“This allows them the possibility to move inside the store without having to carry all the items in their hands with the handheld baskets,” spokeswoman Judy Chong said. “When you’re picking up a half gallon of milk and two-liter bottles of soda, it gets heavy.”

According to their North American distributor, another big benefit of being able to pull the Shop n’ Roll baskets is that they prompt some shoppers to load them with more groceries, instead of perhaps heading to the checkout when carrying them becomes fatiguing.

“They promote more items being purchased,” said George Braeunig, who handles North American sales for distributor SCS Inc. in Boca Raton, Fla.

We like it. It's like a basket and a shopping cart had a little baby. You should just be aware that there's an intentional "buy more stuff" side effect if you're not careful.

"Shaw’s rolls out baskets with wheels" [Boston Herald] (Thanks to Henry!)
(Photo: Larsz)

Only twice since 1965, despite half a dozen recessions, have Americans spent less in a year than the previous one. Indeed, it often seems that we have defined ourselves by our ability to buy supersized everything, from McMansions to tricked-out SUVs to 60-inch flat-screen televisions—all enabled by decades of cheap credit.

Now that the credit party is over, how are consumers reacting?

"The process of bringing our wants and our needs into realignment," says Merrill Lynch economist David Rosenberg, "is going to involve years of savings and frugality." Or, to put more it more simply, "there is an anti-bling thing going on," says Marian Salzman, chief marketing officer of Porter Novelli.

Of course, if you're broke and have no access to credit you don't have much choice but to be frugal, but is that all that's going on here? Or are consumers tired of being pressured to take on massive debt in order to "super size" and "bling" everything? What do you think? Is credit card consumerism over?

Is Starbucks' "free refills" offer the new "super size it"?

(Full disclosure: I'm quoted in the article, and yes... yes my first car was a Geo Metro. It's true. Despite what "FreeCreditReport.com" would have you believe, some people do choose to drive them. And they also get their credit reports from www.annualcreditreport.com.)

The End of Credit Card Consumerism [US News & World Report]
(Photo: tokyohanna )

Southwest did not issue the "public apology" the family was hoping for. Do you think this is a fair compromise? Do the chronically unruly deserve refunds if they're kicked off the flight?

Family Booted From Flight Gets Refund [KPHO](Thanks, Lucas!)

The Wall Street Journal has an article that we could barely finish about absolutely disgusting behavior that air travelers are exhibiting on airplanes. The article details the foul, rude and unsanitary things that you all are doing out of some sort of misguided aggression towards the airline. We have news for you, pig pen, you're only hurting yourselves... or, more specifically, the next guy to sit in that seat.

From the WSJ:

Patrick Kerr, who like Mr. Cuzzone participated in a FlyerTalk.com online discussion among frequent travelers of disgusting things people do aboard airplanes, was flying from Reno, Nev., to Dallas when a nearby passenger put a wad of chewing tobacco in his mouth and spit juice into a plastic cup throughout the flight.

As passengers left the plane, Mr. Kerr, a technology manager in St. Louis, said, the man made one last deposit then tucked the cup deep into the seat pocket.

"I said, 'Hey, you left that.' And he said, 'It's OK. They'll get it,' " said Mr. Kerr, who then alerted a flight attendant.

Flight attendants often say that the biggest messes they have to deal with are dirty diapers left in seat-back pockets or worse, handed to them while they are serving beverages and snacks. "Would you hand that off to your server at a restaurant?" said Corey Caldwell, a spokeswoman for the Association of Flight Attendants, a union representing workers at several big airlines. "It's amazing how people treat the inside of aircraft cabins as opposed to other public spaces."

My god, were you people raised by wolves? Clean up after yourselves.

"Putting a melting chocolate bar in a seatback is a way of punishing the airline for shoddy treatment," said Robert Bor, a clinical aviation psychologist in London.

We disagree. Evil behavior such as this is actually a way to punish nice people who just happen to be on the airplane after you, and who would really rather not be covered in what appears to be baby vomit, the possible origin of which will plague them for days afterward.

Can you think of some more constructive ways to punish an airline for poor service? Department of Transportation complaint? Nasty letter to your mutual fund manager about excessive airline CEO pay? Amtrak?

Flying Foul: Passengers Behaving Badly [Yahoo!]

(Photo: JohnKit )

1. Spend less time feeling poor.
Flipping through catalogs and going to the mall will make you feel like you need things, Ms. Gurney notes. Sure, you can afford some of that stuff, but the main message is: Most of this is out of your reach. Instead, do things that offer a sense of well-being. Invite friends over. Walk in the park.

2. Retrain your brain.
Depriving ourselves of current pleasure is nigh impossible if we're not driven by a sense that the future will be more fulfilling, says Ms. Gurney. When you start to feel that "I'm deserving so I'm buying" feeling, visualize a smaller credit-card bill or higher savings-account balance.

3. Look around you.
Are you happy with what your hard-earned dollars bought? If not, shift your spending to those things that bring greater long-term satisfaction, including retirement savings.

4. Choose your extravagances.
Here's mine: I eat out about once a week. An extravagance I do without: Cable television.

5. Assess weaknesses.
"If you were thrifty, how would you look different?" says Gary Buffone, a financial psychologist in Jacksonville, Fla. Identify what you want to change; then shoot for specific targets, such as a six-month hold on buying new tech gadgets.

6. Make trade-offs.
Substitute small, free pleasures for those that cost. Have a movie night at home with friends — you'd be surprised how many people are equally eager to cut costs.

7. Set goals.
Meet weekly with family to discuss the spending plan (don't call it a budget) for the months and years ahead. This may involve tough choices, such as forsaking a family vacation. But think of the guilt-free trip you can take after saving the necessary cash. Good memories last longer, Ms. Gurney notes, when not trammeled by large credit-card bills.

8. Resist your children.
They're going to find it hard to change their expectations. How can you help? Stand firm. The next time they clamor for the latest videogame, remind them of the bigger prize (that family vacation), and tell them their choices here and now are, say, a picnic or a movie rental. Offer options, but don't give in to their push for more consumer goods.

9. Enlist other people.
Many people are reticent to talk about money worries, but almost everyone has them, so open up and tap your allies. Hold a contest with friends to see who can save the most in a month, or agree with your spouse to talk before spending more than $100, Mr. Buffone suggests.

10. Post it.
Remind yourself by putting post-it notes on your wallet, mirror or steering wheel with the mantra of your choosing: "I want to go to Hawaii in January." "I want to pay off credit-card debt."

11. Automate it.
Divert money monthly from your checking account to savings. It will force you to budget, based on what's left in your checking account.

12. Rethink rewards.
What are some of your happiest memories? Those are the true rewards. Next time you're about to buy something because you deserve it, ask yourself whether there isn't something you deserve more, such as time at home cooking with your teenager, or a stroll with your husband or best friend.

If this advice is too effete or ethereal to slow your spendthrift ways, consider these ten tips that can directly impact your monthly bank statement.

Ways to Make Saving a Habit [WSJ]
(Photo: Getty)

Question: How else do we act against our best interests?

A. By comparing prices on similar items.

Question: Wait, I thought that was smart to do.

A. It is, but only if you compare everything with everything. If you just compare items near one another, you open yourself up to being influenced. When you open a menu at a restaurant, you may not realize that the prices you see affect what you're willing to pay.

If the most expensive entrée is $45, you might decide $30 is an acceptable price. Should the restaurant add a $60 dish, you may be willing to pay $45. The same issue comes up when shopping for real estate. Letting a broker show you a house above the top of your range can be costly.

Question: So how do we overcome irrationality?

A. There's no cure-all. But when I see the word free, I now ask myself, "What's the seller trying to do here?" Also, it sounds strange, but try not to look at price, not at first. Decide what you want and what you're willing to pay without being influenced by outside factors.

Why you're a big sucker [CNNMoney]

...research suggests that much of the time it's not the companies offering rebates that are creating the problem. It's the customers. Their tendency to procrastinate and inability to follow multistep directions—albeit often explained in tiny print—result in as many as half of all rebates going unfulfilled. "It's their own inability to have self-control and say, 'I'm going to get this done,' " says Tim Silk, assistant professor of marketing at the University of British Columbia.

Because people tend to believe they will redeem the rebates and then they don't, they often pay more for items than they expect. "You see something that has a rebate associated with it, and you are overly optimistic that you will do all of what's required," says John Gourville, professor of marketing at Harvard Business School.

...promotion managers informed us that redemption rates tend to be "very low" when the reward is below $10, that rebates of $10 to $20 on a $100 software product range between 10% and 30%, and that redemption rates on consumer electronics average approximately 40%.

Why Shoppers Love to Hate Rebates [U.S. News & World Report]
Why we buy but fail to redeem? (PDF) [Tim Salk]
Managing Mail-In Rebate Promotions (PDF) [Tim Salk]
PREVIOUSLY: Rebate-Processor Parago Caught In A Lie
HOWTO: Rebate Whore
Redeem Rebates With Hard Work And Luck
(Photo: Mecha Wendy)

A is waiting in line at a movie theater. When he gets to the ticket window, he is told that as he is the 100,000th customer of the theater, he has just won $100.

B is waiting in line at a different theater. The man in front of him wins $1,000 for being the 1-millionth customer of the theater. Mr. B wins $150.

According to the Times, the average person choses "A":

Amazingly, most people said that they would prefer to be A. In other words, they would rather forgo $50 in order to alleviate the feeling of regret that comes with not winning the thousand bucks. Essentially, they were willing to pay $50 for regret therapy.

Regret falls under a psychological effect known as loss aversion. Research shows that before we risk an investment, we need to feel assured that the potential gain is twice what the possible loss might be because a loss feels twice as bad as a gain feels good. That's weird and irrational, but it's the way it is.

The article goes on to explain the possible evolutionary causes for such behavior. Evolution's effect on people's perception of money is such that the vast majority of people care more about "making more money than other people" than they do about how much money they're actually making:

Would you rather earn $50,000 a year while other people make $25,000, or would you rather earn $100,000 a year while other people get $250,000? Assume for the moment that prices of goods and services will stay the same.

Surprisingly — stunningly, in fact — research shows that the majority of people select the first option; they would rather make twice as much as others even if that meant earning half as much as they could otherwise have. How irrational is that?

Some early findings:

Only 13% of food shopping trips are with kids but shoppers put more in their baskets overall when kids are with them. But the presence of kids in a shopping trip didn't have any effect on candy sales.

"Consumer Companies Look For Insights On Shoppers' Behavior" [CNN Money]
(Photo: Getty)

The study found that shoppers look for discounts and special offers for canned tuna, canned fruit and pasta sauce, but they want products like cheese, mayonnaise and coffee to be recognizable and easy to find.

For energy drinks and chocolate, shoppers care little about price but want eye-catching ads and snazzy packages. When it comes to salad dressings and chewing gum, they want to try out new products.

"POV: Brands in the Dark" [Adweek]
(Photo: Getty)

What's up with that?

Your personal spending shot up .9% in January, the strongest gain in six months, while your income rose a solid .7%.

Respect.

But check this, like a sucka-ass trick, spending more than your after-tax income forced you to dip into prior savings or increase your borrowing.

Economists say that this is exactly the wrong time for your savings rate to dip into negative territory with the impending retirement of 78 million baby boomers, biatch.

Life ain't all applejacks n' jump-rope. Maybe you'll think a little first before your next spree?

Consumer Spending Showed Big Gains in January [New York Times]