jik5 Costco Kirkland Signature Products May Be Just As Good As Name Brandsde

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(photographybynatalia)

Costco members know they can often get a decent price on name-brand kitchen staples by shopping in bulk at the warehouse store. But if you’ve been ignoring the company’s store-brand Kirkland Signature line of products, you might be passing up on a chance to save even more without sacrificing quality.

Our colleagues at Consumer Reports have put together this longer list of ways to get the most out of a Costco membership, but we’ve pulled out the items that relate to Kirkland Signature products that can trim your shopping expenses without making you wish you’d spent more:

1. Laundry Detergent

Consumer Reports’ testing on Kirkland Signature Free & Clear liquid detergent found that it was tough on grass, blood, and ring-around-the-collar. It was as effective as the top-rated Tide Plus Ultra Stain Release, but at $.11/load, it’s less than half the cost of the Tide ($.25/load).

If detergent pods are more your thing, the Kirkland Signature Ultra Clean Pacs ($.15/load) also proved effective as vanquishing these stains.

2. Bacon

Store-brand bacon is rarely worth the savings, but Consumer Reports says that the Kirkland Signature Regular Sliced Bacon has a good crispiness and balance of fat and meat flavors. The price varies by location, but you can save around $1.50/lb over famous name brands.

3. Mayonnaise

This one may be sacrilege to devotees of Hellmann’s, but CR’s blind taste tests found that Kirkland Signature Real Mayonnaise is just as good as the more popular mayo brand. At only 60% of the cost of Hellmann’s, it might be worth trying that taste test out for yourself.

4. Batteries

Sure, you can save big on name-brand batteries when you buy in bulk at Costco, but the bulk pack of Kirkland Signature AA Alkaline batteries, which were rated excellent overall by CR, brings the per-batter price down to around $.27.

5. Organic Chicken Stock

When you hear “organic,” your instinct might be to also see dollar signs. But Consumer Reports says the Kirkland Signature organic chicken stock “served up impressive flavors, and at $12 for a case of six 32-ounce containers, it was about half the price of other top-scoring products from Knorr and Swanson.”

Check out the Consumer Reports story for more info on how to save at Costco.

by Chris Morran via Consumerist

jikFamily Suing Publix Claims Boy Allergic To Nuts Died After Eating Cookie Worker Said Was Safede

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(nvaine)

The family of an 11-year-old boy allergic to nuts who died in June 2014 is suing Publix, claiming that his death was caused by a severe allergic reaction after eating a cookie a grocery store worker allegedly deemed safe.

According to the lawsuit reported by the Associated Press (warning: link includes video that autoplays), the Alabama boy was visiting family in Tennessee when he passed away soon after eating a chocolate chip cookie bought at a Publix store.

The lawsuit filed in federal court claims that the store bakery didn’t post warnings about ingredients or the potential for cross-contamination between products, and claimed that the mother only purchased the cookie after a worker told her it was safe.

The 11-year-old almost immediately started showing symptoms when he bit into the cookie at his aunt’s house, the lawsuit says. His mom gave him Benadryl and injected him in the thigh before an ambulance arrived, but his condition quickly worsened, a lawyer for the family said.

“It was horrible,” the family’s attorney said. “The child went into anaphylactic shock at his aunt’s house in front of his aunt and his mother and his cousins.”

The boy later died at a hospital.

His grandfather and mother filed the suit along with the boy’s aunt, who lives in Tennessee, with family members saying they hope the lawsuit brings attention to children with food allergies.

A Publix spokeswoman says that the company does post allergen information in its bakeries, but didn’t elaborate further on the case.

“Our thoughts are with the family over the loss of their child,” the spokeswoman said in a statement to the AP. “It would be inappropriate for us to comment on the pending litigation.”

Lawsuit: Boy, 11, died of allergic reaction to Publix cookie [Associated Press]

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

jikUnion-Backed Campaign Asks Verizon “Where’s My FiOS?”de

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From the CWA’s “Where’s My FiOS?” flyer.

For years, it’s been obvious that Verizon lacked interest in expanding its FiOS fiberoptic pay-TV and Internet service beyond its existing footprint, even though the company had not fulfilled its promises in areas like New Jersey and New York City to make high-speed broadband available to everyone. And in January, Verizon officially extinguished any hope that FiOS would be bringing competition to new markets anytime soon. But a new campaign organized by the Communications Workers of America is asking consumers to demand that Verizon deliver the service it so proudly touts on TV.

The “Where’s My FiOS?” campaign points out that Verizon promised in 2008 that it would bring FiOS to all of New York City, where Time Warner Cable is by far the dominant player, by 2014. However, many parts of the city still lack access to a second option for broadband and Verizon doesn’t seem to be in any hurry to deliver.

The story is no different across the Hudson River in New Jersey, where Verizon had promised — in 1993! — to bring high-speed Internet service to 100% of the state by 2010. That obviously hasn’t happened and the company recently resorted to an astroturfing campaign trying to make it look like NJ residents were just fine with their lack of options.

Of course, the CWA would directly benefit from continued FiOS expansion as it would mean more work for the union’s members. Regardless of the the CWA’s underlying motive in nudging Verizon, any pressure on the company to make good on its promises and bring choices to consumers — especially those stuck with bottom-of-the-barrel Time Warner Cable service — is welcome.

Verizon maintains that it has lived up to all its obligations and projections, saying that the company has exceeded its goal of making itself available to 18 million homes nationwide. However, the fact that the company is increasingly shifting its time and capital investments away from its wireline business and toward Verizon Wireless implies that you shouldn’t expect FiOS in your area if it’s not already there.

[via DSLreports.com]

by Chris Morran via Consumerist

jikRadioShack’s Future Comes Down To Saving Jobs Or Raising Cash For Lendersde

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(Phillip Pessar)

What is the purpose of auctioning off the assets of a company that has declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy? Is it to keep some form of the company in business to keep workers employed, or is it to raise as much money as possible for creditors in order to make a dent in their losses? That’s the question in RadioShack’s bankruptcy auction. Bids are supposed to be finalized today, and there are two competing high bids: one that will keep a large number of stores open, and one that will raise cash for lenders.

Standard General has been the presumed winner until now, and their joint venture with Sprint would keep about 1,700 stores open as some form of RadioShack, which would be co-branded as Sprint stores to instantly expand Sprint’s retail footprint. Standard General argues that this move would preserve 9,000 retail jobs. The problem with this bid is that most of what Standard General is bidding with is RadioShack’s own debt to the company, and they’re only offering $16.4 million in cash. That’s great for Standard General, but less great for other lenders that RadioShack owes money.

Like Salus Capital, a lender that has has teamed up with three of our favorite retail liquidators: Hilco, Gordon Brothers, and Tiger Capital. Together, these companies have put together a higher cash bid so that more of the lenders can share at least something. The presence of so many well-known liquidators makes it clear what this group’s plans are for what’s left of the company, though.

It doesn’t matter how much money a resurrected RadioShack makes, since the new and smaller venture will be a separate entity free of the debt that led the current RadioShack to file for bankruptcy. That’s how Chapter 11 bankruptcy works, and why you needed to use your old RadioShack gift cards before March 5.

RadioShack Buyer Sees Rescued Jobs, Creditor Fears Losses [Bloomberg]

by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

jikUSPS Driver Shows Off Athleticism By Throwing Package, Running Lap Around Delivery Vande

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(YouTube)

Wait a minute — are the Delivery Driver Games coming up and no one warned us? Why else would a United States Postal Service worker appear to be fine-tuning her athletic prowess by chucking a delicate package onto a porch before a quick lap around her delivery van?

Oh, wait. Those games don’t exist and so the worker throwing a package at an Oklahoma City house is probably just another careless delivery person with the bad luck to be caught on tape. At least she didn’t pee on the house, I guess.

In a YouTube video posted by the homeowner, CCTV security cameras capture the woman hurling the package — which contained a camera and Blu-Ray movies from Amazon, reports KOCO 5 News.

“I’ve never seen this person before, but usually we get pretty good service,” the resident says. “Seeing someone just toss it like that really gets on my nerves.”

The USPS tells the station it’s identified the woman in the footage and is taking steps to make sure the incident doesn’t happen again, though it didn’t add whether or not the woman had been fired.

“We take great pride in delivering the mail to the American public, that’s what we do, we do it every day,” a rep told KOCO.

Postal officials apologized to the package’s recipient, and Amazon is offering him 20% off as a result of the incident.

USPS worker tosses package, circles delivery van [KOCO 5]

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

jikAmazon Expands One-Hour Prime Now Deliveries To Dallasde

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(Alan Rappa)

The list of cities in which consumers can get one-hour delivery service on a plethora of products like paper towels, shampoo, books, toys and other essential everyday times from Amazon now includes Dallas. The company’s Prime Now, which already services Miami, Baltimore and New York City, is available to customers enrolled in Amazon Prime, which costs $99 a year and comes with free two-day shipping on thousands of items. [Amazon]

by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist

jikColorado Lawmakers: Marijuana Edibles Must Look Different Than Regular Foods Even Without Packagingde

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(Heather Leah Kennedy)

After taking on the form of brownies, cookies, candy and other normal foods for years, edible marijuana goods must now figure out their own identity in Colorado. A proposed bill to loosen the requirements that say edible pot products must look distinctly different from normal food was rejected by a Colorado panel of lawmakers.

This means that not only do foods and beverages infused with marijuana have to come in packaging that explicitly states what’s going on inside, THC-wise, but the actual products themselves must be clearly different than non-marijuana-filled foods.

The 0-5 vote by the panel in rejecting a bill from Sen. Owen Hill is a big defeat for proponents of edibles in the industry, with Sen. Hill calling it an example of “micromanagement” because it’s not easy to do for all different kinds of foods, reports the Associated Press.

As it stands now, unless lawmakers change their minds and write a new rule, edibles will have to be “shaped, stamped, colored or otherwise marked, when practicable, with a standard symbol indicating that it contains marijuana and is not for consumption by children.”

Those behind the bill to loosen that restriction are unsure of how this can be carried off — after all, you can shape a pot cookie like a marijuana leaf, sure, but what about tomato sauce, for example?

“How we distinguish liquids versus granolas versus candies versus cookies versus brownies?” asked Sen. Hill.

Critics of the bill included parents, health advocates and even teenagers who told lawmakers about classmates passing around pot candies with parents none the wiser.

It would also serve medical professionals in helping them find out what’s wrong with a person in the emergency room, to help identify what they ate if it’s suspected they accidentally ingested pot.

“The ability to rapidly identify a suspected agent … with or without the packaging, we believe is critical,” said a doctor representing Children’s Hospital Colorado.

But those in favor of loosening the rules say the packaging can be changed to create a clear difference, and that that should be enough.

“As an industry, there’s no real way to clearly mark every item that’s out there,” said the president of Incredibles, a company that makes marijuana-infused candies. “That is impracticable.”

Lawmakers: Edible pot must look different than regular food [Associated Press]

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist