PlanetFeedback's ShopperCast

Add-Ons, Luxury or Rip-Off?

The airline industry isn’t the only market capitalizing on the idea of charging for add-ons.  Due to websites such as Travelocity, hotels.com, Expedia, and Orbitz, many hotels and car rental agencies are now charging for services and products once considered free, or choosing not to offer free services such as basic cable, so customers will more likely purchase on-demand television and movies.

If you’ve rented a car in the past year you’ve probably noticed  a plethora of additional items that can be rented on top of the rental of the actual vehicle.  One of the biggest selling items is a GPS system that can be rented for $10/day and added on to any car.  In addition, you can rent a car seat, purchase a full tank of fuel in advance, or add a DVD player on to complete the whole package.  However, the question remains; is any of this stuff really worth it?  Or are we just paying for stuff we don’t need to satiate our need to consume?  While purchasing a car seat seems completely necessary, how important is the extravagantly priced GPS, road-side assistance, or the DVD player? 

The Marriott offers on demand television shows for $4.99 a pop, but is it worth paying for, what you can have for free if you’d simply watch the show at its regularly scheduled time?  While the Marriott has nixed the mini-bar from most of their hotel rooms, they still offer $3.00 bottles of water on the nightstand, the most expensive paper I’ve ever read placed outside my door, and valet parking (which is the only type of parking offered) for $26 dollars a day.  The simple fact remains, that we have become just a little too lazy.  How difficult is it to find out what channel HBO is, walk to the store to buy water, or park your own car?

While we complain about an impending recession, how often are we taking advantage of services that are priced beyond our means?  And what qualifies as a need, or distinguishes a want?    How do we know when enough is enough before we consume ourselves into a larger debt than we are already in?  Although we are getting a huge deal on the price of the initial service, we more than make up for it with the price of the add-ons. 

Black Friday Approacheth

It's almost here... the biggest shopping day of the year!  Black Friday!  A nightmare for retail workers (but not necessarily store owners) and some would call a necessary evil for those shoppers looking to save some money.  We went out the last couple of years - to an outlet mall, no less.  Got the kid up at 3 a.m., out of the house by 4 a.m. and shopped like maniacs until about 9... when we would collapse at the IHOP for big breakfast and hot coffee. 

And while we enjoyed ourselves, it was never what you would call fun. 

So, just as in years past, we bought a new pair comfortable thick-soled socks (hey, you need all the right equipment, dontcha know) and we scoured the Black Friday websites that give us peeks into the door busters and mega sales to help plan our shopping attack.

And do you know what we're doing on Friday?  STAYING HOME. 

It's not the economy; it's that the sales suck this year.  Last year between Black Friday sales and coupons, we scored a KitchenAid stand mixer for $100.  But there is nothing of real interest to us.  And there's really no 'must have' items... no Elmos (thank goodness), no crazy new electronics, or games, or even DVDs.  So the economy is in the toilet and sales offerings are poor...  Watch for this to be a very poor season for retailers.

This year, we were in the market for two cameras and a camcorder.  Thanks to Circuit City closing 150 stores, we bought both cameras, plus memory cards and bags and spent less than $400. As far as the camcorder goes - it hasn't been on sale yet, so we're just going to wait until Cyber Monday to see if there's a price drop.

So Friday will not find us out and about shopping.  We'll be drinking our coffee in our pajamas at a more civilized hour....  Weird.

--Contributed by Deb

A ShopperCast Public Service Announcement

It is only four days until Thanksgiving.  If you purchased a frozen turkey, take it out of the freezer right now.  Stop reading... we'll wait for you to continue while you take the bird out of the freezer.  Our turkey breast is out of the freezer and thawing so we can start the brining process tomorrow night.  (As an aside, brining makes the meat extremely moist.)

One of the safest way to defrost a turkey is in the 'fridge.  It takes about 24 hours of thawing time for every 4-5 pounds of bird.  Or you can thaw it in cold water.  But for the love of the deity of your choice, do NOT take the turkey out of the freezer and bang it onto the countertop or into the sink to thaw at room temperature for 3 or 4 days.  Unless you want a side trip to the emergency room to have your stomach pumped on Thanksgiving. 

And you don't want to be sticking a frozen turkey in the oven on Thursday morning.  Or even worse.... if you're deep frying a turkey, you really really REALLY don't want to be using a frozen (or even partially frozen) turkey.  Case in point:

If you need any turkey tips, check out this website.  Or just give us a call.  We're happy to help.  Bon appetit!

--Contributed by Deb 

Black Friday Deals

Everyone knows what Black Friday represents.  Even though that knowledge varies depending on who you ask.  Some will tell you it stands for the busiest shopping day of the year which also means it is the most chaotic so employees think of it as "Black" Friday because of all the added, extra stress.  Some say it's the first day of the year that retailer's profit ledgers are written in black ink eg. the first time in the year they are profitable.  And some say it's Black Friday because it's a jungle out there what with all the consumers running around trying to snap up the very limited time only specials.

It used to be, in the old days, retailers guarded those specials as if they were all the gold in Fort Knox.  Not any longer.  It appears that releasing advance knowledge of the specials is now part of an overall marketing strategy.

Which actually makes a lot of sense to us.  We don't know about you but we've sat in rooms of people on Thanksgiving as folks scoured the Black Friday ads, creating a plan to hit as many stores as early as possible the next morning.  Now, with the early release of the ads, folks can get all that done early and spend Thanksgiving doing what the holiday was intended for - watching football.

-Contributed by Greg

Chinese Democracy Rocks?

We're a Pepper; You're a Pepper; He's a Pepper; She's a Pepper.... wouldn't you like to be a Pepper too?  And for free too!

Like most of us, and the producers of Dr. Pepper, you were probably thinking Guns 'N Roses were NEVER going to release their new album, Chinese Democracy.  Or maybe you were hoping that Axl Rose was done for good.

Silly you. 

Dr. Pepper banked on it too ~ and promised free soda for all of us if Chinese Democracy was released in 2008.  A fair wager considering it's only been delayed since it was started recording - in 1994.  Time to put your soda where our mouths are!

Keep your eye on their website - coupons for a free 20 ounce bottle of Dr. Pepper will be available 12:01 a.m Sunday for ONLY 24 hours.  The coupons are supposed to be good until February 28.

Drink up!  And thanks Axl!

--Contributed by Deb

Hey, That's Our Lunch!

Excuse our typos.... we just got back inside from the garage.  Not only is it 32 degrees here at ShopperCast East, we were just hanging out in our freezer.  Why, you ask?  Basically because we love chicken - especially for lunch.

Lean Cuisine has announced a recall of a number of it's products - 879,565 pounds of chicken may contain foreign bodies.  Oh gross.  We're adament - there should only be chicken in our chicken entrees.  Which is why we've been in our freezers. 

The following items are part of the recall: 

9.5-ounce packages of “Lean Cuisine Pesto Chicken with Bow Tie Pasta" brand frozen meals. Printed on each side of each package is a production code of “8280595912,” as well as a use-by date of “Best Before MAY 2010.”

10.5-ounce packages of “Lean Cuisine Chicken Mediterranean” brand frozen meals. Printed on the side of each package is a production code of “8231595912” or “8241595912,” as well as a use-by date of “Best before SEP 2010”; a production code of “8263595912,” “8269595911” or “8274595912,” as well as a use-by date of “Best before OCT 2010”; or, a production code of “8291595912” or “8301595912,” as well as a use-by date of “Best before NOV 2010.”

12.5-ounce packages of “Lean Cuisine Chicken Tuscan” brand frozen meals. Printed on the side of each package is a production code of “8234595911” and a use-by date of “Best before SEP 2009”; a production code of “8253595911” or “8269595912” as well as a use-by date of “Best before OCT 2009”; or, a production code of “8292595911” or “8296595911” as well as a use-by date of “Best before NOV 2009.”

Each package also bears the USDA mark of inspection, as well as the establishment number “EST P-9018.” The frozen chicken meals were produced on Aug. 18, Aug. 21, Aug. 28, Sept. 9, Sept. 19, Sept. 25, Sept. 30, Oct. 6, Oct. 17-18, Oct. 22 and Oct. 27 and were distributed to grocery stores nationwide.

We're sorry to send you into the freezer on this really cold day, but trust us, it's a good idea to make sure that there's only chicken in your lunches.

--Contributed by Deb

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year! Not Really

With Thanksgiving a mere week away, marking the beginning of the official holiday season, our old nemesis, "Black Friday" will be rearing its ugly head once again, turning once reasonable citizens into villains starring in their own network production of, "Invasion of the Barbie Snatchers." 

While we can't avoid the holidays, lunatic shoppers, and cranky sales associates, we can avoid the majority of the chaos by completing the majority of our Black Friday shopping- online???

Yes indeed, not only can we use the internet to find a spouse, order our groceries, and stay in touch with our president elect, but we can use it to avoid holiday insanity!  If you have a quick finger, purchasing limited quantity items on retailers' websites can be easier than saying, "EBay!"  However, if you'd rather avoid the stress altogether, try checking out retail websites on "Cyber Monday," the newest shopping holiday to grace our calendar.  "Cyber Monday" falls on the Monday after Black Friday and offers a plethora of hot online deals for those who would rather spend November 28th eating leftovers than getting jabbed in the ribs by mean-spirited elbows. 

Whether you'll be shopping at a store on-site, or browsing through internet sites, it helps to learn the lingo.  Take note of the bellow abbreviations before you hit the check-out process:

AR-  After Rebate
MIR- Mail in Rebate
B&M- Only at retail locations

And if you do decide to brave the crowds, remember to be safe.  While most customers take the day with a grain of salt, a lot of people are generally one shopping basket short of a stack on Black Friday, so don't antagonize any situation.    

-Contributed by Alicia Butler

Save The Breasts

Boobs are important dontcha know.  And your friends here at ShopperCast are going to do our part to make sure they're protected - either because we have them or because we appreciate them.  If you own a bra made by Victoria's Secret and you experienced some discomfort (beyond the normal discomfort of carrying these around on your chest, of course), you might not be the only one.

Roberta Ritter is suing Victoria's Secret.  She claims that the bra she purchased from Vicky's caused a rash, hives and some permanent scarring as the result of formaldehyde in or on the material.  Roberta claims she purchased an Angel Secret Embrace and a Very Extreme Push Me Up and these bras caused her injury.  (Yes, of course, we're wondering if expecting your breasts to defy gravity caused any injury as well). 

In the process of investigating her claim, Roberta's law-yahs bought several bras and tested them for a variety of substances.  And they claim several of the bras purchased tested positive for formaldehyde.  Vicky's says no way is there any of that in their product and says they have strict quality controls against this kind of chemicals in its products.

Roberta's doctor, however, says that formaldehyde in or on the fabric could have indeed caused the injury.  Interesting, huh.  Can Roberta's bra be tested for the presence of this chemical at this point?  Nyet.  So it's pretty much academic ~ it COULD have caused an injury, but Roberta's gonna have to work really hard to show that it did.

We think (and science bears us out, btw) any chemical like that should have cleaned up with a couple of washings.  All the more reason to wash your bras (and other clothes) before you wear them.  Duh.  The other thing is that wouldn't you think that if you were having some kind of contact injury, the first thing you would do is remove any clothing that could be causing the problem and wash it again. 

But perhaps that's just us being a little too common sensical.  Darn it.

So take our advice...  wash 'em before you wear them.  After all, no one wants burned breasts.  And if you're one of the ones who has been allegedly injured by your underwear, we are sure Roberta would be happy to talk to you about it. 

--Contributed by Deb

The Ever Increasing Credit Crunch

As most everyone knows, credit has become a victim of the financial crisis as in there isn't much of it floating about.  At least that's the perception.  According to the car companies, though, there is enough out there for folks to buy a new car although we at the ShopperCast worldwide headquarters are just as happy that we bought ours back in May when things were a million times better.

One area of credit, however, that HAS appeared to have gotten much worse is the ability of consumers to keep their credit limits safe and sound.  There has been a marked jump in letters to Planetfeedback revolving around the reduction in credit limits and most of the rancor has been reserved for American Express.  Apparently, they're taking advantage of the credit crisis to knock credit limits back to a level which is much closer to the consumer's current balance.  Or, even worse, they're closing accounts based on perceived increased risk.

All of this is an attempt to reduce the future risk to the company in terms of limiting exposure to excessive spending.  Even though it's clear the customers absolutely hate the results, you have to respect the fact these companies are at least taking steps to keep what happened from happening again.  Maybe this is a first step to reigning in the "buy it now, pay for it later" pandemic which seems to have swept the country over the past ten years or so. 

Or maybe it's just a temporary fix that will disappear once times get good again.  It'll be interesting to see.

The Light Of Commerce Shines Brightly In Some Places

Over on PlanetFeedback, Walmart doesn't fare too well.  It's not as bad as it used to be when we could count on a letter a day (and even commemorated that by adding "Today's Walmart Letter" to letter headlines) but we still get them.

And, in the comments section, Walmart doesn't do much better.  Commenters take great pride in announcing how they hate Walmart, don't shop there, wouldn't shop there if it were the last store on earth and delight in listing all of the company's faults eg: treat workers badly, pay slave wages, put all their competitors out of business, rape the earth etc. etc. etc.

If you had just arrived from, say, the planet Mars, and read all of this commentary, you'd likely think Walmart would be on the edge of bankruptcy for lack of customers as they seem to be the most hated company in our great nation.

And, you would be wrong.  In fact, Walmart's financials, while feeling the effect of the current down economy, are still chugging along.  In the process, the company proves an timeless adage  - just because people say something's bad doesn't necessarily mean it is.

Well, that may not be a timeless adage because I just made it up but it should be one.  And, if there is any justice in the world, it will be.

Contributed by Greg