How to score free samples at stores like Sephora, Target and Macy"s

SEPHORA VIB SALE HAUL | November 2015

The holiday season is upon us, and that means consumers across the country are already scouring the internet and shopping malls in search of the best deals. While there are lots of great offerings at this time of year, money-savvy shoppers know a secret for saving big bucks: free samples.

Whether you"re shopping online or in stores, the free sample tricks listed below can help you save money at places like Sephora and Target while preventing you from buying full-size products you might not end up liking. As an added bonus, you might just find a few stocking stuffers along the way. Take a look at these tips to score free samples with few or no strings attached. Happy sampling!

1. Sephora and ULTABeauty products can cost a fortune, especially when money is wasted because you don"t realize until after you"ve purchased a product that it fails to meet your needs. Luckily, many beauty retailers, such as Sephora and ULTA, offer free samples through loyalty programs and online promotion codes.

When you shop online at Sephora.com, you will receive three free samples with each purchase. The site also offers beauty deals, including limited-time markdowns, free products and exclusive offers with the use of promotion codes at checkout. To take advantage of even more free samples, register to become a Beauty Insider and receive free deluxe samples, gifts on your birthday and more. You will also earn points for each purchase and can eventually use those points to receive larger samples and even full-sized products, depending on how many you accumulate.

When you are shopping in-store at Sephora, ask for samples of products you are interested in so that you can try them before you buy. This benefit allows you to test products for allergic reactions and personal preference before committing to a full-size purchase.

Like Sephora, beauty retailer ULTA allows customers to add free samples when making online purchases. You can sign-up for ULTA"s email list to receive special offers, a free birthday gift and bonus point rewards, as well.

2. Target and WalmartOf course, beauty retailers aren"t the only stores that provide their customers with special deals. Marcy Bonebright, a features writer at the daily deal and coupon site DealNews, said that finding free samples at Target and Walmart requires a bit more patience.

"Generally, you"ll have to fill out a short form about your shopping habits, and then wait three to five weeks for delivery. We typically see samples for grocery and medical items from these stores, so you might have to sift through offers you"re not interested in," Bonebright said.

According to Target"s Sample Spot page, offerings are usually scooped up quickly, and customers will need to check back often to avoid missing out. To receive a sample, you will have to fill out a survey and provide information about yourself. Examples of free samples available from Target include personal care products, food freebies and cleaning supplies.

Like Target, Walmart requires customers to think fast to score samples. To nab free samples from Walmart, visit the retailer"s Free Samples and Savings page, where you will find the items being offered while supplies last. Examples of free samples from Walmart include cosmetics and personal care products, coffee, food, diapers, greeting cards and medicine.

3. Macy"s and NordstromDepartment stores like Macy"s and Nordstrom often give out free samples with purchases, especially for cosmetics, fragrances and other beauty products, and particularly around holidays like Christmas, Valentine"s Day and Mother"s Day.

When visiting a department store beauty counter, don"t forget to ask the sales associate or makeup artist for free samples of the products you wish to try. Usually, the salesperson will give you two to three days" worth of products to try out so you can test for allergic reactions and suitability.

To find free giveaways at Macy"s, visit the department store"s online Deals and Promotions webpage. To find freebies at Nordstrom, visit the retailer"s Gifts with Purchase webpage.

4. Proctor and Gamble, L"Oral, Gillette and GarnierBecome a Proctor & Gamble BzzAgent to receive and review products and find out what samples are available through the P&G Samples by Mail program. As a BzzAgent or participant in the Samples by Mail program, you will receive free products from P&G brands like Olay, Oral-B, Tide, Pampers, Duracell, Swiffer, Old Spice, Clairol and more, all delivered straight to your mailbox. Several other brands, including Gillette, L"Oral and Garnier Fructis, have similar free sample and giveaway programs.

Small samples of this type make perfect travel companions. Keep your stash in a clear Ziploc bag and bring it with you the next time you go on vacation. You"ll save time and money by not having to buy the travel-size products needed to meet TSA regulations at the airport.

5. Grocery Stores and Wholesale RetailersIf you"re on your lunch break, consider taking a stroll through grocery stores like Trader Joe"s and Whole Foods. Along with wholesale retailers such as Costco and Sam"s Club, many grocery stores offer free food samples that are perfect for times when you need a snack.

Trader Joe"s usually has a demo station set up for you to taste-test a promoted beverage, and Whole Foods will allow you to try any prepared food just ask a store associate. Wholesale retailers Sam"s Club and Costco, along with certain grocery stores, have stations set up throughout the store for customers to taste all kinds of food, from sausages to pre-packaged cookies and gourmet cheeses.

Just don"t go overboard in 2010, a man in Minnesota was arrested in a grocery store for violating "societal norms and common customer understanding regarding free-sample practices," according to The Atlantic.

Ask for Free Samples at Any StoreIf your favorite store or brand wasn"t mentioned on this list, don"t fret. Many retailers offer free samples and, in most cases, all you have to do is ask. Jonathan Ceballos, marketing assistant at USB Memory Direct, said his company gives away free samples to customers who request them.

"We"ve seen it really helps with closing sales, and it gives our customers ease of mind to know exactly what they"re buying," Ceballos said. "You"ll be surprised how many stores and brands will give you a free sample of their product. They might not advertise that they do, but it doesn"t mean they"re not able to. Some of the best free samples and products you can receive can come from directly contacting a company, too."

If you"re more of an online shopper, don"t hesitate to use your favorite web retailer"s search function to locate great samples. You can also find free offerings online at websites like All You, Freebies and Sample A Day. All it takes is a little research to start making your free sample dreams realities and your holiday shopping that much simpler.

From GoBankingRates.com:How to score free samples at stores like Sephora and Target

Source: http://www.reviewjournal.com/business/money/how-score-free-samples-stores-sephora-target-and-macys

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Alshon Jeffery wants revenge on 2014 road loss to Packers

Alshon Jeffery - 2013-2014 Highlights (NOT HD)
(Photo: USA TODAY Sports)

Alshon Jeffery remembers the last time the Chicago Bears went to Lambeau Field and it was a trip he would like to forget.

On Nov. 9, 2014 the Bears took on the Packers at Lambeau Field and they came into the game with a 3-5 record. The Packers, who had a 5-3 record, poured it on the Bears and won 55-14.

Jeffery, who has six receptions for 63 yards in the loss, did not like the way the Packers ran up the score against the Bears. Heres what he had to say about the game on Tuesday.

RELATED: Matt Forte expected to play vs. Packers

Alshon Jeffery with some strong comments on last years 55-14 loss at Lambeau: pic.twitter.com/yoe1OFyxCe

Adam Hoge (@AdamHoge) November 24, 2015

Theres a chance it could be another blowout loss for the Bears because the Packers come into the game as a nine-point favorite. If the Bears do have another loss to the Packers like they did last year, the playoffs dreams are done.

Source: http://gnb.247sports.com/Bolt/Alshon-Jeffery-wants-revenge-on-2014-road-loss-to-Packers--41387258

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Black Friday Showdown: Target Takes On Amazon With New In-Store Strategy

Mera Target (Cameraman Gangatho Rambabu) 2015 Full Hindi Dubbed Movie | Pawan Kalyan
Updated Nov. 26, 2015 8:09 p.m. ET

As thousands of shoppers waited outside Target Corp. TGT 0.37 % stores on Thanksgiving Day to buy toys, electronics and kitchen gadgets, workers inside were getting ready to send some of those very items out the door.

The Minneapolis-based retailer enlisted small teams of workers in about one-quarter of its 1,800 U.S. stores to pack up some of the orders placed through Target.com earlier in the day. The employees worked in shifts, in a few cases starting up to 10 hours before the official 6 p.m. store opening, navigating dimly lighted aisles and picking items to mail to customers who pounced on Web deals hours before shoppers could in a store.

The strategy is a new twist on the Black Friday weekend. What for decades had been a purely in-store shopping frenzy has ceded much ground to the Internet. A Deloitte LLP survey found shoppers expect to spend 59% of their money online for the four days starting Thursday, compared with 36% in stores. The remaining 5% is spent on catalogs.

The growth in online spending is affecting how one of the nations largest retailers operates on one of the busiest shopping weekends of the year. The change is born out of a need to cut down on delivery time and shipping costs to keep pace with Amazon.com Inc., AMZN 0.62 % and to put inventory sitting on store shelves to better use by using it to fulfill orders coming from the Internet.

With the shift online, youve got to take advantage of the inventory where it is and when you can, says Rodney Sides, a vice chairman at the consultancy Deloitte.

Target still has much to prove in its online business, which is less than 3% of overall sales. Targets online sales were up 20% in the third quarter, but the retailer fell short of its own goal of 30% growth in the period. CEO Brian Cornell has targeted 40% online sales growth in the next five years, but hasnt reached that in any quarter since laying out the goal earlier this year.

Mr. Cornell says shipping from store, even on Thanksgiving, is a more efficient way to get orders to customers for that last stretch, especially in lieu of heavily investing to open dozens of additional online shipping centers. Well be able to have product in their doorstep in a couple of days, he said in an interview Thursday at the Jersey City, N.J., Target store. If it shows up Saturday afternoon, well see a lot of smiles.

Physical retailers have long grappled with managing the logistics of selling online. The problem stems from a legacy that includes hundreds of stores that must be filled with millions of pieces of inventory and manned by thousands of employees. Layered on top of that is a network of online fulfillment centers.

Amazon and other pure-play online retailers dont have that complexity. They can spread out inventory at a smaller number of locationsAmazon says it has more than 50 distribution centersand focus on shipping packages.

The online giant is compressing shipping times further, with same-day delivery available in 16 metro areas free for members of its Prime service, and offering to deliver orders in as little as an hour in some markets.

Retailers call their answer omnichannel, a strategy that views all inventory the same and uses algorithms to calculate whether it makes more sense to ship online orders from a distribution center or a store. In some cases, customers want the order ready at a store to pick up.

Shipping from stores is a big part of the plan. The National Retail Federation says nearly one-third of retailers are working on shipping products from stores. However, many take a pause during the busiest times of the year, and none is taking it as far as Target this year. Best Buy Co. BBY 1.33 % , Macys Inc. M 1.89 % and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. WMT 0.53 % all were open Thanksgiving, but suspended efforts to ship items from stores.

Its just a very busy time, says Dan Toporek, a spokesman for Wal-Mart, which plans to ship nearly all online orders from distribution centers in the 48 hours around Black Friday. We want to make sure were delivering the best experience in stores for customers.

One shopper missing a sit-down dinner was Rafael Gonzalez. The 28-year-old liquor distributor was third in line at a Vauxhall, N.J., Target after arriving around 11 a.m. on Thursday. He was waiting for the chance to buy a 40-inch Samsung SSNHZ 0.00 % television while his wife was at the adjacent Best Buy, staking out a place in line to buy a larger 50-inch TV.

He knew that the TV was also available online earlier in the day, but he decided to wait in line. I usually come to get first dibs on the cheap items, Mr. Gonzalez says. Its also the excitement. Mr. Gonzalez estimated he and his wife would spend around $900 in stores Thursday. He was holding out for Cyber Monday to shop online.

While the logistics of shipping from stores before the rush of Thanksgiving shoppers can make sensestores will be empty, orders will be easy to find before the crowds mess up thingsthe financials can be a challenge. The biggest cost of shipping from store is labor, analysts say, and holiday-pay rates mean it costs at least 1.5-times more than normal. Ship from store can turn the model upside down if youre not careful, Mr. Sides says.

Retailers face additional margin pressures from shoppers, who dont want to pay shipping fees. Best Buy and Target have eliminated shipping charges on all orders for the holidays. Wal-Mart, meanwhile, has a $50 threshold to eliminate the charge.

There is also the incongruity of whittling your inventory on one of the few appointment shopping days of the year. All of your efforts have been toward driving traffic to stores, says Nikki Baird, managing partner at Retail Systems Research, a research firm. Why would you then ship from stores to meet demand thats coming from online?

Target isnt shipping out of stores some of the most heavily advertised items. The prime deals$249 55-inch televisions and $395 drones with high-definition camerasare reserved for shoppers in stores, says Eddie Baeb, a spokesman. Anyone who bought those items on Target.com on Thursday, where the same deals were available, will get them from distribution centers.

Target has 462 stores around the country shipping items from stores. Most were expected to have workers arrive two to four hours before Thursdays opening. Forty-four stores meanwhile have souped up shipping operations with expanded backrooms for packing up to 1,500 orders a day.

Robert DeMarino arrived at the Jersey City, N.J., Target store he manages around 7:30 a.m. Thursday to oversee a team of 10 workers on the ship-from-store team. Plenty of the orders were concentrated in the toy and electronics sections, he says. By mid-morning, the store was well on its way toward hitting its goal of shipping 900 orders, up from 500 on normal days, and getting most of it done before shoppers start to stream in.

This is nice for one day to just not have any distractions, he says. We want to make sure that come 6 oclock, were ahead of the game and helping our guests with anything they need in the store.

The strategy is also part necessity. Target has nine online fulfillment centers and some of them will churn out eight-times the number of orders on Friday versus a normal day. But that isnt enough, and they need the stores to help with the sheer volume. Target expects stores to process one million online orders in storewhether shipping them out or holding for pickupbetween Thursday and Sunday.

The torrid pace will continue throughout the holidays. For the quarter, Target expects 40% of orders to be shipping from stores, up from 25% normally.

Drew FitzGerald, Suzanne Kapner and Sarah Nassauer contributed to this article.

Write to Paul Ziobro at Paul.Ziobro@wsj.com

Source: http://www.wsj.com/articles/black-friday-showdown-target-takes-on-amazon-with-new-in-store-strategy-1448555664

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Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving | P.S BUY MY SHIRTS

We pause to give thanks Sarah Josepha Hale, the 74-year-old magazine editor who wrote a letter to Abraham Lincoln on September 28, 1863, urging him to have the day of our annual Thanksgiving made a National and fixed Union Festival. She explained, You may have observed that, for some years past, there has been an increasing interest felt in our land to have the Thanksgiving held on the same day, in all the States; it now needs National recognition and authoritive fixation, only, to become permanently, an American custom and institution.

On October 3, 1863, Lincoln proclaimed the last Thursday of November as a day of Thanksgiving and Praise. According to the April 1, 1864, letter from Lincoln assistant John Nicolay, the proclamation was written by Secretary of State William Seward, and the original was in his handwriting. A year later the manuscript was sold to benefit Union troops.

In his 1863 proclamation, President Lincoln recognized that for which we too have to give thanks: The year that is drawing towards its close, has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added, which are of so extraordinary a nature, that they cannot fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever watchful providence of Almighty G*d.

Best wishes for a happy Thanksgiving to all our readers.

Drawn from the Proclamation of Thanksgiving at Abraham Lincoln Online. More background in Barbara Maranzanis Abraham Lincoln and the mother of Thanksgiving."

Source: http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2015/11/happy-thanksgiving-2.php

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Adele, Jimmy Fallon and The Roots Perform "Hello" on Classroom Instruments

Jimmy Fallon, Adele & The Roots Sing "Hello" (w/Classroom Instruments)

Sure, youve heard Hello (everyone has by now). But youve never heard it played like this.

Adele took time out from her historic sales week to unwind for a performance with Jimmy Fallon and the Rootsand a room full of classroom instruments.

Adele"s "25" First-Week U.S. Sales Forecast Increases to 3 Million

The British pop singer and her hosts tackled the global hit with an array of percussion instruments, a ukulele and even a flip phone (hello!).

The "classroom instruments"segment aired Tuesday night on The Tonight Show, a full 24-hours after Adele shone with a performance of Water Under the Bridge and stuck around to play Box of Lies.

"Hello" andWater Under the Bridge are lifted from Adele"s smash third album release 25, which is cruisingtoward threemillion first-week sales in the U.S., where its now holds the single-week record.It"salso on track for thebest-ever opening sales week for any album in the U.K.

Watch Adele"s "classroom instruments" performance of "Hello."

Source: http://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/pop/6777059/adele-jimmy-fallon-the-roots-hello-classroom-instruments

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Watch "American Experience: Pilgrims," Skip "Pretty Little Liars"

Pretty Little Liars | Season 6B First Four Minutes | Premieres January 12 at 8pm/7c on ABC Family!

FEATURED SHOW

American Experience 8 p.m., PBS We owe more than the Thanksgiving holiday to the group of English settlers who crossed the ocean on the Mayflower in 1620. As Pilgrims, tonights episode of PBSs U.S. history series declares, the landing of the colonists in what is now Massachusetts would come to be seen as the true founding moment of America.

The story of how a tiny cult of religious refugees teamed up with a group of adventurers men the Pilgrims disdained as strangers to found a lasting colony with just 102 people, a third of them children, is a fascinating one.

It is also steeped in myth, and filmmaker Ric Burns (brother of Ken) does his best to wipe away the legend in this retelling. The core character is William Bradford, played by the late actor Roger Rees, the colonys governor whose memoir serves as the primary first-hand account. Interviews with historians are mixed with re-enactments to create an engaging tale of fortitude and good fortune.

Verdict: Watch this

WATCH THIS

A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving 8 p.m., ABC The Peanuts specials were faltering when the 10th one rolled around in 1973 to give the series a welcome boost. While this does not reach the heights of A Charlie Brown Christmas or Its the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, its still nostalgic fun. And it isnt really Thanksgiving without a meal of toast, popcorn, jelly beans and pretzel sticks.

SKIP THAT

Pretty Little Liars: Five Years Forward 8 p.m., ABC Family With its teenage stars pushing 30, Pretty Little Liars deserves a reboot; it just seems about three years too late. After beating the original storyline senseless over five seasons, we wonder if there is a show left to save. Tonights special previews the coming season, which arrives with real episodes in January.

Contact the writer: 714-796-7724 or mhewitt@ocregister.com or @WatcherofTV on Twitter or The Watcher on Facebook.

Source: http://www.ocregister.com/articles/charlie-693050-brown-watch.html

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Hamilton High to take part in College Board"s AP Capstone diploma program

College Board Announces Big Changes in SAT Exam

November 23, 2015 / Steve Carr/Chandler Unified School District / Stories by You

Hamilton High School is one of more than 600 schools worldwide to implement AP Capstone, an innovative diploma program that allows students to develop the skills that matter most for their future college success: research, collaboration, and communication.

The program includes a two-course sequence: AP Seminar and AP Research. Developed in direct response to feedback from higher education faculty and college admission officers, AP Capstone complements the in-depth, subject-specific rigor of Advanced Placement courses and exams.

AP students working on a project in the AP Capstone program. Photo courtesy The College Boards Advanced Placement program

Students completing AP Seminar and AP Research with scores of 3 or higher, and receiving scores of 3 or higher on four AP Exams in subjects of their choosing, will receive the AP Capstone Diploma.

Students earning scores of 3 or higher on the two AP Capstone exams but do not take or earn qualifying scores on four additional AP Exams will receive the AP Seminar and Research Certificate.

The program will be taught by Debbie Nipar Ed Anderson and Phyllis Carr, 2015 Chandler Unified School District Teacher of the Year.

This innovative program prepares a broader, more diverse student population for college and career success, and also provides our teachers with flexibility in the curriculum to expand access to challenging course work and the development of important skills, said Hamilton High School Principal Ken James. The application process to be awarded the program is intense, but we knew the value of the program to our students.

The AP Seminar course, typically taken in 10th or 11th grade, will equip students with the power to explore academic and real-world issues from multiple perspectives. Through a variety of materials from articles and research studies to foundational and philosophical texts students will be challenged to explore complex questions; understand and evaluate opposing viewpoints; interpret and synthesize information; and develop, communicate, and defend evidence-based arguments. Teachers have the flexibility of choosing themes based on student interests, whether they are local, regional, national, or global in nature.

Samples of themes that can be covered in the AP Seminar course include education, innovation, sustainability, and technology. By tapping into students personal interests, AP Capstone gives a broader array of students an entry point into challenging course work. Students are assessed through both an individual project and a team project completed during the year and a year-end written exam.

Video: AP Capstone: A Paradigm Shift from Content to Skills

The subsequent AP Research course will allow students to design, plan, and conduct a yearlong investigation on a topic of their choosing with support from experts at the university level or in the community. Students will build on the skills learned in the AP Seminar course by using research methodology; employing ethical research practices; and accessing, analyzing, and synthesizing information to present an argument. At the end of the course students have the confidence to present and orally defend their own scholarly academic research.

We are proud to offer AP Capstone, which enables students and teachers to focus on topics of their choice in great depth, said Trevor Packer, senior vice president for AP and Instruction at the College Board. This provides terrific opportunities for students to develop the ability to write and present their work effectively, individually, and in groups the very skills college professors want their students to possess.

By responding to and partnering with the higher education community, the College Board developed AP Capstone to allow students to practice the important skills that colleges want. The program will prepare more students for the rigors of college and for success in future careers.

AP Capstone is a unique program that teaches skills we think are very valuable not only for college but life, said John Barnhill, assistant vice president for enrollment management, Florida State University. The ability to analyze, to critically think, to present information is really wonderful, and I think both courses do a great job of preparing the student for the rest of their lives.

For more information, please contact:

• Ken James, Principal, Hamilton High School, (480) 883-500
• Steve Carr, The Kur Carr Group, Inc., (602) 317-3040
• The College Board, 212-713-8052; communications@collegeboard.org

About the Advanced Placement Program

The College Boards Advanced Placement Program (AP) enables willing and academically prepared students to pursue college-level studies with the opportunity to earn college credit, advanced placement, or both while still in high school. Through AP courses in 34 subjects, each culminating in a rigorous exam, students learn to think critically, construct solid arguments, and see many sides of an issue skills that prepare them for college and beyond. Taking AP courses demonstrates to college admission officers that students have sought the most rigorous curriculum available to them, and research indicates that students who score a 3 or higher on an AP Exam typically experience greater academic success in college and are more likely to earn a college degree than non-AP students. Each AP teachers syllabus is evaluated and approved by faculty from some of the nations leading colleges and universities, and AP Exams are developed and scored by college faculty and experienced AP teachers. Most four-year colleges and universities in the United States grant credit, advanced placement, or both on the basis of successful AP Exam scores more than 3,800 institutions worldwide annually receive AP scores. In the last decade AP participation and performance rates have nearly doubled. In May 2014, 2.3 million students representing more than 19,000 schools around the world, both public and nonpublic, took over 4 million AP Exams.

About the College Board

The College Board is a mission-driven not-for-profit organization that connects students to college success and opportunity. Founded in 1900, the College Board was created to expand access to higher education. Today, the membership association is made up of over 6,000 of the worlds leading educational institutions and is dedicated to promoting excellence and equity in education. Each year, the College Board helps more than seven million students prepare for a successful transition to college through programs and services in college readiness and college success including the SAT and the Advanced Placement Program. The organization also serves the education community through research and advocacy on behalf of students, educators, and schools. For further information, visit www.collegeboard.org.

Source: http://azednews.com/2015/11/23/hamilton-high-to-take-part-in-college-boards-ap-capstone-diploma-program/

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