Huh? Apparently, restaurant customers tip for all sorts of reasons, and the main reason we’re supposed to tip—good service—actually has little to do with how much we’ll leave on the table.
Where Would You Rather Be a Consumer?
Here are your choices: A world with “a level playing field where the best products at the best prices win,” or in “the Wild West where companies use deception to pick off every consumer they can get in their sights.”
It’s a Deal: Chocolate Chip Giveaway from Great American Cookies
On Friday, October 1, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Great American Cookies is kicking off National Cookie Month by giving away one chocolate chip cookie to each and every customer. And throughout October, the retailer will give you a cookie of your choice when you donate a new or gently read book at a Great American Cookies location. Check out …
5 Cheapskate Conundrums: Is It OK to Use a Coupon on a Date?
Also: How do you avoid getting ripped off if you’re the world’s worst, most timid, most undemanding haggler? People concerned (obsessed?) with saving money have issues, such as …
Can Ireland’s big bank bailout defuse its debt crisis?
In an attempt to reverse a recent, rapid deterioration of investor confidence, the government of Ireland today released new estimates of the costs of rescuing its sickened banking sector. You might want to sit down because the numbers are pretty ugly. Nationalized Anglo Irish Bank, the biggest source of investor concern, will require, in …
The Lottery: A Means to Free College, the Life of Your Dreams, and/or an Easy Loss of $102
In nearly all cases, a dollar gambled isn’t going to make any of your dreams come true. There’s nothing new about that. But what is new with the lottery?
Cheapskate Wisdom … That Ought to Make You Think Twice Before Getting a Tattoo
“It’s $50 to get a tattoo, and add a few zeros to get rid of it.”
It’s a Deal: Short Flights from $49, Cross-Country Routes from $109
The latest sale from Southwest Airlines offers discounted one-way fares starting at $49 on routes like Baltimore to Cleveland and Phoenix to Burbank, and $109 on routes such as Denver to Tampa Bay, Hartford to San Diego, and Los Angeles to Long Island. Tickets must be purchased by September 30, and travel is valid from October 12 to …
Drink Up! Free Coffee & Free Beer Today
The stars have aligned for thirsty cheapskates everywhere.
Marrying for Love? How About Not Marrying Because of the Economy
According to recently released Census data, the percentage of young adults (ages 25 to 34) who have never married has been on a steady rise over the past decade, from 34.5% in 2000 to 43.9% in 2008. In 2009, with the full onset of the recession—and apparently, with widespread feelings that getting married was a bad idea amid an …
Is the world in a trade war?
Protectionism has been the worst nightmare of policymakers since the earliest days of the financial crisis. It has become an article of faith among economists that protectionist policies during the 1930s exacerbated the Great Depression, and everyone knows full well that adopting similar practices today would have the same disastrous …
Broadband: The Exception to the Rule that Technology Gets Cheaper the Longer It’s Around
Call it the early adopter penalty: New technology is introduced at high prices, which drop rapidly as the goods spread from an exclusive to mass audience, become cheaper to produce, and eventually go completely mainstream. This price drop has reliably occurred to everything from portable DVD players to hi-def TVs, from iPods to iPhones …