The Consumerist is a group blog run as a not-for-profit subsidiary of Consumer Reports.
Since its founding in 1936, Consumer Reports has fought for a fair, just, and safe marketplace for all consumers and to empower consumers to protect themselves. To maintain independence and impartiality, CR accepts neither outside advertising nor free samples. It employs a staff of “mystery shoppers” who buy products in retail stores around the country, just as any other buyer would, and then ship them to the Consumer Reports labs, where technical experts test some 3,000 products yearly.
I’m a big fan of Consumer Reports and their long advocacy of “a fair, just and safe marketplace.” Those same values are at work on Consumerist, except it’s … bloggier. It’s funny, snarky, irreverent — and almost always on the side of the underdog.
Consumerist is a group blog and the whole group — Chris Morran, Mary Beth Quirk, Laura Northrup and Kate Cox — is really good at what they do. They do their homework and present it for us without making it seem like it’s our homework to read it. They’re thorough and accurate and they’ve got finely tuned BS detectors.
Plus, the site is pretty funny. That doesn’t just mean it’s entertaining — that means it’s trustworthy (never trust anyone who doesn’t seem to have any capacity for whimsy).
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