Consumerist: Charts

Charts: Mac Black Friday, MacMall Or BestBuy?

Ben Popken — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 10:54:01 EST

There's some nice discounts this Black Friday on the usually deal-proof Macs, but who's got the better price? MacMall, or BestBuy? Going through the full discount list is a pain, so MacRumors has put together a handy comparison chart of the prices on the current models for you. The biggest difference is in the MacBook pros, which MacMall has at $200 off vs BestBuy's $100.

Black Friday Discounts on Macs Have Begun [MacRumors] (Thanks to David!)

Find Out Where Your Money Goes When You Buy Gas

Chris Walters — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 17:01:44 EDT

Want to know where your fifties go when you fill up your car with gas? GOOD's latest chart breaks down the assorted costs, and compares them with other places around the globe. You can grab a free printed copy at any Starbucks, or go here to check it out in bright RGB goodness.

Note: if you can't view the GOOD site, click here for the full graphic.

"Gas Prices" is issue #4 in the free "GOOD Sheets" series from GOOD and Starbucks. Each issue focuses on one topic, and unfolds from a square about the size of a CD case into a large graphic that explores the topic in stats, pics, and captions.

This week's topic is the price of gas, while last week's was immigration. Tomorrow a new one hits the stores on "The State of America's Schools."

"Getting Gas" [GOOD]

Who Owns All The Organic Companies?

Ben Popken — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 13:43:27 EDT

Who really owns some of the biggest organic brands in the country? GOOD magazine made one of their sexy graphs to show you. For instance, Coke owns Odwalla, Pepsi owns Naked, and Kraft owns Boca Burgers. The chart also shows you that these parent companies are among the top 30 food processing companies. Not like we're talking a giant scandal or anything, it's just interesting to know more about where your food is really coming from. Just because it's organic doesn't mean it was made on a happy communal love-farm .

Estimated Hourly Wages For The Lowest Paying Jobs In The U.S.

Chris Walters — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 21:29:04 EST

The blog Political Calculations took data from the Congressional Budget Office, "which published a study of the lowest-wage workers in the U.S. from 1979 through 2005," and looked at the occupations of the bottom 20% of earners in the U.S. Then it took a chart of the 10 full-time jobs with the lowest annual earnings as compiled by BizJournals.com and estimated the hourly wage based on 40-hour weeks. Conclusion: don't plan on operating a Tilt-a-Whirl and retiring comfortably.

Three of the jobs—waiting tables, bartending, and, uh, bellhopping?—don't include unreported tips. After the food and beverage jobs, the next lowest spot on the chart is "Amusement and Recreation Facility Attendants." Interesting—this could explain why that Zipper ride operator at the fair yelled at us when we were kids and tried to scoop up spare change that fell out of riders' pockets. That was his money.

Average Hourly Wages as estimated by Political Calculations * does not include unreported tip income
Waiters and waitresses* Waiters and waitresses' assistants Bartenders* Amusement and Recreation Facility Attendants Baggage Porters and Bellhops* Food Preparation Workers Not Classified Elsewhere Early Childhood Teacher's Assistants Maids and Housemen Teacher's Aides Food Preparation Kitchen Workers		$4.21 $5.94 $6.39 $6.97 $7.20 $7.77 $7.96 $7.99 $8.01 $8.43

"The Jobs That Pay the Least" [Political Calculations]

"America's 25 Best and Worst Paying Jobs"
(Photo: Mister Scratch)

Latest ACSI Survey Is Out: You Really Like Dollar General

Chris Walters — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 11:27:36 EST

The American Customer Satisfaction Index has released its latest scores of retail businesses, so we thought we'd take a look at the department store rankings by constructing a handy graph. When it comes to customer satisfaction, apparently Dollar General is doing something right—and Wal-Mart, as usual, is doing lots of things wrong.

In the commentary on last quarters scores, ACSI says they've started including Nordstrom again because of its increasing market share, and back before it dropped off the survey in 2001, it held the top spot frequently, so no surprise there.

They also suggest that Dollar General, "which typically serves neighborhoods that may be too small to attract Wal-Mart," may be scoring high because of its wide variety of items in such small retail spaces.

Sears and Kmart are pretty much exactly where we'd expect them after their plunging customer service last year.

One thing we're not sure about is how the various recall disasters last year affected scores—clearly Dollar General emerged unscathed, despite its healthy dose of lead-tainted toys, Halloween pails, and holiday decorations.

"Q4 2007 and Historical ACSI Scores" [ACSI]
"Customer Satisfaction Falls Again; Retail, Financial Services Down; Wal-mart, Home Depot at All-Time Lows" [ACSI]

RELATED
"How are ACSI data collected?" [ACSI]

(Thanks to Shaula!)

Report Card On Personal Finance Education Nationwide

Chris Walters — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 02:51:14 EST

Less than a week ago, Tennessee voted to require a personal finance class of all graduating high school students, starting with this year's seventh graders. Unfortunately, less than 20% of states have similar requirements. We've made a fancy-schmancy graphic to show which states are teaching tomorrow's citizens how to manage money, and which states are likely to be great places to set up payday loan shops. Inside, see the chart nice and big.

Source: "A Report Card on the Nation: Survey of the States" [National Council on Economic Education]

American Houses, Blouses Trend Together

consumerist.com — Wed, 01 Feb 2006 10:30:09 EST

This is far from science—and the author of this chart doesn't claim that it is—but you might find it a bit amusing to see this correlation between American's median home size and our rates of obesity. Both are blossoming.

Of course the real challenge is discovering what other upward trends we could also plot on the same points. Any takers?

Americans Grow To Fit Their Environment [Alchemic Spot]