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Consumer

That Is Really Offensive

by Luke Landes

Some of my favorite commercials on television right now are GEICO spots. You know the ones. Salesman/actor: “Buying car insurance from GEICO is so simple, even a caveman could do it.” Caveman: “That is so offensive.” Seth Stevenson from Slate Magazine feels the same way and cites another good one, the “Tiny House reality series” ... Continue reading this article…

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Shopping Addiction

by Luke Landes

CNN Money is featuring the story of a compulsive shopper with an addiction to the activity. She’s 36 years old (which, as I get older, seems increasingly younger) and her shopping spree began when her fourth child was born and she stopped working to live off her husband’s $140,000 annual income. This provided her with ... Continue reading this article…

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Does the Merchandise Have Large Talons?

by Luke Landes

Let the merchandising begin. If you like action figures and strange movies, you’ll probably love the new Napoleon Dynamite action figures. Watch out for them in your local toy store or local Internet.

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GM’s Employee Discount

by Luke Landes

You’ve heard of this deal on the television and on blogs. General Motors [GM] is advertising an “Employee Discount for Everyone” sale, in which they are offering their vehicles for the same price an employee would pay, “not a cent more.” Is it really a good deal? If you participate, most likely you will be ... Continue reading this article…

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Thursday Reading

by Luke Landes

So far, I’ve received one submission for Carnival of Personal Finance. Remember to send your submissions in before Sunday night. Here are the articles I’m reading today: Kids get more expensive for their parents as they get older, and this article enumerates the costs of a teen-ager. Sports or music, food, orthodontia, and a plethora ... Continue reading this article…

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Car-Buying Sexism

by Luke Landes

The author of Girl Meets World writes about her experience buying a Honda Civic and encountering sexism, even from the female sales managers.

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Walmart’s Nazi Ad

by Luke Landes

Walmart published an advertisement in an Arizona newspaper depicting a Nazi book-burning. The intent was to compare the censorship with a local proposition that would prevent Walmart from expanding its stores in the area. They have since apologized and fired the individual responsible for the ad, but what humanity, what hypocrisy. The ad included this ... Continue reading this article…

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FCC Speeds Up Digital TV

by Luke Landes

The FCC has decided to speed up the digital television requirement in order to make over-the-air radio frequencies available to be sold off to private parties. This will force people to buy new televisions or a converter for their old television at or before that time. Slashdot discussion here.

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Just Chill

by Luke Landes

Chill, or chillout, is a “new” music genre gaining popularity. Will it save the world or will it just sell more products? CD101.9‘s contest features a Mercedes CLS, obvisouly the most chilled-out of sedans. In reality, chill is just repackaged adult contemporary, which changes its name every once in a while to attempt to appeal ... Continue reading this article…

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Monday’s Links

by Luke Landes

These will be updated throughout the day if I find anything interesting online: * What’s the Worst Ad Song Ever? A Slate article takes suggestions from the audience for most cognitively dissonant commercial. * Citigroup loses 3.9 million customers’ information while in transit. Free Wall Street Journal article here. * Jacquelyn Tran had an idea ... Continue reading this article…

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To Serve Man

by Luke Landes

Over the weekend, the Billboard Liberation Front celebrated 50 years of McDonalds by modifying a billboard (including animatronics) by Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. The billboard is clear in the picture but the animatronics depict Ronald force-feeding a supersized burger to a supersized kid. The billboard modification was perpetrated by people dressed as Ronald ... Continue reading this article…

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Knockoffs and Other Bits

by Luke Landes

See, I told you I couldn’t stay away for long. Here are some interesting links I came across today: * The Flickr tag: knockoff. First of all, Flickr is a photograph sharing site where items are “tagged” with a category. The “knockoff” category is a repository for photographs of generic consumer products that are designed ... Continue reading this article…

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Gift Spending

by Luke Landes

Popular people find themselves invited to a number of their friend’s events, such as weddings, anniversaries, bridal showers, baby showers, bachelor parties, bachelorette parties, etc. These are the typical events that generally take place between getting out of college and middle ages. How can a popular person afford to attend all these social events?

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Paying For Convenience

by Luke Landes

The “Personal Services” industry has been growing. More people are willing to pay others for tasks considered inconvenient, like shopping, washing laundry, and possibly even “wiping.” This article by Gordon T. Anderson describes various mundane tasks for which you can hire a specialist. If you want to make money in this industry but you have ... Continue reading this article…

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Retail Alphabet Game

by Luke Landes

Here’s something fun for Friday. The Retail Alphabet Game gives a player the alphabet, with each letter coming from a different brand logo. See if you can guess the brand belonging to the letter. Note that the only official way to receive a clue is to buy one from the author.

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Score a Good Hotel Rate

by Luke Landes

MSN Money often recycles older personal finance articles for its front page. I don’t really mind since I might have missed one in the past. They don’t date their articles so you never know when something was originally posted. They are featuring an article on finding deals on hotel rooms. They give some examples, but ... Continue reading this article…

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Search for Low Fares

by Luke Landes

I’m thinking of going out to California next month. I’m checking flight prices with a new fare search from Yahoo (although it is still in beta). It queries “discount” carriers in addition to the bigger airlines. With some time, I’ll compare it to the fares other search engines find. In the mean time, check it ... Continue reading this article…

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One Breast, Breast For Sale

by Luke Landes

From the YouCanSellAnythingOneBay Department: You can now bid on a stripper’s removed breast implant. At the time the article was written, bidding was up to $14,000. Don’t get hasty, you can bid on the item only after approval from Tawny Peaks, the seller/porn star.

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Wal-Mart in the Banking Industry

by Luke Landes

Wal-Mart already performs a million financial transactions a week and has good deals — better than most banks — on money orders and wire transfers. They’ve attempted to buy a local bank in the past. What if Wal-Mart did enter the banking industry? Liz Pulliam-Weston speculates on the consequences which seem favorable. For instance, Wal-Mart’s ... Continue reading this article…

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Grease The Maitre d’

by Luke Landes

Marshall Loeb from CBS Moneywatch has published an article explaining how to properly “grease,” that is, tip in advance to ensure special service. His “tips” for discreet tipping: * Talk to the person in power. * Speak privately instead of in front of other customers. * Fold the bill with the denomination clearly visible by ... Continue reading this article…

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