Stories of layaway angels, or ordinary shoppers who pay off strangers’ layaway tabs in the weeks before Christmas or the beginning of the school year, proliferate in the news at this time of year. They make the legend of Santa Claus—someone who gives gifts while asking for nothing in return—literally come true. [More]
Retail Services
How To Protect Yourself From Buying A Drained Gift Card
By 12.14.16
Gift cards are a popular present for all occasions, and are extra popular during the holiday season. However, one really terrible gift is a gift card that has been drained of its value. Here’s how to prevent that from happening so your gift recipient can buy the perfect present that they actually wanted. [More]
Star Shower Price War Shows Us Why Other Retailers Are Terrified Of Amazon
By 12.14.16 — Updated: 12.16.16
You’re probably already familiar with the Star Shower — the contraption that covers large surfaces with colorful points of light — but you may never have realized how an online price war over this sort of gadget tells us much more about the relationship between Amazon and the rest of the retail world. [More]
Store Says FedEx Allowed Homeless Man To Sign For Delivery He Then Stole
By 12.14.16
It’s always upsetting when someone steals your packages after they’ve been delivered, but it’s even more of a bummer when the company doing the deliveries apparently puts that package into the hands of the thief. A California shop is pretty steamed at FedEx, claiming the carrier allowed a homeless man to sign for its packages, which have now gone missing. [More]
Make Sure You Destroy That Check After A Mobile Deposit
By 12.14.16
With the convenience of mobile banking services, it’s pretty easy to deposit check by just taking a couple of photos with your phone. But it’s important to remember that you still have to be careful about what happens to that paper check; just ask the Arizona woman who is out $1,500 after using the Bank of America mobile app to deposit a check [More]
Amazon Makes First Commercial Drone Delivery To Customer In England
By 12.14.16
Amazon’s Jeff Bezos has had a dream for a while now: delivery drones flying here, there, and everywhere, zooming over rooftops and dropping off packages to customers. That dream has now become real with Amazon’s first Prime Air drone delivery, Bezos announced today. [More]
Speak Freely America: New Federal Law Outlaws Gag Clauses That Punish You For Negative Reviews
By and 12.14.16
A new federal law will be born today. If it is signed by President Obama, one of his final acts in office will be to enshrine into law one of the core principles on which Consumerist — now in its eleventh year — was founded: That honest consumers have the right to complain. [More]
From Cash Registers To Escalators To Shopping Carts: 11 Important Firsts In Bricks-And-Mortar Retail History
By 12.13.16
These days you can shop from the comfort your couch in your soft pants, ordering up a flat of cat food, paper towels, and a smartphone with one click. So it’s easy to forget that once upon a time shopping at retail stores wasn’t a necessary evil, but an “experience” that many of us actually enjoyed. [More]
UPS, FedEx Already Struggling Under Avalanche Of Holiday Deliveries
By 12.13.16
One might think that after years of online shopping growing in popularity that major shipping carriers would finally be prepared for the Big Show, also known as the holiday season. And yet here we are again, heading into crunch time, and UPS and FedEx are having trouble keeping up with all those packages. [More]
Panasonic’s New Checkout Machines Scan And Bag Items All By Themselves
By 12.12.16
Can it still be considered self-checkout if the shopper doesn’t have to do a thing during the process? Yet another retail innovation aimed at expediting the checkout process scans and bags items so humans don’t have to. [More]
Best Buy Workers Give Wii U To Teen Who Visited Nearly Every Day To Play Video Games
By 12.12.16
’Tis the season when we’re happy to hear stories of big-hearted folks out there among all the Grinches, people who take it upon themselves to make a stranger’s holiday merry and bright. Like the Best Buy employees in New York who bought a Wii U for a teenager who visited almost every day to play Smash Bros. at the store. [More]
Don’t Fall For The ‘Missed Delivery Notice’ Email Scam This Holiday Season
By 12.9.16
If you’re like everyone else you know, you’ve probably been doing — or plan to do — a bit of online holiday shopping this year. Missing a delivery could put a serious kink in your day, but don’t let that fear draw you into a scammer’s net. [More]
‘Santa B’ Strikes Again: Layaway Angel Pays For $50K Worth Of Gifts At PA Walmart
By 12.9.16
It’s that time of year again, when we’re happy to hear about shoppers performing good deeds and random acts of kindness. Some of those warm-hearted folks we know better than others, including Pennsylvania’s “Santa B” layaway angel, who has now covered the cost of Walmart shoppers’ layaway items for the third year in a row. [More]
UPS Driver Helps Save Woman Held Captive After Spotting Note On A Package
By 12.9.16
A woman who was allegedly being abused and kept captive in her home by her husband was rescued this week when an observant UPS driver noticed the plea for help she’d scrawled on a package waiting to be picked up. [More]
3 Tips To Avoid Buying Counterfeit Goods While Holiday Shopping
By 12.9.16
It’s hard enough to buy perfect, thoughtful gifts for everyone on your holiday shopping list without having to worry that your hard-earned money is going toward a counterfeit product. But with more and more consumers looking for a good deal online, the likelihood that you’ll eventually come across a bogus-brand coat, tablet, or other gift increases.
[More]
Target Store Will Offer Quiet Shopping Hours For Autistic Customers
By 12.9.16
What makes a good shopping experience for some folks is not always ideal for others. That’s why a Pennsylvania Target store is setting aside certain hours on Saturday so autistic customers can shop in peace and quiet. [More]
Your Pebble’s Warranty Is Void Now, Even If It’s New
By 12.8.16
The way that smart watch company Pebble is going out of business isn’t what we’re used to seeing: instead of officially filing for bankruptcy first or being fully acquired by another firm, Pebble sold only its software assets to Fitbit. The end of Pebble as a company means that the warranties on its devices are now done, too: even new devices that you might have just purchased. [More]
