uOne Of World’s Most Expensive Restaurants Caught Keeping Tips From Waitersr

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  The five-course tasting menu at Per Se starts at $310 per person.

  Celebrity chef Thomas Keller’s Per Se restaurant in Manhattan is one of the world’s most expensive eateries, with diners paying a minimum prix fixe of $310 each for dinner. And yet the restaurant has been caught charging certain customers for “service charges” that didn’t go to pay the people performing that service. Now it faces having to pay $500,000 in restitution to employees who should have received this money.

  In 2011, the New York State Department of Labor enacted a new Hospitality Wage Order (HWO), which clarified that any mandatory surcharge like a service or “food service” fee would be treated as a gratuity to be distributed to tipped employees. Restaurants can have surcharges that aren’t treated like tips, but the customer must be made aware that the mandatory charge is not going to be used as gratuity.

  According to a settlement agreement [PDF] with the office of New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, the state began investigating Per Se two years ago over allegations that the restaurant was tacking on 20% service charges for banquet and private dining customers. Rather than distribute this fee as tips to wait staff, Per Se was using the 20% surcharge to pay for the general operating expenses of the business without revealing this fact to customers.

  In fact, AG’s investigation found that Per Se was allegedly misleading guests into believing that the 20% surcharges were indeed being treated like tips, with statements like “[K]indly note that service/gratuity is certainly included in the pricing.”

  On its own, the restaurant subsequently changed its private dining contract to reflect that the surcharge was not a service fee but an “operational charge.” Schneiderman says the new language, which specifically says that “this is not a gratuity,” is sufficient for compliance with the HWO.

  “Today’s agreement ensures that workers at Per Se will not continue to be cheated out of their hard-earned tips — tips that customers intended for them,” said Schneiderman in a statement, “And it reaffirms the right of satisfied restaurant-goers not to be misled about whether a ‘service charge’ is actually paid to workers as a tip, which the law requires.”

  
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by Chris Morran via Consumerist

uBubble Wrap: Now With Less Popr

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  (frankieleon)

  We’ve all been there: You receive a fragile packaged carefully wrapped in Bubble Wrap that’s just begging for you to start pinching the plastic between your fingers to create that joyous popping sound. The days of that sweet sound may be over as the biggest company in the Bubble Wrap game is revamping its signature product by removing its popping possibility.

  The Charlotte Observer reports that North Carolina-based Sealed Air, maker of the iconic packing material, has created a new version called iBubble Wrap that loses its popping quality.

  The new product is sold to companies in flat plastic sheets and then filled with special pumps. The company says iBubble Wrap – before inflated – uses about one-fiftieth as much space as traditional Bubble Wrap.

  While the new wrap costs less than traditional Bubble Wrap, the custom pumps used to fill the material cost about $5,500.

  Because the new version of the packaging material is laid out in connected air pockets, the filling migrates to other areas and doesn’t have the ability to pop.

  Sealed Air says the new material is intended to cater to online retailers looking for less bulky ways to ship products all over the world, the Observer reports.

  Sealed Air hopes to elate customers with deflated Bubble Wrap [Charlotte Observer]

  
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by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist

uGuy Puts His Cat Through X-Ray Machine At LAX, Everyone Freaks Outr

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  No cats here. Whew. (JessicaKRoach)

  Something important you should probably add to your check list when traveling with a pet: Make sure your furry friend doesn’t go through the X-ray machine at the airport, not only because it could be dangerous, but because everyone around you will promptly freak out. Officials at Los Angeles Airport say a traveler accidentally placed his cat in a bag during the security screening procedure, but agents say it seems the fuzzy guy is perfectly fine.

  Transportation Security Administration officers discovered the pet when a JetBlue passenger placed his bag — not a pet carrier — on the conveyor belt to go through the X-ray machine, an LAX Police Department spokeswoman told NBC Los Angeles.

  TSA officers took the cat out of the bag and determined it hadn’t suffered any harm for its short ride, while the passenger told a supervisor that he didn’t know animals weren’t supposed to go through X-ray machines.

  Witnesses nearby promptly reported the incident on social media, Tweeting that folks were pretty much freaking out left and right. Comedian and writer Sara Benincasa and the Sklar Brothers (or perhaps just one of them?) were on-hand and issued a number of Tweets about the incident:

  Standing in front of guy at TSA. I hand him a bin. I turn away and go through the scanner. I hear screams. HE PUT HIS CAT IN THE BIN.

  — Sara Benincasa (@SaraJBenincasa) July 1, 2015

  I have seen people pulled out of the TSA line for knives. Guns. I have never seen the rage of the TSA when dude just put his cat in the XRay

  — Sara Benincasa (@SaraJBenincasa) July 1, 2015

  The amount of screaming that's happening in the Jet Blue terminal at LAX is incredible right now and yet it feels completely appropriate.

  — The Sklar Brothers (@SklarBrothers) July 1, 2015

  The Sklar Brothers Twitter account later added that the traveler in question was on their flight, noting for any interested parties that he was wearing a fedora.

  Gawker points out that this isn’t the first time a cat has taken a wild ride through the X-ray machine at LAX — another pet was put on the conveyor belt earlier this week, according to Twitter, at least:

  I have now seen everything. A woman trying to put a live cat, no cage, through the xray thing at LAX security. Officers suddenly screaming!

  — The Obvious Hiker (@ObviousHiker) June 30, 2015

  LAX X-Ray Machine Reveals Cat in Passenger’s Luggage [NBC Los Angeles]

  
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by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

uFCC, TracFone Reach Settlement: Provider Will Now Unlock Customers Phones’ Like They Said They Wouldr

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  (Consumerist)

  Unlocking your phone is legal, and the wireless industry agreed months ago to a set of conditions that went into effect earlier this year that allow consumers to do just that. Those companies all promised the FCC that they had a plan. And when you tell a federal agency that you have a plan, you probably actually should, and ought to follow it, too. One company didn’t, and that has landed them in some hot water with the commission.

  TracFone sells prepaid wireless phones. They service millions of consumers but, specifically, also provide phones to millions of consumers enrolled in the FCC’s Lifeline subsidy program.

  Lifeline: What is it, and how does it work?

  In 2014, the President signed into law a piece of legislation that made it legal for you to unlock your own phone. In February of this year, the entire wireless industry — voluntarily, but in cooperation with the FCC — adopted a set of standards that would allow all consumers to have their phones unlocked. However, TracFone apparently missed that memo, and was not entirely cooperating.

  As the official Consent Decree (PDF) explains, TracFone certified last year that it would comply with the unlocking rules for its Lifeline customers in the 2015 program year. But when the rules went into effect on February 11, the day everyone else started unlocking phones, TracFone still did not have a process in place for letting their customers unlock their devices, and that’s a no-no.

  The FCC opened an investigation, which came to a close with the settlement TracFone and the commission reached this week. Consumers will indeed be able to unlock their TracFone phones, but old equipment can’t necessarily be switched on a dime. So the new plan goes something like this:

  • By September 1, TracFone will have a clear unlocking policy, that they will put on their website and send in a text message to all their eligible users.
  • Eligible users with old phones can trade them in for cash refunds equal to the phone’s trade-in value.
  • By May 1 of next year, non-Lifeline TracFone customers can trade in their old phones toward credit for unlocking ones, and Lifeline customers can straight up trade in their phones for unlocking ones.

  TracFone also has to pay a $400,000 per month “offset” into the Universal Service Fund (which funds Lifeline) until all of their Lifeline customers have unlockable phones, which will probably motivate them to hit or beat their deadlines.

  “Unlocking of cell phones has been widely embraced by the wireless industry and by consumers across the country,” Travis LeBlanc, head of the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau, said in a statement. “Today’s agreement ensures that millions of eligible TracFone customers will be able to use their phones on any compatible network they choose.”

  The FCC estimates that at least 8 million TracFone customers will benefit from the settlement, to the approximate value of $80 million.

  
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by Kate Cox via Consumerist

uBehold: There Are Magical Places In This Country Known As “Pizza Farms”r

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  (Coyoty)

  Of all the dreams I’ve dreamed in all the nights of sleep I’ve had, never have I believed that a pizza farm could be a real thing. While this popular new form of agritourism might not feature fertile fields fairly bursting with hot, cheesy pies right off the vine, pizza farms have proven to be a popular way for those in the farming business to sell directly to customers looking for that “farm to table” situation.

  These trendy “pizza farms” are popping up all over the country, have proved especially popular in states like Minnesota and Wisconsin (where apparently all the food geniuses live), reports the Associated Press, bringing in crowds by inviting them over for pizza straight from wood-fired ovens, topped with ingredients grown right there on the farm.

  Customers set up picnics, bringing chairs and tables and packing soda, beer and wine to go with their pies, so they’re happy. Many farms also require that diners bring their own napkins, plates and utensils and clean up for themselves.

  And small farms are happy too — especially those that set up commercial kitchens to comply with regulations on serving food, as they can can often use those kitchens to supplement their income by making other products to sell, like jams and baked goods.

  “It’s fun to get people back out to the country,” one Minnesota pizza farmer told the AP.

  Agritourism is a good way for small farmers to diversify, much like farm wineries, giving growers another way to make money from the land. And bring pizza to the people, which is basically the best thing you can do for someone in need of good pizza.

  “Direct sales to consumers, that’s the best way to capture the most value for the dollar,” Greg Schweser, an expert on sustainable local food systems with the University of Minnesota Extension told the AP. “There’s no middleman. There’s no wholesalers. That’s how small farmers are making it.”

  Thank you, pizza farmers, for making at least one girl’s most fervent dreams come true.

  Pizza farms offer reverse twist in farm-to-table movement [Associated Press]

  
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by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

uCould You Soon Be Making Purchases By Scanning Your Face? That’s The Plan At MasterCardr

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  (frankieleon)

  Who has time to memorize the special code or password when you could just scan your face to approve an online purchase? While using facial recognition as confirmation you’re, well, you, might seem a little far-fetched, it could be a reality this fall according to MasterCard.

  The credit card company announced plans this week to start testing a new program that asks customers to snap a photo of themselves to approve purchases, CNN reports.

  The pilot program, which begins with about 500 customers this fall, will use fingerprints or facial scans to confirm one’s identity and securely complete purchases.

  To use the new security feature – when it’s available – MasterCard members must download the company’s app.

  When completing a transaction, a pop-up will ask customers for authorization, either a fingerprint of a photo. If using the facial recognition option, people simply look into the phone’s camera and blink.

  According to MasterCard, blinking was the best way to prevent a thief from simply holding up a photo of someone else to use a stolen credit card.

  Instead of keeping a photo in its archives, the company says the system will map out one’s face and convert the points to create a code that stays on the device. The company says it won’t be able to reconstruct customers’ faces and that information collected by the app will remain secure.

  To create the program, MasterCard partnered with smartphone makers including Apple, BlackBerry, Google, Microsoft and Samsung, CNN reports.

  The company hasn’t finalized deals with banks just yet, so it’s unclear just who will get to test out the program when it’s up and running.

  MasterCard says the initiative is the company’s latest attempt to cut down on fraud, while alleviating the need to remember complicated passwords.

  Currently, the company offers customers extra security through a program called “SecureCode,” which aims to stop hackers from using ill-gotten credit cards online.

  That program, which has been used about three billion times in the last year, requires a shopper to enter a specific password when shopping online.

  The company says they are also working on other secure methods to approve transactions including voice recognition.

  MasterCard will approve purchases by scanning your face [CNN]

  
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by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist

uBP Agrees To Pay $18.7 Billion (Over 18 Years) For 2010 Gulf Disasterr

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  (pdxmac)

  More than five years after an explosion at the Deepwater Horizon oil well in the Gulf of Mexico left eleven people dead and released untold amounts of oil into the water, BP has agreed to make $18.7 billion in payments — spread out over nearly two decades — to settle all federal and state claims related to the disaster.

  The biggest chunk of the proposed payment schedule is $7.1 billion that will go to the federal government and the five states along the Gulf Coast — Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas — for natural resource damages (NRD). These payouts, spread out over 15 years, will start one year after the settlement is approved and will ding BP’s coffers for around $490 million a year.

  There will also be another $232 million set aside to cover any additional NRD claims that may arise between now and the end of the payment schedule.

  Another $5.5 billion is slated to be paid to the feds for BP’s alleged violations of the Clean Water Act. Like the NRD damages, the payouts would start a year from now and be meted out over the course of 15 years.

  Finally, BP will pay a total of $4.9 billion to settle other claims with the Gulf Coast states. The first payment of $1 billion will be paid after the deal is approved. Then in year three of the schedule, BP will fork over $260 million a year to the states through year 18.

  U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch says the $18.7 billion settlement, which still needs to be approved by the court, represents the highest dollar value ever for a settlement with a single corporate entity.

  If approved, “it would help repair the damage done to the Gulf economy, fisheries, wetlands and wildlife; and it would bring lasting benefits to the Gulf region for generations to come,” explains Lynch in a statement.

  According to the Wall Street Journal, today’s settlement announcement means BP’s total bill for the 2010 tragedy is nearly $54 billion.

  
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by Chris Morran via Consumerist