Apple will drop restocking fees on January 11

A rumor out of 9to5 Mac suggests Apple will drop its 10% restocking fees starting January 11th. These fees were assessed when a customer brought a product back within the 14-day return and could get quite expensive, especially for the high-end MacBook Pro notebooks or Mac Pro desktops.
The reasoning behind this rumored policy change was not divulged, but Apple may be following in the footsteps of Best Buy, which got rid of its restocking fees this past holiday shopping season.

This new no restocking fee policy may also explain why some Apple stores were covering their windows last night. Signage promoting this new policy would need to be setup by employees working under the cover of night. Coincidentally, this January 11 date is also the same day Verizon Wireless is hosting an event, we assume to announce the CDMA iPhone. 

Select Apple Stores to offer personal Mac setup service

Starting as soon as tomorrow in some Apple retail store locations, the company will be providing yet another service to new Mac owners to make their purchasing experience as painless as possible -- a personalized Mac setup service.
With the service, an employee will sit you down with your new Mac, set up your email account(s), demonstrate the Mac App Store, set up your iTunes account, and then guide you through some of the things that "make a Mac a Mac."
This service is similar to the setup room at Apple's Covent Garden store in London, and is expected to become as much of a fixture in Apple Stores as the Genius Bar. While it's a plus for customers and a way for Apple to sell more Macs, it's also going to cut into the business of Apple Consultant Network members, many of whom have been relied upon in the past to provide setup services in the homes and businesses of new Mac owners.