convenience-stores

How I Was Overcharged $23.42 For Gas At The Circle K
The problem seemed easy enough to solve. SMM asked a Circle K cashier to pre-pay $20 on a gas pump using his credit card. Only the pump didn't stop at $20 like it should have: it kept going until it reached $23.42. No big deal: SMM headed back in the store to pay the extra three and a half bucks. That's when he learned that somehow, the first $20 he paid didn't count. More »

Circle K Helps Place Bounties On Heads Of Anonymous Thieves On Facebook
Figuring cops shouldn't be the only ones chasing down criminals via Facebook, convenience store chain Circle K has started going after small-time alleged thieves by posting surveillance video footage on Facebook. The chain's partner, crime fighting nonprofit Silent Witness, gives as much as $100 to those who spot acquaintances and soon-to-be-former friends making off with beer. More »

Cumberland Farms Fires Employee For Having Too Much Cash In The Register
Usually when we write about a store staffer getting followed in the wake of a robbery it's because they dared to do something about it, but a man in Massachusetts says he was given the boot from his Cumberland Farms job because his register had too much cash in it when the store was robbed. More »

Broom-Wielding Convenience Store Clerk Foils Sword-Packing Spider-Man Robbery Attempt
If you happen to be working as a clerk at a convenience store and aren't sure whether or not the guy causing havoc at the counter is the real Spider-Man, check and see if he's got a sword. Police say a North Carolina clerk confronted a ponytailed, Spidey-masked robber armed with a sword and managed to stop the heist by beating him down with a broom. More »

Don't Rob A Convenience Store With A Cop Standing Right Behind You
While we at Consumerist never, ever, ever condone crime. We have covered enough retail crime stories to have gleaned a few tips on what not to do. For example, if you plan on robbing a convenience store, you might want to check that a police officer is not standing a few feet behind you the entire time. More »

Robber Tries To Hold Up Clerk With Toy Gun, Foiled When Coworker Pretends To Be Cop
Proving once and for all that childhood games of cops and robbers offer training for real-world crime prevention procedures, a Florida convenience store clerk foiled a robbery by pretending to be a policeman. Naturally, the masked woman he subdued turned out to be wielding only a toy gun. More »

Flash Mob Blamed For Maryland Convenience Store Heist
Authorities say a flash mob organized online descended on a Maryland 7-Eleven and robbed it in less than a minute. At least 28 youths are accused of bombarding the store, cleaning the shelves and leaving en masse without paying a visit to the cash register. More »

7-Eleven Clerk Saves Customer's Life With CPR
Correct change for a Slurpee is all you'd expect from a 7-Eleven clerk, so you could say a Pittsburgh employee of the convenience store went beyond the call of duty when he administered CPR when a customer fell into cardiac arrest. More »

What's The Right Way To Argue I Was Shortchanged?
Bobby is positive a 7-Eleven clerk mistook his $20 bill for a $10 and shafted him on change. He brought the issue up to the clerk, who shut him down and sent him on his way. Since Bobby is a regular at the convenience store, it made the situation more awkward and rendered him more inclined to accept defeat. More »

7/11 Is Free Slurpee Day At 7-11
Free 7.11oz Slurpees can be had by one and all at 7-11 on Sunday, July 11th. Yes, that's on 7/11. Schedule a doctor's appointment now for the inevitable brain freeze! More »

Can A Price Scanner Give You Tourette's? (No, Says Judge)
I've certainly fought back the urge to shout obscenities at the register over the years, but until now I never thought it might be because the laser in the scanner was triggering an inherited tic disorder; I just thought I was angry about something. A woman in Pennsylvania thinks otherwise and sued a convenience store, claiming that when a clerk shone a price scanner's LED in her daughter's face and told her to cheer up, the light burned her daughter and triggered Tourette's-style symptoms. The judge threw out the case earlier this month for lack of evidence. More »

Brooklyn Police Close 6 Stores On The Same Street For Selling Pot
Up until today, if you lived near a certain street in Crown Heights, Brooklyn and wanted some pot, you just had to go to the nearby variety store. Or the music store. Or the take-out restaurants. MyFox New York says police "made a sweep of the neighborhood" today and shut down six businesses for selling drugs either in the back or right alongside the regular merchandise. They also arrested 8 people, including a few store owners and employees, and are planning more arrests. Video below. More »

Walgreens Has A Loose Definition Of The Phrase '50 Percent Off'
Jason spotted this photo at a Minnesota Walgreens. We ran the numbers and discovered that $7.49 is less than 50 percent off of $9.99. But the giant "50% Off" lettering looks so darn attractive that it's tough to fault the store's management from making the incorrect claim.

Grocery Shrink Ray: Secret Weapon In The War On Obesity?
Consumerists, I think we've been wrong about this Grocery Shrink Ray thing all along. We've long believed that companies deploy the Grocery Shrink Ray to imperceptibly decrease the amount of product in a package without customers noticing. But maybe—just maybe—there's a higher purpose. Maybe they're trying to save us from consuming a precious few calories and use social engineering to get us to snack less over time until at some point we're hardly snacking at all. Consider this exhibit: the shrinking Double Gulp cups at Chris's local 7-11 in Maryland. More »

75-Year-Old Woman Attacks Convenience Store Robber
A man tried to rob a convenience store in Massachusetts while a 75-year-old woman was at the counter buying something. This did not please her. Unfortunately I can't embed the video directly, but click through to Fox 8 News to watch the woman go all ninja with the price scanner gun. Never anger an old lady with a babushka! More »

Adorable Japanese Mascot Invades U.S. Convenience Stores

—>Would you like your morning coffee with a side of Domo-kun? In one of those odd twists of globalization and marketing synergy, the mascot of Japanese public television network NHK has found his way onto 99 cent cups of coffee and special Slurpee cups at 7-Eleven stores in the United States.   More »

Duane Reade Says It's Christmas Time

—>Reader Emily snapped this photo at the Duane Reade at 58th and 8th in Manhattan.  More »

WaPo Devotes Five Pages To Wawa/Sheetz Epic

—>We thought our love for Wawa was deep and true, then we read this lengthy column in the Washington Post about people getting married at a Wawa or flocking to the stores on 9/11 to regain a sense of community and normalcy.  More »

Tomorrow, 6,000 participating 7-Eleven stores will be giving away free tiny Slurpees. [7-Eleven] (Thanks to Henry!)  More »

Crazy Pennsylvania Beer Law Bars Convenience Stores From Selling Beer Six-Packs

—>Poor Pennsylvanian beer-lovers — not only is there a bizarre, ancient law on the books that prevents convenience stores from selling six-packs, but the state supreme court has gone and upheld it.  More »