Consumer Minute: SS online, weddings, auto recall

In Thursday’s Consumer Minute:

Shopping Update
More details are coming out about holiday shopping.  According to a data company called “Spending Pulse,“ sales of apparel during the holiday shopping weeks, from Thanksgiving to New Year’s, was down more than 17 percent compared to last year.  Electronics sales dropped more than 21 percent, and luxury goods fell more than 27 percent.  Many retail stores are expected to release their numbers Thursday.

Nissan Recall
Nissan is recalling a quarter of a million trucks because of a problem with air bag sensors. The vehicles are Frontiers, Pathfinders and X-Terra, models from 2005 to 2009. The recall is being issued for vehicles in 20 “cold weather” states and the District of Columbia. That’s because the problems with a crash-zone senor that triggers the air bags, can be affected by snow and road salt. Connecticut and Massachusetts are on that list of cold-weather states.

Social Security
Social security officials have rolled out a new website for benefits applicants. They say applicants will be able to fill out their forms in 15 minutes or less.  The new system was needed because officials expect that soon, 10,000 people will be applying for their benefits—every day… And that pace will continue for the next 20 years as more than 80 million baby boomers become eligible for social security.

Weddings
Finally today, officials in New York are trying to compete with Las Vegas as a destination for brides and grooms.  There’s now an “Express” wedding chapel in Manhattan. The city of New York built the 24,000 square foot complex, and staffed with city clerks, in hopes of becoming the top wedding destination in the world.