uSurprise! This $200 Off Kroger Coupon Is Actually A Scamr

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• This coupon promises to get you $200 off your next $20 shopping visit to the supermarket chain Kroger. Well, except for how the coupon doesn’t actually work at Kroger. Or exist. The promise of unrealistically amazing coupons is used to get people to click on a link that could harm your computer.

  While it might seem obvious to you that a $200 off coupon for a $220 purchase is not a real thing, people who aren’t so scam-savvy or coupon-savvy are falling for it and clicking through.

  It’s a good idea to avoid coupons that don’t originate with a product manufacturer or a retailer: if a friend passes you a coupon using e-mail or you see the promise of an unbelievably good coupon on Facebook, don’t believe it. Swapping coupons with trusted friends is fine, but buying coupons on eBay, for example, can land you in a world of trouble.

  If you want to help rid the world of scammy coupons, the Coupon Information Corporation, an industry-funded group, wants your help. They’re currently holding a survey and collecting information on where people swap coupons on Facebook.

  Here’s the statement that Kroger published about this specific coupon earlier today:

  Attention Kroger Customers: There is currently an unauthorized “Save $200 when you spend $220 or more in one transaction” offer circulating. This giveaway is not affiliated with or supported by the Kroger Co. in any way. We recommend not engaging with the site(s) that offer links to the coupon, or providing them with any personal information. Our team is actively working with Facebook and domain service providers to address the concern.

  There is currently an unauthorized “Save $200 when you spend $220 or more in one transaction” offer circulating. [Kroger]
  Coupon Information Corporation
  Kroger warns of fake $200 coupon [WVEC]

  SEE ALSO:
  Publix Coupon Promising $100 Worth Of Free Stuff Is (Gasp!) A Scam

  
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by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

uHulu Doesn’t Want You To Binge-Watch Its New Exclusive Showsr

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• 

  When The Mindy Project makes its Hulu debut, it will be released weekly, rather than all episodes at once.

  If you’re still a bit bleary-eyed because you stayed up late watching all of the Wet Hot American Summer prequel show on Netflix last night, you’re apparently not the target consumer for Hulu, which has announced that its original program will be meted out in weekly portions.

  Hulu has been increasingly getting into original programming. It recently picked up The Mindy Project after it got dumped by Fox, and it’s currently rolling out a new slate of shows, like Difficult People, and The Hotwives of Las Vegas, but will only be doing it one episode per week.

  “With all of our new originals, we will release episodes weekly,” explained Hulu’s Head of Content Craig Erwich on Sunday. “We want to give viewers the opportunity to discover their favorite shows every week.”

  Erwich explains that it’s all in the cause of creating “watercooler” shows that build an audience through word of mouth and anticipation. There’s also a benefit, he argues, for TV critics and writers, who have been trying to sort out how to review and write about shows that are released a full season at a time.

  A weekly release schedule gives them the “time to discover and hopefully celebrate these shows as well,” said Erwich, who pointed out that there’s nothing stopping people from binge-watching a show once it’s all been put online.

  Amazon tried to go with the once-weekly episode launch when it launched original content on Amazon Prime, but that model has quickly falling by the wayside in favor of putting it all out there at once.

  Netflix original programming has always been binge-watchable, though it did recently make an exception for Between, a co-production with a Canadian broadcaster. In that case, episodes went online weekly.

  Hulu Original Series to Be Released Weekly, Content Boss Says [TheWrap]

  
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by Chris Morran via Consumerist

uMcDonald’s Evacuated Because Live Hand Grenades Do Not Belong In Parking Lotsr

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  (Mike Mozart)
  

  It’s not every day that grenades are found lying around, and when we do hear about them, it’s usually a case of an inactive bomb that’s discovered during an airport security screening process. In a recent incident in Maryland, however, officials say that not only was a grenade found — by mere chance — under the pavement of a McDonald’s parking lot, but it was live.

  The active, military-grade explosive was uncovered by a landscaping crew working in a McDonald’s parking lot over the weekend on a set of shrub’s near the restaurant’s entrance, reports the Frederick News-Post. The grenade was found lodged about a foot under the pavement, and appeared to have been there for a long time. Officials think it could be a relic of a military base nearby from several decades ago.

  A bomb technician with the Office of the State Fire Marshal confirmed through an X-Ray scan that the grenade was still active. It was removed safely, with no injuries, in about two hours. It could’ve been a different story, however: the technician said the grenade had gone off, anyone nearby could’ve been severely injured or killed. A close call for the landscaping crew, to be sure.

  “If the guy operating the shovel machine had hit it, he would have been killed, no question,” the technician said.

  The McDonald’s was evacuated, roads were closed and officials set a 50-foot perimeter in case of an explosion, with a further 600-foot barricaded buffer zone to keep folks far enough away to avoid any shrapnel. Customers at store and restaurants in the vicinity were also asked to stay inside while the bomb was cleared.

  The technician says the grenade has been secured. It’ll now go to the state fire marshal’s office, and then handed over to the military for disposal.

  Just to make sure everything is safe, officials said crews would check the area with metal detectors later this week to make sure the grenade hadn’t gone to McDonald’s with any bomb friends.

  Live hand grenade found, safely removed from Thurmont McDonald’s parking lot [Frederick News-Post]

  
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by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

uDollar Tree Shrink Rays One Scoop Out Of Nacho Cheese Dipr

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• Dollar stores have a unique challenge: their price point is right there in their name. While chains like Family Dollar and Dollar General have instead turned into what could most accurately be called dollar-ish discount stores. Dollar Tree still holds itself to the $1 price point, though, and that apparently means shrink raying its private-label food items to keep prices consistent.

  

  Derek noticed the change while buying some nacho cheese dip at Dollar Tree, and took this picture. He assumed that the product he always bought had changed shape, but that doesn’t seem to be it. Notice how the can is labeled “sauce,” and the wider container is labeled “dip.” They’re different products, or at least the same product poured into two different packages.

  That doesn’t mean that the product hasn’t changed size, though. We checked Dollar Tree’s website, and found that not only can you order stuff (including nacho cheese) online, but the original size for the product that Derek was buying was 9 ounces.

  

  Were they giving the product a consistent size for distribution in Canada? Maybe. Making it 250 grams even is an acceptable excuse, but also means he’s paying the same amount for a package that will let him dip one chip fewer in cheese.

  MORE GROCERY SHRINK RAY:
  SpaghettiOs Celebrates 50th Birthday By Shrinking Cans To 14 Ounces
  Snyder’s Of Hanover Shrinks Tortilla Chip Bags By 3.5 Ounces To Fit In
  Cottonelle Shrink Rays Toilet Paper Squares
  Weight Watchers Ice Cream Bars Set Good Example, Lose Weight

  
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by Laura Northrup via Consumerist

uNFL Sunday Ticket Now Available To College Students At A Discountr

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• College students often live far from where they grew up, meaning they can’t usually watch their hometown NFL team play on Sunday afternoons. DirecTV and its new parent AT&T are hoping to reach these young football fans by offering a discounted rate for online access to NFL Sunday Ticket.

  The awkwardly branded “NFLSundayTicket.TV U” is being made available to students actively enrolled at 4-year colleges in the U.S. for the starting price of $100 (paid in four monthly installments of $25), half the price of the online package offered to non-students.

  In order to get that discount, students need to go to nflst.directv.com, click the Check Eligibility button — and then click on the “NFLSUNDAYTICKET.TV for students” link.

  This will bring up a form where you enter your school, name, and birthdate. (HINT: If your school starts with “University of…” it’s best to start with the least common word in the school’s name).

  For fun, we tried to see if we could fool the form into deeming our fictional student eligible for the discount, but we were immediately rejected with a note reading, “We couldn’t find your student record,” and a link to upload documents if we wanted to prove their info was incorrect.

  Be careful that DirecTV and AT&T are marketing this plan as “$24.99/month” and the non-student streaming plan as “$49.99/month.” These are not monthly subscriptions that you can cancel once your team starts out the season 0-4. Subscribers are locked into these packages for the full amount once the season starts.

  “Subscription cannot be downgraded or cancelled (in part or in whole) after the day immediately preceding the first Sunday of the 2015 NFL regular season (Saturday, September 12, 2015) and subscription fees cannot be refunded,” reads the incredibly fine gray-on-black print on this deal:

  

  
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by Chris Morran via Consumerist

uGas Prices Get Low, Stay Low: You Could Be Paying Under $2 Per Gallon Soonr

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  (Mike Mozart)
  

  If you’re planning an end-of-the-summer road trip, you’re in luck: Gas prices across the country are pretty low right now, dropping about 6% in the last month to just $2.59 a gallon on average. But if you’re planning to hit the highways and byways this fall, your luck is about to get even better at the pump, as experts say gas prices could fall below $2 a gallon next month.

  Though both oil and gas prices are down right now, gas will get even cheaper after Sept. 15, when stations are no longer required to sell the more expensive summer blend of gasoline that meets environmental standards. Once that less-expensive gas hits stations and peak summertime demand slows down, it’s likely that gas prices will drop steeply.

  “There will be thousands, even tens of thousands of stations below $2 by the time we’re into football season,” Tom Kloza, chief oil analyst for the Oil Price Information Service, which tracks retail prices for AAA told CNNMoney. Today there are only 50 stations nationwide that are below $2, he adds.

  Crude oil is down by 16% right now, which could bode well for customers at the pump during September and October’s anticipated gasoline glut.

  “If you have these crude oil prices in the autumn, you’d be looking at prices 60 to 70 cents lower than today,” Kloza said.

  Gas prices poised for a steep drop [CNNMoney]

  
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by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist

uUniversity Of Phoenix Faces Probe Into Military Recruiting Practicesr

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• A little more than a week after federal regulators set their sights on the University of Phoenix for possible deceptive and unfair business practices, the California Attorney General’s office is joining the investigation party by opening a probe into the for-profit college’s military recruitment practices.

  Apollo Education Group announced, the school’s parent company, announced on Friday that it will “cooperate fully” with a request from the office of California Attorney General Kamala Harris for records going back to 2010 related to its military recruitment efforts.

  “Although the principle is well established, we remind stakeholders that the existence of an investigative subpoena itself does not mean the University has violated any rules or regulations, and we look forward to working with the California Attorney General’s office in connection with this inquiry,” retired Army Maj. Gen. Spider Marks, Executive Dean of the College of Security and Criminal Justice at University of Phoenix, said in a statement.

  The attorney general’s probe into University of Phoenix’s recruitment practices comes a month after a report from Reveal detailed how the company skirts some rules in order to showcase the school’s prowess to military members, in hopes of enrolling servicemembers.

  The Arizona Republic notes that the attorney general’s probe also includes looking into the University of Phoenix’s uses of military logos and emblems for marketing purposes.

  School representatives used custom-engraved coins as part of the University’s on-base recruitment efforts. The coins, which features the school’s logo on one side and the emblems of all military branches on the other, is similar to a “challenge coin” given to military personnel by officers to mark major accomplishments.

  Shortly after the Reveal report, Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin urged the Department of Justice to investigate the for-profit chain’s use of military insignia without proper licenses.

  While the Dept. hasn’t opened an investigation, Apollo Education Group said in a statement that it has since discontinued the use of these coins.

  “Although widely issued in educational and industry circles, when questions about coins arose, the University immediately discontinued production and distribution of its coins and recalled all non-circulated coins. We hope that the other academic institutions with similar coins follow our lead,” the company says.

  Apollo’s University of Phoenix faces California probe over military recruiting [The Arizona Republic]

  
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by Ashlee Kieler via Consumerist