Consumerist
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online shopping
Here Are Your Shipping Deadlines For Christmas 2009
If you're planning on spending the next 6-8 weeks pouring cash into Mammon's gaping maw—and really, who isn't? it's how we love each other—then here are the shipping deadlines for over 100 online retailers, courtesy of CouponSherpa. In today's UPS/FedEx world you can frequently wait right up until Christmas week, but you might want to double-check the list if there's a retailer you absolutely have to shop from.
"Holiday Shipping Deadlines for Christmas 2009" [CouponSherpa] (Thanks to Jeff!)
(Photo: dierken) -
i want egg nog year round
POLL: When Is Too Early For Christmas Creep?
After we proposed tracking Starbucks's roll out of Christmas products as a metric to gauge yearly Christmas Creep, we got a fair amount of comments saying they saw no problem with Christmas stuff coming out once Halloween was over. So, inside, a poll: at what point does Christmas Creep become acceptable holiday display? More » -
jesus, you're early
Starbucks Decides It's Time For Christmas
A reader wrote in on November 3rd to let us know that Starbucks has busted out the holiday-themed coffee paraphernalia. This gives us an idea. More » -
christmas creep
Christmas Creep Cartoon From Hallmark (Yes, Hallmark)
Hallmark's Shoebox Greetings has a blog. This week, the blog published a delightful cartoon on the subject of Christmas creep. More » -
christmas creep
Costco Already Playing Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer
We're sort of wondering what happened to "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown," because apparently Costco has skipped right to playing "Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer." More » -
recession
Christmas This Year Will Be Less Tacky
Because retailers plan their Christmas offerings so far in advance, most were too far along with trendy or ostentatious Christmas merchandise to change course last year, reports the Associated Press. This year they're prepared to pursue the fiscally conservative consumer, which means everyone is selling the holiday decor equivalent of comfort food. More » -
christmas creep
Hobby Lobby Worships The Great Pumpkin With Halloween Tree
Hobby Lobby, with its devout Christian ownership, isn't the first store we'd think of to honor the Great Pumpkin. Yet reader James spotted this festive tree back in mid-September. More » -
holiday headaches
Help Us! Tell Us What You Hate About The Holiday Shopping Season
Attention Shoppers: We're interested in your opinions about the upcoming holiday shopping season. What drives you up the chimney? Is it the music? Black Friday? Rebates? Christmas Creep? Let us know! More » -
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target is crazy
Arizona Target Store Really, Really Can't Wait For Christmas
On September 27, 2009, there were 89 days until Christmas. But not at the Target in Peoria, Arizona. Reader Chris noticed that the twin phenomena of Christmas Creep and Target's creeping insanity converged on one glorious, confusing, Santa-filled point where there were suddenly only 53 days until Christmas. -
christmas creep
Start Your Christmas Shopping In August At This Colorado Pawn Shop
This sign spotted outside of a pawn shop in Wheat Ridge, Colorado, raises all kinds of questions. Such as: now what for Christmas? Now hiring for Christmas? Now buying artificial conifers for Christmas? Now cleaning out our warehouses for Christmas? We need more clarification, EZ Pawn.
UPDATE: Apparently the word "layaway" was, at some point, on this sign, but wasn't when Robin took this photograph. That makes more sense in concept, at least, but is still obnoxiously early for Christmas. More »
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christmas creep
Christmas Has Arrived In August At Costco
Yes, it's the second half of the year — which can only mean one thing: as the sweltering waves of sticky heat give way to hurricanes and the little tykes sharpen their pencils for the first day of school — Santa is on his way. Get out your @#$%#$ mistletoe and holly and all that. More » -
christmas creep
Hobby Lobby Starts Off The Christmas Creep Season In July This Year
Last year we had to wait until August before Hobby Lobby busted out the Christmas cheer. Not this year! They've got things rolling in July, baby. And no, this isn't a "Christmas in July" sale. More » -
christmas creep
Kmart Launches Christmas Site In July
You know "Christmas in July?" Kmart does. They sent a mailing out to customers today about their new site, Christmas Lane. It promises "the best deals for Christmas, 5 months early." To us, that's more of a threat than a promise. More » -
accolades
Panasonic Solves Gadget Problem Sent Through Generic Email Address!
Emailing a company about a product problem via their front-facing email address usually has about as much effect as wishing your way out of debt (just don't tell the producers of The Secret). But Steve emailed Panasonic and instead of getting nothing or a generic response back, he actually ended up sending a series of emails back and forth with a product engineer who solved his consumer conundrum. Amazing! Here's his story. More » -
ups
UPS Coughs Up $50 But Still Hasn't Delivered Your Daughter's Christmas Present
Reader Michael wants to know why it's taking UPS almost a month to ship his daughter's Christmas gift from Los Angeles to Seattle. Michael thinks his package might have been eaten by the snowstorm that broke Seattle a few weeks back, but UPS swears that they have the gift and that this is all a simple matter of "the driver forgot to put it on the truck." Worried that it that it might have been faster for a messenger to walk between Los Angeles and Seattle with his daughter's present, Michael decided to launch an Executive Email Carpet Bomb at UPS executives. More » -
circuit city
Circuit City's "Free Shipping Day" Promise Turns Out To Be Worthless
Circuit City promised that if you ordered from them on December 18th, you'd get free shipping and a guarantee that your order would arrive before Christmas. It turns out that promise was worthless, at least for Brandon—or rather, it's worth exactly $5 in company scrip from Circuit City. (We love apologies that force you to shop at the company that screwed up.) Circuit City's CSR even says that the December 18th offer doesn't exist, despite the fact that their logo is still up on the freeshippingday.com website as of today. More » -
stupid shipping gang
Don't Even Think Of Ordering A Pizza Stone From Amazon
We'd like to share a personal story: it involves Amazon, Christmas presents, and three broken pizza stones.
christmas
EBay today announced that their net earnings fell 31% last quarter. You'd think in this economy, shoppers would be drawn to the potentially lower prices of eBay—after all, 
New York, 11:13 PM
Sat Nov 7
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