Loyalty cards not going away

When Shaw's Supermarkets ended its 13-year-old loyalty card program, it bucked a well-established retail practice of collecting as much data as possible about customers and their buying habits.

With the move, the West Bridgewater chain — according to retail marketing experts — essentially abandoned the best way to connect with shoppers.

"I don't think you're going to see more retailers following suit," said Bill Bishop, an Illinois supermarket consultant. "It represents a bet that they can be successful without having a one-on-one connection with their shoppers, and I don't think that's true today."

Shaw's new parent company, AB Acquisitions, eliminated loyalty cards last month in its various supermarket chains, including its flagship Albertsons.

In lieu of the cards — which gave shoppers, in exchange for their participation in the program, access to discounts and special offers — Shaw's said it's lowering prices on thousands of items for all shoppers.

"Tracking individual shopping habits isn't as critical to our overall strategy development as knowing what our customers in our neighborhoods are shopping for at each store," spokesman Steve Sylven said. "We can track item movement by store to derive much of the data that we need to make purchasing and market decisions."

But Shaw's is an anomaly, according to Florida retail marketing consultant Mark Heckman.

"There's a world of opportunity now with just knowing what category customers are shopping in, because there's nutritional information and a lot of other things that retailers are starting to get content on to target (them)," he said.

Quincy's Stop & Shop operates one of the best loyalty card programs, Heckman said, aggressively using customer data to target its best shoppers and segment shoppers according to behavior.

Stop & Shop debuted its card in 1994, and customer benefits include weekly specials, items on sale for multiple weeks and other promotional programs, including gas rewards.

"We benefit as a business to better know what customers want and need from us," spokeswoman Suzi Robinson said. "There are various aspects of data we evaluate — from shopping frequency to what customers buy."

But Shaw's is following a few other grocery chains that focus on price in lieu of loyalty cards, including Hannaford Supermarkets.

"We've never had one," said Michael Norton, spokesman for the Maine-based chain. "We've always had what the industry refers to as 'everyday low prices.' There's a cost associated with (loyalty cards), which makes it harder to offer the pricing you want."

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Egyptian unrest trips hike in crude oil prices

Crude oil prices surged yesterday on a better-than-expected U.S. jobs report and concern about escalating unrest and violence in Egypt.

U.S. crude oil futures hit a 14-month high, climbing more than $1.98 per barrel to close at $103.22, after hitting a peak of $103.32. Brent crude for August delivery, meanwhile, touched a three-month high of $107.88 and settled at $107.72, up $2.18.

Oil has been on a fairly strong, bullish trend over the past two weeks, according to Addison Armstrong, senior director of market research at energy investment advisors Tradition Energy in Stamford, Conn.

"(The) unemployment report was just another in a recent series of good macro-economic data about the U.S. economy, which also helps support the view that demand for oil will increase," Armstrong told the Herald.

The job growth suggests a stronger economy makes it more likely the Federal Reserve will slow its bond purchases, which have kept interest rates low, boosting investments such as stocks and oil.

In Egypt, meanwhile, protests over the ouster of Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi turned violent.

Those headlines also helped to support the bullish momentum, Armstrong said.

Egypt is not an oil-producer, but its control of the Suez Canal, one of the world's busiest shipping lanes, gives it a crucial role in maintaining global energy supplies.

But, Armstrong added, "I don't think professional traders have any expectation of serious disruption of oil from the Middle East because of the potential closure of the Suez Canal."

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Set loft-y goals in sunny JP unit

Carved out of a former carriage factory in Jamaica Plain, this authentic-looking loft has brick walls throughout and gets lots of light from a wall of front-facing windows.

Unit 9 at 172 Green St. is one of 14 units in a former brick carriage factory built by Hub entrepreneur Patrick Meehan in 1880 in the Brookside industrial area of Jamaica Plain, near the Green Street Orange Line T station.

The building was converted into condos in 1999-2000 in a way that preserved much of the original brick-and beam look, but with new windows and systems.

The 1,677-square-foot loft, which has a walled-off bedroom and a granite and cherrywood kitchen added in 2006, is on the market for $699,000.

The unit is dominated by one long room with areas for a living room, dining space and a home office. The 10-foot ceilings and columns feature original wood beams and the refinished floors are dark-stained maple.

This open area gets lots of light from 10 front-facing windows and three side windows, all with brick arches overhead.

The living room has a center gas fireplace fed by a metal duct, part of a network of ductwork across the ceiling.

A set of wood beams sets off a dining area with contemporary lighting overhead.

And there's another area in the large room currently used as a home office.

Off the dining area is the unit's large full bathroom with granite floors, a Corian-topped vanity and a one-piece Fiberglas shower.

Adjacent is a laundry/utility room with a stacked Kenmore washer and dryer. There's also a good amount of pantry and storage space in this room that also holds the unit's forced-hot-air-by-gas heating and an electric central air-conditioning system added in 2004.

Perpendicular to the home office area is the kitchen, redone in 2006. The kitchen has cherrywood cabinets, some with glass fronts, and absolute black granite counters, including an area with a breakfast bar. There's overhead and pendant lighting and refinished maple floors.

The owners also added stainless-steel appliances, including a high-end DCS gas stove, an LG refrigerator and a Bosch dishwasher.

Off the kitchen, the current owners built a wall with custom woodwork in 2006 to create a private 16-by-13-foot bedroom whose entrance features two glass doors with transom windows and track lights above. The bedroom has brick walls and two front-facing windows. There's also a double-door closet.

An added amenity is that the unit comes with a good-sized private storage room in the building's basement.

There's a common outdoor patio in the back of the building, where there's also parking. The unit comes with one deeded parking space.

Broker: Denise Smigielski of McCormack & Scanlan Real Estate at 617-905-2098

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Hyundai does luxury right

The 2013 Azera, which is slotted between Hyundai's Sonata and Genesis, is one of six sedans in the Korean automaker's 10-model lineup. I'm amazed that Hyundai offers that many models, but I shouldn't be surprised, Hyundais are everywhere you look these days. But with all those models, it's difficult to distinguish the Azera from the others.

The Azera's $33,000 base price puts the sedan in direct competition with the Ford Taurus, Nissan Maxima and Buick LaCrosse. Our test model included a technology package that hiked the price up to $37,000, which certainly doesn't make the Azera a bargain, but it remains competitive when you consider that the sedan is loaded with luxury features.

Dual-zone climate controls, heated seats throughout, and touch screen navigation with a back-up camera are all part of the Azera's standard equipment package. Power seat adjustments mounted near the door handles made it easy to see the controls and tweak the driver's seat positions. Interior space was ample with plenty of head and foot room in the backseat.

The Azera's $4,000 technology package included ventilated front seats that cooled the Azera's leather interior after it baked in the June sun. Rear and side window sunshades also helped keep the sedan cool. The shades also gave the Azera's two-tone camel and black interior an upscale feel. A panoramic tilt and slide sunroof opened up the roof for both front and backseat passengers. Xenon headlights and a powerful Infinity stereo rounded out the package. While these features were appreciated, if I were buying an Azera, I think I'd hold on to the extra $4,000.

Our test Azera was painted in a bronze metallic with plenty of chrome trim and was set on 19-inch wheels. A push-button-ignition turned over the sedan's 3.3 liter V6 engine that produced 293 horsepower. The engine and 6-speed transmission combined to return 23 mpg overall. The Azera's acceleration was smooth with a comfortable ride quality and had minimal road noise. While the Azera's front-wheel drive is welcome for winter driving in New England, it did hinder the sedan's handling.

If you're considering a Sonata, the Azera might be worth a look. The extra $10,000 gets you more room and a cabin loaded with luxury touches. Better performance and handling can be found with the rear-wheel-drive Genesis that offers a choice of a V6 or a V8 engine mated to an 8-speed automatic. The Genesis has a base price of $35,000.

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Mills joins 22 other states in letter to Google

AUGUSTA, Maine — Maine's attorney general is urging Google to put in place more and better transparency and privacy controls.

Janet Mills joined 22 other state's attorneys general in a letter to Google CEO Larry Page this week that says they will be monitoring Google's activities related to consumer privacy.

In the letter, the attorneys general express concern that "consumers have no one place they can go view and manage the vast amounts of information that Google collects and analyzes about them across different products."

Mills says in a statement that she is encouraged by some improvements Google has made in areas like notifying consumers about their privacy controls and how to access them. Those changes were made after 36 state attorneys general sent a letter to Page last year.

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Insurance dispute won’t stop soccer match at Gillette

Tonight's New England Revolution home soccer match will proceed, despite ongoing differences between Gillette Stadium owner the Kraft Group and the town of Foxboro over event liability insurance.

Foxboro town counsel Dick Gelerman said the town would allow the game to be played for public safety issues, but it continues to dispute whether the Kraft Group is in compliance with new event license conditions.

"I've notified them that we do not think they are," Gelerman said. "They disagree, but we're not going to stop the event. We think doing so would be harmful to public safety. People won't get the notice. It's not safe to try and turn away a crowd."

At issue is an increase in the town's deductible for liability insurance from claims stemming from games and other events at Gillette Stadium, which jumped from $7,500 per claim to $50,000 per claim as of June 30. In March, the town imposed a new event license condition for Gillette events that requires the Kraft Group to insure the town "in the form satisfactory to us," according to Gelerman.

With no agreement reached Wednesday, the town had asked the Kraft Group to meet one of two conditions by 5 p.m. yesterday for the event license to be issued: Cover the $42,500 per-claim difference or increase its own liability insurance with the hope that the town's insurer would lower its deductible back to $7,500.

Neither condition was met, but the town decided to let the game proceed regardless.

"We put (the Kraft Group) on notice that if there is a problem at the game, the liability is theirs," Gelerman said, noting the town hopes to continue to work with the Kraft Group to resolve the issue. "We're going to try to solve this before the next event."

Spokesman Stacey James said the Kraft Group believes it's satisfied all possible license conditions and has the appropriate insurance to host the game.

The issue that remains unresolved is a "town insurance matter" which the Kraft Group has worked diligently to help the town resolve, providing multiple alternatives for its consideration, James said.

"Unfortunately, there are some who are demanding us to do more than we are allowed to do under the laws of the Commonwealth," James said. "Rather than working together constructively to find ways to insure the town, some choose to be obstructionists by creating unnecessary obstacles in the process. We will continue to work with responsible town leaders to properly address public safety, insurance and licensing issues."

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Ex-fans line up in Mass. to dump Hernandez jersey

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — Hundreds of one-time fans are trading in their Aaron Hernandez jerseys.

The New England Patriots are letting fans trade in their No. 81 jerseys for a different one on Saturday and Sunday.

The ex-Patriots tight end has been charged with the murder in the death of 27-year-old semi-pro football player Odin Lloyd. He has pleaded not guilty.

The Patriots released Hernandez shortly after he was arrested on June 26.

Team spokesman Stacey James says children love wearing Patriots gear but may not understand why their parents don't want them wearing Hernandez's jersey.

The jerseys must have been purchased at the team shop at Gillette Stadium or its online store.

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Moms create laundry-free sheets, linens

Sure, all parents worry when they send their kids off to college for the first time. But by the end of the first semester, Kirsten Lambert and Joan Ripple discovered a very disturbing fact: College kids hate to wash their bed sheets, so they don't ... for weeks, even months.

"We joked about sending them paper sheets you find in doctors' offices," Ripple said.

Instead, the two Hingham mothers founded Beantown Bedding and introduced Bedsox laundry-free linens.

Bedsox, they say, are comfortable to sleep on, hypoallergenic and can be used for weeks, making them ideal for college, camp, vacation homes and home health care.

They're also chemical- and dye-free and made from wood pulp, which makes them biodegradable and compostable.

Prices range from $9.99 for a set of two pillowcases to $25 for a twin sheet set and $27.99 for a queen sheet set.

Their motto: "Just toss, don't wash!"

Before launching their website last summer, Lambert and Ripple tested their products with students at 22 universities, including Stonehill College and Boston University.

Today, Bedsox are at universities in Massachusetts and 11 other states, where they're used for academic and sports camps.

Lambert and Ripple are also exploring other markets, including lodging facilities, the military and prisons.

"Our goal is to provide a convenient product," Ripple said, "but also to give back to society in some way."

So Beantown Bedding donates sheets to Camp Sunshine, a retreat in Sebago, Maine, for children with life-threatening illnesses and their families, who would otherwise be asked to bring sheets of their own.

In May, Lambert and Ripple found out their company was among 128 finalists MassChallenge had chosen out of 1,200 applicants to compete in its four-month accelerator and $1.3 million competition.

"I called Joan and said, 'I just want to know if you're ready,' and she said, 'For what?'" Lambert said. "I said, 'To move into One Marina Park Drive (MassChallenge's offices)," and then she screamed. It's like being accepted into Harvard."

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Flying car on a roll

Fifteen months after it created a sensation at the New York International Auto Show, Terrafugia's "flying car" will make its first airshow appearance later this month, as the Woburn company works on a next-generation prototype.

The Transition is scheduled to fly and drive July 31 at the Experimental Aircraft Association AirVenture in Oshkosh, Wisc.

"We've had the vehicle on display there since 2006, and every year, people ask us when they can see it fly," said Richard Gersh, vice president of business development. "So we're very excited about the chance to demonstrate before a very large and enthusiastic crowd."

The company did a demonstration at Lawrence Municipal Airport last October for a select group of investors and prospective buyers, Gersh said, but AirVenture will be the Transition's first airshow.

The road-ready light sport aircraft still has a long way to go before it's ready for production, though.

In August 2012, Terrafugia said it had received more than 100 orders for the $279,000 aircraft, and the first delivery was expected this September.

But testing — and a new prototype that could be done by the end of this year — has pushed back that date to early 2015 or 2016, assuming the Transition wins certification from the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

"Based on what we've learned from testing, our engineers have called for some changes," Gersh said. "But the overall look of the vehicle will be very similar."

Robert Mann, an airline industry analyst and former airline industry executive, said the delays are indicative of the central problem Terrafugia faces.

"You see the difficulty in trying to be a compromise between a land vehicle and an aircraft," Mann said. "When you compromise, you tend to not do either very well."

But Jake Schultz, a technical analyst for Boeing and author of "A Drive in the Clouds: The Story of the Aerocar," tips his hat to how far the Transition has come.

"I ... look forward to what this team still has in their old kit bag," Schultz wrote in an email. "Their team has not sat on the sidelines and talked about what could be done some day. They are out working every day to actually make it happen. There have only been two flying cars that have been certified — the Aerocar and the Airphibian — so theirs will be the first in nearly 60 years."

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Japan set to restart reactors after nuclear crisis

TOKYO — Japan is moving a step closer to restarting nuclear reactors as utilities are set to ask for safety inspections at their idled reactors, the clearest sign of a return to nuclear energy nearly two and a half years after the Fukushima disaster.

With all but two of its 50 reactors off line since the crisis, Japan has been without nuclear energy that once supplied about a third of its power.

Four of nine Japanese nuclear plant operators — supplying the regions of Hokkaido, Kansai, Shikoku and Kyushu — will apply for inspections by the Nuclear Regulation Authority for 10 reactors at five plants Monday, when new safety requirements take effect. Applications for two more reactors are expected later in the week.

Reactors that pass the stricter rules will be allowed to reopen possibly early next year, with each inspection expected to take several months. Critics say the rules have loopholes, including grace periods for some safety equipment.

Hit by soaring gas and oil costs to run conventional power plants to make up for the shortfall, Japanese utility companies have desperately sought to put their reactors back online.

Nearly all the utilities owning nuclear power plants reported huge losses last fiscal year due to higher costs for fuel imports. Hokkaido Electric Power Co., for example, said it has been hit with additional daily fuel costs of 600 million yen ($6 million) to make up for three idled reactors. Nuclear operators have requested rate hikes or plan to do so.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has pushed for restarts since taking office in December, freezing the previous government's nuclear phase-out plan. Resumption of nuclear power plants is part of his ruling party's campaign platform in parliamentary elections in two weeks.

New rules for the first time require plants to guard against radiation leaks in the case of severe accidents, install emergency command centers and enact anti-terrorist measures. Operators are required to upgrade protection for tsunamis and earthquakes, as well as tornadoes and aviation accidents.

Safety was previously left up to the operators, relying on their self-interest in protecting their investments as an incentive for implementing adequate measures. Tokyo Electric Power Co. came under fire for underestimating the risk of a tsunami and building a seawall that was less than half the height of the wave that hit Fukushima Dai-ichi and caused multiple meltdowns and massive radiation leaks. About 160,000 evacuees still cannot return home.

"We decided to apply because we're confident about the safety measures we've taken," said Shota Okada, a spokesman at Hokkaido Electric Power Co., filing for the triple-reactor Tomari plant. "We'll do everything to accommodate a smooth inspection process."

Critics say the requirements have loopholes that make things easier for operators, including a five-year grace period — given to reactors known as PWRs that come with larger containment chambers considered less likely to suffer from pressure buildup than ones like those ravaged at Fukushima — for taking some mandated steps. This means half of the 48 reactors that use a pressurized water system could operate without the features for up to five years.

All 10 reactors set for inspections are PWRs, and filtered vents and command centers are reportedly still under way at many of them.

The approvals are aimed at resuming reactor operations even though nearby communities lag in enacting needed emergency and evacuation procedures, and the restarts will cause more nuclear waste, plutonium stockpiles and other safety and environmental risks, said a group of experts headed by Hosei University sociologist Harutoshi Funabashi.

The critics say running nuclear plants will eventually become a financial burden, as safety upgrades under the new requirements add up and the cost of decommissioning aging reactors and waste cleanup jump. Even initial safety upgrades are estimated to exceed a combined total of 1 trillion yen ($10 billion).

TEPCO, struggling with huge compensation and disaster cleanup costs, wanted to apply to restart two reactors in Niigata, central Japan, but was forced to postpone that amid local protests.

Niigata Gov. Hirohiko Izumida on Friday accused TEPCO President Naomi Hirose of ignoring the local communities: "Money or safety, which is more important?"

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