Veterans have to get out of the military mindset if they’re going to adapt to the civilian workplace. And that means gearing up for a new outlook even before they leave the armed forces behind.

While it’s important to be proud of military service, it’s also critical for a vets career to know how to play up and play down their years serving your country, advised Randy Plunkett, the director of community and government outreach for Military.com, during our live web chat Wednesday.

“Two common mistakes transitioning military make are to not start early in transitioning and to use military jargon on their resumes,” he told readers.

One reader, Phil, a captain in the Army with a degree in history from West Point, asked Plunkett: “What kind of jobs are available for someone with my background?”

Plunkett’s response:

“Think about your ancillary experience. Not only do you have a degree, you have more than just your army job. You are a human resources manager - talking with soldiers about their careers, you supervise and manage extensive training programs, you actively participate in performance reviews, and you have extensive diversity and inclusion workplace experience.”

It’s all about taking your experience in the military, he explained, and pointing out how what you did can fit into the real work world.

“We need a fundamental change in thinking,” he stressed. “Military members have to think in terms of their big picture, large category experience, not just their classification.”

Here’s the entire Q&A with Plunkett:

 Join us next Wednesday for another live web chat with an expert that will address money or work issues.

TODAY real estate contributor Barbara Corcoran provides an insider's look at some of the celebrity homes currently on the market, including Jim Carrey's Malibu mansion and Sandra Bullock's Austin, Texas, getaway.

Also, in more down to earth real estate news, Corcoran looks at what home buyers can get for $400,000 around the U.S.

The Toro 20371 starts at $299.

This time of year, armies of homeowners find themselves in the heat of an annual battle to keep their grass well-groomed. In one New York town, according to The Consumerist, they face $1,000 fines for neglect. For many, the weapon of choice likely would be a hefty lawn tractor -- driven by someone else. If that’s not within your budget, you can still wield a high-quality push mower from a brand such as Toro or Craftsman for $300 or less.

Below are Cheapism’s top picks for affordable lawn mowers.

• The Black & Decker MM275 (starting at $162) made our list last year and has maintained its record of almost entirely positive online reviews. This electric mower draws its power through a cord that plugs into an outlet, leading a few users to liken it to a vacuum cleaner. It has an 18-inch blade that users can set to six different heights between 1 and 3.5 inches. (Where to buy)
• The Toro 20371 (starting at $299) is a self-propelled gas mower that cuts a 22-inch path and features nine cutting positions from 1 to 4 inches high. The engine, a 149 cc Kohler, is less powerful than the one on the 20331 model we recommended last year (which is no longer widely available). Otherwise this model boasts identical features -- including larger rear wheels for easy maneuvering and a washout port for easy cleaning -- and similarly satisfied customers. (Where to buy)
• The Scotts 2000-20 reel mower (starting at $113) is a bare-bones alternative to a conventional gas or electric mower and another returning favorite. It’s powered by good, old-fashioned elbow grease, so it won’t suit those with large yards, but users like that it’s quiet, eco-friendly, and simple to use and maintain. It’s 20 inches wide and cuts at nine different heights from 1 to 3 inches. (Where to buy)
• The Craftsman 37041 (starting at $266) is another 22-inch gas mower with nine cutting heights. Users report that the 190 cc Briggs & Stratton engine and self-propelled front-wheel drive practically pull them along and make quick work of large, hilly lawns. (Where to buy)

If you have a smaller yard, you can opt for a one of two types of electric mower: a corded model, like the Black & Decker MM275, or a cordless model that won’t limit your range but may be heavier and harder to push around. With an electric or reel mower, you avoid the noise, fumes, and maintenance of a gasoline engine but won’t have what it takes to tackle a lot of acreage.

The gas and electric lawn mowers on our list offer the option of handling grass clippings in three different ways. Discharging the cut grass off to the side can leave clumps that must be raked but is best for wet or tall grass. Mulching will clog the mower if the grass is too tall but produces free fertilizer and requires no further cleanup. A bag makes for tidy disposal but can grow heavy as you push the mower around and, of course, must be emptied periodically. Clippings cut with a reel mower simply fall back onto the lawn, although the Scotts mower chops them finely enough to act as mulch.

More from Cheapism:
Cheap lawn mowers
Above-ground pool reviews
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 Former New York City Mayor Ed Koch was famous for asking, “How am I doing?” Now it seems every company in America is asking the same thing. As social media site proliferate, we’re being flooded with requests to take customer satisfaction surveys. 

Get an oil change and you’ll be asked to take a survey. Go the theater? Make sure to rate your experience. After a recent trip to Philadelphia, the hotel, airline and rental car company each emailed me a survey request. 

A good friend recently received a survey form in the mail from the funeral home that handled his mother’s burial just two months ago. They wanted him to rate his experience. Ugh. 

What’s going on here? 

“You’re getting so many survey requests because companies understand how important the customer experience is in today’s ultra-competitive world where consumers have lots of choices,” said Larry Freed, president of ForSee, a company that collects about 1.5 million surveys a month for companies across the country. “They’ve got to work really hard to meet your needs and exceed your expectations.” 

While many companies truly want your opinion to provide better products and services, some also use surveys to gather personal information in order to improve their marketing. How can you tell the difference? It’s often impossible to tell. 

A good survey should be about the customer experience and not about marketing, Freed says. 

“We want it to be real. We want to be honest about what we’re trying to learn from you and why,” he says. 

A good survey is respectful of your time. ForeSee surveys are designed to take between 2.5 and 3.5 minutes to be completed on the web and just 60 to 90 seconds on a mobile device. 

“When done correctly, it’s kind of a win-win,” Freed says. “It should be good in the long run for the consumer and also provide really valuable insight for the company that’s doing it.” 

How should a company deal with this feedback?
“The critical part of the process is to act on that feedback,” says Lonnie Mayne, CXO (that’s Chief Experience Officer) at Mindshare Technologies. “When we give feedback, we’re asking for action.” 

Mindshare’s online survey technology provides alerts when a response is negative. At Tony Roma’s, that email alert goes to the store manager who is required to contact the customer within 24 hours. 

“We respond to every single complaint to make sure that we rectify the situation and solve the problem,” says Bradley Smith, the restaurant chain’s executive vice president. 

Smith tells me about 40 percent of the responses are compliments. But good or bad, the company uses the feedback to improve and grow. 

“It’s very important to us as we make strategic decisions from menu items, staffing, décor and even possible new locations,” Smith says. 

With the increased use of surveys comes the risk of customer fatigue. But survey firms report that younger people who grew up with social media are eager to share their opinions. They tend to appreciate and respond to online surveys. 

Into the future
Surveys are starting to change. Instead of asking 15 or 20 structured yes/no or multiple choice questions, they’ll ask for comments. How was the experience? How can we improve? What did you like? What didn’t you like?

You’ll be able to type in a response on the web or just talk on the phone. Technology that can analyze text and voice is making this possible. 

“Now that’s a lot more user-friendly,” says Mindshare Technology’s Mayne. “Again, you still have to act on it. But that’s the future; that’s where we’re headed.” 

My two cents
I don’t mind getting surveys when the questions seem relevant (designed to improve customer service) and do not ask for personal information. I also appreciate it when the company tells me how long it should take to complete the survey. Note to companies: If it’s more than about 3 minutes, you need to cut down the questions. 

I love to get notices from companies that let me know about a change that’s been made because of customer feedback. That lets me know they’re listening and responding. That’s a big plus in my book. 

I also believe that any company that wants my opinion should give me the option to give them contact information. I also believe that if my answers indicate a less than satisfactory experience and I give the company my phone number or email, they have a responsibility to get back to me. If they don’t, they should consider me a former customer. 

Before you go, could I ask you to take a one-question survey?

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Courtesy Andrae Evans

Andrae Evans in Kandahar during humanitarian patrol in 2009.

Members of the National Guard and Reserve sign up to serve our country as needed, and when they return home many expect to find their civilian jobs waiting for them.

Unfortunately, that’s not always the case.

Tim Hack

Adrae Evans with his daughter Ariel, wife Kristin, and son Gabe, before his 4th deployment.

Andrae Evans was an insurance sales manager and a member of the New York Army National Guard in 2004 when he was deployed to Iraq. When he was released from active duty in 2006 his former employer, MassMutual Financial Group, would not reinstate him to the position he left behind.

“I hoped to work things out with MassMutual and believed, wrongly, that they would do the right thing,” said Evans, who's been unable to find work and recently took on a temporary National Guard assignment. He is now in Bagram, Afghanistan, and is suing MassMutual. The company says they were not required to reinstate Evans because he was an independent contractor, not an employee.

In another case, a prosecutor for the Baltimore City State’s Attorney’s Office, Andrew Gross, signed up for the U.S. Army Reserve in 2009, and when he returned from a six-month military training program found his job wasn’t waiting for him when he returned.

“I was told I’d have to go to the back of the line to get my job back,” said Gross, who sued the State’s Attorney's office and settled the case late last year.

Mark Cheshire, a spokesman for the state’s attorney’s office, said the new state's attorney inherited the case from his predecessor and moved “to resolve the matter in an equitable fashion" when he took office.

National Guard and Reserve soldiers have faced numerous deployments and calls to duty during the years of war over the past decade, and many have returned to find they no longer had jobs they expected to return to. Some contend they have faced  discrimination on their return, or retaliation for their military service.

Such actions are illegal under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act, or USERRA, which is supposed to help protect veterans when they return to the workforce. 

Complaints brought under the law have escalated in recent years, mirroring the number of guard and reservists returning to their civilian lives.

Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve

Number inquiries from vets regarding USERRA and total number of cases taking on by the government.

According to data from the Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve, inquiries under the law started to skyrocket in 2010, more than doubling to 34,612, compared with a year earlier. The number of Guard and Reserve members who came off active duty during 2010 also spiked to 91,931 from 48,702 in 2009 before dropping to 45,968 last year, according to the Defense Department.

The number of USERRA complaints also dipped to about 30,000 in 2011, and shows signs of leveling off so far this year. But many veteran advocates expect the problem to continue as the drawdown from Afghanistan proceeds.

“I think as the wars have gone on it has challenged, both spiritually and pragmatically, civilian employers' approach to USERRA,” said Ward Carroll, editor of the Military.com website and blog.

While he’s empathetic to employers who’ve had to function without key employees during their deployments, he stressed the importance of complying with the law.

“It’s part of your duty as an American employer to comply with USERRA and help citizen soldiers,” he said. “Between now and 2014, these challenges to USERRA will continue.”

Steven D. Silverman, the attorney who represented Gross in his suit against the Baltimore City State’s Attorney, said he’s seen a doubling in USERRA claims in his practice over the past year. “I attribute that to the economy and ignorance of the law by employers,” he said.

Indeed, a March survey by Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America found that nearly 40 percent of veterans polled felt their employer didn’t have enough information about their rights under USERRA.

Gross said he doesn’t believe his managers wanted to undermine military service. “I think if they had an understanding of the law this wouldn’t have happened,” he said.

In the case of Evans, who worked for MassMutual, his complaint is that he was not reinstated in the higher position he got before being deployed, said Michael Macomber, an attorney with Tully Rinckey who is representing him. The law, he noted, doesn’t just call for hiring employees back, but also keeping them in a similar position.

MassMutual said in a statement it is “fully complying” with USERRA and will “vigorously defend” its position in court.

A tight job market has exacerbated the problem in recent years, agreed government officials and legal experts. The unemployment rate among veterans who've been on active duty since September 2001 was 12.1 percent in 2011, compared to 8.2 percent overall, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Of course while business conditions may change, most employers want to do the right thing and comply with the law by hiring back returning veterans.

“I believe our employers by an overwhelming vast majority are living up to their responsibilities under USERRA," said Ronald Young, director of family and employer programs and policy in the Pentagon’s Office of Reserve Affairs.

While Young acknowledged some of the uptick in USERRA complaints might have resulted from employers skirting the law, a big chunk had to do with better tracking of cases and more outreach to employers and employees by the government.

His agency recognizes employers that do a good job supporting National Guard and Reserve members by awarding them the Freedom Award. This year Intel Corp. made the list.

Courtesy Mark Miera

Mark Miera

“We have tools in place to help managers fill temporary positions for whatever reason the position is open,” said Lisa Malloy, a spokeswoman for Intel, which employs 100,000, including about 3,000 who have been in the military. 

Mark Miera, 43, a National Guard member in New Mexico who’s worked for Intel for 18 years, has had two deployments since 9/11, including a stint in Afghanistan that ended in December.

When he was overseas colleagues messaged him about a position as manager of construction at Intel, and before he came back to work he ended up with a promotion.

“Intel has always moved beyond the requirements of the law,” he said. “They don’t question protecting veterans returning from war and their positions.”

(For more on this issue, join a live web chat Wednesday at noon ET with Randy Plunkett, Military.com's government relations and community director. Click here to join the chat.)

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We all love free stuff, whether it’s cheese on a toothpick at the grocery store or a bag of makeup samples with a purchase. The Internet is bursting with giveaways and coupons that let you nab all kinds of cool things without spending a penny.

Insider tips

Part of the fun of freebies is getting to try out new products. Here’s how to find the greatest giveaways and avoid letdowns.

1. Act fast.

The best stuff runs out quickly. Several times we clicked through freebie offers excitedly and found that the supply had already been exhausted. (The goodies for pets went especially quickly.)

2. Remember: Some freebies aren’t really free.

But they could still be a good deal. Be sure to read any fine print in giveaway offers. For example, Vistaprint offers 250 free business cards, but you have to pay $7.09 for standard 14-day shipping.

3. Share deals — with others or with yourself.

Some freebie offers come with a friend component. But some offers even allow you to enter your own mailing address for the person receiving the gift, and you could score two samples for yourself.

4. Know when to quit.

Some giveaways just aren’t worth jumping through the hoops for; Lifescript promised freebies, but we gave up after filling out multiple pages of registration forms. And some sites will try to collect your info with no payoff. That happened when we attempted to order Life Choice energy bars via Walmart’s free sample page. We completed the entire form, then we were told that the offer wasn’t valid in our area. We could have saved ourselves the trouble by reading the comments on the referring site, at moneysavingmom.com, where others had complained about the problem.

5. Strategize for full-sized freebies.

They’re rare, but they do exist. In general, we saw manufacturers offering a set number of them at a specific time daily. If you really want something, check the product’s Facebook page or follow the product (or the manufacturer) on Twitter for giveaway announcements. Missed it? You’ll often get a coupon instead; when we were too late for the full-sized Nivea lotion, we got a $1 coupon.

6. Check women’s magazines’ Web sites.

 They often have monthly giveaways. For example, Allure gives away hundreds of full-sized beauty products and accessories each month, some to subscribers, some to anybody who asks.

Watch out for the gotchas

Let’s be real. Manufacturers and retailers aren’t giving their stuff away just to be nice. They want something in return — usually your contact info, which they’ll use to try to persuade you to buy from them in the future. So that’s the big trade-off. Here are some smart ways to minimize the aftershocks:

1. Create a new email address.

Use it specifically for freebies because all offers require one. When you request freebies via Facebook, you can enter an email address different from the one associated with your account. We received a few newsletters we didn’t sign up for but no hard-core spam.

2. Opt out of mailings.

Usually it’s presented as an option. Only two companies forced us to agree to mailings before we could order their freebies. (That’s you, Nine West and Beech-Nut!)

3. Read comments.

They’re on sites like Heyitsfree.net and Moneysavingmom.com and are the equivalent of user reviews. People are very vocal about how well (or not) the links, forms, and mailings worked. Scan them first!

4. Fudge your personal info.

Many offers requested names and birth dates. Make up something so that your identity remains private.

More from ShopSmart.com:

Five websites to score free stuff

Pick up the latest issue of ShopSmart magazine for more tips and tricks on finding freebies.

Coupon savings 

For more great deals, check out Hip2Save.com 

AP

Warehouse stores and grocers like Costco lag behind Big Oil, but they are gaining with consumers.

In these lean times, nothing says thrifty better than idling your SUV in a 15-minute line to save a few cents on gas. For proof, we now have a survey that shows Costco is consumers’ favorite place to fill up.

That is true even though relatively few motorists actually have access to Costco gas.

Shell was the top place motorists actually reported filling up at, and the national oil chains still dominate the market. But warehouse chains and grocers like Kroger and Sam’s Club are closing the gap.

Oh, and service station bathrooms that are out of paper towels is a big problem.

Among the 4,500 drivers surveyed, 56 percent said they visit gas stations aligned with national brands such as Shell and Exxon. Thirty-two percent said they frequent grocers and warehouse chains.

Consumer research firm Market Force established the Costco result by taking responses to “what’s your favorite brand” and comparing that with the number of locations each brand had nationwide. So Costco, which doesn’t even sell gas at all its warehouses (368 of its 515 American and Canadian warehouses have pumps), indexed out ahead of Shell (which has more than 15,000 stations), which dropped to fifth.

The top 10 from that index:

1. Costco
2. Kroger
3. Sam’s Club
4. Hess
5. Shell
6. Wal-Mart
7. Sunoco
8. Valero
9. 7-Eleven
10. Exxon Mobil

The major oil retailers all did a lousy job at keeping the restrooms clean, with the exception of BP, according to the survey. That company and Exxon, Shell and 7-Eleven did get good marks for keeping the restrooms stocked -- Chevron was worst on the list. The biggest issue with out-of-stock restrooms was no way to dry hands (54 percent), followed by no toilet paper (29 percent) and no soap (17 percent).

Market Force randomly selected 20,000 members of its 300,000 member “Force,” who participate in surveys, to take part. The results are from the 4,500 in the U.S. and Canada who responded. In that group, 76 percent were women. More than two-thirds were married, 75 percent worked full- or part-time, half had children at home and seven in 10 lived in a household where the annual income was $50,000 or more a year. Read more survey results from Market Force here.

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This year’s presidential election may hinge on voters’ wallets.

More than half of Americans say their own financial well-being is the most important factor, or among the most important factors, when it comes to deciding who’ll they’ll pull the lever for come November, according to a study released Monday by Bankrate.com.

“How Americans feel about the U.S. economy and their own finances will be central to the election on Nov. 6,” said Claes Bell, senior banking expert with Bankrate.com. “While unemployment will probably be above that 7.2 percent historical benchmark when the election takes place, the key question will be whether Americans are comfortable with the progress that has been made since the economy took a turn for the worse.”

The telephone survey, that polled 1,000 adults earlier this month, also found voters were “deeply divided about which candidate will help households get back on track financially.” 

• 21 percent said their personal financial situations would be better under former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney
• 21 percent said they would be better under President Barack Obama 
• And 8 percent were undecided.

But a majority, 50 percent, said whoever wins come November probably wouldn’t make much of a difference when it came to their wallets.

U.S. Census Bureau

Between 2005 and 2010, Generation X saw the biggest percent decline in median household net worth.

Almost everyone in America has good reason to throw a little pity party whenever they think about what the economic turmoil of recent years has done to their financial situation. A government report released Monday finds that the 35- to 44-year-old members of Generation X may have the most cause to feel sorry for themselves.

The Census Bureau study found that between 2005 and 2010, households led by 35- to 44-year-olds saw the biggest percent decline in median household net worth. For those households, median net worth declined 59 percent, from $80,521 in 2005 to $33,200 in 2010, adjusted in constant 2010 dollars.

In terms of actual dollars lost, 45- to 54-year-olds took the biggest hit. For households in that age range, median net worth declined by $54,881, to $90,434. That’s a 38 percent drop from 2005, calculated in 2010 dollars.

Overall, the study found that median household net worth in the United States declined by 35 percent between 2005 and 2010, to $66,740. The housing bust and stock market declines were mainly to blame for the drop.

The Census report is based on the annual Survey of Income and Program Participation, which takes a detailed look at the financial situation of Americans from all walks of life. The survey uses the renter or owner of record in each household to determine what age group the household falls into.

The Census data comes a week after the Federal Reserve released a separate survey showing that the median net worth of the American family dropped 39 percent from about $126,000 in 2007 to $77,000 in 2010.

The Census study looks at a slightly longer period and offers detailed breakdown by race, age, education level and region. But the two studies come to the same sobering conclusion: We’ve lost a lot of economic ground in recent years, and it will take a long time to work our way back.

Rotisserie chickens are about 50 percent less than a grocery store -- and heftier, too, leaving leftovers for chicken salad and sandwiches.  

Diapers on sale at a drugstore or grocery store can save a dime per diaper -- which adds up as quickly as the wee one's waste.

"Bigger is not always better," Morgan says.

Who would have thought the younger, spoiled generations would be more generous than baby boomers when it came to looking out for their families?

A study of wealthy Americans found that 40 percent of adults younger than 46 — the Generation X and Generation Y set — already have established financial plans to help care for their parents as they age, compared to only 20 percent of baby boomers who have done so, according to a survey released Monday by U.S. Trust, the global wealth and investment management unit of Bank of America.

And, the poll found, 54 percent of Gen-Xers and Gen-Yers paid some medical costs for their parents and other relatives, compared to 42 percent of boomers.

The online survey, conducted in March, polled 642 adults with at least $3 million in assets, not including their primary homes. It points to different financial attitudes among the generations, “most likely shaped by personal experience and societal responses to economic realities,” said Keith Banks, president of U.S. Trust.

“I don’t think the boomers are stingier,” Banks maintained, pointing out that some boomers may no longer have parents to care for anymore, or at least are not as likely to be doing so as younger folks.

What concerns him is that the younger and older generations both have to help family members at such high rates when it comes to things like medical care.

Overall, he added, there more commonalities among the generations than differences, except when it came to wealth transfer.

The poll found that when it comes to leaving money for their kids, the younger group said they were more inclined to pass along an inheritance than boomers, at a rate of 76 percent versus 55 percent.

Indeed, even high net-worth individuals are cautious about their wallets these days.

“Many boomers are beginning to realize that they are underfunded for retirement in any traditional sense,” said Jim Lee, a financial planner and author of “Resilience and the Future of Everyday Life,” which includes a chapter on how perceptions of retirement are changing.

“Given record low interest rates and a decade of minimal returns for the stock market, some boomers have been spending down their portfolios sooner than they anticipated,” he explained. “Add longer life expectancies into the mix, and you've got a recipe for smaller inheritances.”  

Here are some additional findings from the U.S. Trust survey:

• 61 percent of wealthy parents are not fully confident their children will be well-prepared to handle any financial inheritance left to them, with baby boomers having the least degree of confidence. Among those, 32 percent of baby boomers, compared to 52 percent of Gen-Xers and Gen-Yers and 54 percent of older respondents ages 67 and older, are confident their children will be prepared emotionally and financially to receive a financial legacy.
• And only 37 percent of wealthy parents have fully disclosed their family’s level of wealth to their children, and 51 percent have disclosed only a little information on the subject.

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Forget sandy beaches, long cruises and plenty of time for the garden and the grandkids.

About half of Americans aren’t looking forward to retirement, at least in part because they fear they won’t have enough money, a new survey finds.

The survey, conducted in March on behalf of TD Ameritrade, found that only 52 percent of working adults agreed with the statement, “I am looking forward to retirement.”

The remaining 48 percent were either neutral or disagreed.

TD Ameritrade then asked the people who had disagreed with the statement why they weren’t looking forward to retirement.

The most common reason was that they didn’t have enough money saved, although a similar number of people said they were too young or retirement was too far away.

Other popular responses included that they like their work or feared being bored.

Baby boomers, born between 1946 and 1964, were most likely to be looking forward to retirement. Older workers born from 1930 to 1945 were most likely to feel negatively about retirement, perhaps because at their age it seems they might never retire.

The responses were from a survey of 2,000 U.S. adults.

The recession has had a varied effect on workers’ retirement plans. Some older people are working longer than they expected because they can no longer afford to retire. Others have been forced into early retirement because they lost a job and couldn’t find a new one.

The average age at which Americans expect to retire has been gradually creeping up. A recent Gallup poll found that it has risen to  67.