Ever wonder where Amazon, Target, and Walmart returns go? Bin stores! These hidden gems offer everything from electronics to clothing at rock-bottom prices.
Food prices change while you shop, here’s what to do
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If you think food prices are high now, just wait. Grocery stores across the country are installing electronic shelf labels (ESLs), ditching those humble paper price tags for sleek little digital screens.
Sounds like a snazzy tech upgrade, right? Just wait until your eggs get a price hike while you’re still pushing your cart toward the meat section.
🧂 Price jump in Aisle 5
Walmart, Whole Foods and regional chains like Schnucks in the Midwest are already using this technology. Retailers say it saves time, and sure, I get it. A typical Walmart has over 120,000 items, and changing all those prices by hand takes days.
With ESLs, they can update thousands of prices in seconds. That’s a win for store efficiency, but for us shoppers? It opens the door to something we’ve all experienced.
🤑 Surge pricing
You know how Uber hikes your ride fare during rush hour or a rainstorm? Now imagine that happening at the supermarket.
☀️ Hot day? Bottled water jumped in price.
🍗 Big game tonight? Chicken wings got a surprise markup.
Surge pricing, but for food. Sure, they say it’ll help reduce food waste by discounting items near expiration, and that’s great. But once stores can adjust prices based on demand, they will. Count on it.
Kroger’s working with Microsoft to add cameras to these digital displays. They’ll use facial recognition to track your behavior and create personalized offers.
🥷 Beat the tech
Here’s how to fight back:
📦 Walmart’s expanding drone delivery: It’s coming to five more cities, including Atlanta, Charlotte, Houston, Orlando and Tampa. If you’re in one of them, you can sign up on Wing’s site to get notified when it goes live near you. FYI: That brings the service to 100 stores. At this rate, we’ll be living like the Jetsons in no time.
$620,000
The new max pay for Walmart’s regional store managers. Quite the raise from last year’s $570,000 cap. That’s thanks to bigger bonuses and stock grants. Even on the lower end of the pay spectrum, you’re looking at $420,000, a boost from $320,000. Now, that’s if you snag your full bonus, but it, too, is also rising from 90% of base pay to 100%.
🪙 Retail crypto grab: Walmart and Amazon are both reportedly exploring launching brand-backed crypto stablecoins. Insiders say it could let them ditch banks (and bank fees), process payments faster and soak up even more of your money. Finally, you can pay for eggs with Jeff Coins™.
🚁 Walmart’s drone army: Wing and Walmart are dropping drone deliveries in 100 more stores. If you’re in Atlanta, Charlotte or Orlando, your box of Pop-Tarts might arrive like it’s a military op. Drones now deliver within 30 minutes for orders up to 5 pounds. Those aren’t UFOs, Samantha. That’s your emotional support rotisserie chicken.
Lot cop unleashed: Walmart’s testing a security robot in its parking lots. It has wheels, cameras and apparently a dude behind the mic, whispering “Yo, what you say?” to shoppers. Is it surveillance? Art? Cyberpunk cosplay? Either way, the vibes are dystopian. Next up: R2-D2 with a gun.
Ingenious till it wasn’t: A guy in Idaho got caught using a homemade barcode ring to scam Walmart’s self-checkout. He ripped off the store a few times without getting caught, then made a total bonehead move: He tried to ring up a $300 grill for the price of a 70-cent can of tomato soup. I wonder how the tomato soup is in jail.
💰 The latest on the TikTok ban: Mr. Wonderful, Larry Ellison, Walmart, and a slew of other people and companies want to buy TikTok. Here’s a twist: President Trump just created a “sovereign wealth fund” good for anything from building airports and highways to writing a check for $100 billion to buy TikTok. Wealthy, smaller countries like Norway and Singapore have them, but this is new for the U.S.
📞 Targeting all 50 states: Scammers are impersonating mortgage companies, displaying the caller ID of your actual mortgage institution. Once you answer, they threaten foreclosure if you don’t pay up. Red flags: They ask for mail money orders to third-party attorneys or tell you to upload funds to a Walmart MoneyCard or Green Dot card account. Yeah, people are falling for that.
👜 Spoiler … It’s sold out: The internet’s going crazy over Walmart’s Hermès Birkin purse lookalike that’s only $78. The real thing runs up to $40,000 new or $300,000 for the rarest resales. Walmart’s version is real leather and looks similar for sure. It’s called the “Kamugo genuine leather handbags purse for women” on their website. I’d be shocked if they didn’t restock.
🚨 Check your fridge: Walmart’s Marketside-brand broccoli florets (the 12-ounce bags) are being recalled due to possible listeria contamination. If you’re in Alabama, Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas or Wisconsin, look for lot code BFFG327A6. Return it to get your money back, and wash anything the package came in contact with.
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