The U.S. Postal Service, which is expected to lose $9 billion in 2011 and may have to close 10% of post offices and resort to five-day-a-week mail delivery, has figured out at least one way to cut costs. By more carefully …
Odd Spending
How Consumers Fool Themselves Into Thinking They’ve Made Good Purchases
If you think you make purchases because you logically and objectively evaluate the options at hand, then decide based strictly on your personal preferences and individual sense of value, think again. Here are four examples of how …
Adidas & the All Blacks: How to Anger an Entire Nation of Rabid Sports Fans
So much for a locals discount. With action at the 2011 Rugby World Cup just weeks from starting in host country New Zealand, sporting goods giant Adidas decided to charge 220 Kiwi dollars (about US$182) for a jersey of New …
Why Are So Many People Freezing Food?
Frozen dinner … again. But maybe that’s not such a bad thing. For busy families hoping to save time and money, a favorite new meal-preparing strategy involves setting aside one day a month to cook—and then freeze—an entire …
Did You Snag a $100 HP TouchPad? Triple Your Money Now on eBay
Here’s one undeniable reason why buying an HP TouchPad tablet at the firesale price of $99.99 was a good move: Mere hours after the tablets were available for $100, they’ve been selling for nearly $300 on eBay.
$16.4 Million Ferrari Sets New Record For Most Expensive Car
California auctioneer Goodings & Co., sold a 1957 Ferrari Testa Rossa for $16.4 million on Saturday, the highest price ever paid for a car at auction. The previous record was $12 million, also for a 1957 Ferrari Testa Rossa.
Extreme Couponers Dumpster-Diving for Sunday Newspapers
Who says newspapers are dead? Some editions are so popular these days that people are digging through others’ trash for them. Long live print!
Jonathan’s Card: The Starbucks ‘Get a Coffee, Give a Coffee’ Social Experiment
The “take a penny, leave a penny” concept works pretty well at diners and convenience stores. But what if, instead of pennies, the currency being shared was digital, and the payments were made by mobile phone? That’s what one …
GiveDirectly: A Charity That Just Gives Money to Poor People, So They’re Not So Poor
A group of economists is suggesting a radical, if obvious, way to reduce poverty in developing countries: Just give poor people money.
How to Make $1 Million (or More) Per Year Playing the State Lottery
Is there a way to game the lottery? Without ever winning a jackpot, a small group of bettors have managed to milk a game called Cash WinFall for millions. The key part of the strategy, which resulted recently in just three …