The Raiders of the Lost Walmart are the brave mall explorers who scour the nation’s clearance racks for the most comically overpriced retail antiquities. Here are some of their latest discoveries. [More]
Retail Services
Amazon Patents Noise-Canceling Headphones That Let Certain Noises In
By 8.1.16
It’s fun to read new patents, since they’re news about products that aren’t necessarily ever hitting the market in real life, but they could. For example, there’s the new patent from Amazon for a potentially useful product: noise-canceling headphones that cut the audio when a certain sound happens in the world around you. [More]
Dogs Left In Running Car Shift It Into Drive, Plow Into A Walmart
By 8.1.16
A dog owner in West Virginia did what she probably thought was the responsible thing while out with her pets, leaving them in the car with the engine running while she was inside Walmart. However, in one of the best arguments against automatic transmissions that we’ve ever seen, the dogs shifted the car and drove it very slowly into the outside of the store. [More]
Kmart Realizes Maybe It Should Try Communicating With Its Own Employees
By 7.29.16
Last weekend, a story hit the Internet about the current fears of Kmart employees that they’re being asked to move all stock to the sales floor because the company is in slow-motion liquidation. The communications staff at Kmart’s parent company, Sears Holdings, realized that they had to do something when news outlets began sending them questons about the employees’ accounts. Maybe they also needed to communicate a little better with store employees. [More]
There’s Now A Card Version Of “The Oregon Trail”
By 7.29.16
Until just a few years ago — when The Internet Archive brought the game to most current browsers — the only way to relive your virtually Typhoid-filled childhood traversing The Oregon Trail was to hook up that ancient computer still stored in your parent’s basement. Now, you don’t even need a computer, or any electronic device, as there’s a tabletop game. [More]
Target Ends Sponsorship Of IndyCar Team, Keeps NASCAR Team Deal For Now
By 7.28.16
Discount chain Target has sponsored an IndyCar team for 27 years, one of the longest-running such sponsorships in all of sports. While it’s weird to see drivers with literal bullseyes on their backs, the partnership with Chip Ganassi Racing has led to lots of publicity and lots of wins. However, Target announced that it will end at the end of this season. [More]
Dollar General Buys 41 Closed Walmart Express Store Locations
By 7.28.16
Earlier this year, Walmart put an end to its Walmart Express experiment, shuttering all 102 of the smaller-format stores, some of which had been opened for less than a year. But not all of these locations will remain vacant, with Dollar General deciding to open up shop in dozens of former Express stores. [More]
Amazon Adds Kickstarter Products To Launchpad Store
By 7.27.16
A year after wading into the world of startups by partnering with more than 25 crowd-funding platforms and venture capital firms to offer up-and-coming sellers a place to showcase their unique products, Amazon announced today that it has finally partnered with the most prominent name in the crowd-funding arena, Kickstarter, to bring more than 300 products to the masses. [More]
Kmart: Stockroom Purges Are About Efficiency, Making Employees’ Jobs Easier
By 7.26.16
Kmart is not pleased with recent news reports about the chain’s imminent doom, and today posted a blog post of its own in response. The prediction of fearful employees that the chain is about to shut down is inaccurate, the chain’s leaders say, and the stockroom purges aren’t a first step toward liquidation. [More]
Amazon Testing “PrimeAir” Drone Delivery In UK
By 7.26.16
While Amazon hasn’t received the okay to begin using drones to make deliveries in the U.S., that isn’t stopping the e-commerce giant from trying the method in the UK. [More]
Woman Out $250 After Falling Victim To Comcast, Amazon Fake Promotion Scheme
By 7.26.16
Consider yourself warned: Scammers are taking advantage of the recent news that Amazon is selling access to Comcast services, faking calls from the cable company to steal money from unwitting victims.
[More]
Walmart Shoplifter Uses Scooter To Fight Off Employee, Make Getaway
By 7.26.16
Those electric scooters at Walmart aren’t just for shopping. They can also apparently be used to shoplift, shake off store employees, and make a clean, if slow, getaway.
[More]
Kmart Employees Report Sudden Merchandise Purges, General Sense Of Doom
By 7.25.16
Kmart isn’t closing all of its stores. Nope. That’s the company’s official policy, and what they tell anyone who asks. Yes, they’re closing some stores, both gradually and in big batches, but that’s part of the company’s “transformation from a traditional, store-network based retail business model to a more asset-light, member-centric integrated retailer.” Yet some employees are quietly worried that the whole chain is about to shut down. Update: Kmart denies this report. [More]
Target, United Healthcare Tap Millennials To “Mentor” Veteran Workers
By 7.25.16
It’s not uncommon when starting a new job to be assigned a mentor to help you learn the ropes. But when it comes to reaching and selling to the highly-coveted millennial market, the roles are being reversed.
Amazon & Wells Fargo Hope That A Partnership And Discounts Will Entice You Into A Private Student Loan
By 7.21.16
Pay $99/year — or $10/month — for an Amazon Prime membership and you’ll get a slew of benefits like free two-day shipping on thousands of items, free streaming Prime video access, and more. Soon, college-aged members will also be eligible for a 0.50% interest rate discount on new loans. [More]
Man Arrested For Allegedly Planting Chemical Weapon At California Walmart
By 7.21.16
A little more than a month after police in Oxnard, CA found a chemical weapon inside a Walmart store, officials say they’ve arrested a 31-year-old man accused of putting it there. [More]
Walmart Piloting Program To Sell “Ugly Produce” At A Discount
By 7.21.16
Not every apple is a shiny, smooth round orb of deliciousness. Some come with little dents or a few off-colored spots, but that doesn’t make those pieces of produce any less delicious. Still, you might be hard pressed to find those imperfect apples, pears, tomatoes, peppers, and other fruits and vegetables at your local store. That’s about to change for some Walmart customers, though. [More]
Walmart Encourages Suppliers To Remove 8 Controversial Chemicals From Products
By 7.20.16
Walmart has a huge amount of power over which products end up on the market. The mega-retailer is now encouraging suppliers to remove eight chemicals from their products. The substances aren’t banned, exactly, but suppliers will have to discolose their presence on any products containing them starting in two years. The list consisted of substances which may be harmful to people, to the environment, or to both. [More]
