suggestions

Last week, Slate published a list of children's books about poverty, unemployment, shoe-eating, dust bowls, depressions, and recessions. From a late-19th century series called The Five Little Peppers through to 2007's How To Steal a Dog, the list captures over 100 years of poverty-level slice of life--what we might call the Plight of the Raggedy Children.  More »

Writing "Ask For ID" on the back of your credit card isn't an unimpeachable guarantee of security, but it could be the last line of defense between you and a fraudulent charge. Invoking perilously flawed logic, the Boston Globe argues: "the cardholder gains nothing by not signing the card or writing in 'See ID' on the signature panel." Let's dismantle this nonsense piece by piece.  More »

I bought two books on Amazon - and my total came to $24.74. So I scouted around and found a site (www.filleritem.com) that lets you choose a small priced item to bump the price over the $25 to qualify for free shipping. I chose a small wooden knob for $0.72.   More »

Here's a free idea for the taking: why doesn't a bank (cough HSBC cough) offer the option to have text message alerts sent to a registered phone number any time a withdrawal is made from a specific account via ATM? "$120 was withdrawn at 2:51pm EST in Palo Verde, CA. Reference #293005" See how easy that was? Such exception-based reporting would drastically cut down on fraud (we're guessing) by enlisting the help of customers to report unauthorized transactions immediately.  More »

It's Monday, and that means it's time to spin the Consumerist faucet for a fresh influx of tips again.   More »

Hey, anyone can comment and, despite what Ben claims, the bar to entry is extremely low, being outsourced entirely to an intern chained to her desk at New York as it is.   More »

Just a reminder that if you've found a story you'd like to see here, have an anecdote (bad or good) about a company or just want to give feedback about the tone and direction of this site, The Consumerist wants to hear from you.  More »