers who prefer the taste of British-made chocolate to get their sweet-tooth fix. A new deal between Hershey’s and Let’s Buy British Imports essentially puts a stop to the import of many iconic British chocolate brands from overseas.

The New York Times reports the two parties agreed to stop the import of all British-produced Cadbury chocolate, as well as KitKat bars, Toffee Crisps and Yorkie chocolate bars after Hershey’s claimed the products infringed on its trademarks and trade dress licensing.

(Once again, don’t worry about not having a Cadbury Creme Egg this Easter. Hershey’s has a license agreement to manufacture Cadbury’s chocolate in the U.S., albeit with a different recipe.)

Officials with Hershey’s say that L.B.B. and other groups were importing the products that were never intended for sale in the United States.

The issue doesn’t come down to the chocolate itself, as chocolate made in Britain has a distinctly different recipe.

For example, the Times reports, British chocolate has a higher fat content; the first ingredient listed on a British Cadbury’s Dairy Milk (plain milk chocolate) is milk. In an American-made Cadbury’s bar, the first ingredient is sugar.

Instead the decision to stop importing the goods from overseas rests on the products’ packaging. Toffee Crisps comes in an orange packaging and yellow-lined brown script, which Hershey’s says too closely resembled that of the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, while Yorkie bars could be considered an infringement on the York peppermint patty, the Times reports.

“It is important for Hershey to protect its trademark rights and to prevent consumers from being confused or misled when they see a product name or product package that is confusingly similar to a Hershey name or trade dress,” Jeff Beckman, a representative for Hershey’s tells the Times.

While you would often be hard-pressed to find a British-made chocolate bar in the aisle of your local supermarket, many small, independently owned speciality stores regularly stocked the items.

One British goods retailer tells the Times that the ban on importing the treats will likely put her out of business.

“Cadbury’s is about half of my business,” she says, “and more than that at Christmas. I don’t know how we’ll survive.”

After a Deal, British Chocolates Won’t Cross the Pond [The New York Times]

by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist

Burger King Customer Gets Bag Filled With $2,631 Instead Of Chicken Sandwich, Returns It

(JeepersMedia)

When you’re hungry for a chicken sandwich, you’re hungry for a chicken sandwich. But while most people might settle for taking a bag filled with a few thousand bucks in cash, one Burger King drive-thru customer was nice enough to return free money and just take the food instead.

A woman in Rochester, N.H. went through her local Burger King drive-thru and ordered a tea and junior spicy chicken sandwich, reports Foster’s Daily Democrat, and was on her way home when she realized she’d be hungry a little bit longer.

Opening the fast food bag revealed a stash of cash totaling $2,631, which she brought home to check out with her husband. Most of the cash was inside two bank deposit bags.

While the husband admitted, “We are not perfect human beings,” and said they’d considering keeping the surprise cash, they instead opted to return the moolah.

Burger King confirmed the incident but didn’t explain how the money ended up in a food bag instead of the bank. The couple said the workers were grateful to get the loot back.

“One person said ‘they were going to get fired’ so it felt good knowing we helped them keep their jobs,” the woman said, adding that she was offered five free meals in exchange for being so honest.

Couple returns Burger King’s $2,631 deposit [Foster’s Daily Democrat]

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

Cable Industry Asks FCC To Continue Using Outdated “Broadband” Definition

(Tim Knifton)

Currently, a 4Mbps broadband connection — barely enough to stream a single HD movie and insufficient for accessing higher-definition content or for homes with multiple simultaneous data-heavy uses — is considered “broadband” in the eyes of the Federal Communications Commission, though that should change with the FCC’s plan to redefine broadband as the significantly faster 25Mbps, which would acknowledge both the recent improvements in broadband delivery and consumers’ increased use of web-connected devices. And yet the cable industry is fighting to retain the already outdated 4Mbps standard for broadband.

In a letter letter [PDF] sent late last week to the FCC by the National Cable & Telecommunications Association — a trade group headed by former FCC Chairman Michael “Yes I’m Colin’s Son But That’s Not How I Got The Job” Powell — the cable industry argues that the Commission is going too far in trying to use the 25Mbps benchmark for broadband.

First, the NCTA warns the FCC that if it’s going to redefine broadband, that new standard should only apply to the Commission’s reports on broadband deployment; that it shouldn’t be used to determine providers’ support levels for the Connect America Fund. Doing so “would present inevitable tensions given the divergent legal standards and regulatory objectives at play,” argues NCTA.

Beyond that, the cable industry contends that the proposed 25Mbps standard is not legally tenable as it believes the law mandating periodic FCC reports on the deployment of “advanced telecommunications capability to all Americans” is intended to be a look at whether or not consumers have access to services that can support current, regular uses of broadband.

According to NCTA, the average consumer’s current broadband needs are “well below the 25 Mbps/3 Mbps threshold currently under consideration.”

The industry brushes off statements made by supporters of the redefinition, who claim that the faster speeds are needed to support delivery of 4K video content.

“[O]nly a tiny fraction of consumers use their broadband connections in this manner,” writes the NCTA, not acknowledging that many of its members were recently at CES 2015 talking up plans to bring 4K video to their customers in the coming, or that the entire television industry — from content to manufacturing — believes that 4K is an inevitability.

NCTA also claims that there is no evidence to support claims that many American households have multiple users streaming data-heavy content simultaneously — again in spite of the fact that many of its member cable providers advertise this ability to their broadband customers.

The letter points to a recent FCC report that not many people with the ability to choose a 25Mbps broadband package choose that tier of service, instead opting for less-expensive, slower packages.

“In light of these findings, the adoption of a 25 Mbps/3 Mbps benchmark would improperly substitute the speculative judgment of the Commission for the actual, demonstrated preferences of consumers in the marketplace,” writes NCTA, once more glossing over the part where some of its member companies charge prices for 25Mbps service that make it unaffordable to consumers; meaning it may not be so much a matter of people choosing slower speeds as it may be a case of consumers paying for what is in their budgets.

So why is NCTA putting up such a fuss? It’s the faint mirage of “competition” in the broadband market all but evaporates when you raise the standard for what constitutes broadband.

At the outdated 4Mbps standard, 86% of Americans have access to broadband, which would then include numerous DSL products available through landline phone providers. But when you crank up the broadband standard to 25Mbps, the number of us with the choice between multiple broadband providers drops all the way down to 37%.

With the nation’s two largest cable-TV providers trying to merge — while both claiming they don’t compete and that there is plenty of competition in the marketplace — the NCTA doesn’t want the FCC to put out a report showing how little competition there is among broadband providers providing speeds that will still be relevant in a couple of years.

[via National Journal]

by Chris Morran via Consumerist