We don’t want to accuse the nice folks at Crock-Pot of not consulting, say, Urban Dictionary or a person under forty before introducing their new product line. The “Hook Up™ Customizable Entertaining System” is intended for home dinner parties, after all. Maybe they did this with full knowledge that their product name is a synonym for “meaningless sex.” [More]
Retail Services
Cash-Strapped USPS Gets Lucky With New Amazon Sunday Delivery
By 11.12.13
The United States Postal Service has been struggling to make money for some time now, but ho! What is that yonder, in the distance? Could it be a knight in shining armor, riding in to save this damsel in distress? And what is the male version of a damsel? Anyway, Amazon is rolling out Sunday package delivery and it’s granted USPS the contract to carry it out. [More]
You Won’t Be Enjoying Thanksgiving Dinner Because Retailers Can’t Wait For Black Friday
By 11.12.13
It’s time to face facts: Retailers are jumping on the Let’s Start Offering Big Sales On Thanksgiving Day bandwagon left and right, so you probably won’t be enjoying your dinner very much this year. Target, Toys ‘R’ Us and Kohl’s have all announced they’ll be open earlier than ever on Thanksgiving this year, and Walmart probably will too. [More]
Best Buy Knows You Want To Waste Thanksgiving Camping Out For Stuff You Could Probably Buy Online For Less
By 11.8.13
It’s a little-known fact that at the first Thanksgiving feast, some of the pilgrims were sitting around the table while wishing in their heart of hearts that they were camped outside the local loom-and-musket shop in hopes of snatching up bargains. Hundreds of years later, Best Buy is finally honoring that wish by opening up at 6 p.m. on Turkey Day. [More]
Hundreds Of Simon Malls Will Open On Thanksgiving Day, Stay Open 26+ Hours Straight
By 11.8.13
Simon Property Group might not be a household name, but you’ve probably visited one of their establishments before: they’re the whole or partial owner of hundreds of malls. That’s 242 million square feet of retail space and thousands of stores in almost every state, Canada, and Asia. Most of them are opening up during dinnertime or the early evening on Thanksgiving Day. [More]
Inside The Chinese Labor Camp That Made Halloween Decorations Sold At Kmart
By 11.7.13
Last year, reports surfaced of a woman in Oregon who bought Halloween decorations from at Kmart, pulled the unopened package out of storage a year later, and found a letter inside from the factory worker in China who packaged them. This was no lighthearted note. It was a desperate cry for help secretly written at night inside a Chinese labor camp. [More]
Reminder: Legitimate Pricing Errors Are Not Bait And Switch
By 11.7.13
Once again, a retailer is making headlines with shoppers angry they aren’t getting the items they ordered at obviously erroneous prices. This time it’s Walmart.com, which experienced a major glitch yesterday, attaching incorrect prices to numerous items. So this is a good time to remind everyone that this is not a “bait and switch” and that retailers are generally not under any obligation to honor pricing errors. [More]
Are Small Bookstores Committing Suicide If They Join Amazon’s New Kindle Program?
By 11.6.13
A common refrain among people in the book business — especially those in the independent bookselling market — is that Amazon is “out to kill small bookstores.” Depending on how one looks at it, the latest scheme from the online retail giant either bolsters or calls BS on that statement. [More]
Well, Apparently Someone Still Needs Cassette Tapes For $4 Each
By 11.6.13
Sure, hardly anyone uses cassette tapes anymore, but all that means is that when you need one, you really need one. That’s why Staples can charge $12.53 for a three-pack, we suppose. Reader Karl found these tapes marked down to a slightly more reasonable $9.97 for three two. [More]
Wife Of Amazon’s Founder Gives Book About Amazon A 1-Star Rating — On Amazon, Of Course
By 11.5.13
At first it might seem odd for Mackenzie Bezos, wife of Amazon’s founder Jeff Bezos, to lay out exactly how much she disliked The Everything Store, a book about all things Amazon on the very site that the book is about. But actually, it makes perfect sense. Billionaires — they’re just like us! [More]
Bank Of America Caught Refusing Mortgages To Women On Maternity Leave
By 11.5.13
Compared to $40 billion-plus in penalties, settlements, adjustments, and legal fees Bank of America has already racked up because it flat-out stinks at servicing home loans, a $45,000 payment split between two couples is a molecule in a drop of water in the bucket. But this story, in which BofA decided that pregnant homeowners were too big a risk for mortgage refinancing, is a good reminder of consumers’ rights under the law and of BofA’s general incompetence. [More]
Google Helpouts Are Live, And Lots Of “Experts” Are Giving Out Free Advice
By 11.5.13
In August, Google announced the creation of Google Helpouts, a live chat service that lets semi-vetted, self-declared experts in any number of fields make themselves available for help, guidance, and tutorials for a price. The service is finally live, and in some categories, there are plenty of people willing to give their advice away for free, along with a number of retailers hoping you’ll come to them for help. [More]
Kmart To Open At 6 A.M. On Thanksgiving For Shoppers Who Hate Their Families
By 11.4.13
Just in case you hate your family so much that you can’t wait until 8 p.m. on Thanksgiving to pretend that shopping at Macy’s, JCPenney, or Sears is more important than spending the holidays with your “loved ones,” Kmart — the store you used to buy socks at before the Walmart opened in your area — has decided to open at 6 a.m. on Thanksgiving to give you shelter from nagging questions about your job, love life, hair, friends, and why you never call. [More]
Amazon Thanks FAA For Lifting Device Restrictions With A One-Day Sale On Kindles
By 11.4.13
It was just about time for kicking off shoes and reclining in the comfiest chair (I call him Fergus) at Consumerist HQ when a one-day only sale caught my eye. Because it’ll be over by tomorrow, the time to spread the news is now. [More]
Mystery Solved: Mounds Easter Egg Ice Cream Is Really Old
By 11.4.13
A few weeks ago, we shared with you a Holiday Creep mystery. A reader discovered Easter-themed ice cream on the shelf at Walmart, making us wonder: was it still on the shelves from 2013, or just early for 2014? The way things are going in retail, we couldn’t be sure. We wrote to Walmart corporate, and they didn’t answer. Then we got a response from the freezer case. So to speak. [More]
Best Buy Is Just Daring You To Use Their Stores As Amazon Showrooms
By 11.4.13
Last week, we mocked Best Buy’s ad campaign that frames the electronics chain as America’s “holiday showroom,” mostly because it’s close to the truth. For many people, Best Buy is a fine showroom for the online retailers they plan to really buy from. The company knows this, and the ad campaign is a sort of dare. “Come on in,” they’re saying. [More]
No Binge-Watching Amazon’s New Original Shows
By 11.4.13
Many a Netflix subscriber has lost a weekend to binges of the streaming service’s original shows like House of Cards, Orange Is The New Black, and the fourth season of Arrested Development, and Amazon Prime users have certainly done this with many of the TV shows available included in its streaming library. But for some reason, Amazon won’t be feeding this binge impulse when it launches its first slate of original programming later this month. [More]
Walmart Decides To Get This Black Friday Deal Thing Out Of The Way Now
By 11.1.13
Could it be? Is Walmart as entirely sick and tired of the whole Black Friday and its inevitable creep backward as we are? Well, it’s not clear if it’s ditching Black Friday deals altogether, but it is offering a bunch of them a month ahead of time, starting tonight at midnight. [More]
