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Everyone knows you can get a fake Rolex or a bogus “designer” handbag, but the world of counterfeit goods is much wider — and weirder — than shoddy knock-offs of luxury goods. Read on to discover some of the strangest goods people have faked for profit, and how you can avoid winding up with a knock-off.
As 30-year fixed mortgage rates have hit historical lows, there’s been one less-publicized corollary: 15-year fixed rates are low, too.
During a worrisome, unsteady, and just plain bad economic climate, consumers change their behavior—typically by trying to spend less and save more. But when it comes to one sector of consumer spending, scaling back is more the exception than the rule. A heaping majority (68%) of dog owners say that regardless of the state of [...]
The concept of working from home took a beating during the Great Recession, raising questions about companies’ ability to make the most of the wired world. The setback also throws a bit of cold water on the hopes of mature workers hoping to phase into retirement.
We’ve been hearing a lot about a double-dip recession lately, and for good reason. So is anyone doing anything to prepare? Here's how to start.
It’s not hard to understand why Netflix decided to change its subscription plans over the summer, breaking apart the popular DVD-and-streaming combo into two services paid for separately by members. Streaming content via the web and sending DVDs by mail are two very different businesses, after all. It’s also easier to understand why Netflix CEO [...]
The cash-strapped United States Postal Service, trying to close a $9 billion deficit, is considering the elimination of Saturday mail delivery, which would lead to first-class mail taking longer to reach its destination. Would credit-card customers who depend on the mail to receive and pay bills be hurt?
Consumers are spending less. Some because they have less to spend. But others because, given the fragile, uncertain state of the economy, they feel compelled to save more. As a result, banks are being flooded with deposits. But guess what? Many don’t want your money.
As the daily deal craze took off over the past two years, hundreds of upstart flash deal sites jumped into the marketplace to try to get a piece of the action dominated by Groupon and LivingSocial. Almost from the start, though, analysts observed that the daily deal space was oversaturated with too many competitors going [...]
Consumers spend a lot of time worrying — or at least complaining — about those prices that seem to keep climbing ever-higher: gasoline, health insurance, college tuition. So it’s a pleasure to stumble, every once in a while, on something that is getting cheaper.
Over the summer, Netflix angered customers by splitting its popular DVD-by-mail and unlimited-streaming package into two separate services—and by charging what amounts to a 60% price hike for customers who wanted to keep the same services. Once the price changes took effect, it was evident that Netflix subscribers were fleeing, and the stock price tanked. [...]
