Is it the right time to buy a car? To tip or not to tip?: CBC's Marketplace cheat sheet

Miss something this week? Don't panic. CBC's Marketplace rounds up the consumer and health news you need.

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Is now the right time to buy a new car?

Some good news for those that have struggled to find a new car — the industry is bouncing back from supply chain woes.

Sticker prices at dealerships have started to come down and affordability is improving, says Daniel Ross, senior manager of industry insights with the vehicle valuation service Canadian Black Book. 

"The new car market is normalizing faster than the used car market," he said. "You have the inventory, you have the incentives depending on where you're shopping, and if you were a new car shopper from the beginning, it's the best situation you've had in a long time."

Inventory of new cars has built up across the country as prices for newer models climbed and consumers pulled back on big purchases amid high inflation and rising interest rates. Now, manufacturers and dealerships have launched incentives and rebates as they look to clear that supply. 

But while inventory rises, Canadians are still facing economic headwinds, like saving to buy a home or keeping up with mortgage payments. One report predicts that it will still take until 2025 to reach pre-pandemic sale levels.

So if you're in the market for a new car, Shari Prymak, a senior consultant at non-profit Car Help Canada, suggests holding off for another six months. Asian brands building hybrid vehicles like Toyota, Honda and Hyundai still have limited supply in Canada so there will be fewer incentives. 

If you need a new car now and can't make any more repairs or maintenance on aging vehicles, Prymak says North American automakers like Ford, General Motors or Stellantis have a larger inventory and may have better deals. Read more

Is it OK to choose 'no tip' at the counter?

When Alessandro Montelli was asked to tip when paying for a bottle of water at a local coffee shop, he knew something had to change with tipping culture.

The Torontonian and recent university graduate had just finished a run and wanted to rehydrate. The barista behind the counter handed Montelli the water bottle and turned the point-of-sale (POS) machine — with large tip prompts for up to 20 per cent — to him.

Montelli paid for the water without leaving a tip, and decided to share his experience on TikTok.

"Normalize clicking 'no tip.' I am dead tired of [tipping] for things that should not be tippable," he said in the video.

After years of "tip-flation," which saw suggested tip amounts soar up to 30 per cent in some cases and gratuity prompts pop up at places where they weren't common before, frustrated customers like Montelli are hoping to swing the trend back in the other direction by leaving smaller tips — or none at all.

In a recent survey of adults who'd visited a sit-down restaurant in the last six months, 25 per cent of Canadian respondents said they were tipping less than they had been in the past. Almost 80 per cent of respondents said they're not a fan of auto-tipping prompts on digital payment machines, as well.

Bruce McAdams, an associate professor at the University of Guelph's school of business and economics who researches tipping, isn't surprised that customers are starting to rebel against tip-flation.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, McAdams says average tip amounts left by customers increased by about five per cent in an effort to help service workers whose jobs were hit hard by lockdowns. As some pandemic hardships eased in the past few years, however, tipping percentages programmed into POS devices have remained high.

Tip options have also been added for products and services where they weren't expected in the past, such as oil changes — a phenomenon known as "tip creep," McAdams said. Read more

Do you wonder where your tips are really ending up? Maybe you found out they weren't going where you thought they would. We want to hear from you. Write to us at: marketplace@cbc.ca. 

Even Olympians are struggling in extreme heat. Here's how to keep your kids safe during sport

If you're one of the millions of Canadians feeling the heat this summer, you don't need to be told that it can cause serious health implications.

And if Olympic athletes are struggling, amateur athletes are too. 

"I've spoken to families who've lost their sons, usually, on a field," said University of Toronto sports ecologist Madeleine Orr. "It's devastating ... because it's 100 per cent preventable."

"If you've created an environment as a community in sport where that athlete doesn't necessarily feel safe to vocalize, 'I'm not OK' ... they might not get the intervention that's required in order to prevent that worst-case scenario," she said. 

Dangerous conditions are emboldening high performance athletes to rebel against the tradition of play at all costs.

"I'm a fighter, I can finish the match, but I can die," Russian tennis player Daniil Medvedev told the umpire at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, after two medical time outs in what felt like 37 C heat.

Widely accepted as the hottest Games ever, even specialized heat training couldn't acclimatize many of the competitors.

Canadian sprint canoe athlete Laurence Vincent Lapointe says she remembers feeling "too sick to move" between races.

Spanish tennis player Paula Badosa was defeated by heat mid-competition, and left the court in a wheelchair. 

"It's certainly dangerous for athletes to be competing in any conditions that get into that mid-30s range. And the reason is it becomes basically impossible physiologically to cool the body past that point," said Orr. 

The upcoming Games may surpass Tokyo's heat records, according to some projections. It's an inevitability that Orr says the athletic world needs to be ready for.

"My big point is every sports organization, whether you're working with little kids who are seven or an Olympian, needs to have a heat and air quality policy as soon as possible," she says.

Orr suggests normalizing heat breaks, and building on existing extreme weather protocols like lightning policies, is a good way to start. Read more

What else is going on?

Ticketmaster says customers' credit card information was affected by a data breach
A security and privacy expert suggests cancelling your credit card if Ticketmaster says you're among the accounts impacted.

Silk and Great Value plant-based beverages have been recalled across Canada
There are 15 specific products that could be contaminated with listeria.

680 LCBO stores in Ontario shuttered by a strike
Retail stores account for 80 per cent of LCBO revenue, with grocery, bar and restaurant sales falling far behind. 

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