While thousands of people her age are busy camping out in various Occupy movements around the country, a Florida woman decided last night to occupy the sidewalk outside her local Best Buy in order to be the first person to be disappointed by the Black Friday offerings on Nov. 25. [More]
Retail Services
Thanks, Bank Of America, For Not Burning Down My House Or Killing My Dog
By 11.17.11
When Bank of America recently decided to scrap its plan to not charge its customers a $5/month fee for using debit cards to make purchase, the bank said it had listened to what its customers thought about the idea. But should consumers be grateful to BofA for not doing something they shouldn’t have done in the first place? [More]
Is Amazon Working On A Cheap Smartphone?
By 11.17.11
Analysts at Citibank report that, based on their “supply chain channel” research, they believe Amazon is following up on its low-priced Kindles with a smartphone, which could be released next year. They speculate that Amazon could sell the phone at a loss, and presumably make up the difference by selling e-books, music and other digital media to mobile customers. [More]
Reasons Not To Buy Video Games At Launch
By 11.17.11
The video game hype machine is geared to spend months — and sometimes, years — getting fans to want to line up at midnight sales and pounce on titles as soon as they become available. But it seldom makes financial sense to jump in immediately. You can stretch your gaming dollar by refusing to buy brand-new stuff. [More]
Now Available At Target: The Cordless Tea Kettle
By 11.17.11
Would it technically be possible to have a cordless electric tea kettle? It doesn’t exist yet (Dyson is probably working on it as we speak) but in the reality-free zone that is Target, anything is possible. And cordless tea kettles come with a generous amount of cord storage. [More]
Amazon Marketplace Seller Bombards Me With Free Textbooks
By 11.17.11
Earlier this month, Tom ordered a microbiology textbook from the Amazon Marketplace. It arrived in the mail later that week, and everything was fine. Then he received another copy of the book the next day. Then a third, and a fourth. All of the books were identical, and his credit card was only charged for the first one. What was going on here? More importantly, what was he supposed to do with the extra textbooks? [More]
Walmart Offers $27 Million Settlement In Netflix Class-Action Suit
By 11.16.11
If you’ve received an email saying you’re entitled to make a claim in a class-action lawsuit against Netflix and Walmart, don’t toss it. Walmart has thrown in the towel and is offering to settle with customers who sued the retail giant and Netflix after the two companies made a deal to promote each other’s DVD businesses. [More]
Survey: Recession Has Made Us Smarter, More Efficient Shoppers
By 11.16.11
If you’re looking for an upside to the last few years of economic doldrums, here’s some news for you. The results of a new survey demonstrate that Americans have become more focused, efficient and less impulsive when it comes time to do their shopping. [More]
Target Responds To Workers Who Don't Want To Work Thanksgiving Night
By 11.16.11
Earlier this week, we wrote about how one Target employee had started a petition asking the retailer to cancel its plans to open at midnight after Thanksgiving. And even though the petition now has more than 100,000 names, Target is shrugging it off because that employee wasn’t scheduled to work that night anyway. [More]
Man Sues Bank Of America For Handing His Account Over To Someone With The Same Name
By 11.16.11
A man in Greece has filed a lawsuit against Bank of America, alleging that the financial institution screwed up and gave his account — and his $59,000 — to another person with the same name. [More]
5 Things Not To Buy This Season
By 11.16.11
In the mad rush of the holidays, it’s tempting to try and make as massive a dent as possible into your shopping list, assuming you won’t find cheaper prices any other time of year. But buying everything that catches your eye can defeat the purpose of deal hunting, because you’ll be able find some items for lower prices later on. [More]
Android Reigns As King Of The Smartphone Hill
By 11.16.11
Apple may be the media darling that grabs most of the headlines, but the sprawling monolith that is Android is the phone of the 99 percent. Or at least the 52.5 percent. Android devices garnered the majority of global market share in the third quarter, while the iOS market slipped from 16.6 to 15 percent in that span. Quickly-fading Symbian — the operating system for Nokia phones — plunged to 17 percent from 36.3 percent last year. [More]
Walmart Eating Cost Increases On Food So You Can, Well… Eat
By 11.15.11
Walmart is absorbing some price increases on products like food, rather than passing them along to consumers. The chain plans to continue keeping its prices down across the board to goose sales, executives told investors earlier today. [More]
Chase Pulls Plug On Tests For Two New Fees
By 11.15.11
Like several of its fellow mega-banks, Chase has been testing out various new checking account fees in different regions of the country. But a pair of those tests have come to an end — and will hopefully never be seen again. [More]
Consumer Reports Looking For Mystery Shoppers In New York State
By 11.15.11
Once again, our cohorts at Consumer Reports are looking to recruit new freelance mystery shoppers to make undercover purchases for the magazine, all while getting paid to shop. [More]
Home Depot Increases Sales By Moving Office Staff To Sales Floor
By 11.15.11
Home Depot has finally found a use for your pointy-haired boss — they made him a sales person. The leading home improvement chain has boosted sales by shifting some employees from the back-office to the sales floor. The red staplers will be lonely, but the customers are buying more items per trip. [More]
Fake Bank Of America Google+ Account Has 27 Times More Followers Than Real One
By 11.15.11
UPDATE: As predicted, the obviously fake BofA page has been pulled down by Google, because why should anyone be able to have fun at the expense of Bank of America? [More]
Deciding Whether Or Not To Insure A New Phone
By 11.15.11
There are some hard and fast rules about what is and is not worth insuring. Blackjack hands in which the dealer is showing an ace — no. Cars — yes, as is required by law. Health — only if you don’t want to go bankrupt. It’s a trickier proposition when it comes to smartphones. [More]
