Daily Dose of Common Sense

With the unemployment rate at 9.9% in April, many American are still out of work. The recession has hit a lot of families hard and these people are struggling to make ends meet. Well, we can’t all be Sarah Ferguson with a bit of royal access to sell, so a few folks are falling back on simple skills to pay their bills.

My favorite story is about a grandmother in Georgia. She lost her job in 2007 and has not been able to find employment since. So, she fell back on her homemade pralines to earn money. She’s gotten great feedback on the candy, but there is a snag. Driving around to sell her product costs gas money she doesn’t have.

I have been out of work since 2007. I have worked all of my life and find it very difficult to ask for help. I raised four children without a father’s help (yes, I was married). Think about it — after all the years I have worked and raised a family, I am still dealing with threats to turn off my utilities and repossess my car. I only have three months before I pay it off and they’re demanding all the money now or they’ll take it back.

What have I learned from being unemployed? That it’s frustrating and demoralizing. I have learned I would prefer to work to support my family and that I don’t want to be dependent on a Congress that obviously does not have America’s best interests at heart. I have learned to have more compassion for people who are in this situation and I’m now more willing to help them.

Some people want to work because they enjoy it. Not everyone wants a handout or to ask for help. This grandmother is ready to do what it takes. In the past three years, she’s gone back to finish her Associate’s Degree and passed the Real Estate exam.

So, Internet, we know your powers when it comes to Betty White, but what about supporting some of these small, struggling businesspeople? Buy some candy for a good cause, dammit.

Debit cards are increasingly popular, and for good reason. It’s the convenience of plastic without the temptation to spend money you don’t really have.

But should you sign or enter your PIN? Although I’m a technologist, I’ll be the first to admit it’s just as much, if not more, of a business issue.

Thankfully both types of concerns land on the side of, in my opinion, only using your PIN when you withdraw cash from an ATM (and make sure it’s a legit ATM at that!).

On the business side, most card issuers offer better fraud protection if you sign for a debit purchase than if you use your PIN. This is at least partly due to the fact that when you sign, the transaction gets processed by the MasterCard or VISA networks, and at minimum you get the fraud protection offered by them. You should check with your card issuer to get the details.

The credit card networks used when you sign also offer better fraud detection, as they can analyze the data from many card issuers.

On the technology side, it’s a question of the risk to your PIN and the impact if it gets compromised. ATMs, especially the major brands like NCR and Diebold used by the big banks, are built with security in mind. The keypad module has built-in encryption and its tamper-proof, for instance.

Other equipment where you use your card and enter your PIN is unlikely to be as secure. Even if it is, a clever person can skim your card in the blink of an eye and have a surreptitious camera recording your PIN.

Once they have your PIN in addition to your card #, they can create a fake card and then carry out the less consumer-protected PIN transactions instead of just being limited to signature transactions if they didn’t have your PIN.

Depending on your bank and what other info they have, they might even be able to access your account(s) through your bank’s web site because they have your PIN as well.

If all that isn’t enough to convince you, consider this: more and more, banks are enrolling their debit card customers in rewards programs similar to the ones offered for credit cards, but you only get rewards for signature transactions.

More protection and free stuff. Sounds like a winning combination to me.

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Remember the LifeLock ads where the owner broadcasts his own Social Security Number? Well, after the ads ran, owner Todd Davis’ identity was stolen thirteen times. Crooks opened up credit card accounts, ran up phone bills, and applied for bank loans using Davis’ SSN. Doesn’t do much for the company image, dudes.

Customers pay $10 to $15 a month for their service, which has a $1 million guarantee that your identity is secure with them. The FTC went after them earlier this year, claiming the company was making false advertising claims:

FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz states the Commission’s feelings bluntly: “While LifeLock promised consumers complete protection against all types of identity theft, in truth, the protection it actually provided left enough holes that you could drive a truck through it.”

In the settlement, LifeLock agreed to pay $11 million to the FTC, which will be refunded to consumers. Also, they have been instructed to remove any “100% effective” claims from their advertising.

Bottom line: no one but YOU can protect your SSN. Only give it to those that need it, and then keep it in the lockbox.

[Via the fine folks at The Consumerist.]

Have you seen a Blu-ray player that retails for $200, but comes with a $50 rebate? Sounds good, right? Well, you may never see that $50. Companies love mail-in rebates because consumers jump on them and yet most people never mail them in. Or, the consumer doesn’t fill out the rebate form “correctly,” which gives companies the right to refuse the rebate. Either way, this helps to add up to the $500 million in unclaimed rebates each year.

Rebate redemption rates never hit 100 percent. They rates generally range from 5 percent to 80 percent, depending on the value of the rebate. While vendors have accelerated nearly every other aspect of the purchasing process in recent years — from overnight shipping to 24/7 instant chat support — rebates are still stuck in the stone age to discourage redemption.

Many companies run deceptive or intentionally difficult rebate campaigns. They don’t want you to be able to claim the money because that’s money out of their pocket. So you lose out because you didn’t read the fine print that said your rebate needed to be mailed from a post office within 30 hours of purchase. In recent years, the FTC has taken issue with many big companies, such as Buy.com and Office Depot, for deceptive advertising and delayed delivery on rebate payment.

I was excited to see that New Jersey is considering a measure to eliminate the mail-in rebate altogether. The legislation would, “requires retailers to charge consumers an advertised after-rebate price, rather than making them send in coupons or log on to manufacturer’s websites to claim their savings.” It would then be the retailer’s responsibility to get the rebate from the manufacturer. Rhode Island and Connecticut already have this law in place.

So, manufacturers, stop making consumers jump through hoops for a couple of lousy bucks. Give us the real price from the get-go, and we won’t hate you later when our rebate form is declared invalid. Consumers, if you decide to purchase a rebate product, read the fine print before you buy it. And, make copies of everything before you mail the rebate away for fulfillment.

[Via the fine folks at The Consumerist.]

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If you slipped on a grape while shopping in your local produce department, would you sue the store? Well, two separate women in Chicago have filed suit against two separate grocery stores for this very issue.

In one case the 64-year-old plaintiff is suing a Food 4 Less store in Cicero, IL, and its parent company Kroger for over $50,000 after she claims an errant grape caused her to incur over $21,000 in medical expenses.

The other grape-related incident allegedly occurred last May at a Moo & Oink in Hazel Crest. The plaintiff in that case says she “suffered injuries of a personal and pecuniary nature” and is suing for more than $30,000.

Once you stop laughing over the name “Moo & Oink,” think about the situation. Have you ever slipped on a grape? Yes, they are small and can hide in a number of places. But, first, most of us know to watch where we’re walking in a produce section. Second, it’s not like slipping on ice–or even a banana peel. It’s a small grape. I am skeptical that a run-in with a grape caused such serious bodily damage.

Will it get to the point where grapes are sold from behind plexiglass, like meats at the deli counter?

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This is an example of smartness:

Bank of America will no longer let you spend what you don’t have. Revolutionary, I know. The bank is not allowing customers using accounts linked to debit cards to spend more than in their checking accounts.

Customers making a purchase without sufficient funds will be rejected at the cash register, the Charlotte, North Carolina-based bank said today. Those seeking to withdraw more than their balance from automated teller machines must agree to a $35 fee before they can get the money, spokesman Don Vecchiarello said.

$35 is pricey, but at least you can’t spend yourself (and us) into debt. Living within your means can be hard (who are we kidding–it sucks!) but, it’s a good way to avoid financial disaster down the road.

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Thanks to George P. for the link!

A couple in California had a new baby on the way and they needed to find ways to save money. So, in 2008, they removed their front lawn and replaced the grass with wood chips. This saved the city thousands of gallons of water and slashed the homeowner’s water bill. Sounds like a win-win, right?

Wrong. Cities want you to keep your lawn for aesthetic reasons. The green looks pretty, even though it takes a whole lot more maintenance and resources than other options. Lawns help to keep property values up. In this particular case, the couple lives in a town that requires homeowners to have at least 40% live landscaping in their front yards. So, they are being taken to court for not having enough green. (And, this is in Southern California, where some cities fine overzealous lawn waterers.)

A neighbor of the couple says,

“It’s their yard, it’s not overgrown with weeds, it’s not an eyesore,” said Cleek, whose own yard boasts fruit and avocado trees. “We should be able to have our yards look the way we want them to.”

Even more disturbing than the draconian landscaping rules is the way this has played out. The couple has made several changes to the front lawn in order to comply with the 40% rule. And, in an example of local government efficiency, the homeowners heard nothing from the city in return until the misdemeanor charge. Way to work together on a compromise, Orange County.

“It’s just funny that we pay our taxes to the city and the city is now prosecuting us with our own money,” Quan Ha said. “Doesn’t it waste funds to go back and fourth in court, rather than sending pictures, e-mails and having phone conversations?”

Sounds like common sense to me.

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Waiting in line sucks. We all hate it, yet most of us do it every day. At the grocery, post office, drug store, restaurant, Target…. we’re in line waiting to pay. Well, here’s a gripe: Why isn’t everyone READY to pay when the time comes? You were in line. You knew money would be exchanged soon. You had the time to get your credit card or cash ready while standing in line. So, why are you fumbling around in your wallet once the cashier gives you the total? The rest of us are behind you and we’re READY to pay.

While in line, get your finances ready, people. That way, the line moves faster!

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As flying gets increasingly more laborious, expensive (hello, outrageous extra baggage fees!), and just downright miserable, at least one regional airline knows what consumers want–less hassle.

SeaPort Airlines, headquartered in Portland, Oregon, offers regional flights within the Pacific Northwest and also within the Mid-South region. Started in 2008, their goal is simple: Provide quick and easy commuter flights at a reasonable cost.

A quick flight cost comparison with another major airline showed one standard SeaPort fare to be about $200.00 less expensive than its competitor. They also offer free airport parking and suggest you need only arrive 15 minutes before your flight–even with check-in bags.

Best of all? They tout themselves as a “TSA free airline.” Yep, you read that right. Since they are a regional airline and fly into smaller terminals they are exempt from full-scale Transportation Security Administration screening.

Now that’s how I want to fly.

Ok, not really. But, two clever guys did illustrate the ink usage of different typefaces and Garamond proved to use the least amount of ink.

In this quirky demonstration they drew enlarged versions of eight fonts with eight ball point pens and used the remaining ink in each pen to create a telling bar chart. The results are here:

http://flowingdata.com/2010/01/29/save-pens-use-garamond-font

Frankly, it never occurred to me that fonts had an ink footprint, but I know I’m not only one who thinks the price of ink cartridges is ridiculous.

And, who doesn’t want a way to stick it to the printer cartridge industry? I see a whole lot more Garamond in my future.