Shopping at Sams Club (Healthy Eating Post)

I was pleasantly surprised to see more organic offerings in the aisles as I wandered. There is very little I will buy at Sams aside from paper products as they only stock the most popular selling items. Sadly that means some of the most unhealthy stuff that exists usually.

They've always had a sampling of organic fresh veggies such as spinach, kale and lettuce. This time I noted they had carrots --- non-GMO labeled, too. I found a number of things that were labeled non-GMO.

I didn't find any organic fresh fruit. Maybe they had some frozen organic but I already have enough so didn't check it out.

The organics things they had on the dry / non-refrigerator/freezer aisles included some soups, some chips and a few other items. All but one of them had sugar of some sort. I don't do sugar. It was nice though to see a better selection.

I found some non-GMO/organic rice with kale and chia seeds that I grabbed to try. Very good, had it for dinner when I got home. It's microwavable stuff, too. I hate to spend the time cooking any more, just too much to do in this world. Dislike cleaning up even more than cooking...

re: Healthy Eating Post - I thought I'd start labeling them with that title just so those who could care less will know to skip them. That is assuming anyone at all is reading along...

Consumer Reports Poll: 65 Percent of Consumers Expect to Cut Back on Holiday Spending

/PRNewswire/ -- The effects of ongoing economic turbulence continue to weigh heavily on the pocketbooks and minds of shoppers as the 2009 holiday season approaches. According to a new Consumer Reports Holiday Shopping Poll, 65 percent of Americans plan to cut back on overall holiday expenses such as gifts, travel, and entertaining. The full results of this latest poll are available at www.ConsumerReports.org.

The anticipated decrease in spending comes on top of already dramatic cutbacks that occurred last year. In the 2008 Consumer Reports Holiday Shopping Poll, 76 percent of those surveyed said they were scaling back on holiday spending.

The projected decrease in spending is likely to be felt in almost every category. Those surveyed said they're cutting back on purchases of clothing and electronics (still the biggest seasonal gift categories), as well as other items such as gift cards, monetary presents, and jewelry.

Consistent with 2008's findings, Consumer Reports Holiday Shopping Poll also found that some consumers are still saddled with leftover holiday debt. Six percent of Americans--some 13.5 million consumers--continue to carry debt from last winter's holiday season.

"This year, it all comes down to value and getting the best bang for your shopping dollar," said Tod Marks, Consumer Reports senior editor and resident shopping expert. "We've already seen aggressive discounts that make it seem more like November 28 rather than October 28, but retailers are getting more sophisticated about targeting their promotions to their best customers."

Additional findings from the Consumer Reports Holiday Shopping Poll include:

The Gift List: Who's In? Who's Out?

-- Among consumers scaling back on gifts, most (78%) were willing to cut
back on buying for themselves, followed by friends and their families,
other family members, coworkers, and service providers like delivery
personnel and fitness trainers. Among those most likely to be spared
from the budgetary axe: Grandparents, grandchildren, kids under 18,
and the family pet.

A Few Favorite Things

-- Despite the gloomy outlook sales of certain products - notably
desktop, laptop, and netbook computers, cell phones and smart phones,
video game systems, and GPS systems - are expected to at least hold
their own, according to our poll.

Hitting the Stores
-- Similar to the past two holiday shopping seasons, the 2009 holiday
shopping season has begun with about a third of consumers reporting
that they have started their shopping as of mid-October.

-- Only about half (46%) of consumers anticipate they will be done buying
gifts by the second week in December. Approximately 18 percent say
they will push their holiday shopping right up to December 24th. About
4 percent of consumers don't plan to complete their shopping until
after the holidays.

Sticking to a Budget or Not?

-- This year, half (50%) of Americans will be making a budget for their
holiday purchases, yet sticking to it is bound to be a challenge. Of
the 38 percent of consumers who made a budget last year, 44 percent
reported that they exceeded it; five percent said they went way over
budget.

Most (& Least) Wanted Gifts
-- Clothing remains the biggest category, and 52 percent of consumers
plan to give apparel as a gift. But you might want to choose
carefully. Thirty-seven percent of recipients - particularly men -
cited clothes as their biggest gift disappointment of 2008. Socks were
still the single most hated item, but shirts, sweaters, slippers, and
ties, made the list, too.
-- Electronics gear also ranks among the most desirable gifts for both
men and women, and 51 percent of respondents plan on giving recipients
items such as video games or accessories, digital cameras, headphones,
or other gadgets.
-- Other gifts consumers plan on giving this season include gift cards
(46%), followed by money (44%), toys (42%), DVDs (31%), food or wine
(28%), jewelry (26%) and pet toys (19%).

Especially For You?

-- Tis' the season to give and receive and to re-gift what you've
received. According to the poll, 36 percent of adults have given a
gift they have received from someone else to another person as a
holiday gift. That's up from 31 percent in 2008.

The Perils of Gift Cards
-- Despite their drawbacks - fees, expiration dates, and the like - many
people plan on buying gift cards (46%) and many want them (15%) as
well. During the 2008 holidays, about half of adults received a gift
card, but one in four hadn't redeemed at least one of the cards as of
this month.
-- Sixty-five percent of adults who received a gift card in 2008
typically spend more than the value of the card, up from 58 percent in
2007. Forty-one percent of those who have unused gift cards from last
year said that they hadn't found anything they wanted to buy. This
year, lack of time was less of a factor in not redeeming gift cards;
only 37 percent of respondents reporting that they hadn't had time to
redeem their cards, down from 54 percent last year.

Happy Holidays

-- Despite continued cutbacks, a majority (87%) of adults remain hopeful
that their holiday season will be as happy or even happier than last
year.

Consumer Reports Holiday Shopping Poll Methodology

The Consumer Reports National Research Center conducted a telephone survey of a nationally representative probability sample of telephone households. 1,000 interviews were completed among adults aged 18+. Interviewing took place over October 15-18, 2009. The margin of error is +/- 3% points at a 95% confidence level.

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Day After Christmas Twofer... Striking Amazon off the list...

You get a two-fer today. I have a number of blogs, a few that are posted on the Fayette Front Page and the Georgia Front Page. All of my blogs are going to be about shopping on-line with Amazon. I rarely get irritated. There are few things in life that are worth raising your blood pressure over.

I'm irritated.

If it were solely about me, if something I ordered for myself came in late, I'd give it a rest.

This is about two grandchildren who didn't get their Christmas present 'cause Amazon goofed. Can you imagine being 5 years old and 11 years old, watching others open their presents while you had none? From your grandparents much less?

We called when we received a partial shipment from Amazon on the 20th. Waited until the 22nd to call. Got some snippy guy who said all was well, we were worrying for nothing, they were receiving a lot of calls and our shipment would arrive in time for Christmas.

Well, it's the day after Christmas, the kids have come and gone, and we still don't have the presents.

I sent an email complaining (rather nicely, maybe too nicely). Twelve hours later I got a response. Nothing about their snooty customer service, just an apology for delaying the shipment. Guess what? It's coming on the 28th. That's two weeks after we ordered it.

If they'd sent an email and said oops, we're having to back order, we're delayed, etc. I'd have cancelled the order and been able to get to the store to find a gift for the kids to unwrap. Nope, they said it's definitely going to be here before Christmas, don't get excited like all these other people.

The guy didn't even bother to check to see if there was a delay, a problem.

I won't be shopping Amazon anymore. I'll pay more somewhere else rather taking a chance on poor service and disappointed children. They did say that when the order arrived we could return it for a full refund. Whoop-te-doo. What good will that do? We've already told the kids what to expect. Now of course, it's going to cost us money to ship it to them or drive it up. If we want to see their faces as they open their gifts, we'll have to take a trip. I never mind, in fact I love, visiting. However, it's going to be sometime in January before we can travel as the reason we ordered on-line was my husband's surgery.

I realize I'm ranting. But this blog is mine to ramble. The other's will be a little more purposeful and direct.

Amazon stinks. Their response to the problem was slow, didn't address the problem and certainly didn't do anything to make me feel more inclined to shop with them again. My daughter-in-law (the children's parent) has been a heavy shopper at Amazon. Two shoppers down and I bet I can influence a few more in my extremely large extended family.

Anyone asking my advice on shopping on-line will be steered toward any company other than Amazon. I worked in Customer Service for quite some number of years, both in the ranks and in management. Guess what? I know how to handle unhappy customers. I know how much damage one unhappy customer can do. I tried to be decent because I have been on the receiving end in the past. Didn't work. From personal experience, I can tell you that Amazon doesn't get top marks by any means on taking care of unhappy customers. I guess I should have YELLED.