The most hype-filled shopping day of the year will soon be upon us. Here’s a roundup of alternately eye-opening, quirky, and confounding facts and figures about Black Friday 2011.
If you hit the mall on Black Friday, you could be under observation. Don’t look behind you, though; a signal emitted by your cell phone could be sending information to receivers that log your path from store to store. A pair of shopping centers are experimenting with technology that provides real-time tracking of customers via [...]
It’s been nearly 400 years since the Mayflower landed at Plymouth, Massachusetts. As during the first Thanksgiving feast celebrated there, Plymouth remains the site of much abundance. We present a gallery of homes that prosperous thanks-givers can buy right now in Plymouth.
The maddening sluggishness of the residential real estate market is very likely holding back the economy. But in our frustration, we have a tendency to reach for overly simplistic solutions that don’t help matters and may even be holding us back.
This year, many national stores have made Black Friday longer than a day, with extended sale hours that start on Thursday. The idea is: If something works, then more of it will work better. But does this actually make sense?
Thanksgiving has a long-standing tradition as the ultimate home-cooked holiday. But 14 million Americans are expected to dine out on Turkey Day, and another 16 million households will use ready-to-eat takeout foods for some or all of their “home-cooked” Thanksgiving dinner.
A lot of Americans are ticked off at their banks, and a new survey puts some numbers to that sentiment. Consulting firm cg42 says big bank customers will collectively withdraw $185 billion in deposited funds in 2012, and a total of $399 billion is “in jeopardy,” meaning that customers are considering making a switch to [...]
Dissatisfied customers or unruly protesters? That is the question. After being arrested in the wake of a protest at a New York City Citibank branch in October, Heather Carpenter and Julio Jose Jiminez-Artunduaga are now suing the city for false arrest.
The dust has barely settled over the debit card fee-flap but there’s more news from the big banks regarding fees. The good news is that it’s not all bad this time — several fees have been killed. But banks are quietly calculating which other ones can take their place.
In the end, Bill Miller was doing what he had always done. But it stopped working, and now the legendary mutual fund manager is retiring. His inglorious departure from Legg Mason Value Trust offers a telling lesson in the perils of blindly sticking to what has succeeded in the past.
The only rational explanations for lining up outside the mall before the sun rises and putting up with monster crowds to go shopping on Black Friday are: 1) You just love the crazed, festival-like atmosphere; and/or 2) you assume Black Friday gives you the best chances of buying holiday gifts at the cheapest prices. Turns [...]
