Consumer World Original

Mouse Print*-- Groupon's Excessive Emails Amount to Spam

MrConsumer's email box has been flooded with emails from Groupon this past year to the point where he was getting up to a dozen emails a day from them. In my book, that is abusive. That story is in Mouse Print* this week.

Warning: Postmarks in 2026 May Not Reflect Actual Date of Mailing

The U.S. Postal Service just announced that mail will no longer necessarily be postmarked with the date it was deposited in a mailbox or brought to the post office. The new postmark date will be the date the mail goes through their automatic sorting machine, which could be up to a few days later. This means that things dependent on the date of mailing, like tax returns, may result in late penalties if mailed at the last minute. And election ballots may not be counted. So if you are mailing anything deadline sensitive, go to the post office and have the clerk hand cancel the envelope with that day's date.

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Consumer Rights Hit Hard in 2025

This past year was not good for consumers with ever-rising prices because of inflation, tariffs, and supply issues. For millions of policyholders, inaction by Congress means that loss of health insurance subsidies will result in their premiums doubling. And more broadly, consumer rights took a big hit too with consumer agencies' regulations, funding, and mission facing cuts and changes. Here is an AI-generated list of consumer rights and protections we lost in 2025.

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Consumer Investigation

Some Restaurants Misrepresent Whether Their Food is Halal

More and more restaurants claim the food they serve is "halal." That means it is prepared according to Islamic guidelines not too dissimilar from Kosher food. CBC Marketplace in Canada went undercover to see if restaurants could answer even basic questions about which foods they sell are halal. No surprise, they couldn't. The show advocates for adopting a New Jersey law that requires stores and restaurants to post a halal disclosure statement with specifics. Here is the print version of this story.

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