consumption

Time for KFC to start offering the chicken bailout bucket! Pilgrim's Pride has announced that they're taking a page from the auto industry and idling 3 chicken plants as consumers eat out less and look for lower cost alternatives to meat. [Reuters]  More »

What's up, beer drinkers of America? Bloomberg notes that "take-out sales of alcoholic beverages tumbled 9.3 percent in the fourth quarter, the steepest drop since the U.S. Commerce Department started compiling data half a century ago," and a drop four times greater than the overall fall in consumer spending. Most of that was due to the 14 percent drop in beer sales.  More »

The global economy is crashing, credit markets are playing ice age, and you consumers have a simple choice: buy things now or prepare to be stabbed next year.   More »

Americans throw away a quarter of our food uneaten, which translates into serious wasted cash over time. The Guardian compiled an excellent list of ways to shop smarter so you end up buying what you need, and eating what you buy.  More »

Walmart knows more about us than we do, according to ABC News.   More »

According to the Inquirer, sales of "Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon increase by between 272 and 350 percent... OK Go's Oh No increased 77 per cent. Coldplay's A Rush Of Blood To The Head jumped 115 percent."   More »

According to Bankrate sales of SUVs are up 25% from this time last year. Wait, weren't we all buying Priuses because we can't afford $4 gas? Nope.  More »

Hawaiians love Spam! They love it so much that McDonald's offers it on their breakfast menu in Hawaii, and now Burger King is getting into the act. It's a Spam war!   More »

Proceeds of up to $1.75 million (that's a whole lot of bags) from the bag campaign will go to American Forests, the nation's oldest non-profit citizens conservation organization, to plant trees to restore forests and offset CO2 emissions,..IKEA projects that the number of plastic bags used by their U.S. customers will be reduced by at least 50% from 70 million to 35 million in the first year. This program was launched in IKEA stores in the UK in late Spring 2006, and reduction has been an impressive 95 percent.

Will Walmart's extremely early holiday price cuts, or "rollbacks," inspire other retailers to follow suit?  More »

OfficeMax boasts the skimpiest lineup of Black Friday sale items we've seen to date.  More »

We've never heard of Harbor Freight but they sell tools. Their Black Friday ad just went up. A six piece screwdriver set for only $1.49 sounds like a deal. As does a mover's dolly for only $19.99.  More »

Nary seconds ago, Sears Black Friday ad pooped onto the internet.  More »

There's no sexy newspaper insert scanned yet, but the hard facts of K-marts Black Friday specials have leaked onto the internet.  More »

The orgy of bargains and crazed pre-Christmas shopping, Black Friday, is only 38 days away.  More »