Americas food supply chain has been in the news lately, and not in a good way. This summers massive Boars Head deli meat recall for listeria contamination created the most concern after at least 10 people died.
The E. Coli outbreak linked to McDonalds Quarter Pounders is the latest cause of concern, resulting in the burger being pulled from the menu in 10 states. There have been other, smaller food contamination recalls this year. However, Robert Khachatryan, the CEO and founder of Freight Right Global Logistics, doesnt think it means the food supply is in greater danger than in the past.
The reality is that enhanced detection and reporting technologies make these incidents more visible, Khachatryan told ConsumerAffairs.
The CDC reports that the United States experiences 48 million cases of foodborne illness annually, leading to around 3,000 deaths. Improvements in food safety monitoring and the rapid spread of information through social media amplify awareness of these outbreaks, but the actual number of incidents may not have increased significantly compared to the past.
But companies like McDonalds may be vulnerable
That said, food companies that work on a massive scale may be especially vulnerable. McDonalds and other large fast-food chains rely on extensive, global supply chains that can increase exposure to contamination risks.
For instance, sourcing from multiple suppliers across different regions raises the likelihood of contamination, Khachatryan said. A study by the World Health Organization (WHO) found that food contamination can affect up to 10% of the global food supply annually, underscoring the risks inherent in large, multi-layered supply chains.
Khachatryan says centralized processing facilities are common for fast-food giants, and while this model helps with cost efficiency, it also means that a single contamination event can affect thousands of locations.
Just In Time inventory systems, used by McDonalds and other large scale operations, cutstorage costs but may leaveless time for inspections.
Photo Credit: Consumer Affairs News Department Images
AFT lawsuit leads to new agreement restoring income-driven repayment cancellations
Borrowers in multiple federal repayment plans could see immediate debt relief
Those eligible this year will not face federal taxes on forgiven debt
Millions of Americans with federal student loans could soon see long-awaited relief after the Trump administration agreed to reinstate forgiveness programs it had previously stalled.
The deal, reached with the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), allows the Department of Education to resume cancelling student debt for borrowers enrolled in income-driven repayment (IDR) plans. The agreement follows a lawsuit filed by the AFT accusing administration officials of illegally blocking access to repayment and forgiveness programs that had been in place for years.
This is a tremendous win for borrowers, said Winston Berkman-Breen, legal director for Protect Borrowers, which represented the teachers union. With todays filing, borrowers can rest a little easier," the New York Post reported.
What the agreement means for borrowers
Under the deal, borrowers participating in income-based, income-contingent, pay-as-you-earn, and Public Service Loan Forgiveness programs will once again qualify for cancellation after making the required number of payments.
The administration also agreed to refund borrowers who made additional payments after they had already qualified for forgiveness and to process pending buyback applications for both IDR and PSLF participants.
For nearly a decade, the AFT has fought for the rights of student loan borrowers to be freed from the shackles of unjust debtand today, a huge part of that affordability fight was vindicated, said AFT President Randi Weingarten.
Tax relief built into the plan
Borrowers whose loans are forgiven in 2025 will not face federal taxes on the cancelled amount, the administration confirmed. Normally, debt discharged after 2025 would be treated as taxable income under current lawa change the AFT has described as a looming tax bomb.
To avoid that penalty, the Department of Education will treat the date borrowers become eligible for cancellation as the official date of discharge, even if paperwork delays push processing into 2026.
Next steps: court approval pending
The joint agreement still requires court approval to take legal effect. If approved, the Trump administration will be required to file six monthly reports detailing its progress on processing applications and cancellations.
The timeline for approval remains unclear, but if finalized, the deal could provide long-overdue relief for borrowers who have spent decades trapped in repayment plans.
Here are todays shortform alerts for major U.S. food recalls/outbreaks:
Eggs byBlackSheepEggCompany: Over 6million eggs recalled after facility environmental sampling found 40positivefor multipleSalmonellainfection strains; sold in AR, MO, MS, TX, CA & IN. No illnesses reported yet but risk is serious.
The outage affecting Amazon Web Services (AWS) on Monday originated in the companys US-EAST-1 region (Northern Virginia).
AWS reports the root cause was an internal subsystem failure tied to the health-monitoring of network load-balancers (which route traffic between servers) within its EC2 internal network.
A key symptom was a failure of DNS (Domain Name System) resolution for endpoints of AWSs DynamoDB database service in that region, which triggered cascading service errors and widespread disruption of dependent applications.
Engineers at Amazon Web Services think they have pinpointed the cause of Mondays massive service interruption that caused thousands of websites and apps to go dark.
AWSs status updates show that the trouble began in the US East 1 region and manifested as increased error rates and high latency. AWS later described the issue as stemming from a subsystem that monitors the health of its network load balancers.
The failure started in one of AWSs main data centers in Northern Virginia after a routine update to the API, which connects various computer software programs. The update was being made to an important database service that stores information for websites.
According to engineers, there was an apparent error in the update that eventually disabled the Domain Name System (DNS), which translates website addresses into a series of numbers, known as IP addresses.
Without a properly operating DNS, apps and websites were disconnected from their IP address.
After the system failed, other AWS services also began to go dark. Reportedly, as many as 113 services were blocked by the outage. By Monday afternoon ET, AWS said most systems were restored.
Why this was especially disruptive
US-EAST-1 is one of AWSs largest and often-used regions; many services default to it.
When DNS resolution fails for a core API endpoint (like DynamoDB), the effect isnt limited to one application: many downstream systems depend on that service.
The combination of internal routing failures and name-resolution failures creates what appears to be a cascading outage: one part stops, others rely on it, they fail, more parts go offline.
The national average gas price fell below $3 per gallon for the first time since December 2024.
The drop is largely attributed to increased oil production from OPEC and seasonal demand declines.
Prices may not stay low in all regions due to refinery disruptions and local wholesale price spikes.
The national average price of gasoline has fallen below $3 per gallon for the first time since December 29, 2024. According to GasBuddy, the average price of gas across the U.S. started the week at $2.99 a gallon.
The milestone comes after months of steady declines in fuel costs, offering relief to drivers ahead of the holiday travel season. But analysts caution that prices may not remain at these levels for long, particularly in the Great Lakes region, where a recent refinery fire has pushed wholesale prices higher.
The sharp decline in gasoline prices can be traced primarily to OPECs decision earlier this year to increase oil production, reversing its 2023 policy of output cuts meant to sustain higher prices. Since March 2025, the oil cartel and its allies collectively known as OPEC+ have been steadily ramping up output, raising the prospect of a global crude glut.
That shift has sent oil prices tumbling. Some investment banks now suggest that crude could fall into the $40-per-barrel range by 2026, a level not seen since the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Combined with the seasonal switch to cheaper winter gasoline blends and a drop in fuel demand, the result has been a rapid and widespread drop in retail gas prices nationwide.
By the numbers
National average: $2.97/gal
Median U.S. price: $2.82/gal
Most common price: $2.89/gal
16 cents lower than a year ago
295 days since the last time the national average was under $3
One GasBuddy report even noted a cash price of $1.99 per gallon at a station in Evans, Colorado a sign of how dramatically prices have shifted in certain areas.
Global forces drive the decline
This drop is overwhelmingly being driven by the significant increase in oil production from OPEC throughout 2025, Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, wrote in the companys blog. That, combined with weaker demand and inflation finally easing, has created the perfect environment for lower prices.
De Haan added that while some may be quick to assign political credit for cheaper fuel, global supply dynamics remain the dominant factor. He noted that 2025 marks the strongest potential for sustained sub-$3 gas prices since 2021.
Looking ahead, GasBuddy forecasts that the national average could dip into the $2.80s per gallon by years end, provided oil prices stay low and demand continues to soften. Seasonal factors, including reduced travel after Thanksgiving and the lingering effects of winter-grade gasoline, could further ease prices in most parts of the country.
Still, regional volatility remains likely. Areas impacted by refinery outages or supply disruptions could see short-term spikes even as the broader national average trends lower.
Before checkout, open live chat with your cart ready and ask a polite one-liner: Any chance for a small coupon or free shipping?
Use quick scripts: price-match nudge, bundle/save-the-sale, or new member/teacher/student/military
After you buy, watch for a price drop and request a chat price adjustment with your order number
Paying full price online is my personal horror movie. But sometimes you just cant find a coupon code for a particular store, and there arent any sales happening. But waitI have one more trick to try before you complete your order at full retail.
Open up a live chat window and start a conversation with the retailer. In many cases, their AI chat assistant or actual human customer service rep has coupons to hand out to those who politely ask.
They know if youre asking for a discount, you probably have items in your cart and are about to complete the purchase. So often theyre happy to throw you a bone for 15-20% off your purchase or even free shipping.
The websites where this tends to work best
Keep in mind that this isnt a guarantee. But over the years Ive consistently had good luck with live-chat discounts with the following retailers.
And yes, many stores actually have coupon codes available but bury them on their site and theyre impossible to find. So, by asking in a live chat, you cut through the hunt and quickly find whatever coupons they currently have.
Apparel & shoes
Gap, Old Navy, Banana Republic (Ive gotten free shipping and 1020% off)
J.Crew, Madewell (small % off or free ship)
Levis, Columbia, Eddie Bauer (one-time codes)
Adidas, Reebok, Under Armour (free shipping)
Zappos, Famous Footwear, DSW (free shipping or $10 off)
Beauty & personal care
Ulta, The Body Shop, Kiehls (free samples + free shipping; occasional % off)
Function of Beauty, Native, Harrys (DTC brands often have save the sale codes)
Home, bedding & furniture
Wayfair, Overstock, Ashley (free shipping or $ off thresholds)
Brooklinen, Parachute, Buffy (DTC bedding: 1015% new customer codes via chat)
Bed Bath & Beyond (the new version): free shipping or small % off
Electronics & gadgets
Best Buy (bundle discounts especially for open-box items)
Verizon/AT&T/T-Mobile (accessory discounts added via chat at checkout)
Etsy sellers (politely ask a seller for a shop coupon, works more than youd think)
Places where this rarely works: Apple, lululemon, Costco, Amazon, luxury labels (Gucci, LV), and hard-priced brands like Dyson. Doesnt mean dont try, just keep expectations low.
Pro Tip: Ask for a human when chatting with an AI assistant as they often have no idea what youre talking about. Simply type speak to a human (sometimes you have to type it a 2-3 times) and you should finally get connected.
Here are 7 actual scripts you should use
Feel free to copy and paste these live chat scripts right into the chat window, or tweak them however you like.
Keep in mind that this tip is not just for regular shoppers. Many online retailers offer specific discounts for veterans, teachers, and even students. And surprisingly they dont always advertise them. So, start a live chat and ask if they have any discounts specifically for you.
Below youll find a bunch of different scripts that have proven to work when asking for a discount.
1.Simple pre-purchase ask - About to complete my purchaseany chance theres a coupon for a little extra savings or maybe free shipping?
2.Shipping-only angle - Im all set to order, but shipping is pushing me over budget. Is there a free-shipping code you can apply?
3.Price-match nudge - Im seeing this for $___ at [Store]. If you can match or get me close, Ill order here right now.
4.Bundle/save-the-sale - Im buying [X + Y]. Do you have a discount if I grab both today?
5.Loyalty/new-customer - I just joined your rewards list. Are there any member or first-order codes you can add for me?
6.Student/teacher/military - Im [student/teacher/military]. Can you verify and apply that discount on my order?
7.Soft escalation (if they say no) - Totally understand. If theres any one-time code youre allowed to offer, Id really appreciate it and Id place my order right now.
Push for a discount exception
I was recently shopping for shoes on Zappos.com and was about to pay full price when I pulled up a chat window (screenshot above) and inquired about a discount.
The chat rep informed me that they only had a 10% discount available and it was only good for new members.
On a whim I asked, Im not a new customer, can I have an exception 10% coupon?
They got right back to me and said, Heres what I will do, I will issue you a $10 promo on your account towards your order.
Moral of the story: Sometimes all you have to do is ask.
After you buy: chat for a price adjustment
If the price drops within a week or two of your purchase, hop back on chat and say this:
Hi! I ordered [#____] on [date] and noticed the price is now lower. Could you adjust the difference or offer store credit?
Youll be surprised how often they'll give you some money back.
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