Interesting story today....Question of the Day -- Consumer Reports Takes on Pushy Holiday Retail Practices

With the traditional holiday shopping season officially kicking off on "Black Friday" at the end of this week, Consumer Reports has launched a public education campaign aimed at pushy holiday retail practices. They're boosting it with a full-page ad in today's USA Today highlighting three of the top holiday shopping annoyances -- extended warranty sales pitches; cashiers that ask for your phone number or other personal information; and pushing store credit cards at the register.

The full list of holiday shopping annoyances, as determined by a nationally-representative survey of Americans, is:

72 percent -- Stores that never open all the checkout lines
68 percent -- Fake sales. If something is always 20 percent off, it's not on sale.
67 percent -- Coupons that exclude almost everything in the store
62 percent -- Being hounded by extended warranty sales pitches
58 percent -- Cashiers that ask for your phone number or other personal info
56 percent -- In-store prices that don't match the same company's online prices
53 percent -- Employees required to up-sell you at the register
52 percent -- Pushing store credit cards at the register
50 percent -- Mail-in rebates
48 percent -- Stores that require loyalty cards to get discounts.
43 percent -- Stores that have a minimum purchase requirement for credit cards
26 percent -- Receipt checkers


Hopefully shopkeepers will read it, think about it, and change.