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More good news, bad news about food prices: According to the USDA, grocery store prices are predicted to increase only slightly this year—by about 2.8 percent. One caveat: Beef prices will continue to be high due to tight supply.

Our site of the week, GroceryShopForFree.com, can help you keep your food costs down. The site is the work of Dian Farmer, a Dallas mom of four who discovered couponing six years ago. Those coupon savings add up: Dian spends less than $200 per month on groceries for herself, her husband, and her one child who still lives at home.

On the site, Dian shares her saving strategies. She’s a big fan of bringing a notebook to the supermarket, recording the going price for items she buys frequently as well as sale prices.

Doing so can help predict when items will go on sale, when the price is going the lowest (some sales are better than others), and when to use coupons for sale items. Like many things in life, timing is everything! Keeping a price book is work in the beginning, but it’s worth it, she says.

GroceryShopForFree.com also features printable coupons, rebates, giveaways, and deals in grocery stores across the country. It’s a great site honing your couponing skills and gathering deal intel. So you don’t miss a thing, be sure to click on “How to Grocery Shop for Free!” at the top and print her free ebook.

Another hidden gem: links to the store coupon policies of national chains. Check out one of Walmart’s coupon policies, for example, which is one of my faves: “If coupon value exceeds the price of the item, the excess may be given to the customer as cash or applied toward the basket purchase.” In other words, if you play your coupons right, you can actually make money by shopping at Wal-Mart. “Lots of people do. It’s a great policy,” Dian says.

 

 

 

 

 

Over the years, we've talked about a lotofways you can avoid the tangled mess of poorly-wrapped earbud cables, and we're not about to stop now. This time, we've got a rather handsome DIY snapping leather clip.

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This video from the American Chemical Society explains the science behind several life hacks, such as using salt to fix bitter coffee, and introduces us to a new one: easily getting the rust off of cast iron with a little bit of Coke.

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Time and again we've been reminded that we, as a society, pretty much suck at choosing passwords. It doesn't help that companies allow weak passwords to be created and have poor policies. Dashlane reports on how the top 100 online sites fare when it comes to ensuring secure passwords.

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Showering is about three things: Hygiene, cultural acceptance, and personal preference. But this doesn't make any clearer how often it's necessary. I'm not a daily shower type. I like the relaxation of showering, but I hate the squeaky clean feeling of super dry/tight skin, heavily moisturized skin from moisturizing soap, and the super feathery clean shampoo hair sensation. But my husband takes a hot soapy shower every single day and thinks I'm weird. Am I? I decided to find out.

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You're standing at the gas pump. There are multiple fuel types available: a low-cost type that's marked with an 87 octane rating that also has 10% ethanol, a medium priced gas that's 87 but more expensive than the ethanol gas, and a premium fuel that has a 91 octane rating.Which is going to get you the most miles for your dollar?

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If you're buying cocoa powder, whether it's natural or Dutch-process, odds are you'd rather have the good stuff over some flavorless brown dust. Tastier cocoa powder will likely cost more, but price isn't the best indicator of quality; fat content is. Flip over the package and check the label.

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It’s no secret there are better times of the year than others to make big purchases like plane tickets or a new TV, but what about those weekly purchases, maybe one that runs your vehicle? Gas prices are a constant roller coaster of high and low prices, but a new study is taking the guess-work out of when to fill up.

According to this state-by-state roundup from GasBuddy.com, you’re most likely to find the cheapest gas on the weekend.

Friday, Saturday and Sunday had the lowest prices for 65% of states in the four-year study of gas trends. Additionally, very few states saw the mid-week, Tuesday or Wednesday, as the best days for lower fuel prices.

While the lowest fuel prices for most states fluctuated over the four years, Delaware, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland and South Dakota had the lowest prices on the same day for three out of the four years in the study.

Here’s a quick peek at the best day of the week to fuel up in states around the country:

• California – Late week, typically Thursday or Friday
• Delaware – Thursday
• Illinois – Weekend, typically Saturday or Sunday
• New York – Weekend, typically Friday or Saturday
• Pennsylvania – Weekend, typically Saturday or Sunday
• South Carolina – Late weekend
• Texas – Saturday or Sunday
• Virginia – Late weekend
• Washington D.C. – Late weekend, typically Saturday or Sunday

GasBuddy Study Finds Best Days for Motorists to Fill Up [GasBuddy.com]

We all know there’s a grand design in place at the supermarket, with every detail planned and planted specifically to solicit the ultimate reaction: “I’ve gotta buy this.” It’s no different in the microcosm of the produce section, says a 30-year-veteran of A&P supermarkets, and the amount of thought that goes into convincing shoppers we want — nay, need! — to buy something will change the way you look at fruits and veggies.

In case you don’t happen to read the Modern Farmer, they’ve got a farm confessional series bringing in workers in the agricultural field to shed some light on how things are done for the rest of us.

In this column Modern Farmer spoke with Ron Pelger, a former A&P supermarket worker who went from bag boy to regional produce director for the Northeast. He now works as a consultant, advising stores how to best arrange their produce. So he knows his stuff.

“A lot goes into this business if it’s done right, a lot of psychology,” he explains. We aren’t just throwing up stuff and hoping you’ll buy it.”

So what are they doing? Here are three lessons we learned:

1. There’s a logical reason the oranges are next to the broccoli: The produce money spot at the entrance of store — called the number one display spot — will have the star item, the top sale product from the front page of the flyer. If it’s potatoes, say, produce planners set up other items on either side of the sale item in the “wings.”

So when sale shoppers go to grab the potatoes, they think, “Hmm, maybe I need vine-ripened tomatoes, too,” even if they’re not on sale.

“Those customers make up the loss we’re taking on the potatoes,” Pelger says.

And times, they are a-changin’: While planners would only pair items that went together naturally in the past, the game is different now.

“Now you put navel oranges next to broccoli, get customers thinking of a wider range of things to buy,” he explained. “They didn’t plan to buy broccoli, but now it’s in their basket, so maybe they’ll get some butter to melt on it. And hey, what goes good with broccoli? Steak? Potatoes? That’s what you call a little ‘impulse impact’ shopping.

2. Don’t shop for produce based solely on appearances: Shopping for produce is like shopping for a used car — while many customers shop by appearance, looking for nicks, scratches, bruises and other faults as a reason not to buy, you could still go home with a lemon of an orange. Basically — just because that orange is a vibrant shade of orange, it might be tart upon eating.

The lesson to be learned? Just because there’s one bruise on a tomato doesn’t mean the rest of it won’t taste absolutely delightful.

3. There’s no such thing as in-season anymore: Anyone shopping for strawberries in winter might understand that the reason they’re so small in winter is because well, it’s just not the right time of year for the fruit. But we as consumers still want to eat strawberries whenever we want, and as such, stores have adjusted what “in-season” is. Basically, it doesn’t exist.

“You might get vegetables grown in Canada part of the year, then the same items from Mexico during the winter,” Pelger explains. “There can’t be any intervals when the product isn’t available.”

But don’t expect that unseasonal fruit to taste as good in the cold months — refrigeration is a downside to the 52-week availability of all things.

“You’ve got to keep everything cool so it lasts longer, but that affects the taste. Everyone knows this: an orange won’t taste good if it’s cold. A tomato won’t taste good if it’s cold.”

Farm Confessional: Secrets of a Supermarket Produce Buyer [Modern Farmer]

So it’s obviously too early to be gardening, with the sub-zero temperatures and all, but for those of you daydreaming about your fabulously lush spring gardens we’ve got some to tips and tricks to ensure nasty, slimy slugs and snails aren’t wreaking havoc on your bounty.

Slugs and snails tend to feed on the beautiful, soft leaves of most garden plants and the best way to counteract their destruction is to prevent it from the beginning, according to the Associated Press.

Removing any debris from your garden – straw, boards and leaves – will go a long way in deterring the small terrors. Debris provides the perfect hiding spot for slugs and snails, who generally stay covered in the daytime and come out to play at night.

Making your yard less snail and slug friendly is a great alternative to using chemicals. Here’s how to make sure your garden doesn’t have a vacancy sign up for the critters:

• water plants in the morning;
• distance plants that need more water from those that are drought-tolerant;
• weed to eliminate moist places for slugs to find cover;
• hand pluck the snails and slugs about two hours after sunset;
• use copper barriers to separate slugs and snails from plant beds. The metal is toxic to the slimy creatures.

The most effective means of managing snail populations once they’ve entered your garden is upkeep and trapping.

As for chemical and solutions, you might be thinking of using salt or beer, but officials with the Oregon State University Extension Service say the salt can ruin your soil overtime. Your best bet is to use iron phosphate products, which are less toxic.

Prevent a garden slugfest with baits, upkeep [Philly.com]

Before it recently issued a “pretty please” to drug companies, asking them to voluntarily stop making billions of dollars off of unnecessary antibiotics sales to farmers, the Food and Drug Administration spent decades appearing to avoiding the topic. But a new report claims that the FDA actually spent 10 years internally reviewing the safety of dozens of antibiotics used in animal feed, drugs that the FDA’s own scientists said pose a high risk to human beings.

According to the report [PDF] from the Natural Resources Defense Council, between 2001 and 2010, FDA scientists looked at 30 different penicillin and tetracycline antibiotic feed additives that had previously been approved for “nontherapeutic use,” meaning they were generally being used to encourage muscle growth in animals (or, less frequently, as a prophylactic against squalid living conditions).

Through a contentious Freedom of Information Act request and subsequent litigation, the NRDC says it has uncovered documents showing that FDA scientists found that none of the 30 drugs would likely be approved under current guidelines if submitted for approval today. Furthermore, 18 of the 30 antibiotics were deemed as posing a “high risk” of exposing humans to antibiotic-resistant bacteria if they made it into the food supply. There was insufficient data for FDA scientists to make such a conclusion about the remaining dozen drugs, so it’s possible that some or all may also be considered high risk.

Additionally, according to NRDC analysis of the FDA documents, 29 of the 30 drugs fail to satisfy the original FDA safety requirements from 1973.

And yet, it appears as if the FDA did nothing to stop the use of these antibiotics on animals, claims the NRDC, which found evidence suggesting that at least nine of these additives are still being marketed today, and that all of the drugs — aside from two that were voluntarily removed from the market by manufacturers — are still approved for use on farm animals.

“These findings are troubling for a number of reasons,” writes Carmen Cordova, NRDC microbiologist and the study’s lead author. “The report again draws attention to continued FDA inaction on antibiotics used in poultry and livestock production amidst mounting evidence of a threat to public health.”

Research from numerous scientists and doctors has found a link between non-medical use of antibiotics in animal feed and the increase in drug-resistant pathogens. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently stated that studies “establish a clear link between antibiotic use in animals and antibiotic resistance in humans.”

The December guidance from the FDA on antibiotics in animal feed asked drug companies to voluntarily stop selling antibiotics for non-medical purposes, however it allows that those same drugs could still be sold for vague medical purposes.

Not surprisingly, the meat and drug industries love these new suggestions. Even though it’s estimated that half of antibiotic sales in the U.S. are made to farmers for non-medical uses, one of the largest big pharma firms, Eli Lilly said it didn’t expect that the FDA guidance would have any significant impact on its sales.

That’s because the drugs can still be sold under the category of “preventative” use, even though that has the same negative long-term effect of putting these antibiotics into the food chain.

“Preventive use is use on animals that are not sick, to prevent diseases often associated with crowded and dirty conditions on many industrial farms,” Avinash Kar of the NRDC told Consumerist at the time. “That’s a big category of use.”

Before you do any kind of clicking away on the video below, please be aware that the content we’re about to laugh over is totally NSFW by way of some heavy breathing, sexytime noises, bad language and because while there’s no nudity, it looks like the setup for a real porno instead of just a comedy video. So really, NSFW, watch it with headphones on and maybe where no one can see your screen.

Now for the fun stuff: Over at CollegeHumor.com they’ve done a hilarious job of setting up a pornesque short, complete with brawny guy and scantily clothed pretty blonde with a come-hither look in her heavily mascara-ed eyes.

But the while the lines are just as cheesy and awful as any you’ve ever heard in a porn, the script’s comedic brilliance lies in how closely it mirrors what an actual Time Warner Cable technician might say.

Here’s a little taste to get you started (you have to watch the rest because we don’t want to spoil it for you):

Time Warner Cable guy to Scantily Clad Blonde Customer: I’m here to service you.
Scantily Clad Blonde Customer: You’re a little late…
TWCG: I said I’d come anytime between 8 and 5, which means I’ve still got five minutes.
SCBC: Good, because I need this bundle [cut to shot of crotch, obvs].
TWCG: You’re going to have to take all of it, even the parts you don’t care about.
SCBC: Sounds like a huge package.
TWCG: It barely works.

And it gets even better.

Watch the rest below and beware, beware, the pec-flexing hold music and NSFW language.

Shorts / If The Cable Guy In Porn Was From Time Warner [CollegeHumor.com]

(H/T Gizmodo)

The revelations about just how embedded into every facet of modern, technological life the NSA is just keep coming. The spy agency isn’t just collecting calling records and tracking electronics; they’re in your iPhone games, too.

A joint report by the New York Times and ProPublica in the US and the Guardian in the UK reveals that the NSA and its British counterpart have been quietly collecting massive amounts of data on mobile users from apps like Angry Birds.

It’s not the first time the NSA has used video games as a way to dig up data, but this works slightly differently than eavesdropping on Xbox Live conversations. The agency is assembling enormous volumes of data from the apps people run on their smartphones.

A privacy-savvy mobile user is likely to be cautious choosing, installing, and running apps that might collect certain data, but that may not actually help. The data in question comes from something like a secondary layer of use.

When you install an app on your mobile phone, you give that program a certain set of permissions. Maybe it’s allowed to access your contacts, or to prevent your phone from entering sleep mode, or to use your phone’s GPS to determine your location and present custom content based on that. You can see that list before you install or run an app (depending on your phone type), and choose to back out rather than to proceed.

Some of the data the NSA and its counterpart organization in the UK have gathered comes from “leaky” apps that users have authorized in that manner. But much of the information is one more step removed. Advertising companies create user profiles based on data they scrape from users’ apps, and those profiles are subject to retrieval by the spy agencies.

ProPublica notes that the available data varies by which ad company is collecting it. Burstly and Google, two of the biggest ad companies, have profiles that “contain a string of characters that identifies the phone, along with basic data on the user like age, sex and location.” Profiles can also contain other data, including current phone use–that is, if the user is making a call or playing music–and the user’s annual household income.

And that’s not all of it. Depending what apps you use, and what advertising company has arrangements to work with the developer, plenty more personal information can be out there:

Another ad company creates far more intrusive profiles that the agencies can retrieve, the report said. The names of the apps that generate those profiles were not given, but the company was identified as Millennial Media, which has its headquarters in Baltimore.

In securities filings, Millennial documented how it began working with Rovio in 2011 to embed ad services in Angry Birds apps running on iPhones, Android phones and other devices.

According to the report, the profiles created by Millennial contain much of the same information as others, but several categories that are listed as “optional,” including ethnicity, marital status and sexual orientation, suggest that much wider sweeps of personal data may take place.

Nobody’s quite sure how Millennial finds or creates its data–whether the users voluntarily share their information, or whether the categories are created by inference and extrapolation. Nor do any of the documents the NYT and ProPublica accessed indicate why such information would be valuable to national security interests.

Between data pulled from smartphones and data pulled from traditional computer-based web use, the NSA is all but drowning in an enormous volume of information about ordinary folks’ information-seeking habits.

Is any of the massive-scale spying and information-gathering useful? The answer is a resounding, “Kind of, maybe, sort of.” ProPublica reports that the NSA claims that several successful investigations–an Al Qaeda bomb plot in 2007, a drug cartel hit squad in 2010–have been made by mining smartphone data. But those investigations began “with something closer to a traditional investigative tip or lead.”

In other words, the data captured from smartphone use can indeed be massively useful to law enforcement or anti-terrorist authorities if used as part of an existing investigation. But nobody inside the NSA quite seems to know what to do with the mountain of private citizens’ data they now hold.

Spy Agencies Probe Angry Birds and Other Apps for Personal Data [ProPublica]

It’s dangerous out there on the highways and byways of America for a police officer issuing a traffic ticket. Handing out those tickets means leaving the relative safety of the car and walking over to talk to drivers, a risk one Oklahoma lawmaker thinks could be avoided with electronic citations.

And no, the drivers wouldn’t suddenly get a beep on their phones with a notification that they’ve been driving over the speed limit. According to the state senator’s proposal, those citations for traffic, misdemeanor and municipal ordinance violations would be sent directly to the district court clerk, reports the Insurance Journal.

It’s unclear but it seems then that drivers would receive a ticket in the mail alerting them after the fact to their violation.

“Allowing officers to issue electronic citations will help better protect them. If they don’t have to approach vehicles during traffic stops to give people tickets but can simply email traffic violation citations directly to the district court clerk then they’re less likely to get into a dangerous altercation,” said former police officer, Sen. Al McAffrey.

And of course there’s a fee for the convenience of not being pulled over — $5 would be added to the amount paid by defendants convicted of speeding, certain misdemeanor traffic violations, or driving under the influence misdemeanor or felony.

As for how officers would decide someone is under the influence without approaching the car to do sobriety tests, that’s unclear. And what if someone who’s speeding would slow down if they knew they’d just gotten a ticket, but instead kept speeding? Or maybe a routine traffic stop would’ve unearthed something far more villainous than just a simple ticket but there’s no cop to sniff out say, a hostage tied up in the trunk.

So many questions, but McAffrey thinks this will work and improve officer safety.

“Routine traffic stops are one of the most dangerous times for officers to become injured because they don’t know what kind of situation or individual they’re approaching. They’re walking up blind,” he explained. “We need to provide better protection for them by not putting them in harm’s way unnecessarily. By allowing them to submit electronic citations, they’d no longer have to leave the safety of their car.”

One thing’s for sure — the show Cops would be a lot more boring it if was filmed in a state with emailed traffic tickets.

Oklahoma Bill Would Allow Electronic Citations for Traffic Violations [Insurance Journal]

Tickets to the Super Bowl might cost you a pretty penny, or 270,000 of them, but you can certainly find a good deal on a hotel room. The game billed as so big it needs two cities might have bitten off more than it can chew – or sell.

With the big game fast approaching, local hotels are looking to make sure they’re full this weekend by dropping rates, The Star-Ledger reports.

When excitement for the Super Bowl was building this summer (and the temperature was above freezing), hotels were advertising rooms for as much as $1,300 a night with a three-night minimum. Today, the same room is listed at $400, bringing a total three-night stay to $1,380.

And don’t think the good deals are relegated to hotels an hour away from the stadium. The Hilton Meadowlands, less than a mile from the stadium, has rooms listed for $386 a night for a three-night stay.

Officials with Grand Hotel in Summit, New Jersey say the game isn’t proving to be the goldmine most in the hospitality industry thought it would be.

Hotels near Met Life Stadium are currently reporting a 45% vacancy rate for this weekend. Last year, New Orleans reported only a 4% hotel vacancy during Super Bowl weekend.

There are two reasons for the lower rates and high vacancy at area hotels – below freezing temperatures predicted for the game and a rather saturated hotel market.

New York’s metro area has about 115,000 rooms – triple the inventory seen in the last 10 Super Bowl host cities, the Star-Ledger reports. More options mean consumers are shopping around for the best deals and that leave less room for hotels to increase their rates.

So it you’re looking for a good deal and always wanted to go to the Super Bowl, this might just be your year. Or you could fork over the amount you’d spend on tickets and lodging to just buy a new TV for the big game.

Super Bowl hotels: Rooms open, rates drop ahead of big game [The Star-Ledger]

There’s a story I used to tell my college roommate’s little sisters that would make them squeal with joy every single time: There was once a fire in my house (not the laughter part) and upon seeing the flames, my dad ripped the Nintendo console out of the wall in my brothers’ bedroom, dashed downstairs and got everyone — and the Nintendo — safely out of the house. That’s how we explained having the console later but not the necessary cords to connect it.

Ridiculous! Who saves a Nintendo in a fire? Hilarious.

Well, kids, my father has since refuted the story and claims that he did not, indeed, save the video game system over the fish (Larry, Curly and Moe). Which still doesn’t explain how it ended up safe and unmelted, but okay, Dad.

But one Kansas man did do just that, a report from ABC15.com reports. He awoke early one morning to find his home in flames and at first, did just what you should — he ran out of the house.

He then reportedly ran back into the flames to gather his Xbox into his arms and ferry it to safety.

As a result of his rescue actions, fire officials say he suffered smoke inhalation but was generally okay after being checked over by paramedics.

The fire was likely caused by an electrical junction box, and ended up causing $80,000 in damages. But it could’ve been $80,000 + one Xbox, so, there you go.

Just a reminder — don’t run back into the house to save a video game console. Just don’t.

Man runs into fire to save Xbox game system [ABC15.com]
(H/T to Daily Dot)

Admit it, the first thing you might think upon seeing Google Glass is, “But those frames, ugh!” Then there’s the constant comparison to Geordi LaForge — your average person may not be going for that look. To appease the style seekers out there as well as those who actually need real glasses to see, Google has unveiled new frames that can fit prescription lenses.

Because being able to actually see while you’re wearing glasses is a nice thing, Google decided it was time to provide styles that can fit prescription lenses. Of course, you could also just use the frames with non-prescription lenses if you want to just use the glasses as Google Glass glasses. Say that three times fast.

Google announced the recent additions on its blog, reminding those who have vision insurance that their policies might even cover the new frames. This is in line with talks Google reportedly had with VSP Global – the company that provides Google’s own vision insurance — about taking Glass to a wider network of eye doctors and all the people enrolled in VSP as well.

The Titanium Collection includes four new styles and then there are three new styles of twist-on shades for Google Glassing in the bright sunlight.

Let’s be clear here, though — I never want Geordi LaForge to change his style or eyewear. Never.

Ride-sharing services like Uber and Lyft have been in the news lately, mostly because of the controversial pricing structure and clashes with the taxi industry that these companies are trying so hard to disrupt. If all of this coverage has made you think, “Hey, I want to drive strangers around for some extra cash,” that’s possible with Lyft or the lower-end UberX service. There may be a danger that you hadn’t anticipated, though.

Let’s say that–heaven forbid–you get in a car crash while driving with a paying customer. Consumer Reports’ Car Insurance Guy points out that while Lyft drivers get excess liability insurance, that insurance does not cover injuries to you (the driver) or damage to your vehicle. Paying passengers, pedestrians, other cars? Sure.

“Well, that’s what I have car insurance for!” you might point out. Yes, you have personal car insurance. Not commercial car insurance. Most insurance policies have something that’s called a “livery exception.” That means “no hauling strangers around for pay.” You can drive your friend to the bait and tackle store when she gives you gas money, but you can’t prowl around the city with your smartphone out looking for people to drive around.

If you want to drive for one of these services, you have a few choices. You could not tell your insurer, then hope that nothing goes wrong. In the case of a crash, you could instruct your passengers to pretend to be your friends, which is fraudulent and could backfire. Your other choice is to tell your insurer that you’re doing some part-time taxi driving, and pay for a more expensive commercial policy. Would that be worth it? You would have to check with your insurance company.

Don’t risk your car insurance by operating your vehicle as a part-time taxi [Consumer Reports]

Put your paws together for Depot the Home Depot cat, everyone: Despite the recent news that management was giving her the boot from the South Carolina store where she’d live for 13 years, the store now says she can stay as long as she wants if no one comes forward to adopt her.

If Depot wants to stay, she can, a spokeswoman for Home Depot tells The State (a South Carolina newspaper, not to be confused with the ’90s TV show canceled before its time).

“Unless someone can provide her a better home, she can stay,” the spokeswoman said, effectively daring would-be adopters to provide a better home than an entire warehouse full of corners to explore that only a cat can reach.

One man who vacations in the area said he started the online petition to keep Depot in her home because he wants her to stay where she is.

“I’ve always liked having the cat in the store when I visit,” he explained. “It was always friendly. The gist of it is, would you want to be yanked out of your home where you’ve lived your whole life?”

He says he’s surprised at how much attention Depot’s plight received — basically just chalk it all up to cat + Internet = big news.

“It really took on a life of its own,” he said. “I’ve had people contact me from around the globe. A doctor in Germany offered to adopt the cat at his own expense.”

“I guess it speaks to the power of the Internet,” he added.

In theory, Depot can now stay indefinitely but ultimately Home Depot’s rep says as the cat ages, the company would like to find a “healthier, safer environment” for her elderly years.

Depot the cat can stay at SC store, Home Depot says [The State]

In Fairfax, new schools on the way Washington Post The Fairfax County School Board approved a $866 million construction program Thursday night that includes plans to build elementary schools and renovate aging facilities. The Capital Improvement Program, approved 9 to 2, with one member abstaining, ... School Board OKs Capital Spending Plan, Looks for Ways to Fast-Track Langley ...Patch.com all 6 news articles »

- A hunter-gatherer who lived in Europe some 7,000 years ago probably had blue eyes and dark skin, a combination that has largely disappeared from the continent in the millennia since, scientists said Tuesday.

- Across the South, residents stocked up on fuel and groceries, schools and offices closed, and road crews were at the ready as a storm moved in Tuesday from the central U.S., threatening to bring snow, ice and subzero temperatures to a region more accustomed to air conditioners and sunscreen than parkas and shovels.

- Unable to carry his beloved banjo, Pete Seeger used a different but equally formidable instrument, his mere presence, to instruct yet another generation of young people how to effect change through song and determination two years ago.

- With lethal-injection drugs in short supply and new questions looming about their effectiveness, lawmakers in some death penalty states are considering bringing back relics of a more gruesome past: firing squads, electrocutions and gas chambers.

- Some areas in Hampton Roads could see up to a foot of a snow by Wednesday afternoon.

- An author of erotic fiction is at the top of a list of people in Maryland who owe back taxes.

Naked & Famous to release new mint-scented jeans.

The vast warehouse landscape that is Costco knows how suck you in and how to maximize the amount of goods you purchase on each visit. It’s what makes Costco so successful — a tried and true design focused on simplicity.

A carefully orchestrated layout, simplified offers and the perfect amount of temptation combine to make Costco one of the most successful retailers in the United States.

The designer of most of Costco’s 648 stores, Stan Laegreid laid out just why Costco is so successful in an article with Fast Company.

Laegreid likens Costco’s layout to a racetrack with a carefully choreographed dance that will lead customers past all of the warehouse’s more than 3,000 products.

The store employs low-profile shelves to allow consumers to see the expansive offerings across the store, making the three-acre warehouse seem less overwhelming. The outside of the store is rimmed with floor-to-ceiling shelves of goods, while the inside showcases home, seasonal, and lifestyle products. Fresh offerings can always be found at the far end.

Triggers, such as light bulbs and detergent, can be found throughout the store, sending shoppers on a treasure hunt, Laegreid says. While searching for toilet paper, consumers will see more of the store’s offerings, in turn creating more chances for impulse purchasing.

Another unique offering at Costco is the rotation of goods. Many of the products are only offered for a limited time, creating a sense of urgency in making the purchase.

Costco also excels at making consumers feel less anxiety on their shopping trip by offering only a few options. Instead of seven kinds of ketchup, Costco simply offers one. Less stress and anxiety parlays into value for customers, Laegreid says.

Moving beyond take-home items, Costco’s food court continues to offer a hot dog for $1.50. Laegreid notes the low price and simple choice again shows the company’s effort to provide value to the customer.

While the company has had its fair share of controversy (a recent gender-discrimination lawsuit), Costco is still getting accolades. This year, Costco was listed at 22 in the Fortune 500 and has become the fourth largest retailer in the country.

The Choreography of Design, Treasure Hunts, And Hot Dogs That Have Make Costco So Successful [Fast Company]