Consumerist
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grocery shrink ray
Grocery Shrink Ray Hits Folgers, Makes More Cups From Less Coffee?
Here's a fun little mystery for you guys. How can taking away 4 oz of coffee produce more cups of coffee? We've been thinking about it ever since Blueprint for Financial Prosperity sent us this photo the other day, and we just can't figure it out. Could it be magic? Some strange new property of the Grocery Shrink Ray? More » -
target
Is Target Intentionally Using Its "Special Deals" To Screw Over Customers?
Dan can do math in his head, which is a great skill these days when you're checking out the n objects for x price! specials at Target. In this case, Dan notes that the "temporary price cut" is so temporary that it doesn't even exist: you'll pay 13 cents more per box if you buy three of them. This is the third Target "special" we've seen this month that screws the consumer. Are we seeing a new trend? Is it legal to call it a price cut if it's not?
More »
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psychology
Why You Fall For Dumb Things
The New York Times has an interesting series of tests and explanations that show why and how the human brain makes errors in estimating probability—and consequently, why we get suckered even if we think we're overall pretty smart. To start things off, play the Times' online version of the "Let's Make a Deal" game, where you pick one of three doors, then you can read up on how it works. The game brought in a bunch of reader responses (and arguments), so the author, John Tierney, offered a few more thought experiments you can try if you need something to keep you distracted from your job. In today's column, Tierney talks about why so many people naturally make errors with probability and gets a plain-English explanation from a couple of marketing and psychology experts.
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fast food
KFC Is Sneaking Extra Profit From Bigger Orders
If you're planning on buying some Hot Wings from KFC in Colorado Springs, Colorado, your cheapest option is to buy them in sets of six no matter how many you want. KFC charges you slightly more per wing as you buy more—"Guess they just hope nobody's good at quick math," our reader Jay writes.
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math
Calculate The Surface Area Of Pizza To Locate The Best Deal?
If you've ever stood at the grocery store trying to figure out if it was a better deal to buy two smaller pizzas or one larger pizza, this story is for you. What happens when a personal finance blogger gets offered two 8" pizzas instead of one 12"? Geometry! From The Binary Dollar:
After doing some quick mental math (area of a circle = pi*radius . Two 8 pizzas = 2*pi*(4) = 32*pi square inches, One 12 pizza = pi*(6) = 36*pi square inches), I told her we'd be missing out on over 12 square inches of pizza, so we'd rather just have the one 12 pizza. She complied, and as a nice bonus (probably because she was impressed by my quick geometry skills), she let us have the extra 8 pizza anyways. Score one for geometry!
We doubt the part about the waitress being impressed by geometry skills, but the rest of it sounds about right. —MEGHANN MARCO More »
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cellphones
Why Are Text Messages Marked Up 7314%?
Verizon and other cellphone companies mark up the cost of text messages by at least 7314% when compared to their rates for data transfer services. More » -
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dell
Dell: Sorry About The Website Glitch
Dell's Customer Advocate just wrote us to let us know that the receipt sent in by reader Jonathan was the result of a website glitch and provides her contact information to anyone else experiencing problems with Dell's site:
I work for Dell headquarters in Round Rock, TX and would like to provide assistance. Though this circumstance is not very common, this error may have occurred when our weekly promotions are being updated and refreshed to the website. Please be assured, our online marketing team is very engaged when issues like these arise and work fast to fix the error. I appreciate the concern you have noted and will forward this information to our website team as feedback. If you have any other readers who have encountered this error and is it being incorrectly reflected on their order, please contact me directly. Send your order number to customer_advocate [at] dell [dot] com. Thanks and have a great day!
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readers
Dell Math: $1710 - $386 = $1549
Reader Jonathan sends us a screenshot from Dell with the message, "Dell needs a new calculator." The receipt from Dell lists the "unit price" of a laptop at $1710.00, then at the bottom shows a discount of $386 dollars...resulting in a "subtotal" of $1549. Either their math is wrong, or this is the worst receipt ever. Where did the extra $161 come from? Shouldn't that sort of thing be clearly marked? —MEGHANN MARCO More » -
verizon
Verizon Finally Admits They Were Wrong
It only took them five days, but somehow it got through to Verizon that they were wrong. They issued George an official apology letter and promised to teach their reps the difference between dollars and cents. More » -
verizon
YouTubers Post Videos In Response To Verizon Math Call
5Six different video have already gone up on YouTube in response to our upload of George's original "Verizon Can't Count" phone call. More »
math
New York, 5:29 AM
Fri Dec 5
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