Driving by a fender-bender recently, I witnessed the usual scene - two drivers, pulled over to the side of the road, fumbling with various papers. My guess is that they were sharing their driver's licenses and insurance cards and exchanging phone numbers. And according to the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, they were probably oversharing - that is, giving out way too much information. When you're in an accident, the NAIC says, the only information you should hand over to the other driver is your
I am clearly not the average American woman. According to beauty-industry statistics, she will shell out $3,770 for mascara over her lifetime. My lifetime mascara purchases thus far - we're talking decades - probably add up to $150, max. In other words, buying high-end makeup and skin-care products is not my thing. But there's one exception: For years, I was unable to resist "gift with purchase" promotions - the freebies that cosmetics companies use to boost sales. Buy $30 worth of makeup or skin creams, say,
Today, May 11, is National Train Day - a good time to give Amtrak a shout-out. Thanks to some enjoyable, on-time train trips to Philadelphia and Washington, D.C., recently, I've come to prefer Amtrak over airplanes for relatively short hauls. Here's why: 1) No check-in lines, baggage lines, security lines, etc. Arrive at the station 10 minutes before the train's departure time and you're good to go. 2) The seats are roomy and comfortable, you can walk up and down the aisles whenever you want, and
I was a quick convert to Redbox, the DVD and game rental kiosks that have sprung up at supermarkets, drugstores and similar spots. Just $1.50 will get you an overnight rental of a newly released movie, and sometimes the cost is even less than that: When I first signed up the company threw so many email deals at me (free "welcome" rentals; 50-cent discounts; 2-for-1 rentals, etc.) that I was paying pennies per DVD. The combination of Redbox and DVDs from my library was good
Awhile back, getting into the passenger seat of my husband's car, I noticed something unsettling: The seat was covered in strands of strawberry blond hair. What's this? Had Jessica Rabbit hitched a ride? A voluptuous cartoon rabbit was not the culprit, it turned out. An employee had needed a lift for her golden retriever, and my husband volunteered. Straw Bear was in shedding mode at the time, apparently. With some vigorous vacuuming, we got rid of the fur. But it turns out there's a less cumbersome tool
Back at the turn of the century - that would be the 21st century - it seemed like I was getting promotional CDs in the mail every week from America Online and similar outfits. Lots of other people got them too, and a cottage industry developed offering clever ways to use the CDs as an alternative to tossing them in the trash. You could fashion them into mobiles, or transform them into coasters, or tie them to trees to deter munching deer. I didn't do any
The Haggler columnist for The New York Times, David Segal, has the unenviable task of trying to set things right, week after week, for consumers who have been wronged. But last Sunday's column was different. Segal printed letters from readers about companies - Delta Airlines, Cuisinart, Amazon, GE and others - that had gone the proverbial extra mile. I have plenty of those stories myself. Here are a couple, from just the past month, that show that good customer service is still out there. Exhibit A: A
Shopping at a Northampton store recently, I pulled out a gift card to pay for my purchase. Uh-uh, the cashier said; there's nothing left on this card. And she was right; I had had two gift cards at the store, and had brought along the wrong one - the one I'd spent in full and neglected to toss in the trash. Can you look up the other card? I asked. I'd used it for a transaction just a few days earlier, and it seemed like
I've never returned from a vacation with one of those "My Grandma Went to Florida and All I Got Was This Lousy T-shirt" shirts stuffed in my suitcase … but I understand the urge to bring something back for the grandchildren (or the children, depending on where you are in life). The downside, of course, is that it's the exact same mass-produced T-shirt - or mug, or pencil case - that you can buy pretty much anyplace in the world; only the locale printed on
The April/May issue of AARP The Magazine lists what it's calling "Hospital Safety Superstars" around the country, and Baystate Medical Center in Springfield is one of the 66 hospitals that made the cut. Among its strong points: Medications are bar-coded so staff can track what each patient has received. The ratings were done by a nonprofit called Leapfrog, which uses data submitted by hospitals to come up with measures of safety and quality. Leapfrog analyzes hospitals using a vast range of criteria, including standards of
