If you have been meaning to buy yourself or a loved one a new iPhone 6 or 6 Plus but haven’t managed to get around to plunking down the cash for it, your procrastination has paid off. Walmart has cut prices on these devices to $129 and $229, respectively, for customers willing to sign up for a two-year contract with AT&T, Sprint, or Verizon. [More]
Retail Services
Here’s Why You Should Always Read The Details Of Free Trials
By 12.11.14
When you sign up for a free trial of a service, but don’t have to hand over your payment information on the spot, do you assume that the free trial will simply go away? That’s what many people who signed up for a trial of Amazon Prime seemed to do, and the Iowa Attorney General has arrived at a settlement with Amazon over auto-enrollment in Prime. [More]
Bank Of America Must Pay Family $1 Million For 5 Years Of Unwanted Robocalls
By 12.11.14
If you’ve got a problem paying your mortgage, the bank is allowed to call you about collecting that debt. But after you’ve repeatedly told the bank — verbally and in writing — to stop robocalling your cellphone, it should do so. And if a recent ruling by a federal court in Florida holds up, Bank of America will have to fork over more than $1 million to a couple who say the bank spent five years ignoring their demands for the calls to cease. [More]
NLRB Judge Rules That Walmart Illegally Punished California Workers For Participating In Protests
By 12.11.14
In recent years, some Walmart workers have staged public protests about inadequate wages and unfair treatment. A number of these employees claim that management has retaliated against them for expressing their views. Now a court has ordered Walmart to reverse disciplinary action taken against protesting workers and put a stop to future retaliation.
New Kmart Ad Encourages Shoppers To Spend Least Amount Of Time Possible In Store
By 12.11.14
The secret to successfully shopping at Kmart is to spend as little time inside a Kmart as you can. We think that’s the message of a new Kmart commercial, which portrays the best shopping trip to Kmart as one in which you spend approximately three seconds in the store: long enough to grab your online order, but not long enough to notice the broken floor tiles. [More]
Why Are Big-Box Stores Pricing Barbies Differently By Race?
By 12.10.14
Are pricing algorithms racist? That’s not really possible, and several big retailers are blaming “pricing errors” for discrepancies in the prices of Barbie dolls of different ethnicities. Shoppers interested in a doll in a figure-skating costume, for example, have to pay $1.99 extra at Walmart for a doll with darker skin and black hair. How does that happen? [More]
In Wake Of Target Ruling, Will Retailers Scale Back Security So They Can Plead Ignorance?
By 12.10.14
Last week, a federal court in Minnesota gave the go-ahead to a lawsuit filed against Target by several banks trying to claim damages from the massive 2013 payment systems breach. Now, some worry that the court’s decision could lead retailers to go with simpler, perhaps less secure, systems rather than risk missing a red flag on a more complicated one. [More]
Bank CEO Rips Walmart For Allowing ID Thieves To Spend $12K Without Anyone Noticing
By 12.10.14
How do ID thieves spend $12,000 in just a couple of hours at Walmart without anyone noticing? Quite easily, apparently. Which is why one CEO of a Texas-based bank is criticizing the nation’s largest retailer. [More]
Want L.L. Bean Duck Boots Right Now? Head To eBay, Pay Double
By 12.10.14
When there’s a shortage of something that people want to buy, capitalism fills in the gaps and unites buyers, sellers, and large amounts of cash. That’s the case with L.L. Bean duck boots, Which are in short supply right now and backordered until almost spring time. For people who want their feet warm and dry right now, there are eBay auctions where they can buy the boots at a premium. [More]
Sears Distribution Center In Mississippi Available For Lease, No One Will Say Why
By 12.10.14
Great news if you’re in the market for 800,000 square feet of warehouse space: the owner of the building in Mississippi where Sears houses a distribution center is reportedly quietly marketing the facility. Why? Where is Sears going? The company that owns the building won’t say, and of course neither will Sears. [More]
Supreme Court: Amazon Warehouse Workers Shouldn’t Be Paid For Security Screening Time
By 12.9.14
Two months ago, the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in the case of Integrity Staffing Solutions v. Busk et al., concerning the question of whether employees at a warehouse–an Amazon distribution center, in this case–should be paid for the time that they spend waiting for security checks when they leave work. The Supremes issued a unanimous decision earlier than expected, and they say that security checks should not be considered part of the job at a distribution center. [More]
Walmart Cashier Bails Out Customer Who Can’t Afford Groceries
By 12.9.14
We’re going to guess that Walmart cashiers see plenty of customers in the course of a day who can’t afford all of the items that they’ve selected and must put something back. Yet something made a cashier in upstate New York stop and reach into her pocket when an older man at her register couldn’t afford to buy all of his food, contributing forty dollars of her own. [More]
Amazon Dips Toes Into Ultra HD Streaming Waters
By 12.9.14
If you recently threw down some cash on a sleek new Ultra HD (or 4K) TV and you’re still waiting for content to show off to your friends (or justify the expense to yourself), here’s some mixed news for you. Amazon is finally getting into the 4K-streaming game, but the offerings aren’t really anything to celebrate right now. [More]
Amazon’s “Make An Offer” Option Lets Customers Haggle Over The Price Of Collectible Items
By 12.9.14
While it’s not uncommon for customers to haggle over the price of items at garage sales, most of us wouldn’t dream of walking into a prominent national retailer and asking them to cut the price of an item just because – that is until now. Amazon unveiled a new option that allows customers to bargain over the price of thousands of collectible items sold on the site. [More]
Mechanical Giraffe Escapes From Hell, Sold At Discount Toy Store
By 12.8.14
The box for this toy giraffe says that it “Walks Along, Moves Head, And Shriek.” Verb tenses aside, that description is alarmingly accurate. The toy does all of those things, including shrieking like a demonically possessed creature as it walks along. While that makes the box accurate, it’s not clear to us who the intended audience for this toy would be. [More]
Why Are 100,000 People On A Waiting List To Buy Duck Boots From L.L. Bean?
By 12.5.14
Do you need a warm and waterproof pair of boots so you can tromp through serious snow, slush, and ice this winter? If so, you really should have planned ahead. L.L. Bean reports that their duck boots (which are not made out of actual ducks) for men and women alike are pre-ordered so far in advance that for some sizes, you’ll be waiting around until mid-March to get your boots. [More]
Sears Holdings Admits Plans To Close 105 More Stores, Won’t Say Which Ones
By 12.5.14
Last week, we shared an updated version of a list naming 109 Kmart and Sears stores reported by employees or local media outlets to be closing by early 2015. While Sears still won’t confirm or deny these reports on a company-wide level, the company did tell investors as part of its quarterly earnings report this week that it plans to close 105 more stores by the beginning of next year. [More]
Secret Santa Gifts $15K To Pay For Strangers’ Walmart Layaway Items
By 12.5.14
It’s that time of year again, when generous folks around the country pop in to their local retailers and plunk down a pile of cash to make strangers’ holidays happier by paying for their layaway purchases. This time, some secret Santa in Ohio left a substantial $15,000 gift under shoppers’ trees. [More]
