News
Consumers deserve their money back if they canceled a flight due to COVID
Too many Americans know the story: You choose to cancel a plane trip due to the ongoing pandemic, but you don’t get your money back from the airline.
Instead, you get a voucher for a future flight. But an estimated 55% of vouchers for unused tickets will expire in 2021, despite the fact that we’re three months away from 2022 and the virus is still raging in much of the country. Electing not to fly during a pandemic shouldn’t mean having to watch your money evaporate in an expiring voucher.
Airlines should give consumers their money back, plain and simple — and Fair Share is organizing people like you to make that happen.
Thousands of Americans have already called on major airlines to provide full cash refunds for canceled flights. If enough of us speak up, the airlines won’t be able to ignore it any longer. Add your name today.
Last year, the U.S. Department of Transportation received 57 times as many complaints about air travel refunds compared with 2019.
But federal law doesn’t provide much help in the case of a once-in-a-century pandemic. Currently, refunds are only required when an airline cancels a flight itself, not when consumers cancel their trips out of concern for their health.
Millions of Americans have been prevented from flying because of government restrictions, public health notices, or serious medical conditions that made flying during the pandemic unsafe. It's simply not fair that airlines haven't offered refunds to all customers affected by COVID-19 — especially now, with the Delta variant surging.
Send a message to 10 major airlines: It's long past time to fully refund pandemic-related flight cancellations.
Tell the Senate: We need the right to fair repair
Why can't we get our own stuff fixed?
As tech companies block their customers from repairing their gadgets and push them to buy new, it's a question that's costing consumers and the environment alike. That's why we need legislation guaranteeing our right to repair the things we own.
Tell your U.S. senators today to back right to fair repair legislation.
When manufacturers make items like smartphones, printers and even tractors unnecessarily inconvenient, costly or impossible to repair, they put a strain on everything from our pocketbooks to our planet.
This practice creates vast amounts of unnecessary electronic waste — in 2019, the United States alone contributed 7.6 million tons to our planet’s growing e-waste problem. This e-waste can leach toxic chemicals into our environment, harming people and the environment.
It’s also depleting our planet’s resources. At our current rate, we’re on track to deplete the natural resources for six key components of smartphones in the next century. But if every American held onto their phone for one year longer, we could reduce that raw material consumption by 42.5 million pounds every day.
Finally, it’s making customers pay when they don’t need to. Every year, American consumers could save $40 billion if they could repair their things instead of buying new ones.
We need a change. We need the right to fair repair now.
Manufacturers are ready to spend big to fight right to fair repair legislation — and they have lots to spend. The combined worth of the companies fighting this legislation totals more than $10 trillion.
But across the country, the winds of change are blowing. So far in 2021, more than half the states have introduced legislation supporting our right to fair repair, a similar federal bill was introduced in Congress in June, and in July President Biden issued an executive order that, among other things, encouraged the Federal Trade Commission to push back against anti-competitive repair restrictions.
We can keep this momentum going -- but we’ll need to stand up and speak out. Tell your senators today to support our right to fair repair.
The unfair banking practice costing customers billions
Your total for that gallon of milk will be $37 — $2 for the milk and $35 for overdrawing your bank account.
Every year, banks rake in billions on predatory overdraft fees that hit low-income and vulnerable customers the hardest. Customers deserve transparency from their banks on overdraft policies — and they need protection from repetitive punitive fees.
Tell your U.S. representative to protect average Americans and support the Overdraft Protection Act.
Overdraft fees take place when a customer makes a purchase that exceeds the funds in their checking account. Banks will cover the charge, apply a fee, and collect the balance when funds are next available.
That sounds fair in theory — but in practice, banks often use opaque rules and unfair charging practices.
Legally, banks can’t charge overdraft fees without the customer’s consent. If customers decline overdraft coverage and make a purchase that would exceed their balance, that purchase would be declined. If they opt into an overdraft program, the purchase goes through — and they incur the fees.
But this gets sticky when banks misrepresent how the overdraft coverage works. When banks present the opt-in as mandatory, customers agree to pay fees without knowing that they could have avoided them.
Customers deserve transparency — tell your representative to ensure they get it.
Making things worse, many banks have adopted the practice charging multiple fees — sometimes leading to charges of over $200 in a single day. Some banks have even reordered transactions to apply more overdraft fees.
These unfair practices have allowed banks to collect more than $11 billion each year. And they disproportionately harm low-income and vulnerable consumers — sometimes even forcing them out of the banking system altogether.
A small transaction shouldn’t cost consumers hundreds.
That’s why Fair Share is supporting the Overdraft Protection Act. This bill would require banks to provide greater transparency on overdraft protection programs, and it would limit banks to charging a maximum of one overdraft fee per month and six fees per year.
Tell your representative to be an advocate for fair banking practices.
U.S. produces 6.9 million tons of electronic waste annually
In 2019, the United States produced 6.9 million metric tons of electronic waste — roughly the equivalent of 38,000 blue whales.
In part, this is a crisis manufactured by tech companies, who make it unnecessarily difficult to repair their gadgets, encouraging customers to buy new and trash the old. We should be able to get our electronics fixed — and a new bill in Congress could make that happen.
Tell your U.S. representative today to back the Digital Fair Repair Act.
It’s a familiar story: a computer that won’t stop freezing, a smartphone with a cracked screen, or a laptop with sticky keys that won’t unstick.
But when you try to get it fixed, you can’t find the parts or instructions you need. You go to your local repair shop or the fix-it booth at the mall, and they can’t find what they need either. So your only option is to take it back to the manufacturer, which charges you outrageous prices to fix your stuff — because they’re the only ones who can.
If the price is too high, or if they won’t fix it at all, then your gadget winds up in the trash, and you have to replace it.
When electronics manufacturers put up barriers to repair their items, they don’t just make it harder for us to get our own stuff fixed. They also contribute to a ballooning e-waste problem that’s polluting our planet.
But it doesn’t have to be this way. That’s why we at Fair Share are working to win reforms across the country that will guarantee our right to repair our own stuff.
And now, we have the chance to make that change on the national level. Tell your U.S. representative to support the Digital Fair Repair Act to ensure our right to fair repair.
Across the country, we’ve been making serious progress toward winning the right to fair repair. Right to Repair legislation is now being considered in more than half the states, and President Biden’s recent executive order endorsing the right to fair repair just gave our movement a new breath of air.
But if the fight for fair repair in statehouses across the country is any indication, we’ll face stiff industry opposition. Collectively, the tech companies that are fighting our right to fair repair are worth over $10.7 trillion — and they’re willing to spend big bucks to defeat Right to Repair legislation.
We’ll need to stand together to stand up to this big money. By rallying thousands of supporters across the country, we can make it clear to Congress that the people want the right to fair repair — and we can win.
Will you help us win the right to fair repair?
Let's make universal broadband a reality
So much of our life happens online. Work, school, paying bills, applying for jobs, seeing the doctor — no matter how we use it, the internet is an essential utility in the 21st century.
But too many Americans are forced offline because of inadequate access to broadband. The Biden administration's bipartisan plan to fund nationwide broadband is a commonsense way to close this digital divide.
Tell your U.S. representative to support this plan and help make universal broadband a reality.
The past year has shown us that reliable access to the internet increasingly is a requirement for education, employment, medicine and more.
Still, more than 30 million Americans — in rural and urban areas alike — don’t have access to high-speed internet. For those who need to work or attend school remotely, this lack of access creates a major barrier with serious consequences.
However, things could be changing. By devoting $100 billion to increasing broadband access, the Biden administration’s new infrastructure plan could help erase this digital divide.
We can help convince Congress to make this bill law. Tell your representative to take action.
These days, there aren’t many issues that many Republicans and Democrats agree on. Improving our country’s broadband infrastructure is one of them.
The president’s proposed infrastructure bill includes many common-sense reforms — such as making it easier for municipally-owned providers to compete with private entities to provide broadband.
But to help bring high-speed internet to all Americans, we’ll need help from Congress. Add your name today.
Corporate wrongdoing shouldn't be a tax write-off
Dozens of states have alleged that several pharmaceutical companies ignored indications that their opioid pills were being steered toward people who abused them.
Those states sued, and the four pharmaceutical companies -- Johnson & Johnson, Cardinal Health, AmerisourceBergen and McKesson -- are nearing an agreement to pay a combined $26 billion in compensation to communities harmed by the epidemic. But a tax loophole allows those companies to use that settlement to claim massive tax deductions.
This isn’t how our tax system should work. Tell Congress: Companies shouldn’t be able to claim tax write-offs on money paid to compensate victims.
Pharmaceuticals aren’t the only companies using this loophole to cash in on their wrongdoing.
In April 2010, an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico operated by BP exploded and sank, resulting in the largest oil spill in the history of marine oil drilling. BP signaled it would write off the $32.3 billion charge incurred for the disaster response -- saving $10 billion on its tax bill.
Tax deductions shouldn’t pay for corporate wrongdoing.
Tell Congress: Close this loophole.
This problem is built into our tax laws, which allow companies to count as a “loss” any payments they make as restitution to those harmed by their actions. That means that, come tax time, those restitution payments make the company eligible for a tax refund.
Tax deductions are meant to encourage good corporate behavior -- such as charitable giving -- not subsidize corporate disasters that hurt average Americans.
That’s why we're calling on our U.S. representatives to pass legislation to require the Internal Revenue Service to revise the rule that allows companies to claim tax write-offs for money paid in restitution.
Join the right to fair repair movement
The world has a ballooning electronic waste problem. We produced nearly 59 million tons of e-waste in 2019 — enough to equal the weight of 162 Empire State Buildings.
This crisis is a result of electronics manufacturers’ deliberate policies. When manufacturers like Apple make their electronics unnecessarily difficult to repair, they encourage consumers to buy brand new gadgets and toss their old ones in a landfill.
This problem is entirely avoidable. If we were allowed to fix our own stuff, we could cut down on this unnecessary e-waste.
That's why we need you to tell your state representative to support our right to fair repair.
Aside from the sheer numbers, e-waste poses unique threats to our environment and health. E-waste is often hazardous and contains toxic chemicals, such as lead and mercury, that can leach into groundwater.
On top of that, electronics manufacturers’ lobbying power poses a distinct obstacle to the policies — such as legislation guaranteeing our right to repair — that would address this issue.
In 2019, for example, Apple lobbied California lawmakers to try to defeat Right to Repair legislation in that state, and the bill was ultimately pulled.
Against this sort of lobbying, we need to raise as many voices as possible. That’s why we need you to urge your state representative today to support Right to Repair legislation.
Despite this opposition from manufacturers, the right to repair movement is gaining momentum. Already, half the country is considering Right to Repair legislation.
This legislation could provide a crucial step in making it easier for us to fix our own stuff — and keep it out of a landfill.
But to give these bills hope, we need to make it clear that the public supports the right to repair. Tell your state representative: Let us fix what we own
What you can do to keep Wall Street in check
Under the Trump administration, this is what consumer protection looked like: $1 fines for rule-breaking banks and leaving Wall Street regulation in the hands of anti-regulation insiders. But that all could change soon.
The Biden administration has nominated Rohit Chopra, a true champion for consumers, to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). Chopra helped build the Consumer Bureau from the ground up in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, and if confirmed, he would revitalize the bureau that Trump had left toothless.
But we’ll need every Senate vote we can get to confirm him. Tell your U.S. senators to confirm Rohit Chopra as CFPB director.
The Consumer Bureau was created to protect consumers from the sorts of abuses and reckless industry behavior that had first precipitated the Great Recession. During its first six years in the Obama administration, the CFPB was responsible for returning $12 billion to consumers.
But in 2017, the Trump administration turned the CFPB’s mission on its head. Over the past four years, it rolled back key protections for consumers and put supporters of Wall Street deregulation in charge of regulating Wall Street.
In one of the most glaring examples of this behavior, a task force created in 2019 to oversee financial regulations was packed with people representing the interests of the financial industry.
With Chopra at the helm, we have a chance to restore the Consumer Bureau. Tell your U.S. senators: Confirm Rohit Chopra.
With Rohit Chopra’s nomination, we have a chance to restore the CFPB to its original mission.
He has a tested track record at the CFPB. In the agency’s earliest days, he served as its first student loan ombudsman, where he spoke out against ballooning student loans. And in a Senate hearing on March 2, he promised that a CFPB under his leadership would make corporate offenders pay for defrauding consumers.
Recognizing the impending scrutiny banks are about to face, financial interests are highly motivated to block Chopra’s confirmation. That’s why we’re equally motivated to get him through the door.
We need every vote we can get. Tell your senator: We need Rohit Chopra at the CFPB.
Tell Amazon: No price gouging during a pandemic
Online price spikes of up to 200 percent on essential supplies shouldn’t have been allowed at the beginning of the pandemic -- and they certainly shouldn’t still be happening a year later.
But an analysis by U.S. PIRG Education Fund found that pandemic price hikes are still a major problem on Amazon. Out of 750 listings surveyed -- including masks, hand sanitizers, thermometers and patio heaters -- 409 saw price increases of more than 20 percent, and 136 at least doubled in price.
That’s unacceptable -- especially during a pandemic when so many of those products are essential to families’ health and safety. That’s why we’re calling on Amazon to do everything possible to ensure fair pricing on its site. Add your name today.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, unscrupulous sellers have been using the crisis to unfairly inflate prices of essential goods. And Amazon, the world’s largest online retailer, has had some of the most egregious examples -- such as a 50-ml bottle of hand sanitizer for $459.
After more than 350,000 people -- plus dozens of state lawmakers and attorneys general -- called on Amazon to take stronger action to prevent price gouging on its site, the company insisted it has a zero-tolerance policy for price gouging. But nearly a year later, Amazon was not fully living up to that promise.
In December, a survey of 750 products across 15 different categories revealed that, compared to pre-pandemic costs, more than half of the listing prices increased by 20 percent or more. One hundred and thirty-six products doubled in price -- and one cost a staggering $4,000 more than it did last year.
Amazon has a Marketplace Fair Pricing Policy for a reason -- it’s time for stronger action to enforce it. Send your message to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos today.
Tell your senators: Don't let repair restrictions keep hospitals from fixing lifesaving medical equipment
Say you’re working in a hospital. If a key piece of medical equipment breaks down -- perhaps one of the ventilators that are so vital during this pandemic — you’ll want your technicians to be able to fix it right away.
Too often, though, medical technicians can’t even access the service manual they need to repair essential medical equipment because they’re blocked by restrictions set up by the manufacturer.
Lives are at stake: Join us in calling on the U.S. Senate to pass emergency legislation to give medical repair technicians the right to repair lifesaving machines.
Last year, our network partner U.S. PIRG Education Fund surveyed more than 200 medical repair professionals and found that nearly half of them had been denied access to the ”critical repair information, parts or service keys” they need to get broken machines up and running.
This is simply not acceptable — and it could put patients' lives at risk.
That’s why we need the Senate to pass the Critical Medical Infrastructure Right-to-Repair Act, emergency legislation that would give qualified repair professionals access to the service information and tools they need to fix medical devices during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Tell your senators: Don’t let repair restrictions cost lives. Pass the Critical Medical Infrastructure Right-to-Repair Act.