Nordstrom’s anniversary sale adds 65 brands to the mix

Holiday spending is expected to increase as much as 4 percent this year. That may not sound like much, but Americans are on track to spend a record $960 billion celebrating the December holidays. For retailers and consumers alike, printed receipts can help make the season brighter. Traditionally, Black Friday heralds the start of the holiday season, but for many, holiday spending is already in full swing, and it won’t stop until January, after the last gifts have been opened and any returns have been made. And despite what some anti-receipt advocates say, consumers overwhelmingly prefer to receive printed receipts with their purchases instead of digital receipts. “In our recent consumer survey, we found that 76 percent of folks want some form of a printed receipt, or at least the option to choose a printed receipt,” says Andrea Forehand, Domtar’s director of sales for thermal POS. “Skip the Slip legislation has come up twice in California, and we’ve been successful in lobbying to prevent that legislation from becoming law because people do want the choice.”

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) gave an early Christmas present to debt collectors, at the expense of the very consumers they are mandated to protect. Ignoring a mountain of public comments from citizens, cyber security experts and consumer advocacy groups including Keep Me Posted (KMP) detailing the multitude of harms and risks unleashed by its proposed rules, the Bureau plowed ahead and finalized a sweeping deregulation that will subject society to an unwelcome digital deluge of menace and fraud. Under the guise of so-called modernization, the CFPB will give the green light to 3rd-party debt collectors to exploit Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and Twitter messaging — as well as emails and text messaging — in their bounty hunting efforts. The new rules would further allow for an unlimited quantity of such unsolicited digital contacting — while simultaneously expanding the frequency of phone calls to 7 times per week per alleged debt. Meanwhile, the safe, secure and discreet practice of mailing paper letters will remain an option for professional firms seeking reliable communications options. To be clear, America’s consumers did not ask for this. And they will not even be given the option to opt-in to any such digital communications they might prefer.

Hearst Newspapers announced the acquisition of Puzzmo, a new collaborative puzzle games platform. The announcement was made by Hearst Newspapers President Jeffrey Johnson. Developed over the last three years by founders Zach Gage and Orta Therox, Puzzmo.com is the new place for thoughtful puzzles. The site will be the home of web-based versions of Gage’s award-winning puzzle games catalog, including Apple Arcade mainstays like SpellTower and new and exclusive releases beginning with FlipArt and Wordbind. Puzzmo will connect each game and every player with a unified system of points, achievements, social connections and multi-player modes never before seen in the puzzle games category, creating a sense of community. Gage and Therox will lead game development and technology for the platform at Hearst.