If you are someone who has shied away from Coinstar because of the service charge that you must pay, here’s another reason to look at them especially with Christmas approaching. If you have more than $40 in change lying around you can get a $10 bonus if you put the $40 onto an e-certificate for more than a dozen retailers including Amazon, Eddie Bauer, Borders, Cabela’s J. C. Penny’s, CVS and more. The offer expires December 6 a few weeks before Christmas, but you can take advantage of the offer and have your shopping done early or get a little bonus when you do your shopping.

The researchers found that shoplifting — or what’s euphemistically known as product “shrinkage” — jumped 5.9% in the past year at the more than 1,000 retail chains the group surveyed globally. In previous years, the increase hovered at 1.5% annually. Though the problem was documented across all regions, the steepest increases occurred in North America (8.1%), the Middle East (7.5%) and Europe (4.7%). In terms of total losses, retailers in North America topped the charts at $46 billion, followed by Europe’s $44 billion and $17.9 billion in the Asia-Pacific region. In North America and Latin America, store owners and employees were the leading pilferers; in Europe, Asia and the Middle East, it was customers who were swiping the most loot.

Reports have recently noted that crime has not dramatically increased because of the recession. For those who don’t think that stealing from an employer is theft, then they need to realize that retail theft is still theft just as stealing office supplies or not doing any work while at work.

The study shows that there has been an increase of people stealing items, not that they need, but just things that they want. Basically, this is not Jean Valjean from Hugo’s Les Miserables stealing because of hunger. These are people who are stealing out of greed. Businesses pass these costs along to the shoppers at an average of $436 to the US consumer and $250 to European consumers.

If you can’t afford it, then don’t buy it or steal it.

Retailers aren’t as panicked about the upcoming holiday shopping season as they were last year.

With this scenario in mind, retail experts said their No. 1 tip for gift shoppers this year is grab what you want, when you see it.

“Merchants got burned badly last year when they were left with a lot of unsold merchandise after Christmas,” said George Whalin, retail expert and president and CEO of Retail Management Consultants.

There is a different feel about holiday shopping this year than last year. Retailers have discovered a new normal, which means more sparsely stocked shelves and a high rate of unemployment. If people are unemployed, they may be less likely to spend a lot for Christmas or other holiday gifts.

This news shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone who has been shopping lately. Remember a couple of years ago when the credit was flowing freely and the choices on the shelves and racks were seemingly endless. Those days are temporarily gone in some places. The only stores that seem to offer more choices are places that cater to crafts and home entertainment since more people are entertaining themselves with crafts and staying home to watch movies.

Since there are fewer items that retailers will offer for sale and will probably have only a limited amount of the “hottest” items available, then it will difficult to get those bargains. This seems hard to believe considering the number of coupons that I currently have and receive regularly that I would actually make purchases from those stores.

Prudent choices when shopping and budgeting before going Christmas shopping makes a big difference especially when paying cash. For people who are really sticking to a budget making the decision to buy one item whether it is the “hot” gift of the season or not will make a greater difference to individuals but to retailers it might. To really stick to a shopping budget giving someone a gift card or cash will help a person not go over budget. Unless you can find a particular item that you know the recipient will love for less than you have budgeted… move on until you find something they will really enjoy and use.

Starbucks is discontinuing its Gold Card program which offered a 10% discount for an annual fee of $25.

I do go to Starbucks but my local coffee house which roasts their own beans and is independently owned. When you buy a pound of coffee you get a free cup of drip coffee free. When you buy loose tea, you get a free cup of tea. If you don’t want the coffee, you can get the discount instead. Recently I went to Starbucks and used a gift card for my purchase and discovered that my local coffeehouse had spoiled me for better coffee.

Some people liked the discount but didn’t want to spend $25 to get the perks. Starbucks isn’t the only retailer that offers a paid membership discount program. Even if you go to a place once or twice a year and purchase the membership you can reap big benefits.

Paying to get discounts can actually work in your favor. I purchased a membership card for a store for $10 and have definitely received more than my $10 worth from the card. The free item that I received for my birthday and the discounts that I received for Christmas presents have definitely exceeded the $10 I paid. If the card cost more, I am not so sure that I would have purchased the membership if the discount I earned wouldn’t have been greater than the cost of the membership and offered free items.

People who reaped the benefits from the program and were frequent patrons of Starbucks might definitely be dismayed at the change in the program. The benefits might not be as great but there might be more participants if the program becomes free.

Thanks again, Fed, for not raising the interest rate again. The low interest rates are not making it attractive to save money in a bank. The rate has stayed in the same range for about three quarters. Low interest rates are fine if you are paying interest, but not so great if you want to earn some.