Consumerism
« Previous EntriesRedeem Treasury Series E Bonds
Sunday, December 13th, 2009When the last Series E savings bonds left the Treasury back in June of 1980, I bet it didn’t expect that it, and $16.7 billion dollars worth of his buddies, would still be out in the wild almost thirty years later, when they would stop earning interest.
Series E bonds, first introduced in May of 1941, [...]
Target Cancels Zhu Zhu Pet Order Placed In September, Ruins Christmas
Sunday, December 13th, 2009Long before the national robot hamster shortage began, before fights broke out over the toy critters, and even before Consumerist took notice of the trend, Stacey’s daughters wanted Zhu Zhu Pets for Christmas. She ordered two hamsters and a playset for them from Target.com in mid-September, and waited for them to come off backorder. And [...]
Maybe It Just Needs A Little Love
Sunday, December 13th, 2009We’ve kept quiet about the rampant commercialization of classic holiday programming, in part because we kinda like our plush Bumble, and in part because, well, what’s more commercial in the first place than a made-for-TV holiday cartoon? But we have to draw the line with this little item we found in a local CVS. [...]
What You Should Know About Store Credit Cards
Sunday, December 13th, 2009It might be tempting to open a store-only credit card, especially when you’re about to make a big purchase and retailers offer big discounts to open an account on the spot. The problem is, that card you may only use a few times per year might hurt your credit score enough to outweigh a 15% [...]
TracFone Offers Delightfully Competent Customer Service
Sunday, December 13th, 2009Perhaps Greg is just lucky. Or it could be that TracFone’s customer service has improved quite a bit since we posted their executive customer service number a little over a year ago. Whatever the case might be, Greg had an unexpectedly hassle-free experience with the prepaid mobile phone provider, and wanted to let Consumerist know [...]
State Of California Doesn’t Know How To Accept $14 Fee
Sunday, December 13th, 2009Reader Justin may have discovered the real reason for California’s fiscal crisis. He owes the DMV $14, but says that the DMV doesn’t seem to want his money. Which is strange, since this is the opposite of how most people think of the DMV. Maybe they don’t have any lines, either.
California does not want my [...]
General Mills To Make Kids’ Cereals Slightly Less Unhealthy
Sunday, December 13th, 2009Well, makers of sugary cereals have failed to convince the public that they can prevent swine flu, and that they’re a legitimate part of a healthy breakfast. Now General Mills will join Kellogg’s in reformulating heir sweetest cereals to contain less sugar.
The Rudd Center [for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University] recently published [...]
House Passes Financial Reform Bill
Saturday, December 12th, 2009The House of Representatives today passed the Wall Street Financial Reform and Consumer Protection Act, with a 223-202 vote. No Republicans voted for the bill, and 27 Democrats joined the nay column, If passed by the Senate and signed by President Obama, the bill would create the Consumer Financial Protection Agency and either fix a [...]
McDonald’s Manager To Transgender Woman: We Don’t Hire [Gay Slur]
Saturday, December 12th, 2009A Florida McDonald’s has been sued for refusing to hire a transgender woman. The applicant, 17-year-old Zikerria Bellamy, says that after she didn’t check a gender box on the application, then reluctantly selected male, she was refused an interview by two managers, one of whom then left her an bigoted voicemail.
According to the Transgender Legal [...]
Men’s Health Plagiarizes Their Own Cover (On Purpose)
Saturday, December 12th, 2009Men’s Health was recently busted for reusing an old cover almost word for word. Now Men’s Health Editor-in- Chief David Zinczenko is telling the NY Post that it wasn’t a mistake, it’s part of a secret awesome branding strategy.
The reused cover only went to newsstands. Subscribers got… something else.
“It was only newsstand copies, it was [...]