The Survive and Thrive Boomer Guide

Watch your wallet on Black Friday and Cyber Monday

"Black Friday is soooo close. It’s my favorite holiday!!!"

"Debating whether or not to enjoy Black Friday shopping. Nothing really needed, just enjoy the thrill of the hunt."

"Old Navy started their Black Friday sales this morning [Tuesday]!"

That’s what three consumers writing on Twitter said about Black Friday, the big shopping day after Thanksgiving that got its name because it was the day that retailers started making money after being in the "red."

Black Friday, Saturday, and Sunday will attract up to 134 million shoppers this year, up from 128 million last year. According to the National Retail Federation, 57 million people say they will definitely hit the stores while another 77 million are waiting to see what retailers are planning before heading out the door.

Cyber Monday is a term coined by Shop.org in 2005, when retailers noticed a large increase of people shopping online on the Monday after Thanksgiving.

But don’t be stampeded into spending a lot of money this weekend or on Cyber Monday just because of all the news in the media about Black Friday and "how important it is to give the economy a much-needed boost."

The article "Dirty Secrets of Black Friday" describes these problems shoppers may run into on the big shopping day:

• Limited quantities.

• Derivatives offered, models that have a few less features than a standard model in that product line.

• No information on what Black Friday sales are offered online.

• Online deals that don’t get shipped.

• Rain checks that don’t result in the cheap Black Friday deal.

Public Citizen, a consumer advocacy organization, urges consumers to not get wound up in the hype about Black Friday:

So let me get this straight. One year after the financial sector took our economy to the brink of collapse, we’re rooting for Wall Street’s success, which depends on the willingness of consumers to spend as much as they can – most likely more than they can afford, since that’s how the financial sector makes its money– during the worst economy in 26 years and while 10.2 percent are unemployed? Sounds like some seriously misplaced priorities.

So make a plan for your holiday gift giving and spend only what you can afford. It will reduce your holiday stress and make for a happier new year.

Copyright 2009, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist

What were your best and worst consumer experiences this week?

Which consumer happenings cheered you this week and which ones made you want to scream or weep?

Here are my best and worst consumer experiences this week:

My best consumer experience: Customer service at one Verizon Wireless store

 

Although I’m satisfied with the cell phone I bought several years ago, I’m considering getting a new one because the one I have emits a fairly high level of radiation. See the article "Are You Using a Cell Phone That Emits High Levels of Radiation" to find out how to tell how your cell phone ranks in emissions.

When I went to the Verizon Wireless store in Lacey, Wash., to shop for a new cell phone, the customer service was good. When you walked in, it was clear that you needed to sign up at a computer screen to get in line for an appointment.

A customer service representative walked around and talked to the consumers who were waiting. He was able to answer questions for people who needed information but weren’t ready to sign up for plans.

He told me that since Verizon wants me to sign a two-year contract, several free phones are available to me online. If I signed up again at a Verizon store, I’d have to pay sales tax.

My worst consumer experience: Customer service at another Verizon Wireless location

In Olympia, Wash., Verizon has a kiosk-type outlet in one of the malls. I went there to shop for a new cell phone.

I waited a half hour before I figured out that you had to sign up for an appointment. The employees didn’t make eye contact with consumers who walked up. I waited for an additional hour and a half before my appointment came up. When people arrived at the kiosk, I told them about the sign in procedure. They were thankful someone informed them about it.

When I finally got my turn, the sales associate told me that I couldn’t get a free phone. I found that surprising since Verizon had been mailing me information about free phones. I left and went to the Verizon store described above.

I’ve been satisfied with my Verizon service, and Verizon gets higher ratings for coverage and fewer dropped calls than its competitors. However, I’m disappointed by the phones they offer for sale in terms of their emissions.

In the rankings by the Environmental Working Group, Verizon didn’t have one phone on the top 10 list of the cell phones with the least emissions.

The top phone on the list is the Samsung Impression SGH-a877. It’s sold by AT&T. I don’t think I’d like being an AT&T customer.

I checked the database for the top 10 Verizon phone in terms of emissions. Most of them are BlackBerries and SmartPhones. I don’t want one of those due to the extra charges for the Internet.

What to do?

I guess I’ll think it over for a while.

Copyright 2009, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist

What were your best and worst consumer experiences this week?

Which consumer happenings cheered you this week and which ones made you want to scream or weep?



Here are my best and worst consumer experiences this week:



My best consumer experience: Balancing my checkbook

My paycheck came in this week and so did my mortgage payment. I balanced my checkbook.

I sat down and paid my bills. Then I balanced my checkbook again.

There wasn’t much money left. A good thing to know to keep from getting overdraft charges.

I belong to a credit union and have an overdraft protection plan. The fee for checks is only $2, but I still want to avoid a series of those charges.

Many banks are hiking overdraft fees along with other fees and interest rates.

Some banks charge as much as $39 when customers overdraw their bank account by even a few dollars.

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My worst consumer experience: Trying to figure out Verizon’s cell phone offers

When I learned that my cell phone is on the high end of the scale in terms of the radiation it emits, I decided it’s time for a new cell phone. See the article “Are You Using a Cell Phone That Emits High Levels of Radiation?” for information about cell phone ratings by the Environmental Working Group.

I checked out the iPhones, and disappointedly, they’re also on the high end of the scale. Beside, if I bought an iPhone, I’d have to deal with AT&T.

Verizon has given me good service, so I’d like to stay with them.

When I saw I could get a Blackberry for free if I signed up a two-year Verizon contract, I was excited. And, more importantly, the BlackBerry in the ad was on the low end of the radiation emissions scale.

When I called Verizon, my hopes were dashed. You have to pay a $30 monthly charge for a data package if you get a BlackBerry. That would make my cell phone costs about $75 a month, which is too costly.

Verizon should certainly put this information in its ads. It felt like “bait and switch” advertising.

Copyright 2009, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Journalist

What to do with green tomatoes

This year, I constructed a raised bed garden, and it produced wonderful vegetables, including about 50 pounds of tomatoes.

However, as is typical in the Pacific Northwest, most of the tomatoes didn’t ripen.

The first tomatoes I ripened in my kitchen and ate them for breakfast, lunch, and dinner sliced as a side vegetable. They weren’t as tasty as vine-ripened garden tomatoes. The tomatoes tasted like the ones you buy in the store.

In mid-October, I picked all the tomatoes because it was cold and rainy here. They weren’t growing anymore, and I was worried they’d freeze.

After the next five pounds ripened, I made a big pot of spaghetti sauce and added the tomatoes. It worked well. The sauce I made was great, and the added tomatoes from my garden didn’t detract from the sauce.

The following five pounds I added to Chicken Vegetable Soup. These tomatoes weren’t as ripe as the previous batch. I often have turnips or parsnips in my homemade soups, but this time I had on hand carrots, Swiss chard, and zucchini. The soup tasted weak, but I added salt and it was fine.

I have a huge pot of soup, and it’s lasting for days.

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Since it’s mid-November and I still have green tomatoes, I decided to look up some recipes for how to use them.

I tried Brenda Hyde’s Broiled Tomatoes from the Old-Fashioned Living Web site. You cut tomatoes in half, put them on a baking sheet, add a toping of cracker crumbs, spices, and oil, then broil.

The Broiled Tomatoes were tasty.

Than I decided I’d try Fried Green Tomatoes. I’ve heard so much about them I was curious. I even bought bacon because Mary Lucile Jordan, county extension coordinator with the Etowah County office of the Alabama Cooperative Extension System, said if you want that real “Southern” flavor, fry in bacon grease.

The Fried Green Tomatoes weren’t as good as the Broiled Tomatoes.

A couple of weeks ago, Lynne Rossetto Kasper, host of the radio program The Splendid Table which airs on National Public Radio, raved about green tomatoes and made them sound luscious. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find the recipe she talked about on her site.

I’ll do further checking to see if I can find it.

Be sure to allow plenty of circulation around your green tomatoes as you wait for them to ripen. I put some of mine in two flat boxes with newspapers on top. However, I put one box on the top of the other. The tomatoes in the bottom box developed mildew, and I had to throw them away.

Here are more resources for using green tomatoes:

“We Love Green Tomatoes” – OregonLive.com

“What to Do With Green Tomatoes” – domesticsluttery

“Too Many Tomatoes?” – Farmgirl Fare

Copyright 2009, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist

Top 10 best small towns in America

Small towns with strong economies still exist. Along with a good economy, you can also find great schools, affordable homes, and low crime in these towns.

Here’s Money magazine’s list of America’s best small towns:

1. Louisville, Colo. (shown in photo)
2. Chanhassen, Minn.
3. Papillion, Neb.
4. Middleton, Wis.
5. Milton, Mass.
6. Warren, N.J.
7. Keller, Texas
8. Peachtree City, Ga.
9. Lake St. Louis, Mo.
10. Mukilteo, Wash.

See “Best Places to Live” for details on why these towns made Money’s list.

Copyright 2009, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist

MoneyGram to pay $18 millions to settle fraud charges

MoneyGram International Inc., the second-largest money transfer service in the United States, will pay $18 million to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that the company allowed its money transfer system to be used by fraudulent telemarketers to bilk U.S. consumers out of tens of millions of dollars.

MoneyGram also will be required to carry out an anti-fraud and agent-monitoring program.

The commission charged that between 2004 and 2008, MoneyGram agents helped fraudulent telemarketers and other con artists who tricked U.S. consumers into wiring more than $84 million within the U.S. and to Canada. These consumers were falsely told they had won a lottery, were hired for a secret shopper program, or were guaranteed loans.

The $84 million in losses is based on consumer complaints to MoneyGram – actual consumer losses likely are much higher, reports the commission.

The commission charged that MoneyGram knew that its system was being used to defraud people but did very little about it, and that in some cases its agents in Canada actually participated in these schemes.

“Money transfer services have a responsibility to make sure their systems don’t become conduits to rip people off,” said David C. Vladeck, director of the commission’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, in an announcement about the settlement. “In this case, MoneyGram not only ducked this responsibility, but also looked the other way while its agents took part in the scams.”

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In many of the scams, the con artists used counterfeit checks to induce consumers to send money back by wire transfer. Most often these scams were lottery or prize schemes in which consumers were told they had won thousands of dollars and just had to pay a fee for “taxes,” “customs,” or “insurance” to a third-party to collect their winnings, reports the commission.

Consumers paid the fee using MoneyGram, but received nothing.

In another scheme, telemarketers told consumers they were guaranteed loans, regardless of their credit score. All they had to do was pay “insurance,” “paperwork,” or “processing” fees to complete the transaction.

Consumers who sent funds using a money transfer service received nothing in return.

In mystery shopping scams, the con artists called U.S. consumers or sent them a piece of direct mail in which they claimed to be hiring consumers to visit stores such as Wal-Mart to evaluate MoneyGram money transfer operations. The con artists sent consumers a cashier’s check, telling them to deposit it in their checking account and then send most of the money back using a money transfer at Wal-Mart.

When the counterfeit checks bounced, consumers realized they had lost the money they transferred. By this time, however, the money transfer agents had already received and paid out the money, often either without checking IDs or by using fake drivers license information.

The agreed-on court order settling the commission’s charges bars MoneyGram from knowingly providing help or support to any sellers or telemarketers that are violating the Telemarketing Sales Rule and requires it to carry out an anti-fraud program.

Under the program, MoneyGram must conduct background checks on prospective agents; educate and train its employees about consumer fraud; institute agent monitoring; and discipline agents who don’t comply with the rules.

The order also requires MoneyGram to provide a clear and conspicuous fraud warning on the front of all its money transfer forms.

The order contains monitoring and discipline provisions that will ensure MoneyGram is properly training, monitoring, and taking actions to address problems related to its agents.

In addition, MoneyGram will pay the commission $18 million, which will be used to provide payments to consumers who lost money.

Consumers interested in finding out about recovering funds should call 202-326-3755.

Copyright 2009, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist

Tips for saving more money in tough economic times

Want to know how to cut your spending?

An article "How to Get Everything for Less" in the October issue of Good Housekeeping caught my eye. It offers five helpful suggestions for consumers.

The tips offered include:

1. Stack discounts and store sales.

Look for Web coupons, Web codes, and other discounts to use when you buy items on sale. Get on the frequent-shopper mailing and e-mail lists of stores you shop in frequently.

2. Shop in high-income zip codes.

Check out the second hand stores in these areas.

3. Learn the sales cycle.

Ask at stores what day of the week new merchandise is put out and older items marked down.

4. Weigh how to pay.

Pay in cash at thrift stores, and use a credit card for liquidators and other stores where sales are final.

5. Do some post-purchase research.

Sign up for price drop alerts, at sites such as priceprotectr.com, after you’ve made a major purchase.

For details on these money saving suggestions, get a copy October’s Good Housekeeping at your local newsstand, supermarket, or bookstore, or check your local library for a copy.

Copyright 2009, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist

Banks working hard to kill badly needed consumer financial protection agency

President Barack Obama is proposing that Congress establish a new Consumer Financial Protection Agency to regulate consumer financial products such as credit cards and mortgages, and to simplify disclosure on them.

After the financial mess that was spawned by Wall Street and the banking industry, the new agency is essential for the development and growth of our new economy in the United States.

However, the banking industry is set on killing the proposed new consumer protection agency.

The article "Banks Resist Push for Tighter Regulations" on the Miami Herald Web site reports:

Though virtually every cause of the nation's recent financial crisis was rooted in weak consumer protection, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce is leading the fight against the proposed agency on grounds that it would make credit less available and more costly. The American Bankers Association, the Independent Community Bankers of America, and the Financial Services Roundtable also oppose the measure.

Here’s what’s being spent to defeat the new consumer protection agency, according to the article:

The chamber said it's spending about $2 million on ads, educational efforts, and a grass-roots campaign to kill the agency.

The Center for Responsive Politics said that for the 2010 election cycle, commercial banks have donated almost $3.7 million to lawmakers – 54 percent of it to Republicans. Companies that provide credit have given about $1.4 million, 59 percent to Democrats. Mortgage bankers and brokers have given $581,423.

This massive lobbying effort by banks is unfortunate. Changes are needed to protect American consumers in their financial dealings.

David Arkush, director, Public Citizen’s Congress Watch Division, said in a statement supporting the new federal consumer agency:

For too long, financial regulators have been too cozy with the financial services industry that they were supposed to be overseeing. Moreover, no single federal agency focuses primarily on consumer protection for credit products.

Lenders have run amok, writing their own rules and creating a maze of unfair and predatory products that have harmed consumers and destabilized the economy. The lack of oversight and regulation, along with Wall Street’s unchecked greed, drove this country into its current financial crisis. Americans deserve an agency that will put their financial well-being ahead of the short-term profits of a few Wall Street banks.

The president’s proposal to create a new Consumer Financial Protection Agency will add much needed oversight of an industry that has run wild at great expense to consumers and homeowners.

Establishing an agency to protect consumers in their financial transactions is essential. Let your senators and representatives in Congress know today that you support this important consumer protection measure.

Copyright 2009, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist

Baby boomer spending drops significantly since last year

Last year, Baby boomers’ average daily spending was $98. This year it’s $64, reports a new Gallup Poll.

Boomers, born between 1946 and 1964, are the largest generational group, making up 36 percent of U.S. adults.

Boomer spending habits have a greater effect on the economy because they’re the largest bloc of U.S. consumers. About two-thirds of the total gross domestic product comes from consumer spending.

Like boomers, daily spending also has reduced sharply from last year in other age groups:

• Greatest Generation, before 1930 – Down from $63 to $35

• Silent Generation, 1930-45 – Down from $84 to $50

• Generation X, 1965 to 1979 – Down from $110 to $71

• Millennials, 1980 to 1991 – Down from $92 to $61

Copyright 2009, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist

Top 10 cheapest cars to own and operate

 

The more information consumers gather, the more likely it is that they’ll negotiate a good price, obtain the best financing available, and purchase a car that they can afford.

However, being affordable is more than what you pay, reports the article “10 Cheapest Cars to Own And Operate” on Bankrate.com. It includes other costs such as insurance, fuel, maintenance, repairs, and depreciation. Your costs also will vary according to how you use and take care of your car.

Edmunds.com, an automotive Web site, offers a True Cost to Own calculator, which estimates total five-year cost and the cost per mile based on driving 15,000 miles a year.

Here are the top 10 cheapest cars to own and operate, according to Edmunds.com:

1. Hyundai Accent GS

2. Nissan Versa

3. Chevrolet Aveo5 LS

4. Suzuki SX4 Sedan

5. Pontiac G3

6. Mazda3 iSport

7. Honda Fit

8. Pontiac Vibe

9. Toyota Yaris

10. Nissan Sentra

Is your car on this list? My Honda Accord didn’t make it.

My next post will be “Top 10 Cars for Older Drivers.”

flickr photo

Copyright 2009, Rita R. Robison, Consumer Specialist