Happy New Year 2025

Tag: consumers

NAACP tells black consumers to stay away from companies without DEI commitments

The NAACP is calling on Black consumers to direct their nearly $2 trillion in buying power toward companies that have kept their commitments to diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.

In a “Black Consumer Advisory” memo released Saturday, the NAACP said that Black consumers have purchasing power exceeding $1.8 trillion annually. The memo included a “Call To Action” for these consumers to begin steering that power away from specific companies that have begun cutting back on DEI-related positions, programs, investments and hiring practices. According to the group, such rollbacks “reinforce historical barriers to progress under the guise of protecting ‘meritocracy,’” which they said was “a concept often used to justify exclusion.”

Some of the companies the group is urging Black consumers to steer clear of are listed on its website and include Walmart, Meta and McDonald’s. Others were reportedly referenced in a separate buying guide provided exclusively to The Associated Press, which listed Lowe’s, Amazon, Tractor Supply and Target as others to avoid.

Delta Air Lines, Apple and Ben & Jerry’s are some of the companies the NAACP listed on its website as having “recommitted to DEI.” Meanwhile, e.l.f. Cosmetics, JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Costco are other companies the NAACP is suggesting are wise for consumers to support because they have kept strong to their DEI commitments, according to The Associated Press.

WALMART FACING BACKLASH OVER DEI POLICY REVERSAL AS SHAREHOLDERS AND DEM OFFICIALS URGE THEM TO RECONSIDER

The effort to steer consumers away from these companies comes amid pressure from the Trump administration and GOP officials to peel back DEI commitments in both the public and private sectors. In addition to an executive order from President Donald Trump calling for an end to “Illegal DEI and DEIA policies,” which he says violate currently established civil rights law, newly appointed Attorney General Pam Bondi sent a memo earlier this month to all Justice Department employees, indicating the agency would be investigating, eliminating and penalizing DEI preferences, mandates, policies and programs occurring in the private sector and at educational institutions.

Missouri filed a lawsuit earlier this month challenging Starbucks’ DEI policies. (Fox News Digital)

Recently, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr ordered an investigation into Comcast’s DEI practices, while the state of Missouri filed a lawsuit earlier this month challenging Starbucks’ DEI policies, as well.

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“The NAACP recognizes that the rollback of DEI initiatives is a direct attack on Black economic progress, civil rights, and the principles of equity and fairness,” the Saturday consumer advisory memo stated. “These actions are part of a broader effort to reverse gains made in civil rights and social justice. We urge Black consumers to remain vigilant, informed, and intentional in their economic decisions, using their collective power to demand accountability from corporations and institutions.”

The consumer guidance provided by the NAACP will reportedly be amended as companies make changes to their DEI commitments, according to The Associated Press, and the group is currently in discussions with executives at companies that have reversed their DEI pledges.

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Fox News Digital reached out to the NAACP for comment and to receive a full list of companies it was urging Black consumers to steer cleer of but did not receive a response by publication time.

“We have the power to choose where we spend our money,” NAACP CEO and President Derrick Johnson said in a statement posted on X. “I am confident that this framework will support our community as we make difficult decisions on where to spend our hard-earned money.”

February 17, 2025
Trump wants to end penny production. Will it affect consumers?

O’Leary Ventures Chairman Kevin O’Leary shares whether he’s concerned about President Donald Trump’s tariffs on steel and aluminum, the fate of the U.S. penny and the handling of the TikTok sale.

President Donald Trump is seeking to end production of new pennies and recently told Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to make that happen.

Trump revealed late Sunday night he had “instructed my Secretary of the US Treasury to stop producing new pennies,” arguing that “for far too long the United States has minted pennies which literally cost us more than 2 cents” and that “this is so wasteful!”

Former President Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee, arrives to speak during an election night event at the Palm Beach Convention Center Nov. 6, 2024, in West Palm Beach, Fla. ( Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images / Getty Images)

The move has raised the question of how American consumers could be affected and, according to one expert, the impact will be negligible.

“I don’t think it’s gonna have any impact on consumers. I think it’s just a very sensible thing to do, because nobody uses pennies anymore. Nobody needs pennies,” David Bahnsen, founder of the Bahnsen Group, told FOX Business. “Just as a matter of basic practicality and cost benefits, the studies I’ve seen are that it costs three cents to make a penny, so there’s something rather backwards about that math.”

TRUMP IS ‘RIGHT’ TO ORDER THE US TO DITCH THE ‘STUPID’ PENNY, KEVIN O’LEARY SAYS

The cost of making and distributing a penny stood at 3.69 cents in 2024, the U.S. Mint’s most recent annual report indicated.

The U.S. Mint shipped 3.17 billion new pennies last year. The gross cost of those pennies, $117 million, was significantly higher than their $31.7 million combined value, according to the report.

“In terms of affecting consumers, does it make a difference to their spending habits to not have exact change to the extent that that exists at all? It’s so marginal it would be a rounding error,” Bahnsen said.

Pennies are displayed at Glenview Coin & Collectibles July 6, 2006, in Glenview, Ill. (Tim Boyle/Getty Images / Getty Images)

Canada moved away from its version of the penny over a decade ago, and other countries like Australia, New Zealand and Sweden took similar action well before that. In Canada, after the government started phasing out pennies, rounding up or down to the nearest five cents became common for cash transactions.

TRUMP SAYS HE HAS INSTRUCTED US TREASURY TO STOP MINTING NEW PENNIES: ‘THIS IS SO WASTEFUL!’

Bahnsen said rounding cash transactions “is just less likely to happen in a more digital payment environment,” noting not many people “are paying with cash” these days.

A report released last summer by Federal Reserve Financial Services found 32% of payments in October 2023 used credit cards and a similar but slightly smaller share — 30% — used debit cards. Payments with cash, meanwhile, represented 16% of transactions, according to the report.

The Canadian government said in its 2012 economic action plan that getting rid of pennies in New Zealand, Australia and other countries “did not cause an increase in price inflation.”

The U.S. stopping production of new pennies would have little bearing on tips, Bahnsen also said.

He also noted existing pennies will still be in circulation “but you’re really talking about more of a collectible item, not a consumer item, not a transactional currency that people are paying.”

“Ultimately, President Trump’s motive here was to just be more efficient, and I think that the Treasury Department’s wasting a lot of money making pennies that have no real commercial use,” Bahnsen told FOX Business. “This isn’t an earth-shattering event, but it’s something that marginally is more efficient, and that’s what the Treasury Department’s job is.”

Americans for Common Cents, which has been critical of Trump’s effort, argued in a late January press release that ditching the penny “won’t save the government money.”

A pile of U.S. pennies in a photo illustration in Washington, D.C., Feb. 10, 2025. (Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images / Getty Images)

“Many Mint overhead costs would remain and have to be absorbed by other coins without the penny,” Executive Director Mark Weller said. “Also, there would be greater demand for expensive nickels, which means even more costs.”

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The group receives significant funding from Artazn, according to CNN. That firm reportedly supplies blanks that are used in Mint coin production.

Americans for Common Cents has proposed the government “reexamine how the Mint allocates its overhead costs and focus on reducing the cost of producing nickels” instead of moving away from pennies.

It cost the Mint nearly 13.8 cents to produce a nickel last year, according to the agency.

The group has also pushed back against arguments that the penny doesn’t have value and has argued a “rounding tax” resulting from getting rid of the one-cent denomination would “disproportionately affect” people without access to banking or methods of non-cash payment.

February 12, 2025
Egg surcharge hits diners’ wallets: Experts say consumers should fear menu price hikes more

FOX Business’ Jeff Flock has the details from a farm in Columbus, New Jersey, on ‘Varney & Co.’

Consumers are being hit with temporary surcharges due to the ongoing egg shortage in the U.S. food system. But experts told FOX Business that these surcharges are the lesser of two evils when compared to overall menu price increases.

Michelle Korsmo, the CEO of the National Restaurant Association (NAR), said that these surcharges are a temporary measure and can be removed from menus when macroeconomic conditions improve.

“When a restaurant operator adds a surcharge to their menu in a situation like this, it’s generally because they are optimistic that it will be resolved quickly and because they want to be transparent with their customers about their rising costs,” Korsmo told FOX Business.

For instance, the Waffle House, a Southern breakfast food chain, added a temporary 50 cent-per-egg surcharge to all of its menus on Monday.

WAFFLE HOUSE, OTHER COMPANIES ADD EGG SURCHARGE AMID SHORTAGE

The company blamed the ongoing egg shortage caused by highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) – or bird flu – for the dramatic increase in egg prices, saying that “consumers and restaurants are being forced to make difficult decisions.”

While the company didn’t specify when the charge would be removed, it said that it will adjust or remove the surcharge when market conditions allow.

A menu in a Waffle House restaurant displays a sticker advising customers of a 50 cent price hike per egg “due to the nationwide rise in the cost of eggs,” in Houston, Texas, on Feb. 6, 2025. (Gianrigo Marletta/AFP via Getty Images / Getty Images)

Changing the price on a menu will often add to an operator’s costs. It also doesn’t give them the opportunity to have the same transparency with customers about why the price is changing, Korsmo added.

TRUMP’S PROPOSED TARIFFS COULD DRIVE UP FOOD PRICES, EXPERTS SAY

“I think that most of the time, what we see with other types of inflation . . . it never really comes back down as low as it was in a pre-inflationary period, which is where we just get this kind of ongoing sense of a tougher economy,” Korsmo said.

Customers at a restaurant at the Ferry Building in San Francisco, California, US, on Friday, May 31, 2024. (David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)

Sylvain Charlebois, professor and senior director of the Agri-Food Analytics Lab, highlighted that surcharges can be adjusted or removed as costs fluctuate, whereas menu price changes are more permanent and noticeable.

“Customers tend to react more negatively to visible price hikes than to separate fees, even if the net cost remains the same,” said Charlebois. “While consumers may dislike extra fees, surcharges provide transparency by itemizing specific costs, such as supply chain disruptions, labor expenses or credit card processing fees,”

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Forrest Leighton, senior vice president of marketing at customer intelligence platform Chatmeter, told FOX Business that many restaurant customers are questioning the value of higher-priced menu items.

Chatmeter helps restaurants analyze customer feedback to inform decisions around menu items, prices, and operations. Its data shows that the number of pricing-related reviews calling restaurants “overpriced” rose more than 40% in 2024, while the number mentioning the word “cheap” dropped over 10%.

However, surcharges can provide customers with transparency around why the price is going up, which helps make it more palatable, Leighton said, adding that loyal customers are less likely to walk away from a price increase they deem to be temporary and beyond the brand’s control, which surcharges often are.

Diners on the outdoor patio of a restaurant in Atlanta, Georgia, on Monday, Sept. 16, 2024. (Photographer: Elijah Nouvelage/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)

Max Chodorow, one of the owners of Jean’s in New York City, told FOX Business that he wished he could add a surcharge, but legally, he can’t in the city.

“Our costs are constantly growing, and there’s only so much we can raise prices with consumer psychology,” Chodorow said.

Chodorow said that a surcharge is easier to implement because people primarily react to sticker shock of the menu price. The only surcharge that restaurants are allowed to apply in New York state is an auto gratuity on parties over a certain size or special events, and it needs to be disclosed to the customer along certain guidelines, according to Chodorow.

They are not allowed to do anything with the fee “beyond pass it directly to tipped employees,” Chodorow said.

February 7, 2025
Trump’s tariffs on Mexico and Canada will increase prices for consumers

Canada Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Jonathan Wilkinson discusses the potential impact of tariffs, energy exports, a U.S.-Canada energy alliance and the upcoming Canadian election.

President Donald Trump’s announcement of tariffs on Mexico and Canada, though delayed for at least one month, could spur a rise in prices paid by consumers for products affected by the tariffs if they’re eventually implemented.

Trump announced last weekend that 25% tariffs, which are taxes on imported products, would take effect on products from Canada and Mexico effective Feb. 4 – as well as a lower 10% tariff on Canadian energy products. Canada and Mexico threatened retaliatory tariffs in response to Trump’s tariff plans.

The president reached an agreement with Canada and Mexico to delay the tariffs for at least one month after the two countries announced measures to counter fentanyl smuggling and illegal immigration across the U.S. border.

While the tariffs on Canada and Mexico are on hold for the time being, their potential implementation in the future leaves open the possibility that American consumers could face higher prices for certain products if they ultimately take effect.

WHAT’S HAPPENING WITH TRUMP’S TARIFFS ON CHINA, CANADA AND MEXICO?

President Trump has touted tariffs as a negotiating tool and source of tax revenue. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images / Getty Images)

“Assuming in the next month or so the tariffs on Mexico and Canada do go into effect, you’ll see prices go higher on a lot of goods,” Dan Savickas, VP of policy and government affairs at the Taxpayers Protection Alliance, told FOX Business.

Scott Lincicome, VP of general economics and trade policy at the Cato Institute, said in an interview with FOX Business that the “three big areas for potential consumer pain would be food, energy and autos.”

“On food, we import a ton of fresh seasonal produce as well as beer… meat and a few other things from Mexico,” he explained. “These are perishable items that you can’t stockpile and in the case of avocados, there aren’t really suitable replacements whether in the U.S. or abroad. Given that grocers in the U.S. have very low profit margins, you would inevitably see any sort of tariff on, say, Mexican avocados just passed right on to the consumer – there’s nowhere else for it to go.”

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Avocadoes are among the products from Mexico that could see price hikes if tariffs take effect. (Camilo Freedman/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)

Lincicome explained that the auto industry is more complex, with suppliers and produce in the U.S., Canada and Mexico comprising the North American auto supply chain.

“You apply tariffs on these things and you’re effectively ensuring some sort of substantial cost increase for automotive manufacturers in all three countries and then the question is how much of that gets passed on,” Lincicome explained. “Depending on whom you talk to, it’s anywhere between $1,000 and $6,000 on a new car and again, there’s some amount of that that manufacturers can absorb – of course, with less investment and hiring and output in the process.”

“We import so much crude oil from Canada and it’s a type of crude oil that we don’t really make in the U.S., it’s a heavy crude. Certain refineries, particularly in the Midwest and the Mountain West, are designed to process that type of crude and they can’t really process the light crude that the U.S. makes cheaply or easily,” he explained.

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Tariffs on the interconnected North American auto supply chain could result in higher new car prices. (Michael Tercha/Chicago Tribune/Tribune News Service via Getty Images / Getty Images)

Lincicome added that there would likely be some price increases on appliances like washing machines, dishwashers and air conditioners that are made in the three countries.

Other products that Savickas noted could see price increases due to the tariffs include lumber and associated products given the volume of Canadian lumber imported by the U.S., as well as tomato products from Mexico.

Brandon Parsons, an economist at Pepperdine University’s Graziadio Business School, told FOX Business that his research suggested the consumer price index (CPI), a popular inflation gauge, could rise by 1.3 percentage points if tariffs are implemented.

Given that CPI was 2.9% in December, it could push inflation above 4% – a level which is double the Federal Reserve’s target. Parsons said that for the average household, that 1.3% increase in the CPI would likely increase expenses by about $1,000 and those expenses could rise relatively quickly in some cases.

“Assuming that these tariffs go through in a month, I would expect prices on groceries to go up relatively soon,” Parsons explained. “Certain products like an avocado, it could be a couple of weeks possibly, maybe even sooner in other cases.”

TRUMP TARIFFS PROMPT WARNINGS FROM TRADE GROUPS

Gas prices could rise if tariffs are imposed on Canadian crude oil imports. (Sven Hoppe/picture alliance via Getty Images / Getty Images)

With respect to energy prices, Parsons said his research showed that gas prices could rise by 70 cents as a result of the tariffs on Canadian crude oil, even with the carve out of a lower tariff rate of 10%. He added that retaliation between the U.S. and Canada could push that increase even higher.

Alex Durante, senior economist at the Tax Foundation, told FOX Business that, “Since these tariffs are targeting a wider variety of goods, like agriculture for instance, firms will have fewer margins of adjustment, so consumers will ultimately be bearing the burden in terms of higher prices.”

Durante added that the U.S. could be seen as a less credible trading partner in the future given the tariff threats against Canada and Mexico – two of America’s largest trading partners who are party to the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) that Trump negotiated during his first term.

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“The U.S. also stands to lose further credibility, because when we signed the USMCA, part of that is a commitment to not impose tariffs in violation of that agreement,” he explained. “So on the whole, not only will our economy be worse off because of the tariffs, but I think the U.S. will have more difficulty negotiating free trade agreements in the future.”

February 7, 2025