Consumerist
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crisis averted
Philadelphia's Public Libraries Not Closing After All
Lovers of books, free Internet access, and community gathering spaces, rejoice. The Philadelphia Free Library will not be closing on October 2nd, as previously threatened. More » -
libraries
Philadelphia To Close All Public Libraries October 2nd
UPDATE: Philadelphia's Public Libraries Not Closing After All
What frugal person doesn't like libraries? They're like a video store, only better. Which is why we're horrified to learn that thanks to the economic meltdown and the state of Pennsylvania's inability to pass its budget, the Philadelphia Free Library is closing on October 2nd. They'll be ending all services and programs, and closing all of the buildings. They want all of the books back, too. More »
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silly laws
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 » -
manners
Pennsylvania Training Its State Liquor Store Employees To Be Nicer
If you buy your devil juice from Pennsylvania, you might notice a difference in the way you're treated starting later this month. Pennsylvania is spending $173,000 to train employees of its state-owned liquor and wine stores to be more polite, reports PhillyBurbs.com: "The board wants to make sure clerks are saying 'hello,' 'thank you' and 'come again' to customers coming in for wine and liquor." More » -
housing
Top 10 Most And Least Affordable Cities
The National Association of Home Builders and Wells Fargo have put together an index of the most and least affordable metro areas. The index was created by calculating what percentage of a city's residents making the median income can afford a house in that city. More »
10:26 AM on Fri Feb 20 2009
By Meg Marco
30,204 views, 195 commentsMost discussed JanetCarol: Nothing in the DC Metro / Fairfax County VA made the least affordable?!?!?!? I'm shocked. more »
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fees
Pre-Loaded Benefit Cards Nickle And Dime Unemployed
Pennysylvania's unemployed are getting nickled-and-dimed by pre-loaded unemployment benefit debit cards that come come pre-loaded with hidden fees. More » -
how to
Prod Unemployment Office To Action With Your Local State Rep
Aaron has gotten a busy signal from the Pennsylvania unemployment office call center for a month. He started filing his claim online, which was fine, until he started getting automated emails saying there were problems with the online system, and instructed him to call the toll-free call center number. That's right, the one that's a constant busy signal. So, he got in touch with his local state representative, and got results! More » -
errors
Shopper Takes Walmart To Court Over $2 And Wins $100
The Pennsylvania woman who makes a hobby out of taking retailers to court over pricing errors has struck again. This time Walmart was ordered to pay Mary Bach $100 for repeatedly failing to correct a $2 error. More » -
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prices
"Everything Here Is $1.00... Except This.. And This... And This..."
Reader Summer B. says that dollar stores are raising their prices. She visited a dollar store in PA where everything was a dollar... except this... and this... oh, and this... More » -
best buy
Best Buy Apologizes For Charging You Too Much Tax On Your DTV Converter Box
The way coupons are taxed is different in every state— and believe us — it gets really complicated. The general rule, in most (but not all) states is that consumers are taxed on the full amount of the transaction — including any reimbursement that the store gets. More » -
sad
Lawsuit: The Bank Told Me To Spend That Mysterious $280,276.76 They Put In My Account
A retiree in Altoona, PA says that his bank told him he could spend the $280,276.76 that was mysteriously deposited in his account. He knew it wasn't his, but the bank assured him that everything was in order and he was free to start spending. More » -
Pennsylvania, a land ruled by the draconian "Liquor Control Board," may allow wine vending machines with “fingerprints and biometric readings” for age verification to be placed in grocery stores so that people can finally buy wine at the supermarket. What the hell is wrong with Pennsylvania?[Dr. Vino ]
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backlashes
Arbol Cafe Responds To Tipping Controversy
Two weeks ago, we made note of a word war going on in the comments section of the restaurant review section of Philadelphia's City Paper after a former employee complained that the Arbol Cafe was confiscating their tips. In response, Beth from Arbol Cafe wrote us:Arbol Cafe does give tips to the employees, and was giving tips at that time 'John Smith' was in training. John Smith was in training and she received $25 for each of her three, 3 hour shifts. We opened in January and she worked a few days in February. If people think that we do not tip employees, they are only feeding off of one of our first employees in training as well as repeat bloggers/posters who now seems out to slander us at every chance they have. While we can't continue forever defending ourselves without further criticizim from people who like to post negative comments, we do feel that it's important for our customers and future customers to know that our employees are, and have been, and will continue to be treated with respect and the tips have been, are currently, certainly will continue to be forwarded to them as they pass the training period and can competantly work the front desk.
But what she really should have done is pointed us to what she told the City Paper's Critical Mass blog, which is a bit more informative and a litte more reasonable-sounding.
PREVIOUSLY: Philadelphia Cafe Keeping Server's Tips For Themselves? -
rude
Walmart Won't Let You And Your Friend Each Buy A Wii Because You're "Together"
Reader Dave said he was shopping with his friend (male) at Walmart, searching for the coveted Nintendo Wii. He was happy to find that Walmart had 7 or 8 of the consoles in stock — enough for both he and his friend to purchase one. Walmart, however, had other ideas. Dave says that Walmart wouldn't let he and his friend each purchase a Wii because they were "together." First they're rationing rice and now men are forced to share their video games? What's going on in America, folks? More » -
crime
Don't Believe That Guy Who Works At Lowe's Who Can "Get Everything 1/2 Off"
Here's the story of a guy who had to learn the hard way that "your friend who works at Lowe's and says he can get you everything 1/2 off" is a liar and a criminal. More » -
scary
Gorton's Recalls Fish After Consumer Finds Pills Inside
Gorton's has issued a recall of some frozen fish fillets after they confirmed that a consumer found pills inside the product. More » -
gift cards
Highmark "Healthcare Gift Card" Usable To Buy Cigs, Junk Food
A health insurance company is touting what some might think sounds like a great idea, a gift card that can "cover out-of-pocket expenses related to personal health and wellness." Perfect for sick friends and ailing relatives, right? Well a Pittsburgh paper got one of the Highmark-branded cards and was able to buy from Rite Aid: cigarettes, chewing tobacco, Doritos, fudge brownies, Butterfingers, Hot Pockets, Mountain Dew, and a plastic World Wrestling Entertainment World Championship belt. More » -
someone think of the children
Walmart Is Still Selling Recalled Lead-Tainted Bibs
Walmart is still selling lead-tainted Baby Connection bibs that were recalled last May. Reader Jeff made the discovery after his wife accidentally purchased two packs of recalled bibs for their 4-month-old daughter while vacationing in the Poconos. More »
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