Corelle, I Love You, I Love You Not.

No consumer product has ever spoken to us quite like Corelle dinnerware by Corning Glass.

Corelle Vitrelle was the perfect product. American made, extremely durable, and a marvel of material science, it was the embodiment of affordable, understated elegance, practicality and simplicity. Brought to you by the same folks that gave you Pyrex glassware, CorningWare and Visions cookware. It was an American classic, coming to a kitchen near you straight from Corning, New York, USA. Here’s a scientific explanation as to why the classic three-layer Corelle plates are as indestructable as they are, thanks to The Corning Museum of Glass. And here’s a Youtube video of the Corelle production line at Corning.

Even when we weren’t shopping for glassware or dinnerware, we would always stop to look at the flip side of dinnerware on display at whatever store we found ourselves at, just to see where a product was made. It was so reassuring to always find MADE IN USA on the bottom of Corelle products, when almost no other plates or bowls were made here. Even “That Internet Guy” sang the praises of his made-in-USA Corelle dinnerware on his YouTube channel!

But from the never-say-never school of thought, and in the interest of full disclosure, this can be the result of dropping a Corelle plate.

Well, it’s time to publish an obituary for another American classic. We recently began seeing Corelle products labeled MADE IN CHINA. Is nothing sacred?

It is unclear to us whether most Corelle products are made here or in China these days. Within the last few years, there were news reports that their Corning, New York plant was being modernized. On the other hand, the Corningware factory store in Corning, New York was reportedly closed in January, 2022.

This excellent 2014 “Built In America” video takes you inside the Corning, New York factory where all Corelle products were manufactured, before production was moved to China. As one of the employees in the video proudly states, “It’s sold worldwide, but every piece of Corelle comes out of Corning [New York]”. Sadly, that is no longer true. We wonder what the dedicated workers in the video are doing today. If you are in the market for Corelle dinnerware, we suggest you look closely at where it was made, before making your purchase. As Sy Sims used to say, “An educated consumer is our best customer”.

To add insult to injury, we noticed that the warranty on the made-in-China Corelle dinnerware (or what it’s manufacturer refers to as “livingware”), has been reduced to only one year. Perhaps a tacit acknowledgment that it is not as durable as it once was?

We understandably go crazy over a Chinese balloon, whether of the weather or spy variety, being spotted flying 50,000 feet over America, yet China has all but taken over the United States, one consumer product at a time. If you flipped a switch that made all Chinese goods magically disappear from America, store shelves would be bare, you would be naked and starving, and the computer we are writing this blog post on (and probably the device you are reading it on) would disappear. Welcome to The People’s Republic of America.

You have much more to worry about than whether TikTok is installed on your Chinese-made cellphone.

Target Stores – An Identity Thief’s Best Friend ?

Is Target Corporation targeting your personal data ? Will a data breach make you a victim of identity theft ? (image linked from angrywhiteboy.org)

You might have found this article after asking…

Why did Target scan my drivers license, or

Why did Target swipe my drivers license, or

Is Target collecting personal information from my drivers license, or

What is the Target stores ID policy, and what if I refuse to give them my drivers license,  or

Did a jury award  South Carolina Target shopper Rita Cantrell $3.1 million in a libel case, after she was wrongly accused of trying to pass a counterfeit $100 bill at Target ?

Maybe Eric Arthur Blair was right (you’ll probably know who he was, even if you don’t recognize his name).

We very rarely shop at Target, but happened to find ourselves in a Target store recently.  While our order was being scanned at the register, even before we decided how we would pay, the cashier asked for our drivers license.  When asked why they needed to see our drivers license, they told us that it was because we were buying a package of over-the-counter cold medicine.  Since we are closer to retirement age than we are to the age of majority, we can’t remember the last time a clerk or cashier “proofed” us.  But since we want to do our part to make sure that no minors can get relief from their cold or flu symptoms, we graciously handed the cashier our license.  We quickly regretted complying with their request, when, to our horror, the cashier scanned the barcode on our license with their barcode reader, before we realized what they were doing, and before we had a chance to stop them.  It is worth noting that the last time I checked, this was still America, and there was absolutely no legal requirement for a retailer to scan or swipe your drivers license, or any other form of ID when purchasing medications, alcoholic beverages, etc.  Target appears to have adopted this misguided policy to protect themselves, and to possibly make their job easier (but at your expense).  What’s next ?  Scanning a barcode tattooed on your forehead by the State, or scanning you for the mandatory RFID chip implanted under your skin at birth ?

It seems to us that Target might be capturing at least some the information embedded in the barcode of your drivers license.  If not, then simply having the cashier confirm the date of birth printed on the license would suffice, and scanning the license would serve no purpose.   This makes us wonder what they might be doing with the data.  How long are they retaining the data ?  Do they sell the data, or use it for marketing purposes ?  Will they provide the data to the government, either voluntarily or in response to a subpoena or a National Security Letter ?

As (now very wealthy) South Carolina Target shopper Rita Cantrell can attest, Target can’t distinguish real currency from counterfeit.  Likewise,  we have little confidence that their employees, POS scanners or computer systems would be able to tell a fake drivers license barcode from the real thing.

Are you wondering what information Target (and other retailers) can capture from your drivers license barcode, in this post-9/11, “Homeland Security” driven world ?  The American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators (aamva.org) publishes the standards that the individual states follow when designing their drivers licenses.  This AAMVA document (in .PDF format) lists 22 mandatory and 23 optional data elements that are encoded into the PDF417 barcode that is used on U.S. drivers licenses.  Did you know that items such as a driver’s race/ethnic group and social security number can be embedded in the barcode ?   The individual states are free to add additional data elements that are not included in the AAMVA standard.

We suspect that Target would be happy to sell cold medicine to this fellow, as long as he allows them to scan his drivers license.

Even if Target Stores does not have any ulterior motives, the fact that they are able to capture any or all of the data embedded in your drivers license barcode exposes their customers to the threat of identity theft.  The fact that their name is Target doesn’t help the situation either, if you catch our drift.  I mean, just look at their stores… they put a big red bulls eye right on the front of every store !  If that isn’t taunting all the hackers out there, I don’t know what is.   Maybe we would be less concerned if their name was “Fortress” or something along those lines, and their logo was a bank vault, rather than a bulls eye.  Even their cute mascot, Bullseye, looks like he would rather lick you to death than defend the company’s customer data.  Retailers, credit card companies, banks and other businesses are constantly making headlines because their networks are hacked into, their data stolen, and their customers or employees personal and financial information  compromised.  Sometimes it’s a hacker breaking into a computer network.  Sometimes, it’s a rogue employee inside a company or at a vendor that has access to a company’s systems.  Sometimes, it’s a laptop computer containing sensitive information that is lost or stolen.  Sometimes, backup tapes are lost in transit to an off-site storage location.  There are many ways that customer data can be put at risk of theft.

Now we’re wondering if we will pick up the newspaper one day, and see the headline “Target Stores Targeted By Hackers,  Personal Info From 50 Million Customers Stolen”.  Think it can’t happen ?  Think Again.  It has happened to other large retailers, banks and credit card companies.

How can consumers protect themselves ?  Well, it’s nearly impossible in the age of  The Internet and when “plastic” has largely supplanted the use of cash.  But nothing says that you have to shop at a retailer that unnecessarily places your personal information at risk, even if its only a potential risk.   We doubt that we will be shopping at Target stores again, but if we do, and we are asked for our drivers license in the future, we will refuse and walk out.  If collecting our personal data is more important to Target than keeping us as a customer, we will gladly take our business elsewhere, and patronize a business that does not unnecessarily expose us to the threat of identity theft.  Speaking of Target, we think that letting retailers scan and capture the data stored in your drivers license barcode is a lot like placing a bullseye on your back.

We are normally happy to accomodate a  merchant’s request to provide suitable ID, especially when the transaction involves payment by check or credit card, or we are returning an item, but Target’s policy is unacceptable, and we believe, simply wrong.  And we’re not the only one who feels this way.  This article at informationweek.com echoes our concerns about Target’s policy.  From a purely practical standpoint, we suspect that draconian policies such as the one put in place by Target will backfire, with (even more) people simply deciding to steal the medication.  OTC pharmacy items are already the most frequently shoplifted items (see this list of the 50 most frequently shoplifted items).   And isn’t it just a bit ludicrous (not to mention, rude) to ask a senior citizen buying cold medicine to prove they’re 18 years old ?

As far as we know,  Target customers concerned about identity theft can still do their shopping at Walmart without having to show them your drivers license when buying cold medications.  If you are very obviously over the age of 18, and asked for your drivers license at a Target store, we suggest that you decline.   If they persist, simply tell them that under the circumstances, you have changed your mind and don’t wish to purchase anything.  It won’t take Target very long to realize that their policy is costing them business, and that they need to change it.  They might not enjoy having to put all your stuff back on the shelves after you walk out without buying it, but at least your personal data will be safe.

– Routing By Rumor

Circuit City Finally Bites The Dust

The news shouldn’t surprise anybody, certainly not readers of this blog.

Richmond, Virginia based Circuit City stores announced today their intention to close their 567 remaining stores and liquidate their inventory.  We predicted that they wouldn’t last much past the end of the 2008 Christmas season.

That means another 34,000 American workers joining the unemployment line.

See our previous posts…

Circuit City Stores Files For Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Protection

One Foot In The Grave At Circuit City

Philip Schoonover Learns That What Goes Around Comes Around

– Routing By Rumor

Using Website Visitor Statistics As An Early Warning System

Like the canary in the coal mine, warning of the presence of deadly gases, or the seismograph warning of an impending tsunami, website (or blog) visitor statistics provide a valuable early warning system of current events, breaking news stories, and things that will be making news in the days ahead.

Google has known this for quite a while. Google’s Zeitgeist provides statistics that show the latest search trends. You can even go back and see what searches were hot on a previous date.

Like many bloggers and Webmasters, we keep tabs on Routing By Rumor’s traffic statistics. In the past 24 hours, we’ve seen a spike in visits that are related to several of the articles we’ve written in the past. An unusually high number of visitors have landed at our doorstep after doing searches for “Walmart” (or “Wal-Mart” or “Wal Mart”), “Ashley Alexandra Dupre” and “Blackrock layoffs”. We welcome the “business”, but we’re always curious as to why people end up here.

Searches for “Walmart” have always been a top search engine source of traffic to our blog. We’re guessing that a few items related to Walmart that have been in the news in the past few days have a lot to do with the sudden spike in traffic related to Walmart. Perhaps the news coverage of Walmart’s (and other retailers) day-after-Thanksgiving “Black Friday” sales have a lot to do with the increase in search engine traffic.

Ashley Alexandra Dupre is the alleged prostitute allegedly associated with the (alleged former New York Governor) Eliot Spitzer scandal, who received some coverage in this alleged blog a few months back. But why is she suddenly a top search engine topic once again? A bit of research gave us the answer. It seems that Ms. “Dupre” will be interviewed by Diane Sawyer, in a piece that will air on ABC’s 20/20 broadcast this Friday. Who ever said that crime doesn’t pay ?

We were scratching our head on the “Blackrock layoffs” searches that were bringing visitors to our blog. We wrote a piece last winter about layoffs at WCBS-AM, which we titled “Bad Day At Black Rock”. Black Rock is the nickname for CBS’s New York City headquarters building, owing to the dark granite facade of the skyscraper. But we had not heard of any new layoffs at CBS, so why the sudden interest in layoffs at “Black Rock” ?

A bit of digging yielded the answer. There are rumors floating that a round of layoffs are about to be announced at investment company Blackrock, Inc., the largest publicly traded asset management firm in the United States. Nothing to do with CBS, but close enough that it created a spike in visitors to my blog !

So, Webmasters and SEO (Search Engine Optimization) experts take note. If you see unexpected increases in traffic to your site that you can’t explain, dig deeper to find the source. Search engines rarely lie. It may be a case of mistaken identity, as with our “Black Rock” visitors. Then again, it may be an early warning of something you should know about, possibly relating to your website, your company, or a competitor.

We wonder whether mainstream media has caught on to this as a news gathering tool. It is no secret that journalists often “find” stories because they have already been covered by another newspaper, TV or radio station. Search engine statistics should be able to scoop other sources of news. The statistics are real-time, not requiring the printing of a newspaper, or the taping and editing of a television or radio news report. We would like to think that if the Internet existed back in the days of The Daily Planet, that cub reporter Jimmy Olsen would be using his computer and Google to scoop the other reporters.

We were wondering if we would get credit for coining the term “zeitgeist journalism“, so we decided to Google the phrase. Edward Rothstein, for one, used the term in this New York Times article about trend-spotting a dozen years ago, although obviously not in reference to Google, so we probably can’t claim ownership. Maybe we’ll just call it “Google journalism“.

Great Caesar’s ghost !

– Routing By Rumor

Circuit City Stores Files For Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Protection

This morning, Circuit City filed a bankruptcy petition (see bloomberg.com article), In Re Circuit City Stores Inc., 08-35653, with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Virginia. If you’ve been following this blog, you won’t be surprised by today’s filing. Circuit City has had one foot in the grave for a while now (see our article from last week). See additional coverage of this story by Forbes, The Associated Press, The New York Times, Barron’s and Reuters.

The Richmond Times-Dispatch reported that last Friday, up to 800 employees at Circuit City’s corporate headquarters (more than a third of the workers there) received pink slips.

Circuit City owes well over half a billion dollars to suppliers including Hewlett-Packard, Samsung, Sony, Zenith, Toshiba, Garmin and Nikon. With bankruptcy looming, more and more vendors have refused to extend credit to Circuit City. With today’s filing, we’re pretty sure their ability to obtain terms from vendors is now pretty much non-existent. It probably also ensures that the New York Stock Exchange will de-list Circuit City, as they have already warned, if their share price doesn’t make a sustained recovery to above $1.00 a share. In early trading today, Circuit City shares have lost more than 90% of their value, falling from a lofty $0.12 per share when the market opened, and now sitting at an embarrassing two pennies a share (but that’s at least twice as much as we think its worth, so you could say its overvalued).

11/11/2008 Update…

Well, that didn’t take long. The latest milestone on the devolution of Circuit City has occured. Circuit City shares have been delisted from the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), and are now trading on the Pink Sheets.  With all these pink slips and pink sheets, maybe pink is Circuit City’s new color.  Circuit City is now what is referred to as a “penny stock”. That light you see at the end of the tunnel just may be the oncoming Best Buy Express. Click here to get a quote on Circuit City shares (CCTYQ.PK)

Things have gone steadily downhill for Circuit City since they made the absolutely brilliant business decision in March of last year, to fire 3,400 of their most experienced employees. Consumerist.com has posted
this excellent timeline of Circuit City’s decline, titled “How Circuit City Came Undone”, which shows their declining stock price in relation to various events in their demise. The graph looks a lot like a ski slope. It’s the sort of thing they’ll probably use in business schools, when teaching a course in how to destroy a successful company.

Perhaps the saddest part of this modern day Greek tragedy is the fact that the executives who were the architects of this debacle earned millions of dollars for their role in the company’s failure. Perhaps the new scrutiny that the country’s economic meltdown is focusing on executive compensation will cause the directors of corporations to hold their executives responsible for the bad decisions they make. Here’s a suggestion… Instead of simply lavishing millions of dollars in company stock on executives, how about adding the condition that they won’t be vested unless there is a certain number of quarters of future growth. For instance, Mr. CEO, that five or ten million dollars worth of company stock won’t be yours unless the company makes money over the next two years. No more “take the money and run”. For too many corporate executives, it has been a game of “heads I win, tails I win”.

Given Circuit City’s history and reputation, the decrepit state of the U.S. economy, and the competition that exists in the consumer electronics space (especially from competitors Best Buy and Walmart), we think it’s a safe bet that Circuit City will never emerge from bankruptcy, and that’s, as Martha Stewart would say, “a good thing”. Last week, they announced the closing of many of their stores, and we wouldn’t bee surprised if more closings follow before the end of the year.

Coming at the beginning of the holiday shopping season, the closings and the bankruptcy filing might attract some bargain hunters, but let’s be honest… Who wants to make a major purchase from a retailer who may very well not be around, should you need to return an unwanted or defective purchase. It pretty much goes without saying that anything purchased at a going-out-of-business sale is sold as-is, no returns, no refunds. Caveat emptor.

We’re going to go out on a limb here, and make the following prediction; Circuit City’s Chapter 11 bankruptcy will become a Chapter 7 filing (liquidation) within six months, perhaps much sooner. Check back here to see how our prediction fares.

– Routing By Rumor