Consumer Affairs & Relations

NAPERVILLE, Ill. — OfficeMax is easing the burden felt by many teachers through its  sixth annual A Day Made Better teacher surprise events on Tuesday, October 2nd.

On Oct. 2, OfficeMax will surprise 1,000 teachers each with $1,000 worth of school supplies for their classrooms.  To identify recipient schools in need across the country, OfficeMax partnered with the nonprofit organization AdoptAClassroom.org. Principals of participating schools nominated teachers that exemplify passion, dedication and innovation in the classroom.

CLEVELAND — A greeting cards company announced that its board of directors has received a nonbinding proposal to go private.

American Greetings confirmed that the board received a letter from CEO Zev Weiss, president and COO Jeffrey Weiss, along with certain other members of the Weiss family and related parties, to acquire all of the outstanding class A and class B common shares of American Greetings not currently owned by the them for $17.18 per share.

New York -- A U.S. judge in San Francisco has certified a class-action lawsuit against Costco Wholesale Corp. that involved allegations of gender discrimination in the store's promotion practices.

“Costco offers numerous competing explanations for the observed gender disparity in promotions,” U.S. District Judge Edward Chen said in the ruling, Bloomberg reported. “None of these explanations undermine the companywide nature of the challenged policies and their disparate effects.”

WASHINGTON — The National Retail Federation estimates that U.S. retailers and their customers are benefiting from savings of up to $18 million every day since the implementation of the debit card swipe fee reform.

Foothill Ranch, Calif. -- The Wet Seal said that two independent proxy advisors, Institutional Shareholder Services and Egan-Jones Proxy Services, recommended that the chain’s shareholders reject efforts by Clinton Group to replace six members of the company’s board of directors.  

NORTHFIELD, Ill. — Kraft Foods is on track to complete a three-year initiative to reduce sodium by an average of 10% across its North American portfolio by the end of 2012.

Kraft Foods' sodium reduction efforts reach across the company's North American product portfolio, including Kraft grated parmesan cheese, Breakstone's 2% cottage cheese and Oscar Mayer bacon. Many other Kraft Foods products, the results far exceeded this goal, including:

• Kraft original BBQ sauce, 40%;

Fort Worth, Texas -- RadioShack Corp. said CEO James Gooch has agreed to step down from his position, effective immediately. The company did not specify a reason for his departure. Gooch was appointed CEO in 2011 and has been working to boost stagnant sales.

RadioShack said its board is conducting a search for a successor and would not rule out internal candidates. In the interim, executive VP and CFO Dorvin Lively will serve as the acting CEO.

Foothill Ranch, Calif. -- On the heels of activist investor The Clinton Group’s announced plans to replace some of Wet Seal’s board members, the retailer is advising its shareholders against supporting the move.