uNestlé USA Cutting Artificial Flavors, Reducing Salt In Some Frozen Pizza Productsr

4 4 4 9

• 

  Digiorno is one of the brands included. (JeepersMedia)

  Following Nestlé USA’s announcement that it would be pulling artificial flavors from all its chocolate products earlier this year, the company now says it’s removing artificial flavors and reducing salt by 10% in many of its frozen pizza and snack products by the end of 205.

  That will include more than 250 products under brands like Digiorno, Tombstone, California Pizza Kitchen, Jack’s, Hot Pocket and Lean Pockets, Nestlé says.

  By the end of 2015, there will be no more artificial flavors in any product within those brands — with upcoming products included — and sodium will be down 10% compared to 2013 levels in those pizza and snack brands.

  The company will also encourage you not to eat the entire box of Hot Pockets in one sitting even if that’s what you feel like doing because it’s been a really tough week, by including “incorporated guidance tools on packaging” to help educate consumers on “choosing appropriate portion sizes and the importance of eating vegetables and fruits as part of a balanced plate.”

  “We know people want to feel good about the foods they eat, and they’re seeking foods made with fewer artificial ingredients and less sodium,” said John Carmichael, president of the Nestlé Pizza & Snacking Division, Nestlé USA. “As one of the nation’s largest food companies, Nestlé is listening to consumers and delivering on their desire for convenient, great-tasting foods that have an improved nutritional profile.”

  Nestle is joining a slew of other food companies to recently announce a shift toward a future free from artificial flavors amid consumer demand, including Taco Bell and Pizza Hut, Panera Bread and Kraft Macaroni & Cheese.

  
• 
  

ribbi

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

uNestlé USA Cutting Artificial Flavors, Reducing Salt In Some Frozen Pizza Productsr

4 4 4 9

• 

  Digiorno is one of the brands included. (JeepersMedia)

  Following Nestlé USA’s announcement that it would be pulling artificial flavors from all its chocolate products earlier this year, the company now says it’s removing artificial flavors and reducing salt by 10% in many of its frozen pizza and snack products by the end of 205.

  That will include more than 250 products under brands like Digiorno, Tombstone, California Pizza Kitchen, Jack’s, Hot Pocket and Lean Pockets, Nestlé says.

  By the end of 2015, there will be no more artificial flavors in any product within those brands — with upcoming products included — and sodium will be down 10% compared to 2013 levels in those pizza and snack brands.

  The company will also encourage you not to eat the entire box of Hot Pockets in one sitting even if that’s what you feel like doing because it’s been a really tough week, by including “incorporated guidance tools on packaging” to help educate consumers on “choosing appropriate portion sizes and the importance of eating vegetables and fruits as part of a balanced plate.”

  “We know people want to feel good about the foods they eat, and they’re seeking foods made with fewer artificial ingredients and less sodium,” said John Carmichael, president of the Nestlé Pizza & Snacking Division, Nestlé USA. “As one of the nation’s largest food companies, Nestlé is listening to consumers and delivering on their desire for convenient, great-tasting foods that have an improved nutritional profile.”

  Nestle is joining a slew of other food companies to recently announce a shift toward a future free from artificial flavors amid consumer demand, including Taco Bell and Pizza Hut, Panera Bread and Kraft Macaroni & Cheese.

  
• 
  

ribbi

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

uGameStop, Not Hot Topic, To Acquire ThinkGeek For $140 Millionr

4 4 4 9

• 
  Remember the long, long-ago of, er, just last week when we thought Hot Topic was planning to buy the parent company of online specialty retailer ThinkGeek? Well, now they’re not. A mysterious new suitor showed up just a few days later, and it appears they have the better bid. And so, Geeknet today announced that their brief fling with Hot Topic is over, and they will be joining up with GameStop instead.

  That’s the news from Geeknet this morning. Geeknet CEO Kathryn McCarthy said of the deal, “Our Board and management team believe this transaction is in the best interest of Geeknet and its stockholders.” She continued, “As a part of GameStop’s family of brands, Geeknet will be well-positioned to achieve our goals of increasing our brand awareness and expanding our product offerings.”

  GameStop CEO Paul Raines had an equally bland statement to offer, saying, “This acquisition creates value to all stakeholders involved. The addition of Geeknet is an important expansion of our global multichannel platform and we are excited to leverage their product development expertise to broaden our product offering in the fast-growing collectibles category and deepen relationships with our existing customer base.”

  Both Hot Topic and GameStop have overlapping interests with ThinkGeek’s target audience. The former sells lines of licensed apparel and accessories that dovetail with ThinkGeek’s offerings. The latter still primarily sells games and consoles — though for how much longer, who can say — to an audience who are also likely to be interested in related paraphernalia from ThinkGeek.

  
• 
  

ribbi

by Kate Cox via Consumerist

uWalmart Raising Hourly Wages For 100,000 Specialty Department Employeesr

4 4 4 9

• 

  (Mike Mozart)

  Four months after Walmart began raising wages for around 40% of its workers, the nation’s largest retailer is announcing another round of pay increases affecting around 100,000 additional employees.

  Reuters reports that Walmart will begin raising the wages for workers and managers of certain departments starting next month, covering a small portion of the company’s estimated 1.3 million employees.

  The changes in pay range from increase of a $1 to $3, depending on the service department and type of employee.

  For example, the current hourly pay for managers in electronics and auto care ranges from $10-$20. After the wage increases, that range will be more like $13-$24.50/hour.

  Managers in departments like clothing and consumer products will see less dramatic increases, taking their hourly pay from the current range of $9.90-$19.31 to $10.90-$20.71.

  Wage increases for deli section managers are also coming, but the bump in pay will be less than $1/hour, according to Reuters’ numbers.

  In addition to the new hourly increases, Walmart announced it will start paying store associates 10% more per hour when they get promoted, representing about a 40-cent increase on average. That change is expected to begin in mid-August, a company spokesperson tells Reuters.

  The most recent wage news from Walmart comes just four months after the company unveiled plans to give nearly 40% of its 1.3 million employees pay increases over the next year.

  At that time, the retailer also began testing a new program that would offer workers fixed schedules; meaning they would work the same hours each week.

  For the past several years, Walmart has come under scrutiny by labor advocates, unions and employees who claim the company underpays workers. The retailer has maintained that the average full-time hourly wage is $12.92, but critics said the figure doesn’t take into consideration the many employees who are not considered full-time because the company has reduced the number of hours they work each week.

  Thousands of workers and advocacy groups have protested the retail giant in recent months for its continuous low pay and working conditions.

  In late December, the company announced that in order to be in compliance with more than two dozen state’s minimum wage laws, it would increase the pay for 1/3 of its workers during 2015.

  Wal-Mart to raise wages for 100,000 U.S. workers in some departments [Reuters]

  
• 
  

ribbi

by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist

uTime Warner Cable Has Lowest Customer Satisfaction Score Of All U.S. Companies, Not Just Cable Providersr

4 4 4 9

• 

  (Lyman Green)

  In news that backs up the results of a recent Consumer Reports survey, Time Warner Cable’s pay-TV service is not just dead last on the American Customer Satisfaction Index’s rankings of cable companies, but of all companies in the entire Index.

  TWC managed to score a ridiculously bad 51 out of 100 on the ACSI for its pay-TV service (the Index scores cable companies’ pay-TV, broadband, and phone services separately), tying it with survey newcomer Mediacom for the worst rating thus far in 2015. Mediacom was also a bottom-of-the-barrel performer in the CR survey.

  This is a repeat of sorts for TWC, which saw its Internet service receive the worst overall ACSI score (54) in 2014, while its pay-TV score of 56 was the second-lowest.

  While TWC’s broadband score improved slightly to a subpar 58, the score for Comcast’s Xfinity service slipped a point to 56, putting it at the back of the pack for all ISPs this year.

  TWC’s latest merger partner, Charter, also failed to fare well, scoring a miserable 57 for broadband and just meeting the industry average of 63 for its pay-TV service.

  On the plus side of things, both AT&T and Verizon FiOS received above average scores for pay-TV and Internet access. AT&T topped the broadband ratings with a score of 69, while FiOS dropped three points to 68, falling out of the leadership spot it held for the previous two years.

  As a whole, this sector continues to bring up the rear of all industries on the ACSI. In 2014, its average score of 71 only beat out Public Administration/Government, and it looks like we might be in for a repeat of that ranking this year with the overall sector average dropping to 69.

  “There was a time when pay TV could get away with discontented users without being penalized by revenue losses from defecting customers, but those days are over,” says Claes Fornell, ACSI Chairman and founder. “Today people have more alternatives than ever before. Consumer abandonment of pay TV is shaking up the industry and lower satisfaction could mean even more cord cutting by subscribers ahead.”

  
• 
  

ribbi

by Chris Morran via Consumerist

uHomeland Security Secretary Reassigns TSA Head, Tells Agency To Revise Airport Security Proceduresr

4 4 4 9

• 

  (frankieleon)

  After yesterday’s report that undercover government agents were able to sneak mock explosives and weapons past Transportation Security Administration checkpoints at airports in 95% of tests, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson is making some changes: He’s reassigned the acting administrator for the TSA and says he’s directed the agency to revise screening procedures “to address specific vulnerabilities identified” in the undercover operation.

  Johnson said in a statement that acting administrator Melvin Carraway has been moved to the Office of State and Local Law Enforcement at Department of Homeland Security headquarters, reports Reuters, with TSA Acting Deputy Director Mark Hatfield moving into his spot to lead the agency until a new acting administrator is appointed.

  Although Johnson noted Monday that the results of the security checks included in the report from Homeland Security’s inspector general were classified, he’s directed the TSA to tweak things to address the results of those tests, as well as ordering training for all TSA officers and supervisors across the country and testing of airports’ screening equipment. There will also be more random covert testing at checkpoints, Johnson said.

  “The numbers in these reports never look good out of context but they are a critical element in the continual evolution of our aviation security,” Johnson said. “We take these findings very seriously in our continued effort to test, measure and enhance our capabilities and techniques as threats evolve.”

  Homeland security chief reassigns top TSA official [Reuters]

  
• 
  

ribbi

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

uApple Knows You Hate iTunes And Love Spotify, So They’re Launching A Streaming Music Service Toor

4 4 4 9

• 

  (Emily)

  Apple’s iTunes digital storefront for music was a pretty big deal when it launched over a decade ago. But time, and data plans, march on. Where once being able to buy a cheap single was the new hotness, these days consumers are more likely to want to stream their music, through a service like Spotify or Pandora. And so, Apple being Apple, they’re about to launch a new streaming service too.

  The Wall Street Journal reports that Apple is expected to unveil its new streaming music service next week, at the company’s developer conference. The service is expected to cost subscribers $10 per month and, unlike Spotify or Pandora, will not have an expansive ad-supported free tier and instead will make “only a handful of songs” available for free streaming.

  If it seems like the streaming scene is crowded with players, well, it is. But Apple has an advantage, and that advantage is iTunes. You might hate it, but millions upon millions of us already have and use it. At a minimum, every iPod, iPhone, and iPad owner already has an iTunes account, and Apple is counting on being able to push their streaming service through iTunes, too.

  The changeover to mostly-streaming is one of the few music marketplace shifts Apple has missed, since launching the first iPod in 2003. Apple still sells between 80% and 85% of all downloaded music worldwide, the WSJ reports, but is barely a fraction of the streaming business.

  Spotify, meanwhile, is by far the most popular streaming music service in the U.S., hanging on to about 86% of that market. And while sales of downloads are starting to shrink as CDs, cassettes, and records did before them, the number of streaming service users is on the rise.

  Apple, Feeling Heat From Spotify, to Offer Streaming Music Service [Wall Street Journal]

  
• 
  

ribbi

by Kate Cox via Consumerist