Green Dot announced that prepaid card users will once again be able to load money onto their cards with a MoneyPak. The MoneyPaks will be available in Kroger and Rite Aid stores starting this month, and will soon show up in a variety of retailers nationwide.
The MoneyPak program was temporarily closed down as a means to enhance security. After a series of Green Dot prepaid card scams, the company shut down the MoneyPak reload option in order to create a “new system for mitigating the potential for misuse of the product,” according to Green Dot’s Chief Executive Steve Streit.
The scammers were finding creative ways to get people to reveal their debit card numbers and PINs, much like they would use for a standard bank debit card. With that information, the scammers could either pull money from the cards or make purchases without the cardholder’s authorization.
MoneyPak cards cost $5.95 to purchase, and can be loaded with $20 to $500. That money can then be loaded onto a Green Dot reloadable MasterCard or Visa through MoneyPak.com.
In addition to using MoneyPak, Green Dot cardholders can add money to their accounts through direct deposit, mobile check deposit, and through a network of merchants that allow users to load at the registers. The money put onto the cards can be used anywhere Visa and MasterCard are accepted.
Source: LowCards.com, April 25, 2016 -- John H. Oldshue
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Alaska Airlines, the carrier that has tested solar-powered passenger ramps and fingerprint identification devices for passengers, is continuing to experiment.
The Seattle-based airline has begun testing an electronic, reusable luggage tag that is linked to a passenger’s Alaska Airlines mobile app.
Here’s how it works: Once you buy a ticket on Alaska and check in using the mobile app, the app asks whether you want to activate your electronic bag tag. When you turn on your electronic tag, the Bluetooth technology in your phone synchs with the tag and displays your flight’s destination on the tag’s tiny screen.
The goal of the tag and previous Alaska experiments is to make air travel more expedient, said Loesje Degroen, Alaska’s customer research and development manager.
Alaska began testing the electronic tag with 60 employees last summer and is now trying the technology with about 50 passengers. Later this year, Degroen said, the carrier plans to expand the test to about 500 passengers.
Some of Alaska’s experiments don’t pan out. Alaska still lets passengers use their fingerprints to access the airline’s five airport lounges, and the solar panels are still powering ramps at airports in San Jose, Palm Springs, Seattle and Portland, Ore.
But a test last summer to let passengers board using only their fingerprints for identification at Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport ended without being expanded. Alaska officials would not call the test a failure, saying only that they will think of other ways to use biometrics.
Source: Los Angeles Times, March 27, 2016 -- Hugo Martin
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It seems that no matter where a person shops these days, the retail clerk will ask for an e-mail address and offer a rewards card to keep them coming back.
The vast majority of loyalty programs are free to consumers, but Restoration Hardware home furnishings stores recently joined a growing number of retailers to start charging a fee to get the rewards of shopping loyalty.
For $100 a year, consumers get an RH Grey Card with 25 percent savings in all departments, 10 percent savings on sale merchandise, complimentary interior design services, early access to clearance events and lower interest rates on the RH credit card.
“We’re going to see more of this,” said Dave Brennan, co-director of the University of St. Thomas Institute for Retailing Excellence. “It’s a way to lock in customers and keep them from going elsewhere.”
Shoppers who sign up for loyalty programs make up only 10 percent of a retailer’s traffic but contribute up to 50 percent of its sales, according to Boston-based FTI Consulting. The occasional shopper, on the other hand, makes up 45 percent of the retailer’s traffic and only 5 percent of sales.
It’s especially true at retailers catering to the luxury market, including Restoration Hardware. Affluent shoppers are among the biggest users of rewards programs. Retailers know that they drive shopper’s behavior. The 150,000 people in Neiman Marcus’ InCircle program generate 40 percent of its annual sales.
Barnes & Noble has long charged a $25 annual fee for its rewards program. Amazon.com Inc. in 2014 raised the price of its Prime program, which offers free two-day shipping and access to its video service, to $99 from $69.
But to be effective, a loyalty program has to have perceived value. Customers want to know they aren’t getting the same offers as everyone else. The RH Grey Card makes that clear.
Continue reading at www.startribune.com
Source: Star Tribune, March 29, 2016 -- John Ewoldt
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