shopping

All posts tagged shopping

This post was written at a discount for my honest and unbiased opinion

Posted by Shoogle on November 6, 2016
Posted in: Bullshit Detector, General Blatherings. Tagged: , , , . Leave a comment

File this one under #firstworldproblems…

Shopping on Amazon has become increasingly annoying over the past couple of years thanks to a tidal wave of phony reviews that skew product ratings.  I call them “phony” because they were written by people who got the item for free or at a steep discount, and all Amazon required was that people state “I received this product for free in exchange for my honest and unbiased opinion” somewhere in their review.  As a seller, you can sell a completely shitty product and still have great reviews if you provide enough freebies in exchange for “honest” reviews.  And these reviews have been proven to be overwhelmingly positive, because (duh!) the reviewers want to continue to get free/discounted stuff.  Here, check this out:

Amazon has been completely overrun with this crap because it works wonder for sales — it got to the point where 90% of the reviews on a product were incentivized.  And if you looked at the negative reviews, you’ll find that they’re the ones who didn’t get it for free.  Nope, nothing shady about that!

Amazon wasn’t doing anything about it despite massive amounts of complaints in their customer forums, so eventually I (and a lot of others, apparently) began to just mark them all as Unhelpful whenever I saw one.  It’s kind of an asshole thing to do because I’m sure some reviewers really do try to be honest, but these reviews are also making Amazon an unreliable place to research products, and therefore the reviews are useless.

Eventually sites like FakeSpot.com began to pop up.  They will analyze product reviews from a variety of businesses and grade them on how honest the reviews appear to be.  If it spots a lot of incentivized or paid reviews, it’ll let you know.  I began using it on almost everything I bought on Amazon.  I could just do my online shopping elsewhere, but it really is hard to beat Amazon for most things.  I’m a slave to Prime…

The interesting thing about these phony reviews is that many reviewers really get into it, presumably to show the company who sent them the item that they’ll do and say anything to keep getting free stuff.  It’s not uncommon to see an exhaustive 5,000-word review for a cheap $9 iPhone case.  It just seems kinda gross and desperate.

Case in point:  while looking around on Amazon for a good motion-sensing hallway light, I came across this one which looked decent.  One of the “most helpful” reviews comes from someone who obviously writes them a lot…because it is EPIC.  This is one of the longest pieces of puffery for a $20 product I’ve ever seen.  It’s a LED light, for fuck’s sake!  You’d think he was reviewing an expensive piece of electronics with dozens of features that need in-depth detail.

Super convenient, perfect size, and rechargeable motion sensor light for those hard to reach dark places.

By Kermit “Indieviewer” Jones, Jr. on September 25, 2016

WHAT IS THIS, AND WHY MIGHT I WANT IT?: These are stick up lights with motion sensor that are convenient for closets and small spaces where you just need occasional light, but don’t want to go through the process of wiring or having a plug. They have built-in rechargeable batteries, and the LEDs last for for a surprisingly long time.

FIRST IMPRESSION: Nice, clean white appearance. Wasn’t too sure about the plastic “hanger” but it does a good job of letting you pop up anywhere temporarily, with even a thumbtack. Pretty bright, given their small size. Silver trim is a nice touch.

ASSEMBLY: Not much to it. You can hang them on a wall or mount them with the included double-sided 3M mounting tape. To recharge the battery, just twist the light off of the base (sort of like a smoke detector). Goes back on very easily.

FUNCTION: Charging is easy, and the light glows red to let you know. It goes off when charging is done. If you see the video, it shows that even after 5-6 hours of being left on, there is still enough useable light. So if you’re just using these for a few minutes at a time, expect it to last a very long time. The switch is clearly labeled with On, Off, Motion.

I have mine in a closet where we keep over the counter medication in the basket. These lights work well because they automatically come on when I open the door, allowing me to see without having to pull the basket out of the closet. However, while the motion sensor works, it’s not as consistent as I would like, which is why I’m taking off 1 star.

FIT & APPEARANCE: These lights are 3 inches in diameter. White plastic with white light and nice silver trim. There are 5 LEDs that are very bright.

FEATURES: I don’t want to duplicate the description, but a few things to note:- Rechargeable battery! (most of these type lights require AA or AAA)- Convenient to hang or mount- Easy to twist off for recharging- Glow lets you know when it’s charging- Motion sensor is a bonus

BUILD QUALITY: Really good build quality. They don’t feel “cheap” which is nice.

WHAT YOU GET: Two lights with base. Two hangers. Two mounting tape pieces. Two micro-USB charging cords (which is awesome since many manufacturers cheap out on this!). Instructions.

WHAT YOU DON’T GET: No complaints here!

PRICING & VALUE: For the price (and even with the motion sensor issues), this is a good deal. While you may find some that are cheaper, they normally require batteries. The rechargeable batteries, with the 2 included USB cables, make this a really good deal.

NEGATIVES: My only issue is that the motion sensor seems to be a bit random. About 25% of the time it doesn’t work or it is delayed. Not a huge issue for me given the other features, but it is the one thing keeping me from 5 stars.

BOTTOM LINE: Super convenient, perfect size, and rechargeable motion sensor light for those hard to reach dark places.

Don’t forget to check out the video for some other comments that may not be here.

Hey folks! Reviews are a tricky thing… I mean, who do you trust? I also realize that a review of a free product may be considered fundamentally different from that of a product for which one has paid. However, I also believe such reviews can be useful when the review process is respected. I’ve tried to do that here because I want to help others in their decision making process. This product was provided as a sample for my honest and unbiased review, but I hope the detail I have contained herein provides legitimacy in helping you decide whether or not to purchase, regardless of my rating. Please leave any comments below and I’ll get to them as soon as I can.

I can appreciate that he tries to appeal to our skeptical nature with that disclosure at the end, but holy shit…this guy’s hardcore.  Still, I had to check FakeSpot.com out of curiosity and what do you know?  They graded it an “F” with an estimated 56% of biased reviews.   Needless to say, I didn’t end up buying one.

Suddenly, in October Amazon did what we thought was impossible:  they banned incentivized reviews!

Amazon is cracking down on biased customer reviews

Amazon updated its community guidelines today to prohibit so-called “incentivized reviews,” which are customer reviews of a product that was received for free or at a discount in exchange for an online write-up. The company says these types of reviews make up a tiny fraction of overall Amazon.com reviews. Yet studies have shown that incentivized reviewers are less likely to give products negative feedback and review hundreds of products on average, potentially affecting the overall sales performance of otherwise mediocre items.

They won’t remove all previous biased reviews, but they’ll apparently do some cleaning-up in that regard.  O happy day!  Now I can read a review of a $3 keychain flashlight and know that the six-page review was written by a genuine crazy person, not someone who got it for free.

Would you like some cheese to go with that whine?

Posted by Shoogle on December 1, 2015
Posted in: Heterosexually Challenged, Holy Shit! (Religion). Tagged: , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Oh, this is hiiiiii-larious!  Can’t you just hear the petulant whining in her voice?  It’s the sound of a vapid troglodyte who’s finally figuring out that her hateful views are not supported by all the American retail giants.  Because, apparently, it’s incredibly important for bigots to be able to shop in stores that support bigotry.  Whatever, lady.

whiningMission America’s Linda Harvey has penned her latest unseemly screed on WorldNetDaily, this time lamenting that Religious Right activists such as herself are running out of places to shop — because they’ve boycotted pro-LGBTQ businesses.

She writes:  “Well, it’s that time again — time to get out the Christmas list and start hitting the stores. The problem is — what stores? For any Christian who wants to spend hard-earned dollars with family-friendly, Christian-affirming retailers, restaurants and service providers, the list is growing shorter all the time.”

Source: Linda Harvey: ‘There’s nowhere left for anti-gay activists to shop!’ – LGBTQ Nation

Well boo-fuckin’-hoo.  I guess you’ll be doing all your shopping at Hobby Lobby and Chick-Fil-A this year, hmmm?  Now get back to work!  Don’t you have a cross to burn somewhere?  And those Obama effigies can’t flog themselves, you know.  Priorities, people!

NO BAG IS SAFE!

Posted by Shoogle on November 15, 2010
Posted in: General Blatherings. Tagged: , , . 1 Comment

Ohhh my dear Baby Jesus.  Guess what?  All those reusable grocery bags you’ve been using may actually contain lead.  From China!  Yes, instead of saving our precious Earth from total annihilation by not choosing plastic at checkout, you’ve actually been helping to KILL it.  Thanks a lot, you fuckin’ lead-spreadin’ fascist!  Way to make Mother Earth weep cold, cold tears…FILLED WITH LEAD!

I’m sorry, but this is really cracking me up.  So many people out there really get into the resuable bag thing.  I mean, they take it with deadly seriousness.  Especially here in Seattle, where the streets practically flow with granola.  I actually prefer canvas bags to plastic because they’re sturdier and hold more stuff, but most of these people smugly think that using reusable grocery bags will somehow save the Earth from utter destruction.  In fact, Seattle has even started charging people for using plastic bags instead of paper or canvas.  But this makes people feel good:  “I’m doing my part.  I’m using canvas bags to haul my food around.  I’m saving the planet.  If you can’t do the same, fuck you and pay your plastic tax!”  Then they drive away in their rusty old gas-sucking VW van or pious Prius.

So just imagine how much hippie hand-wringing must be going on right now.  It must be pretty brutal owning a dozen canvas bags and wondering if some or all are lovingly poisoned with lead.

Hilarious!

Lead found in some reusable grocery bags is raising concerns that the toxin could pose environmental or health concerns to consumers.

Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., is asking for a federal investigation into the reusable bags following a series by The Tampa Tribune. The newspaper found lead in bags purchased at Winn-Dixie, Publix, Sweetbay, Walmart and Target.

Reusable bags are often sold by retailers and used by consumers instead of plastic bags. They may be canvas or made of recycled plastic. In some areas, consumers are charged a fee if they use a plastic bag from a store.

The concern is that lead in bags could cause environmental problems in landfills or leach into food products that are kept in them.

“Federal agencies need to put a ban in place for reusable bags that have lead in them,” Schumer said in a statement. In a letter asking the Food and Drug Administration to open an investigation into the issue, he says, “Any situation where lead bags are coming into contact with the food being purchased by Americans needs to be immediately investigated and resolved.”

via USATODAY.com

Shoppin’ mall, shoppin’ mall, burnin’ bright…

Posted by Shoogle on October 27, 2010
Posted in: General Blatherings. Tagged: , . Leave a comment

One one hand, this is pretty sad because the guy who did this is obviously struggling with some pretty intense mental issues.  On the other hand, is there anything quite so lovely as a shopping mall on fire?  Brings a tear to this curmudgeon’s eye…

Part of a high-end regional mall that is one of the main retail centers in a broad swath of Northern California was destroyed Thursday after police say a man barricaded himself inside and started a fire.

Police said the man holed up in a video game store at the Roseville Galleria and started a small blaze that later blew up, damaging an entire arm of the mall.

The 1.3 million-square-foot Galleria was evacuated by the time the fire erupted and spread to the roof, and no injuries were reported.

City officials said part of the roof on the malls south end collapsed. After the clouds of smoke cleared, overhead television images showed the charred remains of retail stores, many of which were gutted.

via NPR

For you budget Churchies

Posted by Shoogle on October 2, 2010
Posted in: Fun Stuff, Holy Shit! (Religion). Tagged: , , . 2 Comments

Christian dollar stores:  cheap religious crap to further dilute and devalue your faith!  Jesus would be…disappointed.

  • christiandollarstore.com
  • dollarcross.com

I love how even their design is budget, in an extreme way.  Ugly as sin!  And now that I really look at them, I notice they’re nearly identical in layout.  Fascinating!

Black Friday mayhem: Is our species completely fucked?

Posted by Shoogle on December 19, 2008
Posted in: Cultural Wasteland. Tagged: , , , , , . Leave a comment

For a few weeks now I’ve been wanting to write something about this latest Black Friday death at Wal-Mart, but it’s so disgusting and outrageous that it’s taken me a while to wrap my brain around it.  You know the story:  a mob of shopping-crazed human cattle literally busted down the doors at a Long Island Wal-Mart and trampled an employee to death, all so they could get their mangy, overconsuming claws on a bunch of cheap, shitty products for Christmas.  They killed a man so they could get minor discounts on TVs, DVDs, and toys for their spawn.

For starters, the obvious question:  what kind of human being actually steps over a trampled, bleeding victim of mob violence and continues to shop?  And not only that, some of them actually cracked jokes about him as paramedics tried to save him!

The paramedic stops pumping.  The man’s shirt has been pulled to his neck, revealing his belly.  A woman in the crowd mutters, “Pregnant.”  Another cracks a joke.  The women laugh.

“Ha-ha, look at that fat fatty laying there!  Stupid fatty, not my fault he got in the way!  At least I got my $49 DVD player and that Charwoman Barbie that little Kaitlyn wanted!”  These fuckers are animals, simple as that.  Former humans turned into savage, feral creatures with only one goal in mind:  to consume, to own more merchandise.  Because consuming and acquiring more shit is the only thing these invertebrates have to live for in their pathetic, meaningless lives, and they are very good at it.

“When they were saying they had to leave, that an employee got killed, people were yelling, ‘I’ve been on line since yesterday morning,’ ” Ms. Cribbs told The Associated Press.  “They kept shopping.”

These “people” are professional consumers…and they are prepared to take lives to get what they want, so stay the fuck out of their way.

How the hell did this happen to us?  When did snagging a bargain become a higher priority than common civility and compassion?  When did our lives become so empty that shopping became the only way to ease the pain?  Some are quick to say, “See?  This is what happens when you take God out of Christmas!”  But I don’t buy that.  It’s not a lack of God that causes this sort of thing, it’s a lack of humanity.  You don’t need God to be a decent human being.  That part’s still up to you.

It’s also easy to blame our consumer-driven culture in general, but one column in the New York Times brings up a very good point:  the media and retailers built the Black Friday madness together.  And you know what?  It makes perfect, obvious sense.

Media and retail outfits are economic peas in a pod.  Part of the reason that the Thanksgiving newspaper and local morning television show are stuffed with soft features about shopping frenzies is that they are stuffed in return with ads from retailers.  Yes, Black Friday is a big day for retailers … but it is also a huge day for newspapers and television.

In partnership with retail advertising clients, the news media have worked steadily and systematically to turn Black Friday into a broad cultural event.  A decade ago, it was barely in the top 10 shopping days of the year.  But once retailers hit on the formula of offering one or two very-low-priced items as loss leaders, media groups began to cover the post-Thanksgiving outing as a kind of consumer sporting event.

This is absolutely true.  You can see it in every “news” broadcast and newspaper leading up to Black Friday, it’s an all-out media assault on the public.  They even give you shopping tips like what time certain stores open, how to strategically plan your day in order to maximize your shopping time, where to run once entering a store to get the exact item you want, how to utilize baby strollers for carrying loot…the media and retailers are working together to make Black Friday the frenzied, ritualistic shopping day it has become.  (This time it really was a ritual, because they brutally sacrificed a man’s life.)  You can’t escape this shit on the internet, either, because now the mega-retailers like Amazon are getting into the Black Friday game.

But none of this lets the mindless, TV-worshiping cattle off the hook for their reprehensible behavior — they  buy into the hype and willingly give up all sense of self-control.  They’ve let themselves become savages and they are just as guilty as the admen and retailers for this disaster.  From the above article:

Buying stuff in the teeth of recession represents a vulgar but far too common impulse.  Consumption is a core American value, so much so that President Bush suggested people head to the mall after the attacks of Sept. 11 as an expression of solidarity.

But what about the Christmas spirit of giving?  Bitch, please.  That has long been replaced by obligation.  The pressure to buy begins as early as August, and they intertwine it with Halloween and Thanksgiving so there’s no escaping it.  Not only that, but people are trained to expect stuff for Christmas, and if you don’t buy them something you may be thought of as a Scrooge or uncaring or cheap.  Shit, I would take the religious aspect of Christmas over this shopping nonsense any day!  It’s time to stop running up the credit cards every year to fulfill false obligations, folks.

Personally, Critter and I still enjoy giving gifts, but we think small and we try not to go crazy with it.  Even so, next year we might opt out of the gift thing completely, especially if money is tight like it has been.  We’d rather spend some time with friends and family than buy them crap they don’t need and make them feel like they need to do the same for us…

One last point..  On the flight home from Florida recently, I listened to an interview with George Carlin which aired on Art Bell’s radio show in 1999.  I remember hearing it back when it aired, and somehow I managed to find a copy of it online.  (I want to write something about his death eventually, once I figure out what to say…)  He said a lot of interesting things, but one thing in particular was relevant to this topic:

The next HBO show I do is called “The Great American Cattle Drive.”  But the American cattle are not being prepared for market in order to be sold, they’re there to do the buying.  Get them to the mall, get these suckers to the mall, put ’em on the Internet, get ’em buying from e-commerce, get ’em to the mall…  It’s just repulsive and disgusting and it’s one of the reasons I quit this species.  It’s one of the reasons I backed off and said, “Wait a minute, that’s you over there folks.  This is me over here, I’ll go my way.  And if it costs me something, fine, I’ll pay whatever price it is.”

He said much more scathing things on this topic later in his career, but that remark about quitting the species really struck a chord.  Sometimes I wish I could do the same — just get the fuck out of this shallow, consumption-driven culture that disgusts me so, and be something completely separate.  I fully admit to having a fetish for gadgets and things like that, but I do still have some dignity and self-control.  I’m not willing to kill for these things like those savages did in Long Island, or even just beat people up like they do elsewhere in the country.  Couple that with the way people are treating each other in general, and it makes me want to back away slowly and go somewhere more sane.

How sucks it?

Posted by Shoogle on November 27, 2007
Posted in: General Blatherings. Tagged: , , , . Leave a comment

Hey, shoppers!  If you feel unrelenting pressure to buy gifts this holiday season (and who doesn’t?), be sure and check out a new website called How It Sucks.  Instead of positive product reviews, you get the negative reviews from various shopping sites so you can tell how much your potential purchase sucks.  Some of the negatory reviews are a bit whiny and/or unreasonable, of course, but they give a pretty good idea of what you’re in for.  I troll the reviews relentlessly before buying a new gadget, so this is sure to come in handy. (Linked from Consumerist.com)

P.S.:  We’re still in Tewksbury, Mass. but will be winging our way home tomorrow.  Joy!

Time to start ganging up on Big Bidness

Posted by Shoogle on February 23, 2007
Posted in: General Blatherings, Marketing Bullshit. Tagged: , . Leave a comment

A UK newspaper article (found via Slashdot) discusses a consumer revolt spurred via the internet.  Apparently more and more people are using the web to gather enough pro-consumer force to make big business stop fucking them over, and it’s working pretty well.  Of course, the customer is not always right, no matter what they say.  Some customers are simply asshats.  But in cases where a company is really being a jackass or charging unreasonable fees, ganging up on them like this can be a beautiful thing.

Speaking of which, one of the few blogs I read every single day is The Consumerist.  It’s absolutely invaluable…try going through their archives and you’ll find a treasure trove of pro-consumer goodness.  They even praise the companies who deserve it!

Friday quickies

Posted by Shoogle on December 22, 2006
Posted in: General Blatherings, Holy Shit! (Religion). Tagged: , , , , , , . Leave a comment
  • If you get a gift card for the holiday, be sure and use it!  Otherwise, for retailers it’s just mo’ profit for no work.  Best Buy alone made $43 million from unused gift cards last year!  Amazing.  (As a geek, I find the thought of not using a Best Buy gift card almost blasphemous.)
  • Next time you’re breezing through Tunisia, make sure you swing by the original Tattoine sets of “Star Wars” fame.  They’ve been preserved by the locals and are even inhabited.  It’s interesting how something left behind by Hollywood can take on a life of its own after so many years (and mediocre prequels)… Thanks to Mike Cutts for sending this in.
  • Leave it to Troy to dig up something truly snickerworthy!  This time he found a ministry website that sells religious teaching aids and cheesy magic tricks, like disappearing ink and the ol’ needle-thru-the-balloon thing.  Wow!  Religion AND parlor tricks?  Can one possibly ask for a better combination?  I think not!  (Where does he find this stuff, anyway?)
  • Over 350 people have recently gotten sick after eating at an Olive Garden restaurant.  Frankly, I’m surprised this doesn’t happen more often — we’re talking about the McDonald’s of Italian food, after all.  (Have any of you Seattleites ever eaten at the one up in Lynnwood?  I got dragged there several years ago and vowed never to go again…ick-ick-ick!)
  • Jesus, not another reality show!  This one stars Jay Bakker.  Yes, that Bakker.  His show is called “One Punk Under God: The Prodigal Son of Jim & Tammy Faye,” and the article hints that he didn’t really want to do the show but was talked into it.  A sad thing, really, because he sounds like something of an anomaly — a Christian who doesn’t judge, doesn’t spread guilt & fear, and rebels against the kind of money-driven religious bullshit his parents are infamous for.  Too bad he’ll be tainted with the stink of a reality show, but maybe it won’t completely suck.  Thanks to Critter for this one.

New calendars available

Posted by Shoogle on December 3, 2006
Posted in: General Blatherings. Tagged: . Leave a comment

I’ve finally got all my new 2007 calendars up for sale.   Lots of new creatures, flowers, bugs, places, and other things.   My previous calendars have also been updated for 2007, so if you liked those but didn’t get one last year, you’ve got another shot. 🙂   There are several 12-page wall calendars as well as many (cheaper) single-page ones, so visit the shop and check ’em out!   Cafe Press also has $5 flat-rate shipping, and (for now) shipping is free for orders more than $50, so it’s a pretty good deal.

FYI, these are priced at only $1 above the minimum that I can charge…so I’m not making much money.   But that’s not why I do ’em anyway. 🙂