Consumer News: How to use AI for Black Friday and Christmas shopping (without getting scammed)

Experts are urging lawmakers to make standard time permanent for better sleep and safety

• Americans will turn their clocks back one hour on Nov. 1 for the annual fall back time change.

• Sleep experts are pushing Congress to make standard time permanent instead of continuing seasonal clock changes.

• For now, consumers can make the transition easier by prioritizing sleep, morning sunlight, and a consistent schedule.

The annual fall back time change is almost here. On Sunday, Nov. 1, Americans will turn their clocks back one hour, beginning another stretch of standard time.

But sleep experts say they would like this to be the last time Americans have to make the switch.

The American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the Coalition for Permanent Standard Time are urging lawmakers to eliminate seasonal clock changes and keep the country on standard time year-round. Their position is that permanent standard time better matches the body's natural sleep-wake cycle and could support sleep, safety, and overall well-being.

Changing the clocks can have consequences for sleep, health, and safety, yet we require millions of Americans to do it twice a year, said Dr. Karin Johnson, sleep medicine physician and co-chair of the coalitions steering committee. This should be the last time we ever have to change our clocks. Lawmakers have an opportunity to end this cycle for good by choosing permanent standard time for brighter mornings, better sleep, and safer streets.

Why sleep experts favor standard time

There are currently two different approaches being considered in Congress. The Sunshine Protection Act, H.R. 139, would make daylight saving time permanent. The Sunshine for Our Kids Act, H.R. 9638, would establish permanent standard time nationwide.

The sleep experts support the latter option because sunlight plays an important role in regulating the body's internal clock. Brighter mornings can help people wake up, stay alert, and maintain healthier sleep patterns.

Permanent daylight saving time, on the other hand, would mean darker winter mornings. According to the experts, losing that morning light could interfere with sleep, mood, and daytime functioning. The group also points to the country's previous experience with year-round daylight saving time, which was reversed after concerns about dark mornings and public safety.

What consumers can do this fall

Whatever lawmakers ultimately decide, consumers still have to deal with the Nov. 1 time change.

The American Academy of Sleep Medicine recommends getting at least seven hours of sleep in the days before and after the change. It also suggests gradually shifting bedtime later in the days leading up to the transition, along with other routines such as meals and exercise.

Once the clocks change, sticking to a consistent wake-up time can help. Getting outside for morning sunlight may also help reset the body's internal clock. Consumers should also be mindful of afternoon caffeine while adjusting, particularly if it could interfere with nighttime sleep.

Parents may want to give children and teenagers some extra time to adjust, while keeping their bedtime routines consistent.

"Americans are tired of changing their clocks, Dr. Johnson added. As policymakers consider ways to end this practice, we encourage them to follow the science. Permanent standard time offers the best alignment with the bodys internal clock, making it the healthiest choice for sleep, safety, and well-being. The benefits are especially important for our adolescents and teens, who are particularly sensitive to the loss of morning light, helping to reduce depression and improve school performance."

Veterans, caregivers, and even cybersecurity professionals are finding themselves in scammers crosshairs

• Job scammers are increasingly targeting specific groups: This includes veterans, parents and caregivers returning to work, and cybersecurity professionals.

• Watch for red flags: Things like unsolicited job offers, personal email addresses, requests for sensitive information, and demands for money during the hiring process.

• Know what to do if you suspect a scam: Job seekers should stop communicating, preserve evidence, protect their finances, and report the incident to the appropriate agencies and websites.

Job hunting can be stressful enough without having to wonder whether the job posting in front of you is even real. But scammers are increasingly taking advantage of people who may be especially eager to find work, tailoring fake job opportunities to specific groups and their circumstances.

Veterans leaving the military, parents and caregivers returning to the workforce, and even cybersecurity professionals are among those being targeted. With cyber-enabled crime continuing to rise, cybersecurity experts say job seekers should be especially careful about who they trust during the hiring process.

ConsumerAffairs spoke with Serena Sullivan, Cybersecurity Professor at National University, to learn more about how these groups are being targeted and what they can do to protect themselves.

How scammers are targeting job seekers

Sullivan explained that these can be presented in many different forms, and oftentimes, the job ads are written to appeal to certain types of candidates, taking advantage of generalizations about certain types of candidates.

A candidate may encounter fake job postings on all the job-seeking platforms, Sullivan said. No job-related website is immune from these types of postings. Attackers who are trying to scam people through job ads are typically going to use language and job descriptions that will appeal to different types of workers.

For example, a veteran with a clearance would likely be searching for a contracting position that requires clearance, whereas returning parents might be looking for a position that allows them to work around their childs school schedule.

Know the red flags to look for

Sullivan shared some of the top red flags that all job seekers should be aware of:

• A company reaching out through an unsolicited phone call, text message or email with a too-good-to-refuse offer.

• Emails that do not originate with professional domains, instead relying on Gmail, Yahoo, and other freely available email services.

• A company asking the candidate to share hiring information, such as home address, social security number, banking information for direct deposit, or other personal details prior to an interview, or directly after a job interview.

In nearly all types of , including this one, attackers often rely on a sense of urgency, guiding the candidate through a fast process from initial contact to hiring, Sullivan explained. A massive red flag is if a company solicits money from a candidate. The scammers could request the candidate pay for training, buy equipment, or pay a fee to have an application processed.

Most legitimate companies will not ask for personal information via email, so if the company asks the candidate to fill out a Word document and send it via email, which would be an indicator of nefarious activity. Most larger companies use a hiring portal, such as Workday to manage recruits, so if they attacker is claiming to be from a large company, then sends the candidate a Word document, or even a link to fill out a JotForm or Google form, for example, then it would be a warning sign to the candidate that something unusual is happening.

Protecting your personal information in the job search

If youre on the job hunt, its important not to share all of your personal details right off the bat especially if youre uncertain about the legitimacy of a job posting.

A best practice for candidates is to visit the companys website by searching for it in a web browser, not using a website address that the scammer provided, Sullivan said. The job description should be listed on the companys official careers website. If the job is not listed, it could indicate the job is a scam.

What to do if youve fallen victim to a job scam

Job candidates who think they may have been targeted with a fake job opportunity can follow some steps to protect themselves.

Here are Sullivans best tips:

• If you immediately recognize the contact as fake, stop communicating with the scammer.

• Save the emails, text messages, or other documentation.

• Take screenshots of fake websites, write down the timeline of how the situation progressed, and preserve the evidence in a safe place.

• If the attacker obtained banking or other financial information, take immediate steps to notify your bank or credit card companies to report the fraud.

• If the attacker was able to obtain your SSN, contact the three credit reporting agencies and put a hold on your social security number. The IRS will mail you a PIN, effectively stopping attackers from using the SSN.

• Contact the Federal Trade Commission, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and report the fake ad to the job-seeking website where the candidate encountered the ad.

• If the attacker was impersonating a legitimate company, you can contact the company to provide the details of the attack to their security team.

A little flexibility and knowing when to book can help travelers keep more money in their wallets this holiday season

• Stay flexible: Shifting your travel dates or destination by even a day or two could help you find lower prices.

• Time your trip carefully: Avoiding peak travel days around Thanksgiving, such as the Wednesday before and Sunday after, may help you save.

• Consider alternatives to hotels: Splitting a vacation home with family or friends and cooking some meals yourself could lower your overall costs.

Thanksgiving travel can get expensive quickly, especially for people trying to squeeze in a trip during one of the busiest times of the year.

But travelers dont necessarily have to pay top dollar to get where theyre going. A few smart moves, such as being flexible with travel dates, comparing different options, and watching for last-minute deals, could help bring the cost down.

ConsumerAffairs spoke with Alex Alioto, co-founder and head of growth at Whimstay, who shared some tips for travelers looking to save on their Thanksgiving getaways. From when to start looking to where travelers may find the biggest opportunities for savings, a little planning can go a long way when holiday travel costs start adding up.

Stay flexible on dates and destination

This is Aliotos top piece of advice when it comes to finding deals on Thanksgiving travel.

Flexibility is your biggest lever, he said. Travelers who can shift their dates by a day or two, or consider a destination that isn't the obvious choice, almost always come out ahead.

He explained that November is still considered somewhat of the shoulder travel season that in-between peak travel season for a lot of ski and mountain destinations. If this is what youre looking for this Thanksgiving season, Alioto says youre likely to find solid deals in places like Lake Tahoe, where cabins and lodges are quieter and more relaxed than they'll be by Christmas.

Know when to book and when to travel

If youre traveling by plane over the holidays, its best to give yourself a bit more of a cushion in terms of when to book. But if youre taking a roadtrip, you have a bit more flexibility.

For flights, the sweet spot is generally a couple of months out, so if you haven't booked yet, now is the time to start watching fares, Alioto recommended. For accommodations, there's more room to wait. Many properties still have open dates as the holiday approaches, and owners often get more flexible on price once they see a Thanksgiving week that hasn't filled.

If you're driving to a drive-to destination, you have even more flexibility to book closer in.

If your plans arent set in stone yet, Alioto says there are some days to avoid around Thanksgiving week.

The peak days are the Wednesday before and the Sunday after, so avoiding those is the easiest way to save, he said. Flying on Thanksgiving Day itself, or on the Tuesday before, is typically cheaper, and returning on the Saturday after or the following Monday or Tuesday can help too. Even shifting by a single day can make a noticeable difference.

Get creative

One of the best ways to save on Thanksgiving travel is to think about how to maximize space for your money.

Instead of paying for two hotel rooms, a family can split a single home with multiple bedrooms, which usually works out cheaper per person, Alioto said.

A full kitchen is the other big one. Cooking a few meals yourselves, or even a Thanksgiving dinner, saves a lot compared with eating out for every meal on a holiday week, when restaurants are also more crowded and pricier. And a home gives everyone room to spread out, which matters when you're traveling with kids or extended family.

Final tips

Some of the last things to consider for Thanksgiving travel: shoulder days and last-minute booking.

Shoulder days are an easy win, Alioto said. Arriving a day or two before the holiday crush, or staying through the weekend after, can lower your nightly rate and make the trip feel less rushed.

Last-minute booking is worth a look too, since owners would often rather fill an open night at a discount than leave it empty. Tools built for that window, like Whimstay, can be a helpful place to check as your dates get closer, especially for bookings within about 30 days of check-in.

That quick stop at the exit can catch checkout mistakes including ones that cost you money

• It's not just theft prevention: Costco says the primary reason for checking receipts is to make sure purchases were processed correctly.

• It can catch an overcharge: The employee at the door isn't only looking for merchandise you didn't pay for.

• And yes, there's a reason for that Sharpie: Marking the receipt shows that it's already been checked.

You paid for your Costco haul. The cashier handed you a receipt. You're 20 feet from freedom and then you inevitably hit another line.

A Costco employee wants to see your receipt. It might seem redundant because after all, didn't a Costco employee, or Costco's self-checkout machine, just ring everything up?

But Costco says there's a practical reason for that final check, and it isn't simply to catch shoplifters: They're checking Costco's work, too.

According to Costco, receipt checks are standard practice at its warehouses because the company wants to make sure purchases were correctly processed by its cashiers. Costco calls the process an effective way of maintaining accurate inventory while also ensuring members were charged correctly.

In other words, the employee isn't just looking for a $50 package of steaks hidden under the toilet paper. They're also looking for checkout mistakes.

For example, perhaps the cashier accidentally scanned a case of drinks twice. Or maybe you bought two of an item but were charged for three. Or maybe you bought gift cards or an expensive item that needed retrieval. The check before you leave verifies that you actually received what you paid for.

The receipt check gives Costco one last chance to catch an error before you reach the parking lot.

Pro tip: Don't automatically treat the receipt checker as an obstacle between you and the Costco food court. If you've got an expensive or unusually large order, pay attention while they're checking. They could potentially spot a mistake you missed.

So what's with the Sharpie?

After looking at your cart and receipt, the Costco employee typically marks the receipt before handing it back. That black mark shows that the receipt has already gone through the exit-check process.

And that's where one of the more interesting Costco urban legends comes in.

The story goes that without the mark, a dishonest shopper could buy a cart full of merchandise, take it to the car, then walk back into Costco with the original receipt.

They could theoretically load another cart with the same merchandise, walk toward the exit, and present the original receipt as proof they'd paid for everything. Essentially getting two carts of merchandise for the price of one.

It's a clever explanation for the Sharpie, and variations of the story have circulated among Costco shoppers for years.

And those smiley faces employees sometimes draw for kids? That's more Costco tradition than sophisticated loss-prevention technology.

Can you just refuse the receipt check?

Costco isn't quite the same as walking out of a typical supermarket. It's a membership club, and its current membership conditions explicitly say that receipts and merchandise will be inspected as members leave the warehouse.

So when you become a Costco member, you're agreeing to the policy as part of the membership rules. That's an important distinction in the perennial debate over whether shoppers have to stop for receipt checkers.

At Costco, the simpler consumer answer is that you agreed to the receipt inspection when you signed up.

Trying to save 30 seconds by blowing past the employee at the door probably isn't worth turning it into a membership issue.

The receipt checker may actually save you money

It's easy to look at Costco's receipt check as loss prevention. And obviously, making sure merchandise leaving the warehouse has been paid for helps Costco control its inventory.

But Costco's own explanation emphasizes something shoppers sometimes overlook: The check also helps make sure you paid the correct amount.

So next time you're standing there wondering why someone needs to inspect a receipt that was printed 45 seconds ago, remember they're not necessarily checking whether you did something wrong they're checking if Costco did, too.

A new report finds secondhand purchases extend beyond thrift-store clothing

By Mark Huffman of ConsumerAffairs

• A new survey found that 76% of Americans bought something secondhand in the past year, while nearly nine in 10 have purchased used goods at some point.

• Younger consumers lead the trend, and nearly half of Americans already buy luxury items secondhand or would consider doing so.

• Rising prices could encourage more resale shopping, as 53% said they would likely buy used more often if new products become more expensive.

Browsing through thrift and second-hand stores has long been an enjoyable shopping experience for a niche group of consumers. With inflation, its gone mainstream.

Buying secondhand has become a routine part of shopping for many Americans, according to a new report from The Consumer Collective.

The consumer insights and advisory firms report, Second Nature: The State of Secondhand Shopping in America, found that 76% of Americans purchased used goods during the past year. Nearly nine in 10 have bought something secondhand at some point, according to the companys announcement.

The findings suggest resale is becoming an increasingly important competitor for retailers selling new merchandise.

Younger shoppers lead

Millennials had the highest rate of secondhand purchasing in the past year, at 89%, followed by Generation Z at 85%. Among Americans age 62 and older, 59% reported buying used.

The survey also found that 44% of respondents were buying more secondhand merchandise than two years earlier. That figure reached 66% among Gen Z consumers.

Luxury goods are part of the shift. Nearly half of respondents 49% already purchase luxury items used or would consider it. That figure measures both existing buyers and potential customers, rather than current purchases alone.

Prices could push more purchases toward resale

Higher prices for new products could strengthen demand for secondhand alternatives. Some 53% of respondents said they would likely shop secondhand more often if prices for new merchandise continued rising.

For some consumers, used goods already account for a substantial share of purchases: One in three said more than a quarter of what they buy is secondhand.

Jessica Ramrez, co-founder of The Consumer Collective, said the implications extend across product categories.

Over time, we expect to see consumers gravitation towards secondhand pull spend from other retailers, Ramrez said in the announcement.

That is the firms forecast, rather than a measured decline in traditional retail sales. But the survey points to a consumer audience increasingly willing to consider previously owned merchandise when deciding where to spend.

The findings come from an online survey of 400 U.S. adults conducted in August 2026. The firm says the figures were stratified to U.S. Census demographics unless otherwise noted. The results describe respondents reported shopping habits and intentions, rather than tracked retail transactions.