Over the weekend, a family in Valparaiso, IN, took the name of the Goodwill store quite literally, handing out money to shoppers and paying for their purchases at the checkout line. [More]
indiana
Garden On The Go Brings Veggies To Indiana's Food Deserts
By 9.27.11
Food trucks aren’t just for cleverly named cupcakes. Indiana University has launched “Garden On The Go,” an initiative to send trucks full of fruits and vegetables for sale to Indiana’s “food deserts.” These are places where people are poor and markets with fresh veggies are frequently more than a mile away. Normally, these folks often have to get their food from gas stations, convenience stores, and restaurants. [More]
Billboard Comes Down After Outcry Over Jonestown Reference
By 2.23.11
You know what puts me in the mood for Mexican food? References to ’70s suicide cults. I must be the only one, though, because an Indiana restaurant chain ended a billboard campaign after complaints about its Jonestown theme. “We’re like a cult, with better Kool-Aid,” the billboards read. “To die for!” [More]
Why Won't Walmart Tell Its Employees They Can't Demand ID For MasterCard Purchases?
By 9.27.10
Even though — as recently as last week — executives at both Walmart and MasterCard confirmed that it is against both companies’ policies to demand ID for credit card purchases, Consumerist readers and Walmart shoppers are letting us know that the hassle continues. [More]
Taco Bell Employee Fights Crime With Mop Handle
By 9.14.10
Remember that scene in the Eddie Murphy film Coming to America where he and Arsenio Hall take out an armed robber (a barely recognizable Samuel L. Jackson) with a mop handle? Well, the real-life scene on Sunday at a Taco Bell in Indiana probably wasn’t as cinematic, but it was cool nonetheless. [More]
White Castle Testing Waters With New BBQ Menu
By 8.30.10
Steamed meat purveyor White Castle has dipped its toe into the BBQ world in the past with its “pulled pork sliders.” But now a Castle outpost in Indiana has gone whole hog and become the first of the chain’s eateries to debut its “Blaze Modern BBQ” menu. [More]
AT&T Really Wants Everyone To Know About Their Remodeled Store In Niles, Michigan
By 7.22.10
Either someone at AT&T thinks thousands of its customers need to know about its newly renovated store in Niles, MI — a town of around 12,000 not far from the Indiana border — or someone at AT&T screwed up and sent out e-mail announcements about the store to the wrong distribution list. Because we’ve gotten several complaints — including one from yours truly — about this apparent gaffe. [More]
WellPoint/Anthem BCBS Decides Not To Be Completely Evil To California Policyholders
By 7.1.10
Nearly five months ago, Anthem Blue Cross of California and parent company WellPoint put their names in the running for Biggest Dickheads of 2010 by trying to raise rates upward of 39% for individual policyholders, a move that put the entire insurance industry under the legal and legislative microscope. In a move to seem like only a huge dickface, the insurance giant announced yesterday that it’s now proposing less grandiose rate increases. [More]
If You're Going To Sell Stolen Stuff On Craigslist, Don't Post Your Real Phone Number
By 6.23.10
You would think that, given the amount of heisted property that gets listed for sale on Craigslist ever day, the criminal masterminds out there would know to not post any information that could immediately identify them to the authorities. And yet, a man from Indiana is behind bars right now, all because he didn’t follow this simple rule. [More]
Mother-Daughter Scam Tag Team Targeted Seniors Via Obits
By 6.23.10
Vultures. A mother and a daughter were arrested for skimming through the local obituary pages and calling up the spouses pretending to be from the bank or credit card company. They would say that the recently departed owed the company money, and the survivor needed to provide a blank check or a credit card. [More]
Guilt-Stricken Taco Bell Robber Returns Stolen Money
By 6.14.10
It’s not often that a story about a Taco Bell heist ends happily, but a would-be thief in Indiana was apparently so stricken with guilt (or afraid of getting caught) that he returned the cash he’d ripped off only days earlier. [More]
Man Goes On Meat Rampage To Save "Chubby Girls"
By 4.1.10
The AP says that an Indiana man went on a bizarre rampage in a supermarket, pulling out a hunting knife and attacking packages of hamburger. He then threw dog food onto it. [More]
Indiana County Won't Prosecute Stores With Redboxes
By 3.7.10
The Indiana prosecutor who sent letters threatening criminal prosecution to grocery and big-box stores containing video rental kiosks has decided not to prosecute because the general public thinks that the idea is incredibly stupid. [More]
UPS Shipment Takes Gap Year, Hides In Indiana For 14 Months
By 10.4.09
After yesterday’s article about a package’s 14-year UPS odyssey, Matt wrote in to share a misdelivery of his own. This package only spent 14 months astray—sort of a gap year. However, the item was shipped after the advent of online tracking, so he has a record of its travels. Or utter lack of travels.
Grandmother Arrested For Buying Cold Medicine Twice In One Week
By 9.29.09
Last March, Sally Harpold bought a box of Zyrtec-D cold medicine for her husband, then a few days later bought a box of Mucinex-D cold medicine for her grown daughter. That put her over the limit for how much pseudoephedrine-laced cold meds you can buy in a week in her small Indiana town, so she was arrested along with 16 other potential meth makers earlier this month.
Unemployment Claims And Consumer Confidence Down, Whirlpool To Lay Off 1,100
By 8.29.09
The number of new unemployment claims filed nationwide was down to only 570,000 last week, but consumer confidence is at a four-month low. Maybe that’s because newsworthy layoffs continue, including Whirlpool announcing that they will cut 1,100 full-time positions in the U.S., located in Evansville, Indiana.
Gold's Gym Applies Fitness Shrink Ray To Membership Privileges
By 8.23.09
Most complaints that we receive about gyms involve memberships that refuse to die (even when the customer does), but Laura in Indiana has a different problem. Her local Gold’s Gym is changing its services and membership structure with no regard for the facility’s current members.
Grocery Store Cancels Facebook Coupon Deal, Enrages Customers
By 8.3.09
Marsh, a grocery chain in Indiana and Ohio, made a special coupon available to their fans on Facebook. The coupon was good for $10 off a purchase of $10 or more. Great deal, right? Until the promotion got out of hand, and the store stopped accepting the coupon on Friday, with no warning to customers. Based on past similar experiences, you can guess how well this turns out.
