Walgreen's $10 off $40 in-store coupon for Friday September 12 and Saturday September 13 of 2008. Note the exclusions listed on the coupon -- Alcohol, Tobacco ,..etc...

Labels: 10off, Business, Coupon, Deals, Frugality, Home, Homemaking, Rebate, Shopping, Walgreen

Slickdeals forum discussions report that some of Amazon customers accounts are closed as they are involved in "extraordinary number of incidents" -- as indicated in the mail received by the effected user :

Hello from Amazon.com.

A careful review of your account indicates you've experienced an extraordinary number of incidents with your orders and corresponding shipments.

In the normal course of business, the occasional problem is inevitable. The rate at which such problems have occurred on your account is extraordinary, however, and cannot continue. Effective immediately, your Amazon.com account is closed and you are no longer able to shop in our store. I am very sorry for any disappointment this may cause.

Please know that any accounts related to yours have also been closed. If you were to open a new account, the same will result and it will also be closed. In the event that you attempt to do so, we will not accept the return of any additional orders, nor will we issue further refunds in connection with any future orders. We appreciate your cooperation in refraining from using our web site.

If you require additional assistance, or have any concerns, feel free to contact us directly at account-appeals@amazon.com.

Please do not contact regular Customer Service again, as they will no longer be able to assist you.


Regards,

Account Specialist
Amazon.com

This not unique to Amazon who is willing to lose their customer to better service other users. Netflix admitted in the past of delayed shipping to its heavy users. For heavy users Netflix penalized them by shipping the movie DVDs the next day . Sprint is parting from its high maintained customers.Sprint canceled some customers accounts due to excessive calls to customer service.

Amazon with its recent cancellation of post-order price guarantee is looking after cost effective ways of improving customer service and parting from its system abusers by taking these strict measures. It is interesting to see what formula is used by Amazon in canceling the accounts -- Just number of returns to number of total orders by amount ??

Labels: Amazon.com, Blockbuster, Business, Customer, Customer Service, Deals, Netflix, User, Website

Discover card users needs to sign up for this offer to use at Grocery Stores,Restaurants, Movie Theaters, and Movie Rentals.

Terms are that cashback bonus is available up to $400 of these purchases through Discover card. Extra few dollars in the pocket for just using the card.

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Labels: Arts, Business, Credit card, Deals, Discover Card, Hardware, Performing Arts, Transfer, Visa Inc

Image via Wikipedia To avoid long security lines at the airport Verified Identity Pass (VIP) contracted with TSA and developed a program called "Clear" where members pay $120/ year to have their identities verified. The registration card allowed them to bypass long security lines.

One of the laptops gone missing which contained sensitive personal information like Greencard number of permanent residents, name, address, phone numbers and birth dates, as well as drivers' license. TSA temporarily suspended this program. This is a good move by TSA as they want all the data on all VIP devices needs encryption to avoid the possibility of landing of this sensitive info in the wrong hands.

New members will not be able to sign up for the program and have to wait in long security lines until TSA clears the "clear" program.

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Labels: Business, Business Services, Consultants, Fire and Security, Immigration, Security, Transportation Security Administration, TSA, Verified Identity Pass

Invicta Men's Pro Diver Collection Automatic Watch for $99 - Amazon posted profitable quarter results that are mainly spurred by demand in its heavily discounted luxury watches section. This particular Invicta's watch original cost was at $315 and in now priced at $99 (68% off).

With the purchase of Invicta watch from Amazon get an Invicta Gear Collection Mango Backpack free. The price of this FREE backpack in Amazon is $82. Invicta watch is backed by a comprehensive 1-year warranty. If you have never owned a waterproof watch then this is a time with to reap in the discount benefits.

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• UR-202 Wristwatch Features Winding System Regulated By Compressed Air [Watches]

Labels: Antiques, Business, Clocks and Watches, Consumer Goods and Services, Jewelry, Recreation, Third Watch, Watches

Back in 1980 Ohio and Michigan started the trend of offering tax holidays for automobile purchases. All automobiles were purchased state tax free during those tax holidays. New York extended the tradition to clothes and back-to-school supplies. In 1997 for the first time introduced sales tax holiday which were followed by dozens of states in later years. South Carolina surprised everyone in 2006 by suspending the state tax, for the two days following Thanksgiving 2006 which included almost everything from purchases of cars , computers and even airplanes.

Typically August is the month of back to school shopping when most state sales tax holidays are announced.Who benefits ? Past sales tax holidays showed no benefits that economy will gain during these events. With inflation touching the roof this will benefit the consumers a little bit With rising fuel and food costs budgets.

Before you jump on this deal keep in mind that most states leave it to individual towns and counties to decide whether they will waive local taxes in addition to the state sales tax.



Here is the link for state tax holidays.

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Labels: Accounting, Business, Deals, New York, Sales and Use Tax, Tax, Tax holiday, Tax Negotiation and Representation, United States

Image via WikipediaWe all look for deals or bargains before we invest either in stocks or real estate and Sometimes (or mostly) price (property buying price) may become a decision factor in real estate investing.If the price is the factor then buying foreclosure homes is an excellent choice. In order to turn your real estate investing into profit then you may consider foreclosure properties which are often sold far below their real property value as these foreclosure homes has fallen into disrepair.

Foreclosures -- The act of foreclosing, especially a legal proceeding by which a mortgage is foreclosed. These are the properties that lenders take back if the owners were unable to make the payments that they committed when signing up a mortgage. Probably the owners are in financial troubles and the houses may have been vacant for long times especially when real estate is a buyer's market. We can normally expect the foreclosure houses to be in some kind of financial or other disrepairs. The advantage for foreclosure home buyers is that lenders want to recoup their investment by taking out the house from the market as early as possible and lenders are willing to take a price cut for this reason.

Let's dig into more to learn - why any property goes into foreclosure property? Oh well there are so many reasons but the one that stand out for all of these reasons is money. Heard about subprime interest rates that lenders gave ridiculous loan amounts during the real estate boom? Home owners are now struggling to pay high interest rates for the loans and altogether giving up the hands or the home would not be in the state of foreclosure. Secondary issues for old constructed houses with constant unseen maintenance costs like leaking roofs, spoiled carpeting, or some plumbing maintenance are another reason that makes home owners default on loan payments.

Also sometimes the owners may vandalize the property as they have nothing to lose as they know that any way their home will be foreclosed. As a foreclosed home buyer these repairs may not be that expensive but somewhat bothersome. This comes as golden bargain point when negotiating home with the seller (or lender) during the home closing.

The investors can buy larger homes in good school districts than they would ordinarily be able to afford. Also an excellent addition to the real estate investment portfolio.

The question at hand - How do you buy foreclosure properties? Seen all those annoying ads that you need to buy a list to find about all foreclosed homes in your area. The road less taken these days as realtors can help you match the right foreclosed home for your needs. Also remember when you are the buyer you pay nothing to realtor as realtor gets commission from the seller. GO with the expert realtors as they will be able to negotiate good bargain prices for your investment.

Foreclosurenet -- An excelent listing state by state foreclosures.

Foreclosurelistingsnationwide -- Another listing with foreclosure prices.

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Labels: Business, Business and Economy, Foreclosure, foreclosures, House, Investing, Real estate, realestate, Trisha Allen, United States

Update on Jan 7'2010 - check details below

Sweet Tomatoes ??

Sweet Tomatoes is restaurant located across the western United States to the mid-west.Sweet Tomatoes Restaurants serve only the freshest greens and produce.The company, which started in California, operates restaurants under the names of Souplantation and Sweet Tomatoes. The name Souplantation is much more descriptive of this buffet, because its main offerings are soup, salad, pasta, and dessert. The specialty at Sweet Tomatoes/Souplantation is salads, soups, and bakery.When you dine at a Sweet Tomatoes you will find a variety of soups and stews, pre-made tossed salads, prepared salads, hot pastas in a variety of sauces and combinations, breads (Focaccia) and muffins, and desserts.While most buffets offer two or maybe three soups, Sweet Tomatoes offers eight at each meal.

For Salad Lovers

The salad isn't bad either (once in a while :-) , I myself cannot live on Salads mainly, I get hungry again in an hour or so :-) ), even though I am not usually a salad lover, they have a lot of great variety to meet everyones tastes.One catch for non veggie: if you pick up meat when going through the salad bar, you have to pay extra for it.

Sweet Tomatoes BOGO Coupons:

BOGO : Buy One Get One

If you join their mailing list they actually send you coupons for 2 for 1 meals and other really great offers.Often I have seen people in line carrying these coupons and searching for them on internet I found these buy one get one meal free sweet tomatoes coupon.

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Update on Jan 7'2010 :

Use this BOGO free lin and use Sweet Tomatoes Coupons for Buy One Get One Free (FOR THE FIRST TIME NO DRINK PURCHASE REQUIRED). Coupon expires Jan 31 2010.

Coupon link is here.

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Update : Check the comments below and looks like only through club veg these coupons are available.

Click on the image and print : Coupon is removed on request from here
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Labels: BOGO, Buffet, Business, California, Click, coupons, Deals, free, Meal, Salad, Salad bar, Sweet Tomatoes, Weight loss