uCEOs Of Chipotle, CVS, Discovery, Walmart Make The Most Compared To Employees’ Wagesr

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  (Adam Fagen)

  Earlier this month, the Securities and Exchange Commission finalized a long-delayed rule that will require many businesses to publicly disclose the ratio of their top executive’s pay to the earnings of the typical employee. If the data in a newly released report is accurate, then the CEOs of Chipotle, CVS, Walmart, and Discovery Communications are each making more than 1,000 times the average salary of the people they employ.

  This is according to research from Glassdoor.com, which ranked companies according to Glassdoor’s calculated ratio of CEO earnings to average employee pay.

  The company with the highest ratio was Discovery Communications, whose CEO David Zaslav brought in $156 million, nearly 2,000 times that of the $80,000 average pay for Discovery employees. Interestingly, Discovery also had the highest pay of the 10 companies with the highest CEO:Worker pay ratio.

  In fact, most of the companies with the highest ratios have employees with average earnings below $30,000, which means the CEO’s compensation doesn’t need to be astronomical for the pay ratio to be large.

  For example, Glassdoor says the Chipotle CEO Steve Ells earned $28.9 million last year. That’s less than 1/5 the size the pay of Discovery’s Zaslav, but since — according to the report — the average Chipotle worker earned $19,000 (the least among all the top companies in the study), the pay ratio of 1,522:1 is the second-largest in the report.

  Filling out the top positions were CVS (#3; 1,192:1), Walmart (#4, 1,192:1) and Target (#5, 939:1). Aside from Discovery, Target had the highest average salary ($30,000) in the top five.

  Likewise, both the Gap and Macy’s have average worker pay of $22,800 and the CEOs of both companies earned around $16 million last year. That’s not even in the top 25 for CEO pay, but because the average pay is so low, the resulting ratios are high enough to put Macy’s (724:1) and Gap (705:1) in the eighth and ninth spots, respectively.

  Some companies have high average pay but are also led by CEOs making big bucks. Like Microsoft, where Glassdoor says the average pay is $137,000, but where CEO Satya Nadella pulls down $84 million a year. Or Oracle, where CEO Larry Ellison makes $67.2 million, equal to 573 times the average pay of $117,000.

  The recently finalized SEC rule, mandated by Section 953(b) of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, doesn’t prescribe a specific format for companies to calculate the CEO-worker pay ratio. Rather, the SEC has is giving employers the ability to use any “reasonable method” that “works best for their own facts and circumstances.”

  Thus, a company with many thousands of employees spread around the nation can use sampling and estimates to calculate its ratio. However, businesses must describe and detail their methodologies for obtaining their final figures.

  Additionally, rather than requiring companies to run the numbers every year, they will only be made to disclose the ratio every three years — except in cases where there have been significant changes to employee numbers or pay structure.

  One area in which the final rule is not giving flexibility to companies is the definition of “employee.” Rather than simply calculating full-time workers, the ratio must also include part-time and seasonal staff, which will have a significant impact on foodservice and retail companies that employ large numbers of short-term workers during certain times of year.

  
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by Chris Morran via Consumerist

u“You Have Ruined Waffles”: Many Country Crock Customers Up In Arms Over Spread’s New Reciper

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• Though we are living in a time when the hot trends in food all involve a push toward products that are free of preservatives, artificial coloring, trans fats and other ingredients we didn’t use to blink an eye at, not all consumers are happy when their favorite items hop on the healthy bandwagon. That’s because while yes, people might want healthier ingredients, they also want their food to actually taste good — which is not the case for many fans of Country Crock’s Original Spread who say, among other things, that its new “Simple Recipe” has resulted in a “crock of yuck.”

  Country Crock customers have been blasting the brand on social media and in a flood of recent one-star reviews on the brand’s site in the last month or so. We were alerted to the outrage by Consumerist reader Terri, who writes that she’d been using original Country Crock spread for 20 years before encountering this new formulation.

  “It is truly inedible, smells horrible, and ruins any food you put it in or on,” she says.

  She’s not alone, as even a quick dip into Country Crock land on the product’s web page shows:

  “At first I thought maybe my taste buds had gone hay-wire,” a one-star review read.

  “Terrible taste, horrible after taste and we tried it in several recipes/items but it didn’t help with the taste any, in fact it even altered the taste of the recipes,” another says.

  “It is not good, in any way. The taste is awful, then there is a thick filmy after taste that is so bad my gag reflex took over,” yet another writes, with many pages of one-star reviews following.

  Over on the Country Crock Facebook page, the response is much the same:

  “I hate the new recipe. I would like you to know that you have ruined waffles, english muffins, and toast for me,” one comment reads.

  “Threw our food away because we thought it was spoiled. After a couple of meals, we realized you changed the recipe and that it was the Country Crock. Yes, I know, it’s a new simpler recipe. It’s awful! We will be searching for a new butter!” someone else chimed in.

  “The new simple recipe has to go!! It is really bad and I am devastated! I threw it in the trash where it belongs and purchased Blue Bonnet,” a fellow customer adds.

  Terri and other customers repeatedly point out that they’re loyal customers, and beg Country Crock to reconsider their recipe. But she and others are also disappointed with the response from the brand, which so far has been limited to a variation on a canned response, on both the brand’s product page as well as on Facebook, with replies like:

  “[Customer], we’re very sad to hear you don’t enjoy our new simpler recipe frown emoticon [editor’s note: yes, this really reads “frown emoticon”]. Family is at the center of our hearts here in Crock Country. Knowing that family is important to you, too, we wanted our products to have everyday ingredients you can recognize and feel good about giving to your loved ones. Our new simple recipe does just this, while still delivering the country-fresh taste your family knows and loves. We do hope you’ll give us another chance and your feedback is highly valued, so please send us a note at consumer.services@unilever.com with more details.”

  Other responses are a bit shorter, but they basically say the same thing: “Sorry you hate this, send us an email.”

  As for customers giving Country Crock another chance, many are vowing never to buy the offending spread again.

  “I, along with countless others, told them we will NEVER buy the new recipe again,” Terri tells Consumerist.

  “This has been extremely disappointing as we have been loyal happy customers who buy your product every time we grocery shop. But no more,” one reviewer on the product’s site writes. “The change you made destroyed what was a staple in my kitchen. Bad decision! Clearly you have lost and disappointed many loyal customers.”

  At least one customer notes that while it’s unlikely that Country Crock will go back to the old recipe, as that would would mean putting trans fats and artificial preservatives back in — the brand should still do something about the new recipe.

  “However, they should have tested their new product before putting it on shelves! Consumers are not happy,” the customer writes on Facebook. “They can’t bring back the old recipe but they should certainly go back to the kitchen and try to get as close as they can. As a company you should be listening to all these complaints and try to make changes.”

  We reached out to the Country Crock brand (which is made by Unilever) to see if there’s any further response beyond what customers have been given so far, or whether there are any plans to go back to the drawing board and come up with a product that customers don’t describe as tasting like spoiled food.

  
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by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

uInvestors Want McDonald’s To Spin $20 Billion In Property Off Into Real Estate Investment Trustr

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• 

  (yarnzombie)

  While McDonald’s doesn’t own the majority of its restaurants, it does own tens of billions of dollars’ worth of the real estate where those restaurants operate, leasing them to franchisees. That’s a valuable asset, and the company is facing pressure from some investors to spin off its land and buildings into a separate, publicly traded McDonaldland. I mean, real estate investment trust. Which they should name McDonaldland.

  Investors in other companies are keen on the REIT idea, too. Darden plans to transfer a number of its own restaurants to an REIT, and investors want Macy’s to do the same. Selling property to a trust is the only reason why Sears posted a profit during the most recent quarter.

  The Wall Street Journal points out that REITs have benefits for investors, since their tax structure is different from a regular business. Almost half of McDonald’s value is in its worldwide real estate, which would leave the remaining company to be valued based on its earnings from franchise fees.

  This trust would own only McDonald’s property in the United States, and that’s a substantial amount of real estate. Experts don’t even know exactly how much there is, but they know that there’s between $20 billion and $35 billion that the company could raise, which they could go on to use to buy shares of the company back, pay debt, or invest in more pantry spices.

  The higher-ups at McDonald’s haven’t ruled out the idea, but they also haven’t confirmed that they’re going for it. The company’s chief financial officer will update shareholders in November.

  McDonald’s Lands in a Real-Estate Dilemma [Wall Street Journal]

  
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by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

uSubway Says It Is Now Taking Android Pay, Even Though It’s Not Live Yetr

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• 

  The Subway FreshBuzz newsletter declares that Android Pay is live at the fast food chain, but it looks like Google is not yet ready to announce this news.

  After leaked McDonald’s memos indicated that Android Pay — Google’s answer to Apple Pay — would launch this week, we have another sign from the fast food industry that the debut of the mobile payment platform is imminent.

  A Consumerist reader forwarded us a Subway FreshBuzz newsletter he received in his inbox today that — in addition to promoting whatever sandwich the company is hoping will get everyone’s mind off this Jared debacle — proclaims “Android Pay Is Now At Subway!”

  The newsletter has a link enticing readers to learn more about Android Pay, but it just links to the official Android Pay site, which currently states that it’s “coming soon,” with no launch date:
  

  Subway — along with McDonald’s, Best Buy, GameStop, Staples, Macy’s, Petco, and others — has already been confirmed as a launch partner for Android Pay. It would just be nice if Android users had some more precise idea of when they’d be able to try this payment option.

  We’ve written to Subway for clarification on the Android Pay launch and will update if we get anything in response.

  
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by Chris Morran via Consumerist

uCredit Bureaus, Bank Of America, Wells Fargo Top List Of Most Complained-About Financial Companiesr

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• The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has released its latest report on the various complaints the agency has received about banks, lenders, debt collectors, and other financial services. Amid a sudden increase in the number of complaints involving credit report errors, the country’s largest credit bureaus now dominate the top of the CFPB’s list of most complained-about companies.

  According to the CFPB report [PDF], it received nearly 6,700 complaints about credit reporting in July 2015 alone, that’s a 56% increase over the previous month and more than double the monthly average of around 3,200 for this category.

  And since 97% of credit reporting complaints involved the three largest credit bureaus — Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion — it’s no surprise that these companies occupied three of the top five spots on the complained-about list.

  Equifax topped the list, with 991 complaints in July alone, followed by 926 complaints about Experian. TransUnion managed to avoid the bronze medal in this field by coming in fourth with 732 complaints.

  Beating out TransUnion was Bank of America, with 858 complaints, while Wells Fargo rounded out the top five with 720 gripes filed against it.

  Most complaints (77%) filed against the credit bureau involve people trying to dispute incorrect information on their reports.

  “Consumers frequently complain of debts already paid or debts not yet due showing up on their report, negatively affecting their credit scores,” reads the report.

  

  There is also the issue of access to credit reports. In order to minimize fraudulent access, the bureaus use identity authentication questions that even the person they’re about might not have the answer to. Do you know every street address your mother has lived on? Do you remember every phone number you’ve had at every place you’ve lived? If not, you might not be able to prove you are the person you claim to be.

  “Consumers consistently report issues related to accessing their credit reports as a result of rigorous online identity authentication questions,” reads the report. “If unable to access the reports over the Internet, consumers have to send copies of sensitive, identifying documents through the mail, which consumers feel is time-consuming and potentially unsecure.”

  In terms of the two banks in the CFPB’s top five, consumers are frequently complaining about mortgage-related issues with both BofA and Wells Fargo. The two banks also saw quite a lot of complaints about their regular bank accounts and related services. Bank of America was also the subject of a not-insignificant number of credit card complaints.

  While BofA might have been pushed to third place for this report, it still has the highest monthly average of complaints (1,034); no other company is even comes close to that average:

  

  Since the CFPB first began accepting complaints through its online portals, more than 48,600 have been filed against BofA. Wells Fargo is a distant second with nearly 34,000, followed by JPMorgan Chase at around 27,500.

  But for all this talk of most complained-about companies, none of them are in the most complained-about category: debt collection.

  In July, the CFPB received a whopping 8,224 complaints about debt collectors, representing nearly one-third of all complaints filed with the bureau. But since this industry is so varied, no one company receives enough to penetrate the ranks of the credit bureaus or big banks.

  
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by Chris Morran via Consumerist

uToyota Officially Testing Airbag Inflators From Takata Rivalsr

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  (I Am Rob)

  A week after it was reported that Toyota planned to buy 13 million airbag inflators from a rival of Takata in an attempt to reduce the risk associated with millions of recalled safety devices from the Japanese auto parts maker, the car manufacturer announced it will indeed be testing alternative replacement components. 

  Reuters reports that Toyota is currently testing airbag inflators from Autoliv and Nippon Kayaku as replacements for the millions of volatile Takata-produced airbags that have so far been linked to eight deaths and more than 100 injuries. The auto maker has already approved the continued use of parts from Daicel Corp.

  The company says that tests of the new inflators are the first step in making sure the safety devices are compatible with its vehicles.

  “(Inflators) are not like stationary, which can be simply swapped. We need to test them first and make sure they’re safe,” a Toyota spokeswoman said on Tuesday.

  Back in May, Takata recalled 33 million vehicles equipped with its airbags; 12 million of those belonged to Toyota.

  Last week, sources close to the company said it had already asked Nippon to increase production of inflators to 13 million, to be used in the company’s cars until 2020.

  At the time, the source said that having the parts on hand would give Toyota the ability to quickly replace any potentially defective inflators in the future.

  In addition to asking Nippon to increase its production, Toyota asked the company to expand its facilities to meet the new demand. It was unclear whether or not Toyota would help foot the bill for the requested expansion.

  Autoliv, Reuters reports, already supplies parts for Honda – which was once Takata’s biggest customer.

  Toyota says testing potential alternatives to Takata air-bag inflators [Reuters]

  
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by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist

uWe Are Unsure How To Feel Knowing That Pig’s Milk Cheese Existsr

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• 

  (afagen)

  While we consumers have grown accustomed to milk from animals besides cows being used to make cheese — like sheep’s milk cheese and goat cheese — there’s something a bit… different about pig’s milk cheese. Which is in fact, a thing.

  It’s unlikely find pig cheese at your local grocery store, but one pig farmer in the Netherlands is at the forefront of the sow’s milk product, reports Vice’s Munchies channel.

  Erik Stegink of Piggy’s Palace is making cheese in collaboration with a cheese store, and says the process isn’t so easy as it is when using cow’s milk or other dairy-producing animals, noting that the first batch was made with cow’s milk added as well.

  “Pigs produce less milk in comparison to cows: every two hours they release the milk for about 30 seconds so you have to be quick,” he told Munchies. “Four of us were at it with coffee cups, and per time you only get about 100 milliliters. If you want to collect 10 liters—which is needed for about two pounds of cheese—you’re busy for at least 40 hours.”

  He admits that he doesn’t think pig’s milk cheese is going to take off, making him a wealthy innovator in the process, but hey, if you can do it, why not?

  “I consider it to be nothing more than a whimsical product,” he explains, adding that he and his fellow cheesemakers made it just because they enjoy it, and they were curious.

  As for the taste, he says there are distinct differences — it’s saltier and creamier, yet grainier.

  “It’s a completely different process and requires a lot of attention,” he says. “Several of the wheels were unsuccessful and this is the first one we dared to eat.”

  Perhaps by the time pig’s milk cheese makes its way across the pond we here at Consumerist will have opened up a bit to the idea. Heck, we might even try it. Because if there’s one thing we know about cheese, it’s that it’s good.

  Pig’s Milk Cheese Is Tasty, But It Won’t Make You Rich [Munchies]

  
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by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist