Gonzalo went in to buy some replacement earbuds for his iPhone, and recieved some pretty amazing customer service from an anonymous Best Buy employee. [More]
Retail Services
Evil Mutant Cotton Sneaks Into H&M "Organic" Clothing
By 1.27.10
Global fast fashion retailer H&M and European chains C&A and Tchibo have been caught selling misleading “organic cotton” products to consumers. Independent testing done by Germany’s Financial Times showed that 30% of the samples contained genetically modified strains of cotton. Oops. [More]
Sam's Club Lays Off 10% Of Employees
By 1.27.10
Sam’s Club, owned by Walmart, is cutting about 11,200 jobs nationwide in its stores. That’s about ten percent of the chain’s workforce. The part-time employees who currently hand out product samples and perform demonstrations will be replaced with ringers from the outside company that performs the same service in Walmart stores. [More]
Chase Sets Early Payment Trap For Mortgage Customers, Too
By 1.27.10
Chase’s statement cycle trap isn’t just set for credit card customers. Mortgage and loan customers can be charged a fee for paying too early, too. Serves you right for trying to be proactive and plan ahead! Dana says that Chase punished her for setting up her automatic monthly payment to send on the 30th of the month instead of the 1st, and charged her $52.96 for two months’ transgressions. [More]
Chicagoist Catches Walmart Astroturfing As Populist Local Group
By 1.26.10
Kevin Robinson at the blog Chicagoist was curious about a commenter who sounded suspiciously on-message on some recent Walmart posts. Walmart wants to come into Chicago, and Walmart’s opponents are fighting the retailer at the community level to prevent that. In return, a pro-Walmart community group has formed called “Our Community, Your Choice” that argues, “Everyone else but Chatham and the South Side are making the decisions – It’s OUR CHOICE, NOT THEIRS.” [More]
Target Stops Selling Farmed Salmon. Also, Target Apparently Sells Salmon.
By 1.26.10
Target has announced that, due to love of the planet, they have decided to stop selling farmed salmon. Salmon farms, according to Target’s press release, produce “pollution, chemicals, parasites and non-native farmed fish that escape from salmon farms all affect the natural habitat and the native salmon in the surrounding areas.” They’re switching to “sustainable” wild salmon. [More]
How Walmart Is Going Green
By 1.26.10
Ideally, companies choose to lessen their environmental impact because it makes financial sense, not because it makes them feel good–which is a good thing, since companies don’t have feelings. Today, FastCompany published a slideshow that looks at 12 ways the mega-retailer is trying out various green initiatives. Some of them are more about selling the concept of green to consumers, which is dumb, but the ones that deal with shipping, energy consumption, and market creation are pretty impressive. [More]
Sears Retracts Range Sale Email
By 1.26.10
Back in November, Sears sent out an email that offered an amazing TV deal, which it recanted with a follow-up email that began with “WHOOPS!” [More]
Adidas Launches Shoes That Double As Game Controllers
By 1.25.10
I’ve been thinking lately that my sneakers are too stupid. They don’t do anything, at least not anything video game related, which is where it matters. Adidas has recognized this problem and has announced a new “augmented reality” sneaker that you have to hold in front of your webcam in order to play special online games. [More]
Don't Ask Geek Squad To Reset Your Password
By 1.25.10
Two not-very-sharp thieves walked into a Chattanooga Best Buy toting three PCs, and asked one of the resident Geeks to help override the passwords on the boxes. Instead, the Geek, who had heard that a local school had been robbed the previous night, tried logging in, and saw that the username on the PCs was the name of the school. The store confiscated the computers, and the the alleged perps were arrested. The lesson here: reset the password yourself at home, using open-source cracking tools, instead of paying Best Buy to do it for you. Just kidding! We salute this agent for his vigilance, and hope he gets snapped up for a career in forensic PC security. [More]
Apple, Best Buy Driven By Arrogance
By 1.25.10
A stinging analysis on WalletPop makes the obvious but poignant argument that too-big-for-their-britches corporations such as Apple and Best Buy have let hubris cloud their customer service vision. [More]
Walmart Customer Arrested For Urinating On Steaks
By 1.23.10
Either this man was not in his right mind, or this was the stupidest animal-rights protest ever. The police in Canton, Ohio report that a man was arrested and jailed for urinating on a Walmart meat counter, ruining $600 worth of steak. [More]
Easter Creep: Now Right Next To The Tampons
By 1.23.10
At an unidentified drug store last week, reader H. found something strange next to the tampons: a display of Cadbury Creme Eggs. Whoever decided to pair these products together is some kind of marketing genius, considering the kinds of chocolate cravings that some women get during their Special Time. But there’s nothing unusual about having the Easter candy out early. Why, at some Walmarts, it’s been out for a month now. [More]
Plane That Landed In Hudson Last Year Up For Auction
By 1.22.10
I’m not sure what you could do with an extensively water-damaged plane with the wings detached, but if you want to own a piece of aviation history you can now bid on US Airways Flight 1549. The plane that Capt. Sully safely landed in the Hudson river a year ago is being auctioned off “AS IS/WHERE IS,” which happens to be at a salvage yard in New Jersey. CNN says the engines are not included. (The detached wings, however, are.) [More]
Macy's To Open Bloomingdale's Outlet Stores This Summer
By 1.22.10
Macy’s wants in on the discount department store market, so starting this summer the company will open four outlet stores under the Bloomingdale’s brand in New Jersey, Florida, and Virginia, reports the Seattle Times. Apparently the real Bloomingdale’s sales haven’t been stellar in this economy, so Macy’s is hoping that a discount offshoot will bring in more budget-conscious shoppers. [More]
Buy Your Giant Snakes While They're Still Affordable
By 1.21.10
Wired reports that the government is considering a ban on the import of Burmese pythons and eight other “injurious species” of snake, because loser pet owners in Florida keep releasing them into the wild where they breed and take over. If enacted, the ban would only affect imports, not sales by breeders in the US, but prices will probably shoot up. [More]
Would This ATM Skimmer Have Fooled You?
By 1.21.10
Would you have noticed this ATM skimmer, spotted on a Citibank ATM in California? The actual card slot is on the left. The skimmer is on the right. The contraption is seemingly custom-designed for this model ATM, and includes a pinhole camera for capturing victims’ PINs. Fancy. [More]
