Retail stores are branching out into financial services such as check cashing to appeal to the growing number of consumers wary of banks. Image from Wikimedia Commons.

Giant retail store chains have begun branching out into the world of alternative financial services. Store chains such as Walmart, Kmart and Best Buy have started offering financial services to unbanked customers — those without bank accounts. Almost 20 percent of Americans do not have a bank account.

Alternative financial services at retail stores

Large retail chains are beginning to offer alternative financial services to customers who don’t have bank accounts, according to the Washington Post. Services such as money orders and check cashing have been available in retail stores for years, though some retailers are expanding their offerings. Walmart offers check cashing and sells prepaid debit cards in stores and is expanding by putting a financial services section called Walmart Money Center in stores. The Money Centers, which are currently in more than 1,100 stores nationwide, offer check cashing, money orders and prepaid card services in a bank or credit union-like format. The company is planning to expand the number of Walmart Money Center locations from Alabama to Arizona to Alaska, but Walmart does not appear to be planning on offering cash advances yet.

Kmart and Best Buy expand financial services

Retail chains Kmart and Best Buy are also expanding into offering financial services to customers. Kmart is offering pilot programs of check cashing, money orders and prepaid debit card services in some stores. The layaway program that Kmart re-launched at the height of the recession has also been very popular, as fewer people want to use installment loans or credit cards to make purchases anymore. Best Buy has launched a series of kiosks run by Tio Networks that customers can use as an electronic bill paying system. Instant cash is fed into the machine, which uses an electronic payment network.

The unbanked

The unbanked are people who do not have a bank account of any sort and use alternative financial service providers such as check cashing services to handle transactions. About 70 percent of the unbanked earn $30,000 per year or less and many choose not to patronize banks because of bank fees or mistrust of banks. Surveys done by Walmart indicate that one in five customers do not have a bank account.

Source

The Washington Post

Promoted Tweets is Twitter's first venture into advertising. It is the hope of the company that Promoted Tweets won't be a giant Fail Whale. Image from Flickr.

Quick, in 140 characters or less, what do promoted tweets mean for most Twitter users? Promoted tweets are the first of a planned group of Twitter advertisements that will appear as highlighted search results. The overwhelming Twitter chatter seems to be against the Promoted Tweets program, but Twitter cannot run forever on small cash loans from venture capitalists.

How Promoted Tweets will work

The Promoted Tweets advertising system is built to appear much like Google advertisements, only more “organic.” When someone uses search.twitter.com, contextually relevant results will appear at the top of the search results. For example, if you search Twitter for “mocha,” a “promoted tweet” by Starbucks that mentions a mocha will appear above the current Twitter chatter. Companies that have already signed onto Promoted Tweets include Best Buy, Bravo, Red Bull, Sony, Starbucks and Virgin America.

Promoted Tweets will rely on Twitter Users

The basis of Promoted Tweets is that the advertising will rely on tweets that would be posted by the companies anyway. The hope is that Twitter users will retweet, reply or bookmark the promoted Tweets. Twitter promises that any results that users don’t interact with will be removed from search results. The exact price of Promoted Tweets has not been revealed, but if the program is successful Twitter is sure to be able to begin debt settlement relief with its investors.

Plans for the growth of Promoted Tweets

The Promoted Tweets program does not stop just with the display of search results. Instead, Twitter has outlined that, if Promoted Tweets is successful, they will expand the program. First, the Promoted Tweets will be “injected” into the timelines of anybody who already follows the company. Second, these Promoted Tweets will also be displayed by Twitter clients such as Tweetie and Seesmic, as well as clients being developed by companies that have chosen to hire a dedicated programmer to create iPhone and Android apps.

The reality of Promoted Tweets

The Twitter microblogging site is using Promoted Tweets as the first step into “monetizing” the immensely popular site. Created in 2006, the site has stubbornly refused to create revenue in any major way until now. Biz Stone, the head of Twitter, says the company wanted to create value first and money second. By announcing Promoted Tweets, it appears Twitter will be looking for a way to give investors a return on their $57 million investment. Some users may leave the microblogging site, but if the reactions of users to other social networking launching advertising are any indication, most users are willing to put up with advertising to support their favorite web applications.

Sources:

PC Magazine
Wikipedia
PC World

(Photo imuttoo, Flickr.com)

Best Buy Black Friday ads can now be found online and it’s definitely causing hype. How would you like an Insignia Blu-ray Disc Player for less than a $100? What about a Dynex 19″ 720p LCD HDTV for less than a $150? Save your drools, however, because things are about to heat up ever more.

Best Buy is tackling Black Friday with their hottest Black Friday deals from Kitchen & Housewares to automotive and home theater appliances. With Best Buy’s great Black Friday offerings, you probably won’t need payday loans after all to make ends meet during the busy holiday season.

Best Buy Black Friday Ads 2009

According to BlackFriday.info, you can find great Best Buy Black Friday deals throughout the whole store. For instance, if you happen to need a new phone, check out these Black Friday cell phone deals at Best Buy.

AT&T Sony Ericsson W518a – Free w/2 Year Contract *

BoostMobile Motorola Clutch i465 – $59.99 eBay

DLO Jam Jacket For iPhone – $9.99

Jabra BT-2080 Bluetooth Headset – $19.99

LG Chocolate Touch From Verizon w/Two Year Activation – $0.00 *

MiFi 2200 By Novatel Wireless w/Two Year Activation – $0.00

What about a new television set? I know the hubby would love a bigger screen at home, right in time for the 2010 Super Bowl bash.

Dynex 19″ 720p LCD HDTV (Model # DX-L19-10A) – $149.99

Dynex 32″ 720p LCD HDTV (Model # DX-L321-10A) – $299.99 *

Dynex 40″ 1080p 60Hz LCD HDTV (Model # DX-L40-10A) – $499.99

Insignia 42″ 1080p 120Hz LCD HDTV (Model # NS-L42Q120-10A) – $699.99 *

LG 32″ 1080p LCD HDTV (Model # 32LH30-UA) – $439.99

Who needs payday loans at this rate? You can get the extended list for Best Buy Black Friday Ads 2009 here.

Go beyond Black Friday Ads and save money!

If you want to save money take advantage of all the special offerings for Black Friday 2009. But if you want to save more money, do your own research. You can find other great deals than just Best Buy Black Friday Ads. Major retailers like Wal-Mart, Sears and Target are doing their best to attract more customers during this time of the year when people are searching for the best places to spend their money for the holiday festivities.

Keep in mind, however, that just because it’s a Black Friday offering doesn’t mean it’s the best deal out there. Make a list of things to buy, search for Black Friday deals from various retailers, and compare prices. You’d be surprised with how much more money you can save just by doing a little research.

Little Buddy Child Tracker can send alerts to smartphones if children aren't where they are supposed to be. Image from Flickr.

The most recent child abduction case to go national was the sad story of Somer Thompson, a 7-year-old Florida girl who was missing for days before detectives found her body in a landfill. No doubt this case will convince many parents that the Little Buddy Child Tracker is a good investment.

The Little Buddy Child Tracker is just what it sounds like. It “combines global satellite positioning and cellular technology to signal the child’s whereabouts to a computer or smartphone,” says Sun-Times Media.  The benefits of this device are obvious, but this particular child tracker has an additional advantage: It’s a lot less expensive than previous devices of the same type.

How much does Little Buddy GPS cost?

Most GPS devices so far have retailed for $200 to $500. The Little Buddy Child Tracker is cheap by comparison; it retails at Best Buy for about $100. Granted, many families don’t have $100 per kid just lying around, but maybe grandma or another relative would be willing to put up a cash loan to help keep the kids safe.

Of course, there are a lot of arguments against the Little Buddy Child Tracker. Sun-Times Media reports that “the device immediately drew angry writeups from some techies, who called it a reason for children to run away from home.” And, of course, for children of a certain age, people are arguing that Little Buddy Child Tracker is an invasion of privacy.

Focusing on what’s important

I don’t think any of the arguments against Little Buddy Child Tracker can trump this: It might save a child’s life. Granted, it might not. Sure, abductors will find out about these GPS devices; they’ll check for them and ditch them if they really want to carry out an abduction. But what if they don’t? And there’s no arguing that it would eliminate the problem of a child getting lost.

I think all of the minor problems people have with Little Buddy Child Tracker are no match for a kid’s life. I am sure there are not any parents out there who don’t believe that even the minor possibility of saving their their child’s life is worth $100. Of course, I’m not a parent. Does anyone else out there have other arguments for why parents should not use Little Buddy Child Tracker?

Here's the Brammo Enertia. But will it be street legal? (Photo: theelectricbliss.wordpress.com)

If I had $12,000 to spare, I’d jump at the chance to buy a Brammo Enertia electric motorcycle. Sure, I’d need quick loans to help pay (will Best Buy finance autos and accept down payments?), but considering that there’s a Best Buy only a couple of miles from my home, I wouldn’t be able to resist.

But Could I Legally Drive it Home?

That’s just one of the questions these days: whether the Brammo Enertia will be street legal. The initial claim made is yes, but I’d check with local police before buying. Yet that won’t stop the consumer electronics giant from selling the vehicles from the Ashland, Oregon startup by May 2010. Best Buy CEO Craig Bramscher sees the Brammo Enertia being sold across the U.S., Europe and China at Best Buy retail locations.

Computers, Vacuums, Motorcycles…

It might sound odd, but that’s the direction in which Best Buy is headed. Since the stores already have garage bays for installing car stereo equipment that Bramscher claims are “underutilized,” it seems like the Brammo Enertia could be a good fit. Plus, when you realize that Brammo is considering features like a built-in Web server and cameras to capture images and video for travel blogs, the Brammo Enertia should perhaps be considered more of a mobile consumer appliance than strictly a motorcycle.

Not Alone in the Electric Two-Wheeler Market

Vectrix and Zero Motorcycles have similar consumer models available, while Mission Motors is taken an even higher-end approach. But the high-visibility approach Brammo is taking by allying itself with Best Buy is something the competition has not done as yet. To give you an idea of how much selling out of Best Buy could help Brammo, consider that about seven million people go to motorcycle distributors in the U.S. each year. A single Best Buy store can see that many people over the same span of time. Bramscher says the chain has already taken $3 million in pre orders for the Brammo Enertia, and that’s only the beginning.

Will the Geek Squad Fix Your Ride?

Apparently they will. Geek Squad types will be trained to make basic Brammo Enertia repairs to brakes, tires and electronics. If you get into a wreck, however, you’ll have to go to a Brammo distribution center for those fixes. Unfortunately, the company is still working on obtaining funding for those. Quick loans, anyone?

What’s Under the Hood?

The Brammo Enertia will have a 45-mile range. Powered by a lithium-ion-phosphate battery that takes around three hours for a complete charge from a standard household outlet, the maximum speed of the Brammo Enertia should be around 53 miles per hour.

[apply_button float="right"]

All things considered, this should be OK for those of us who need to perform light errands or commuting. If you want to do more and travel faster, a 100-mile ranged model that can hit 75 miles per hour will come out later in 2010. You’ll probably need multiple quick loans for that one. But then again, if you’re seriously considering buying a Brammo Enertia, you probably have enough petty cash to cover.

Related Video: