Here are five consumer items that will get cheaper and five that will get more expensive as the new year wears on
Smart Spending
Groupon Remorse? Most Merchants Won’t Run Daily Deals Over Next Six Months
In a new survey, roughly 400 hundred businesses that have offered special discounts through Groupon, LivingSocial, and other daily deal sites in the past were asked if they had plans to run daily deals in the future. More than …
Cough Up More for Coffee: Price Hikes Coming to Starbucks
Hey coffee lovers, here’s a little jolt that may help wake you up. The asking prices for a half-dozen different Starbucks beverages are getting more expensive at a broad swath of the coffee chain’s locations around the country.
We’re in the Middle of a Record-Setting Week for Returning Online Purchases
Especially around the holidays, retailers love to coin names for gimmicky sales events—Green Monday and Cyber Week, to name a couple examples. Funny: So far, no one has come up with an official name for this week, which is …
Don’t Expect the American Consumer to Save the Economy Anytime Soon
This is hardly the message families want to hear right after the holidays, when budgets were stretched to the limit to afford parties and gifts and already-forgotten stocking stuffers, and credit cards were used way more than …
5 Tricks To Make Your New Year’s Resolutions Stick
A new year, a new batch of resolutions! Alas, these promises to ourselves rarely produce long-lasting results. (Depending on the source, nearly nine in 10 resolutions don’t take.) Worse, failed resolutions could be harmful if …
Verizon Wireless to Charge $2 for Some Online Payments
Updated: 6:45 p.m., Dec. 30.
Why should banks have all the fun? We can only imagine that’s what Verizon Wireless executives asked themselves before deciding to hit customers with a $2 fee — for paying their bill via a one-time …
10 New Year’s Resolutions For Your Budget
So you’re going to lose 15 pounds, organize your closets and stop biting your fingernails. Great — now how are you going to improve your personal finances in 2012? Having a budget for your personal or household expenses is a great place to start, but New Year’s resolutions are about improving on the good habits you’ve already …
Warning: Don’t Mix Alcohol and Online Shopping
Drunk dialing, drunk texts, drunk Facebooking … there are many things one shouldn’t do while drunk. Add online shopping to the list.
Thumbs Down: 2011 Saw Least Movie Tickets Sold Since 1995
Reviews aside, it’s been a bad year at the movies. By the time 2011 comes to an end, ticket revenues are expected to be down 4.5% compared to 2010. This is despite today’s higher ticket prices: The average movie admission crossed …
Top 10 Shopping Trends for the 2011 Holiday Season
Here’s a look back at the frantic holiday shopping season that’s just passed—and that, among other things, reached a high point for self-gifting, shoplifting, free shipping, and procrastination. Without further adieu, this …
Let the After-Christmas Sales Begin! December 26 Expected to Be Huge Day for Retailers
What with exchanges and shoppers eager to redeem gift cards, the day after Christmas is always a busy one for retailers. For a variety of reasons, including that December 26 falls on a Monday this year, retailers anticipate a …