Walmart Back-to-School Special

“Walmart has condemned a display inside one of its stores that appeared to market firearms as back-to-school items. The company said Wednesday it was working to identify which of its stores put up the exhibit.

A photo of a sign reading ‘Own the school year like a hero’ was placed directly above a glass case filled with guns. Photos of it spread like wildfire on social media.

— “Walmart apologizes for sign marketing guns as back-to-school items,” Jackie Wattles, CNN

___________

Short link: http://wp.me/p6sb6-qlN

Top image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.

Add to: Facebook | Digg | Del.icio.us | Stumbleupon | Reddit | Blinklist | Twitter | Technorati | Yahoo Buzz | Newsvine

Cyber Cafés of 1996

At the end of the last century, when dinosaurs roamed the earth and nobody owned a laptop or cellphone, early humans paid money to rent desktop computers and drink Jolt Cola in public accommodations known as cyber cafés. Let us return to those thrilling days of yesteryear (via Mental Floss) to visit the best cyber cafés of 1996:

_________________

Short Link: http://wp.me/p6sb6-mV1

Image (“Au Cyber Café, after Jean Béraud”) by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.

Add to: Facebook | Digg | Del.icio.us | Stumbleupon | Reddit | Blinklist | Twitter | Technorati | Yahoo Buzz | Newsvine

From the North Pole Fulfillment Office

Greetings Occupant:

We have reviewed your Naughty/Nice Statement for calendar 2016. A coal-filled stocking will serve as your Notice of Naughtiness. If you are not in receipt of same, enjoy your gifts and have a happy holiday.

Sincerely,

North Pole Fulfillment Office Staff

___________________

Short Link: http://wp.me/p6sb6-oY8

Image (“Santa’s Spreadsheet, after Haddon Sundblom”) by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht,NotionsCapital.com

Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.

Add to: Facebook | Digg | Del.icio.us | Stumbleupon | Reddit | Blinklist | Twitter | Technorati | Yahoo Buzz | Newsvine

It’s Beginning ….

On the shelves of Retail America, it began to look like Christmas the day after Halloween. The perfume and electric shaver ads began appearing a few weeks later, and we’ve already had two weeks of commercial-heavy seasonal TV specials. Try to dig yourself out of the blizzard of consumerist frenzy.

Black Friday 2016: High-Caliber Sales

‘Tis the season. As the world prepares to wish for Peace on Earth, Americans spent Black Friday 2016 stockpiling firearms. On the day after Thanksgiving the FBI processed a record 185,713 background checks for gun transactions, more than any single day since the NICS system launched 18 years ago, up from last year’s 185,345 background checks. Jingle bells, pass the shells.

The Trump campaign got $30 million from the NRA, which claimed a Clinton administration would ban the assault-type weapons prized by militias and mass murderers, and would confiscate all privately-owned  firearms. The Obama presidency has been good for gun merchants, who predicted a Trump victory would see a slump in sales, but it hasn’t happened. There are anecdotal accounts that the 2016 election prompted a rise in gun purchases by anxious African Americans. See, Donald Trump is boosting the economy, even before his inauguration.

More:

“FBI runs more background checks than ever after gun sales soar on Black Friday,”Alex Yablon, The Guardian

Related:

“Burglars rob militia family bungalow of guns, machetes, grenades and body armor,” Travis M. Andrews, Washington Post

________________

Short link: http://wp.me/p6sb6-p3X

Image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.

Add to: Facebook | Digg | Del.icio.us | Stumbleupon | Reddit | Blinklist | Twitter | Technorati | Yahoo Buzz | Newsvine

Small Business Saturday. Shop Local.

Yesterday, on “Black Friday,” millions of Americans spent billions of dollars with the multi-national corporations that sell imported products in U.S. shopping malls. Some of us resisted this retail feeding frenzy and bought nothing. Today people from both camps will buy local, shopping with neighborhood shops on Small Business Saturday.

$100 spent with local businesses returns $68 to the community vs. $43 spent at big box stores. So think outside the big box and shop local. The Small Business Saturday campaign was started in 2010 by American Express, but your local shopkeepers will really thank you if you pay cash and leave your Amex card at home (shops have to pay Amex swipe fees).

Big Savings!

The Friday after Thanksgiving or ”Black Friday“ is reserved by global corporations for whipping Americans into a frenzy of over-consumption.  Millions camp out and line up for hours hoping for bargains. Most end up buying things they don’t need at prices they can’t afford.

Save big today. Don’t buy a single thing. If you want to spend something, spend the day with friends and family. Spend time at the library; borrow a book and spend time reading it. Spend time making something. You’re not what you buy. You’re not a “consumer.” You’re a human being.

More:

“Buy Nothing Day,” AdBusters

“Buy Nothing Day,” Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

“The scientific explanation of why people kill each other over TVs on Black Friday,” Laurence Ashworth, Reuters

“5 Great Reasons to Celebrate International Buy Nothing Day Instead of Black Friday,” Amy Mendosa, TIME

“Anti-Black Friday Movements Gain Traction With Patagonia Clothing Swap,” Meagan Clark, International Business Times

“A Brief History of Black Friday,” Ethan Trex, Mental Floss

“Annual ‘Buy Nothing Day Winter Coat Exchange’ bucks consumerism,” Michelle R. Smith, AP via Providence Journal

“Great Ways to Spend Black Friday Not at the Mall,” Brad Tuttle,CNN Money

“Fight Black Friday by joining a Buy Nothing group,” Lisa Hyma,Grist

“Websites promote Buy Nothing Day,” Kevin O’Neil, Scranton Times-Tribune

“Buy Nothing Day 2014: Black Friday Anti-Consumerism Backlash Facts and History,” Lydia Smith, International Business Times

______________

Short link: http://wp.me/p6sb6-oDa

Image by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht, NotionsCapital.com

Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.

Add to: Facebook | Digg | Del.icio.us | Stumbleupon | Reddit | Blinklist | Twitter | Technorati | Yahoo Buzz | Newsvine

Shopping Can Be Fun!

“A brief history of the American shopping mall,” from PBS NewsHour Weekend’s Tracy Wholf.

______________

Short Link: http://wp.me/p6sb6-nJ0

Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring or obscene. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.

Add to: Facebook | Digg | Del.icio.us | Stumbleupon | Reddit | Blinklist | Twitter | Technorati | Yahoo Buzz | Newsvine

From the North Pole Fulfillment Office

From the North Pole Fulfillment Office

Greetings Occupant:

We have reviewed your Naughty/Nice Statement for calendar 2014. A coal-filled stocking will serve as your Notice of Naughtiness. If you are not in receipt of same, enjoy your gifts and have a happy holiday.

Sincerely,

North Pole Fulfillment Office Staff

___________________

Short Link: http://wp.me/p6sb6-mH2

Image (“Santa’s Spreadsheet, after Haddon Sundblom”) by Mike Licht. Download a copy here. Creative Commons license; credit Mike Licht,NotionsCapital.com

Comments are welcome if they are on-topic, substantive, concise, and not boring. Comments may be edited for clarity and length.

Add to: Facebook | Digg | Del.icio.us | Stumbleupon | Reddit | Blinklist | Twitter | Technorati | Yahoo Buzz | Newsvine

Small Business Saturday. Shop Local.

Yesterday, on “Black Friday,” millions of Americans spent billions of dollars with the multi-national corporations that sell imported products in U.S. shopping malls. Some of us resisted this retail feeding frenzy and bought nothing. Today people from both camps will buy local, shopping with neighborhood shops on Small Business Saturday.

$100 spent with local businesses returns $68 to the community vs. $43 spent at big box stores. So think outside the big box and shop local. The Small Business Saturday campaign was started in 2010 by American Express, but your local shopkeepers will really thank you if you pay cash and leave your Amex card at home (shops have to pay Amex swipe fees).