Due to the state’s decision to gradually raise its minimum wage to $15, more companies are looking into automation to reduce cost. To deal with the rising minimum wage, the fast-food chain Wendy’s plans to start automating all of its restaurants. The company said that self-service ordering kiosks will be made available across its 6,000-plus restaurants in the second half of the year. Wendy’s President Todd Penegor said it will be up to franchisees to decide whether or not to adopt the kiosks in their stores. The minimum wage for all 258 Wendy’s restaurants in California will gradually rise to $15 and automation and eliminating certain jobs are the solution for cost reduction. In the meanwhile McDonald’s also tests its own self-service kiosks. (investors.com)
Consumer
Good News for Consumers: Google Bans Ads For Payday Loans
After deciding it doesn’t want to promote predatory lending practices that are harmful to consumers, Google decided to ban ads for payday loans on their ads systems. “Research has shown that these loans can result in unaffordable payment and high default rates for users so we will be updating our policies globally to reflect that,” Google’s product policy director, David Graff, writes in a blog post. Payday loans often come with extremely high interest rates if they aren’t paid back immediately, which can push people further in debt. Georgetown’s Center on Privacy and Technology notes in a statement, “Payday lenders profit from people’s weaknesses — particularly poor people and people of color. Every time someone clicks on those ads, search engines profit, too.” Of course Google will lose the revenue from the banned ads, but it will earn more trust from visitors for its other ads. Payday loans will be banned from Google globally starting June 13th.
0 to 400 mph in two seconds: Welcome to the age of hyperloop
Marco della Cava on USA Today reported: “Hyperloop One successfully demonstrated Wednesday one key part of how it plans to send people and cargo racing through cushioned tubes at nearly the speed of sound. This transportation alternative, its backers claim, could reduce the journey between Los Angeles and San Francisco to just 30 minutes.” Hyperloop One cofounder and chief technology officer Brogan BamBrogan said, “this is about validating the hardware and software. We’re aiming to hit 400 mph in two seconds.” BamBrogan noted that humans in a hyperloop pod wouldn’t feel the acceleration as it would happen more gradually, eventually hitting close to 750 mph. In the near future, people can save time and money when travel between large metro area such as Los Angeles and San Francisco. (usatoday.com)
The One Thing Rich Parents Do For Their Kids That Makes All The Difference
The one thing rich parents do for their kids that makes all the difference is that “they can buy their children pricey homes in nice neighborhoods with good school districts,” said Emily Badger on The Washington Post. “Wealthy parents are famously pouring more and more into their children, widening the gap in who has access to piano lessons and math tutors and French language camp. The biggest investment the rich can make in their kids, though — one with equally profound consequences for the poor — has less to do with enrichment than real estate.” Ann Owens, a sociologist at the University of Southern California, explained: “Forty to fifty years of social-science research tells us what an important context neighborhoods are, so buying a neighborhood is probably one of the most important things you can do for your kid. There’s mixed evidence on whether buying all this other stuff matters, too. But buying a neighborhood basically provides huge advantages.” (washingtonpost.com)
Here Are America’s Top 3 Grocery Stores
According to a report from Market Force Information, Wegmans tops the list as shoppers’ favorite grocery store. Publix Super Markets and Trader Joe’s came in second and third place. The three best grocery chains in the U.S. are all privately-owned companies. The survey was done online with more than 10,000 respondents in February 2016. Trader Joe’s ranked first for cashier courtesy while Wegmans and Publix ranked highest in cleanliness, product selection and specialty department service. Wal-Mart which is the largest grocer in the U.S., ranked last out of the 15 grocers on the list. (cnn.com)
School Calls Police on Girl Using 2 Dollar Bill to Buy Some Chicken Nuggets at Lunch
A Houston eighth-grader, Danesiah Neal, was detained and threatened with a felony when she tried to buy some chicken nuggets with a 2 Dollar Bill for school lunch at Christa McAuliffe Middle School. This is just insane! The school officials confiscated the bill and said it was fake. “I went to the lunch line, and they said my $2 bill was fake,” Danesiah told a local ABC News. “They gave it to the police. Then they sent me to the police office. A police officer said I could be in big trouble.” The school officials contacted Danesiah’s grandmother, Sharon Joseph, who gave the bill to the student to ask for confirmation. Then an investigation into the $2 bill led Fort Bend police to the bank to examine. After the bank determined that the bill is real, the issue finally got resolved. What a nightmare for a little girl to be threaten with a felony forgery, which can carry up to a 10-year prison sentence and remains on a student’s criminal record for life, ABC said. (washingtontimes.com)
Class Divide is the Strongest Predictor of Air Rage
Class warfare has turned into a political struggle between the 1% and the 99%. Now there’s more evidence that air rage is largely based on seat class, according to a study by Katy DeCelles who teaches organizational behaviour at the University of Toronto. “Something like that makes you very aware of the fact that you are not being treated as special as someone else.” The paper concludes that inequality between seat classes is the largest single contributor to air rage. The effect intensifies, DeCelles suggests, when the travellers file past the high rollers during boarding. Airborne inequality also makes the rich behave worse. “It’s a very strong effect,” said DeCelles. Base on the database involved more than one million flights, DeCelles and her co-author compared flights that had separate first and economy classes with those that didn’t. The strongest predictor of air rage, by far, was class divide. (ctvnews.ca)
The Future of Shopping: Trapping You in a Club You Didn’t Know You Joined
Beware of the subscription-fueled future of online shopping, a business model that attracted a billion-dollar bet from venture capital investors. Bloomberg reported about this future of shopping that traps you in a club you didn’t know you join. Hailee Taylor purchased a lingerie item from an e-commerce website called Adore Me for $19.95 but ended up costing her more than $300. Adore Me maintains a subscription model in which it charges users a fee of around $40 a month, even if customers don’t purchase anything. Adore Me isn’t the only shopping portal or service that runs this sort of tactic. “It’s the new thing,” says Francisca Allen, the deputy district attorney of California’s Santa Clara County. “There’s thousands and thousands of companies that do this.” These companies have made it frustratingly difficult to cancel these subscriptions by making you to sit through a one-hour call to the customer representative. “Hundreds of customer complaints against Adore Me and other subscription e-commerce businesses are stacking up at the Federal Trade Commission, according to records obtained by Bloomberg. They follow a pattern: Shoppers believe they’ve been tricked into signing up for recurring credit card charges, often for a relatively small amount that can be easily overlooked in a monthly bill. Then companies make it an exasperating hassle to quit and get a refund.” (bloomberg.com)
Extremely Wasteful Spending: Some Men Are Paying Women to Beat Them Up
As reported on The Sun, men are now paying women to beat them up. “Kinky wrestling fans are splashing the cash on beautiful women… who are being paid to dominate them. Unconventional London agency, Models Wrestling Management, promises to put the strongest and most attractive women in the ring with their male customers. From £150 a session, punters have the option of choosing from a range of services, including bondage, being beat down, fantasy wrestling and competitive-style fighting.” (thesun.co.uk)
Consumers Are Paying Less for Groceries Amid Global Glut of Crops
Food and gas are some of the required family expenses. Last year consumers got relief at the gas pump and now they got a nice break at the supermarket. As reported on MarketWatch, grocery prices have fallen for the last 12 months. It’s only the fourth time in the past 25 years that the cost of groceries has turned negative. The falling cost is due to a global glut among crop producers and a slower world economy. While the cost of making dinner at home is cheaper, eating out has gotten more expensive. The price of “food away from home” has risen 2.7% in the past 12 months. (marketwatch.com)
This McDonald’s Restaurant to Offer All-You-Can-Eat Fries
The new McDonald’s restaurant in St. Joseph will offer all-you-can-eat french fries as reported by The St. Joseph News-Press. The McDonald’s of the future will also include digital kiosks for customers to order their food for quick service. The play area will have interactive light board tables, tabletop video games with different gaming options, and digital play. (newspressnow.com)
Americans prefer low prices to items ‘Made in the USA’
According to an Associated Press poll, the vast majority of Americans say they prefer lower prices instead of paying a premium for items labeled “Made in the USA,” even if it means those cheaper items are made abroad. People in higher earning households earning more than $100,000 a year are no less likely than lower-income Americans to say they’d go for the lower price. (ap.org)
“ROBOCOP Act” Would Force Phone Companies To Do Something About Robocalls
Chris Morran writes on Consumerist: “A new piece of legislation introduced today hopes to compel the telecom providers to finally make it easier for customers to just say no to robocalls. Congresswoman Jackie Speier of California is introducing the ‘Repeated Objectionable Bothering Of Consumers On Phones’ — or ROBOCOP Act, which would require that telephone service providers offer their customers free, optional robocall-blocking technology.” The proposed law also seeks to hold the telecoms accountable if they fail to take action. (consumerist.com)
USPS to Cut Postage Rates to 47 Cents
Reversing the price hiking trend, the U.S. Postal Service will reduce the price of first-class stamps by 2¢ down to 47¢ this weekend. As reported on Consumerist, “The price cut came from the government entity that regulates the postal service, the logically named Postal Regulatory Commission. The original price hike for letters back in 2014 was actually a surcharge enacted to help the postal service’s cash flow, and the PRC ordered that the postal service roll back that surcharge. The Postmaster General estimates that the price cuts for domestic and international letters will cost the USPS $2 billion per year.” (consumerist.com)
Fingerprints to be Tested as ‘Currency’
Iphone owners already use fingerprint to unlock their phone, but to buy things using their fingerprints? Starting this summer Japanese government will let foreign tourists to shop using only their fingerprints. Using fingerprint as a new payment would “prevent crime and relieve users from the necessity of carrying cash or credit cards.” The government plans to roll out the new technology by the 2020 Tokyo Olympic. By the end of this month Tokyo-based Aeon Bank will allow customers to withdraw cash from automatic teller machines using only fingerprints for identification and omitting the use of debit cards. “The system is also superior in the area of security, such as preventing people from impersonating our customers,” an official from the bank said. Last year this new technology was already introduced on a trial basis in the Huis Ten Bosch theme park in which visitors can make payments with just their fingerprints. The government aims to showcase the country’s advanced technology when tourists visit Japan for the Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics.
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