“The problem for domestic companies is that they now lag further behind their foreign counterparts,” said Claes Fornell, head of the ACSI at the University of Michigan. “This is not going to be helpful as the Big Three will lose more pricing power and be forced to continue dependence on rebates and discounting in a market where consumer preferences keep shifting away from domestic cars.”

The ACSI is a measure of overall satisfaction, (including customer service) and isn't necessarily indicative of the quality of the car. Ray Wert of our car-obsessed sister blog Jalopnik tells us what he thinks the results really mean:

It's actually just that consumers aren't happy with American cars — and it mostly has to do with high gas prices, and American car companies having built so many trucks.

He also notes that car manufacturers essentially have no control over the customer service that you experience at the dealership, because few (if any? Tesla?) dealerships are actually owned by the car company. Sigh.

Here are the results:

Top 5 Car Brands In Customer Satisfaction (starting with the best):

1. Lexus
2. BMW
3. Honda
4. Toyota
5. Cadillac

Bottom 5 Car Brands In Customer Satisfaction (starting with the worst):

1. Jeep
2. Dodge
3. Chevy
4. Kia
5. Ford

American Consumer Satisfaction Index
(Photo: Ben Popken )

Starbucks coffee shops seem to be on nearly corner in major U.S. cities, but surprisingly 76 percent of American adults say they rarely or never visit one of the shops, and only 14 percent say they visit occasionally.

That might be because the java giant's prices are too high.

This may explain why we're so bored of "personal finance experts" telling people to stop going to Starbucks for their daily latte in order to save a million billion dollars a year. Apparently, you've already stopped.

Starbucks coffee is too expensive, new survey says [Star-Tribune]
(Photo: iwantamonkey )

From the survey:

• 77% of surveyed credit card issuers (17 of 22) answered “Yes” to the question “Can you increase my APR or change my terms ‘any time for any reason’?” This includes all Top Ten issuers – even Citibank which pledges not to change a customer’s terms before the card’s expiration date.
• Bank of America, Chase, Citi, American Express and Capital One all reserve the right to change rates without notifying consumer in advance.
• Representatives for Bank of America, Capital One and Citi cited “market conditions,” “the economy,” and ”business strategies” as factors that might cause an interest rate to increase.

• As consumers pay off large balances, creditors slash credit limits so that the balance is always close to the credit limit.
• Credit limits are reduced to levels lower than the current balance, triggering over limit fees and requiring a large “balloon” payment of the over-due amount. This practice also puts the consumer at risk of being hit with a penalty interest rate.
• Cards are declined at the point of purchase, and only then do cardholders find out that their limits have been reduced with no warning.

2008 Credit Card Survey [Consumer Action]
(Photo: Getty)

The 10 Best Cities



1. Pittsburgh, Pa.—$539 per week



2. Charlotte, N.C.—$457 per week



3. Raleigh, N.C.—$457 per week



4. Boston, Mass.—$600 per week



5. Philadelphia, Pa.—$539 per week



6. Providence, R.I.—$531 per week



7. Salt Lake City, Utah—$427 per week



8. San Antonio, Texas—$378 per week



9. Seattle, Wash.—$515 per week



10. Houston, Texas—$378 per week

The 10 Worst Cities



10. Los Angeles, Calif.—$450 per week



9. Nashville, Tenn.—$275 per week



8. Kansas City, KS-MO—$280 per week



7. Tampa, Fla.—$275 per week



6. Orlando, Fla.—$275 per week



5. Washington, D.C.—$359 per week



4. San Francisco, Calif.—$450 per week



3. Phoenix, Ariz.—$240 per week



2. Miami, Fla.—$275 per week



1. New York, N.Y.—$405 per week

If your job falls prey to the ongoing not-recession, read up on our tips for saving cash and consider potential ways to make the most of unemployment.

Best and worst cities for unemployment pay [L.A. Times]

The Ponemon study indicates that most airport laptop losses occur at the security checkpoints or at the departure gates, where it's easy to leave things behind. More than 70 percent of business travelers say they feel rushed when trying to get on their flights, and 69 percent said they are usually carrying too many items while trying to catch their flights.

Los Angeles's LAX reported more laptop losses than any other airport, about 1,200 per week. Most of the airports said they generally keep the laptops for some period of times, then destroy them if they are unclaimed.

Sixty-five percent of the business travelers admit that they do not take steps to protect the confidential information contained on their laptops when traveling on business, according to the study. Forty-two percent say they don't back up their data before going on a trip. Fewer than 20 percent of respondents said they have whole disk encryption or file encryption on their machines.

Interestingly, only 1 percent of the respondents admitted personally losing a laptop computer. However, 84 percent say they know someone who has lost a laptop while traveling on business.

The UK's The Real Hustle shows how security checkpoints offer thieves an unrivaled opportunity to poach laptops from unsuspecting travelers:

Next time you travel, keep an eye and hand on your laptop. And don't be ashamed to admit if it's stolen. Clearly, you're not alone.

Laptop Losses Total 12,000 Per Week at US Airports [Dark Reading]
The Real Hustle - The Airport X-Ray Steal [YouTube]
(AP Photo/M. Spencer Green)

Price declined as the most frequently reported reason for choosing a carrier in 2008, down to 39 percent of survey respondents.

The fact that consumers claim to value good customer service, but routinely choose to give their business to the carrier with the lowest fare, is usually blamed for the current trend towards higher fees and awful customer service. J.D. Power & Associates concluded that airlines should invest in their employees to improve customer service before its too late...

“Across the airline experience, from check-in, to the flight, to deplaning, passengers are being affected by the ramifications of carriers making staff cutbacks and have expressed that performance and attitudes of airline staff are suffering,” said Sam Thanawalla, director of the global hospitality and travel practice at J.D. Power and Associates. “In this unstable industry environment, it is critical that airlines invest in their employees as a means to enhance the customer experience, as there is a strong connection between employee satisfaction and customer satisfaction. Those airlines that focus on keeping their employees informed and motivated will be better able to change negative consumer sentiment and truly differentiate themselves.”

Can an airline's service get bad enough to make you pay more to avoid a certain airline?

In other news, JetBlue ranked highest overall in their survey for the third straight year.

Overall Satisfaction in the Airline Industry Declines to a Three-Year Low Primarily Due to People Factors, Rather than High Prices [JD Power]
(Photo: whatatravisty )

The Popcorn Test [Official Site]

(Photo: H Shap)

Our favorite polling question takes aim at people who support mandatory binding arbitration, but don't quite know what they're supporting:

A majority of those who were initially supportive or unsure of binding arbitration disapprove of arbitration when important information is given about common provisions in consumer contracts. With added information, Americans overwhelmingly disapprove of binding arbitration.

Big shift among binding arbitration supporters. Those who said they approve of, or were not sure about binding arbitration were presented the three following facts:

1. The arbitrator who decides the outcome of the dispute will be selected by the company
2. The consumer may never take legal action against the company over the dispute
3. Binding arbitration applies even in cases where the consumer has been seriously injured by the product or service

When presented with this information, two in three (66%) disapprove of binding arbitration and only one in five (21%) approve. Among those who initially said they were unsure, disapproval is very high (64% disapprove, 6% approve). Disapproval is high even among those who initially approved of arbitration (67% disapprove, 28% approve).

After learning the specifics of contract provisions, Americans overwhelmingly are against binding arbitration. When initial and final disapproval ratings are combined, binding arbitration loses by more than eight to one (81% initial/final disapproval, 10% final approval).

Congress may be unable to do anything about our unpopular President, but 64% of us want them to get off their asses and pass the Arbitration Fairness Act. When they return tomorrow, rested from their holiday break, give 'em a call and tell them to channel our collective hatred of mandatory binding arbitration into action.

New Poll: Americans Say "No Thanks" To Binding Arbitration [Consumer Law & Policy Blog]
Write Your Senator
Write Your Representative
PREVIOUSLY: How To Write To Congress

(Photo: Getty)

Prof Wolfers said he and Prof Stevenson had reached their dissenting conclusion partly owing to improved international statistics, covering more countries - poor as well as rich - and a greater number of happiness surveys that had been conducted over the past three decades.

The paper will be discussed next week at the spring economic conference of Brookings, the think-tank, and is likely to provoke lively debate.

Prof Easterlin, who has seen a draft of the paper, said he believed that as far as he was concerned his paradox still stood.

While commending his younger critics for "serious research", he said they needed to focus more on what was happening within specific countries, rather than "throwing all of these countries together".

Money can buy you happiness, say researchers [Financial Times]
List of countries by GDP [Wikipedia]

...research suggests that much of the time it's not the companies offering rebates that are creating the problem. It's the customers. Their tendency to procrastinate and inability to follow multistep directions—albeit often explained in tiny print—result in as many as half of all rebates going unfulfilled. "It's their own inability to have self-control and say, 'I'm going to get this done,' " says Tim Silk, assistant professor of marketing at the University of British Columbia.

Because people tend to believe they will redeem the rebates and then they don't, they often pay more for items than they expect. "You see something that has a rebate associated with it, and you are overly optimistic that you will do all of what's required," says John Gourville, professor of marketing at Harvard Business School.

...promotion managers informed us that redemption rates tend to be "very low" when the reward is below $10, that rebates of $10 to $20 on a $100 software product range between 10% and 30%, and that redemption rates on consumer electronics average approximately 40%.

Why Shoppers Love to Hate Rebates [U.S. News & World Report]
Why we buy but fail to redeem? (PDF) [Tim Salk]
Managing Mail-In Rebate Promotions (PDF) [Tim Salk]
PREVIOUSLY: Rebate-Processor Parago Caught In A Lie
HOWTO: Rebate Whore
Redeem Rebates With Hard Work And Luck
(Photo: Mecha Wendy)

In a study published in the journal Epidemiology, the team compared the dietary habits of 465 people with chronic kidney disease and 467 healthy people. After controlling for various factors, the team found that drinking two or more colas a day — whether artificially sweetened or regular — was linked to a twofold risk of chronic kidney disease.

The Claim: Too Much Cola Can Cause Kidney Problems [NYT] (Thanks to Sacha!)
Carbonated Beverages and Chronic Kidney Disease [Epidemiology]
PREVIOUSLY: Is Drinking 12 Diet Cokes A Day Healthy? Coke Thinks So.
(Photo: So Cal Metro)

For example, one experiment had participants consider a trip to Europe (the experiment was conducted one month before the end of summer). Some were asked to consider a last-minute summer vacation, while others were asked to consider a vacation over winter break, several months away. They were then presented with ads from a fictitious Web site, PriceAlerts.com. Some ads were framed positively: "Give yourself a memorable vacation!" and "Get the best deal!" Others were framed negatively: "Don't get stuck at home!" and "Don't get ripped off."

Consumers who were planning a last minute trip were willing to pay $178 more for a vacation, on average, when presented with a "negative" ad as opposed to a "positive" ad. Conversely, those who were planning a trip that was still a ways off responded to the positive ads and were willing to pay $165 more for a promotion-framed vacation than a prevention-framed vacation.

Faced with an imminent purchase, consumers are confronted with the possibility that they may not fulfill their purchasing goal. Prevention frames note this possibility of a negative outcome and offer the product as a means to avoid it. Thus, under a time constraint, consumers are more motivated to purchase a product that helps achieve the minimal goal of preventing a negative outcome than they are to purchase a product that helps achieve the maximal goal of promoting a positive outcome. When a purchase is temporally proximal, a product that is "not bad" might, therefore, appeal more than a product that is "good."

Valentine's Day: At the last minute we buy not for pleasure, but to avoid pain [SciGuy]
Time Will Tell: The Distant Appeal of Promotion and Imminent Appeal of Prevention [The Journal of Consumer Research via SSRN]
(Photo: Sister72)

Shopping momentum occurs when an initial purchase provides a psychological impulse whose momentum drives the purchase of a second, unrelated product... Momentum occurs because the initial purchase moves one from a deliberative to an implemental mindset, thus driving subsequent purchases.

Planning can derail mindless spending. Keep your money in separate places to create a pause between decision and purchase. Like with grocery shopping, make a list before hitting the mall to avoid extraneous purchases. If you want to browse, ask salespeople to hold items and come back the next day to re-evaluate your selections with a thrifty friend.

Buyer Beware: Shopping Can Lead to More ... Well ... Shopping [Stanford Graduate School of Business]
The Shopping Momentum Effect (PDF) [Journal of Marketing Research]
(Photo: enmanuel)

The study shatters the accepted myth that pharmaceutical companies spend more on research than on marketing. In reality, drug companies pour $57.5 billion into marketing, dwarfing the comparably paltry $31.5 billion devoted to research.

Billions of marketing dollars go toward television ads that implore us to "ask our doctor" about drugs we don't need to treat ailments cultured by public relations firms. Yet even more money is spent convincing doctors to prescribe costly medicine—an astounding $61,000 in "promotion per physician."

For the last 50 years, say the authors, there has been an ongoing debate as to which image of the drug industry is most accurate. The industry promotes a vision of itself, say the authors, as "research-driven, innovative, and life-saving," but the industry's critics contend that the drug industry is based on "market-driven profiteering."

The study confirms the more cynical view that drug companies are out to profit first, and save lives second. And there's nothing wrong with that.

Don't be ashamed to ask your doctor if a drug company recently paid for any meals or ski trips. Instead of mentioning the latest drug splashed across the screen, ask how they would use their expansive medical knowledge to treat your condition. Ask how they would treat their child.

Do drug companies do more marketing or research? [SciGuy]
The Cost of Pushing Pills: A New Estimate of Pharmaceutical Promotion Expenditures in the United States [PLoS Medicine]
(Photo: rabbit.marshall)

Of 52 items the Globe tracked over the five-week holiday shopping season, only five items were cheapest on Black Friday. The vast majority of the products either stayed the same price or fluctuated above and below the Black Friday price from week to week. Seven items were actually cheaper the day before Christmas than on Black Friday.

"If you wait it out, you'll often do better," said Joseph Feldman of the New York retail consultancy Telsey Advisory Group.

The Globe tracked prices of items ranging from digital cameras to laptops by checking advertising circulars from stores such as Best Buy, Sears, and Circuit City each Sunday, starting the weekend before Black Friday. To be included in the survey, an item had to appear in the circulars for three of the five weekends before Christmas. Five of the items were cheapest on Black Friday, including a JVC 30GB hard drive camcorder at Best Buy that rose $70 by Dec. 2 to $399, before climbing another $100 the following Sunday. The last time the item was advertised was on Dec. 16 at $399.

The prices for 20 items stayed the same, including a Sony PlayStation 3 from Circuit City that held at $399. On 20 items, the price changed from week to week - meaning some weeks buyers paid more than the Black Friday price and some weeks they paid less.

And late sleepers and the last-minute procrastinators could beat the Black Friday prices on seven items. For example, Circuit City featured a $119.99 AIPTEK camcorder that includes an MP3 player, voice recorder, and webcam on Black Friday. By Dec. 16, it had dropped to $89.99 - a 25 percent savings. And Best Buy offered a Nikon Coolpix navy blue digital camera for $199.99 on Black Friday. It jumped to $229.99 and then $279.99 in the following weeks, only to fall back to $199.99 by Dec. 16. It wasn't advertised on Dec. 23, the Sunday before Christmas.

For shopping early birds... [Boston Globe]
(Photo: The Searcher)

The AP poll, conducted Monday through Wednesday, found that the more people travel, the less they like TSA.

But it also found that 53% of air travelers think TSA does a "very" or "somewhat" good job.

The inconvenience of security was the top complaint of air travelers, mentioned by 31% of those who had taken at least one trip in the past year. That figure rose to 40% for those who have taken five to 10 trips.

TSA's parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security, also ranked at the bottom of an index of consumer satisfaction released this week, supplanting the IRS as the prime subject of grumbling in that survey. The authoritative American Customer Satisfaction Index questioned 10,000 people about their experiences with the federal government.

Behavioral observation and document checking are proving to be the most successful in rooting out would-be terrorists, [Administrator Kip Hawley] said. Screeners do catch people who try to bring guns onto planes. "But they're not terrorists. They're just stupid," he said. Terrorists know better than to try to bring prohibited items through security, he said.

Poll: Travelers dislike TSA as much as IRS [AP]
(Photo: Getty Images)

Half of HDTV owners who responded to Best Buy's survey "admit they are either not watching HD programming, or they aren't sure if they are. Of these respondents, 35% didn't realize they needed to subscribe to HD programming to watch HDTV." Ok, this is sad. Just... sad.

The survey also suggested that ignorance about how to set up the HDTV was a source of embarrassment:

While 41% of HDTV owners admit to knowing little to nothing at all about HD, they would not want to admit that to friends and family; Half (52%) of HDTV owners agree it would be difficult to admit their HDTV wasn't set up right after showing off to friends and family.

Best Buy HD Done Right Survey Results (PDF) (Press Release)
(Photo:epicharmus)

A survey from a Michigan consulting group found that 54% of customers looking to purchase bundled services in the next year would prefer to patronize a phone company, compared to 44% of consumers who would buy from their cable company. The difference may seem slight, but it represents a serious threat to cable companies. From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:

Now heavyweights AT&T and Verizon, which have enjoyed better results on customer service surveys, are encroaching on Charter's core business in markets nationwide. That lends more urgency to fixing customer service woes, said Joe Stackhouse, Charter's senior vice president for customer operations.

"We need to continue to improve our service," he said. "We know we're not where we need to be."

Charter has worked on integrating its call centers, to get calls answered faster, Stackhouse said, and recently set up a "day of" desk, to quickly help customers with problems on the day of an installation or a service visit.

CONSUMERS: Telco 'bundles' more attractive than cable's [St. Louis Post-Dispatch]
(AP Photo/Tom Gannam)

Continental won the overall satisfaction award for a traditional carrier with 704 points out of a possible 1,000, despite hosting a sewage geyser on a recent flight. JetBlue won the overall satisfaction award for a low cost carrier with 810 points, despite massively fumbling its response to snow.

Blemished records aside, this is Continental's second consecutive year winning the award, and JetBlue's third. Congratulations, airlines - just don't celebrate by buzzing the tower. — CAREY GREENBERG-BERGER

Traditional Network Ratings [J.D. Power]
Low-Cost Ratings [J.D. Power]
(Photo: stephenhanafin)