A 58-year-old Wal-Mart employee who said he “couldn’t take it anymore” lit himself on fire outside the Bloomingdale store where he worked late Thursday night and was later pronounced dead at a hospital, authorities said this morning.
Retail Services
Wal-Mart Worker Burns Self To Death Outside Store
By 2.27.09
Morning Deals
By 2.27.09
Highlights From Buxr
- JCPenney: [Toys] Disney Pirate Ship for $29.99 + $7.49 Shipping
- Amazon: [DVD] Monty Python’s Life of Brian Blu-Ray for $11.99 + Shipping
- Famous Footwear: [Shoes] 30% off entire purchase w/ coupon FRIENDS21
Highlights From Dealhack
- Amazon: [Tools] 50% or More off Victorinox Swiss Army Knives & Tools
- Pfaltzgraff: [Diningware] Save 20% off Flatware, Cookware, & Accessory
- Jos. A. Bank: [Apparel] Save Extra 50% off All Clearance Men’s Clothing
Highlights From Dealnews
- Dell Home: [Netbook] Dell Inspiron Mini 9 UMPC for $99 or $149 with select PC purchases at Dell Home
- Amazon.com: [Car Audio] Pioneer DEH-P5000UB In-Dash CD/MP3 Car Audio Receiver for $120 + free shipping
- Amazon.com: [Keyboards] Logitech diNovo Edge Bluetooth Keyboard for $118 after rebate + free shipping
By 2.27.09
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Great idea from reader CumaeanSybil: “One thing I’ve been doing lately: every time I buy something on sale, I take the difference from regular price and put it in savings. It keeps me motivated to seek out sale prices and coupons, because I like seeing that account grow.”
Verizon Wireless Sues "Velveteen Rabbit" Telemarketers
By 2.26.09
Hooray for Verizon Wireless! Wait, what? The cellular carrier has just filed a lawsuit against Feature Films For Families for illegally telemarketing. Specifically, they’re accusing the company of using an auto-dialer to cold call hundreds of thousands of Verizon Wireless customers earlier this month, which is illegal according to NJ state laws (where the suit was filed) and the Federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act.
ITunes Offers To "Upgrade" The Already DRM-Free Songs You Bought From Amazon?
By 2.26.09
Update: Mike writes back to say that after reading the comments below, he checked his purchase history and the album is indeed listed there. What’s confusing is Mike didn’t buy it through iTunes, but through Amazon, but he says that other people did have access to his account and may have purchased it without his knowledge.
Morning Deals
By 2.26.09
Highlights From Dealnews
- Dell Small Business: [HDTV] Sharp AQUOS 32″ 1080p LCD HDTV w/ built-in Blu-ray for $499 + free shipping (updated)
- Dell Home: [PC] Dell Inspiron 530n Intel Dual Core 2.5GHz Desktop w/ 19″ LCD for $428 + $35 s&h, more
- mwave: [Netbook] Refurbished ASUS Eee PC 900A Intel Atom 1.6GHz 9″ Netbook for $180 + $10 s&h
Morning Deals are purely an informational service for the readers, Consumerist receives nothing in exchange for their posting.
Verizon Wireless Accused Of Wrongly Billing NY Customers State Tax
By 2.25.09
A class action lawsuit has been filed against Verizon Wireless accusing it of passing directly to customers a “metropolitan commuter transportation district” tax that the company was actually supposed to pay. Albert Levy, who filed the lawsuit, points out that Sprint has never charged the tax to customers. Verizon Wireless calls the accusation “silly,” and says they’re billing it correctly. Perhaps not surprisingly, the actual wording of the tax law leaves the matter up in the air.
Internal Gamestop Video Teaches How To Sell To Women
By 2.25.09
The conceit in this internal Gamestop training video is that you’re watching a sort of nature video with a British anthropologist investigating a strange and mysterious species: woman— and how to sell to them. Offensive – or just a low-budget industrial video team trying to get its audience to pay attention? Take our poll inside and you be the judge, but either way, you can be pretty sure Gamestop never intended any customer to see this video.
B of A Heiress Says Bank Is "Repulsive", Run By "Idiots"
By 2.25.09
Virginia Hammerness, the 75-year-old heiress to A.P. Giannini’s family fortune and a significant stockholder in Bank of America, the bank her grandfather founded in San Francisco in 1904, has harsh words for the people in charge.
What Should We Do With All These #@$@& Empty WaMu Branches?
By 2.25.09
WaMu went on an insane building spree in Chicago a few years ago, and when combined with Chase, already a huge player in the Chicago market, it became obvious that there are just too many damn bank branches. Chase recently announced that it would close almost 300 WaMu locations nationwide — 57 of them in the Chicago-area alone. The bank branches replaced local businesses during the boom, but will they come back during the bust?
Morning Deals
By 2.25.09
- LA Police Gear: [Pants] 5.11 covert Tactical khaki pants (8 pockets, 4 of them hidden) and leather belt for $29.99
- Carolyn New York: [Nail Polish] 10 bottles of nailpolish for $12.50
- Arby’s: [Food} Free RoastBurger Sandwich w/any drink purchase
Highlights From Buxr
- Nike: [Sports] Sale up to 75% off clearance items + extra 25% off w/ coupon NSCLEAR25
- Buy.com: [GPS] Omnitech 4.3″ Portable GPS w/Text to Speech, 3D View, 16878 for $69.99 w/ Free shipping
- Victoria’s Secret: [Women’s Wear] New Coupons: $15 off $100, $30 off $150, and $75 off $250 w/ coupon GETVS
Highlights From Dealhack
- Newegg: [Vinyl to PC] Ion iPTUSB Turntable and Vinyl Archive System $85 Shipped
- HP Home: [Netbook] Price Drop: Mini 1010NR Netbook with Windows XP $300
- Gap: [Clothing] Save 30% off New Spring Styles with Coupon
- 1&1 Internet: [Hosting] Web Hosting Service Roundup: 1and1.com from $4/month, more
- Musician’s Friend: [Disco Lights] Chauvet Vue II LED Moonflower DMX Lighting Effect for $70 + $8 s&h
- Amazon.com: [Speakers] Alesis M1 Active 620 2-Way Bookshelf Speakers for $199/pair + $8 s&h
Highlights From Dealnews
Morning Deals are purely an informational service for the readers, Consumerist receives nothing in exchange for their posting.
ThankYou Network Announces Changes To Its Rewards Program
By 2.25.09
What’s going to happen with Citibank’s ThankYou Network on March 1st? Is Vikram Pandit going to convert all of your points into executive bonuses? Will it be nationalized?!? Um, no, but here’s a copy of the letter one of our readers received today announcing the changes that are going in place next week.
3 Steps To Protect Yourself When Making Major Electronics Purchases
By 2.24.09
Stores like Best Buy like to take advantage of your natural fear that a piece of electronic equipment that you just spent a bunch of money on is going to break. And, let’s face it, it might — but that’s no reason to rely on an expensive extended warranty from the retailer.
Kmart Assistant Manager Hates Your Coupons, Will Not Process Your Transaction
By 2.24.09
If you’re one of those really smart coupon hoarders, you know to save up for double-coupon offers, because then you can get things for next-to-nothing. Nicole has used this strategy at Kmart in the past without problems, but this time she ran into an assistant manager who refused to honor the promotion, saying, “It’s not our policy. It’s not written down, but that’s the policy.”
Is Target Too Expensive? Profit Down 41%
By 2.24.09
Consumers are cutting back — and the AP says that shoppers are abandoning Target for even cheaper stores. In addition, Target’s credit card division is running into trouble as shell-shocked shoppers aren’t able to pay their bills.
Grocery Growth Ray To Hit Ketchup, Chips
By 2.24.09
A grocery growth ray is set to hit a popular condiment and several kinds of baked corn with names ending “tos.” To push the brands as being good values, Heinz will be selling slightly larger ketchup bottles, and Frito-Lay is adding 20% to Tostitos, Fritos, Cheetos and Doritos – without raising the price. Unlike the grocery shrink ray, you can bet this change will be loudly trumpeted on the package.
Morning Deals
By 2.24.09
Highlights From Buxr
- Kashi.com: [Food] Get a free frozen entrée
- Puma: [Apparel] 25% with NO MINIMUM (EVEN FOR SALE ITEMS) w/ coupon CAT25
- JCPenney: [Knives] Pair of Cooks Santoku Knives for $9.99 w/ coupon REWARD + $5.95 Shipping
Highlights From Dealhack
- REI Outlet: [Tent] Save 50%: MSR Fling Backpacking Tent $125
- Amazon: [Learning Toys] Save up to 50% off Electronic Toys for Kids
- Backcountry: [Outdoors] Clearance Sale: Up to 70% off Clothing & Gear
Highlights From Dealnews
- AT&T Wireless: [iPhone] Refurbished iPhone 3G 8GB for $99 + free shipping, 16GB for $199
- Amazon.com: [Headphones] Sennheiser MX55 Twist-To-Fit Earphones for $15 + $6 s&h
- Buy.com: [Walkie-Talkies] Midland LXT-340VP3 20-Mile GMRS 2-Way Radios for $29 + free shipping
