ethics

Ian wants your permission to keep the Xbox 360 Best Buy gave him by accident.  More »

The Mighty Bargain Hunter blog presents us with a money-related ethical dilemma: what do (should) you do when someone has priced an item way too low? He shares several stories that illustrate how this quandary can occur, and the response alternatives primarily boil down to two options:  More »

Here's a good rule of thumb for determining whether something is a charitable act: if you have to steal money to do it, and you're not Robin Hood, it's probably not gonna count as a good deed.  More »

Here's a story that will teach you a little something about how not to behave. According to George Smith, who does online marketing for Crocs, a blogger at the BlogHer conference in Chicago tried to extort him out of some shoes. This is not a good idea.  More »

An anonymous RadioShack employee sent us what he considers unethical talking points distributed by the corporate office to help employees upsell the RadioShack Replacement Service Plan. According to our tipster, "each example encourages lying." Read the deceptive talking points, inside...  More »

Daniel filled out a Washington Mutual deposit slip listing several checks and $500 in cash, but "forgot" to hand over the cash. He normally isn't a fan of "shady business," but now that he has a bank statement crediting him for the $500 hiding in his wallet, he's suddenly not sure what to do...  More »

A business ethics institute named Ethisphere has released its annual list of the 99 "World's Most Ethical Companies." We have to take exception to some of their choices.  More »

Not to be outdone by all the negative publicity Office Depot is getting over their "not in stock" lies, Best Buy stores in the New York area have been uncovered refusing to price match TV prices in accordance with their official policy. When pressed, the sales associates said that the TVs weren't covered due to imaginary exclusions that aren't included in the official policy language. An employee at one of the stores gave in, but then made up a new imaginary policy that said free delivery would cost $100.   More »

"A study of cheating among graduate students, published in 2006 in the journal Academy of Management Learning & Education, found that 56 percent of all M.B.A. students cheated regularly - more than in any other discipline. The authors attributed that to "perceived peer behavior" - in other words, students believed everyone else was doing it."  More »

Jason writes in with an ethics question that's been bothering him for the past seven years: should he have helped a cancer-stricken patient who lost her family in the 9/11 attacks qualify for COBRA coverage? Sure, it sounds like a no-brainer, but it gives us a chance to see the sort of conflicts that gnaw at customer service representatives. Do they follow the rules and keep their jobs, or do the right thing and help the customer? Consider his conundrum, inside...  More »

The New York Times says that half of doctors responding to a nationwide survey admitted to routinely prescribing placebos.   More »

The Nash Finch stores Avanza, Food Bonanza and Wholesale Food Outlets add the 10 percent charge to food at the register and specialize in serving Hispanics, according to store workers.  More »

Psychiatry is nothing more than a well-funded front for big pharma, according to lawmakers investigating the field's premier organization, the American Psychiatric Association. Unlike psychologists, psychiatrists can write prescriptions, giving pharmaceutical companies a powerful incentive to lavishly subsidize both their lifestyle and profession.  More »

Costco sells gas for $0.10-0.15 less per gallon than retail stations, but only to members who pay annual dues. Blueprint For Financial Prosperity claims to have found a way for non-members to access the bargain gas...  More »

Here's a different kind of rewards card, instead furthering more material consumption, the Brighter Planet Visa card lets you earn "EarthSmart" points. These points are automatically used every month to fund renewable energy projects. Every 1,000 points funds about 1 ton of carbon offsets. (Carbon offsets are a way of breaking the cost of planting trees, reclaiming methane, building windmills, etc, into purchasable units). There's a 0% introductory APR for the first 12 months, 9.99% or 15.99% APR thereafter, depending on your credit score. You get to feel good, renewable energy gets funded, and Visa and Bank of America get good PR --win-win-win-win. Gotta wonder, if you default on your payments, will they pull the trees out of the ground?  More »

How about a cola company that does no advertising or marketing? Donates one cent per bottle sold to offset its carbon footprint? Where every customer can look at the company's bank account, and if they disagree with how the founder is running things, can argue to have his share reduced? It's called Premium Cola. There's no salaries, no office, and no bosses, per se. All decisions are made equally by members of the cola collective. The drink is only sold to select locations in accord with the Premium Cola ideologies. Sound impossible to sustain?  More »

The odds aren't in her favor—in recent years, only 16% of employees who filed complaints with the Labor Dept.'s Occupational Safety & Health Administration won—but OSHA has agreed to open an investigation into Chalace Lowry's claims that after she reported suspicious activities at her Wal-Mart headquarters job as she'd been trained to do, she was outed to her boss as the whistleblower, and when she asked to be moved to a new position she was told to look for one herself and that Wal-Mart would make no guarantees about her job security.  More »