uNew Rule Bans E-Cigarettes From Checked Baggager

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  After more than 26 incidents in six years in which e-cigarettes have caused fires or explosions on planes, a new federal rule is set to go into effect banning the devices from being left in checked baggage. 

  The Department of Transportation announced Monday that it had issued an interim final rule prohibiting passengers and crew members from carrying any battery-powered portable electronic smoking devices (e-cigarettes, vaporizers, e-cigars, etc.) in checked baggage.

  The rule, which is set to go into effect in the next two weeks, also prohibits passengers and crew members from charging the devices or their batteries on aircraft.

  “We know from recent incidents that e-cigarettes in checked bags can catch fire during transport,” Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said in a statement. “Fire hazards in flight are particularly dangerous. Banning e-cigarettes from checked bags is a prudent safety measure.”

  Passengers who own e-cigarettes can still bring them aboard aircraft in their carry-on bags, but, like traditional cigarettes, they can’t be used during flights.

  According to the DOT, the 26 incidents recorded since 2009, often included devices that had been accidentally left on or that suffered a battery short-circuit.

  One such case occurred in January at the Los Angeles International Airport. The Associated Press reports a checked bag that arrived late and missed its connecting flight caught fire in the luggage area due to an overheated e-cigarette packed inside.

  The rule comes about 10 months after the Federal Aviation Administration issued a Safety Alert for Operators recommending that air carriers require their passengers to carry e-cigarettes and related devices exclusively in the cabin of the aircraft.

  [via The Associated Press]

  
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by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist

uREI Won’t Open On Black Friday, Tells Everyone To Go Play Outsider

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  The outdoor equipment co-op REI sells gear for people to have fun, well, outdoors. That’s why it makes sense that they’ve started a campaign encouraging all of us to spend the day after Thanksgiving having fun outside. Oh, and they’re including store employees in that mandate: stores will be closed, and employees will have that day off with pay.

  This is all part of a broader campaign called Opt Outisde, or #optoutside. It’s not surprising that an outdoor equipment company would tell their customers to spend a day that many people have off work having fun outside, since that’s what they’re about. The part where they’re closing stores on such a popular shopping day: that’s unusual, even if it is a publicity stunt.

  The president and CEO of the co-op put an open letter on the campaign page, explaining the campaign’s very on-brand logic:

  For 76 years, our co-op has been dedicated to one thing and one thing only: a life outdoors. We believe that being outside makes our lives better. And Black Friday is the perfect time to remind ourselves of this essential truth.

  We’re a different kind of company—and while the rest of the world is fighting it out in the aisles, we’ll be spending our day a little differently. We’re choosing to opt outside, and want you to come with us.

  This plan may not be cheap: in addition to forgoing sales and giving employees a paid day off, depending on the terms of their leases, stores in malls may have to pay fines for not being open along with their neighbors.

  If you’re the sort of person who is an REI member or shopper, this will definitely resonate with you. In a retail environment where declaring that you won’t open on Thanksgiving Day is taking a bold stand, though, this is an even bolder stand.

  REI IS CLOSING ON BLACK FRIDAY [REI] (Thanks to Casey, Wes, and Jared!)

  
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by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

uSale Of Commercial Supply Business Could Let Staples-Office Depot Merger Go Throughr

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  One of the barriers to the formation of the StaplesMaxDepot office-supply Voltron has been the commercial supply businesses that both companies run: in addition to running retail stores, they both also do business delivering office supplies to corporate clients. One possibility could let the mega-merger go forward: Staples could sell its commercial supply business to competitor Essendant.

  That’s a possibility presented in a research note from investment analysts at Bank of America, who have discussed what might happen with contacts in the industry. The Federal Trade Commission has reportedly approached Essendant with the option of acquiring that part of Staples.

  As far as we know, that is the main hurdle for the merger; both chains have closed stores in areas where their business overlaps. Office Depot plans to close 400 stores by the end of next year whether the merger goes through or not.

  Staples and Office Depot are the largest and second-largest commercial office suppliers respectively, and are truly national distributors, unlike third-place finisher and perennial New York Yankees advertiser W.B. Mason.

  Well, okay, but who’s Essendant? The company used to be called United Stationers, and has made some large acquisitions recently with its eye on more. Essendant is a competitor, but not a major one, and is looking to expand its business in the wholesale office supplies market.

  Of course, the FTC declined to comment to Bloomberg Business.

  Staples Is Seen Getting Antitrust Clearance by Forging Side Deal [Bloomberg]

  
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by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

uMacy’s Disclaimer: Sale Item May Have Never Sold For ‘Regular’ Pricer

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• Part of the game that department stores play with their customers is holding rotating sales to let is think that we’re getting a real bargain. Are there items that were never available for the “retail” price at all? Macy’s has discovered a way around that, by slapping a disclaimer on their website pointing out that no one necessarily ever paid the original price for an item.

  Is that confusing? Here it is in the wild, spotted by reader Kelly:

  

  “Regular” and “Original” prices are offering prices that may not have resulted in actual sales, and some “Original” prices may not have been in effect during the past 90 days.

  Theoretically, someone may have bought this dress at $99, that doesn’t mean anyone necessarily did. If the “original” price is unreasonable, does that mean that you really saved any money at all?

  
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by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

uWalmart Asks The FAA For Permission To Test Drones For Home Delivery, Curbside Grocery Pickupsr

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  Amazon isn’t the only retailer on the market that wants to get into the drone delivery game: Walmart filed paperwork with the Federal Aviation Administration today asking permission to test drones outside for home delivery, curbside pick-up and duties around the warehouse and parking lots.

  Walmart has been conducting its tests indoors so far, but needs the go-ahead from the FAA to bring its experiments into the skies. It’s seeking permission to research drone use in “deliveries to customers at Walmart facilities, as well as to consumer homes,” according to a copy of the application reviewed by Reuters.

  Beyond dropping off packages at a customer’s home, drones could be used to check trailers sitting in warehouse parking lots for inventory, or bring an order from the warehouse to the curbside grocery pickup spot for customers to collect.

  “Drones have a lot of potential to further connect our vast network of stores, distribution centers, fulfillment centers and transportation fleet,” a Walmart spokesman told Reuters. “There is a Walmart within five miles of 70% of the U.S. population, which creates some unique and interesting possibilities for serving customers with drones.”

  Walmart said it wants to try out home delivery in small residential neighborhoods after getting permission from people living in the flight path. The motive here would be to see if a drone sent from a truck could safely deliver a package at a home, and then return safely to its vehicle, the application says.

  The FAA said in June that it would establish rules for widespread commercial use of drones within the next 12 months. Once those regulations are finalized, Amazon has said it would be ready immediately to begin delivery packages via drone. Walmart’s spokesman says the company would move quickly to use drones for delivery, depending on how its testing goes and taking the new rules into account.

  Exclusive: Wal-Mart seeks to test drones for home delivery, pickup [Reuters]

  
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by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

uAT&T Will Trade You Data For Doing Surveys & Buying Stuffr

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• Wireless data has officially become a form of virtual currency thanks to a new AT&T program that rewards users with additional megabytes of data in exchange for doing stuff like taking surveys and shopping.

  Data Perks is the latest effort to convince customers to share more about their consumer behavior by rewarding them with something that doesn’t really cost AT&T very much.

  Users download the Perks app and then earn MB by “completing a featured offer, like taking a survey or completing a purchase.”

  Those extra megabytes aren’t applied directly to your monthly data allotment. Instead, they go into a separate Perks pool that users can pull from as needed (in 25MB increments).

  So if you’re nearing your limit and you’ve previously earned some data by “interacting” with “popular brands,” you can transfer some to your main account to use that month. It doesn’t look like they can go back, so once they’ve been transferred out of Perks, it’s use ’em or lose ’em.

  Additionally, you can’t hog gigabytes of free data on your Perks account and then expect to binge watch every episode of Doctor Who in HD over your wireless account. AT&T caps transfers from your Perks account to 1GB per month.

  Customers on shared data plans can all use Perks, but each Perks account is individual. So your survey-loving uncle who lives in the basement and doesn’t come up much except to watch reruns of Ken Burns’ The Civil War can’t earn data for the rest of your family, even though that would finally mean he’s contributing to something other than the laundry for once.

  Perks data will expire if the user doesn’t verify their account at least once every 12 months. Of course, this being AT&T, they’ll probably end the program in seven months or start charging you to transfer points.

  The data used while browsing within the Perks app does not count against a user’s AT&T wireless data plan.

  But any purchases you might make through the app do require real money. So before you buy anything with the promise of oodles of free data, check to make sure you’re getting a good deal. If you can pay less elsewhere, you probably should. If it is a competitive price and you’re getting the free data, then it may be worth considering.

  And don’t just impulse-buy something because it’s on sale and you get data. If it’s not something you would have purchased otherwise, it’s probably not something you need to spend your money on.

  
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by Chris Morran via Consumerist

uApple Genius Bars Will Give Customers Loaner iPhones, Send Phones Out For Repairr

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  If you bring your iPhone to an Apple Genius Bar for a serious repair, you might leave with a loaner. Stores are reportedly performing fewer repairs on-site, and are now sending phones with serious problems away to a separate repair depot. Since Apple understands that their customers are now unable to cope without smartphones, they’re going to provide one to use while yours is in the phone hospital.

  9to5Mac reports that the program isn’t mandatory, but that employees have been told that particularly time-consuming repairs take up employee time, and repairing them offsite would free up technicians to perform simpler repairs that take less time.

  Loaner phones are reserved for people whose devices have serious issues: if the phone won’t power on, for example, or if it won’t connect to iTunes or go past the Apple logo seen when the phone boots. The iPhone 6, 6 plus, 6S, and 6S Plus are the models eligible for the program.

  The catch is that those loaners are sort of the smartphone equivalent of being given a base-model Honda Civic while your car is in the shop, but that’s an improvement over the unthinkable fate of living without your phone for the three to five business days that the offsite repairs will take. Stores will offer offsite repairs and loaner phones or onsite repair as options to customers for now.

  Apple Stores will send some iPhone 6/6s phones for off-site repairs, offering 16GB loaners [9to5Mac]

  
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by Laura Northrup via Consumerist