[Note: Our trusty mouse will return on January 6th or 7th.]

Continuing our series of products that have been downsized recently…

*MOUSE PRINT:

Bounty eliminated six paper towels from each roll here. And despite the shrinkage, they are still called “giant” rolls.

*MOUSE PRINT:

P&G continued downsizing some of its paper products by removing eight diapers from its Pampers Swaddlers boxes, but the price stayed the same.

*MOUSE PRINT:

If you had been looking for a cold, refreshing treat this past summer, you would have discovered that Snickers ice cream bars are now 10% smaller than they used to be. Thanks to John M. for the photograph taken at Walgreens.

 Last week, Consumer World presented the results of its survey of prices on a retailer’s website compared to the prices charged for the same item at its brick-and-mortar store locations. The prices were not always the same, and web prices were not always lower.

To emphasize the point that you always have to check prices in both places, online and in-store, here is an example of the inconsistency week to week of pricing between the two.

In the original story, we showed a huge price difference on a Dell computer at Staples.com versus at Staples stores:

Just before Black Friday, the price online was $429.99, but in-store it was $180 higher — $609.99!

Fast forward to last week, December 7. The price differences reversed.

*MOUSE PRINT:

This time, the in-store price was $130 lower than the online price. Go figure.

As we said, there is no rhyme or reason to the price variations. You can’t predict whether the online price will be cheaper or more expensive than the in-store price, so you have to check both each time.

 This is a tale of two giant retailers — Walmart and Target.

Target made headlines this holiday season when it announced free shipping for everyone, not just its REDCard holders.

*MOUSE PRINT:

None.

Then comes Walmart claiming its got free shipping for everyone.

*MOUSE PRINT:

Of course, the claim has an asterisk indicating that a $50 minimum purchase is necessary.

I’m sorry. The appropriate way to make this type of claim is to be straight about it, saying right in the headline — “Free Shipping with $50 or More Purchase.”

And how nice of them to provide free returns if you bring the item back to the store yourself.

 (Boston) — Shoppers’ email inboxes have just started being flooded with a timely and potentially dangerous scam. Cybercrooks are sending out authentic-looking purchase confirmation emails that appear to be from Walmart, Target, and Costco, among others, to lure unsuspecting shoppers to their fake websites.

*MOUSE PRINT:

Upon clicking the link for more information about their supposed order, consumers are taken to a foreign website where a malware-infested .zip file is automatically downloaded to their computer.

“This is the perfect crime at the perfect time,” commented Consumer World founder Edgar Dworsky. “Shoppers are busy placing orders between Black Friday and Cyber Monday, so they would naturally expect to find these confirmations in their inbox. And even if they didn’t place an order with the particular retailer, they may believe that a mistake may have taken place and want to see the details.”

The subject line of the suspect emails typically says “Thank you for buying from (retailer name).”

Consumers who click the link in these emails are taken to various foreign websites hosted at these domains: alchem-asia.com (Walmart email), test.vcalink.be (Target email), and bwanatembosafaricamp.com (Costco email).

Consumer World recommends that shoppers hover their mouse over any link in a purchase confirmation email and note the exact website they will be taken to before they actually click it. The website address should be displayed either in a bubble above the link or in the status line of the email program.

Here are sample purchase confirmation emails that are made to appear to be from Target and Costco, claiming that the customer’s order is ready for pickup:

 I know, what a dumb question. That’s like asking how many musketeers were in the three musketeers.

JCD, a regular Mouse Print* reader, brought up the issue in the context of One-A-Day vitamins.

One would expect that you take one per day, right?

*MOUSE PRINT:

Nope… you have to take two.

You have to wonder how many people under-dosed on these vitamins because they reasonably assumed that the whole point of One-A-Day is to take one per day. Even at that, you are still not getting 100% of the daily requirement of some of the vitamins in the product.

Bottom line: don’t assume.