Forget about the Amazon Dash. The company’s web-connected speaker – you know, the one that talks? – now has the ability to do your shopping for you; as long as the item is a reorder from a pervious purchase and happens to be Prime eligible. [More]
Retail Services
IKEA Is Testing Small Pick-Up Point Stores In Canada
By 5.15.15
I live in a smaller metropolitan area where people often whine that we have to drive more than two hours each way to visit an IKEA store. What if we didn’t, though? What if cities too small to support a mammoth IKEA of their own had small stores with some retail offerings, where they could pick up their online orders of flat-pack furniture themselves? The chain of mega-stores announced this week that they’re trying that idea out in Canada. [More]
Detergent Pod Poisonings Increase, Even After Changes To Packaging
By 5.15.15
In spite of efforts by manufacturers to make their laundry detergent pods look less like candy in a jar, the number of poisoning incidents related to these products continues to grow. [More]
Every Regular Grocery Store Is Already A Downmarket Whole Foods
By 5.14.15
The idea of a lower-priced version of Whole Foods aimed at younger consumers is intriguing, but there’s already a hugely popular downmarket alternative to Whole Foods for people seeking natural and organic groceries. It’s called Walmart. [More]
Class Action Suit Filed In California Over Wells Fargo’s Alleged Customer Account Abuses
By 5.14.15
A lawsuit filed earlier this month by the city of Los Angeles accuses Wells Fargo of pushing employees to engage in fraudulent conduct with regard to consumer accounts in order to meet the bank’s sales quotas. Now, one of those customers has filed his own lawsuit against the San Francisco-based bank alleging the same misconduct deceived and defrauded consumers across the country. [More]
Let’s Review Again What ‘Target Math’ Is And Why It’s Bad
By 5.13.15
When shopping, you compare prices for different sizes and quantities of the same item and weigh that against your needs to determine which is the best deal. Except at Target. At Target, customers have to deal with a special kind of math, where putting an item on sale means that the price goes up, and where buying things in larger quantities means that you pay a higher unit price. It’s a special place where the bargains are plentiful, but make no sense. [More]
Walmart Reportedly Working On An Amazon Prime Rival
By 5.13.15
Walmart’s latest attempt to stay competitive with Amazon reportedly includes taking the rival company’s iconic Prime service and making its own version. [More]
Which Items Get Returned To Sephora Most Often?
By 5.13.15
Sephora is a magical playground filled with very expensive substances that grown-ups can slather on themselves. Yet what if that $29 mascara or $45 foundation just doesn’t look right on you? The cosmetics retailer has a famously generous return policy, even for items that have been opened and used, and there are certain items that end up returned more often than others. Which are they? [More]
Chase Says It Will Replace All Debit Cards With Chip-Enabled Cards
By 5.12.15
After an earlier report that it would do so, JPMorgan Chase says it’ll be reissuing debit cards for all its customers, replacing the old magnetic strip cards with those containing microchips for increased security. [More]
Lowe’s Takes Over 13 Former Target Canada Stores
By 5.11.15
Last week, we learned that Walmart would be taking over thirteen former Target Canada stores and a distribution center. Today, home improvement chain Lowe’s announced that is taking over twelve store leases, one store that Target owned, and one distribution center. [More]
Man Allegedly Fights Employees, Officers After Peeping Over Women’s Restroom Stall At Walmart
By 5.11.15
Over the years there has been no shortage of stories on Consumerist about peeping Toms hiding in women’s restrooms (the guys who fell through the movie theater ceiling) or department store changing rooms (the man who was chased by a topless woman at Kohl’s). But the latest unsettling incident took a dramatic turn after the alleged ogler supposedly assaulted employees and police officers after being found out. [More]
Amazon’s Stupid Shipping Gang Knows Exactly Where Your RAM Is
By 5.11.15
The Stupid Shipping Gang is back to work at Amazon: indeed, it never left. The Stupid Shipping Gang are the people who package e-commerce items for shipping, using inappropriately large or excessive packaging. Matthew’s office ordered nine RAM modules for laptop computers…and received them in nine separate boxes. [More]
Grocery Store Marks Up Chicken, Not Sure How ‘Clearance’ Works
By 5.8.15
Here is how it works when something has been on the shelf for a while and you want to get rid of it. You lower the price slightly to entice someone to buy it, and…um, that should be about it. Unless you are grocer Ingles. Then putting something on clearance means raising the price per pound but decreasing the weight, decreasing the price slightly but not making anyone want to buy the chicken. [More]
JPMorgan Chase, Bank Of America Agree To Wipe Debt Cleared By Bankruptcy From Credit Reports
By 5.8.15
Two of the country’s largest banks are finally getting around to removing the debt consumers eliminated during bankruptcy proceedings from their credit reports, a move that puts Bank of America and JPMorgan Chase in line with federal law. [More]
Why Is This Store Charging A Bottle Deposit On Dryer Sheets?
By 5.8.15
Some consumer mysteries are very tiny, which is what makes them somehow even more frustrating. For example, why did a bodega charge a customer ten cents in bottle deposit fees when she bought laundry supplies? The store was somehow charging the deposit on dryer sheets, but not charging it on beverages which should be subject to it. Why? The store say that it was all a mistake. [More]
Walmart Taking Over Target’s Canadian Properties
By 5.8.15
The big box locations that once served as Target stores in Canada now have a new tenant: Walmart. [More]
Police: Man Stole Riding Lawnmower From Walmart By Driving It Off The Lot
By 5.7.15
Because riding lawnmowers don’t just drive off store lots all by themselves, police in Nebraska say a man they found driving a stolen machine 10 miles from its home at Walmart was responsible for its escape. [More]
Kohl’s Rolls Out Buy Online, Pick Up In Store Nationwide
By 5.7.15
The ability to order something online and pick it up is very appealing to consumers, even though doing so apparently doesn’t save us any time. Now Kohl’s, another retailer that had been testing this delivery method in fewer than 10% of their stores, is rolling it out nationwide. [More]
