Walmart scams, expensive recycling, and overdraft fees

The Indicator from Planet Money

NPR

Business

4.7 • 9.5K Ratings

🗓️ 19 January 2024

⏱️ 11 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

It is Friday. And Indicators of the Week is back — Plastics Edition. Today, we dig into how fraudsters have used Walmart gift cards to scam consumers out of more than $1 billion. We also find out why recycled plastic is actually more expensive now than newly produced plastic. And we learn how overdraft fees might be going way down.

Related Articles
ProPublica - How Walmart's Financial Services Became a Fraud Magnet

Financial Times - Petrochemical glut makes new plastic cheaper than recycled

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Overdraft fees: From perk to penalty

The problem with banning plastic bags

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Transcript

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0:00.0	NPR This is the indicator from Planet Money. I'm Adrian Ma here with Darien Woods.
0:15.0	That's right. And Planet Money Dynamo Nick Fountain.
0:20.0	So stoked to be here.
0:22.0	Well, thank you for joining us.
0:24.0	Welcome everybody to Indicators of the Week.
0:27.0	So Indicators of the Week,
0:31.0	so Indicators of the week,
0:32.0	three of the most fascinating numbers that come up in the news
0:35.0	we explain them and tell you what it means. That's right we're bringing you three
0:39.4	snapshots of what's going on in today's global economy all tied together with the theme of plastic.
0:45.6	Zip tied, shrink wrapped, prepared, fresh for you.
0:49.6	On today's episode we're going to look at how Walmart gift cards are being used to defraud people out of a lot of money.
0:55.6	We'll consider the changing economics of the plastic business,
0:59.6	and we look at a new effort to limit overdraft fees.
1:03.0	And to get us the week!
1:04.0	And to get the week!
1:08.0	Support for this podcast and the following message come from Wise,
1:12.0	the account that helps you manage your money all around the world.
1:15.0	You want your money to move fast, especially across borders.
1:18.0	That's why Wise built the best way to send, spend, and receive money internationally, min fees, max ease, full speed.
1:25.6	Learn more about how the WISE account could work for you by downloading the app.
1:30.3	Support for this podcast and the following message come from Wies, the account that helps you manage your money all around the world.
	...

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