Hi all, I’ve started cloth diapering and think I’ve settled on LPO pockets for now - my husband seems to like them too.
I have a few questions though if anyone can shed some light?

1. I’m thinking of buying hemp inserts to double up with the ones they came with.

I see LPO sells hemp inserts but I’ve heard good things about Thirsties cotton/hemp. From what I can tell, they’re pretty much the same except size? Has anyone tried LPO hemp inserts? Are they good? I’m placing an order there anyway so I’d prefer to just them there if they’re just as good!

1. I’m also considering just buying FSTs and pad folding around the current insert instead of hemp. Would that be just as good?
   
2. What would be a good combo for overnight? My 4mo old baby currently wakes up every 3-4 hours for food, with a 4-6 hour stretch for the first stretch. I’ve seen people recommend a GMD cotton prefold with a hemp insert, or a microfiber + bamboo + hemp insert. I’m trying to not have to buy too many things if I don’t need to. Ideally I’d like to buy something that’ll help him last all night for when we eventually get there. What has worked for you?
   
3. And bonus question… if FSTs are a good idea, I’m in Canada and struggling to find affordable FSTs as it doesn’t seem Walmart sells them here. At least not the last time I checked a few months ago. If you’re Canadian, where did you get your FSTs?
   

Warning: I will not message you first. If you were messaged by someone claiming to be me you are in the process of being scammed.

You can download the WesternUnion app and send the payment from your phone and I will pay the fees.
Desktop Users: Comment on this post and Click here to start a trade App Users, please include the following in your PM (Remember to comment on this post as well):

• Type of card(s) and amount of each.
• What payment method you accept.
• How you acquired the GC and why you're getting rid of it.

Crypto^4, Paypal^1, Apple Pay, Chime, Cashapp, Varo, Venmo, and Western Union
I only have Steam as a substitute for cash payments in gift card trades.

Want ↓	Cash or a Gift Card ↓	Crypto4 ↓
Apple	60%3	NA
Amazon.ca	50%	50%
Amazon.co.uk	50%	50%
Amazon.com	70%	55%
Amazon.de	50%	50%
Amazon.es	50%	50%
Amazon.fr	50%	50%
Amazon.it	50%	50%
Amazon.jp	30%	30%
Arrow Films	65%	60%
Barnes & Noble	50%	50%
Baskin Robbins	60%	60%
Best Buy	25%	25%
BJ's (not BJ's restaurant)3	60%	NA
Bloomingdales	50%	50%
Burger King4	60%	NA
Clothing Shops (Small Boutique)	contact me	contact me
Dell3	60%	NA
Delta gift cards3	65%	NA
Delta Sky Miles3	PM me	NA
Delta Vouchers3	65%	NA
Dicks Sporting Goods 3	PM me	NA
Disney Plus	PM me	PM me
Dunkin Donuts3	60%	NA
eBay	70%	70%
Fandango3	10%	NA
Five Guys3	60%	NA
Gamestop	60%	60%
Gas Station Cards3	PM me	NA
Gyft	70%	70%
Half Price Books	50%	50%
iTunes3	60%	NA
J crew	40%	40%
JCPenney	25%	25%
Jersey Mike Subs3	60%	NA
KFC3	60%	NA
Khols	30%	30%
Macys	35%	35%
Magazines.com	40%	40%
McDonald's 3	60%	NA
Microsoft3	60%	NA
Moe’s Southwestern Grill3	60%	NA
Nintendo Eshop3	70%	NA
Nordstrom	50%	50%
Panera bread3	60%	NA
PSN3	60	NA
PSN Plus 12 month3	NA	NA
Saks Fifth Avenue	50%	50%
Sears	50%	50%
Sephora	50%	50%
Speedway (must be able to use on fuel)3	80%	NA
Staples	50%	50%
Starbucks US only	55%	55%
Steam3	60%	NA
Subway 3	PM me	NA
Taco Bell	60%	NA
Target	50%	50%
Urban Outfitters	50%	50%
Vudu3	50%	NA
Walmart	60%	60%
Wendys3	60%	NA
Xbox (gift cards)3	60%	NA
Other Clothing Stores, Gas Stations, Grocery Stores, Restaurant, & Fast Food gift cards	PM me

¹ When paying via PayPal, I can only send payments via Goods and Services, thus you will be charged a fee. If you'd rather not face this fee there are plenty of alternatives. ² Larger denominated gift cards preferred. ³ PayPal is the only payment option. ⁴ All crypto payments come from Coinbase. Any fees associated with it are built into the price.

What I don’t buy:

• Amazon.au
• Bass Pro Shop
• buffalo wild wing
• California Pizza Kitchen
• Canadian tire
• Cold Stone
• Dairy Queen
• Fanatics
• Giant Foods
• Google Play
• Grub Hub
• Gymshark
• Hilton Honors
• Hot Topic
• Krispy Kreme
• old navy/gap/banana republic
• Patxi's pizza
• PSN Canada or UK
• publix
• Raceway
• Scheels
• Shell Gas Stations
• Spotify
• Starbucks Canada
• Tractor supply
• Xbox Canada or UK
• Xbox live gold

Any fees are built into the price.

Selling

I have:
Up to $1000 in Amazon.com (can be broken up into smaller denominations) and am selling at

• 85%: WesternUnion, Wise, Airtm (You can download the WesternUnion app and send the payment from your phone and I will pay the fees.)
• 90%: LTC

Up to $500 in eBay (can be broken up into smaller denominations) and am selling at

• 90%: WesternUnion, Wise, Airtm (You can download the WesternUnion app and send the payment from your phone and I will pay the fees.)

Up to $500 in Apple.com ($15 and $50 denomination) and am selling at

• 90%: WesternUnion, Wise, Airtm (You can download the WesternUnion app and send the payment from your phone and I will pay the fees.)

Important: before you send your codes please make sure your account is secure (if your password is not uniqe it's best to assume your account has already been compromised. Scams where compromised accounts are used to leverage reputation to scam an unsuspecting user, used to steal codes during the middle of the trade, and steal unused gift cards the victim was saving for later are increasingly commonplace. If you have any concerns as to your account's security, please reset your password now and force logout of all sessions. Thanks

Warning: I will not message you first. If you were messaged by someone claiming to be me you are in the process of being scammed.

You can download the WesternUnion app and send the payment from your phone and I will pay the fees.
Desktop Users: Comment on this post and Click here to start a trade App Users, please include the following in your PM (Remember to comment on this post as well):

• Type of card(s) and amount of each.
• What payment method you accept.
• How you acquired the GC and why you're getting rid of it.

Crypto^4, Paypal^1, Apple Pay, Chime, Cashapp, Varo, Venmo, and Western Union
I only have Steam as a substitute for cash payments in gift card trades.

Want ↓	Cash or a Gift Card ↓	Crypto4 ↓
Apple	60%3	NA
Amazon.ca	50%	50%
Amazon.co.uk	50%	50%
Amazon.com	70%	55%
Amazon.de	50%	50%
Amazon.es	50%	50%
Amazon.fr	50%	50%
Amazon.it	50%	50%
Amazon.jp	30%	30%
Arrow Films	65%	60%
Barnes & Noble	50%	50%
Baskin Robbins	60%	60%
Best Buy	25%	25%
BJ's (not BJ's restaurant)3	60%	NA
Bloomingdales	50%	50%
Burger King4	60%	NA
Clothing Shops (Small Boutique)	contact me	contact me
Dell3	60%	NA
Delta gift cards3	65%	NA
Delta Sky Miles3	PM me	NA
Delta Vouchers3	65%	NA
Dicks Sporting Goods 3	PM me	NA
Disney Plus	PM me	PM me
Dunkin Donuts3	60%	NA
eBay	70%	70%
Fandango3	10%	NA
Five Guys3	60%	NA
Gamestop	60%	60%
Gas Station Cards3	PM me	NA
Gyft	70%	70%
Half Price Books	50%	50%
iTunes3	60%	NA
J crew	40%	40%
JCPenney	25%	25%
Jersey Mike Subs3	60%	NA
KFC3	60%	NA
Khols	30%	30%
Macys	35%	35%
Magazines.com	40%	40%
McDonald's 3	60%	NA
Microsoft3	60%	NA
Moe’s Southwestern Grill3	60%	NA
Nintendo Eshop3	70%	NA
Nordstrom	50%	50%
Panera bread3	60%	NA
PSN3	60	NA
PSN Plus 12 month3	NA	NA
Saks Fifth Avenue	50%	50%
Sears	50%	50%
Sephora	50%	50%
Speedway (must be able to use on fuel)3	80%	NA
Staples	50%	50%
Starbucks US only	55%	55%
Steam3	60%	NA
Subway 3	PM me	NA
Taco Bell	60%	NA
Target	50%	50%
Urban Outfitters	50%	50%
Vudu3	50%	NA
Walmart	60%	60%
Wendys3	60%	NA
Xbox (gift cards)3	60%	NA
Other Clothing Stores, Gas Stations, Grocery Stores, Restaurant, & Fast Food gift cards	PM me

¹ When paying via PayPal, I can only send payments via Goods and Services, thus you will be charged a fee. If you'd rather not face this fee there are plenty of alternatives. ² Larger denominated gift cards preferred. ³ PayPal is the only payment option. ⁴ All crypto payments come from Coinbase. Any fees associated with it are built into the price.

What I don’t buy:

• Amazon.au
• Bass Pro Shop
• buffalo wild wing
• California Pizza Kitchen
• Canadian tire
• Cold Stone
• Dairy Queen
• Fanatics
• Giant Foods
• Google Play
• Grub Hub
• Gymshark
• Hilton Honors
• Hot Topic
• Krispy Kreme
• old navy/gap/banana republic
• Patxi's pizza
• PSN Canada or UK
• publix
• Raceway
• Scheels
• Shell Gas Stations
• Spotify
• Starbucks Canada
• Tractor supply
• Xbox Canada or UK
• Xbox live gold

Any fees are built into the price.

Selling

I have:
Up to $1000 in Amazon.com (can be broken up into smaller denominations) and am selling at

• 85%: WesternUnion, Wise, Airtm (You can download the WesternUnion app and send the payment from your phone and I will pay the fees.)
• 90%: LTC

Up to $500 in eBay (can be broken up into smaller denominations) and am selling at

• 90%: WesternUnion, Wise, Airtm (You can download the WesternUnion app and send the payment from your phone and I will pay the fees.)

Up to $500 in Apple.com ($15 and $50 denomination) and am selling at

• 90%: WesternUnion, Wise, Airtm (You can download the WesternUnion app and send the payment from your phone and I will pay the fees.)

Important: before you send your codes please make sure your account is secure (if your password is not uniqe it's best to assume your account has already been compromised. Scams where compromised accounts are used to leverage reputation to scam an unsuspecting user, used to steal codes during the middle of the trade, and steal unused gift cards the victim was saving for later are increasingly commonplace. If you have any concerns as to your account's security, please reset your password now and force logout of all sessions. Thanks

People that call her out for her bad behavior are trolls.
I don't know what to say. I'm so flabbergasted. She acts like she's an angel for taking her father out for breakfast because he wanted to get out of the home for a bit. She sets him up with a question about mommy. He remembers their anniversary, says he misses her, and she was a good woman. Then like the evil snake that she is, she hisses at him and tells him he didn't deserve her. All the while filming him and posting on the internet for her entertainment. It's so sick and diabolical. Did she ask his permission to film and post for everyone to see?
And don't buy her crap about a full length mirror. Help me find one! She pulled that stunt 2 years ago. All her stans told her where to get one for under $100, i.e. Walmart and it never materialized.
She shouldn't bother with a mirror. Time marches on and it's marching across her face no matter how much money she spends on collagen and skin care. She looks just like her father. And pulled off a pretty heinous crime back in the day that matches her father"s indiscretions.
Just like a bad seed.

...while I'm stocking tilapia in a bin and she took a bag right out of the box.
I said, "This isn't priced yet. Everything is in the freezers right over there." Yeah, I did.
She asks, "Well, where is the fish not from China?"
Again, directed her to freezers.
It took every restraint not to say, "Lady, this Walmart. If you're so concerned about buying shit from China, why are you shopping here at Hong Kong Central?"

I went to CVS to buy Liquid IV because they ran out at Walmart, but it was so hard to find. I’m so used to finding it with the Gatorades and other sports drinks and was confused when it wasn’t there at CVS. I asked an employee and they told me I could find it with the Pedialyte which I thought was weird. Where do you guys usually find the hydration powders in your stores?

Hi all,
I’ve decided to buy/build a 4 player arcade machine, but don’t know where to start.
This is what I’m looking for.
For the arcade it self I’m incline to buy a pedestal as I want to buy a cheap Amazon / Walmart 32” TV and hang it on the wall. I’ve seen pedestal kits sold online. I can buy this and then buy the buttons and all the remaining. Stuff one by one.
For CPU either PC (old one) or Raspberry Pi. I just want something that I just click a button and it’s ready to start playing. Kinda like the real arcades.
For games . Looking for some basic ones, 4 players ones, fighting etc. Don’t like having hundreds of games… maybe will have 20-30 max.
I do have the basic knowledge of frontends , roms , cabling and all that as I tried to build one around 5-8 year ago but I dropped the project.
Please advise or recommend any other ways to achieve this.
Ohhh I’m trying to spend as little as possible. It doesn’t have to be pretty or amazing with colors and vinyls… just a working arcade my 2 kids and their friends. They all are around 6-10 years old so they don’t care :). Best case I can pump it out in the future .
Thank you!

Printify is a print-on-demand (POD) and dropshipping platform that allows you to create and sell custom products without having to hold any inventory.
I’ve been testing it out, and trust me, there’s a lot to explore. With over 900 products to choose from – everything from clothes and games to pet gear, accessories, and home decor – you’re bound to find something that catches your eye.
But here’s the burning question — Is Printify actually worth using? Does it deliver on its promises? That’s what we’re here to figure out together.
In this in-depth review, I’m diving deep into everything Printify has to offer. We’ll look at its features, pricing plans, and most importantly, its pros and cons.
Hopefully, by the time we’re done, you’ll have a clear idea of whether Printify is a good fit for your creative ideas and business goals.
So, buckle up and let’s get started.

What is Printify and How Does It Work?

Printify is a leading print-on-demand service that allows users to create and sell custom products without managing inventory or upfront costs. They connect users to a network of print providers who produce and ship products directly to customers.
The company was founded in 2015 in Riga, Latvia by Artis Kehris, Gatis Dukurs, and James Berdigans.
Since launching nine years ago, Printify has become a go-to platform for over 6 million merchants. Together, they’ve sold a staggering amount of products — over half a billion dollars worth.

How Does Printify Work?

Now, let’s talk about how Printify works and here’s a brief overview of it:

• Sign up and create an account: The first step is to create a free Printify account.
• Choose your products: Browse Printify’s extensive catalog of products, including t-shirts, mugs, hoodies, phone cases, and more. Select the items you want to customize and sell.
• Design your products: Use Printify’s free mockup generator or upload your own designs to create unique products.
• Connect your store: Integrate your Printify account with your online store (e.g., Etsy, Shopify, WooCommerce). This allows you to automatically sync your product listings.
• Start selling: When a customer places an order in your store, Printify automatically receives the order details.
• Printify handles production and fulfilment: Printify’s printing partners print your design on the product and ship it directly to your customer under your brand.
• You get paid: You set your own retail prices for your products. After Printify deducts its costs (product and shipping), you keep the profit. So, that’s how the Printify system works.

Printify Features and Functionality

Printify comes with many powerful features that make it one of the best print-on-demand (POD) services on the market. Let’s kick off this Printify review by looking at these features in more detail.

#1. Integrations

Printify works seamlessly with all the big names where you sell online, so you can reach more customers and grow your business.
Whether you’re using your own website or an online marketplace (or both), Printify’s got you covered.
Here’s a quick list of all the places you can connect Printify to:

• Your own website: Shopify, Wix, Squarespace, BigCommerce, WooCommerce, PrestaShop
• Online marketplaces: Etsy, Amazon FBA, Walmart, eBay

And if you need something a little more custom, they’ve got an API for that too.

#2. Product Catalog

Printify has a huge catalog with over 900 fantastic products to choose from. Just for comparison, their biggest competitor, Printful, only has around 230.
With Printify, you can find everything from t-shirts and mugs to doormats, wall art, festive decorations, phone cases, and even gift wraps. This gives your business so many choices and the freedom to offer your customers something for every occasion.

#3. Shipping

Printify takes care of everything after your customer clicks “buy.” They print your design on the product and ship it straight to their door.
This is a huge time-saver, as you don’t have to worry about packing or shipping anything yourself. You even get to choose the return address on the package, so it looks like it’s coming from you.
One thing to keep in mind is that Printify doesn’t offer custom packaging yet, which could be a drawback if you’re trying to create a unique brand experience.
Also, remember that the advertised shipping time isn’t always the same as the actual delivery time, which might take a bit longer.

#4. Order Management

Printify also helps you keep track of your orders. You can easily see how many sales you’ve made and track the progress of each order, whether it’s in production, on hold, ready to ship, or already out for delivery. It’s really useful for checking on how your business is doing.
The only downside is that each place you sell your products (like Etsy or your own website) has its own separate dashboard for orders.
It would be even better if they had one main dashboard where you could see all your sales in one place, no matter where they came from.

What Makes Printify Special?

Ever wondered why so many people rave about Printify? It boils down to two awesome things: more choices and bigger profits.
First off, they blow other platforms like Printful out of the water with their massive selection. Seriously, there are nearly four times the number of products to choose from. That means you’re bound to find something your customers will go crazy for.
Second, Printify usually puts a little extra cash in your pocket with each sale. Yep, you get a slightly higher profit margin per item, and who doesn’t love that?
Bottom line: more choice + more profit = a winning combo for sellers like you.

Printify Pricing: Which Plan is Right for You?

Using the Printify platform itself is free. You can create an account, design products, and integrate with your online store at no cost.
You only pay when you order a product, either as a sample for yourself or to fulfil a customer’s order. The cost of each product will depend on the specific item, the printing options you choose, and the shipping destination.
Printify also offers a Premium subscription plan for high-volume sellers, which gives you a 20% discount on all products and additional features for $29/month or $24.99/month if billed annually. However, this is optional, and the free plan is sufficient for most users.
Here’s a quick breakdown of Printify pricing packages:

PLANS NAME	FREE	PREMIUM
Price	$0	$24.99 per month (billed annually)
Stores Per Account	5	10
Product Designs	Unlimited	Unlimited
Product Catalog	Yes	Yes
Integrations	Yes	Yes
Customer Support	24/7 via live chat or contact form	24/7 via live chat or contact form

You can find more information about Printify’s pricing and subscription options on their website.

Printify Setup Process

I had a really smooth experience setting up Printify. All you need to do is create a free account to get started. Once you’re in, you can browse their product catalog, upload your own designs, and pick what you want to sell.
The big thing is connecting Printify to your store, whether it’s your own website or online marketplaces like Etsy. I connected mine to both Shopify and Etsy, and it was an easy process because they’re all built to work together.
If you’re using Shopify like me, here’s a quick rundown of how to connect Printify:

• Head to your Printify dashboard and click on “Manage My Store” in the upper left-hand corner (under your store name).
• Find Shopify in the list of options and click the “Connect to Shopify” button.
• Type in your Shopify website address and click “Connect.”
• Follow the steps to install Printify on Shopify.

By the way, you can also do this from within Shopify if that’s easier for you.

Is Prinitify Easy to Use?

Printify is easy and simple to set up. I had no trouble uploading my designs onto the products I wanted to sell, and connecting my store was super simple.
Creating a custom product was surprisingly easy — just pick the product, choose your provider (who will actually print it), upload your design, add some variations, and publish. My new product was ready to go, and automatically synced with my store.
One thing I really liked was how Printify takes care of everything after the sale. Once your store is connected, any orders that come in are automatically sent to Printify. They handle the printing, shipping, and everything else, so your customer gets their order directly.
There are tons of products to choose from, and you get to pick who you want to print them. This gives you a lot of control over the quality, how long it takes, and how much it costs. It’s a great way to make sure your customers get exactly what they want.

Printify Security System

Printify does a good job of keeping your account safe with its built-in security features, but it also gives you some extra tools to control your security.
You can decide if you want to approve each order before it goes into production, get notified when your order is shipped, and even automatically send delayed orders to production so you don’t have to worry about them.
One thing to note is that Printify doesn’t let you add extra users to your account, so you can’t set up different roles and permissions for them.

Printify Customer Service and Support

Printify offers multiple channels for customer service and support, such as:

• Help Center: Their comprehensive Help Center covers various topics, from getting started to managing orders and payments. You can browse articles or search for specific issues.
• Live Chat: You can chat with a virtual agent, Snappy (who can answer many common questions and guide you to relevant resources), or request to speak with a live support agent through the chat feature on their website.
• Contact Form: If your query isn’t urgent or you prefer email communication, you can fill out a contact form on their website. They will typically respond within a short time frame.
• Order-Specific Support: If you have a problem with a specific order, you can report the issue directly from the order details in your Printify account. This helps expedite the resolution process.

Printify doesn’t do phone support for everyone (unless you’re on their Enterprise plan) but don’t worry.
Their live chat is open 24/7, and anyone can use it. I gave it a shot and was really happy with how fast they got back to me and how helpful they were.
Honestly, it was way better than most other live chats I’ve tried.

Who Is Printify Best For?

Printify is best for:

• Entrepreneurs and small business owners: who want to start or grow an online business without investing in inventory or equipment.
• Creatives and designers: who want to sell their designs on a variety of products, without having to worry about production or fulfilment.
• Ecommerce store owners: who want to expand their product offerings without having to manage additional inventory.
• Social media influencers: Individuals with a large following who want to offer merchandise to their fans.
• Anyone looking for a side hustle: Those who want to start an online business with minimal upfront investment.

Printify is not the best option for:

• Businesses that need complete control over the production process: Printify partners with third-party print providers, so businesses may not have as much control over the quality or production time of their products.
• Businesses that need large quantities of products: Printify is better suited for small to medium-sized orders.

Printify Pros and Cons

I’ve used Printify myself and it’s pretty awesome for print-on-demand. It has some downsides, though.
Here’s my quick take on the biggest pros and cons I’ve found.
Pros:

• Free Forever Plan: A generous free plan with no product limits for up to five stores is a fantastic entry point for beginners and small businesses.
• Beginner-Friendly: Easy to use, even for those without prior experience in e-commerce or print-on-demand.
• Large Product Selection: With Printify, you’ll find tons of awesome products to customize – from clothes and accessories to home decor and everything in between.
• Unlimited product designs on all plans: This flexibility lets you experiment with different designs without restrictions.
• Free Mockup Generator: This is a valuable tool for visualizing your designs on products before you start selling them.
• Easy Integration: Seamlessly connecting Printify to your existing website or online marketplace saves time and effort in setting up your store.
• Global Reach: The shipping network allows you to reach customers worldwide.
• Shutterstock integration: This provides access to a vast library of high-quality images and graphics that can be used for product designs.

Cons:

• No Custom Packaging: This can be a drawback for those who want to create a strong brand identity. You won’t be able to add your logo or custom designs to the packaging.
• Shipping Can Be Slow: This can be frustrating for customers who expect fast delivery, and it can also lead to negative reviews.
• No Phone Support: Limited to email and chat support, which may not be ideal for urgent issues.

Printify Review: Final Thoughts

Printify is a game-changer for sellers like you and me. It frees us from the hassle of stocking up on products we might never sell. Instead, we can design custom apparel, accessories, and more, and only make them when someone orders.
As a business owner, I know how much time and energy each customer order takes. That’s why I love how Printify simplifies things and takes some of the load off my shoulders.
Sure, Printify has its downsides. Shipping can be pricey and slow, and the product quality isn’t always consistent. But with a little extra research on their forums and ordering samples beforehand, I’ve had a great experience with them.
If you’re looking to build an online store without the headaches of inventory and shipping, Printify is a fantastic option. It gives you easy access to creating, ordering, and shipping your own unique designs.
Well, that wraps up my review on Printify. The best way to see if it’s right for you is to give it a try – their free plan is a great starting point. Just click the button below to sign up and explore what Printify has to offer.

Hi ShopifyeCommerce - I'm Paul and I follow the e-commerce industry closely for my Shopifreaks E-commerce Newsletter. Each week I post a summary recap of the week's top stories, which I cover in depth in the newsletter. Let's dive in...
STAT OF THE WEEK: Amazon could finally surpass Walmart to become the nation’s biggest company by revenue, having grown by 12% last year compared with Walmart's growth of 6%. Two more years of similar growth discrepancy would push Amazon past Walmart in sales.
Shopify is suing Shopline in New York federal court, accusing it of illegally copying Shopify's software to build its own e-commerce platform. Shopline is a Singapore-based subsidiary of the Chinese technology company JOYY Inc. Shopify said in the lawsuit that Shopline created a “thinly disguised knockoff” of its Dawn theme to power a competing e-commerce service. The lawsuit even says that the “Shopify” name still appears in the code of various versions of Seed that Shopline is distributing, and that Shopify found a Chinese webpage hosted by Joyy with the title “Seed Theme” that still carries headers reading “dawn-test.”
In other lawsuit news this week — Temu is facing legal action from 17 companies accusing it of violating new EU laws with “manipulative practices” such as making it difficult to delete your account, and lack of transparency over who their sellers are and why certain products are recommended to customers. Temu was the most downloaded app in the UK in 2023 and still remains as a top downloaded app in 2024.
The state of Arizona has taken legal action against Amazon, launching two lawsuits that accuse the company of monopolistic behavior and deceptive practices involving dark patterns. The first lawsuit claims that Amazon's business practices violate the state's Consumer Fraud Act by employing dark patterns to make it difficult for users to cancel their Amazon Prime subscriptions. The second lawsuit alleges that Amazon breaches Arizona's Uniform State Antitrust Act by maintaining a monopoly via enforcing agreements with third-party sellers to prevent them from offering lower prices on other platforms. It also challenges Amazon's Buy Box algorithm under the Consumer Fraud Act, claiming that it favors sellers who use Fulfillment By Amazon. The legal actions echo similar complaints from the FTC and various states.
Last week Amazon made a big splash with its first-ever event during upfront week, taking over Pier 36 in New York which has previously hosted upfront presentations from Disney and TelevisaUnivision. The company called on celebrities including Jake Gyllenhaal, Reese Witherspoon, Will Ferrell, and Alicia Keys to demonstrate how premium their content is. Amazon worked to separate itself from its competitors by showcasing its scale. Prime Video now has an average monthly ad-supported reach of 200M customers, with 115M in the US, making it the largest premium ad-supported streaming service both globally and in the U.S. It also announced new upcoming series such as Spider-Man Noir, Tomb Raider, and a prequel to Legally Blond.
eBay launched a new feature called “resell on eBay” that is designed to make it easier for brands and consumers to list clothing for sale on its marketplace. The feature is built into Certilogo, which was acquired by eBay in 2023, which features an AI-powered digital ID printed on the product tag to help brands manage the lifecycle of their garments and give consumers a way to confirm the item's authenticity. Users scan a QR code on a product's smart label to generate a “resell your garment” button. Clicking the button directs the user to check the authenticity of the item through Certilogo's AI authentication system by signing in with their eBay account. From there, an eBay listing is prefilled with information from the brand about the item. Users can then edit the listing, upload additional photos, and publish the item for sale.
Poshmark launched a new paid marketing tool called “Promoted Closets” that gives sellers the ability to promote their entire shop at once. The tool uses machine learning to automatically promote individual product listings from a seller's entire inventory, identifying shoppers' search terms and matching them with promoted items. Promoted Closet works on a cost per click model where sellers only get charged when a shopper clicks and views the item from a promoted listing. There's an option to set the budget manually or get a recommendation from Poshmark. Each campaign lasts for 7 days.
Klarna says that it is not sharing its customer data with credit bureaus in the US because the bureaus “do not have proper models to responsibly process the data and ensure good consumer outcomes.” It does share its data with UK credit bureaus. Klarna added that the credit models used today in the US “were built decades ago and calculate data based on monthly payments, long-term loans, and open lines of credit. But BNPL does not fit into these categories.” The company claims that BNPL is different because it offers bi-weekly instead of monthly payments, and unlike a credit card, Klarna doesn't offer an open line of credit.
Third party sellers on Amazon, which make up 60% of sales on Amazon's marketplace, are reconsidering how heavily they'll discount products this year for Prime Day, given how much seller fees have increased on the platform in recent months, according to Modern Retail. According to data from SmartScout, Amazon FBA fees for standard-sized products have jumped 96% over the past 10 years, outpacing inflation. Seller fees can eat up about half the cost per sale on Amazon, according to Marketplace Pulse. That doesn't leave much room for running Prime Day deals, which primarily benefit Amazon as opposed to the individual merchants who are pressured to wipe out their little remaining margin for the sake of running a deal at all.
Netflix announced durings it Upfronts presentation that it's launching its own advertising platform to compete against Google, Amazon, Hulu, Comcast, and other ad giants. Amazon has only been in the advertising business for a year and a half after launching its ad-supported tier in Nov 2022. Netflix originally partnered with Microsoft to develop its ad tech, which let the streaming platform enter the ad space quickly and catch up with rivals like Hulu, which has offered an ad-supported tier since 2010. Launching its own in-house ad tech will allow Netflix to take full control of its advertising and create targeted and personalized ad experiences. Netflix wants to experiment with “episodic” campaigns, which involves a series of ads that tell a story rather than delivering repetitive ads. Brilliant!
Slack is under attack after users discovered that the company has been using their messages, content, and files to train its global AI models, which Slack uses to power their channel and emoji recommendations and search results. It was discovered that if you don't want Slack to use your data, you have to e-mail the company to opt-out, which isn't a good look for a company that makes a big deal out of telling customers that “You control your data.” In response to the outrage, Slack published a blog post to clarify how its customers' data is used.
Google will now let you perform a “web” search, which lets you filter out almost all of its AI results and knowledge panels that currently take over its SERPs, leaving you with just links and text like the old days. The order of the search results are the same regardless of whether you pick “web” or “all”, and it doesn't block links to YouTube videos or Reddit posts. There are also still ads that appear above and below the results.
YouTube is officially launching its YouTube Select “creator takeovers,” which lets advertisers buy out the ad inventory on channels representing the top 1% of content on the platform. The program began as a pilot at the end of 2023 and is now opening to more top creators.
Wix launched three new AI-powered image enhancement and creation tools to help users create and display high-quality images. The new tools include an AI Image Creator to make the images, Object Eraser to remove unwanted objects in the images, and AI Image Editor to add/edit portions of the image. Honestly, the three tools kind of sound like one tool with three features, but you do you, Wix.
Temu, which is already 20% bigger than Shein in the US and gets 42% of its business from the US, Mexico, and Chile, is turning its attention to Europe and wants to grow rapidly in the region. The company has redirected its enormous ad spend to Europe and Mexico while Washington scrutinizes its business practices in the US.
Visa announced major changes to how its credit and debit cards will operate in the US in the coming months and years. The new features mean consumers will be carrying fewer physical cards in their wallets, and will make the 16-digit card number increasingly irrelevant. The biggest change will be the ability for banks to issue one physical card that is connected to multiple bank accounts, which consumers can apply usage rules to.
Mastercard and Salesforce announced a new integration designed to help customers speed up the resolution of transaction disputes and chargebacks, as well as reduce costs associated with resolving them. The partnership will integrate Salesforce's Financial Services Cloud with Mastercard's dispute resolution services, providing real time notifications and a central dashboard for managing disputes.
Meta is taking inspiration from BeReal and Snapchat by developing a feature for Instagram called “Peek” that allows users to post authentic pictures that can only be viewed once. A photo shared via a Peek would have to be taken with your camera in the moment, as you would not be able to upload an image from your gallery, and you won't be able to add filters or edit the photo.
Ikea launched a TikTok livestream where cats and dogs model and demonstrate new Ikea products for pets. The Pet Shopping Network will appear for everyone in the UK on TikTok and showcase pets demonstrating Ikea's 29-piece pet furniture range.
Sam's Club is planning to launch an online shopping portal in Hong Kong within the next two months, giving the territory access to its products via e-commerce. The service will include free delivery for purchases over 599 yuan ($83).
Amazon raised warehouse worker wages to $15/hour five years ago, but today half of workers surveyed told researchers they struggle to afford food and rent. Amazon called the researcher's methodology “deeply flawed” and said the company had tried to raise its concerns with the study’s authors but never heard back.
Lots of layoffs this week… Amazon laid off more than 100 customer service reps, Walmart let go of hundreds of corporate staffers and ordering employees across the US and Canada, Gopuff laid off 6% of its staff, and Indeed laid off 8% of its workforce.
Remember that former diversity program manager at Facebook who stole more than $4M from the company through fake business deals in exchange for kickbacks? I first reported on Barbara Furlow-Smiles in December of last year when she pled guilty to the theft. Well, last week she was sentenced to five years and three months in prison for her scheme.
In the world of corporate turnover… The chief of Amazon Web Services, Adam Selipsky, is stepping down next month after a three-year term to be replaced by Matt Garman, a senior VP who has overseen sales and marketing at AWS. Also, eBay's VP of Global Communications, Michelle Friedman, departed the company to take on a role at Samsara, a cloud platform built for tracking and analyzing data from physical operations.
Meta is shutting down Workspace, a version of Facebook that had been built to enable communication among business teams and organizations. Sources say that it will be business as usual on the platform until August 25, 2025, and then it will be read-only until May 2026. Meta is recommending Zoom-owned Workvivo as a migration-ready alternative.
Ted Baker Canada is holding store-closing clearance sales across locations in the US and Canada after filing for bankruptcy in April. As of May 10th, online shopping is no longer available and all sales are final across the company's brick-and-mortar retail locations.
Sezzle, a US-based BNPL service, partnered up with Celerant Technology, a POS system for retailers, to offer a BNPL option when checking out in-store . The two companies had partnered in 2023 to offer BNPL options online, and now the solution is being brought to brick-and-mortar stores.
BuyBay, a Dutch recommerce platform, is launching a SaaS product using its own recommerce software. Retailers and manufacturers can now resell unreturned products from their own distribution center, which helps reduce CO2-emissions and increase profits.
Setapp Mobile, a subscription-based alternative to the Apple App Store that's now possible thanks to the EU's Digital Markets Act, went into invite-only beta last week. The new app store allows customers to play with a range of apps without being hit with reduced features, ads, options to upgrade, and without spending money on something they may not use. The biggest challenge with the Setapp iOS store is getting the app installed on your iPhone, which involves following a link, installing software, and then activating it — a process made intentionally cumbersome by Apple.
Avalara expanded its partnership with Shopify by joining the Shopify Tax Platform. Avalara has powered tax calculation for Shopify Plus customers since 2015, and now through the Shopify Tax Partner Platform, the company can serve all Shopify customers with their global tax compliance tools.
Walmart delivered 4.4B items the same day or next day, beating Amazon, which said it did 4B items in one day. Walmart's advantage is that it uses stores for its same-day deliveries.
Plus 9 seed rounds, IPOs, and acquisitions of interest including Gorgias's $29M Series C-2 round, which it plans to use the funds from to launch its new AI Agent.
I hope you found this recap helpful. See you next week! For more details on each story and sources, see the full edition: https://www.shopifreaks.com/shopify-sues-shopline-ebays-qr-code-netflixs-new-ad-serve What else is new in e-commerce? Share stories of interesting in the comments below (including in your own business) or on shopifreaks. -PAUL Editor of Shopifreaks E-commerce Newsletter PS: Want the full editions delivered to your Inbox each week? Join free at www.shopifreaks.com

Hi - I'm Paul and I follow the e-commerce industry closely for my Shopifreaks E-commerce Newsletter. Each week I post a summary recap of the week's top stories, which I cover in depth with sources in the full edition. Let's dive in...
STAT OF THE WEEK: Amazon could finally surpass Walmart to become the nation’s biggest company by revenue, having grown by 12% last year compared with Walmart's growth of 6%. Two more years of similar growth discrepancy would push Amazon past Walmart in sales.
Shopify is suing Shopline in New York federal court, accusing it of illegally copying Shopify's software to build its own e-commerce platform. Shopline is a Singapore-based subsidiary of the Chinese technology company JOYY Inc. Shopify said in the lawsuit that Shopline created a “thinly disguised knockoff” of its Dawn theme to power a competing e-commerce service. The lawsuit even says that the “Shopify” name still appears in the code of various versions of Seed that Shopline is distributing, and that Shopify found a Chinese webpage hosted by Joyy with the title “Seed Theme” that still carries headers reading “dawn-test.”
In other lawsuit news this week — Temu is facing legal action from 17 companies accusing it of violating new EU laws with “manipulative practices” such as making it difficult to delete your account, and lack of transparency over who their sellers are and why certain products are recommended to customers. Temu was the most downloaded app in the UK in 2023 and still remains as a top downloaded app in 2024.
The state of Arizona has taken legal action against Amazon, launching two lawsuits that accuse the company of monopolistic behavior and deceptive practices involving dark patterns. The first lawsuit claims that Amazon's business practices violate the state's Consumer Fraud Act by employing dark patterns to make it difficult for users to cancel their Amazon Prime subscriptions. The second lawsuit alleges that Amazon breaches Arizona's Uniform State Antitrust Act by maintaining a monopoly via enforcing agreements with third-party sellers to prevent them from offering lower prices on other platforms. It also challenges Amazon's Buy Box algorithm under the Consumer Fraud Act, claiming that it favors sellers who use Fulfillment By Amazon. The legal actions echo similar complaints from the FTC and various states.
Last week Amazon made a big splash with its first-ever event during upfront week, taking over Pier 36 in New York which has previously hosted upfront presentations from Disney and TelevisaUnivision. The company called on celebrities including Jake Gyllenhaal, Reese Witherspoon, Will Ferrell, and Alicia Keys to demonstrate how premium their content is. Amazon worked to separate itself from its competitors by showcasing its scale. Prime Video now has an average monthly ad-supported reach of 200M customers, with 115M in the US, making it the largest premium ad-supported streaming service both globally and in the U.S. It also announced new upcoming series such as Spider-Man Noir, Tomb Raider, and a prequel to Legally Blond.
eBay launched a new feature called “resell on eBay” that is designed to make it easier for brands and consumers to list clothing for sale on its marketplace. The feature is built into Certilogo, which was acquired by eBay in 2023, which features an AI-powered digital ID printed on the product tag to help brands manage the lifecycle of their garments and give consumers a way to confirm the item's authenticity. Users scan a QR code on a product's smart label to generate a “resell your garment” button. Clicking the button directs the user to check the authenticity of the item through Certilogo's AI authentication system by signing in with their eBay account. From there, an eBay listing is prefilled with information from the brand about the item. Users can then edit the listing, upload additional photos, and publish the item for sale.
Poshmark launched a new paid marketing tool called “Promoted Closets” that gives sellers the ability to promote their entire shop at once. The tool uses machine learning to automatically promote individual product listings from a seller's entire inventory, identifying shoppers' search terms and matching them with promoted items. Promoted Closet works on a cost per click model where sellers only get charged when a shopper clicks and views the item from a promoted listing. There's an option to set the budget manually or get a recommendation from Poshmark. Each campaign lasts for 7 days.
Klarna says that it is not sharing its customer data with credit bureaus in the US because the bureaus “do not have proper models to responsibly process the data and ensure good consumer outcomes.” It does share its data with UK credit bureaus. Klarna added that the credit models used today in the US “were built decades ago and calculate data based on monthly payments, long-term loans, and open lines of credit. But BNPL does not fit into these categories.” The company claims that BNPL is different because it offers bi-weekly instead of monthly payments, and unlike a credit card, Klarna doesn't offer an open line of credit.
Third party sellers on Amazon, which make up 60% of sales on Amazon's marketplace, are reconsidering how heavily they'll discount products this year for Prime Day, given how much seller fees have increased on the platform in recent months, according to Modern Retail. According to data from SmartScout, Amazon FBA fees for standard-sized products have jumped 96% over the past 10 years, outpacing inflation. Seller fees can eat up about half the cost per sale on Amazon, according to Marketplace Pulse. That doesn't leave much room for running Prime Day deals, which primarily benefit Amazon as opposed to the individual merchants who are pressured to wipe out their little remaining margin for the sake of running a deal at all.
Netflix announced durings it Upfronts presentation that it's launching its own advertising platform to compete against Google, Amazon, Hulu, Comcast, and other ad giants. Amazon has only been in the advertising business for a year and a half after launching its ad-supported tier in Nov 2022. Netflix originally partnered with Microsoft to develop its ad tech, which let the streaming platform enter the ad space quickly and catch up with rivals like Hulu, which has offered an ad-supported tier since 2010. Launching its own in-house ad tech will allow Netflix to take full control of its advertising and create targeted and personalized ad experiences. Netflix wants to experiment with “episodic” campaigns, which involves a series of ads that tell a story rather than delivering repetitive ads. Brilliant!
Slack is under attack after users discovered that the company has been using their messages, content, and files to train its global AI models, which Slack uses to power their channel and emoji recommendations and search results. It was discovered that if you don't want Slack to use your data, you have to e-mail the company to opt-out, which isn't a good look for a company that makes a big deal out of telling customers that “You control your data.” In response to the outrage, Slack published a blog post to clarify how its customers' data is used.
Google will now let you perform a “web” search, which lets you filter out almost all of its AI results and knowledge panels that currently take over its SERPs, leaving you with just links and text like the old days. The order of the search results are the same regardless of whether you pick “web” or “all”, and it doesn't block links to YouTube videos or Reddit posts. There are also still ads that appear above and below the results.
YouTube is officially launching its YouTube Select “creator takeovers,” which lets advertisers buy out the ad inventory on channels representing the top 1% of content on the platform. The program began as a pilot at the end of 2023 and is now opening to more top creators.
Wix launched three new AI-powered image enhancement and creation tools to help users create and display high-quality images. The new tools include an AI Image Creator to make the images, Object Eraser to remove unwanted objects in the images, and AI Image Editor to add/edit portions of the image. Honestly, the three tools kind of sound like one tool with three features, but you do you, Wix.
Temu, which is already 20% bigger than Shein in the US and gets 42% of its business from the US, Mexico, and Chile, is turning its attention to Europe and wants to grow rapidly in the region. The company has redirected its enormous ad spend to Europe and Mexico while Washington scrutinizes its business practices in the US.
Visa announced major changes to how its credit and debit cards will operate in the US in the coming months and years. The new features mean consumers will be carrying fewer physical cards in their wallets, and will make the 16-digit card number increasingly irrelevant. The biggest change will be the ability for banks to issue one physical card that is connected to multiple bank accounts, which consumers can apply usage rules to.
Mastercard and Salesforce announced a new integration designed to help customers speed up the resolution of transaction disputes and chargebacks, as well as reduce costs associated with resolving them. The partnership will integrate Salesforce's Financial Services Cloud with Mastercard's dispute resolution services, providing real time notifications and a central dashboard for managing disputes.
Meta is taking inspiration from BeReal and Snapchat by developing a feature for Instagram called “Peek” that allows users to post authentic pictures that can only be viewed once. A photo shared via a Peek would have to be taken with your camera in the moment, as you would not be able to upload an image from your gallery, and you won't be able to add filters or edit the photo.
Ikea launched a TikTok livestream where cats and dogs model and demonstrate new Ikea products for pets. The Pet Shopping Network will appear for everyone in the UK on TikTok and showcase pets demonstrating Ikea's 29-piece pet furniture range.
Sam's Club is planning to launch an online shopping portal in Hong Kong within the next two months, giving the territory access to its products via e-commerce. The service will include free delivery for purchases over 599 yuan ($83).
Amazon raised warehouse worker wages to $15/hour five years ago, but today half of workers surveyed told researchers they struggle to afford food and rent. Amazon called the researcher's methodology “deeply flawed” and said the company had tried to raise its concerns with the study’s authors but never heard back.
Lots of layoffs this week… Amazon laid off more than 100 customer service reps, Walmart let go of hundreds of corporate staffers and ordering employees across the US and Canada, Gopuff laid off 6% of its staff, and Indeed laid off 8% of its workforce.
Remember that former diversity program manager at Facebook who stole more than $4M from the company through fake business deals in exchange for kickbacks? I first reported on Barbara Furlow-Smiles in December of last year when she pled guilty to the theft. Well, last week she was sentenced to five years and three months in prison for her scheme.
In the world of corporate turnover… The chief of Amazon Web Services, Adam Selipsky, is stepping down next month after a three-year term to be replaced by Matt Garman, a senior VP who has overseen sales and marketing at AWS. Also, eBay's VP of Global Communications, Michelle Friedman, departed the company to take on a role at Samsara, a cloud platform built for tracking and analyzing data from physical operations.
Meta is shutting down Workspace, a version of Facebook that had been built to enable communication among business teams and organizations. Sources say that it will be business as usual on the platform until August 25, 2025, and then it will be read-only until May 2026. Meta is recommending Zoom-owned Workvivo as a migration-ready alternative.
Ted Baker Canada is holding store-closing clearance sales across locations in the US and Canada after filing for bankruptcy in April. As of May 10th, online shopping is no longer available and all sales are final across the company's brick-and-mortar retail locations.
Sezzle, a US-based BNPL service, partnered up with Celerant Technology, a POS system for retailers, to offer a BNPL option when checking out in-store . The two companies had partnered in 2023 to offer BNPL options online, and now the solution is being brought to brick-and-mortar stores.
BuyBay, a Dutch recommerce platform, is launching a SaaS product using its own recommerce software. Retailers and manufacturers can now resell unreturned products from their own distribution center, which helps reduce CO2-emissions and increase profits.
Setapp Mobile, a subscription-based alternative to the Apple App Store that's now possible thanks to the EU's Digital Markets Act, went into invite-only beta last week. The new app store allows customers to play with a range of apps without being hit with reduced features, ads, options to upgrade, and without spending money on something they may not use. The biggest challenge with the Setapp iOS store is getting the app installed on your iPhone, which involves following a link, installing software, and then activating it — a process made intentionally cumbersome by Apple.
Avalara expanded its partnership with Shopify by joining the Shopify Tax Platform. Avalara has powered tax calculation for Shopify Plus customers since 2015, and now through the Shopify Tax Partner Platform, the company can serve all Shopify customers with their global tax compliance tools.
Walmart delivered 4.4B items the same day or next day, beating Amazon, which said it did 4B items in one day. Walmart's advantage is that it uses stores for its same-day deliveries.
Plus 9 seed rounds, IPOs, and acquisitions of interest including Gorgias's $29M Series C-2 round, which it plans to use the funds from to launch its new AI Agent.
I hope you found this recap helpful. See you next week!
PAUL Editor of Shopifreaks E-Commerce Newsletter
PS: If I missed any big news this week, please share in the comments.

I love my job, but I really dread Tuesday, not just because it’s the first day of my work week (and I therefore see it the way the average person sees Monday), but mainly because a certain coworker I can’t stand is there. One of my favorite supervisors sees her as a troublemaker, and understandably so. She is loud, obnoxious, and shamelessly uses people. She’s always asking people to buy her snacks from Walmart or bring her a soda from the drink fountain during break, instead of doing these things herself. She used to ask me for favors all the time, including a time she asked somewhat rudely to use my phone's hotspot, until I put my foot down. A coworker who I’m friends with has mental disabilities and a very kind nature, and he’s one of the people she does this to the most (although I don’t know of any instance where she asked him to buy her anything). I once warned him to not let her take advantage of him, but unfortunately I don’t think he really sees the issue. The one silver lining I can find is that Tuesday is my only workday where she’s on my shift (PM); on my other workdays she works in the morning.

Here are the goodies.

No Midweek Ibotta bonus for me. :/ Hopefully I get a good Weekend Warrior bonus.
Fun fact: This is the smallest haul I've done since I started the weekly posts 2.75 years ago.

Total: $25.44

Coupons: None!

Total Cash Back: $29.63

Final Cost: -$4.19 - Money Maker

 
Here is the complete break down and sites used. The stores are listed in the breakdown image. I don't include sites that take any receipt on my breakdown.
Note: Individual deals vary by user for most apps. If you don't have the deals right now, you can try checking back later.
 
My Guides

1. All rebate apps/sites I use and/or know about
   
2. How I do my hauls
   
3. Beginners guide to using rebate apps/sites - for those who don't know where to start
   

 
If you aren't interested in this kind of thing, please keep your comments to yourself. If you don't like what I buy, you can buy different products. If you don't like hunting for deals, you can do surveys, microtasks, games or whatever else you like instead. There is no need to discourage other users just because you aren't interested in the same things!
 
If you don't need feminine hygiene products, toothpaste, soaps, etc - consider donating them to your local women's shelter, church, or school!
 
Some Additional Deals

• $10 back on 7 Kellogg's Products (specific products only) - Military Commissaries only - Refund is a digital gift card (includes Prepaid visa - view the website for all the options) - Expires 5/31/24 - (Thanks to u/Kicker774 for mentioning it!)
  
• Nature Valley Wafer or Breakfast Bars (specific products) - Free after Rebate - PayPal or Venmo - Void in CT, RI, ND, and Miami Dade County - Expires 8/31/24
  
• Nature Valley Lunch Box Bars, Mott's Baked Bars, Fiber One Donuts (specific products) - Free after Rebate - PayPal or Venmo - Void in CT, RI, ND, and Miami Dade County - Expires 8/31/24
  
• Fresh Fizz - Free can at Fresh Thyme - Venmo or PayPal
  
• Painterland Sisters Yogurt - Free at Whole Foods (PA, VA, MD, DC) - Venmo or PayPal
  
• Pepsi - Free after Rebate. Expires 6/17/24
  
• Tru Water - Free can at Walmart - Venmo or PayPal
  
• Fromm Diner Can - Free after coupon. (It's pet food)
  
• Painterland Sisters Yogurt - Free after rebate. PayPal or Venmo. Whole Foods only.
  
• Beneful - IB + SK
  
• Suja Protein Shake - Free at Target in-store or online.
  
• Coffee (Any?) - You get a coupon for up to $10 in free coffee when you buy 3 participating special K cereals. I don't see anything mentioned about specific brands, but I also don't quite know how it works. - Expires 5/30/24
  
• Gooey - Free after rebate - Venmo/PayPal - (It says Walmart at the top, but it also says "from any store")
  
• Perfect Bar - One free bar - PayPal, Venmo, Amazon - Rebates are often instant
  
• CHKP - Free after Aisle - Fairway, Whole Foods, ShopRite
  
• Dr Elsey's Cat Litter - Up to $22 back on a bag up to 40 lbs when you purchase at Target, Walmart, or a local business pet store. You need to cut out the barcode and mail it in with the receipt. One rebate per person/household/address. Must submit within 90 days. There's also a handful of $1 coupons on this page.
  
• Free bag of Like Air Puffcorn - Refund via PayPal or Venmo. Must purchase in-store or for curbside pickup. Expiration date unknown.
  
• Kellogg's Promotions - Various stuff ranging from coupons for free products, movie tickets, various merchandise, and more.
  
• Various Sampoll offers
  
• Offers on Aisle Referrals: Halfday Rockstar - Buy 2 get $5 back. No gas purchase needed. Can do every other week. Free HOP Water (using my ref will give me another rebate offer) Pays out via PayPal or Venmo
  
• Various freebies on Ibotta.
  
• Various deals I've done in previous weeks can still be done.
  

 

Afterthoughts

Just a little haul today since I unfortunately didn't get a midweek Ibotta bonus. This is going to make finishing my big bonus a lot harder, especially since the weekend bonuses have been terrible lately. I did grab some of the Mac A Roni at $0.50/each to work towards the big bonus, and I'll probably pick some more up tomorrow as well when I go by. I left it off my haul since it isn't a money maker on its own, but there will be a slight profit once I finish my bonus.
If I get a good weekend warrior bonus, I might head out this weekend to finish it.
 
Wal-Mart is switching out a lot of their stock right now. I'm seeing markdown prices pop up everywhere. Quite a few coffees, teas, and razors have IB rebates, but unfortunately my store was sold out of it all. There's also one of those hello toothpaste on IB + SB + SK
 
Note: The Social Nature rebate for the goat milk only let me select Amazon or Visa. Not sure if this is a mistake or an intentional change, but just be aware of that if you're going to get it.
 
Unrelated to the haul - My profits from today went towards my plant addiction.
My store had a ton of those mini rose bushes. I usually don't get them, but I haven't gotten a plant in a while, and I saw one with these really beautiful orange flowers with a hint of pink on the outside, and it also had these peachy roses. I couldn't just not get it. Here's hoping I don't kill the thing, because I definitely didn't consider the fact that I don't have a sunny enough window for it until after I was already home...
 

Time Spent

I spent around 10 minutes planning my haul while I brushed my cat before realizing I didn't have an IB bonus. So I stopped there. I was in the store for about 45 minutes, but a good 15 of that was seeing if there were any better roses. As usual, that time also includes my regular groceries, and I was walking SUPER slow today because the cart I picked out started screaming any time I walked at my usual pace after I got the first few things in the cart.
 

Food From Deals

Here's an idea: Mix up a white cheddar Mac a Roni, with your choice of ham, sausage, chicken, pork, or one of the vegan meat alternatives. Add a little soy sauce, and some green peas if you wish. You could even add some extra butter and milk (or plant based milk) to make it a bit creamier. Serve with a slice of buttered toast or some Jasmine Rice. Perhaps make a little Banana bread for dessert. (Note: Everything mentioned has Ibotta deals available.)
 
Here's some things I've made in the past: High Protein Tomato Crackers, Hot Sausage Cups, Peanut Butter Fudge & Chocolate Hazelnut Fudge, Chocolate Cherry Pie
 
Do you guys want me to continue showing things I've made using ingredients I got from rebate apps on these posts? Let me know in the comments, or you can vote on this poll if you want to remain anonymous.
 

Mini FAQ

• If you're new or confused - check out the guides near the top of the post. They go into detail about everything.
  
• I'm from the USA and these posts are tailored as such, but this post of mine does list things from other countries that I know about.
  
• My posts are tailored to being money makers to suit this subreddit. There are tons of great deals that aren't money makers but can still save you a lot of money.
  
• A lot of what I get is given away to friends, family or is donated. I do this more as a hobby than anything.
  
• I generally do not share my spreadsheet since the one shown in this post is not the one I actually use (it's put together with a script from my usual spreadsheet) and there are a ton of little things that will give you wrong values if you don't know about them and even then you have to be careful. It's super easy to make a spreadsheet with Google Sheets though.
  

I want to introduce you to several of our board members that are here. So if you guys work your way up front. So Deacon Mark Lagreeve works at St. Francis as Deacon and is on the board of the Haven and was the founder of the Haven. So he has a little bit of an experience with this. Janky is current director of the Hope House and has a long history in Manitowoc, serving on common council at one time, business owner, and again, brings a lot of experience to what's needed here. So welcome. Brittany Punches is a teacher in town. She recently completed her master of social work degree, is a parent, and has been a Starworth volunteer at the shelter for the last two seasons, where she actually did part of her. Did they call them clinicals? Is that the right word, clinicals?
For her master of social work degree there. And so we're happy to have her joining the board. And then we also have Michael Etheridge, the director of the haven. He can't be here today, but is also on the board. And Amy Sonoman, who is the president of the board of Hope House and works at United one credit union. So these are the six and myself, six people from those three agencies that have initially created the board of the neighborhood. Now, we have a lot of work. Like, we don't even really have bylaws yet, but you know that we fill out the paperwork, but we have that. And then, of course, that will expand. But that's the core group.
And again, that's a sign of seeing that these main agencies that are addressing homelessness in our community are working together to make this a positive experience for the whole community. So at this moment, I want to say thank you to all of you for coming out. I don't know what motivated you to come out today. It might have been because you think this is the greatest thing that could ever happen. It could be that you've been a constant volunteer and supporter. It may have been because you have certain questions, but I'm glad that you're here because if we don't come together as a community, if we don't share our questions, we don't raise these things, we can never move. We can never move forward as a community.
So even if you have concerns or questions, that's what we want to make sure this is a community project and that we're able to address those concerns. So I'm going to open it up. If any of the three of you want to say anything, just something really short.
The reason we're doing this is, you know, there's market forces with the rental market, vacation rental properties, people buying second homes. A lot of snowbirds buying property here because they want to win. They want a winter here or summer here. So those are market forces. There are a lot of the new properties, condos that are being built. They're being bought by people that are wintering and have moved away to Florida and now are buying properties here to spend their summers here. So that's where some. Some of these things are happening and these are the market forces. So that's beyond our control. You know, landlords are. We love them. They serve a purpose in our community. But there's limited supply of properties, so the prices are going through the roof. I know of $800. What were $800?
Apartments that are now $1400, apartments that just changed last month, $500 or $600. So that's beyond our control. So we, as nonprofits, we have to do something of response much beyond our control. And that's to figure out how can we get into becoming landlords. How can we end up buying properties, converting them, and serving an unmet need of, you know, the people, the working class, the people that are trying to work through and find their way to home ownership or to find their way to restore their records. They need a starting place. And without us doing this, they don't have a starting place. And these are our community members. These are our family members. There are people that. That we love, that we want to care for. So that's why. What's the motivation to doing this?
And there are some generous donors in the community that see it, and they're asking, how are we going to resolve this? And they've been really asking, how do we collaborate and how do we do something to respond? And it's not just a Manitowoc issue, it's a national issue. So this is just what we're doing. Starting to do here at Manitowoc. 25 apartments here is going to make a little dent. The number of affordable apartments we determine are needed in the community is 150. There's 150. There's a lack of 150 apartments in this community. And that's what's driving supply and demand. That's what's driving up the prices of apartments. I lost my train of thought. There was something else I was going to say about. It'll come back to me. Jan, do you want to say anything?
Okay.
While you're thinking at Hope House, our priority has always been the family. So we have concentrated on, you know, single parents, couples with children, and we've not been able to really help the single female and the couples without children. So this gives us an opportunity to expand our facility that we currently have to help the single and the couple, along with our families, of course, and move them out of our current 90 day program into transitional housing, because those two groups really need help. It will not necessarily be big enough for our families, because our average family is, what, five, six people, which, you know, could be a single mom and five kids. Single mom, four kids, a couple. And these apartments may not be big enough for them. So that will help them through other means.
But we need to get the single female and the couples off the street, and this will help.
Waiting list. That's what they came up. So, Janine, what's the waiting list at the haven now? 100, 150, probably pretty close.
Single men.
Just single men. 100, 150 men get into the haven, and we can't accept them. We have to say, sorry, we gotta wait till someone moves out, but they don't have a place to move out to. What's the waiting list saying? Hope house.
It's over 100, and it's mostly single female and couples because we prioritize the family first.
So it's so hard saying no to these people. We just can't. It breaks our hearts. We have to do something, and this is the something.
So the neighborhood will put a dent in that. And obviously, it's not going to solve everything, but we start somewhere. Brittany, do you want to add anything?
I think it's just really important to press that this is a step in that transition and that it's going to move that process along. When we get our friends off the street, our guests, our neighbors that are those members of our community that, like pastor said, are exactly like us. We have had friends that have had months saved. They have an operation, and they get sick. We have had city bus drivers, we have had teachers. We have had individuals from every walks of life that something happened, and whatever it was their fault or not, oftentimes not. They need just a step up. And this is just one way to help them get back into the community and make our community stronger.
So do we have any questions? I mean, there's probably thousands of questions, but, yeah.
Who's going to do the video tour of the facilities? You've got meetings coming up. You need explanation. Video tour.
Okay, so we need to add to our list to have some folks make some. Some video walkthroughs of the facility. So people who have never seen them. We can get a kind of a look up. This is what the haven looks like. This is what the hope house looks like currently, as well as how this looks and what it can become.
So you mean video tours of Hope House, the haven and this building?
Yeah.
Okay. Yeah, I know that there's a property listing for this that has pictures of it. We have figured out how to share that so we can share that. I know there's a property listing for it that has pictures, but yes, a video would be a great idea to share them before. Pictures.
Yeah, share the pictures and then share the vision.
This is what it is, but this.
Is what it could be.
CONT. RECORDING TRANSCRIPT:
I want to know what you're going to do. They have no place to go during the day. I don't want them sitting on my mom's porch. I don't, you know, I know. Worked at places where I work at a convenience store where we've had them hang out at a convenience store. And I know a couple that, hey, they went and got a home and, you know, in another city, and they came back and what they wanted to do was be at that convenience store. So what plans you guys have for the neighborhood to keep everybody safe for the ones that not live here, but the warm.
Thank you. That's a great question. I'm sure a lot of people share that concern as well. So the first way I'll answer that is that. Oh, I'm. Thank you. Just what. Can you repeat the question? We had a hard time period. Yes, that's what. Yeah, that's what I was about to do. So the question was, is, what can we do to help those leaving the shelter each morning, to not just congregate on people's porches and such around the neighborhood, right around here? Is that a fair? Okay, so I'll answer that two ways. The first way is that, you know, the current warming shelter is less than half a mile from here, so it's already in this neighborhood. And so we have not had. Any of the neighbors have had concerns about that.
Most of the guests, when they leave, typically, at least at any given time, I'd say a quarter of the guests are working. So they're going to work. Some of them, of course, work a different shift. But one of the other gaps we have is what do they do during the day? I mean, a lot are at the library and stuff. We have found our guests to be respectful and kind and are. And if we ask them, you know, this, we have never had a problem with them hanging out at private property. And I think if we. That's one of the rules, if you will. We have rules at the shelter. There's conditions and, you know, and just simply to let them know that private property is private property. I, you know that.
I think you use the phrase what can we do to guarantee or insure we can't? Just like we don't now.
Well, you had mentioned earlier about being.
In, you know.
That'S what this area is. How do you keep them out of the alley? How do you keep them out of people's garages, as you had mentioned?
I'd say typically they're not. I mean, the guests at the shelter are not those people. It's the people who can't find room at the shelter, but that's just overnight.
So you kick them out in the morning, to put it one. So from morning to night, where are they going? Where are they going?
They're going to the library. I know the Salvation army two days a week has. They're walking to Walmart, they're walking out to Lowe's. I mean, they're getting on the bus. The location of being a few more blocks away from certain things is not going to impede them at all. I say Salvation army twice a week is offering lunch, which expanded beyond. I mean, it's not just like a half hour thing to hang out on Sundays. We had ascend services has opened up one of their facilities during the day. So I think that they'll be respectful of private property like they have been. I mean, we haven't had, crime rates have not increased around the shelter and things. So I think the guests will go. So typically they're not staying. They're not staying around the shelter.
I have a question.
Yeah, I want to. I just want to.
Well, I've been holding my hand for quite a while. You said that these people in the program in the apartments are background checked. What about the people that are overnight? Are they background checked? Do you know where they come from.
As a low barrier shelter, as we've run that the last two seasons? No, though they do not have background checks on them. We do have a policy that works with law enforcement that if there is a. I can't remember the law enforcement phrases, but if they have, we can have a relationship where they can come in. And if there is, if they are looking for somebody and have reasonable cause, is that the right phrase? Plausible cause that they're welcome to.
So they could have a record for all, you know.
Sure. Just like everybody else here who has a record here? I do.
I don't. Also, you had said that you have a very generous donor for the first year of expenses. What about the following years? Is that going to ever be passed on to the taxpayer?
No, this is not a city project. And so we have. No.
What about maintenance?
So one of our goals is that when we will fundraise for what high level expense? About 8 million. Okay. And then we want to add into that automatically another million that will create an endowment at the Lakeshore foundation so that there will be just generated money to help do maintenance. But also there will be. There will be funding generated by the rental of the apartments that will work. And then as any nonprofit, there will be additional, you know, community fundraisers. But this is not a county or a city project. So there's. This isn't a tax thing.
Well, what about extra police force that we pay for that.
So you would have to ask law enforcement. But at this point, they haven't added any extra law enforcement. You have something to add to that?
At the shelter, were open two seasons, 150 days each total of 300 days. I was there 294 of them. So I can. That's my background. When we called 911, were calling for rescue squad. We were calling because someone was having a stroke. We were calling because someone was having an apparent heart attack. We weren't calling because we had an illegal situation. Now, we have been told that we have saved the life of the person who was having a stroke, that had he been sleeping in his car or worse, he would have passed away. Obviously, these medical incidents would take place whether they were in the shelter under the watchful eye of volunteers, or out in the public.
Yeah, but you're comparing apples to oranges. You've never had a building this size in the middle of a residential neighborhood, and you've never had any trouble at all?
Let's have everyone have a chance. I want to go back to you because you had your hand up.
Check that out with the police.
I was just wondering if the vision could include some kind of cottage industry that. For training, for maybe helping those people that haven't worked in a while. I don't know if there's any programs like that, but that might also help generate some income and good teaching, still something to do during the day that maybe some of them would be a good fit for. And I also wanted to say that I had a family member before the warming shelter downtown who almost froze to death on a night when it was below zero. And yes, they were a drug addict.
But they told me when they were in recovery, they asked me to take them to the lutheran church on Meadow Lane, and they wanted to specifically talk to the assistant pastor because they knocked on his door and he gave them a voucher for a motel for two nights, or they could have possibly frozen to death. She was so grateful. So I just want to put that out there that if it hits home.
For you.
I appreciate your idea, and we'll certainly have that.
So this question probably goes beyond only the neighborhood, but at the concern is this program going to stay within the people that live in this town, or are we going to be welcoming people with Chabot, Green Bay, and all that? That would be an issue because, you know, sometimes the id doesn't match something from Manitowoc. They don't know the streets and things like that. So is there any chance that you guys are going to just take before all the managewalk people that we already know?
We would like to have a Manitowoc county first. Is that the right way to say it, Jan?
Yeah. We always take Manitowoc county residents first. That's the priority.
And also with the warming shelter, that's why we don't want to have more beds than we see the current need for this community.
Well, yeah, but at the end, if they're already here from Sheboygan, they took the right and all that, and they're already here. All the issues that they already mentioned, if they're gonna happen, they're gonna tend in this area or in the alley, walk around, you know, so I don't see. We don't see so much of that.
Issue of being homeless.
So is this gonna trigger something that is gonna make more people from other states?
You know, again, you know, there's certain things which, you know, I don't have a crystal ball, but. But again, though, the last two seasons of having a warming shelter have not created that. And the ten years at the Haven and the 20 years have not. Have not statistically shown that people are intentionally saying, I now need to use the last of my financial resources to travel to Manitowoc, particularly during the winter. So I want to let Brittany had a.
So I really want to mention that part because, like, not only have we seen from historically that it doesn't. It hasn't increased in any of the programs we currently have that open my.
Brain, I was like, oh, I was ready.
Was that.
Okay? Yeah. Yeah. Describe the security plans you have for the warming, Shelley, as to what types.
Of people are.
And how they go about doing that. Okay. I can talk a little bit about what it is now, knowing that isn't the same as what it will be here. And between now and 18 months, we haven't, you know, as far as, like, well, what does that mean with. With lighting and with camera systems? I can't. I can't answer all those questions about this. Personnel, currently. Personnel has been, has all, is currently, is all volunteer with training, and that includes involvement with law enforcement. They serve on the steering committee for the warming shelter and things. So that's how it's currently being staffed.
Pastor.
The main thing I did was I was officially the line monitor. It fell to me to count off the twelve people who were going to be allowed in. When I would walk up to number 13 or number 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, the fear in their eyes was so intense, I often had to turn away. I'm not an overly emotional person, but when I look at someone who has now got to figure out what piece of pavement they're going to sleep on, it rips me apart. Now, what does that mean for the security of the people who are staying in the shelter? The people staying in the shelter. Pay attention when we go over the guidelines, which we do every time there's a new person, or any time on a frequent basis, not every single day, because we have repeat guests.
They all know and they understand that because there is this pressure of these up to eight people out here, they mess up or they go against the guidelines, they could be asked to leave so that someone else would come in. This fear combined with the safety of a warm, safe, clean environment with a hot meal and people who care, keep the guests in a very comfortable, easy to talk to manner. Out of the twelve that come in at a night.
It'S already happening.
It's happening now with everything over twelve.
One voice at a time. Folks, this is a community.
You're bringing it into our neighborhood. We're asking what you're going to do to help protect our neighborhood.
By increasing our capacity to twelve beyond the eight that, up to eight that we know we shouldn't have that. I suspect that if there are homeless in this area, and I believe there are, they're already in places that you don't even know about because they've adapted to their environment. What we're doing is we're pulling them off the street. In the twelve most vulnerable times of the day. From the shelter, there is a migration. South. Library, painting pathways.
YMca.
YMca.
Grow it forward.
Grow it forward. There's all these places that they're headed towards. They have no interest in going away or north in this case, because there aren't resources up there. There's not meals, there's not warm, safe places for them.
Okay, we'll go back. And they have created a community themselves and they hang together.
And so they don't, they're not going.
To the peace by themselves.
They hang together.
They have created a community where they.
Are safe in their numbers with each other and they look out for each other. So I just can't imagine that they would branch out, that they are going to stay, as Ken said, they're going.
To go where their opportunities are to be together.
Well, that's what we're here today for, and that's what history stands for. We didn't see no flyers or anything.
Nothing.
And that's on you now. I would take it even a step farther. Something in this bank should be a referendum.
We have election six months coming.
Off. Yeah, I mean I can appreciate that sentiment, but this isn't, this isn't a city funded thing and therefore it's a dictatorship. Well, we haven't purchased the building. I told you what the conditions for purchase are. Yeah, I believe Mister Cummings. Well, and this, you may not live here, literally right here that the shelter is Mike Cummings. And I believe over there is. Yes. You always said about security and everything and getting people back to work. I know you guys have a shelter down the history every time, because I live here, every time I pass a quick tripod, there's always two or one squad car outside. There's always fights in there all the time. Okay, I hear that. I appreciate that.
Absolutely.
A sweat equity is something that may happen. Absolutely. And they take advantage of many opportunities like that now. So I'm not going to tell you something that we have a plan worked out where they will do all necessary maintenance and janitorial thing. Because what I hear is similar to another one about how can, you know, what are some ways that we can help both teach them or give them some skills that they may take advantage of the incredible skills that they already. So, yeah, I mean, I think that certainly is part of our long term, you know, discussion on how we can do that. I use the term sweat equity. You know, that they're putting something into those resources.
Not a question, statement. The reason you had mentioned, first of all, that neighborhoods or neighbors may be concerned about their taxes, property, you know, their values going down, their property they will go down. I mean if you cross Washington to where all of your very wonderful programs are, the taxes or the property values are lower than they are in this neighborhood? It's just a fact. Just a fact.
Couldn't that because the houses on the south side are older?
No, no.
Are you saying that the property taxes.
No, I'm talking about value tax or property values. Yeah. I'm a realtor. I know that this. This side of the city is. I'm not talking about the hope house reputation or anything. I'm just stating a fact that the south side's property values are lower than they are here.
Always works.
Okay.
Thank you.
And this is just a question to everybody. Are you guys concerned about putting people from encourage Hope House Haven, all of those places that are separated now because we need security for the men's shelter. You need security for domestic violence, you need security for sexual assault victims, you need security for all of those people. And you have them in all different places due to that and background check them. You do all these kind of things. Programs are great that they're working for. I 100% agree with that. But now you're going to put them all in one area, in one apartment complex. So that is my thought about this. Or concern about. About that.
Sure. Can they trigger each other or something.
Coming in and those people haven't been bedded and there, I understand locks and everything, but if they both walk out the same door, they're in the same area. Is that a concern? Because if you have somebody in the warming shelter who isn't supposed to have contact with somebody here who says they're not becoming a nice.
There's a lot of things to work out as we work it out.
Yeah.
Big thing is how do we secure, make it secure and safe for people? Because we're helping people transition to safety as they move out into society. So, yeah. So do we have the answer yet? No, but we know we need to. We know we need to. But, yeah, we're just starting. We started talking a couple months ago when this all started coming together. So we're in the process of getting there. We have 18 months to figure it out.
And you know, too, then the safety of the building and everybody in it, and then the safety of all the neighborhood and everybody around it as well. Because if there's going to be issues with that community and there's going to be issues around the neighborhood community as well, if you're bringing, you know what I'm saying? If there's nothing that conflict, that's just.
I like, I learned what to answer a question with a question. Who's controlling who's living in all the.
Rental apartments in this neighborhood?
No. Who's controlling who's living in the neighborhoods in this community? Who's making sure they're all safe in these rentals in this community?
Police.
Who's making sure that?
Police. Our local police. No, landlords don't do ___. They don't have to do ___.
Stop. Police.
Well, hi.
Are we on opposite sides on this?
Actually, yeah. And I don't even live here. I live in two rivers.
It's gonna be a __ show.
Making advancements 150. And I don't see that 150 number getting smaller as the real estate market.
Remember that they're coming to where they are under total programs, where they're under rules.
I mean, I get that.
And that's not going to change when they come here from the news.
Doesn't mean that they always follow the rules of the program.
I work every day.
And so if they don't, you know, if they don't follow the rules, they're out. And we answer people when they don't, you know, find child care for their children. And, you know, so all these things are totally case management at home.
It would come. It would come through the agency that they entered.
Okay, so it wouldn't be here directly. It would be from. If they're at the case management.
Correct.
So it's not here.
They're having case management not through here, but it may physically happen. Yeah. I would just say the mix of people. The nice thing is that because they are in a program and we know something, they'll be able to determine that this person may not be in the right. We'll know more about them than other apartments and or just home buyers and home rental things. So we try to address some of that, and some people just are tension built with other people around. And some of that we may know. So clearly, if we work with encourage, there's not going to be the person seeking services there, and the person who helped make them go into service are going to be the same.
Transitional housing. Some people, you know, as we've said before, some people might need 120 days of, you know, being in home, and they may never be ready for transitional living. So we have to help them through the rest of the process. So the people that will be here are those that are ready to learn, be on their own, and then get out to be independent members of the.
I live in the neighborhood. Okay. The most important, the important thing about each one of you and me and anybody who might be here is their intrinsic value as a human being. But each human being has an intrinsic value because they're human. So we don't have to trust everyone, right? Maybe not everybody deserves our trust, but everybody deserves respect. And when we don't have compassion, that's looking at us. So I understand, and I bet you they have really smart people working on.
All of it, and they're going to.
Want input so that everybody sees public.
Insurance.
That we are truly responding as a human being, compassion for one another, because as we're compassionate, it's going to grow. A compassionate community. That's right. Now, you have two important meetings coming up, right.
The city.
The first one's Wednesday evening, 06:00 p.m.?
Right? Yes. That's what the public hearing with the site or the plan commission. And then June 17, we would love to have people come and to share your thoughts, your values. I mean, the same types of things that were shared today.
Thank you.
Okay.
Your thought is also that with this transitional housing, those people, there will be.
Someone here that will be case managing.
24/7 not necessarily living.
There will be someone here, like at the warming shelter.
There will be somebody here.
Whenever the warming shows shelters open and the traditional housing, they'll be case managers, checking in daily or weekly or however.
Far along they are.
Yeah.
On their own, running around, doing whatever. They will be under an umbrella of monitor.
They can do whatever they want. Right. They're adults. They can leave.
Yeah.
Go and do whatever they want. So that doesn't stop people from doing. Right. Just like any homeowner, any apartment, any.
Apartment.
We have more control over that. So if they live here and they do something wrong, and he says, you're out. So if they put them on the street, where do they go? Do they go to the warming shelter? Do they stay in our neighborhood? That's our concern. They're going to where they go without it right now, which is, unfortunately where they are right now. All across the community, usually more out in the rural areas under the 21st.
Street Cathay.
Down from the cemetery where they have it should have come out Thursday.
So on Thursdays. Well, should have been. I'm saying should have been. So the plan commission meeting is next Wednesday, and with every plan commission meeting, there's a community mailing within some radius of the area. So the city should have mailed this out already. So if you don't have it, you should be getting it soon. If you have it, contact the plan commission and say, why do I. Why haven't I received the mail and.
I couldn't tell you what that radius is.
So we wanted to. We wanted to have this gathering before you receive the mailing.
And if you. Yeah. And remember, if you don't own your house, unfortunately, you don't get a mailing.
The property owner.
Property owner does. So I mean, that, again, that's. That's it. That's a city thing. So if you're a renter, you may. Your. Your landlord may not share that with you.
Okay, one.
One more that I want to be respectful of our hour.
We've had homeless for longer than we can ever imagine. I had taken a course at Green Bay, and I said, well, we don't have that many. She said, they're coming to us. We have no place.
Thank you for bringing this to fruition. We never thought about it two seasons ago.
Thank you, pastor, so much.
Okay, so I want to be respectful of our hour together. So, again, thank you all for coming. Continued dialogue, it makes us a healthier community, so thank you.
I guess so.

Hi
So I was an hour away from my hometown and I needed to buy something.
I searched, "Walmart" and it took me to the location at my home town.
I could not get it to search the area I was in.
It worked for Target, but not Walmart. Nothing I can do will cause it to search the area around me for Walmart.
Its like google has just taken away my ability to find Walmart.
I know its some kind of setting or something, its trying to be helpful by showing me where it thinks I want to go.
But its not, and I really need to fix this, because if it starts happening with other stores, I'm going to be seriously screwed over. I can't navigate without google maps.
I already deleted the app cache and that had no effect. The setting is clearly tied to my google account, which makes me nervous. I'm really starting to suspect this will be tied with me until death.

Hello Reddit Tallahasseeans,
Hoping you are all doing well through the recent bad weather mess.
As the title says, odd question, but would anyone know where I could source some Tennessee Titans gear in town? Ive called Academy and checked 2 local Walmarts with no luck. A customer of mine wants their son’s room painted with the light blue Tennessee Titans color.
With it being so specific, I don’t want to get close, I’d rather be exact. My paint store can match it but I need a quarter sized piece of material or the color to get an exact match. Before committing to buying online I wanted to see if anyone had any ideas.
TYIA!!

Warning: I will not message you first. If you were messaged by someone claiming to be me you are in the process of being scammed.

You can download the WesternUnion app and send the payment from your phone and I will pay the fees.
Desktop Users: Comment on this post and Click here to start a trade App Users, please include the following in your PM (Remember to comment on this post as well):

• Type of card(s) and amount of each.
• What payment method you accept.
• How you acquired the GC and why you're getting rid of it.

Crypto^4, Paypal^1, Apple Pay, Chime, Cashapp, Varo, Venmo, and Western Union
I only have Steam as a substitute for cash payments in gift card trades.

Want ↓	Cash or a Gift Card ↓	Crypto4 ↓
Apple	60%3	NA
Amazon.ca	50%	50%
Amazon.co.uk	50%	50%
Amazon.com	70%	55%
Amazon.de	50%	50%
Amazon.es	50%	50%
Amazon.fr	50%	50%
Amazon.it	50%	50%
Amazon.jp	30%	30%
Arrow Films	65%	60%
Barnes & Noble	50%	50%
Baskin Robbins	60%	60%
Best Buy	25%	25%
BJ's (not BJ's restaurant)3	60%	NA
Bloomingdales	50%	50%
Burger King4	60%	NA
Clothing Shops (Small Boutique)	contact me	contact me
Dell3	60%	NA
Delta gift cards3	65%	NA
Delta Sky Miles3	PM me	NA
Delta Vouchers3	65%	NA
Dicks Sporting Goods 3	PM me	NA
Disney Plus	PM me	PM me
Dunkin Donuts3	60%	NA
eBay	70%	70%
Fandango3	10%	NA
Five Guys3	60%	NA
Gamestop	60%	60%
Gas Station Cards3	PM me	NA
Gyft	70%	70%
Half Price Books	50%	50%
iTunes3	60%	NA
J crew	40%	40%
JCPenney	25%	25%
Jersey Mike Subs3	60%	NA
KFC3	60%	NA
Khols	30%	30%
Macys	35%	35%
Magazines.com	40%	40%
McDonald's 3	60%	NA
Microsoft3	60%	NA
Moe’s Southwestern Grill3	60%	NA
Nintendo Eshop3	70%	NA
Nordstrom	50%	50%
Panera bread3	60%	NA
PSN3	60	NA
PSN Plus 12 month3	NA	NA
Saks Fifth Avenue	50%	50%
Sears	50%	50%
Sephora	50%	50%
Speedway (must be able to use on fuel)3	80%	NA
Staples	50%	50%
Starbucks US only	55%	55%
Steam3	60%	NA
Subway 3	PM me	NA
Taco Bell	60%	NA
Target	50%	50%
Urban Outfitters	50%	50%
Vudu3	50%	NA
Walmart	60%	60%
Wendys3	60%	NA
Xbox (gift cards)3	60%	NA
Other Clothing Stores, Gas Stations, Grocery Stores, Restaurant, & Fast Food gift cards	PM me

¹ When paying via PayPal, I can only send payments via Goods and Services, thus you will be charged a fee. If you'd rather not face this fee there are plenty of alternatives. ² Larger denominated gift cards preferred. ³ PayPal is the only payment option. ⁴ All crypto payments come from Coinbase. Any fees associated with it are built into the price.

What I don’t buy:

• Amazon.au
• Bass Pro Shop
• buffalo wild wing
• California Pizza Kitchen
• Canadian tire
• Cold Stone
• Dairy Queen
• Fanatics
• Giant Foods
• Google Play
• Grub Hub
• Gymshark
• Hilton Honors
• Hot Topic
• Krispy Kreme
• old navy/gap/banana republic
• Patxi's pizza
• PSN Canada or UK
• publix
• Raceway
• Scheels
• Shell Gas Stations
• Spotify
• Starbucks Canada
• Tractor supply
• Xbox Canada or UK
• Xbox live gold

Any fees are built into the price.

Selling

I have:
Up to $1000 in Amazon.com (can be broken up into smaller denominations) and am selling at

• 85%: WesternUnion, Wise, Airtm (You can download the WesternUnion app and send the payment from your phone and I will pay the fees.)
• 90%: LTC

Up to $500 in eBay (can be broken up into smaller denominations) and am selling at

• 90%: WesternUnion, Wise, Airtm (You can download the WesternUnion app and send the payment from your phone and I will pay the fees.)

Up to $500 in Apple.com ($15 and $50 denomination) and am selling at

• 90%: WesternUnion, Wise, Airtm (You can download the WesternUnion app and send the payment from your phone and I will pay the fees.)

Important: before you send your codes please make sure your account is secure (if your password is not uniqe it's best to assume your account has already been compromised. Scams where compromised accounts are used to leverage reputation to scam an unsuspecting user, used to steal codes during the middle of the trade, and steal unused gift cards the victim was saving for later are increasingly commonplace. If you have any concerns as to your account's security, please reset your password now and force logout of all sessions. Thanks

Warning: I will not message you first. If you were messaged by someone claiming to be me you are in the process of being scammed.

You can download the WesternUnion app and send the payment from your phone and I will pay the fees.
Desktop Users: Comment on this post and Click here to start a trade App Users, please include the following in your PM (Remember to comment on this post as well):

• Type of card(s) and amount of each.
• What payment method you accept.
• How you acquired the GC and why you're getting rid of it.

Crypto^4, Paypal^1, Apple Pay, Chime, Cashapp, Varo, Venmo, and Western Union
I only have Steam as a substitute for cash payments in gift card trades.

Want ↓	Cash or a Gift Card ↓	Crypto4 ↓
Apple	60%3	NA
Amazon.ca	50%	50%
Amazon.co.uk	50%	50%
Amazon.com	70%	55%
Amazon.de	50%	50%
Amazon.es	50%	50%
Amazon.fr	50%	50%
Amazon.it	50%	50%
Amazon.jp	30%	30%
Arrow Films	65%	60%
Barnes & Noble	50%	50%
Baskin Robbins	60%	60%
Best Buy	25%	25%
BJ's (not BJ's restaurant)3	60%	NA
Bloomingdales	50%	50%
Burger King4	60%	NA
Clothing Shops (Small Boutique)	contact me	contact me
Dell3	60%	NA
Delta gift cards3	65%	NA
Delta Sky Miles3	PM me	NA
Delta Vouchers3	65%	NA
Dicks Sporting Goods 3	PM me	NA
Disney Plus	PM me	PM me
Dunkin Donuts3	60%	NA
eBay	70%	70%
Fandango3	10%	NA
Five Guys3	60%	NA
Gamestop	60%	60%
Gas Station Cards3	PM me	NA
Gyft	70%	70%
Half Price Books	50%	50%
iTunes3	60%	NA
J crew	40%	40%
JCPenney	25%	25%
Jersey Mike Subs3	60%	NA
KFC3	60%	NA
Khols	30%	30%
Macys	35%	35%
Magazines.com	40%	40%
McDonald's 3	60%	NA
Microsoft3	60%	NA
Moe’s Southwestern Grill3	60%	NA
Nintendo Eshop3	70%	NA
Nordstrom	50%	50%
Panera bread3	60%	NA
PSN3	60	NA
PSN Plus 12 month3	NA	NA
Saks Fifth Avenue	50%	50%
Sears	50%	50%
Sephora	50%	50%
Speedway (must be able to use on fuel)3	80%	NA
Staples	50%	50%
Starbucks US only	55%	55%
Steam3	60%	NA
Subway 3	PM me	NA
Taco Bell	60%	NA
Target	50%	50%
Urban Outfitters	50%	50%
Vudu3	50%	NA
Walmart	60%	60%
Wendys3	60%	NA
Xbox (gift cards)3	60%	NA
Other Clothing Stores, Gas Stations, Grocery Stores, Restaurant, & Fast Food gift cards	PM me

¹ When paying via PayPal, I can only send payments via Goods and Services, thus you will be charged a fee. If you'd rather not face this fee there are plenty of alternatives. ² Larger denominated gift cards preferred. ³ PayPal is the only payment option. ⁴ All crypto payments come from Coinbase. Any fees associated with it are built into the price.

What I don’t buy:

• Amazon.au
• Bass Pro Shop
• buffalo wild wing
• California Pizza Kitchen
• Canadian tire
• Cold Stone
• Dairy Queen
• Fanatics
• Giant Foods
• Google Play
• Grub Hub
• Gymshark
• Hilton Honors
• Hot Topic
• Krispy Kreme
• old navy/gap/banana republic
• Patxi's pizza
• PSN Canada or UK
• publix
• Raceway
• Scheels
• Shell Gas Stations
• Spotify
• Starbucks Canada
• Tractor supply
• Xbox Canada or UK
• Xbox live gold

Any fees are built into the price.

Selling

I have:
Up to $1000 in Amazon.com (can be broken up into smaller denominations) and am selling at

• 85%: WesternUnion, Wise, Airtm (You can download the WesternUnion app and send the payment from your phone and I will pay the fees.)
• 90%: LTC

Up to $500 in eBay (can be broken up into smaller denominations) and am selling at

• 90%: WesternUnion, Wise, Airtm (You can download the WesternUnion app and send the payment from your phone and I will pay the fees.)

Up to $500 in Apple.com ($15 and $50 denomination) and am selling at

• 90%: WesternUnion, Wise, Airtm (You can download the WesternUnion app and send the payment from your phone and I will pay the fees.)

Important: before you send your codes please make sure your account is secure (if your password is not uniqe it's best to assume your account has already been compromised. Scams where compromised accounts are used to leverage reputation to scam an unsuspecting user, used to steal codes during the middle of the trade, and steal unused gift cards the victim was saving for later are increasingly commonplace. If you have any concerns as to your account's security, please reset your password now and force logout of all sessions. Thanks

Windows
Every night, since I was very young, I've heard a light tapping on my window. Just hard enough to wake me up, but it never took much for me to wake up. I've always been a pretty restless sleeper. Every night I would fall asleep, and every night around 1-1:30 I would wake up to the tapping. Tap… Tap… Tap… I would wake up, slowly turn to the window, then nothing. Complete and deafening silence. I never saw anything when I looked over to the window. Just darkness.
Occasionally I would attempt to ignore the tapping, but every time I tried that, the tapping would become more frequent and louder. If I wanted any sleep I had to look. So I would slowly turn, look at my window, and the tapping would stop.
Whenever I tried to talk to my mom about it, she would always chalk it up to a tree branch tapping my window at night. The tree was never really close enough to my window to hit it unless there was a particularly strong wind or maybe a storm.
I used to sleep over at my friend, Corbin`s, house nearly every weekend. We hung out almost every day when we were in first grade. He was my best friend. Every day we were at each other's house, playing in the seemingly neverending woods that surrounded our houses. Corbin only lived about a five-minute walk away from my house, so it was always very easy to see each other.
The first time I slept over at Corbins house, he said he never heard any tapping on his window, and there were no trees nearby. However, every time I slept over at his house, both he and I would hear the taps on his window. Tap… Tap… Tap… Both of us woke up, looked at each other, and then at the window, and the tapping would stop. We brought it up to Corbins parents as well, and they both said that it was just the house settling.
That made sense because Corbin lived in a 150-year-old farmhouse, so little creaks and taps weren`t super uncommon, but the sound of something tapping on a window was very strange to me. I now know that the tapping was neither a tree nor was it the old house settling.
One day, when Corbin and I were sleeping over at my house, we decided that we were going to set a camera outside in an attempt to see what branch was hitting my window. We begged and begged my mom to buy us a camera, and she finally gave in.
She took us to Walmart and bought us the cheapest camera that could record video that she could find. We brought it home and she helped us set it up and put it up in the tree facing my window. Despite our excitement, we understood that we needed to leave it be to not scare away anything that we might see.
After eating our normal meal of Dino Nuggets and baked french fries drowned in an obscene amount of ketchup, we went upstairs and went to bed. We were feeling as if we were trying to catch Santa Claus on Christmas Eve. As always, later that night we heard the tapping.
Unlike every other time though, we heard a huge amount of rustling, making us worry that maybe the wind had knocked the camera out of the tree. It was particularly windy that day. The taps that night were more aggressive than what they had been previously. They were more of a rhythmic thud against my window rather than a gentle tap.
Obviously startled by the new aggressive knocks, we woke up, turned towards the window, and the knocking stopped. We brushed it off and went back to bed. When we woke up the following morning, we were so excited to check the footage from the camera that we skipped breakfast and didn't even brush our teeth until later in the morning.
We woke up my mom, and she grumbled and groaned her way downstairs, threw her shoes on and we went outside. We went to the tree and noticed that the camera wasn't where we had set it the day before. It wasnt anywhere to be found. Instead in its place was a piece of paper that had a hand-drawn picture on it.
It was one little stick figure being hugged by a huge shadowy being. Underneath one of the stick figures were my initials as well as a heart underneath the big stick figure. The bottom of the paper said, “With Love, my child.” The paper also had a flash drive taped to the back.
We gave the paper to my mother and her face turned a ghost white. It looked like all the blood had drained from her face. She told us to get inside and that she needed to make a phone call. She called the police.
When they got there, they asked me a few questions. I can't remember what they asked, and really, they only talked to Corbin and me for a few minutes. I remember feeling guilty and scared when I saw my mother crying.
There's something especially terrifying when you see your parents cry. It makes things seem much more real and serious. But still as a five-year-old at the time, I couldn't understand the danger that presented itself that day.
All these years later, I finally know what was on that flash drive. It was filled with hundreds of videos of me, taken when the taps would happen in the middle of the night.
Hundreds of videos and pictures of me waking up. There was one file that was a little bit different. It was from the camera we lost that night. It was a video of my window, exactly where we had rested it so many years ago. When you skim through the video you see a hand slowly creep up and cover the lens of the camera. The hand was dirty. Like this person had been digging holes in the ground bare-handed. And then darkness.
I can`t remember much after that, or if any of the other strange events of my childhood have any connection to it, but if I remember anything else, I will update later. As of right now, it's time for me to go to bed. It's 12:57 and I don't want to miss my old friend.

Windows I apologize for the length, but for things to make sense, I have to tell my story in the most detailed way I can.
Every night, since I was very young, I've heard a light tapping on my window. Just hard enough to wake me up, but it never took much for me to wake up. I've always been a pretty restless sleeper. Every night I would fall asleep, and every night around 1-1:30 I would wake up to the tapping. Tap… Tap… Tap… I would wake up, slowly turn to the window, then nothing. Complete and deafening silence. I never saw anything when I looked over to the window. Just darkness.
Occasionally I would attempt to ignore the tapping, but every time I tried that, the tapping would become more frequent and louder. If I wanted any sleep I had to look. So I would slowly turn, look at my window, and the tapping would stop. Whenever I tried to talk to my mom about it, she would always chalk it up to a tree branch tapping my window at night. The tree was never really close enough to my window to hit it unless there was a particularly strong wind or maybe a storm.
I used to sleep over at my friend, Corbin`s, house nearly every weekend. We hung out almost every day when we were in first grade. He was my best friend. Every day we were at each other's house, playing in the seemingly neverending woods that surrounded our houses. Corbin only lived about a five-minute walk away from my house, so it was always very easy to see each other.
The first time I slept over at Corbins house, he said he never heard any tapping on his window, and there were no trees nearby. However, every time I slept over at his house, both he and I would hear the taps on his window. Tap… Tap… Tap… Both of us woke up, looked at each other, and then at the window, and the tapping would stop. We brought it up to Corbins parents as well, and they both said that it was just the house settling. That made sense because Corbin lived in a 150-year-old farmhouse, so little creaks and taps weren`t super uncommon, but the sound of something tapping on a window was very strange to me. I now know that the tapping was neither a tree nor was it the old house settling.
One day, when Corbin and I were sleeping over at my house, we decided that we were going to set a camera outside in an attempt to see what branch was hitting my window. We begged and begged my mom to buy us a camera, and she finally gave in. She took us to Walmart and bought us the cheapest camera that could record video that she could find. We brought it home and she helped us set it up and put it up in the tree facing my window. Despite our excitement, we understood that we needed to leave it be to not scare away anything that we might see.
After eating our normal meal of Dino Nuggets and baked french fries drowned in an obscene amount of ketchup, we went upstairs and went to bed. We were feeling as if we were trying to catch Santa Claus on Christmas Eve. As always, later that night we heard the tapping. Unlike every other time though, we heard a huge amount of rustling, making us worry that maybe the wind had knocked the camera out of the tree. It was particularly windy that day. The taps that night were more aggressive than what they had been previously.
They were more of a rhythmic thud against my window rather than a gentle tap. Obviously startled by the new aggressive knocks, we woke up, turned towards the window, and the knocking stopped. We brushed it off and went back to bed. When we woke up the following morning, we were so excited to check the footage from the camera that we skipped breakfast and didn't even brush our teeth until later in the morning. We woke up my mom, and she grumbled and groaned her way downstairs, threw her shoes on and we went outside. We went to the tree and noticed that the camera wasn't where we had set it the day before.
It wasnt anywhere to be found. Instead in its place was a piece of paper that had a hand-drawn picture on it. It was one little stick figure being hugged by a huge shadowy being. Underneath one of the stick figures were my initials as well as a heart underneath the big stick figure. The bottom of the paper said, “With Love, my child.” The paper also had a flash drive taped to the back. We gave the paper to my mother and her face turned a ghost white. It looked like all the blood had drained from her face. She told us to get inside and that she needed to make a phone call. She called the police.
When they got there, they asked me a few questions. I can't remember what they asked, and really, they only talked to Corbin and me for a few minutes. I remember feeling guilty and scared when I saw my mother crying. There's something especially terrifying when you see your parents cry. It makes things seem much more real and serious. But still as a five-year-old at the time, I couldn't understand the danger that presented itself that day.
All these years later, I finally know what was on that flash drive. It was filled with hundreds of videos of me, taken when the taps would happen in the middle of the night. Hundreds of videos and pictures of me waking up. There was one file that was a little bit different. It was from the camera we lost that night. It was a video of my window, exactly where we had rested it so many years ago. When you skim through the video you see a hand slowly creep up and cover the lens of the camera. The hand was dirty. Like this person had been digging holes in the ground bare-handed. And then darkness.
I can`t remember much after that, or if any of the other strange events of my childhood have any connection to it, but if I remember anything else, I will update later. As of right now, it's time for me to go to bed. It's 12:57 and I don't want to miss my old friend.