uMacy’s Will Close 40 Stores This Spring: Here’s The Listr

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  Three months after Macy’s said it would likely shutter dozens of stores in the first months of 2016, the retailer has solidified its plan.

  The retailer announced on Wednesday that it will eliminate about 4,800 jobs and close 40 stores in an effort to cut costs after a dismal holiday season.

  “In light of our disappointing 2015 sales and earnings performance, we are making adjustments to become more efficient and productive in our operations,” Terry J. Lundgren, chairman and chief executive officer of Macy, said in a statement.

  Macy’s says the cuts are estimated to save approximately $400 million and enable the company to “still investing in growth strategies, particularly in omnichannel capabilities.”

  Thirty-six of the 40 affected stores, representing about 5% of Macy’s-branded U.S. stores, will shutter in the spring of 2016. Four stores — in Owings Mill, MD; Bedford, NH; West Orange, NJ; and downtown Pittsburgh — are already in the process of being shuttered. Most stores will begin offering clearance sales next week, continuing for up to 12 weeks.

  “In today’s rapidly evolving retail environment, it is essential that we maintain a portfolio of the right stores in the right places,” Lundgren said. “So we will continue to add stores selectively while also being disciplined about closing stores that are unproductive or no longer robust shopping destinations because of changes in the local retail shopping landscape.”

  The estimated 4,800 employee – including 165 executives – may be offered positions in nearby stores, if possible, the company said.

  Macy’s is no stranger to closing stores. In early 2015, the company announced it had closed 14 stores and opened two in a restructuring effort.

  In addition to the four in-progress closings mentioned above, here are the 36 stores slated to close this spring:

  • Irvine Spectrum, Irvine, CA
  • Country Club Plaza, Sacramento, CA
  • Westfield Century City, Los Angeles, CA
  • Enfield Square main store, Enfield, CT
  • Enfield Square furniture/home/men’s store, Enfield, CT
  • North DeKalb Mall, Decatur, GA
  • Kailua, HI
  • Palouse Mall, Moscow, ID
  • Northwoods Mall, Peoria, IL
  • Cortana Mall, Baton Rouge, LA
  • Valley Mall, Hagerstown, MD
  • Berkshire Mall, Lanesborough, MA
  • Eastfield Mall, Springfield, MA
  • The Shoppes at Stadium, Columbia, MO
  • Middlesex Mall, South Plainfield, NJ
  • McKinley Mall main store, Buffalo, NY
  • McKinley Mall home store, Buffalo, NY
  • Arnot Mall, Horsehead, NY
  • Hudson Valley Mall, Kingston, NY
  • Eastern Hills Mall, Williamsville, NY
  • Cary Towne Center, Cary, NC
  • Chapel Hill Mall, Akron, OH
  • Midway Mall, Elyria, OH
  • Quail Springs Mall, Oklahoma City, OK
  • Pony Village Mall, North Bend, OR
  • Roseburg Valley Mall, Roseburg, OR
  • Suburban Square, Ardmore, PA
  • Century III Mall, West Mifflin, PA
  • Ridgmar Mall, Ft. Worth, TX
  • Chesapeake Square, Chesapeake, VA
  • Virginia Center Commons, Glen Allen, VA
  • Peninsula Town Center, Hampton, VA
  • Military Circle Mall, Norfolk, VA
  • Regency Square main store, Richmond, VA
  • Regency Square furniture/home/men’s store, Richmond, VA
  • Downtown Spokane, Spokane, WA

  
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by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist

uGot A Fitbit Or Other Gadget For Christmas? It’s Time To Opt Out Of Mandatory Arbitration!r

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  Customers have filed a class action suit against Fitbit, claiming that the company’s Charge HR and Surge fitness bands don’t accurately measure users’ heart rate during vigorous exercise. We’ll keep an eye on the lawsuit and let you know if it goes anywhere, but it probably won’t, and that’s what got our attention. The users filed a class action against Fitbit despite signing (well, clicking) away their right to do so when they registered their devices.

  Without registering and syncing your fitness tracker to a computer or smartphone, you might as well buy a pedometer at the dollar store and use that instead. To sync your device, you have to register an account on Fitbit.com, which requires you to agree to terms of service. One of those terms that you agree to is that you and Fitbit will resolve any disputes either informally or through arbitration, and that you waive your right to sue the company, including in a class action.

  If you choose to use arbitration, that’s fine, but it should be your right to choose the venue that you prefer if you ever have a dispute with Fitbit. Keep in mind that in arbitration, the company chooses the arbitrator, and other consumers who might encounter the same problem won’t know about your case or what the outcome was.

  As we publish this on January 6, you still have time to opt out if you registered your Fitbit on or after December 7, 2015. That leaves the many fitness trackers given as Christmas gifts well within the window to opt out, which you can do by e-mailing legal@fitbit.com. Simply write, “I, [your first and last name], decline Fitbit’s arbitration agreement.”

  Opt-out of Agreement to Arbitrate: You can decline this agreement to arbitrate by contacting legal@fitbit.com within 30 days of first accepting these Terms of Service and stating that you (include your first and last name) decline this arbitration agreement. Arbitration Procedures: The American Arbitration Association (AAA) will administer the arbitration under its Commercial Arbitration Rules and the Supplementary Procedures for Consumer Related Disputes. The arbitration will be held in the United States county where you live or work, San Francisco, California, or any other location we agree to.

  This isn’t unique to Fitbit, as our regular readers know. Competitor Jawbone’s Up fitness tracker, for example, has the same policy. While you’re at it, check any other product you’ve purchased or subscription that you’ve signed up for recently. Lots of the agreements that we all scroll past on our way to register for a website or register a product or sign up for TV service have arbitration requirements, though there aren’t always opt-out clauses.

  While the class action system is flawed, right now we don’t have a better way for consumers to fight back when many people have been wronged in small ways. That brings us back to the Fitbit heart rate monitors: in the Charge HR and Surge case, the plaintiffs say that the dispute resolution section shouldn’t apply to them, since they weren’t informed of this policy before purchasing their devices.

  In a statement to the Verge, a Fitbit representative said that the company “strongly disagrees with the statements made in the complaint and plans to vigorously defend the lawsuit.” At least one of the lead plaintiffs has received a letter from Fitbit informing her that since she did not opt out, the case must go to arbitration. (PDF download)

  

  If Fitbit succeeds in moving the case to arbitration, the dispute may be resolved, but that will be no help to other users who have the same problem. A U.S. Supreme Court decision less than a month ago affirmed companies’ right to keep consumer complaints out of court.

  Fight back: check for these clauses whenever you see a new user agreement, and opt out if possible.

  Fitbit hit with class-action suit over inaccurate heart rate monitoring [The Verge]

  
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by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

uTaxpayer Advocate Concerned About IRS Plans To Move More Support Onliner

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  It was just last week that we wrote about how this year will probably be better than last year for U.S. taxpayers with questions or problems. Yet looking forward to the next decade or so, changes in how the IRS provides support will mean leaving some Americans behind.

  One potentially worrisome area is fees: when the IRS had less money for operations, they raised the fees for some services, and has proposed adding more. For example, people who owe a large amount of tax and need to set up an installment plan. The fee just for setting up such a plan was $105 in 2013, and $140 in 2014.

  “Fees that seem reasonable to the IRS may seem outrageous to taxpayers when added to the costs of recordkeeping, filing and paying taxes and paying professionals for help in navigating complicated rules and procedures that the government created,” the Taxpayer Advocate’s report points out.

  You’re reading a website, so you may be more comfortable with the idea of seeking help for your taxes online. However, there are still large numbers of Americans who are uncomfortable with going online, or who lack home Internet access or computers. Cutting resources to traditional help methods like toll-free phone numbers would be a problem for that population, and Olson’s office is concerned that moving help resources online could hurt elderly and poor taxpayers, who are already at a disadvantage.

  IRS Web Move May Leave Older, Poorer Filers Behind

  
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by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

uChipotle’s Sales Took A Deeper Dive Than Previously Expected Amid Food Safety Issuesr

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  It’s safe to say that Chipotle’s year is off to a rough start. Today, the company announced that it had received a subpoena from a grand jury looking into the circumstances surrounding a norovirus outbreak in California, and then it disclosed another bit of not-so-great news to investors: sales this quarter are down even more than analysts predicted in November.

  Same-store sales fell 14.6%, Chipotle said in a regulatory filing Wednesday, reported by Bloomberg. It’s the company’s first quarterly drop since it went public. Earlier, stock analysts had projected the company’s same-store numbers to sink by as much as 11%, making the drop likely that much more painful.

  Chipotle is trying to recover from a spate of food-borne illnesses that have sickened customers around the country — including the E. Coli outbreak this fall, the norovirus outbreak in Boston that sickened 140, and the separate norovirus incident in California in August that’s the subject of the grand jury investigation.

  Those outbreaks definitely hit Chipotle right where it hurts: after the Boston outbreak, same-store sales fell 34%, Bloomberg notes, and after the Centers for Disease Control’s report on additional E. coli cases at the end of December, sales dipped 37%. Sales were down 30% for all of December.

  
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by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

uAirlines Testing Auctions For Seat Upgrades At Gatesr

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  Until recently, the only thing that auctions and airlines had in common were crowds of on-edge people in confined spaces. Some carriers are testing out the idea of turning their airport gates into auction houses, selling off premium seat upgrades to the highest bidders.

  The Wall Street Journal reports that more than 30 airlines around the world, including several domestic airlines, are dipping their toes in the auction world by pitting passengers against each other for the pleasure of buying upgrades for first-class, business-class or premium-economy seats.

  Auctions offer airlines an option to sell upgraded seats to passengers instead of offering the seats for free when it’s time to board.

  For the passenger, the WSJ reports, the winning bids are often less costly for travelers than buying a premium ticket in the first place.

  One traveler tells the WSJ that he’s taken advantage of the auction system with KLM Royal Dutch Airlines, paying no more than $430 for a business-class upgrade.

  In all, he says keeping the bid below $500 makes his total trip cost about $1,600, less than half of what buying a business-class seat outright would set him back.

  In the U.S., Virgin America is currently testing the SeatBoost auction at gates in Las Vegas an hour before the flight departs.

  Under the system, bidding starts at $10, $30, or $50 depending on the length of the flight and whether passengers are bidding on extra legroom in coach or first-class. Passengers can see the bids via a leader board posted by the gate.

  Just before boarding the airline awards one upgrade to Main Cabin Select and one to first. The airline wouldn’t disclose how much winning bids average, but said the process is competitive.

  While the auctions provide another way for airlines to make a few bucks through upgrades, Virgin America tells the WSJ that it still provides top-level elite passengers with upgrades and sells upgrades through airport kiosks and its gate agents before the auction gets underway.

  For now, the airline says it’s too early to know if the auction option will continue after the testing phase in Las Vegas.

  American Airlines has also dabbled in the upgrade auction arena, but suspended the tests when the company integrated its reservation system with US Airways.

  “It is something we would like to revisit for further assessment,” a spokesman tells the WSJ.

  Reps for United Airlines and Delta say the companies are keeping an eye on the auction systems.

  Going Once, Going Twice: Airlines Auction Seat Upgrades [The Wall Street Journal]

  
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by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist

uGeneral Motors Unveils 200-Mile Charge Chevrolet Bolt EVr

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• The way people get around is changing, and General Motors thinks they have the answer in their new Bolt EV, a new 200-mile charge electric vehicle expected to be on the market next year. 

  GM CEO Mary Barra announced the Bolt EV during her keynote address at the CES International 2016 while taking liberal, but veiled digs at other electric carmakers during her introduction.

  “Societal trends are changing the way people interact with personal transportation,” Barra said after coming on stage, noting that the next five years in the automotive industry will see more change than the past 50 years.

  Barra compared the place for electric vehicles to that of smartphones, saying that just 12 years after Blackberry first entered the arena more than 1.2 billion smartphones were sold around the world.

  “Imagine that in an automobile at an affordable price,” she said as the 2017 Bolt EV was driven on the stage.

  The car, which Barra says comes with a 200-mile charge and will supposedly cost $30,000 after government incentives, will afford individuals the ability to upgrade with mobility and the transportation solutions they demand.

  “We believe strongly in the dealer model,” Barra said in her first direct dig at luxury EV maker Tesla. “Unlike others, our EV customers will never have to travel to another state for services. We understand the importance of giving people the conveniences they love.”

  In addition to a longer charge life, the Bolt EVs will have a DC fast-charging system that can charge to 80% of capacity in just an hour.

  It also comes equipped with a rear camera with wide views that streams to the rearview mirror, and a navigation system that can estimate EV-optimized routes, meaning you’ll see the most efficient path to your destination, not just the fast way to get there.

  Barra says the Bolt will be the first vehicle with both Apple’s CarPlay and Android Auto.

  “It’s more than a car, it’s a platform that enhances and personalized the driving experience,” Barra said.

  
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by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist

uID Thieves Hijacking Accounts To Cash In On Bogus Warrantiesr

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  In a pre-online era, when we made most purchases in person, getting a warranty replacement on a broken product often required taking the defective item back to where you bought it. But now that we’re all buying things online, a number of retailers are willing to ship you a replacement on the understanding that you’ll immediately return the original item. ID thieves are taking advantage of this goodwill, hijacking customers’ accounts and convincing companies to send them free replacements for items they never bought.

  Cybersecurity journalist Brian Krebs recently looked into a spate of warranty fraud attempts involving Fitbit products.

  Toward the end of 2015, large amounts of Fitbit customer data was being posted online — the kind of data you’d need to make a warranty claim on a broken device.

  But this information apparently didn’t come from some sort of data breach at the fitness accessory company. Instead, it was gleaned from various sources — password-stealing malware, careless Fitbit customers who use common passwords or the same email/password combination across multiple accounts.

  Once an ID thief accesses a customer’s account, they can change its associated email address so that the customer isn’t alerted to future communications.

  “[A]t that point they are the customer,” explains Fitbit’s head of security, telling Krebs that the fraudster will then call up Fitbit to file a warranty complaint and get a replacement.

  “They’re mainly interested in the premium devices,” like the $250 Fitbit Surge, he says.

  Since ill-gotten electronics are often sold for significantly less than their retail price, it makes sense that scammers would go after the most expensive items.

  The Fitbit exec says that the company has put new systems in place and re-trained its warranty folks in an effort to end the hemorrhaging.

  “If we see an account that was used in a suspicious way, or a large number of login requests for accounts coming from a small group of Internet addresses, we’ll lock the account and have the customer reconfirm specific information,” he tells Krebs.

  Fitbit says it is planning to beef up protection against ID theft by offering two-factor authentication — which requires that the user not just enter a password, but also a unique code sent to their phone or other device — but the company’s security chief is realistic and doesn’t really expect less-savvy Fitbit users to take advantage of the improved security.

  “I’m not sure the type of user who is using the same password at every site is the great target for that,” he points out.

  
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by Chris Morran via Consumerist