That’s French for “Black Friday,” because I am sooo clever! Anyway, after you’ve done your combat shopping, please head over to the MindField Online Facebook page and give us a report of what you’ve seen. Big crowds? Craziness? Better or worse than you expected? Let us know…and have a great weekend!
(photo: the churchofnopeople.com)
By the time we meet again, you will be ignoring this space and engaging in hand-to-hand combat at the mall. So, to kick off your battle planning, here are some gift idea links from around the web:
CNBC has this year’s top gadget gifts
Good Housekeeping picks this year’s best toys
Consumer Reports likes these electronic gifts
Help for Parents has a Top 10 gifts for kids list
Digital Crave picks the 5 best cell phones
Ask Men has a top 10 for her (relax, it was written by a woman!)
And hey, who’s hungry? Planning your Thanksgiving Day feast?
Consumer Reports names the best stuffing mixes
Epicurious picks the best frozen pumpkin pies
Here are the top 5 cranberry sauce recipes (from 2010, but hey)
Hope this helps! Have a great Thanksgiving Day. Remember to actually, you know, give thanks. And be careful on Black Friday- I don’t want to see you in a riot on YouTube!
(photo: wetcanvas.com)
Have you seen that nightmare YouTube video of the redneck Wal-Mart warehouse guys “playing catch” with your iPad, laughing with glee when it smashes on the ground? Go on, Google it (but NOT at work.)
Anyway, those three ding-dongs got fired (because they posted the video online, durr.) But thousands of Wal-Mart and Target employees remain, and they all have to work on Thanksgiving. Are they mad enough to destroy your merchandise? Probably not, but I wouldn’t count on any surplus of smiles.
Imagine you’re at mom’s, packing away the turkey and giblets, watching Dallas and Detroit and generally having a good time. Then at 8pm, you have to head to work for the next 16 hours. “But I’m still full of turkey – and resentment!”
Last year, a Target employee gathered 200,000 signatures on a petition to stop the retailer from opening at 11pm Thanksgiving night. If you read the Target guy’s statement, he is careful to say that he LIKES Target. They give back to the community, support charities, etc. He just thinks they’re going a little nutty with the Black Friday business.
Target responded, “You’re right, 11pm is dumb. Let’s open at 9pm instead!” Meanwhile, in a touching show of solidarity, Wal-Mart will open at 8pm.
Sign of the times, I guess. There will always be retailers looking for an advantage, employees willing to work and shoppers looking for that big score. If that’s you, here is a guide to Black Friday opening times, if your conscience can stand it (it can.) Happy hunting!
Here is a roundup of articles from around the web highlighting consumer scams, helpful recovery tips, ways businesses are trying help…and ways they aren’t!
For a lot of folks, life won’t be returning to normal for a while. Hopefully tips like these will help.
(photo: NASA)
We got hacked a couple of years ago, and it was the weirdest thing. Somebody hacked B*st W*st*rn Hotels, where we had stayed in Ohio a couple of years earlier, and got our credit card number. But the hacker was some kind of weirdo Robin Hood character, robbing from the underemployed to feed the poor. We started getting Thank You notes from the Red Cross and the USO, acknowledging our contributions!
Now, this week in South Carolina, the Secret Service discovered that somebody has hacked the S.C. Department of Revenue! Social Security numbers, tax records… they aren’t even sure what has been jacked!
What is interesting is that the State is reacting by offering free credit monitoring by Experian.
Plenty of S.C. taxpayers were nervous over the weekend, flooding lines set up by Experian, the California-based firm hired to provide ID theft protection for taxpayers. The company added operators Monday, though it still was suggesting the fastest way to register for ID theft protection was to register online. Those who need to sign up for protection can do so until Jan. 31.
The state of S.C., via Experian, is offering a year of free credit report monitoring, which can be used to help even with past problems found in credit histories. But crooks could use the stolen data for many years. The State (SC)
I guess the lesson for me is this: I always said “Who would ever hack little ol’ me?” The answer is NOBODY. But they would sure as heck would hack the motel chain or the restaurant chain where you use your Visa card. I don’t know if I am even affected but, trust me, I am registering TOMORROW. And maybe you should, too. Other than Experian, names include LifeLock and EquiFax.
Have you or someone you know ever been hacked? What did you do?
This is not so much a consumer piece, other than, as we reported earlier, you’re going to spend $80 per kid this Halloween and you would like to get them home in one piece.
When I was a kid, Halloween safety consisted of my dad telling me not to accept any apples, because hippies were hiding their drug needles in them. “That’s it! Now go run in the night streets in your dark gray Batman costume!”
So, to pay it forward, I will share a few Halloween safety tips from the National Safety Council.
Motorists: BE COOL! Seriously, I don’t even have kids, but I spend half the night screaming at the idiots driving 45mph on my street!
Parents: Basically it’s your job to suck all the fun out of it. Make your kids tell you their precise route. Give them a curfew time. And make them wear bright or reflective clothing, even if it ruins their Zombie costume.
Kids: Use some common sense! Don’t go to dark houses. Don’t eat your stuff until mom inspects it and steals the Kit Kats. Carry dad’s best flashlight, which you will surely break. And stay out of the abandoned mill, even if they dare you!
OK, enough sarcasm. You should download the list. There are tons of great tips to keep Halloween safe. The alternative is a “Trunk or Treat” in the middle school parking lot…and nobody wants that!
(photo: springsgov.com)
I have spent some time in the world consumer marketing, and it’s amazing the amount of time and money that is spent trying to wring out just one more percent of market share. As a MindField member, you also have an appreciation for how much research it takes to decide if a product is a good idea or not.
The pressure to stay on top is huge, and coming up with innovative ideas that people will embrace isn’t easy, as illustrated by the countless number of market miscalculations and abject product failures developed by some of the biggest and most respected brands in the world. MSN Money
So here’s a look at some ideas that didn’t quite click. Do you remember any of these?
Gerber Singles (1970s.) Ever feed a baby and sneak a bite of their food out of curiosity? Sure. Wouldn’t you like to have an adult-sized jar of mashed bananas for yourself? America said No.
Jimmy Dean Microwaveable Chocolate Chip Pancakes & Sausage on a Stick (2006.) Just because you CAN mash things together and put them on a stick…SHOULD you?
Heinz EZ Squirt ketchup (2000.) Ketchup in a rainbow of bizarre colors for you to get out of your kids’ clothes.
Ore-Ida Funky Fries (2002.) Apparently, the novelty of cinnamon-flavored, or tube-shaped or BLUE French fries wears off quickly.
Frito Lay’s Wow potato chips (1998.) Who can forget racing to the toilet during the summer of Olestra? An FDA warning on the bag is generally not good for business.
New Coke (1985.) The classic flop. Apparently, EVERY BIT of their research, blind taste tests, etc., told Coke that people preferred the new stuff.
Pepsi A.M. (1989.) It seemed like the dumbest idea ever back in ’89… a super-caffeinated soda to drink in the morning instead of coffee. Now, everybody does it.
Ah well, they can’t all be winners. Can you think of any other food items that missed the mark? There are more in the original article, so check it out!
(photo: thehelicoptergroup.com)
As they say, business it business. But it sure seems like Walmart has an axe to grind with Amazon! Last month, Wally announced they were no longer carrying Amazon’s Kindle. Now, they are going to compete with Amazon’s experimental same-day delivery.
Called Wal-Mart To Go, the service costs $10 regardless of the size of the order. The products will be shipped from the company’s stores, not from a warehouse or distribution center. Wal-Mart began testing the same-day service last week in Philadelphia and northern Virginia. It added Minneapolis on Tuesday and will add San Jose and San Francisco later this month. The trial will last through the holidays. Wall Street Journal
Amazon has been doing the same-day thing in 10 cities for a few years now. Amazon has about $35 billion in online sales each year, about 7 times Walmart’s take. BUT, Wally’s $5 billion is about 1% of their total sales. So, that kind of capital allows them to experiment to find ways to compete with the established leader Amazon.
Analysts say that Walmart is going to need that cash flow to make it work…
“It can be three to four times the cost for the retailer to pick items and pack them from a store versus having a really efficient, automated process back in a distribution center.” Wall Street Journal
So, what do you think? Does this sound like a good move for Wally? Or should they stick to what they know best and leave the online fulfillment game to the recognized leaders? Read the article, and have a great weekend!
Time once again to update our satisfied Facebook fans shout-out page. Take a moment to read some of the positive feedback from a few of our purt-near 30,000 fans… including this comment from Abbidula:
“I just rolled in another dollar bill and itching for more scratch. This is great with the “any amount” cashout plan. Join now and you can also benefit from these rewards.”
So take a look HERE. Thanks to all our friends, Facebook and otherwise. And have a great weekend!
(photo: southerncrescentsolutions.com)
This is something I haven’t thought of in forever, since I got rid of my landline. But apparently robocalling is back, big time. Despite the big fuss, and the establishment of the “Do Not Call” registry…
Government figures show monthly robocall complaints have climbed from about 65,000 in October 2010 to more than 212,000 this April. More general complaints from people asking a telemarketer to stop calling them also rose during that period, from about 71,000 to 182,000. Associated Press
Also, telemarketers are supposed to check the registry for Do Not Call requests each month, but…
…fewer telemarketers are checking the FTC list to see which numbers are off limits. In 2007, more than 65,000 telemarketers checked the list. Last year, only about 34,000 did so. Associated Press
Part of the problem is that certain types of calls are exempt from the ban, like political calls (awfully good of the politicians to exclude those!), calls for charities, and informational calls (like the airline calling to tell you that your flight is delayed.) What the scammers do is start the call as a charity, then switch to a pitch for “learn how to clean up your credit rating!”
Also, technology is making the law obsolete. Spoof calls hide their true telephone numbers so that when you try to report them, or call them back, you get nothing.
So, what to do? I still get these calls from time to time on my cellphone. My policy is, if I don’t recognize the number, I don’t answer it. They can leave a message or not. Second, there is a website I use, www.whocalled.us, where you can type in the phone number and see if there are any complaints. Also, be careful whenever you sign up for, well, anything on the web. There are often little stipulations like “May we contact you at inconvenient times to tell you about useless products and services?” Finally, you can always complain to the FTC, which I am sure is super-effective. They are at www.ftc.gov or (888) 382-1222.
So, how about you? Are you in the Registry? Do you still get these calls? How do you handle it?
(photo: dailyautocrat.com)