The Buzz | Is your pantry too full?

I ran into Chris Thomas last night, a local comedian and former BET show host who was colloquially known as “The Mayor of Rap City” during his on-air days. Honestly, it was sort of weird to come face to face with a character I’d grown up watching. If it wasn’t for guys like him, I might not have the opportunity to do what I do today. Props to The Mayor.

A N.Y. shopper searches for bottled water on Long Island.
(MIKE SEGAR – REUTERS)

If you’re one of those panicky people who shops till they drop before a natural disaster, you likely have a kitchen full of food that you won’t clear out until Halloween. And prior to Hurricane Irene touching down, many folks went ballistic at their local grocery stores, buying anything that remotely qualified as non-perishable. The Post’s Monica Hesse reports on all those who are snacking away at their stashes post storm, with no real regard for health. Another tidbit: if you don’t want to eat all that extra stuff, give it to a food bank.

Downed power lines in Maryland.
(Katherine Frey – THE WASHINGTON POST)

Pepco is back in the headlines, and this time for the right reasons. The power company that’s struggled mightily to keep the lights on in recent years did quite well during the storm and has managed to keep its reputation intact. It’s not completely out of the water with some people yet, but after an aggressive PR campaign to regulate expectations and a real effort to boost reliabilty, it’s back on track. The Post’s Joe Stephens and Mary Pat Flaherty report.

With the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks looming, many people have their minds on the most recent day that changed America. And although that Tuesday was one of the most horrific on record in this country, it is easy to overestimate in terms of its historical importance, in the minds of some. It might have been the most dramatic moment of this media era, but Foreign Policy’s David J. Rothkopf breaks down 10 other events from the last decade that may have been more significant.

I’d like to think I attended a fair amount of crazy parties in college, but this story is out of control. Apparently, last weekend, some ambitious co-eds at Colorado State University decided to throw a pool party at their apartment complex. One problem: they put it on Facebook. Unsurprisingly, thousands of people showed up, the place was a mob scene and a couple of people got arrested. Campus Overload’s Jenna Johnson reports and has video of the wild setup.

Michael Vick.
(Rich Schultz – AP)

When I read last night that Michael Vick signed a six-year, $100M contract with the Eagles, I was speechless. On one hand, it was crazy to see that a man who was doing time recently come into that sort of money. What’s even more amazing is that Vick is the only guy I can think of to sign two $100 million contracts in his NFL career. It’s pretty much unheard of to see someone cash in for a second time in life like that, particularly after falling so far in the court of public opinion. Only in America.

Extra Bites

• The Georgetown Barnes Noble is reportedly going to close before the end of the calendar year, which is a real bummer for me. That place was clutch if you needed a quick coffee and the regular Starbucks was packed, or for a non-super gross public bathroom. Alas.

• The newest cast of ‘Dancing With the Stars’ is clearly the best one ever. It doesn’t get better than Nancy Grace, Ron Artest and Chaz Bono.

• Here is your video of awesomeness for the day. Adorbs.

Check out my Facebook fan page anytime, or you can email me your questions at clinton.yates@wpost.com

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5 Reasons Daily Deals Are Tanking–and 3 Reasons They’re Not Dead Yet

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

Just in time for Groupon’s initial public offering of stock, it looks like the daily-deals business is already on the decline. Last Friday, Experian Hitwise reported that Web-based traffic to “daily deal and aggregator sites” is down 25% this summer.  Groupon’s traffic plunged 50%. Daily-deal tracker Yipit also reported that deals revenues overall were down 7% in July from June.

Now big-name companies are actually dropping their daily deals. Last week, Facebook said it’s ending its deals service. (They’re still showing up in my inbox even as recently as this morning, however.) And today, Yelp scaled back its deals.

What’s going on? Mainly a serious case of bubble thinking, as entrepreneurs and venture capitalists pile onto the latest hot trend and then discover the market isn’t as boundless as they hoped. But more specifically, the deals business is suffering from a number of challenges:

* Inbox overload. Some 52% of people in a June survey by Experian’s PriceGrabber said they’re overwhelmed by the sheer volume of deal offers. I get deal offers from seven or eight services, even from a couple that I swear I didn’t sign up for.

* Lame, repetitive offers. Seriously, I’m never going to a spa, no matter how many or how big the discounts.

* Merchants can’t take anymore. Lots of them have been complaining that whenever they offer a deal, other services come out of the woodwork and pitch them incessantly. Others think they’re no good for their businesses in the first place, since they condition customers to expect profit-killing discounts. Most of the deals I’ve taken are for businesses I already frequent and probably still would, deal or no deal.

* They’re not as easy to do as they look. Facebook’s deals, which were mostly focused in San Francisco and only occasionally in Silicon Valley where I live (and where Facebook is headquartered), were largely useless to me. And how many people, really, are going to do things like flying lessons? Maybe if the flying-lesson company gets a few takers, it’s worthwhile for them, but for the vast majority of people, offers like this are the worst thing in their email box besides spam.

* Too many of the companies doing them have no particular expertise or the brand breadth to offer them credibly. Really, why would I expect Facebook to offer daily deals? It’s a social network, not an e-commerce site. And daily deals aren’t nearly as social as Groupon’s name implies.

Still, daily deals aren’t dead yet. Here’s why:

* They’re deals! People will always love deals. And despite complaints of too many cold calls from deal services, clearly a lot of merchants like them.

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