Cristina looks into online shopping and asks how useful are online reviews really? Adam takes an objective look at the recent alarming USPS news, and whether there is evidence that Donald Trump is sabotaging the US Postal Service to steal the election. Finally, Darren gives us some food for thought when looking behind those donations we get asked for at the checkout register.
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Trust Online Reviews?
TED ideas: Use Online Reviews to Decide What to Buy? Here’s Why Not to Put All Your Trust in Them
Forbes: This Is Why You Should Not Trust Online Reviews
CBC: Online shopping has doubled during the pandemic, Statistics Canada says
CBC: Retail sales bounced back 18% in May but are still 20% below where they were before COVID-19
JCR: Navigating by the Stars: Investigating the Actual and Perceived Validity of Online User Ratings
Science Daily: Consumers’ trust in online user ratings misplaced, says study
Amazon: Knock-off Fitness Tracker
The Cut: Sunday Riley Fake Review Scandal FTC Ruling
USPS Conspiracy?
The USPS explains why mailboxes were rounded up in Brighton – MSN
Postmaster General Louis DeJoy Statement – USPS
Has President Trump Ever Voted by Mail? – Snopes
Is USPS Purposefully Slowing Mail To Help Reelect Trump? – Snopes
Postmaster General Louis DeJoy Statement – USPS
Which Party Would Benefit Most From Voting by Mail? It’s Complicated – The New York Times
What Really Scares Voting Experts About the Postal Service – The Atlantic
Checkout Donations
The real question I’ve always had about checkout donations is how do you know the money is actually reaching the charity and not being pocketed by the company?
In our area, you could save your grocery receipts and hand them to a school you wanted to support and the grocery would donate money based on the total receipts. At least in that system, there was an audit trail and all parties could see what was claimed and compare to what was contributed.
They’ve since switched to a totally electronic system. How do you know how much you contribute actually makes it to the school?
Spent some years working in business computing and learned the unsuccessful crooks just steal, the more successful crooks try to undermine the audit trail before they steal.