Yesterday, Amazon finally unveiled its Prime Pantry service, which allows customers to consolidate as many grocery items as they can into one large box for home delivery. But given Prime Pantry’s selection and long delivery times, is this something that people can actually use? The answer is… maybe. [More]
Retail Services
Amazon Testing A Delivery Service Of Its Own
By 4.24.14
How many times have you gotten a shipping alert from Amazon and groaned when because the delivery service selected by Amazon has a history of late deliveries, or of mishandling packages, or of packages that vanish into the ether? Now Amazon is reportedly testing a system in San Francisco that takes the middle man out of the equation. [More]
Amazon Prime Members Can Now Shop For Groceries With Addition Of Pantry Service
By 4.24.14
A month after announcing its first-ever price hike to its Amazon Prime subscription service, the online retailer is finally launching Prime Pantry, a new bulk grocery shopping addition to Prime that Amazon hopes will justify that additional cost for some customers. [More]
AT&T Throwing Its Hat In The Online Video Ring With New Venture
By 4.22.14
Times used to be, the only kids on the block offering online video services were Netflix and Hulu. But slowly, ever so slowly, the smell of money to be made has been luring competitors like Amazon and Youtube and now, AT&T. The telecommunications company announced a new $500 million deal to start its own online video venture. [More]
In States With Amazon Sales Tax, People Spend Less On Amazon
By 4.22.14
Many people order things from Amazon because it’s incredibly convenient — no driving to the store; no waiting in line; no shoving into the back of your car… and in many states, no collection of sales tax. A new study tries to figure out the impact of removing that last incentive from the equation. [More]
Was This Walmart Doing A Bad Thing By Being Closed On Easter But Asking Employees To Work?
By 4.21.14
When a store says it’s closed on Easter so its employees can spend time with their families, does that mean the entire store should be a ghost town? Or is it okay to have a volunteer skeleton crew in to keep things moving behind the scenes? And should the workers who do volunteer to come in be paid extra for giving up their holiday? These questions and more are being debated about a Walmart Supercenter in Maine. [More]
Raiders Of The Lost Walmart Must Wait Until January 30, 2007 To Sell This Computer
By 4.21.14
All over the world, in dusty corners of discount stores and warehouses, retail antiquities are waiting for someone to discover them. These tiny pockets of obsolete, comically overpriced technology are the purview of the Raiders of the Lost Walmart, a group who tirelessly search for these artifacts, then send pictures of them to Consumerist. This week, they uncovered two fascinating treasures. [More]
Walmart’s Description Of This Air Mattress Is A Little Off
By 4.18.14
Standard mattress sizes are confusing and hard to remember. Do you know the size in inches of a queen-size bed off the top of your head? Adrienne doesn’t, but she did notice that this air mattress at Walmart is doll-sized, not human-sized. [More]
Walmart Continues Its Foray Into The Financial Industry With New Money Transfer Service
By 4.17.14
Walmart’s one-stop-shop just gained new ground. Instead of traipsing to Western Union or another money transfer storefront, you can just send dear old grandma a few bucks once you’ve finished grocery shopping at the superstore. [More]
For Only $400, Frost Your Beer Glasses Without Pesky Freezers
By 4.16.14
It’s really too easy to make fun of idiotic and overpriced items available for sale in places like Hammacher Schlemmer, Skymall, Brookstone, infomercials and even the more distant and strange corners of Amazon. Yet sometimes there’s a product so baffling that we have to feature it anyway. The Beer Glass Froster for home use is one of those products. [More]
This Is Not A Welcoming Retail Establishment
By 4.16.14
Reader David was walking down a street in Brooklyn when he noticed this unfriendly-looking retail establishment. He called it the “least welcoming front door ever on a jewelry store,” and we have to agree. It would be less welcoming if it were locked, maybe. [More]
Woman Sues Walmart Over Shampoo She Claims Ruined Her Super Long Locks
By 4.16.14
Like Lady Godiva and Sampson before her, a woman in Oregon took great pride in her long locks, which used to reach the small of her back. Until, she claims, a shampoo she bought from Walmart tangled her hair so badly she had to cut large chunks of it off. [More]
LaCie Admits Customer Data Was Breached For A Year
By 4.15.14
You may be familiar with LaCie, a French company that makes computer hard drives. They’re now owned by Seagate, and maintain their own online storefront, which was one of many hit by hackers in a recent credit card data breach. This time, the baddies exploited vulnerabilities in the Web application platform ColdFusion. This breach has been ongoing for almost an entire year. [More]
Amazon’s Algorithm Evolves To Suggest Just The Right Stuff For Drug Deals
By 4.15.14
Listen, Amazon. There are lots of things a person might use a scale for, various things that need weighing and so forth. But if you happen to be in the market for a particular scale that happens to be popular with drug dealers, Amazon’s purchase recommendations algorithm thinks you might be in the market for say, plastic baggies and rolling papers. [More]
Retailers Put Aside Differences, Band Together To Fight Future Massive Hacks
By 4.14.14
You know that scene in superhero and/or spy movies (and especially in sequels) where the hero and his/her longtime nemesis must begrudgingly band together, if only for one kick-butt scene, to take down a larger foe that could hurt them both? That’s probably the most interesting way to think about today’s announcement from the National Retail Federation. [More]
Raiders Of The Lost Walmart Find Great Deal On AC/DC Rock Band Tunes For PS2
By 4.14.14
2009 doesn’t seem that long ago, but it’s a very long time when counted in game console years, which are much shorter than dog years. That’s how long this copy of AC/DC’s songs for the game Rock Band has waited for its forever home. If you still have a PlayStation 2 and don’t mind wasting $25 or so, could you make room for it? [More]
Walmart Toe-Sucker Sentenced To 60 Days In Jail
By 4.11.14
Last month, we told you about the North Carolina man who misled a Walmart customer into letting him help her try on shoes, and then crossed a big line by sucking on her toes. Yesterday, the faux podiatrist was in court to hear his fate. [More]
Amazon Offers Employees $5,000 To Quit, Doesn’t Really Want Them To Take The Money
By 4.11.14
Want to make sure your employees really love their job? Offer them a large sum of money to quit, if they pass up the dough you can be sure they’re loyal workers. Okay, it might not be foolproof, but that’s the plan at Amazon, anyway. [More]
