I don’t have a crystal ball, but I am in contact with a lot of experts in consumer protection, marketing and fraud prevention. Based on information provided by these trusted sources, here are some predictions about what you can expect in 2013.

Anticipated price hikes
The U.S. Department of Agriculture predicts grocery bills will rise 3 to 4 percent in 2013. Higher feed costs will continue to push up prices for animal-based products, especially dairy. In its Food Price Outlook Report, USDA noted that inflation should be “above the historical average” for cereals and bakery products.

Banks will keep looking for ways to raise revenue without inciting customer backlash. This could mean higher overdraft fees and charges for using an out-of-network ATM. It could also mean higher minimum balances to avoid a monthly service charge.

 “We’ll continue to see banks emphasize customer relationships, rewarding those customers that have more accounts, bigger balances, or other products and services by waiving checking account fees,” said Greg McBride, senior financial analyst at Bankrate.com.

Good news for home buyers and home builders: Bankrate expects mortgage rates to remain low.

“The Fed is aggressively buying bonds with the goal of keeping mortgage rates low,” McBride explained. “Because of this, the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate should stay below 4 percent for much of the year – even if the economy continues to improve.”

The editors at dealnews.com predict a number of things will be more expensive in 2013. These include: smartphones and some other electronics, cars and many luxury goods.

Dealnews also expects higher shipping costs. It predicts a jump of 4.5 to 4.9 percent from both UPS and FedEx. This could seriously hurt small businesses and people who sell things on the Internet. It might also affect which orders qualify for “free shipping” at some online stores.

And here’s a surprising one: Dealnews says copper prices could rise. That would have a ripple effect, because copper is used in all sorts of consumer products: wire, pots and residential water pipes. It’s also needed for industrial equipment that brews beer, distills liquor and makes candy.

On the bright side: Gasoline prices should continue their slow decline, barring unforeseen circumstances. The U.S. Energy Information Administration expects retail prices for regular-grade gasoline to average $3.43 a gallon in 2013. That would be down from this year’s average of $3.63.

More consumer-friendly regulations
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) went after unfair practices in the financial marketplace with gusto in 2012. That is sure to continue in the New Year.

My best guess is that we’ll see new regulations proposed for payday loans, prepaid cards and credit reporting agencies. The CFPB is already investigating complaints about errors in credit reports and the difficulty or sometimes inability to have them corrected.

As of Jan. 2, the agency will regulate the country’s large debt collectors, an industry that has been widely criticized for harassment, deception and other illegal tactics to get people to pay – whether they owe the debt or not, in some cases.

“Millions of consumers are affected by debt collection, and we want to make sure they are treated fairly,” CFPB director Richard Cordray said in a statement.

I wouldn’t be surprised to see some civil penalties levied and new rules proposed to prevent abusive collection tactics.

New and changing digital threats
Cybercriminals are sure to step-up their game again in 2013. In a new report, Sophos (the giant digital security company), predicts businesses will be hit with more malware attacks that give the intruders “long-term, high impact access” to those companies.

Digital extortion should increase with more ransomware malware attacks.  (See ConsumerMan: Latest ‘ransomware’ attacks are scarily sophisticated.) This new generation of malicious software can encrypt the data on your hard drive and hold it for ransom. It’s often exceptionally hard or impossible to reverse the damage. This makes it critical to back-up your data on a daily basis.

Mobile devices, with GPS location, social media apps and new technology (such as near field communication) will give cybercriminals new opportunities to compromise your security and privacy.

“This trend is identifiable not just for mobile devices, but computing in general,” the Sophos report warns. “In the coming year, watch for new examples of attacks built on these technologies.”

Men, millennials in the grocery store
Men have become more comfortable in the kitchen and more active in planning meals and food shopping. A survey by Cone Communications found that more dads than moms (52 percent compared to 46 percent) plan meals for the week ahead.

Industry analyst Phil Lempert, who runs the website SupermarketGuru, predicts grocery stores will focus more on the male shopper this year and in the future.

“Some supermarkets are experimenting with ‘man aisles’ – locations in the store that feature male-oriented foods and other products to make shopping and impulse buying more targeted,” he said.

Lempert also expects supermarkets and food companies to go after the millennial shoppers (those born between 1982 and 2001) who want flavorful and ethnically diverse food that is also affordable. By 2020, millennials will represent about 20 percent of the population and compared to the general population, they’re expected to have twice the buying power for food they eat at home.

“Millennials are deal seekers,” Lempert pointed out. “They are much more focused on finding the lowest price over brand loyalty.”

Herb Weisbaum is The ConsumerMan. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter or visit The ConsumerMan website.

Brian Snyder / Reuters

A view shows the silhouette of a student with a graduation cap as students take their seats for the diploma ceremony at Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass., in this May 24, 2012, file picture.

Want a solid, middle-class salary straight out of college? Skip the last two years.

A site that analyzes state-level data of how much people earn a year after graduating college found some counterintuitive results: Certain students who earn associate’s degrees can get higher salaries than graduates of four-year programs — sometimes thousands of dollars more. 

“These numbers and the consistency of these numbers are surprising to me,” said Mark Schneider, president of CollegeMeasures.org and a vice president at the American Institutes for Research. CollegeMeasures aggregates anonymized education and earnings data to figure out who earns what after graduation. 

Some of its results run counter to commonly-held assumptions. Community college degrees, long considered also-ran prizes in the race for academic achievement, “are worth a lot more than I expected and that I think other people expected,” Schneider said.

But there is a catch: You have to earn your degree in a technical or occupational program to earn anywhere near $40,000. That’s the approximate average earned by students who went to school and worked in the state of Virginia and graduated with two-year degrees in these fields between 2006 and 2010. Graduates of two-year nursing programs earned am average of $45,342.

Once they entered the work force, holders of what CollegeMeasures characterizes as “occupational/technical” associate’s degrees made about $6,000 a year more than people who earned associate’s degrees in non-occupational programs. Given the high demand for nurses, computer specialists, mechanical technicians and the like, that’s not unexpected. In a study published earlier this year by the Census Bureau, college graduates with science and engineering degrees were about 10 percentage points more likely to be employed full-time than the average of all graduates.

The surprising finding is a comparison of those earnings to what bachelor’s degree graduates made, on average: $36,067.

People with liberal arts and humanities majors didn’t even fare that well: on average, grads with political science majors earned $31,184, history majors earned $30,230 and English majors only earned $29,222 a year.

"In general, majors that are linked to occupations have better employment prospects than majors focused on general skills," a report published earlier this year by Georgetown University's Center on Education and the Workforce, said. 

Schneider said this pattern of workers with two-year technical degrees outearning many four-year grads has been consistent across the states it has studied so far. (Data on Arkansas, Virginia and Tennessee has been published; the group plans to release statistics for Colorado graduates soon.)

“In the U.S., we’ve tended to think that the bachelor’s degree is the only thing that matters, and this data tells us that technical degrees from community colleges are hidden gems,” he said.

A generation ago, things were different. Before the recession of 1980-1981, a bachelor’s degree of any kind was a ticket to a career that offered middle-class earnings, said Anthony Carnevale, director of Georgetown's Center on Education and the Workforce.

This isn’t the case anymore, he said. “It’s a system in which you can’t just have an ambition to go to college and get a degree. You have to pay attention to the courses and the content of your degree.”

The big caveat with the impressive amounts some two-year grads can earn is that they don’t reflect lifetime earnings. In general, people with more advanced degrees still earn more over the course of their careers, Carnevale said, but there’s a growing divergence between humanities and technical-field majors when it comes to future earnings performance. 

“The degree level matters, but a lot less than it used to,” he said “What matters is what you take. Thinking about it as a hierarchy of degrees isn’t the way to think about it anymore.”

Robyn Beck / AFP - Getty Images

Shoppers look for post-Christmas bargains Dec. 26 at a mall in Los Angeles.

Sluggish holiday sales might give retail industry investors a headache, but they could prove to be a boon to consumers hunting for post-holiday bargains.

The early data on how much Americans spent this holiday is mixed. A MasterCard Advisors SpendingPulse report said retail sales in the two months before Christmas ticked up only 0.7 percent, well below the 2 percent growth it forecasted for this year, and even further from the 4 percent growth rate predicted by the National Retail Federation. NRF president and CEO Matthew Shay told CNBC in an after-Christmas interview that he still expected holiday season sales to come in at 3.5 to 4 percent higher than 2011 — not terrible, but not on par with last year’s 5.6 percent growth.
 
“It seems like sales didn’t turn out as well as what we expected going into the holiday,” said Joe Feldman, managing director and senior research analyst at Telsey Advisory Group.

That growth was unevenly distributed across the sector, though, and Feldman said there are more clear winners — and losers — this time than is typical. Analysts say discount retailers like Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Costco and the TJX family of brands did well. Online giant Amazon.com said the season was its “best ever.”

Part of the reason for the mixed message is that shoppers waited until the last minute to do their shopping. A mid-December survey published by Visa Inc. indicated that 73 percent of consumers still hadn't finished shopping, and a new Gallup poll found a spike in consumer spending in the days immediately before Christmas. Shay told CNBC he expected online shopping and post-Christmas gift cards sales (since shoppers usually spend more than the amount on the card) to bolster the final figure.

But some stores have already thrown Hail Mary passes. Shay said “retailers were sensing that the market was getting tougher,” which drove them to offer more promotions even before Christmas.

Lindsay Sakraida, features director at dealnews.com, said that the site had twice as many of the deep discounts it classifies as “Editor’s Choice” sales this year than it did last year.

“I think some of the middle-tier department stores... Kohl’s and JCP, we’re hearing a lot of markdown activity there,” said R.J. Hottovy, a senior retail analyst at Morningstar. Anxiety about the fiscal cliff dampened shoppers’ enthusiasm, especially at the high end, he said.

“What we’re hearing is that luxury sales were somewhat weak compared to expectations this holiday season. For better or worse, they’ve really been driving the recovery since the last recession,” Hottovy said. Bloomingdale’s (owned by Macy’s Inc.) has after-Christmas sales of up to 75 percent off, and Neiman Marcus is advertising 40 percent off sale items through Friday on its website. This is the same discount the high-end retailer offered last year, Sakraida said, although this year, it’s coming a couple of days earlier.

Hottovy called Superstorm Sandy a “convenient excuse” for retailers confronting lower sales, but he added that unusual weather patterns across the country including strong storm systems in the West and Midwest could have had an effect on sales. Feldman said the late onset of seasonally cold weather in the Northeast contributed to lower demand for winter clothes and sportswear.

“Outerwear will be at 75 percent off plus an additional 10 percent,” Marshal Cohen, chief industry analyst at NPD Group, said via email. “Also some sportswear will see similar deals.”

Specialty apparel stores, especially those that focus on women’s clothes, offered some of the biggest discounts. Ann Inc.’s Loft stores offered 50 off everything except for new arrivals. Feldman said Aeropostale and Chico’s stores began advertising discounts of 60 percent off right after Christmas.

In electronics, tablets and e-readers like Kindle Fire, which Amazon said was its best-selling product of the season, were popular, but consumers were lukewarm when it came to bigger electronics.

“Big-screen TVs didn’t seem to be as big a driver as in the past,” Feldman said. Even though retailers like Best Buy, Wal-Mart and Amazon did aggressive price-matching, a round-up of after-Christmas big-screen sales on HDGuru.com showed discounts of nearly 60 percent on some models.

"Best Buy just didn’t see great traffic this year,” Hottovy said. "I think that’ll show up when we start to see the final numbers." Consumers, he said, shifted to buying more on Amazon.com or directly through manufacturers this year.

More money news: 

• To regift or not to regift: Is it ever OK?
• Bill targets 'abusive' gift card fees
• Social Security can be fixed (but it won't be pretty)
• Financial moves to make before the new year
• Sign up for our TODAY newsletter

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A Life Inc. post this week on ways to fix Social Security’s longer term funding issues prompted an intense debate over whether the system can be fixed, how to do it – and when.

Social Security could start to face funding shortfalls in about two decades if nothing is done. Experts say now would be a good time to think about how to fix the potential shortfalls, because it would give lawmakers years to ease in the changes gradually.

Many also note that there are some relatively simple, if not very popular, ways to amend the current system. They include raising taxes on some or all Americans, reducing benefits and extending the age at which people can start collecting benefits.

Many readers agreed that now is the time for action.

“Fixing it before it goes broke is easier and less painful than waiting. Get it done. Now,” one reader urged.

But others – perhaps watching how little progress politicians have made on the fiscal cliff negotiations - were more skeptical about whether the current roster of lawmakers would take any meaningful action.

“Our collective first mistake is to trust politicians,” one reader lamented.

Readers also were starkly divided on whether Social Security benefits will be available to them when they retire,

“I'm paying all of this money into SS that will likely not be paying back what I put in. I'm tired of supporting everyone when I need to (save),” one reader wrote.

Others noted that confidence about receiving benefits is probably tied to age.

“This is an age sensitive question. I'm 59, so I suspect my answer is quite different than my youngest child's would be at 27,” another wrote.

Still, some also pointed out that people have been worrying about Social Security for decades, and yet it’s still around.

“I'm 72 and all of my life it's been said Social Security was going to run out of money. Yet 2 years ago I began withdrawing my deposits,” one reader wrote.

PhotoAlto/Michele Constantini | PhotoAlto Agency RF Collections | Getty Images

Sometimes you just don't want it.

OK, I’ve done it. And quite frankly, I always feel guilty about regifting.

It’s not that I don’t appreciate the present. But sometimes you get something that you really don’t like or can’t use, and there’s no way to take it back to the store. You don’t want to offend the person who gave it to you and you don’t want to throw it away. So you pass it along to someone else who might appreciate it more.

Is this a resourceful way of dealing with an unwanted gift? Or is this rude and distasteful behavior?

The Wall Street Journal recently reported that regifting, “once a social taboo, is gradually gaining in acceptance.” The Journal points to a nationwide consumer spending survey done by American Express last year. More than half the respondents (58 percent) said it was OK to regift sometimes and 79 percent believed regifting during the holidays is acceptable. Of the 2,000 people questioned, nearly a quarter admitted to regifting at least one present the previous holiday season.

But there’s more. A new paper, “The Gift We Keep on Giving,” published by Psychological Science, concludes that regifting is not as offensive to the original givers as regifters assume.

Researchers from Stanford, Harvard and the London Business School conducted five studies that examined both hypothetical scenarios and actual regifting among friends.

They found that gift recipients believed regifting was as bad as throwing the present in the garbage. Gift givers, on the other hand, were significantly more offended by trashing their presents. They’d be much happier if that gift were given to someone else.

What causes this split perception?  

It appears to be linked to different views about entitlement. The authors concluded: “Givers believed that the act of gift giving passed title to the gift on to receivers, so that receivers were free to decide what to do with the gift; in contrast, receivers believed that givers retained some say in how their gifts were used.”

In other words, we may feel guilty when we regift because we believe that present came with strings attached, even though that may not be the case. This makes us assume the act of regifting is more offensive to the original gift-giver than it actually is.

One more interesting finding: When study participants were presented with the concept of a “National Regifting Day” as a way to remove the stigma from regifting, they felt better about the practice.

Based on their work, the researchers suggest a simple solution to the increased practice of regifting.

“Givers should encourage receivers to use their gifts as they please,” they write, “perhaps going so far as to tell receivers that they will not be offended if the receiver chooses to regift – or at least, not as offended as receivers might expect.”

The authors say further study is needed to examine regifting based on the relationship between the giver and the recipient. Because the gifts given by close friends are often different from those given by acquaintances, regifting may have more negative consequences in these situations.

They suggest that “regifting symbolic gifts – for example, a hand-sewn scarf—may be more likely to offend givers because it sends a stronger signal that receivers do not value their relationship with the givers.”

Should you hide the fact that you're regifting?

This study did not examine that. But lead researcher Gabrielle Adams, an assistant professor at London Business School, was asked that question in an interview published on the website of the Association for Psychological Science.

“If I were to guess, I would say that regifters should not try to hide the fact that they are regifting, and instead should emphasize that the reason they are regifting is because they think it is better suited to the receiver than it was to them,” she responded. 

Herb Weisbaum is The ConsumerMan. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter or visit The ConsumerMan website.

More money news:

• Bill targets 'abusive' gift card fees
• Social Security can be fixed (but it won't be pretty)
• Hey, hot stuff! You're fired
• Financial moves to make before the new year
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Gloria Ferrer Sonoma Brut hails from California but is made in the traditional Champagne style.

By Kara Reinhardt, Cheapism.com

The shouted countdown, the popping corks, the clinking glasses, the strains of “Auld Lang Syne.” In the symphony of a New Year’s celebration, Champagne has long played a crucial part. Many cheaper sparkling wines hit similar notes, however. A California sparkling white, Spanish cava, or Italian prosecco may not come from France’s storied Champagne region, but it can make for an equally festive and much more affordable toast.

Below are Cheapism’s top sparkling wines for $20 or less.

• Roederer Estate Brut (starting at $20) comes from a California producer owned by the famed Louis Roederer, maker of Cristal. Reviewers call this bubbly nectar crisp, full-bodied, and surprisingly complex -- an excellent value. (Where to buy)
• Gloria Ferrer Sonoma Brut (starting at $13) has earned high marks from critics for its flavors, which the winemaker’s tasting notes identify as apple, citrus, and toasted almond. This California sparkler is made according to the méthode Champenoise used in France. (Where to buy)
• Freixenet Cordon Negro Extra Dry (starting at $9) is a cava from Spain that incorporates different grapes and tastes sweeter than the other two sparkling wines on this list. At the same time, experts say, it’s fresh rather than cloying, with a pleasing finish. The label on the distinctive black bottle reads metodo tradicional, which indicates that the winemaker uses the traditional French method. (Where to buy)

Champagne and other sparkling wines go through two stages of fermentation. According to French tradition, the second stage, wherein the wines develop their trademark fizz, must take place in the bottle. Other inexpensive sparklers ferment in large tanks -- a cheaper, faster method that actually better suits prosecco. Some of the very cheapest sparkling wines are artificially carbonated, like soft drinks.

Producers add sugar to nearly all sparkling wines just before the final corking. Most often it amounts to no more than 12 grams per liter, which classifies the wine as brut. Ironically, brut wines are actually drier (or less sweet) than those identified as extra dry. That descriptor applies to wines with 12 to 17 grams of sugar per liter. Those make good selections for revelers who want something a little sweeter than usual. Sparkling wines labeled sec (the French word for dry), demi-sec, or doux are even sweeter and less common.

The abbreviation NV, which accompanies many sparkling wines, stands for non-vintage. Producers often make still wine using grapes from a single harvest and identify the wine according to that year -- a 2009 Bordeaux, for example. Winemakers produce vintage Champagne only in exceptionally good years and charge a premium for it. Non-vintage sparkling wine has the advantages of being less expensive, more widely available, and consistent from year to year, with the top producers aiming to cultivate a signature taste and style.

To get the most out of a sparkling wine, the Comité Interprofessionnel du Vin de Champagne, the industry trade organization, recommends chilling the bottle on its side for at least three or four hours before serving.

More from Cheapism:

• Cheap champagne
• Webcam reviews
• Tablet reviews
• Treadmill reviews

Evan Agostini / AP

Patrick Dempsey.

Talk about your Seattle grace. Patrick Dempsey is heading up a group that plans to put in a bid for struggling Tully's Coffee, a Washington-based chain with stores along the West Coast, a rep for the "Grey's Anatomy" star confirmed Wednesday to E! News.

"I'm excited about the opportunity to save hundreds of jobs, give back to Seattle and become a larger part of the economic growth and fabric of the community," Dempsey said in a statement. 

Patrick Dempsey also played hero when he came to a teenager's aid following a car crash

"I've always loved this city, and with the purchase of Tully's Coffee, I plan to spend a lot of time in Seattle and at the stores connecting with the community and growing the Tully's brand. It looks like Seattle may be my home away from home in the very near future," he added. 

Could he be more McDreamy?

Tully's filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Oct. 10 and has closed -- and is in the process of closing -- a number of "underperforming" locations, according to a statement on the company website.

A bankruptcy auction, at which the Dempsey-led group could have some competition, is scheduled for Jan. 3.

See celebs doing their part to help others during the holidays

Related content:

• 'Grey's Anatomy' creator disses Katherine Heigl

Also in TODAY Entertainment:

• Kate Winslet marries in secret New York ceremony
• Jessica Simpson will be off Weight Watchers while pregnant
• Rihanna, Chris Brown cuddle courtside at Christmas Lakers game
• Piers Morgan target of deportation petition after gun comments

Alex Wong / Getty Images

Traditionally male-dominated professions, such as construction, suffered heavy job losses during the recession.

With the labor market still on the ropes, Americans who have jobs are hunkering down and staying at them longer.

The median length of time people have been at their jobs is 5.4 years, compared to 5.2 years in 2010 and 5 years nearly three decades ago, according to new research conducted by the Employee Benefit Research Institute. 

It's not that we love our jobs so much, said Craig Copeland, the study's author and senior research associate at EBRI. "It seems like people who have jobs in this economy are holding onto them if they have a choice," he said. When the economy is thriving, people switch jobs more often in search of better pay and benefits or more room for advancement. In this economy, we're happy just to have our jobs.

The group's research found that a once-sharp disparity between men and women's job tenures has now entirely vanished. While male workers' median job tenure slipped from 5.9 years in 1983 to 5.5 years today, the median tenure of female workers climbed from 4.2 years to 5.4 years over the same time period. 

Copeland said there are several reasons for this. Traditionally male-dominated professions in both blue- and white-collar sectors, like construction and finance, bore the brunt of job losses during the recession. Union jobs typically held by men are on the decline, and a growing number of female-headed households have contributed to their rise in the work force. 

"There's a lot of evidence that female labor market attachment goes up in a counter-cyclical fashion" with male employment, said Jeff Strohl, director of research at Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce. Male unemployment can prompt their partner to get a job or stay at the one they have for a longer period of time. "You have to have some sense of financial security inside of a family unit," he said. 

Today, Americans enter and leave the work force later in life. "The career cycle has been changing over time. We’ve moved away from the high school economy," Strohl said. Now, more people enroll in college before starting their careers. "Real labor market entry is 22, 23." On the opposite end of the spectrum, more workers are delaying retirement — a long-term trend Strohl said was exacerbated by the recession, when many workers saw their retirement nest eggs shrink. 

EBRI's research also debunks the myth that a one-job career was the norm in previous generations. Today, male workers between the ages of 55 and 64 stay at a job for 10.7 years at the median, an increase from 9.5 years in 2006. Even when the median job tenure for this age group peaked in 1983, it amounted to 15.3 years — hardly a career-length stint.

Only around 20 percent of workers aged 60 to 64 have been at their jobs for 25 years, Copeland said. That's not very many, but it's a drop of only around 3 percentage points since 1983. "The majority of people do change their jobs, either by choice or being forced to," he said.

More money news:

• Social Security can be fixed (but it won't be pretty)
• Hey, hot stuff! You're fired
• Financial moves to make before the new year
• Sign up for our TODAY newsletter

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Michael Conroy / AP

Despite their popularity, gift cards are not the same as cash.

Chances are you gave or received at least one gift card for Christmas or Hanukkah. Once again this year, these cards were the most requested holiday present.

Despite their popularity, gift cards are not the same as cash. They can expire after five years (unless prohibited by state law) and there may be dormancy fees for not using them.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) wants to ban inactivity and service fees, and prohibit expiration dates on all gift cards and gift certificates. His Gift Card Consumer Protection Act would do that and much more.

“This bill bars absolutely draconian deadlines and abusive fees and charges that unfairly confiscate consumer gift card cash,” Sen. Blumenthal said in a statement. “Gift card companies fatten their profits and shrink consumer wallets with exploitative expiration dates and petty, underhanded junk fees. Gift cards should not be the gift that keeps on taking. This measure assures that consumers get their money's worth, no matter when they use the gift card.”

The Gift Card Consumer Protection Act would also prevent loyalty, promotion and awards cards from expiring. These are the type of gift cards you get as a bonus for buying a product or redeeming credit card points. Many of these cards expire in as little as 30 days.

The bill would also reduce the chances that you’ll get stuck with a worthless gift card. It would require a company that files for bankruptcy to honor its unredeemed gift cards and prevent that retailer from selling any more of them while under bankruptcy protection.

Sen. Blumenthal’s office reminds us that when Sharper Image filed for bankruptcy in 2008, the electronic gadgets store stopped accepting its own gift cards.

“We think this bill is a welcome present for anyone who’s been short-changed by a gift card,” said David Butler with Consumers Union, the advocacy arm of Consumer Reports. “We believe you ought to receive the full value of your gift card. You should be able to use it when you want it without any concern that the card has expired or that it’s no longer accepted.”

Companies that issue gift cards generally oppose the bill. The Network Branded Prepaid Card Association calls the proposed ban on expiration dates and service fees “unworkable restrictions” that could change the market for these cards.

“Consumers would likely lose access to many gift and promotional cards if all fees are prohibited – even after 12 months of inactivity – because the card programs would likely be discontinued as uneconomical for program providers,” said NBPCA president Kirsten Trusko in a statement to NBC News.

While inactivity fees provide profit, Trusko said they also pay for things such as customer service, protection against lost or stolen cards and fraud protection. Expiration dates are needed on promotional gift cards, she insisted, because like coupons they encourage consumers to visit a store or restaurant during a specific sales period.

“Forcing promotional cards to have no expiration date would undermine the usefulness of such cards for promotional purposes,” she wrote.

The American Bankers Association (ABA) hasn’t officially opposed Sen. Blumenthal’s bill. Instead, it questions the need for more government regulation in this area.

“The law is not necessary,” said ABA spokesperson Nessa Feddis. “We don’t know what it would do.”

Feddis wants everyone to know that a gift card never really expires, even when there is an expiration date on the card.

“The funds can’t expire, only the card,” she said. “All the customer has to do is call the company to get a new card issued.”

Feddis also emphasized that the companies that issue these cards don’t get to keep the money if they’re not used. After a certain period of time, normally seven years, any unused funds go to state’s unclaimed property office.

What to do with unwanted gift cards
Plastic Jungle, a company that buys and sells unused gift cards, estimates that the typical American household has unused gift cards worth an average of $300. That’s billions of dollars sitting in purses, wallets and dresser drawers.

Don’t let this money go to waste. If you don’t plan to use the card for yourself, use it to buy a present for someone else, donate it to a charity or turn that card into cash.

Sites such as Gift Card Granny, Gift Card Rescue, CardPool and Card Cash  buy and sell gift cards.

“If you received a gift card to a store you don’t like or a restaurant that you don’t go to, the card is essentially useless to you,” said Kendal Perez with GiftCardGranny.com. “So being able to exchange it for cash gives you the ability to get something out of that card.”

For a popular store, such as Target, Amazon or Wal-Mart, Kendall said they pay 90 percent or more of the card’s value. For other merchants, expect 70 to 85 percent.

TIP: Shop around if you want to get the most for that unwanted gift card. Offers can vary greatly from site to site.

Eliminating gift card 'gotchas'
Gift cards are big business. The TowerGroup expects total sales for the year to hit $110 billion. As the market for gift cards has grown, so has the need for improved regulation.

The Credit CARD ACT of 2009 prevents gift cards from expiring for at least five years. That’s good, but more should be done to eliminate the remaining gift card “gotchas.”

The Gift Card Consumer Protection Act makes sure you won’t be shortchanged when you give or receive one of these cards.  

Herb Weisbaum is The ConsumerMan. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter or visit The ConsumerMan website. 

Last week, Iowa’s all-male high court upheld the legality of terminating a female employee because her boss found her too attractive.

Iowa dentist James Knight fired his assistant, Melissa Nelson, after a decade-long tenure because he found her “irresistible” and said he would be likely to have an affair with her if he kept her on the payroll, according to the court’s opinion.

In 2009, Knight’s wife Jeanne demanded that her husband fire his 32-year-old assistant Melissa Nelson after she found out the two sometimes exchanged text messages, according to court documents.

For his part, Knight said he found Nelson’s clothes “distracting,” saying, “I don’t think it’s good for me to see her wearing things that accentuate her body.” Nelson denied wearing inappropriate attire and said she put on a coat when Knight complained about what she was wearing, say the court documents.

The couple’s pastor supported the decision to terminate Nelson although Knight said she was “the best dental assistant he ever had," the court's opinion said.

Nelson sued on the grounds that she was fired because of her gender, while Knight’s lawyers argued that the termination was because of the relationship between the two. The court sided with Knight’s argument, noting that legal precedent found it acceptable for a boss to fire a worker due to a spouse’s jealousy. The court also said Knight didn’t discriminate against women as a class. He had other female employees, and replaced Nelson with another woman. 

“It opens up a really disturbing door,” said Brad Seligman, an attorney who represented plaintiffs in a Wal-Mart gender discrimination class-action suit alleging company-wide discrimination against female workers regarding pay and promotions.

Seligman said that argument wouldn’t fly if the case was in the federal court system. “Here it’s quite clear that the woman was being perceived as a threat because she was a woman,” he said. The termination was “a decision that’s totally based on gender.”

Since Nelson's case was tried in and argued based on case law from the state court system, she has little legal recourse at this point, Seligman said. "It's probably the end of the line for this plaintiff."

Knight erred by not having policies in writing addressing employee dress code and behavior, said Amy N. Letke, founder and CEO of Integrity HR. “It’s really important, when you’re the business owner, to set the tone with what’s OK.” 

“People who work hard to be attractive and high performers are typically rewarded,” said Letke. “She was punished.”

It happens. You get a gift and you want to return it. Maybe you don’t need another electric can opener or you're not fond of that bright pink necktie.

Good news: According to the annual survey by ConsumerWorld.org, the refund policies at most major retailers are the same as last year, with a few notable exceptions. But that doesn’t mean it will always be easy to take back that unwanted item.

“Many stores are still slicing and dicing their return policies, creating different rules for different categories of items,” noted Consumer World founder Edgar Dworsky. “For example, electronics typically have a shorter return period than clothing.”

If you get something you don’t want, you’d better find out how long you have to take it back.

“We get so wrapped up in the holidays that by the time you think about returning something in mid-January, it may be too late,” noted Carey Rossi, editor-in-chief at ConsumerSearch.com. “So there is a timeline as to when you need to return those unwanted gifts.”

Here are a few of the noteworthy return-policy changes from the Consumer World survey:

• Target tightened its return policy for the second time in two years. The return period for digital items, such as computers (tablet, netbook, notebook or eReader), video game consoles, GPS units and digital cameras is now 30 days instead of 45 days.

• Sears shortened its “extended holiday return period” from 120 days across the board. Items that qualify for a 30-day and 60-day return can now be brought back until Jan. 24, and in some cases, later. Toys “R" Us will now let you return an electronic product after the package has been opened.  In the past, they would not.

• Buy.com expanded its holiday return period from Jan. 31 to Feb. 15.  

Remember: Some retailers won’t accept the return of an electronic item if the box has been opened, the product has been used, parts are missing or the original packaging is gone.

Or you may have to pay a restocking fee. Sears charges a 15 percent restocking fee if they determine the item is “used” or has missing parts. At Overstock.com, you could pay as much as 60 percent of the purchase price to return something that’s been opened or used.

Know the rules
Retailers want to handle your return in a friendly and courteous manner. That’s why they have extended holiday return policies.

“Many however, keep it a secret,” Dworsky noted. “Most don’t post big signs in the store, and managers may not even be aware of it.”

Whether they post it in plain sight or not, there are rules to follow.

“Receipts are the key to easy returns,” noted Judy Rohlena, senior editor at ShopSmart magazine. “If you don’t have a receipt, you could be out of luck.”

Most stores won’t accept a return without a receipt. And with all the return fraud taking place, you can’t blame them.

If they do take back an item without a receipt, you may only get the lowest price that item sold for in the past 90 days.

While it’s important for gift-givers to include a “gift receipt,” most stores won’t let you use that to get a refund, only an equal exchange, merchandise credit or gift card.

“If you want your money back, you’ll have to get the gift-giver to go back with the original receipt,” Dworsky said.

Note: The return policies for online purchases may be different. Don’t assume you can take an Internet purchase back to a company’s physical store.

• Sports Authority won’t take back any online purchases at its stores.

• Some items sold by OldNavy.com, Gap.com and BananaRepublic.com must be returned by mail.

• You will only get a merchandise credit if you take back something purchased at ToysRUs.com to a Toys “R” Us store.

Remember: Some online retailers will cover the cost of that return. Others make you pay to send it back.

The bottom line
Be careful how you handle your gifts, especially those you think you might not want. Don’t wear clothing. Keep all the packaging. Don’t even open the box – especially for electronic items – if you know it’s going back.

Keep in mind: Many stores track returns to spot potential fraud.

“For honest consumers, this can cause problems, as some stores limit the amount of return activity to a certain number or value of annual merchandise,” noted Sally Greenberg, executive director of the National Consumers League. “So be prepared for the worst.”

If you follow the rules, you shouldn’t have many problems. Just remember, those rules vary from store to store. You need to understand that company’s policy before you head to the store or try to ship it back.

“If you’re asking for something that’s outside the rules, that means you’re asking for an accommodation,” Dworsky said. “But if you’re asking for something that’s in the policy and they turn you down, then you can be more assertive.”

Have a problem with a return? Ask to speak to the store manager or contact the customer service department. If that doesn’t work file a complaint with the Better Business Bureau, your state Attorney General’s office or local consumer protection agency.

More information:

Consumer World Survey: 2012 Return Policies

Consumer Reports: Hassle-Free Gift Returns

National Consumers League: Stress-Free Gift Returns

Herb Weisbaum is The ConsumerMan. Follow him on Facebookand Twitter or visit The ConsumerMan website.

The fiscal cliff negotiations are reviving the debate about that other financial elephant in the room: Social Security.

Under current government estimates, Social Security could face funding shortfalls in about two decades if nothing changes. That’s because the U.S. population is aging -- and generally living longer.

That sounds like a disheartening scenario for workers who are currently paying into Social Security and worry that they won’t get as much out of it once they retire.  About half of the Americans polled by Pew Research Center earlier this year believe it’s not likely there will be enough money in Social Security and Medicare to maintain current benefit levels into the future.

But experts say there are ways to fix Social Security. Politicians just may not like trying to sell those changes to the American people.

It has happened before, though. In the mid-1980s, none other than President Ronald Reagan, working with Democrats in Congress, oversaw a major overhaul of the nation’s retirement safety net.

That’s something many say seems less likely these days.

“There are politicians – and especially in the Senate but also in the House as well – who could work together and come to an agreement,” said Alan Auerbach, a professor of law and economics at the University of California, Berkeley. “But they’re not the majority of Congress.”

Experts say there are two ways to fix Social Security, and neither of them are pretty: reduce benefits or increase revenue.

Reduce benefits
One of the few parts of the fiscal cliff negotiations that President Barack Obama and House Speaker John Boehner seem willing to compromise on involves a change in the way Social Security increases are calculated going forward. 

The proposed switch to calculating cost of living increases using the chained Consumer Price Index instead of the current method would result in smaller annual Social Security raises. That’s because that method assumes that people change their spending habits when prices go up.

Proponents say the switch could save billions and is a more realistic method of how Americans really adjust to rising prices.

But opponents say the chained Consumer Price Index isn’t a good way to measure the needs of older and disabled Americans, because their expenditures are disproportionately focused on things like health care. A family of four may choose to eat more chicken if beef prices go up, but an elderly person can’t easily choose to spend less on heart medicine, they argue.

 “It’s the biggest hit on the people that couldn’t take it,” said Dean Baker, an economist with the liberal-leaning Center for Economic and Policy Research who is opposed to the measure.

One of the longer-term options for reducing benefits is to simply tell people they have to wait longer to get their full benefits. By extending the age at which you can get full benefits, proponents argue that Social Security would be keeping up with trends toward longer life expectancies.

But opponents, including CEPR’s Dean Baker, say that a closer look at the data shows that the bulk of improvements in life expectancies have come from wealthier Americans. They say a broad-based increase in the age at which people can get benefits would punish less wealthy Americans, who haven’t seen such big life expectancy gains.

Andrew Biggs, resident scholar with the conservative-leaning American Enterprise Institute, argues that another option would be to dial down benefits for middle- and high-income people while maintaining the current system for the poorest Americans.

Biggs argues that if wealthy people are told to expect less Social Security, they have more leeway to prepare for it than poor people.

“If you cut my Social Security benefits I’m going to react by saving money and working longer,” he said. “That’s good for the economy.”

Another option would be to reduce the Social Security benefits available to spouses. Some critics argue that’s growing outdated now that more women work and earn their own Social Security payments.

“It’s kind of a relic from a different era,” Baker said.

Increase revenue
Under the current rules, the maximum taxable earnings for Social Security in 2012 is about $110,000. Some argue that an easy fix would be to simply raise the cap on Social Security taxes to include higher wages. 

Baker, of CEPR, proposes raising the cap to around $190,000, reflecting the growing wealth at the top of the income scale. Raise it higher than that, he said, and wealthy earners will just start finding ways to dodge it.

But others say that it’s unlikely politicians will propose raising taxes on high earners now, when many expect those taxpayers to already see increases as part of the fiscal cliff negotiations.

“The timing of it just seems kind of awkward,” Auerbach said.

Another option would be to add an across-the-board increase in payroll taxes that go toward Social Security. Although that would help solve the system’s future funding woes, experts say it’s also likely to be a hard sell in these tough times.

For one thing, Americans may already be facing higher payroll taxes in 2012. For the past two years, Americans have enjoyed a payroll tax holiday that reduced the amount of money they paid toward Social Security, but that could end in the coming year.

“I suspect that’s going to be a not very attractive option right now,” Auerbach said.

Politicians may be nervous about proposing any reform to Social Security that costs more or results in fewer benefits, but Americans seem to accept that some changes are needed.

About 66 percent of those polled by Pew Research Center said they would support raising payroll taxes on high-income earners, while 55 percent said they would support reducing benefits for high-income seniors.

Just 38 percent said they’d support raising the eligibility age.

Zappos.com

When a customer-service rep goes above and beyond to try to solve your problem, that's welcome. When they spend 10-and-a-half hours on the phone giving you advice about relocating to Las Vegas, that's Zappos.com.

Unlike many other online retailers (including parent company Amazon.com), Zappos plasters its site with its toll-free customer service number, which is staffed 24/7. When a Midwestern college student called the site's Nevada headquarters two weeks ago to buy a pair of Uggs boots, the transaction turned into a chat marathon about the city, where the student was considering moving. The rep was able to take some breaks during the call; the customer agreed to hold the line.

Zappos spokesman Jeff Lewis said providing good customer service is a top priority. "We feel that allowing our team members the ability to stay on the phone with a customer for as long as they need is a crucial means of fulfilling this value," he said via email.

By assuring management that it wouldn’t interfere with Zappos’ free-spirited corporate culture when it acquired the shoe retailer in 2009, Amazon benefits from the customer-service elements that make Zappos customers so loyal.

“Amazon has purposely allowed that culture to continue to proliferate,” said Bryan Pearson, president of LoyaltyOne, a loyalty marketing and strategy company. “I’m sure they’re bringing some of the key lessons from the Zappos experience into Amazon."

Jordy Leiser, CEO of Stella Service, a customer service measurement and ratings business, said this is the case. In a study conducted a few months ago, Zappos tied with L.L. Bean for the best customer service on Twitter. Leiser said that when Amazon saw how much customers liked being able to solve customer service issues over the microblogging site, it started offering customer support via tweet, too. Zappos had been using Twitter to field customer queries since 2008.

"They are starting to integrate and rub off on each other," he said. 

Amazon didn't have poor customer service beforehand, according to Stella's research; it just wasn't the focus of the shopper experience. "In online, it's about fulfillment and a smooth shopping experience," Sucharita Mulpuru, an analyst with Forrester Research, said via email. 

In this regard, Amazon delivers, Leiser said. "They please customers with their shipping and logistics experience," Leiser said. Earlier this year, Amazon took over some of Zappos' back-end inventory-management processes, letting Zappos benefit from one of its strong spots.

And both Amazon and Zappos ranked highly in Stella's survey of phone service responsiveness, with mystery shoppers able to reach live agents in about a minute, on average.

"Each of them has the things that are most important to their customer base. For Zappos, it’s all about the phone customer service," Leiser said. Apparently that service even includes a lengthy discussion about moving advice. 

More money news:

• Last-minute shoppers nab deals
• Meteorologists keep UPS, FedEx running
• How to shave a few bucks off your holiday budget
• Video: Get a big money gift? Don’t put it all toward debt
• Sign up for our TODAY newsletter

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Jordan Stead / Reuters

Same-sex couples take their vows during a group wedding Dec. 9 at the First Baptist Church in Seattle.

Same-sex couples in Washington state rushed giddily to the courthouse earlier this month after Washington became one of three states where voters approved laws giving them the legal right to marry.

Those newlyweds will probably be less excited the first time they get to file their tax returns together.

The gap between state laws that recognize same-sex marriage, and federal laws that don’t, makes tax season complicated at best, and costly at worst, for same-sex spouses.

“It’s certainly a big headache for people. I’ve literally seen them reduced to tears,” said M.V. Lee Badgett, research director of the Williams Institute for Sexual Orientation Law and Public Policy at the University of California, Los Angeles.

The Supreme Court’s decision to hear cases related to same-sex marriage could clarify the confusion if the court ends up striking down the Defense of Marriage Act, a national law that defines marriage as between a man and a woman.

That could clear the way for the federal government to recognize same-sex marriages in the states where it is legal: Washington, Maryland, Maine, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa, Vermont, New Hampshire, New York and the District of Columbia.

The recognition would mean that same-sex couples could file a joint tax return and be eligible for tax breaks and other government benefits, such as spousal Social Security benefits, that heterosexual spouses currently have.

But a decision on those Supreme Court cases is not expected until June. And as it stands now, filing taxes is a lot more complicated for same-sex couples because they are considered married by their state government and not married by the federal government.

“It’s very laborious,” said Judi O’Kelley, deputy director of development for Lambda Legal, which does advocacy work and provides legal guidance for lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and transgender people.

To file state and federal income tax returns, experts say same-sex couples must first fill out a mock federal tax form as a married couple, which they use as the basis to file their state tax returns. Then, they must go back and file a second set of federal tax returns as if they are both single, because the federal government does not recognize their union.

In community-property states such as Washington and California, there is one more hurdle for the individual returns. Couples have to essentially split their wages down the middle, said Marci Flanery, a CPA who practices in Seattle. So, if one spouse makes $100,000 and another spouse make $20,000, each return would end up showing income of $60,000.

That’s because even though the marriage isn’t recognized, their assets are considered shared property.

There are other tax issues to consider. Same-sex partners who get health benefits from their spouse’s employer are taxed on those benefits, while heterosexual married couples are not.

Couples also have to figure out how to allocate deductions, and many worry about the tax implications should one same-sex spouse give the other money, or leave the other an inheritance.

“There are lots of rules in the Internal Revenue Code that depend on marriage,” said Patricia Cain, a professor of law at Santa Clara University and an expert on these issues.

Experts say that many same-sex couples probably don’t realize the tax implications when they get married, and may file incorrectly because they don’t know the rules.

Still, some are clearly thinking about money in addition to love as they prepare to get married.

O’Kelley said about 500 people showed up for a forum on legal issues related to same-sex marriage, held in Washington state just days before those unions became legal.

Flanery said she’s had a steady stream of potential accounting clients coming in to talk about the tax implications of a potential same-sex union, and especially the income-sharing provision.

 “I don’t see that they’re not getting married because of this, but they do want to know about it,” she said.

The tax issues may be a headache, but they aren’t always a financial burden. For couples who both earn a higher salary, the current system can be a good financial deal.

That’s because high-earning couples are sometimes subject to a so-called marriage penalty in which their joint filing status puts them at a higher tax rate than if they were filing individually. By splitting their income, they can each enjoy a lower tax rate.

Nevertheless, even some advocates who benefit financially from the current situation say they’d be willing to pay more taxes to have the federal government recognize their marriage, and to be eligible for other federal safeguards.

 “I don’t want to pay it, that’s true, but we’re not going to get divorced over it,” said Cain.

Related:

Advocates on both sides hope for Supreme Court clarity on same-sex marriage

Getty Images

The end of Twinkies? Not so fast: Bankrupt Hostess Brands has received a number of bids interested buyers.

This year in Life Inc., we covered serious topics like tax fraud and sillier ones like workplace hugging. We watched Donald Trump get riled up and teared up when we read about one boy's love for LEGO.

Here’s a roundup, in no particular order, of 10 of the most popular stories of 2012.

Twinkie’s last stand: It’s up to a mediator
Life Inc. readers love their junk food – or their memories of junk food, anyway. The news that Hostess, maker of the iconic yellow Twinkie, was shutting down after a major labor dispute led to some of our most popular stories of the year. Some readers reminisced about their fond memories of the sweet treats, while others argued ferociously about the value of unions in America today.

Getty Images stock

Yes, this hug is a bit awkward.

Awkward! How a workplace hug can go awry
A story about the often awkward workplace hug prompted many of you to share your hilarious, embarrassing and heart-warming stories of hugging your current, or potential, colleagues.

While the office hug can be exceedingly awkward, only about one-fourth of you said you’d never get that close to a co-worker. Sometimes, even at work, you just need a hug.

Role reversal: Employers say it’s hard to find good workers
Most people who have looked for a job in the past five years will tell you it’s tough to get an interview, let alone a job offer. Employers, on the other hand, have been saying for a long time that they’re having trouble finding workers with the skills and experience they need to do the job.

One of our most popular posts of the year looked at whether the problem lies with unqualified job candidates or employers who just aren’t realistic in their expectations.

“Firms continue to create positions out of touch with reality, say, an accountant who can juggle and has hair-styling experience,” one reader lamented.

He ‘quit money’ and is still living a happy life
An interview with Mark Sundeen, the author of a book about a man who lives in a cave in Utah without using any money, hit a definite nerve with readers. But they were divided on whether the man, Daniel Suelo, was an inspiration or a freeloader.

Paul Zimmerman / Getty Images for TechCrunch / AO

Marissa Mayer speaks in New York in May.

New Yahoo CEO says she’ll work through maternity leave
Marissa Mayer’s announcement that she would spend just a few weeks on maternity leave after the birth of her first child sparked a fierce debate about whether women can really “have it all.” Some readers felt like it was a big step backwards for women who fought hard for maternity leaves, while others say that CEOs have different expectations than the working stiffs.

Loving the job, but hating the student loan debt
Vanessa and Chris Christman’s story is all-too-familiar. The couple love their jobs as librarians but are hobbled by the onerous debt they took on for the work they do. The Christmans' story, one of many we wrote about student loan debt, got the attention of readers who are struggling with balancing the risk of taking on debt with the reward of a college education.

Generation X may have taken biggest hit in economic downturn
Gen X is all grown up, and they’re worried about their retirement plans, their mortgages and their student loan debt. A story on new data showing that Gen X may have been hit hardest by the economic downturn touched a nerve with readers of all ages.

It’s not just Gen X that’s feeling the hit, apparently: About half of the readers who took our poll said they were worse off financially today than they were 2005.

Macy’s urged to dump Trump from ads or else
Macy’s decision to feature Donald Trump in a holiday ad riled hundreds of thousands of people, who signed a petition calling on the retailer to dump the controversial critic of President Barack Obama.

The celebrity seemed undaunted by his critics. When an outside firm blamed him for a drop in Macy’s popularity with women. His response: “It’s total bull@!$%#."

IRS faces surge in identity theft tax fraud
A story on a new kind of identity thief – who fakes your tax return then steals your fake refund – prompted a huge outrage from our readers. For some of them, it was because they’d experienced the frustrating form of theft firsthand.

Jay Groccia

James Groccia, 11, with his LEGO train.

LEGO love story: How one little boy got the toy of his dreams
The story of a little boy who saved for two years to buy a coveted LEGO set only to find that LEGO no longer made it  would have been heart-breaking if it didn’t have a happy ending. LEGO’s response to the boy’s letter touched our readers and gave us a much-needed piece of good news to celebrate.

The blizzard that has dumped inches of snow across the Midwest could not have come at a worse time for many travelers trying to get home for Christmas. It’s also pretty bad timing for the nation’s shipping companies on one of the busiest days of the year.

If they don’t deliver their packages on time, grandma may not get her scarf for Christmas, or worse, hundreds of companies may not live up to the promise they made to online shoppers to deliver packages in time to go under the tree.

Enter the meterology teams from FedEx and UPS. 

Each company employs in-house weather experts who examine jet streams, satellite images and temperature trends to make sure trucks and planes have all the information they need when delivering all those packages that need to get there now.

“They will tell you that a boring day for them is a good day for UPS because when the weather is quiet, that’s good. We can operate well,” said Mike Mangeot, a spokesman for UPS Airlines.

“When they are really, really busy, that’s usually not ideal for the company because we are going to have to deal with snow or a hurricane.”

Courtesy UPS

Jeff Sarver is a meteorology supervisor at UPS in Louisville, Ky.

The staff of five UPS meteorologists – located at the company’s Worldport international air hub in Louisville, Ky. – was certainly hard at work on Thursday, the busiest day of the holiday season for UPS and the second day of a massive winter storm that was disrupting travel in the Midwest.

Related: Holiday travel alert: Storms deliver foot of snow in central US

The timing couldn’t be worse for a company that expects to deliver 28 million packages today, or almost double a normal day's load. So far, UPS is reporting service delays in parts of Iowa and Nebraska because of the snow.

Similar bad weather prompted the company to start hiring meteorologists in 1994, when a major ice storm shut down Louisville for days.

“Our customers in Barcelona and Beijing don’t care that it snowed in Louiville, Kentucky. They want their packages,” Mangeot said. “So we felt the need to have a greater read on the weather that was coming.”

Today, the company’s forecasters are on duty 24 hours a day, five days a week, and they’re on call on the weekends. They watch everything from snowstorms in the Midwest to tsunamis in Asia to Icelandic volcanoes, Mangeot said.

Their tools include a simulated airplane wing with built-in sensors that sits outside their building to help forecast possible icing conditions.

The meteorologists brief flight controllers, contingency planners and other operations experts at the UPS Global Operations Center in Louisville, who then decide how to keep things running smoothly even during bad weather, Mangeot said.

Thursday was a good example. Up to a foot of snow was expected to fall in the Des Moines area, where UPS sorts a number of packages, so based on the forecasters’ information, the company made the call to shift all those packages for sorting in Louisville, Mangeot said.

FedEx is also closely following the storm with the help of its 15 staff meteorologists, all based at the company’s headquarters in Memphis, Tenn. The company warned that the weather could cause pickup and delivery delays and disruptions in the Midwest.

“We joke around that sunny and clear is kind of a boring weather day, and days like today when there’s a major storm going on, we get a little excited because we’re more in the spotlight,” said Kory Gempler, a senior meteorologist at FedEx.

“We’re being counted on to deliver accurate weather information so our decision makers can manage the weather, work around the weather and make weather invisible to the customer and packages get delivered.”

FedEx’s in-house meteorology department began in 1986 when founder Fred Smith decided he wanted his crew members to have the best weather information, Gempler said.

Operational forecasters are on duty 24 hours a day, seven days a week. How far ahead they look depends on who is asking for the information: a pilot flying across the country may want to know what’s going on in the next six hours, while a hub may be interested in what kind of winter to expect so they know how much de-icing fluid to order, Gempler said.

There are daily weather briefings at the company, with any adverse conditions affecting FedEx hubs getting the most attention. This is the most intense time of the year for the meteorologists because they know the timely delivery of precious presents is on the line, Gempler said. But count on your packages getting there on time, he added.

“This company has been around a long time, we’ve seen a lot of weather events and disasters. We can go back and see what we did and work around the weather,” Gempler said.

Jonathan Alcorn / Reuters

Great news, procrastinators! If you didn't get that awesome Black Friday deal, you can still score a bargain.

Sometimes, it pays to procrastinate. Millions of us still need to buy holiday gifts, and retailers want that business. So they’ve lowered prices to attract last-minute shoppers. 

“We’re seeing incredible deals right now on laptops and some good pricing on tablets and TVs,” said Mike Fridgen, CEO of Decide.com, a site that tracks millions of prices. 

They predict that 70 percent of the most popular Black Friday deals will return between now and Christmas. 

“Some of the prices are even lower than the door-buster deals on Black Friday,” Fridgen said. “So these are exceptional deals.” 

At ZingSale.com, a site that monitors prices for more than 10,000 products sold by hundreds of merchants on Amazon.com, they ran the numbers and came to the same conclusion. 

“Retailers are definitely slashing prices,” said Chris Garlotta, ZingSale’s co-founder. “We found aggressive discounts that are often significantly better than Black Friday deals.”

Their data shows that Back Friday shoppers were able to save about 33 percent off retail. Right now, the average markdown is around 43 percent. A few examples from ZingSale:

• The Xbox 360 4GB with Kinect Holiday Value Bundle / Retail: $395; Black Friday: $269; Now: $250 
• Halo 4 for the Xbox / Retail: $60; Black Friday: $57; Now: $40 
• Philips Norelco SensoTouch Electric Razor / Retail: $100; Black Friday: $74; Now: $67

Garlotta predicts some of the deepest discounts will be on toys and games (60 percent off), winter clothing (55 percent off) and printers (52 percent off).  Also look for big sales on digital cameras, Blu-ray players, tablets and E-book readers. Some TVs and video games will also be bargain-priced. 

Reduce your stress 
If you still have shopping to do, you’re not alone. A new Harris Interactive survey done for SOASTA (a cloud and mobile-testing company) finds that more than half (54 percent) of the people asked still plan to shop between now and Christmas. 

As you race to the finish line, use digital-shopping assistants to help you save time and money. Here are a few suggestions from the editors at ShopSmart magazine (published by Consumer Reports):

• CouponBlender.com shows you the best deals from dozens of coupon sites.
• TechBargains.com specializes in electronics and gift cards.
• RetailMeNot.com, one of the magazine’s favorite coupon sites, now has an app for Apple devices. Use it to snag coupon codes when you shop on your mobile device.
• The Sale Saver LT app (for Apple) and Discount Calculator app (for Android) calculate the total cost of an item, including sales tax and any discounts.

After-Christmas sales expected to start early 
Now that Black Friday begins on Thanksgiving, is it any surprise that some after-Christmas sales will start before Santa is back at the North Pole?  

“Based on what we saw last year, we’re predicting after-Christmas sales are going to start as early as Dec.r 23,” said Louis Ramirez, senior feature writer at dealnews.com.  “Because Christmas Eve falls on a Monday, we won’t be surprised to see a few after-Christmas deals, on TVs and apparel, on Friday, Dec. 21.” 

If you don’t find a great tech deal before Christmas, check again after the holiday. Dealnews says the discounts on many consumer electronics, especially HDTVs, are typically more aggressive post-Christmas.

Herb Weisbaum is The ConsumerMan. Follow him on Facebook and Twitter or visit The ConsumerMan website.

By Sharon Epperson, CNBC personal finance correspondent

Giving a gift to charity may be your greatest gift of the season — and it doesn't even have to lighten your wallet. When it comes to charitable giving, I follow my father's wisdom. He always said charity should follow the "three T's" — giving of your time, your talent and your treasure. Here are some ways to do just that:

Share your bounty by volunteering your time
Of all the festivities associated with the winter holidays, many people look forward most to a big holiday meal. There's probably a food bank in your community that could greatly use your time to help prepare and serve food over the coming weeks. FeedingAmerica.org can help you find a food bank in your neighborhood.

Offer your professional expertise "pro bono"
Calling all doctors, lawyers, accountants, nutritionists, teachers! No matter your profession, if you have an expertise, volunteer your talent for a good cause. The website, idealist.org, is a great place to find volunteer opportunities to share your experience.

A treasure worth giving doesn't have to be a cash gift
You can donate appreciated stock and mutual funds. You can even donate airline miles or credit card reward points you've already earned.

Claim a tax break for charitable gift
If you do give something from your bank account, it can also give a little back to you in the form of a tax deduction. Check the IRS website to find out if the charity you are thinking of donating to is a tax-exempt organization, to make sure your gift will qualify for a tax deduction. Generally, to deduct a donation, you must itemize your deductions. Once you make the donation, keep a record. For contributions of $250 or more, you'll need written acknowledgment from the charity. Make your pledge before the end of the year for the donation to count for 2012.

Research the charity before giving
Non-profit organizations may use their moneyin a variety of ways. Guidestar.org and Charity Navigator.org rate charities based on several factors, including the organization's financial health and efficiency. You can find out how much of the money goes to the organization's stated cause versus overhead, fundraising, and other costs. Maximize your gift's impact by taking the time to find how the charity gets and spends its money. You want to ensure that your gift is used in the way that you intended.

More from CNBC:
Taxing Charitable Donations?  Then Tax Volunteers
Don’t Get Rid of the Charitable Deduction
Are the Brits Less Charitable Than Americans?
Charity is Charity, Tax-Wise

Columbia Crest Two Vines Cabernet Sauvignon hails from Washington state and starts at $9.

By Kara Reinhardt, Cheapism.com

From awkward office parties to convivial Christmas dinners, wine permeates the holiday season. Guests arrive bearing gift bags specifically sized to hold wine bottles and hosts agonize over which varietals to serve. Some oenophiles might suggest that all cheap bottles resemble the contents of a spittoon, but if holiday shopping has left you with a limited budget, there’s no need to splurge on expensive wine. Cheapism has updated its wine buying guides with top picks under $10, and you won’t find a Franzia or “Two-Buck Chuck” in the bunch.

First, the reds:

• Columbia Crest Two Vines Cabernet Sauvignon (starting at $8) comes from Washington and radiates with berry aromas. The 2009 vintage earned a score of 90 from Wine & Spirits magazine, which ranks it as exceptional.
• Meleni Chianti Borghi d'Elsa (starting at $8) is a Tuscan blend with a bold, fruity flavor. Reviewers have favored vintages including the 2008 and 2010.
• Dancing Bull Zinfandel (starting at $8) pairs well with a winter meal, according to one connoisseur. It’s a full-bodied California wine that combines flavors of sweet fruit and spice.
• Mirassou Pinot Noir (starting at $8) is a lighter California red -- a value-priced version of a crowd-pleasing varietal. The 2010 vintage seems to come in for the most praise.

Moving on to the whites:

• Dr. Loosen Red Slate Riesling (starting at $10) is a medium-bodied German wine with a pleasing acidity. This is a dry Riesling, not a sweet one. Tasters detect notes of pear and peach.
• Bodini Chardonnay (starting at $9), which hails from Argentina, is a crisp wine with a depth of flavor that belies its budget price. Wine Advocate and International Wine Cellar both award the 2011 vintage high marks.
• Chateau Ste. Michelle Columbia Valley Sauvignon Blanc (starting at $8) is a light Washington wine with apple and citrus-fruit flavors and a bit of acidity. The 2011 has won accolades from Wine Spectator.

A cheap, mass-produced wine may not have the unique character and quality of a meticulously crafted vintage with a high-end pedigree. However, many of the wines above are notable for their consistency -- an important consideration when you’re stocking up for a party, rather than taking a chance on a single bottle.

If you feel uncomfortable serving inexpensive wine, consider that blind taste tests suggest most people have trouble telling when they’re drinking a cheap bottle. According to one study, wine drinkers without professional training actually rate inexpensive bottles slightly higher on average than pricey ones. Expectation appears to play a key role in our enjoyment of wine: Tasters are primed to admire a wine when told it’s expensive and turn up their noses when it’s labeled cheap. Try serving an affordable red from a decanter or a chilled white with a cloth napkin wrapped around the label. Odds are no one will be the wiser.

More from Cheapism:

• Cheap red wine
• Cheap white wine
• Cookware reviews
• Crib reviews

Courtesy of the Shaffer family

Tom Shaffer, a longtime bus driver and a senior training instructor for Greyhound, estimates he's worked 15 of the past 20 Christmases. He said his wife has adapted to his absences over the years because "she knows I love what I do."

Military service it is not: These workers expect to come home safe, and their absences are typically measured in days, not months.

But for thousands of pilots, flight attendants, baggage handlers, bus drivers, train conductors and other transportation employees, an un-jolly reality exists: Until they attain enough seniority, many of them can expect to spend anywhere from five to 25 years working on Christmas and other major holidays.

Faced with such an enduring buzzkill, transportation employees and their family members often get creative about when and how they celebrate. Sometimes Santa comes with great fanfare on, say, Dec. 19. Sometimes he rolls in with his reindeer (and gifts obtained at fabulous after-Christmas sales) on Dec. 28. But for many of them, Christmas consistently comes a day early or a day late — year after year after year.

That’s the situation Tom Shaffer has learned to accept along with his wife, their two sons and their extended family members who descend each Christmas on the Shaffer home in Rockwall, Texas. A longtime Greyhound bus driver and senior training instructor, Shaffer estimates he’s worked 15 of the past 20 Christmases — and this Dec. 25 will be no exception.

“I’ve just gotten used to it over the years,” said Shaffer, 56. “Greyhound is really, really busy during that time of year. My wife understands this is what I do and she’s grown accustomed to it and she’s accepted it. She knows I love what I do.”

Courtesy of the Shaffer family

Regina Shaffer, right, described her husband Tom Shaffer, left, as a "great person." "He's always so positive," she said. "I've learned a lot from him myself."

Opening gifts at different times
Indeed, everyone who knows Shaffer recognizes how much he loves his job and cares about his passengers. He takes great pains to make holiday bus rides cheery and upbeat.

“I like to be cheerful with everybody,” he said. “I make it my business to say, ‘You have a merry Christmas and a most happy and prosperous New Year’s.’ ... Sometimes people sing Christmas songs on the bus.”

Back at home, Shaffer’s family has found ways to adapt to his absence on pivotal Christmas mornings. They typically break with tradition and open special gifts at different times — sometimes on Dec. 24 before Shaffer has to leave town, or in the late afternoon or evening of Dec. 25 after he’s completed his bus route.

“Whatever we consider to be, you know, the big gift, we always want him to be here so he can see the reactions,” said Tom Shaffer’s wife, Regina Shaffer, 43.

Occasionally the “big gift” reveal happens late on Christmas day in front of as many as 20 members of the Shaffers’ extended family, and can result in special memories for everybody present. Last year, for instance, the Shaffers bought a telescope for their youngest son Jordan, who was 10 at the time. They were pretty confident their son, a space enthusiast, would love the gift — but his ecstatic reaction astonished everyone.

“We didn’t wrap it — we actually hid it and then set it up when he was in the back,” Regina Shaffer recalled. “When he saw it, his eyes were so big. He was almost crying and saying, ‘Thanks, Daddy! Thanks, Daddy!’ ... There wasn’t a dry eye in this house.”

Courtesy of the Shaffer family

Jordan Shaffer is pictured opening Christmas presents in 2009. Jordan, who is now 11 years old, delighted his family with his reaction to the gift of a telescope last Christmas.

Supporting, cheering fellow employees
A number of airlines provide priority travel passes to crew members so they can have a spouse or another close family member travel with them over the holidays. That way, if they have to spend Christmas in a strange city, at least they have their nearest and dearest along for the ride.

On an informal basis, senior airline workers will sometimes switch shifts with junior crew members who have small children. That way, the junior crew members can enjoy the Christmas morning experience at home.

No matter what, though, many moms and dads do end up working on Christmas Eve and Christmas day. Sometimes winter weather is to blame.

Capt. Mark Niles, a pilot for Horizon Air, recalls flying one year with a first officer who had been scheduled to make it home on Christmas Eve.

“We got delayed due to a really bad snowstorm,” said Niles, who lives in Portland, Ore. “She was telling her young son over the phone that Santa Claus had a special arrangement with pilots and flight attendants, and he knew when they had to be gone and he would still show up on the right day. ... That was kind of hard to listen to.”

Niles — who also serves as vice president of the Coalition of Airline Pilots Associations, an organization that represents 28,000 pilots — said he’s worked many major holidays during his 13 years with Horizon.

“I’m fairly junior as captains go in the grand scheme of things,” Niles said. “The junior guys are flying on holidays — that’s just how it is.

“In our case, we’ve done alternate days for Christmas, or for Thanksgiving we’ll plan to do it on a different day. Sometimes that works when you can coordinate with family, and sometimes it doesn’t. Then you just have your own little celebration with your immediate family.”

When transportation employees do have to spend the holidays with their “work families,” they usually enjoy special meals together. Greyhound provides traditional Christmas lunches or dinners to workers, and Delta does the same thing for gate agents, ticket agents, ramp workers, baggage handlers and other employees. American Airlines said teams of employees often create potluck, grassroots holiday celebrations with their co-workers.

Niles has fond memories of an unforgettable Thanksgiving meal he shared with fellow Horizon crew members about a decade ago.

“A crew member actually cooked the complete meal, with all the trimmings, and brought it with them in a cooler,” he said. “We were in a hotel in Boise with nothing open around us, and this person had taken care of the whole meal for all of us!

“It’s so great when you work with a really good crew and everybody kind of bands together for the holidays and does nice things for each other.”

Has a work schedule ever prompted your family to celebrate the holidays in different ways or on different days? Share your stories in the comments! 

Need a Coffey break? Friend TODAY.com writer Laura T. Coffey on Facebook, follow her on Twitter or read more of her stories at LauraTCoffey.com.

More on TODAY:

• Military parents come home for the holidays via reading
• Confessions of a mall Santa: Spit, snot and spreading cheer
• Video: Secret Santa pays Wal-Mart layaway bills for 53 families 
• Photos: Faces of Santa: See how St. Nick spreads holiday cheer around the world

Courtesy Change.org

McKenna Pope prepares to enter Hasbro headquarters holding a box containing some of the 44,000 electronically signed petitions.

Courtesy Change.org

McKenna Pope, right, with her mother, Erica Boscio, and (from left) brothers Gavyn and Matthew at Hasbro headquarters in Pawtucket, R.I.

"We value input from our consumers and given the widespread interest in McKenna Pope’s story, we extended an invitation to McKenna and her family to visit Hasbro and meet with our EASY-BAKE team," Hasbro's vice president of global brands and publicity, Julie Duffy, told TODAY. During the visit, Duffy said Hasbro showed Pope and her family the new black-and-silver Easy-Bake Oven design the company has had in development for the past 18 months. The design is set to be revealed for the first time at the New York Toy Fair in February 2013.

When asked whether Hasbro would feature boys in the marketing for the toy, Duffy told TODAY that all of the 2013 marketing plans for all its brands are still in development.

Pope told the Associated Press that her younger brother pronounced the new design "awesome." She could not be reached directly for comment, as she in school.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

OECD

In most countries, there's a gap between men's and women's earnings, and it grows when women have children.

Motherhood has many rewards, but as many women already know, they aren’t usually the financial kind.

A new and comprehensive look at how much money 25- to 44-year-olds earn finds that women of that age earn less than men worldwide, and the gap between men’s and women’s pay grows considerably wider when just comparing moms and dads.

The Organization for Cooperation and Development looked at the wage gap among men and women in its 34 member countries. On average across the countries, they found that median earnings for women who worked full-time were 16 percent less than men working full-time.

That’s actually 4 percentage point improvement over 2000, the researchers said. Most of the improvement came between 2000 and 2005.

The report found that the gap grew much wider for people in their mid-20s through mid-40s who also were raising children ages 15 and under. Median wages for moms in that situation were 22 percent less than dads in that situation.

For people who weren’t raising children, there also was a wage gap, but it was much smaller. Women of that age without kids made 7 percent less than dads without kids.

In a handful of countries, including Ireland and Australia, the women without kids were actually earning slightly more, on average, than the men without kids.

The comparisons were among full-time workers, but the report noted that women – and especially mothers - are much more likely to work part-time. Many women choose to work part-time so they can have more time for family, but the report noted that it’s tougher to find secure, career-track employment at a part-time job.

In a statement accompanying the report’s release, OECD officials argued that things like high child care costs are keeping some women from working as many hours as they might like, or from pursuing certain careers. They said that, in turn, could end up stifling some economic growth.

“Closing the gender gap must be a central part of any strategy to create more sustainable economies and inclusive societies,” OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría said in a statement.

Worldwide, many women have risen to positions of great power in recent years.

In Europe, German Chancellor Angela Merkel is one of the world’s most powerful politicians. And in the United States women including Yahoo! Chief Executive Melissa Mayer have come to command a lot of sway among business leaders.

Still, most top positions are still held by men, and the OECD report noted that the wage gap was wider, on average, at the top of the pay scale.

In the United States, the gap between men’s and women’s earnings has remained little changed even as wages have fallen for everyone because of the recession and weak recovery.  The median earnings for women who worked full-time and year-round were 77 cents for every dollar a man earned in 2011, according to the latest Census data.

Related:

Wage gap starts right after college, research shows

Women face stubborn wage gape as wages fall for everyone

Your holiday shopping may be nearly done, but did you put yourself on the list? It's not too late. Take advantage of these smart tax moves before Dec. 31, and your biggest gift of the season could be the potential savings for months and years to come.

While the 'fiscal cliff' debate continues, financial planners and tax experts agree many Americans should plan now for higher tax rates next year and beyond. But by adopting these few tax strategies now, you'll be ready for many of the changes ahead that could impact your income and investments. Here are tax strategies worth considering now:

Convert a traditional IRA to a Roth account
Converting all or part of a traditional Individual Retirement Account (IRA) may be one of the best ways to lock in savings. Withdrawals from a traditional IRA are taxed at your federal income-tax rate. If your rate goes up, converting even a portion of your regular IRA to a Roth IRA now will likely lessen the overall tax bite in the long run.

What's also great about a Roth is that all future earnings and qualified withdrawals are tax free as long as you're at least age 59 1/2, and you've had a Roth IRA for at least five years. A Roth is a great way to lock in savings now, since you'll owe no more income tax in the future when you make qualified withdrawals in retirement.

The only hitch is you need to make sure you have the money to cover the taxes that you'll have to pay on any pre-tax amount that you convert to your Roth IRA. Also, if for some reason tax rates go down next year, you can change your mind. You have until Oct. 15, 2013, to undo the conversion and turn your Roth back into a regular IRA.

Sell winning investments
You should never make an investment decision based solely on tax implications. But if Congress does not extend current tax rates, long-term capital gains and dividend taxes could be going up significantly next year. Capital gains rates could rise from 15 percent this year for most tax payers to 20 percent in 2013. The top rate for dividends may jump to 39.6 percent next year. So if you're already planning to sell an investment to raise cash next year, you may want to sell a portion of your position now to take advantage of lower tax rates. So lock in your profits!

Accelerate income
If you want to make sure you take advantage of federal income tax rates you have now — likely lower than they will be next year — it also makes sense to accelerate your income before Dec. 31. If you earn a steady wage at your job, doing this can be difficult. But if you're self-employed, you should bill your customers now to make sure they make payments in December, rather than January.

Pay 2013 tuition now to get a big tax credit
College costs continue to rise, but there are a few ways to save — at least for a few more weeks. The American Opportunity Credit is a great tax break for college students and their parents, providing credit for a maximum of $2,500 of qualified tuition and related expenses. But this is one of those tax measures that could expire at the end of the year as Congress looks for ways to cut the federal deficit. Claim your eligible education expenses while you can. Upgrade your laptop now to get to you the limit. If you still haven't reached the $2,500 limit, pay part of your 2013 tuition bill before Dec. 31 to qualify for the highest tax credit that's available.

Pay medical expenses before the end of the year
Anyone who normally itemizes medical expenses on their tax return should accelerate those expenses into 2012 if they can. Right now, medical expenses are deductible only if they exceed 7 percent of adjusted gross income (AGI). Next year the threshold jumps to 10 percent of your income (this only applies to people under age 65). Pay your January medical insurance premium in December to move this deduction to 2012. Any routine eye exams or dental visits should be moved up to December too. Paying with a credit card would give you the deduction this year and delay the actual payment until 2013.

Talk to a tax adviser and/or financial planner to see if these tax-saving strategies are right for you.

More money news:

• Why we buy those crazy, ugly holiday sweaters
• How to shave a few bucks off your holiday budget
• Video: Get a big money gift? Don’t put it all toward debt
• Sign up for our TODAY newsletter

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ColdwaterCreek.com

Coldwater Creek is offering 40 percent off orders in addition to free shipping.

In just four years, Free Shipping Day has grown from a one-off Black Friday spin-off to what one expert predicted could be a billion-dollar day for online sales.

Nearly 1,700 merchants are offering free shipping by Christmas Eve through FreeShippingDay.com and on their own sites. As the pool of competing sites expands, merchants are upping the ante with additional incentives this year. This is a boon for procrastinating holiday shoppers, although claiming the deals in some cases involves adhering to fine-print terms and conditions.

"It’s ended up becoming one of the heaviest days for the season," said Andrew Lipsman, vice president of industry analysis at comScore, Inc. 

"I do expect it will be a billion dollar day... It could be well north of that."

Founder Luke Knowles estimated that about 10 percent of participating merchants are offering either expedited shipping or a discount on purchases.

“Every year we’ve done Free Shipping Day the offers have gotten better,” he said. “Last year was the first year we saw retailers offer additional discounts,” and it’s taken off this year.

Clothing brand Coldwater Creek is offering 40 percent off orders in addition to free shipping. A handful of other apparel retailers including Eddie Bauer, Levi’s and J Crew are knocking off 30 percent, as is the Sports Authority, whose free shipping also includes heavy exercise equipment.

Another tactic retailers are using is offering free one- or two-day shipping on orders. Sites including Blue Nile and Fossil are giving shoppers free overnight shipping; Ugg Australia and Boston Proper are offering two-day shipping on all orders.

Of course, “free shipping,” isn’t free for the merchants, especially when it comes to pricey overnight delivery. “You’re sacrificing margin,” Lipsman said, but at the same time, customers spend up to 40 percent more when they’re getting free shipping.

Lipsman said this is why spending thresholds pop up on a lot of Free Shipping Day deals. “That’s a great way for them to be able to offset that margin impact,” he said. Wal-Mart is offering free shipping on all orders of $45 or more, and Macy’s is offering free shipping plus an additional 15 to 20 percent off on orders above $99.

Another way retailers can lessen the hit to their bottom line is by only offering free shipping or discounts on some items. Amazon is offering free overnight shipping on around 150,000 different items. The Limited is pairing its free shipping with a 40 percent discount — but that’s off original prices. And New York & Company is advertising free shipping combined with 50 percent off, with the caveat that many marked-down items and “select new arrival” merchandise are excluded.

The bottom line is that there are some big deals out there today, but reading the fine print is still in order.