Cautious Consumers Prosper on Cyber Monday – National Consumers League

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By John Breyault, Vice President of Public Policy, Telecommunications and Fraud

As Americans return to work after a long Thanksgiving holiday weekend, millions will log on to the Internet is search of deals to help fill the stockings of friends and family members.  “Cyber Monday” – the Monday after Thanksgiving – has become an annual tradition for online retailers eager to snap up sales.  A casual review of some of the more popular online stores will show a plethora of discounts, free shipping offers, and other come-ons to lure e-shoppers.

According to Information Systems Audit and Control Association, a non-profit IT professionals group, employees will spend 14.4 hours shopping from their desks this holiday season.  For both consumers and their employers, it’s important to follow some “rules of the road” when it comes to shopping online – on Cyber Monday or any other time.  That’s why NCL released ten tips to help consumers shop safely online this holiday season.

In addition to those ten tips, here are some extra precautions to keep in mind when shopping online:

  • Be doubly careful with using mobile phones for online shopping. A desktop computer’s browser may be more secure that a mobile phone’s browser.
  • Don’t use the same login/password combination for each online shopping site.  Many sites require users to create an account before products can be purchased. Don’t use the same login and password for each site.  This will prevent hackers who have compromised your information for one site from using the same information to make purchases at a different site.
  • Be wary of ads that appear on search engine results or in social networking sites.  There is no guarantee that you’ll be sent to the site you think you’re getting.  See www.stopscads.org for more information.
  • Even if you’re shopping online, keep in mind growing holiday debt. The Consumer Federation of America recently offered *some great tips for keeping holiday debt under control.  Not only is this good advice financially, but consumers in trouble because of debt are also more likely to fall victim to scammers offering a way out of debt.
  • If you’ve been scammed, report it. The only way that scam websites will be put out of commission is if consumers raise the alarm.  File complaints with your local *Better Business Bureau, the Federal Trade Commission, your state Attorney General’s office, or www.fraud.org.

 

*Links are no longer active as the original sources have removed the content, sometimes due to federal website changes or restructurings.

This Holiday, Give Thanks for Safe Food – National Consumers League

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By Courtney Brein, Linda Golodner Food Safety and Nutrition Fellow

Thanksgiving unites families and friends to enjoy each other’s company and focus on that for which they are grateful, but the large holiday dinner can also invite foodborne illness, without the proper precautions. Reduce your family’s risks by following a few simple tips before, during, and after your holiday meal.

Before the Meal

Thawing the Turkey

  • If buying a frozen turkey, remember that whole turkeys take approximately 24 hours to thaw in the refrigerator for every four to five pounds of weight (ex: a ten pound bird will require two full days to thaw). Thawing in the refrigerator is the safest option and results in the best finished product. Place the turkey in a shallow pan on a refrigerator shelf, leaving the bird in its original packaging.
  • If absolutely necessary, it is possible to thaw your turkey in cold water. Leave the bird in its original packaging and submerge it in a clean sink or pan filled with cold water. The turkey will thaw at a rate of approximately 30 minutes per pound, and the water should be changed every 30 minutes. Immediately cook the turkey as soon as it is thawed. Never leave a turkey on the counter to defrost.
  • Purchasing a fresh turkey eliminates the need to thaw; however, fresh turkeys should be purchased no more than one to two days before the meal and should be kept refrigerated until cooking.

Preparing for Cooking and Leftovers

  • Make room in your refrigerator for ingredients, and plan your menu – and your guests’ contributions – accordingly. Ideally, ask guests to bring items that do not require refrigeration.
  • Have plenty of paper towels or clean cloth towels available for cleaning surfaces, blotting rinsed fruit and vegetables, and drying hands.
  • Have plenty of storage containers with lids on hand for safely saving leftovers.

Washing

  • Always wash hands with soap and warm water for 20 seconds, both before and after handling food items, particularly raw ones.
  • Wash fruits and vegetables thoroughly, paying particular attention to those that will not be cooked.

Cooking

  • Keep raw poultry, meat, and eggs away from other foods to avoid cross-contamination.
  • Clean all surfaces that come in contact with raw meat or poultry – such as cutting boards, utensils, dishes, and countertops – with hot, soapy water or a bleach solution.
  • If marinating raw meat or poultry, discard any unused marinade.
  • Use a meat thermometer to determine when your turkey or other items have been cooked to a safe temperature. Whole birds and chicken breasts should be cooked to 165˚F, egg dishes and pork to 160˚F, and steaks and roasts to 145˚F. When checking the internal temperature of a turkey, insert the meat thermometer into the thickest part of the thigh, avoiding the bone. Also check the temperatures in the thickest part of the breast, as well as in the innermost part of the thigh and wing, ensuring that all areas have reached a minimum of 165˚F. Approximate cooking times for stuffed and unstuffed birds of various sizes are available at www.holidayfoodsafety.org

During the Meal

Serving

  • Keep hot foods hot and cold foods cold – dishes should remain in the oven or refrigerator until your guests sit down to dinner.
  • Hot foods should be at least 140˚F and cold foods 40˚F or cooler.

Timing

  • Time your dinner and dessert appropriately so that leftovers sit out for as short a time as possible – in as little as two hours, foods left at room temperature can grow harmful bacteria.

After the Meal

Leftovers

  • Leftovers should be refrigerated as quickly as possible. Anything not refrigerated within two hours should be thrown away.
  • Hot foods should be stored in shallow containers with lids. It is fine to put items in the refrigerator while they are still warm.
  • Remove stuffing from the bird and carve any extra meat from the bones before storing leftover turkey.
  • Never put leftover condiments, such as ketchup or pickles, back into their original containers.
  • Leftovers stored in the fridge should be consumed within three to four days. Cooked turkey can be stored in the freezer for three to four months. When reheating leftovers, ensure that foods reach 165˚F throughout.

Consumers and Artists Unlikely to Benefit from Ticketmaster-Live Nation “Synergies” – National Consumers League

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By John Breyault, Vice President of Public Policy, Telecommunications and Fraud

Consumers and artists would be the likely losers if the proposed merger of ticketing giant Ticketmaster and concert management behemoth Live Nation were allowed to proceed. The reported entry of cable company Comcast into the merger negotiations does nothing to alleviate the very serious concerns that consumer groups like NCL have conveyed to legislators and the Department of Justice (DOJ).

That was the message that NCL sent to policymakers on Thursday when we released a joint statement opposing the merger in coordination with the National Association of Ticket Brokers, Consumer Action, Consumer Federation of America (CFA), and Knowledge Ecology International. Noted the groups:

“There seems to be little dispute after extensive Congressional hearings that the merger of Ticketmaster and Live Nation raises very profound competitive concerns. That is why fifty Members of Congress – an unprecedented number – have written to the DOJ with concerns about the merger. The Department of Justice has a unique opportunity to protect consumers by preventing this anticompetitive merger and preserving competition and choice in the marketplace.”

Thursday’s action came on the heels of a *September 11 letter NCL, Consumer Action, and CFA sent to Christine Varney, Assistant Attorney General of the DOJ’s Antitrust Division expressing our concern about the merger. Then, as now, we remain extremely concerned that the merger would result in higher ticket prices for consumers, who have been paying Ticketmaster’s exorbitant “convenience fees” for years. All the while, company has busily gobbled up smaller competitors (remember Ticketron?) in the ticketing industry. Live Nation attempted to become a competitor in the ticketing business, a move which many believe prompted the bid by Ticketmaster. This move is one of the big reasons why we are calling on the DOJ to strongly consider blocking this merger.

As an organization strongly dedicated to advocating on behalf of workers as well as consumers, we are also concerned about the impact the proposed merger will have on artists. It is already difficult for artists to put on a show without using Ticketmaster’s ticketing services or performing in a Live Nation venue. Should the merger be approved, we fear that artists’ choices for who manages their ticket sales and their concerts would diminish even further.

We look forward to working with the DOJ and our partners in the consumers and industry communities to make sure consumers and artists are not the ultimate losers from this merger.

 

*Links are no longer active as the original sources have removed the content, sometimes due to federal website changes or restructurings.

Hunger in America Startling – National Consumers League

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By Sally Greenberg, National Consumers League Executive Director

Last week, the Department of Agriculture revealed a startling statistic: the number of Americans who live with persistent hunger day in and day out has soared to 49 million over the past year – an increase of 13 million people. This is the highest number since the United States began tracking “food insecurity” 14 years ago. One third of those people have “very low food security,” which means lack of money is forcing families to skip meals, cut portions or forgo food at some point over the past year.

This 49 million is a difficult number to grasp. I don’t understand how, in a country where some Wall Street firms are giving double-digit millions in bonuses this year, we can allow people to go hungry. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack rightly noted, “These numbers are a wake-up call for the country.” President Obama reacted as well, saying the study was “particularly troubling.”

One of the findings is especially sad: 506,000 households with children face “very low food security,” up from 323,000 the year before. Not surprisingly, households headed by single mothers are overrepresented. The main reason for these disturbing numbers is the growth in the number of Americans who are unemployed. Food stamp rolls have expanded to 36 million, an increase of nearly 40 percent. Thank goodness for programs like food stamps and unemployment compensation. These are part of the New Deal programs that Frances Perkins, Secretary of Labor under FDR, championed and got enacted with her New Deal Colleagues. Perkins was NCL’s New York director in the first decade of the 20th Century.

This country of 300 million people is full of ironies. One of six of us doesn’t have enough food to eat week to week, while millions of others have an overabundance of food choices and the money to buy whatever we want to eat. In fact, we diet, exercise, and resist eating too much. America has an abundance of ingenuity and the wealth to tackle even the toughest problems – so why can’t we solve this one and ensure that every person in America has enough to eat in this?

I look for answers to groups like the Food Research and Action Committee, or FRAC, a national nonprofit that builds private-public partnerships to combat hunger in America.

Still – we shouldn’t need an organization like FRAC – yet this latest report underscores that we need this group and others who fight hunger more than ever. Sad but true.

Why Wait? Cut Health Care Costs Now! – National Consumers League

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“Seven hundred billion dollars. That’s a ballpark estimate of how much money is wasted in the U.S. medical system every single year, according to a new Thomson Reuters (TRI) report.”

With all eyes on Washington and debates over improving our health care system, a new BusinessWeek story examines  10 ways — aside from health care reform — to lower health-care costs and improve patient care, like improving the health of our workforce, cracking down on fraud in the health care system, and more. And NCL’s new medication adherence campaign, which is in the planning stages, made the story!  Read it here.

What Lessons Can We Learn from FDR on Health Care? – National Consumers League

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By Sally Greenberg, NCL Executive Director

This past week, I heard Frances Perkins’ biographer, Kirsten Downey, speak at Columbia University. Perkins, the first female Cabinet member who served faithfully during all of Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s four terms, got her professional start working for the National Consumers League. After hearing Florence Kelley, NCL’s first general secretary, speak at her college, Mt. Holyoke, Perkins was inspired to devote her career to improving the lives of American workers.

Perkins is credited with shepherding through many of the New Deal programs we now associate with the social safety net: Social Security, unemployment insurance, workers compensation, Medicare, and Medicaid. She, FDR, and other members of his Cabinet were accused of being socialists and communists, of orchestrating a government takeover and other calumnies from the right.

But an opinion piece I read this fall has me thinking about how Perkins and FDR might have been able to move legislation forward on health care reform. Jean Edward Smith wrote in the New York Times that:

… “President Obama’s apparent readiness to backtrack on the public insurance option in his health care package is not just a concession to his political opponents — this fixation on securing bipartisan support for health care reform suggests that the Democratic Party has forgotten how to govern and the White House has forgotten how to lead…. the principal legislative innovations of the 1930s were enacted over the vigorous opposition of a deeply entrenched minority. Majority rule, as Roosevelt saw it, did not require his opponents’ permission.”

Perhaps Smith is being a bit harsh on President Obama, but the difference in styles is interesting. Our President is intent on being a uniter — a good thing in a leader — but these days unity is pretty darn hard to accomplish. According to Smith, FDR didn’t aim for consensus with his enemies: “Roosevelt relished the opposition of vested interests. He fashioned his governing majority by deliberately attacking those who favored the status quo. His opponents hated him — and he profited from their hatred.” Add NCL’s Frances Perkins and Florence Kelley to the list of those vilified for their efforts to create a social safety net.

Unlike Obama, FDR didn’t seek to unite – he used his opponents’ vitriol to shore up his side of the argument. As Smith notes, “To Congress, he [FDR] boasted of having ‘earned the hatred of entrenched greed.’ In another speech he mocked ‘the gentlemen in well-warmed and well-stocked clubs’ who criticized the government’s relief efforts.” And his programs — Social Security, Medicare, and unemployment insurance — to name the big ones — have stood the test of time. Most Americans couldn’t imagine this country without these essential social programs.

Smith concluded that “Roosevelt understood that governing involved choice and that choice engendered dissent. He accepted opposition as part of the process. It is time for the Obama administration to step up to the plate and make some hard choices.” That’s a tough statement but one worth contemplating as we move forward on health care reform.

It’s Time to Do the Right Thing and End the Worst Form of U.S. Child Labor – National Consumers League

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Note: This blog posting was originally posted at Media Voices for Children, an Internet news agency for children’s rights.

By Reid Maki, Coordinator of the Child Labor Coalition

Most people don’t associate egregious forms of child labor with the United States. People tend to think that U.S. child labor laws have successfully done away with the worst forms of child labor. But there is a dirty little secret that not many Americas know: young children harvest fruits and vegetables on many of our farms.

Nightline, the ABC News show, highlighted agricultural child labor in an October 30th investigative report “Blueberry Children” that found several children under 12 in Michigan picking blueberries, including a 5- year-old. The children sometimes work till 9:00 p.m. One 11-year-old told reporters he was in his third year in the fields. Another small child talked about the danger when pesticides are sprayed nearby.

Josie Ellis, a nurse with Migrant Health, told Nightline that the fields in North Carolina, where she is based, are full of working children. She noted that the kids acquire severe rashes, respiratory illnesses, and neurological impairments from their contact with pesticides.

They also miss out on their childhoods because they are working long hours. “Play is something that migrant children know very little about. Work they know,” said Ellis. “We see frustration. We see really tired kids. We see depression in children….despair…the inability to dream…the inability to see past high school…the inability to see past junior high school….I think it’s shameful that our nation tolerates child labor,” added Ellis.

Recently, at a recent dinner in Washington, D.C. hosted by the National Consumers League, Norma Flores, a former child farm worker, now in her twenties, recalled her years in the fields. “I hated it,” said Norma. “I hated to work in the fields.  I hated getting sweaty and dirty. I hated getting blisters and cuts and sunburns. I hated finishing my row of work only to see there was no water to drink at the end. I hated to have to walk half a mile to go to a dirty portable toilet. I hated how the work affected me outside of the fields. I hated having to enroll in school late every year, to have to make up months of assignments and have to fight to get my school credits. More than anything, I hated knowing my parents needed me out there to make ends meet, because it meant I couldn’t say no. Even though I was only a kid, I knew I didn’t belong there. I knew I could do more than hoe weeds for 70 hours a week.”

The Michigan farm shown on Nightline is not an isolated example. The U.S. Department of Labor found eight other farms in Michigan with child labor or migrant housing violations. Earlier this year, nine farms in North Carolina and a farm in Vineland New Jersey were fined for child labor violations.

But these are example of illegal child labor—the problem is that there is a great deal of legal child labor in U.S. agriculture. Exemptions in U.S. child labor law allow kids who are 12- and 13-years-old to work. The law does not allow a 12-year-old to work for one hour in my air conditioned office making copies, but it allows a 12-year-old to work all day in a field in 100-degree heat performing work that would be too hard for many adult Americans.

In addition to the health problems already cited, the kids pay a very heavy price academically. The dropout rate fluctuates from 50 to 80 percent in most migrant communities. The kids are exhausted from work and migration. As Norma Flores noted, many leave their home school before the school year ends and return weeks after it begins in the fall. As they follow the crops around the country, some may enter other school systems, but they are often placed in the wrong classes or in the wrong levels. Understandably, these migrant students often become frustrated and discouraged, and often drop out.

Although some of the kids are immigrants from Mexico, more than half were born here in the U.S. and are American citizens. They are good kids trying to help their family escape poverty. The underlying problem is that adult farmworkers often do not earn a living wage, and they feel compelled to bring their children to the field with them to increase their income.

The working children—I discovered during field investigations—are more likely to wear little or no protective clothing to guard against the sun or pesticide contact. It’s not uncommon to see them working barefoot despite the presence of dangerous farm tools, pesticide residue, snakes, and scorpions.

In 2003, I joined Len Morris and Robin Romano of Galen films in South Texas when they filmed the U.S. farmworker section of their feature length documentary, Stolen Childhoods. We filmed and interviewed 9-year-old Mariela on her first day of work. In 90-plus degree heat, she stood there working beside her father, cleaning onion bulbs with giant adult-sized scissors. She was very ill with the flu or an allergic reaction to the onions, but her family needed the money, so she kept working. It’s hard to describe the amount of effort required to bend over and pick up an onion a thousand times a day. It’s exhausting work, extremely taxing for adults—and totally inappropriate for children.

The exemptions that allow these young children to work have been around since 1938 and the passage of the Fair Labor Standards Act. The 22 members of the Child Labor Coalition (CLC), which I coordinate, believe it’s time to end this unfair treatment of farmworker children. Through the Children in the Fields Campaign, AFOP, the National Consumers League and the CLC have been working to pass the Children’s Act for Responsible Employment (CARE), which would close the exemptions and force the equal treatment of farmworker children.

The bill, introduced by Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA) in September, would preserve an exemption for family farmers so their children could help  on the farm, but the children of migrant and seasonal farmworkers who work for wages would have to wait till they are at least 14 to work. The U.S. Department of Labor would evaluate the safety of agricultural jobs to determine if some can be performed by 14- and 15-year-olds. The CARE Act would also prohibit teens in agriculture from doing jobs recognized as very dangerous from doing those jobs until they were 18—the age limit in all other industries.

More than 20 national groups—Human Rights Watch, the American Federation of Teachers, the National Education Association, and the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union among them—have signed on to endorse the CARE Act. Please help us. Call your Congress member and urge the passage of the Children’s Act for Responsible Employment—the CARE Act—today. The unfair treatment of farmworker children is intolerable in 2009 in America, and it must end!

Coalition Calls for Congressional Support of FDA Action on Tainted Oysters – National Consumers League

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By Courtney Brein, Linda Golodner Food Safety and Nutrition Fellow

Each year, dozens of American consumers fall ill – and half of those individuals die – from eating raw Gulf Coast oysters contaminated with Vibrio vulnificus bacteria, present in oysters harvested in the region during the summer months. These illnesses and deaths can be prevented, while still allowing consumers to enjoy oysters when the weather turns warm, with one simple measure: post-harvest processing. Vibrio vulnificus contamination is not simply a case of an upset stomach. I have read numerous horror stories of individuals who managed to survive oyster-induced illnesses, only to face fluid-filled blisters, significant skin loss, and multiple amputations. The National Consumers League and fellow members of the Make Our Food Safe Coalition today urged Congress to support FDA efforts to protect the public from contaminated oysters.

In October, the FDA announced that, as of 2011, oysters harvested from the Gulf of Mexico during the warmer months will have to be treated before reaching consumers, in order to kill the Vibrio vulnificus bacteria that are most prevalent at that time. Since 2001, the agency has expressed concern about the bacteria to the oyster industry and has made it clear that, if the industry’s voluntary efforts to reduce illness and deaths from contamination did not succeed, it would require post-harvest processing. In 2003, California began requiring post-harvest processing of Gulf Coast oysters sold in the state during the summer months; not a single person has fallen ill or died from consuming Gulf Coast oysters in California since.

The oyster industry, however, is exerting its powerful lobby to block these doable, life-saving requirements. Concerned about job loss in their home state of Florida, despite the fact that the FDA regulation will only affect a small portion of Gulf Coast oyster production, Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL) and Representative Allen Boyd (D-FL) have each proposed legislation to hamper the FDA’s efforts. We understand that they are trying to protect a hometown industry, but NCL believes consumer health and safety must come first.

“I like raw oysters as much as the next person, but consumers should be able to enjoy the delicacy without putting their lives in danger,” stated Sally Greenberg, Executive Director of NCL. “Post-harvest processing is estimated to cost as little as 2 cents per oyster, and has little or no impact on flavor. The industry can, and should, implement this life-saving measure, which will only be necessary for less than one quarter of the Gulf Coast oyster harvest.”

Until the oyster industry starts processing oysters during the summer months, consumers will continue to fall ill and die. According to the Center for Science in the Public Interest, since 2001, more than 250 individuals on vacation, celebrating special occasions, or simply enjoying a restaurant meal have ordered and consumed raw Gulf Coast oysters, and have become ill or died as a result. Even greater numbers have looked on as family members suffered after consuming contaminated oysters. As Vicki Peal of Florida, a tireless advocate for protective measures on oyster consumption, has stated, “Vibrio vulnificus is a deadly bacteria that eats you inside out like gangrene. Seventeen years ago I took my father out to a dinner of raw oysters that killed him. I had to watch that sweet kind man die like a dog. …Kudos to the FDA for finally requiring procedures to ensure the safety of Gulf oysters. And shame on any elected official who would get in the way of this overdue public health protection. The only good oyster is a safe oyster and FDA’s action will save limbs and lives.”

It is long past time that FDA, the consumer watchdog on the shellfish industry, stepped in with this important regulatory requirement. NCL applauds the agency for its efforts to make Gulf Coast oysters as safe as their colder water counterparts, no matter the season in which they are consumed.

Overdraft Fees Gouging Consumers – National Consumers League

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By Sally Greenberg, NCL Executive Director

NCL joined a number of civil rights, labor, and consumer organizations recently to support legislation to curb the abuses in overdraft charges that banks have employed in the last few years.

According to the Center for Responsible Lending,

  • More than 50 million Americans overdrew their checking account at least once over a 12 month period, with 27 million accountholders incurring five or more overdraft or non-sufficient funds (NSF) fees.
  • Banks and credit unions collected nearly $24 billion in overdraft fees in 2008.
  • Overdraft fee income for banks and credit unions rose 35 percent from 2006 to 2008.
  • Overdraft loans cost consumers nearly $24 billion each year and are typically charged without consumers even knowing that they will be dinged for extra fees. These fees hit lower-income consumers and communities of color especially hard. The most common triggers of overdraft fees are debit card transactions that could easily be denied for no fee; in fact, until recent years, they most often consumer cards were rejected at point of sale if funds in their accounts were insufficient to cover the charge.

Yes, it could be embarrassing when you’re trying to buy something and your card is rejected, but its a lot cheaper than getting hit with a $34 overdraft fee, or multiple fees. Today, banks and credit unions routinely approve debit card overdrafts with no warning, charging a fee averaging $34 for an overdraft averaging only $17. The sad fact is that they force low-income families especially into a cycle of snowballing fees that eat up a large portion of their paychecks.

Fee-based overdraft coverage is, by far, the most expensive way to have an overdraft covered. But financial institutions like to make enrollment in overdraft coverage “automatic,” meaning, as soon as you get your card you’re signed up for the “coverage,” for which you can be charged $34 for every transaction where you don’t have funds in your account to cover the charges. Financial institutions were also found to be manipulating the order in which they post transactions to maximize fees.

So lawmakers have come in to address these abuses. We have bills in the House (HR 3904, Congresswoman Maloney (D-NY)) and Senate (S. 1799, introduced by Senator Dodd (D-CT )) establishing the following key reforms, among others:

  • requiring that all overdraft fees be reasonable and proportional to the cost to the institution of processing the transaction;
  • limiting the number of overdraft fees institutions can charge per month and per year, without preventing them from offering a lower cost alternative if they want to continue charging for overdrafts;
  • requiring institutions to obtain consumers’ affirmative consent to fee-based overdraft coverage for debit card and ATM transactions;
  • clarifying that overdraft fees are a finance charge under the Truth in Lending Act;
  • requiring a real-time warning at an ATM before a cash withdrawal would trigger an overdraft fee; and
  • prohibiting institutions from reordering transactions to maximize fees.

It’s a shame Congressional action is needed, but it is. I always ask myself why such companies couldn’t simply try to be honest brokers with their own customers, letting them know when they overdraw by rejecting the charge instead of taking them for hundreds of dollars to cover some charges, often very minor ones. By the way, the Center for Responsible Lending has great information on its Web site on this issue. CRL has led the charge on overdraft abuses and has a knowledgeable staff and a lot of good information on this issue. NCL is proud to join with CRL, labor unions, and other groups in support of these important bills.

Teen’s Death Raises Concern About One of the “Worst Jobs” for Teens – National Consumers League

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by Reid Maki, Coordinator of the Child Labor Coalition

For the last several years, the National Consumers League (NCL) has warned parents and teens that traveling sales crews are too dangerous for young workers. The discovery last week of the remains of Jennifer Hammond, who was only 18 when she disappeared from a sales crew six years ago, heightens our concern about the safety of traveling sales crews for teen workers.

Jennifer Hammond was one of those teenagers who knocks on your door and tries to sell you magazines. In August 2003, co-workers at Atlantic Circulation, Inc. dropped Hammond, a native of Littleton, Colorado, off in a mobile home park in Milton, New York. She failed to show up at the designated pickup spot two hours later. Six years later, a hunter found some bone fragments and teeth in a forest in Saratoga County, New York and forensic specialists identified the remains as Hammond’s. Local police are investigating the case as a homicide.

Each year, traveling sales has consistently appeared as one of NCL’s list of “Five Worst Jobs for Teens.” Going door-to-door is a risky proposition these days and when you add doing it in an unfamiliar town without parental supervision, the dangers add up quickly. After reviewing this industry and scores of problems we’ve heard about over the years, NCL came to the conclusion last spring that under no circumstances should a minor be allowed to travel as part of a sales crew.

Members of sales crews are vulnerable to assault and exploitation from customers, fellow crew members, and their superiors. Over the years, we’ve heard and read many stories of crew members who were beaten because they wanted to leave their crews or did not sell enough magazines.

On October 15th, the New York Times published a story about two young magazine salesman who were beaten with baseball bats and golf clubs in Lakewood, Washington simply because they wanted to quit. The police arrested six men in the attack.

Unscrupulous traveling sales companies charge young workers for expenses like rent and food that in some cases requires them to turn over all the money they earn from selling magazines or goods. When they try to quit or leave the crew, they are told they can’t. Earlier this summer, NCL received a phone call from a young man who quit his crew and found himself stranded 1,000 miles from home. He was broke and trying to hitch-hike home.

Disreputable companies have been known to seize young workers’ money, phone cards, and IDs and restrict their ability to call their parents. Drug use and underage drinking are not uncommon. Another New York Times report in 2007 found that crew members often make little money after expenses are deducted.

Teen sales crews are often crammed into poorly maintained, unsafe vans and driven by young distracted drivers. In November 2005, two teenagers were killed and seven were injured when the van they were riding in flipped near Phoenix, Arizona. A month earlier, 20-year-old, James Crawford, was ejected and killed from a van crash in Georgia. Eighteen young adults were crammed into the 15-passenger van when the driver fell asleep.

Unfortunately, Jennifer Hammond’s suspected murder is not the first associated with work in traveling sales crews: In November 2007, Tracie Anaya Jones, 19, a member of a traveling sales crew, was found dead of stab wounds in Memphis, Tennessee. Her killing remains unsolved and is featured on “America’s Most Wanted” Web site. In Rapid City, South Dakota in April 2004, a 41-year-old man was charged with murdering a 21-year-old woman who came to his home to sell magazines.

Clearly, these are extreme examples of what can go wrong, but there is ample evidence that there is much to be concerned about when one contemplates traveling sales work. Last month’s Times article on the beating of the two young salesmen, noted that Parent Watch, an industry watchdog group, is receiving about 10 emergency calls a day from crew members with problems.

In Wisconsin, a new law designed to protect young sales people will take effect next April. We’ll take a closer look at it in the days ahead….Stay tuned.