Since I can’t seem to generate any enthusiasm for any deals so far this week, I’ve taken to reading oddball stories. Here’s a goofy one published a few days ago in USA today. If you run across any, let me know.
More odd stories
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Tag Archives: WTF?
National Sex Toy Day Giveaway
Boy, the things you can get for free! Wouldn’t this make a great grab bag gift? Click here and either sign up with one of your emails or remember to go to the site on November 4 at 11 ET. I’m going with the email, because I can’t wait to see the stuff they send out!
Thanks to CW and YDF.
Lose It or Lose It – gamble on your weight site
This is a really weird one, a website where you gamble on your own weight loss online. You start by setting a target weight, which you have 10 weeks to reach. To motivate you, you make a wager of your own cash (from $100 to $5,000). Make your weekly goal, and the money stays in your account. Don’t make it and the website takes a cut.
Is there something seriously wrong with my thinking? Why would I hand over a large chunk of change if there’s even an off-chance I’d lose it? They’re betting on our need for immediate gratification (pie on the plate) against the desire to lose weight (pie in the sky). Let’s not forget, people, we’re talking dieting before the holidays. Now this is what I’d call a sucker bet…
Meijer update $3.74
Just back from Meijer with a warning to always check your receipt! Case in point: Today there was an old guy in front of me buying just a few items, among them a loaf of bread. When he sees the total he comments that the hamburger buns are supposed to be free when you buy a loaf of bread. Cashier points out that he has the deluxe buns and not the hamburger buns. He trots off to get the right one…again the cashier scans them and it doesn’t come off. Wrong ones. He says that these are the buns in the cardboard display with the bread! I say get a manager to make them free because you have to pay more attention to what you’re putting in the display. Now my turn. Total comes to $6.34 for the items show here. I knew it was a couple of bucks off, so asked and cashier said that the mPerks $2 had come off. Took the receipt off to the side and scanned it. Sure enough, the Purina cheez treats, marked on the shelf as $1.09, were actually ringing as $1.39. Now, an ordinary shopper (certainly not us) would have purchased one or two of these and would never have noticed an extra .30 or so… In my case, though, with eight it was apparent that an overcharge had been made. So off to customer service and a return of my $2.60 ($2.40 + high tax). Also, mPerks takes the place of a mfr coupon, so the post that talked about using paper and mPerks was incorrect. This is why I always like to run the deals before posting…
Crappy weather out today, certainly not the day to grocery shop, but….I’ve seen this on a couple of boards, but haven’t yet checked it out: the Taco Bell seasoning packets are on sale for .34 and coincidentally there is a Mealbox coupon for $1/3! There is also a mPerks coupon for Milkbone Essentials which may tie in to their $2.50 sale price, don’t know yet, will check it out. Combine that with the $1/1 from the 9/26 rp and should be more free dog stuff. I’ve run out of computers to print the olive oil coupons, so right now I’m stuck with only 10 – not too many when you figure out I want them to last a year. Remember, I like to stock up, not do the weekly stuff…
Texas sends Amazon a tax bill…
Just saw this on the wire from Reuters – $269 Million? Texas must have George W. working their books err, doing their accounting. just saying… besides, how many Texas school graduates can even read (oh, right, I forgot they also sell video games).
Texas sends Amazon.com a $269 million tax bill
5:52pm EDT
NEW YORK (Reuters) – Amazon.com Inc said Texas sent it a $269 million bill last month for uncollected sales taxes for purchases that its residents made through the online retailer.
Amazon.com Inc said in a filing on Friday that the state sent the company an assessment in September for uncollected sales taxes from December 2005 to December 2009, including interest and penalties.
Texas claimed Amazon should have collected sales taxes over that period.
“We believe that the State of Texas did not provide a sufficient basis for its assessment and that the assessment is without merit,” Amazon said in the filing.
Amazon has found itself under attack over sales tax collection as states deal with their budget deficits. In April, Amazon sued North Carolina’s department of revenue, claiming its demand for Amazon to turn over names and buying records of customers violated privacy laws.
(Reporting by Phil Wahba. Editing by Robert MacMillan)
Call to CVS Corporate
Got sick and tired of trying to track down the elusive “golden toothbrush” from September’s ad. You know, the Oral B that, by combining ecbs and mfr coupon, ended up being free. No store has ever seen one: rather like Big Foot in that regard. Corporate said that they prepare their ads 2 to 3 months in advance (quel surprise!) and at that time the mfr had indicated that the old model was being revamped and new ones would be shipped to the warehouse in time for the sale. We all know how well that worked out. They are supposed to be shipped to the warehouses starting this week – probably get there just after the coupons expire…
I also asked about the opening of the new CVS store on the corner of Naper and Ogden: grand opening is set for 10/31 (although nothing has gone out to the surrounding neighborhood via mail or newspaper – great marketing, people).
And you wonder why my heart belongs to Wags?
New coupon scrutiny
If any of you are thinking that cashiers at Jewel have started paying more attention to what coupons you are using and on which products, you are right. There has been a lot of discussion on the boards about this and here is a response from Jewel on this issue (grateful thanks to Barb at CW):
[are these printables we’re talking about?] Not necessarily—there are some pretty crafty individuals out there that have manufactured their own hard copy coupons—not printables. That is why it has become so cumbersome for our poor cashiers. There are so many more steps involved in the transaction process now because we have been burned sooooo many times.
You can share with your readers that although it may seem as though the checkout process is taking longer than expected, please be patient with the cashiers, as they are simply doing their job to protect the company from those few people that have tried to cheat the business by presenting fraudulent coupons. Due to advancements in technology, we have learned that these new fake coupons do not beep, and therefore our checkers require a little intervention prior to scanning every coupon without question. In order to continue to pass along deals, savings and promos to our shoppers, we need to have the means to achieve that—which means more careful checkout procedures. We have not changed anything in our coupon policy, but need to ensure that the coupons that we are accepting are fitting those criteria in our stated policy to a T.
__________________
Of course, I prefer this Trib article. Note the last paragraphs and imagine bin Laden sitting in a cave clipping coupons. And how the hell could they even get home delivery? And what paper has the high value coupons? so many questions…
Jewel/Osco parent posts loss – again!
I meant to post this yesterday (when the info came out) but internet kept fluctuating. AT&T can’t figure it out and they’ve been replacing everything like crazy (great, great, great service – try getting that from Comcrap). Anywho, here’s the wire on the story, clipped from the Trib:
Jewel-Osco parent Supervalu says it had a steep loss of $1.47 billion in the fiscal second quarter due to charges tied to a labor dispute at its Shaw’s chain and employee-related costs. Adjusted to exclude the charges, earnings totaled $59 million, or 28 cents per share. That is a penny shy of the 29 cents a share analysts expected.
Revenue fell 9 percent to $8.66 billion. Analysts predicted $8.74 billion.
Supervalu Inc., based in Eden Prairie, Minn., also lowered its full-year earnings expectations. It now expects adjusted fiscal 2011 earnings of $1.40 to $1.60 per share, from prior guidance of $1.75 to $1.95. Analysts expect $1.69 per share.
The company’s shares fell 4 percent in premarket trading.
Supervalu, one of the weaker grocers going into the recession, has struggled with intense competition and finding the balance between customers’ need for low prices and fluctuating food costs.
My Note: This 2nd quarter loss comes after the 40% fiasco otherwise known as the 1st quarter. Just how much money do they have to throw at that Wal-Mart ex-CEO before he gets the boot? Jewel is turning into the Cubs of the grocery world! Any thoughts or comments on things they could be doing differently? I mean besides dumping the new guy and getting rid of that crappy “value” line. fake cheese….
We’re baaaack (with our serious topic of the day)
Finally! Don’t know how long it’ll last, but my regular speeds are right where they should be…so here’s my serious topic of the day: Keeping important documents.
So many “experts” tell us that we should toss most paperwork, keep certain documents for 7 years (tax returns), others forever (real property documents), etc., so many different types and times to remember. My advice? Keep it all, but stored neatly. With most of our records being sent electronically and not printed out, there’s a good chance we’ll screw ourselves down the road. Case in point: I am looking to resolve a situation concerning possible/probable failure on the part of an insurance company to properly adjust a claim. No problem, usually, except that this happened in 1998. Why wait so long? It only came to light within the past week and here’s the kicker: there was no way to know this earlier. The problem: The original agency merged into another agency; original insurance company merged into another, and new company has no record of my ever being a policy owner. So here’s where keeping documents comes into play. I have the original paperwork regarding the claim: they have no record of this number, since the new format does not link into the old format; they have no record of the claims adjuster; there is nothing in any of the new company’s records that tie my name/property address/claim to any of their records and their records do not indicate that the subsidiary of the prior insurance was ever part of that company! However, I also have an insurance bill in my files from the company, giving my name, address, policy number and subsidiary handling the insurance. It shows the agency which handled the policy and ID number.
Now I wish to stress that at no time has the new insurance company refused to help me; on the contrary, they’ve been extraordinarily helpful, contacting various offices, department, etc. to find some concrete evidence that I existed, but, even with all my info, they are having a difficult time finding anything in their records. And I’ve spent at least 3 hours on the phone.
So what do you think my chances would have been without my papers? Thanks for calling, there’s nothing in our records that indicates you were ever a policyholder? Yeah, that would pretty much be it.
Bye, bye for tonight
AT&T is performing “maintenance in our area” which is tech-speak for “your internet is fucked today, possibly tomorrow morning and the afternoon ain’t lookin’ so good, either.” Seriously? It’s so slow that I can’t get the speed test to work! So slow that Comcast is starting to look good (nah, only joshing on that). Having said this, I’m taking off for the next couple of hours and will test the waters, so to speak, after that. Thank god I’m a reader!!