Michael has a cool hobby that I had never heard of until today: collecting new Blu-Ray disc releases, especially limited editions and interesting slipcovers. Studios issue exclusive slipcovers to certain retailers: a great marketing opportunity and plenty of fun for collectors, right? Sure. If the employees at Michael’s local Target hadn’t been ordered to slip off those neat slipcovers and toss ’em before putting new movies in plastic security cases before they go on the shelves. [More]
retail
Movie Studios Create Special Blu-Ray Slipcovers For Target, This Target Tosses Them In Trash
By 11.3.11
Target Manager Sues, Says Was Fired For Working Through Lunch
By 10.18.11
An ex-Target manager is suing his former employer, accusing the retailer of firing him for working during his lunch break. Ironically, he says it was retaliation for the complaints he had made about being denied uninterrupted breaks. [More]
Lowe's Slashes 1,950 Jobs, 20 Stores
By 10.18.11
It’s hard times for hardware folk, with Lowe’s announcing that it will slow growth while closing 20 stores and leaving nearly 2,000 people out of jobs. The company shut down half the stores already and plans to whack the others within the next month. It still plans on growing, opening 25 more stores this year, but will open only 10 or 15 stores a year starting next year rather than the 30 it previously planned. [More]
Apple Allegedly Kicks "The Situation" Out For Trying To Cut iPhone 4S Line
By 10.17.11
The Situation’s six-pack was allegedly sent packing after the Jersey Shore star tried to cut an iPhone 4S line at an Apple store this weekend. [More]
911 Calls From Walmart Bleach Battle Released
By 10.13.11
911 calls from the altercation inside a Baltimore County Walmart where two women began throwing liquid bleach and ammonia at each other, leaving 19 hospitalized from the resulting toxic chemical reaction, have been released. [More]
Visa Will Incentivize Stores To Install Smart Card Terminals
By 9.19.11
We could start to see “smart cards” — credit cards embedded with a PIN-encoded chip instead of just a magnetic strip — take hold in America next year due to a big move by Visa. They are offering some very enticing financial incentives to stores to get them to install point of sale terminals that can read smart cards. [More]
I Decline Credit Card, Brooks Brothers Signs Me Up Anyway
By 9.2.11
You might think that Brooks Brothers would be a classy establishment. Maybe it is fashion-wise, but Not when it comes to meeting quotas for signing customers up for credit cards, apparently. [More]
Why The Rich Shoplift More Than The Poor
By 7.7.11
The biggest shoplifters aren’t who you think they are. A study found that Americans with incomes over $70,000 were 30% more likely to shoplift than those making up to $20,000. Why? Because they feel they deserve it more. [More]
Should We Open These Packages?
By 6.22.11
This sign was submitted to the Consumerist Flickr pool. Do you think I should open up one of these packages?
The magic of independent retail: signs like this one where the shopkeeper’s personality so clear, you can feel it even from thousands of miles away.
Target Store Votes Against Unionization
By 6.20.11
Workers at a Target store in Valley Stream, N.Y. voted against unionization, but the union has vowed to try again, alleging the retailer illegally intimidated workers. [More]
Walmart Workers Try Non-Union Organization Effort
By 6.15.11
Walmart users are again trying to band together and pursue better pay, benefits and treatment on the job, but the new organization effort won’t involve a union. The Organization for United Respect at Walmart, or OUR Walmart, has reportedly signed up thousands of members in an attempt to unionize workers without actually unionizing. [More]
The "Don't Join A Union" Video Target Makes New Employees Watch
By 6.14.11
Behind Target’s “we’re hip and different” veneer lurks a company that intensely discourages its workers from joining a union. Gawker has posted a copy of an anti-union industrial video Target shows its new employees called, “Think Hard Before You Sign.” It’s kinda creepy. Here’s a transcript of the video. Some highlights: [More]
Best Buy Store Flat Out Says They're Not Gonna Price Match Their Website
By 5.26.11
There’s no more pussyfooting around the bush. Reader Daniel snapped a picture of this sign on the front door of his local Best Buy of a sign that just comes right out and says, hey, if you want the price shown on the Best Buy website, we’ll be happy to sell you a computer that will connect to bestbuy.com so you can order it there and have it shipped to your house or held for in-store pickup. Ok, it doesn’t really say all that, but it does say that they’re not going to bother honoring the prices shown on the website within the store at all. [More]
Best Buy Employee: Pressure To Cram Credit Cards Down Customers’ Throats Now Intensifying
By 5.25.11 — Updated: 1.2.13
The next time you’re shopping at Best Buy, try not to get too angry when employees attempt to cram store credit cards down your throat. They’re not personally out to scam you, or hawking cards to line their pockets. They’re just trying not to get written up, reprimanded, or fired. A very insightful tipster who works at a Best Buy somewhere in the United States shared with us the impossible credit application quotas now in place. Update: The tipster reports that Best Buy management has backed down on this particular threat. Hurray! [More]
Lane Bryant Sale Flyer Redefines 'Entire Store,' 'Everything'
By 5.5.11
David isn’t really sure why he received this Lane Bryant flyer in the mail, seeing that he’s not only thin, but, well, male. But that doesn’t matter at Lane Bryant, where they’re stretching the limits of reality and of the English language. [More]
Walmart Declutters Aisles Per Customers' Request, Then Loses $1.85 Billion In Sales
By 4.18.11
Back in 2009, Walmart surveyed its customers and asked “Would you like Walmart to be less cluttered?” They said yes. So Walmart cleared out space and reduced inventory and customer satisfaction shot up. However, same-store sales plummeted, by Phil Terry’s estimate, by $1.85 billion, and now Walmart has fired the team that put the idea into place and is spending hundreds of millions to undo what they spent hundreds of millions doing. But wait! Weren’t they listening to their customers? Why weren’t they rewarded? [More]
Man Superglued To Walmart Toilet Seat
By 4.8.11
A man was taken to the hospital after an apparent April Fool’s prank left his rear superglued to a toilet seat at Walmart, reports CNN. [More]
Calm Man Successfully Buys TV And Denies Walmart Receipt Checkers
By 3.7.11
Rick is the Gandhi of receipt-check deniers. He writes in with a story of how he bought a 37 inch TV from Walmart and was able to successfully say no to the receipt checker blocking his way with his body. Rick did this by calmly and reasonably explaining his position to the assistant manager who showed up and by ignoring everyone around him who was trying to provoke him. Sometimes the quietest voice speaks the loudest. [More]
