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We write thousands of posts every year at Consumerist, and before we hit “publish,” we tell each of them that they’re our favorite. That’s a lie, though: when we look back, there are always posts that stand out. Whether it’s because of their real-world impact, important insights, important topics, or use of the phrase “Underwear Time,” we each have our favorites out of our work for the year. Each of our writers chose theirs along with some honorable mentions, and explained what made them love that post just a little more than the others. Mary Beth Quirk Section Permalink Bookmark Section Share on Facebook Share on Twitter 17 Commercial Failures From Brands With Spectacularly Bad Ideas I’m a sucker for history, both recent and long past, so I enjoyed hunting around for these failed ideas from big brands that are still around today. While there were a few familiar products that have received the lion’s share of ridicule, some lesser known entries surprised the entire staff. “Th...

After what feels like a decade, 2016 is mercifully over, but before we can move forward into the brave new year it’s time to bring the recycling bin over toward our locker and purge the bulging Trapper Keeper we’ve been cramming stories into for the last 12 months. The six of us here at Consumerist somehow managed to crank out nearly 5,500 stories in 2016 , so we thought it would be nice to look back at those articles that got the most attention from our loyal readers. 1. Dissecting Your Bills Section Permalink Bookmark Section Share on Facebook Share on Twitter This year’s most popular Consumerist story was our series of in-depth looks at cable and internet bills from Comcast , Time Warner Cable , Charter , Verizon FiOS , DirecTV , Dish , and AT&T U-Verse , culminating in this story where we showed how all cable and satellite companies are nickel-and-diming their customers through set-top box fees, maintenance fees, and most controversially through “Broadcast TV” an...

In what could either be an innocent mistake or a set-up by wise adults, Amazon’s virtual assistant Alexa gave one toddler a very interesting answer to his request to hear a specific song. “Alexa, play ‘Digger, Digger,'” the tyke tells an Echo Dot sitting on an end table in a video posted on YouTube . Now, we’re not experts on children’s music, but this could be either the song “Diggers, Dumpers and Trucks” by Kidzone, or “Diggers (Diggers and Dumpers)” by a fellow named Tractor Ted. Any way you slice it, Alexa’s answer is not either one of those options. Instead, she spews a string of obscene words including “dildo,” to the dismay and immediate amusement of the adults in the room who yell, “STOP, ALEXA! STOP!” It appears that for unknown reasons, Alexa was attempting to play a 27-second track with a very vulgar title ( warning: probably NSFW ) that’s included on an album called “Ultimate Comedy Ringtones: Vol. 2,” which sounds a warning that the phone’s user has too much po...

Earlier this year, Bass Pro Shops offered to buy up one of its biggest competitors, Cabela’s, for $5.5 billion . The Federal Trade Commission is reviewing the deal now, and is raising concerns that this might be too much consolidation in the hunting and fishing market. According to the Wall Street Journal , a combined Bass/Cabela’s would control about 20% of the U.S. sporting goods market, and even more of the more niche industry catering to outdoorsy types. In their stores, catalogs, and websites, these two retailers sell gear you’re not likely to find in your local Dick’s or Walmart. We know about the feds’ request for more information because the smaller partner in this merger, Cabela’s, is a publicly traded company and is required to report such things to the Securities and Exchange Commission so its investors and the public know. Does this necessarily mean that the FTC is going to object to the merger? Nope. “The issuance of such a ‘second request’ does not indicate that the FT...

Who wants a plain ol’ burger when you can have a burger burrito? Or cheese sticks when you can have Cheetos-dusted sticks fulfilled with macaroni? In 2016, you could have these interesting mashups and so much more, as fast food restaurants and snack companies continuously tried to one-up each other.  From Burger King to Oreos, the stunt foods making appearances on menus and shelves in the last 12 months were plentiful. Whether or not these franken-foods stick around into 2017 is another thing, however. So, without further ado, here are some of the craziest, most interesting sounding, apparently edible food stunts of the last year. Everyone Wants Chips Section Permalink Bookmark Section Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Chips: They’re a great snack. And in 2016, they became a go-to ingredient for food companies to incorporate into their menu staples or new items. Mac n’ Cheetos: Back in June, Burger King shocked the world when it combined cheese sticks, macaron...

Well, that really didn’t last long. The promising $35-per-month price for AT&T’s DirecTV Now streaming bundle was always billed as “promotional” and time-limited, but that time appears to be short. Super-short. As in: ending on Jan. 9, in just over a week. AT&T launched DirecTV Now exactly a month ago, on Nov. 30. The service is basically cable-free cable: like competitors Sling TV (Dish) and PlayStation Vue, it allows viewers to sign up for a bundle of linear (the fancy name for live TV) and on-demand networks delivered over the internet to a device of your choosing. It has its pros and cons , but one big selling point for the service was the price: $35 per month for a 60-channel bundle. That time is now come and gone though. As Variety reports , the $35 option is going the way of the dodo, and will be replaced by a $60 fee for the same service tier for customers who sign up after Jan. 9. At the time AT&T announced the pricing, it claimed that customers who signed up d...

A story that sounds like “The 12 Days of Christmas” gone horribly wrong is wrapping up with a happy ending (unless you happen to be a recently deceased canary): after delivering a smashed box filled with a half-dozen dead birds to a woman in Alabama, the U.S. Postal Service has successfully replaced the deceased avians with seven live canaries. The woman had ordered the canaries as a birthday present to herself, AL.com reported earlier this month, and was upset when the package of dead birds arrived at her salon. “When my postmaster got there he told me, ‘Well, your birds arrived, but they’re not alive,'” she told AL.com. “This happened right in front of my clients. I was handed this box with tire tracks on it and bird carnage hanging out.” At the time, the USPS said it planned to reimburse her the money for the bird and shipping, and promised to apologize. The agency has now made good on that pledge, the Associated Press reports, paying for seven new canaries plus the postage...

While states like Hawaii and California have enacted bans on plastic bags, Michigan is going the exact opposite route, passing a law that bans local governments from banning plastic bags or putting fees on disposable containers. Lt. Gov. Brian Calley signed the bill into law on Wednesday , acting in place of Gov. Rick Snyder who is out of state spending time with his family, MLive.com reports. The bill passed the House 62-46 and the Senate by 25-12, despite opposition from lawmakers like Rep. Jeff Irwin of Ann Arbor. “This is a bill that attacks local control,” Irwin said in arguments on the House floor. Right off the bat, the law will affect Washtenaw County — home to Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti, and the University of Michigan — which planned to start enforcing a $0.10 charge on paper and plastic grocery bags in 2017. The Michigan Restaurant Association is pleased as punch, as the bill prevents chain restaurants and other retailers from having to comply with various local contain...

Earlier this month, a Government Accountability Office report found that $171 million was garnished from older Americans’ Social Security benefits in order to repay federal student loan debts. Now, one of those borrowers is suing several government agencies accusing them of taking money from his monthly disability checks despite the fact he was eligible for a student loan discharge.  The lawsuit, filed in September and amended last week, accuses the Department of Education, Social Security Administration, and Department of Treasury of unlawfully garnishing his Social Security disability benefits to collect on defaulted student loans despite the fact he was eligible for a full discharge of the debts. According to the lawsuit [ PDF ] – which also names Dept. of Ed. John King, Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, and Social Security Administration Commissioner Carolyn Colvin – the 67-year-old man received a notice in 2013 indicating that a portion of his disability benefits ...

Is Santa Claus real? Yes, Virginia, but he had to prove that to Facebook before the company would restore his social media account. Santa Claus is indeed a real person, reports the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner . This Santa doesn’t live at the geographic North Pole with a workshop full of overworked elves, but about 1,700 miles away in North Pole, Alaska, where he’s also a city councilman. Mr. Claus — his legal name — created the Facebook account eight years ago, and amassed some 300,000 followers, all before Facebook suspended the page. The jolly bearded one felt slighted by the move, especially since there are so many fake Santa accounts on the site. He says he wasn’t given a reason and was asked to verify his identity several times. So he sent in his Alaska driver’s license, his letter of appointment to the North Pole City Council, and a letter of appointment to the Alaska Public Broadcasting Commission signed by Gov. Bill Walker. Nothing worked. “They just don’t believe my name i...

Well, 2016 sure has been a year. From exploding phones to “glitches” that grounded thousands of flights to the ever-increasing, ever-depressing mountain of student loan debt. Let’s not forget bankrupt and shuttered retailers and restaurants, growing resistance to antibiotics, and the continuing opioid epidemic. Before we flip the calendar to 2017, let’s have our annual look at some of the numbers behind the year we’re finally leaving behind. Fiery Failure The headline of the year? Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7 device debacle. 2 : Number of times Samsung had to recall the Galaxy Note 7… …of which it had managed to sell about 2.5 million globally first. The phone was only on the market for 27 days before the first recall… …and for 53 days before Samsung scrapped production of the line… …and ended everything with the second recall 55 days after launch. The debacle is expected to cost the company at least $3 billion . Airline Glitches Galore It might be easier to count which a...