Santa Claus visits go digital

Starbucks ditches mobile pay system, Busiest day for UPS

HOUSTON – If your children need a Santa fix and a trip to the mall just isn't in the cards this week, try a cyber Santa visit instead.

There are a slew of as and sites that let your kids Facetime with Santa for a fee.

For $29.99, Hello Santa lets you video chat with a live Santa or get a personalized video message.

There are some 10 Twitter accounts that claim to originate from the North Pole. One for example is Official Santa, who has 397.000 followers.

You can also set up personalized texts for $5 at Text Santa.

UPS predicts it'll deliver more than 34 million packages Monday. That's double the amount of a normal day.

To handle the workload, the company announced in October it would hire up to 96,000 seasonal workers, compared to the 55,000 workers it hired last year.

In 2013, UPS was forced to hire an additional 30,000 workers to keep up the pace when it was caught off guard by an increasing number of American consumers who bought gifts online and shipped them last minute.

Starbucks is pulling the pug on its current mobile pay system that lets customers pay for their coffee by simply showing their cellphone.

The service is powered by Square and the coffee giant is ending the partnership. Instead, Starbucks is creating its own mobile pay station with a built-in loyalty system. It's currently being tested in Oregon. There is still no details when it will be available everywhere.


About the Authors:

Passionate consumer advocate, mom of 3, addicted to coffee, hairspray and pastries.