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VIDEOGroupon has fallen significantly since its peak over a decade ago. This video attempts to explain why it was once considered so promising, and why it has not lived up to those expectations.

Though consumers are being hammered by price inflation at gas stations and grocery stores, they may be surprised by what they find at electronics, clothing, furniture and appliance stores. Swamped by excess inventory, many major retailers are offering big-time discounts on a variety of consumer goods. One such retailer is Target, which has twice cut its profitability outlook in recent weeks. In its June 7 warning, Target projected its second-quarter operating margin would be roughly 2%, well less than half the 5.3% the company projected in May. At the same time, Target said it was “planning several actions in the...

Despite fewer juicy deals, Black Friday shoppers dutifully opened their wallets, and for the first time ever, online sales fell as crowds returned to stores. Holiday-hungry consumers spent $8.9 billion online Friday, according to Adobe Analytics. That was a slight drop from $9 billion last year.

Ride-sharing company Lyft’s new turn-out-the vote effort in cities in five battleground states has sparked outrage from conservatives who think it is a ploy to help Democrats win in November. Lyft has formed a partnership with More Than A Vote, an advocacy group led by Black athletes including basketball player LeBron James, to provide free and discounted rides to polling locations in major cities in five key battlegrounds: Florida, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina and Wisconsin. Tea Party Patriots’ Jenny Beth Martin said Thursday that her legal team is reviewing its options to challenge Lyft’s actions as a potentially “illegal corporate...

CHEVIOT, OH (WLWT/CNN) – A restaurant owner in Ohio is facing legal questions after offering a discount to churchgoers. "This was the furthest thing from my mind when we came up with this idea," said Justin Watson, the owner of Starters Cafe in Cheviot, OH. Watson opened the restaurant about seven weeks ago. He said all he was trying to do was stir up some business with his discount offer to churches. Instead, he stirred up a hornet's nest. "Any congregation, any religion, any area, whatever, as long as you brought me a church bulletin, I would give you 10...

Drivers from northern states that use the E-ZPass system for toll roads will be able to use their passes to drive on some Central Florida toll roads — and get the same discount SunPass users receive.Central Florida drivers, however, will not be able to use their EPasses to pay for tolls if they travel to the 16 E-ZPass states, including New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois and South Carolina.“One of our main objectives is to improve the ease and uninterrupted travel that E-ZPass customers enjoy, and portability to the Sunshine State is certainly a common request,” E-ZPass Group Executive Director P.J. Wilkins...

Dive Brief: The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDOT) has announced the completion of the state's first-ever diverging diamond interchange (DDI), located on Interstate 70, according to Equipment World. The DDI design eliminates left turns across oncoming traffic, improving vehicle flow and decreasing the chance of accidents. The agency also chose the DDI configuration because it could use the former interchange's cloverleaf footprint, reducing the impact of construction on the area. PennDOT said it modified the traditional DDI design slightly. Dive Insight: Design is one way transportation agencies are combating gridlock resulting from increased traffic. Other tools in DOT arsenals are...

Truckers entering New York City by bridges and tunnels operated by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) will receive a 50 percent discount on tolls during overnight hours this summer. From July 10 and Sept. 1, trucks will receive the discount between the hours of 10 p.m. and 5 a.m. at the Henry Hudson Bridge, Whitestone Bridge, Throgs Neck Bridge, RFK Triborough Bridge, Queens Midtown Tunnel, Hugh L. Carey Brooklyn Battery Tunnel, Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, Marine Parkway-Gil Hodges Memorial Bridge and Cross Bay Veterans Memorial Bridge. The move is part of an effort to alleviate “the near-term summer crisis,” MTA said in...

Wal-Mart is hoping to gain ground against online rivals by rolling out new discounts for buying items online for in-store pickup. Starting April 19, the Bentonville, Ark.-based retailer “will launch what it calls the Pickup Discount,” Fox Business reported Wednesday. Customers will be able to get lower prices on about 10,000 different items if they order them ahead online for shipment to a local store.

It's High Time America Did Away With Senior Discounts Alex Mayyasi, Priceonomics Blog May 29, 2013, 10:44 AM You’ve seen them on the bus, in museums, and at movie theaters: senior discounts. As a reward for being old, senior citizens pay a quarter less for bus fare, a small fortune less for movie tickets, and receive discounts generally all over the place. If you’re a twentysomething, or part of what some journalists have colorfully called “the screwed generation,” you may be wondering: why not me? The idea that seniors are a group in need of help and protection dates back...

The row has broken out only days after James Daunt, the managing director of Waterstone’s, criticised Amazon – calling it a “ruthless, money-making devil”. The new Amazon Price Check app and promotion, which is starting from this Saturday, will allow people to perform a price check on an item in a shop, by scanning in the bar code using the app on their iPhone or Android device. The online retail giant will then offer a $5 discount to shoppers who carry out this market research for it for free, on any item across the site, including the same item they...

Cambridge has become the first university to announce that it will charge maximum tuition fees of £9,000 a year. But it will give hefty discounts to poorer students, which means the middle classes will bear the brunt of the move. MPs voted in December to raise tuition fees to £6,000 per year from 2012, with universities allowed to charge £9,000 in exceptional circumstances.

A heads-up for bargain hunters. Today only the Living Social website is offering $20 Amazon gift cards for $10. And no, I'm not getting a kickback.

Kelley Blue Book dropped the resale values of recalled Toyotas for the second time in four days Monday, leaving them as much as 4 percent or $300 to $750 lower than a week ago, depending on the model. WATCH FULL REPORT... The auto research Web site Edmunds.com estimates resale or trade-in values could fall up to 10 percent in the short term. How far they drop over the longer haul will depend how long the confusion lingers. Since the first recall for sticky accelerator pedals on Jan. 21, Edmunds’ estimate for the trade-in value of a 2009 Toyota Camry has...

A profession O and CONgre$$ won't be messing with 'pay' rates anytime soon?

NORFOLK, Va. - On his first full day as the likely Republican presidential nominee, John McCain fended off discussion of specific potential running mates but made clear he sees no requirement to pick someone from a different region. "I don't want to in any way sidestep the candidacy of Governor Huckabee," McCain said told reporters here before flying off to Wichita, Kan., and Seattle. "He's in this race, and for me to dismiss him would be inappropriate and unrealistic." Nevertheless, the Arizona senator did offer his view that regionally balanced tickets may be a thing of the past. Since McCain's...

A disappointing October sales report Thursday sent a clear signal to retailers that they’ll have to pull out all the stops to get shoppers into their stores this holiday as declining home values, tighter credit terms and rising gas prices appear to have left consumers feeling spent. The nation’s biggest chain stores posted the second consecutive month of weak sales results, underscoring their concerns that sales growth this holiday season could be the slowest in five years. “Consumers are exerting a lot of caution,” said Mandy Putnam, vice president at TNS Retail Forward Inc., a Columbus, Ohio-based market research and...

Beginning tomorrow, the Chrysler Group will begin offering 0% financing for up to 72 months until Sept. 30. Customers can also choose various cash-rebate offers instead of the financing. Chrysler offered its Employee Pricing Plus program until today,which included 0% financing for just 36 months or cash rebates for certain models. Among other domestic auto makers, on top of the incentives programs it was already offering, GM on Tuesday began offering $500 to $1,500 cash back on many 2006 and 2007 models. GM was already offering a variety of incentives, including 0% financing for 36 months and $1,000 bonus cash...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. - Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and legislative Democrats reached a deal Thursday that they say will help uninsured, lower-income Californians get discounts of up to 40 percent on name-brand drugs. The California Prescription Drug Initiative, announced earlier this week but formally approved Thursday, will give discounts of about 40 percent for name-brand drugs and 60 percent for generics to people who otherwise would have to pay full retail price. The enrollment fee will be $10 a year. The initiative will require prescription drug companies to offer discounts for medications or face possible sanctions. The Republican governor said the plan...

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is promoting his new discount drug plan as a "voluntary" agreement between pharmaceutical companies and the State of California. But it's more like a raw deal. The California Prescription Drug Initiative calls upon drug manufacturers to offer five million low-income Californians huge discounts on prescription medications--up to 40% on brand-name drugs and a whopping 60% on generics. Presumably, drug companies should offer these discounts out of the goodness in their hearts. But if they don't comply? Well, then they'll be coerced by the Terminator. Companies failing to sell drugs at the government-imposed discount prices within five years...