From "Boy Accidentally Orders 70,000 Lollipops on Amazon. Panic Ensues. Holly LaFavers said she was eventually refunded $4,200 for her 8-year-old son’s order of Dum-Dums candy" (NYT).
I haven't seen a story like that in a long time. Seems like an early-internet cautionary tale.
Suffice it to say, the LaFavers got their problem straightened out, and "Spangler Candy Co., the company that has made Dum-Dums since 1924, invited Ms. LaFavers and Liam to visit its factory in Ohio." Everybody wins, especially Dum-Dums, because who cared about Dum-Dums?
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31 comments:
Some folks at the Hague were.
https://www.quora.com/Why-are-dum-dum-bullets-banned-in-war
Althouse portal enthusiast? How many clicks does it take to buy a candy? One, two, gobble, gobble.
Dum-Dums are far from the worst candy on the market. I once teased a middle-school class by offering them a choice of candies on Valentine's Day and then gently mocking them for mostly choosing Dum-Dums over Nerds and Smarties. They hadn't noticed the names were thematically related. (It was a school for the gifted, so implying they were dumb-dumbs as a joke was OK. They knew they were all smarties and mostly nerds.)
“…who cared about Dum-Dums?”
Liam!
This was forced into my brain. The Great Gazoo calling Fred Flintstone "Dum-Dum."
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekfR6RKpfmI
I wonder why Little Liam doesn't have a gun. After all, a gun is just another educational toy, and perfectly safe as long as the rounds remain in the magazine.
He had a Dum-Dum jones.
I will admit to some banditry I committed at the age of 4. I had apparently taken notice of where my mother kept her pin money and grabbed that stash and as soon as the ice cream truck showed up, I used that money to buy all the ice cream bars and popsicles that amount of money could buy. The ice cream man helpfully bagged it up and I trucked it back home up the sidewalk in my little red wagon.
I do remember being sent to bed with no dinner but also remember watching the Milton Berle Show same night, so the damage must not have been too bad.
Dum-Dums earn their keep at Spangler Candy in October. During the other 11, it's marginally sustained by America's barbers who give them out as good behavior bribes.
There's only one good thing that can be said about a Dum-Dum -- it's not a Pez.
So there was much fuckery afoot even back in the olden days.
When I first used Amazon, I was surprised to find that I was getting two of some items. I was getting the one I wanted plus the one I already had in the "shopping cart."
Everybody wins, especially Dum-Dums, because who cared about Dum-Dums?
Seriously. What better publicity could they get? I haven't thought about Dum-Dums for fifty years.
No connection between Dum-Dums and the “Lollipop” song playing on the Meghan Markel video? Gotta be some kind of a theme.
Spangler Candy also makes Necco Wafers, Sweethearts, Bit-O-Honey, and — I kid you not — Circus Peanuts.
They also makes Saf-T-Pops which are like Dum Dums but even dumber. They're lollipops with a soft loop instead of a stick. I haven't seen them in more than 60 years I think.
"No connection between Dum-Dums and the “Lollipop” song playing on the Meghan Markel video? Gotta be some kind of a theme."
I can't say that was my motivation to post, but I did notice the coincidence. Love when that happens.
"Boy accidentially orders..."
I'm pretty sure that he did it on purpose. Eight years old is old enough to know how buying stuff works. Also it's old enough to know that you shouldn't do it without permission. Also, the parents need to do a better job of password restricting important things.
"In the Alexa app, under Account Settings > Voice Purchasing, you can disable Kid Skills Purchasing and you can disable all voice purchasing. "
I love Circus Peanuts. This puts me in a very select group of people.
"They also makes Saf-T-Pops which are like Dum Dums but even dumber. They're lollipops with a soft loop instead of a stick."
Don't laugh. The Saf-T-Pop put an end to the tragic spate toddler brains impaled on ridgid lollipops.
"I love Circus Peanuts. This puts me in a very select group of people."
Yeah, the group selected for prefrontal lobotomies.
"Spangler Candy also makes Necco Wafers..."
Ever popular in Yugoslavia.
Banana flavored Circus Peanuts and Bit O Honey. Yum.
Today’s theme is: Life is grand.
Ah man, I haven't thought about Saf-T-Pops in at least a decade. There was one house in my neighborhood as a kid that handed them out several years in a row. Early 2000s. I thought it was weird at the time.
"Spangler Candy also makes Necco Wafers, Sweethearts, Bit-O-Honey, and — I kid you not — Circus Peanuts."
In other words, the dregs of your Halloween candy, which you don't even touch until the good stuff is gone. (But what really amazes me is that Dum-Dums lollipops cost 17 cents apiece, even when purchased in such enormous bulk.)
If I go to the community post office for a package pick up there’s a basket of Dum Dums on the counter in non holday periods.. Root beer for me but mystery flavor is kind of fun. Must come from when they empty the tanks or something…
I haven’t had the circus peanuts since I was single digits…and thank you for saving Necco wafers! They were made in Cambridge forever until the family got too old and rich and the real estate in Kendall Square got too dear…
70,000 X .06 =4,200
. . . which makes them six cents each.
With progressive prices, 6 cents is 50 Cents for a Rapper.
Joe Bar said...
"The Great Gazoo calling Fred Flintstone 'Dum-Dum'."
Or the Easter Island head from Night at the Museum calling Larry (Ben Stiller) Dum Dum and wanting Gum Gum: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-gPqfZI-r8
NYT, digging deep for the important stories.
My friend's 8 yr old son ordered tickets to China...took some phone calls to get refund. Much too easy when they keep your card on file.
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