uCVS Claims That Booting Tobacco From Stores Has Made Us All Healthierr

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  (zipsonic)

  Today marks the one-year anniversary of CVS removing tobacco products from its pharmacies. How’s that working out for them? The company reports that sales of non-drug items were down slightly in the last year, but tobacco isn’t a very profitable item. Parent company CVS Health is celebrating the anniversary with a study that it says shows that its decision decreased total cigarette sales nationwide.

  How do they know that the decrease didn’t coincide with people switching to another tobacco product, or wasn’t just part of the overall national trend of people smoking less? They used states that have no CVS stores at all as a control group, and also noted that cigarette sales decreased more in states that happen to have more CVS stores. If you want to check out their methodology, they described where those numbers came from in a short research paper.

  They looked at two figures to determine how many people in a given area were quitting: cigarette pack sales and nicotine patch sales. Even if someone returned to smoking, using one of CVS’s promotional coupons to buy some nicotine patches is at least a proxy for trying to quit. Where CVS has more than 15% of the drugstore market share, they point out, cigarette sales went down 1%.

  Not everyone is buying CVS’s narrative of itself as a national health savior, of course.Lawmakers were already encouraging stores with pharmacies to quit selling tobacco products because of the mixed health message that it sends, even if the cigs are behind one counter and the drugs behind another.

  “CVS only sold a very small percentage of the nation’s cigarettes to start with,” a fellow at the National Center for Public Policy Research told USA Today, “and financial analysts have said the impact of CVS’ move wouldn’t have a major impact on smoking rates.” Discovering that one store doesn’t carry cigarettes isn’t enough to induce someone to quit when plenty of stores have them available.

  We Quit Tobacco, Here’s What Happened Next [CVS Health]
  A year later, CVS says stopping tobacco sales made a big difference [USA Today]

  
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by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

uSam’s Club Wants To Help You Buy A Carr

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• Earlier this year, Costco reported that it had sold nearly 400,000 vehicles of all makes and models at its stores across the country with the purpose of making its members happy. Today, Sam’s Club launched a similar endeavor that will put keys in the hands of the warehouse store’s faithful following.

  Sam’s Club announced today that it had partnered with TrueCar for its new Auto Buying Program that aims to give members discounts and exclusive savings of up to $3,000.

  Under the program, Sam’s Club members will have access to more than 10,000 TrueCar Certified Dealers nationwide – more than three times the nearest competitor in the warehouse club channel, the company claims.

  “We’ve chosen to launch our auto buying program with TrueCar based on their proven ability to bring car buyers a best-in-class experience,” Seong Ohm, senior vice president of merchandise business services at Sam’s Club, said in a statement. “Our auto buying program will save members both time and money.”

  Like the Costco program, Sam’s Club’s version aims to differentiate from the typical car buying experience, avoiding the typical haggling and upselling one might expect.

  “By empowering members with critical pricing information prior to purchase, the Sam’s Club Auto Buying Program improves the entire car-buying experience,” the company says.

  To access the program, members visit SamsClub.com/auto, enter their location and desired car type. They are then given information on what others in their market paid for the car they want, and can then browse pricing information from local dealers.

  Once members are satisfied with their choice, they print their Guaranteed Savings Certificate or bring it on their mobile device to the selected TrueCar Certified Dealer to finalize the purchase.

  It’s unclear if Sam’s Club will be making money off of their car brokering foray. That’s certainly not the case for Costco: much like its unprofitable practice of selling rotisserie chickens to keep members loyal, the retailer doesn’t actually make money on the car sales it helps broker. Instead, Costco only offers the discounted vehicles to attract and keep members.

  
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by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist

uFeds: Green Energy Ponzi Scheme Duped Consumers Out Of $54.5Mr

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  (Steven Depolo)
  

  When someone makes a promise that seems too good to be true: like saying you’ll be “stinkin’, filthy rich” if you invest in their green energy technology, it’s a good idea to look into that proposition with a little more scrutiny. That kind of attractive, yet ultimately worthless deal cost consumers nearly $54.5 million, federal prosecutors say.

  The Department of Justice announced today that federal prosecutors filed fraud and conspiracy charges against the three co-founders of Pennsylvania-based Mantria Corporation for their part in bilking millions of dollars from unsuspecting consumers.

  Under the scheme, from 2005 to 2009 the group encouraged retirees to drain their retirement accounts and mutual funds accounts to funnel money into empty projects with promises of yields as high as 484%.

  The company advertised their projects in ads on television, radio and the Internet, including two in Tennessee: one a 4,500-home development and the other a $3.2 million plant that would produce charcoal substitutes.

  The Philadelphia Inquirer reports that court filings quote one of the operators as saying the company was “on the cusp of a revolutionary technology that’s going to change the world. You guys can benefit from it by putting money in and getting stinkin’ wealthy.”

  “Unfortunately for the investors, it was all a hoax,” U.S. Attorney Zane David Memeger said in a statement Thursday. “These defendants preyed on the emotions of their victims and sold them a scam.”

  In fact, investigators found that the Tennessee real estate development consisted of little more than some roads, a model home and a gate.

  Likewise, the charcoal substitute plant never generated sales.

  “Even while claiming their company made millions, they knew that Mantria had virtually no earnings, no profits and was merely using new investor money to repay earlier investors,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Robert J. Livermore wrote in charging documents.

  This isn’t the first time the group has been in trouble for their untruthful business practices. Back in 2012, two of the defendants were ordered to pay $37 million each after losing a Securities and Exchange Commission civil suit.

  [via The Philadelphia Inquirer]

  
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by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist

uWhy Some Pro-Pot Ohioans Are Against An Initiative To Legalize Marijuanar

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  (Brett Levin Photography)

  Although the issue of marijuana legalization can seem straightforward in many ways — either you want medical and recreational to be bought, sold and consumed legally or you don’t — a current initiative in Ohio that would amend the state’s constitution to allow legal pot is meeting resistance from some of the people who are usually in favor of the stuff.

  NPR’s All Things Considered talked to folks in Yellow Springs, OH, a college town that I knew during my time living in nearby Dayton as a happy, hippie kind of place, where peace signs and tie-dye abound.

  Though you might expect plenty of support around that area for marijuana legalization efforts, there are many people coming out against a measure that will be on the ballot this November, which would make Ohio the fifth state to legalize recreational and medical marijuana.

  One 25-year-old woman who says she’s all for legalizing pot is one of those people opposed to the amendment.

  “I would rather take the minor misdemeanor fine than let someone have such a massive monopoly in my state,” she says.

  She and others who are generally pro-pot have taken issue with a group called ResponsibleOhio that’s pushing the initiative big time with a $20 million legalization campaign. The word “monopoly” has popped up amid opponents of the measure because it specifies only 10 locations in Ohio where growing pot would be allowed, and there are just 10 groups of investors who have laid claim to those spots. Basically, NPR’s Lewis Wallace notes, “they are paying to try to amend the Ohio Constitution to grant themselves pot growing rights.”

  The group’s director doesn’t see it that way, however. Ian James says marijuana growing shouldn’t be treated like any old vegetable garden, because produce doesn’t make you high and pot does. Limiting the proposal to only 10 locations makes it easier to regulate and keep an eye on, and later a state-run control board can always add more locations.

  “It’s certainly not a monopoly when thousands of Ohioans will be able to own and operate their own retail stores, their own testing facilities, their own manufacturing facilities,” he says.

  Instead of voting this measure in, another group called Ohioans To End Prohibition is pushing for a different amendment next year that would create a free market for growers.

  Pot supporters want legal pot and a bustling marijuana business in Ohio, says the young woman who spoke to NPR, but “not at the cost of putting that squarely into a few pockets. That’s just as bad as it is right now, where the money’s already in a few people’s pockets.

  Fears Of Marijuana ‘Monopoly’ In Ohio Undercut Support For Legalization [All Things Considered]

  
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by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

uUnited Airlines Passenger Tied To Seat After Becoming Aggressive On Transatlantic Flightr

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  (Adam Fagen)

  The long trip across the Atlantic got a bit longer for passengers on a United Airlines flight from Tel Aviv to Newark after one passenger reportedly became aggressive and had to be restrained for much of the 11-hour journey.

  Unlike some flights that have been diverted over disruptive passengers, The Daily Mail reports that United Flight 85 continued on its journey to New Jersey yesterday.

  The ordeal began mid-flight when a man became aggressive toward a flight attendant: United Airlines says in a statement that the flight attendant had been attempting to help calm an agitated passenger when things escalated.

  Crew members and an air marshal onboard the flight subdued the man by strapping him to the seat with cable ties.

  The carrier says the flight attendant was not injured in the incident.

  The flight arrived in Newark on time, where four police officers entered the cabin and removed the man from the plane.

  “Though law enforcement officials met the aircraft as a precaution, customers and crew members exited and departed normally,” the airline tells The Daily Mail.

  Cabin crew and air marshal forced to tie aggressive passenger to his seat on US-bound United Airlines flight [The Daily Mail]

  
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by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist

uPolice Return Woman’s Stolen Car With Drugs, Weapons Still Inside Itr

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  (CTV)

  When your car is stolen, you can’t always expect to get it back. And if you are lucky enough to be reunited, you might then expect that a few things could be missing — nice electronics, your collection of road trip CDs featuring cool jams from the ’90s, etc. But in the case of a Calgary woman whose stolen car was returned to her recently by police, she was definitely surprised to find her missing vehicle had a few things it didn’t have when it went missing, including drugs, weapons and other illicit items.

  She says cops didn’t do a very thorough job of searching her vehicle before it was returned to her, reports CTV News: the thieves left cocaine, identification, a crack pipe and guns inside the car.

  Her car was stolen from an alley behind her home last week, and she was relieved to hear a few days later from police that they’d located her car and she could pick it up after the forensic unit had looked through it.

  But as soon as she got in the car, she spotted a piece of paper in the cup holder and pulled it out — and out popped a bag of cocaine.

  “And I went to the impound guy, ‘Is this normal? Like, what do I do with this?’ He was like, ‘Just throw it on the ground, throw it on the ground!'” she told CTV. So, she did.

  The car kept coughing up more stuff that hadn’t been there before: She says she found a crack pipe in the backseat, four pieces of identification in the glovebox, a knife in the front passenger door and a lead pipe near the floor mat.

  She called the police and an officer removed the evidence that had apparently been missed before. After the vehicle was towed to a repair shop, however, she says she spotted the butt of a gun under the seat.

  “At this point, I can’t tell if it’s real or fake, but all I know is my hands have been on too many illegal things in the past 24 hours and I didn’t want any more,” she said.

  The gun turned out to be a pellet gun, but she’s still angry: she’s filed a complaint with the professional standards section of the Calgary police service, and says she hopes it will keep this kind of thing from happening to other people.

  “I’m trying to make enough noise so that hopefully maybe it’ll affect that one officer or even anyone in their day-to-day operations,” says Pickering. “Think of the tax dollars that could’ve been saved if they had just given it 10 minutes more than they did.”

  ‘Is this normal?’: Impounded car returned with gun, drugs inside [CTV News]

  
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by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

uMaybe Warehouse Clubs Have Influenced Our Shopping Even More Than E-Commercer

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  (Mike Mozart)
  

  Americans’ shopping habits have changed somewhat over the last few decades, but that’s not necessarily because of e-commerce. Two economists at the University of Chicago argue that the rise of warehouse clubs is what has really changed Americans’ shopping habits and the retailscape.

  Maybe this will change after consumers have had a few more years of buying everything they possibly can from Amazon Prime, but here’s something to consider: online shopping represented only about 4% of consumer spending in 2012, while about 8% of all spending was in warehouse clubs.

  While nationwide data only goes up to 2013, Americans spent $348 billion on e-commerce and catalog purchases in 2013, and $420 billion at warehouse clubs during the same year. That data, from the Census Bureau, goes back to 1992, and shows that mail-order and online purchases increased about 990% during that period, while warehouse club sales increased 1500%.

  Much of the catalog industry died out or moved online during that period, yet warehouse clubs, which include BJ’s, Costco, and Sam’s Club, just kept growing. While most retailers are trying to sell online and integrate their Web and in-store inventories in massive “multichannel” efforts, other companies aren’t really trying to imitate warehouse clubs. However, the e-commerce site Jet.com had a splashy, well-funded debut earlier this year, and it is trying to imitate warehouse clubs: the company has stated that it wants to sell merchandise without making a profit, and instead make money from the $50/year membership fee that customers will eventually have to pay.

  A case that Costco and other warehouse clubs have transformed retail more than Amazon [Washington Post]

  
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by Laura Northrup via Consumerist