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This series explores aspects of America that may soon be just a memory -- some to be missed, some gladly left behind. From the least impactful to the most, here are 25 bits of vanishing America. When the collateral costs of an increasingly global marketplace are counted, it is usually the image of...

This is my second pair of black canvas flats from K-Mart's house label, Basic Editions. The first pair cost me about six dollars and change two years ago, and this pair cost about the same, two weeks ago. Sorry, they aren't available online, but if you drop by your friendly neighborhood K-mart, you...

This post is part of a series about real-life signs we're in a recession. Move over Pampered Chef and Mary Kay. The latest in-home sales "party" concept has reversed the usual guest-to-rep cash flow. Instead of pixie-sized portions of a demonstration omelet, or a makeover that makes your dog...

Whimsical children's' retailer Land Of Nod is holding its Spring Cleaning Sale, with up to 80% discounts on kids' bedding, furniture, decor, toys and more. It's a great time to stock up on seasonal items: the Ain't No Mountain High Enough toboggan is marked down to $49 from $129. It would look...

Signs explaining how management has no choice but to pass along their increasing costs to the end consumer are becoming as familiar a point-of-sale display as an Am-ex tent card. Everything from a carton of eggs at the supermarket to the paper cup for my coffee comes with a side order of doom these...

E-tickets, e-cards, e-gift certificates, and plastic currency. We're used to spending paperless; now how about paperless savings? Last month I wrote about the Grocery Game, an online subscription service that can enhance coupon savings by matching grocery store specials with coupons. Grocery Game,...

Daily Deal for Tuesday, April 1: Before there was The Office, there was Despair Inc.. Since discovering the website several years ago, I can never look at motivational "art" quite the same way. The company parodies the genre with a full range of products, from t-shirts to posters, with stirring...

This post is part of our series on people, places and things finding new life in 2008. Uno the Beagle made history last month when he took Best of Show in the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show, becoming the first of his breed to ever do so. Did the winner's triumphant barking herald a comeback of...

This post is part of our series on people, places and things finding new life in 2008. Call it "green" or think of it as post-modern, but Hollywood seems to be deeply committed to recycling. Indiana Jones, X-Files, Batman, the Hulk, Harry Potter, and the Mummy will all soon be returning to the...

I have an on-again/off-again relationship with couponing. I save the coupon inserts that come in my Sunday paper, but clipping and sorting them is a chore that keeps getting bumped to the bottom of my to-do list. Expiry dates come and go, and I wind up paying full price for items I had coupons for....