Last fall, the Philadelphia City Council passed a bill that would remove unused satellite dishes and pretty up any new ones that were bolted to the sides and roofs of city buildings. But that law is having some trouble becoming a reality after a group representing satellite TV providers filed a petition with the FCC. [More]
philadelphia
Customers Pitch In To Save Business Almost Ruined By Ill-Advised Groupon Deal
By 1.27.12
Since Groupon launched, we’ve written a handful of stories about businesses — like the bakery that claimed $19,500 in losses and the cafe owner who called it the “single worst decision” she’d ever made — that said they took on huge amounts of red ink when they were overwhelmed by bargain-hunting shoppers who only wanted the discount. Well, here’s a story that’s slightly different, in that the shop’s regular customers have come to the rescue to save the sinking business. [More]
4 Suspects Arrested For Keeping People In "Dungeon" To Steal Their Social Security Checks
By 10.20.11
Four suspects have been arrested after being accused of a diabolical scheme where they locked up people in a basement and stole their Social Security checks. [More]
Absentee Landlords Help Kill Philly Neighborhoods
By 9.30.11
Investors have been snatching up houses in Philly and then applying a “rent ’em n’ forget ’em” policy. Once-picturesque blocks where neighbors competed to have the nicest flowerbed have degenerated into ones where they seem to be fighting to see who can have the highest unmowed lawn. [More]
The Bandit Sign Vigilante
By 8.12.11
One man has had enough and won’t take it anymore. He’s going to take cleaning up Philly into his own hands, one “We buy houses!” and “Get paid daily from home!” sign at a time. [More]
Philly Utility Goes The Distance So Your Car Doesn't Blow Up
By 7.28.11
Claude has a cool story about how Philadelphia Gas Works went the extra mile to make sure his girlfriend’s car wouldn’t explode after a gas leak started nearby. [More]
Philly To Warn Those Who Text And Walk
By 7.19.11
Don’t text and walk at the same time without looking ahead in Philadelphia. The city is giving out warnings to pedestrians who walk down the street with their heads down while tapping into their phones at the same time. [More]
Philly Newspapers Hope Cheap Tablets Will Help Sell Digital Subscriptions
By 7.12.11
The Philadelphia Daily News and Philadelphia Inquirer plan to start offering discounted tablet computers to customers, beginning in late August. The Android-based tablets will come with apps that let customers read the digital editions of the papers, and the price will include a one-to-two-year subscription to the paid digital offerings. [More]
Philadelphia Saves $2 Million By Not Prosecuting Pot Smokers
By 7.8.11
Just over a year ago, the powers that be in Philadelphia effectively decriminalized possession of small amounts of marijuana by offering offenders the chance to enroll in a three-hour class that would expunge the offense from their records. Not only did this give Philadelphia police more time and energy to focus on more serious crimes, it has also saved the city a pretty sizable Ziploc bag of green stuff. [More]
1-800-CHICAGO Actually A Phone Sex Line Run By Philadelphia Company That Isn't Comcast
By 4.20.11
If you suddenly start seeing credit card bills with charges to 1-800-CHICAGO and your teen tries to tell you he’s just really interested in information about Wrigley Field, well… he’s lying. It’s actually a number that connects the caller with a phone sex line, and it’s just one of countless other seemingly innocuous 1-800 numbers that has been scooped up by a little company in Philadelphia. [More]
Pizzeria Owner Arrested For Releasing Mice In Competing Shops
By 3.1.11
The owner of a Philadelphia-area pizzeria got served a slice of cold, hard justice yesterday when he was caught allegedly trying to release mice at two competing pizza shops. [More]
Philly Homeowner Who "Foreclosed" On Wells Fargo Settles Dispute
By 2.22.11
As Consumerist was the first to report last Friday, the Philadelphia homeowner who made national news by not only winning a judgment against Wells Fargo, but also scheduling a sheriff’s sale of the bank’s property, was meeting face-to-face with the bank he’d embarrassed so thoroughly. Now he’s confirmed that the two parties had reached an agreement. [More]
Philadelphia Gas Works Turned Off Our Gas 4 Days Ago. Our House Is 48 Degrees.
By 2.7.11
Brrrr. Melanie and her housemate have no heat or gas after the Philadelphia Gas Works (PGW) turned off the gas four days ago. She’s never missed a payment but they tell her they need to investigate “meter tampering” because they found two loose screws on her meter. It’s 48 degrees in her house and she has no way to cook anything. Customer service can’t tell her when the “meter investigation unit” will get around to checking it out and there’s no way she can get in contact with them. UPDATE: Melanie reports that after this post went up and we contacted PGW, they called her and said they’re coming to turn the heat back on this afternoon. [More]
The "World's Fastest Beer Machine" Fills Cups From The Bottom Up
By 1.25.11
Sick of standing in line at the stadium concession stand waiting for employees to slowly fill up one beer at a time? Well, the makers of the BottomsUp machine are hoping its can get that line moving at a more rapid clip by rapidly filling up to four cups at once… from the bottom of the cup. [More]
Tastykake Empire In Danger Of Crumbling
By 1.10.11
Tastykake, manufacturers of numerous kinds of prepackaged snack foods, could be forced to sell or merge after a newly opened factory failed to generate the hoped-for savings. Krimpets, Kandy Kakes, Koffee Kakes, and Kreamies could all be put on the chopping block. And I don’t know if you’re aware, but those kinds of snacks do better in your tummy than on a chopping block. [More]
Dentists Launch Halloween Candy Buy-Back Program
By 11.2.10
A pair of Philadelphia-area dentists want to pay you cash for whatever Halloween candy you have left and send it overseas to troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. [More]
Meet Pumpple Cake, The Perfect Dessert To Go With Turducken
By 10.29.10
If a simple slice of pie or cake just isn’t complicated enough after you’ve gourged on the chicken-in-a-duck-in-a-turkey poulty Voltron known as turducken, then here’s a dessert for you. Meet Pummple Cake, which combines two kinds of fruit pies (apple and pumpkin) with two kinds of cake (vanilla and chocolate) into one divine mess — and at only 1,800 calories a slice. [More]
It'll Cost You $300 To Blog In Philadelphia
By 8.23.10
I grew up in the Philadelphia area and I can’t remember a time when the city wasn’t described as “cash-strapped” by the local media. But I’d never imagine Philly’s financial follies would be so dire that it would begin requiring business licenses for businesses that don’t really exist. [More]
