Kare11
What is Temu? And is the shopping app worth your time and money?
Temu has been called the “dollar store of online shopping.” What’s it all about? And is it safe to shop there?
GOLDEN VALLEY, Minn. — In just days, the holiday shopping blitz begins with Black Friday. However, a shopping app called Temu has already tempted bargain shoppers for months now.
The online retailer sells just about anything you can think of, at prices up to 75% less than what you’d pay on other sites.
Since its debut just one year ago, Temu has become the most downloaded free app in both the Apple and Google Play stores. It has skyrocketed past every retail giant’s apps, including Target, Walmart and even Amazon.
“You can hardly open your phone without seeing a Temu pop-up,” University of Minnesota Carlson School of Management marketing professor George John said.
John said the astronomical rise of Temu could be attributed to the company’s all-in approach on nonstop marketing.
“They’ve been on this incredibly aggressive campaign to download the app,” John said. “The best guess I have is they spent 100s of millions, if not billions, on advertising. What they’re betting on is, once you download the app, you get shopping/entertainment frame of mind and use it as a distraction.”
So, in a time of historic inflation and supply chain issues where many retailers have turned to marking things up, how can Temu be selling all these items for so cheap?
John shed light on a few pieces of the puzzle.
“When you’re shipping directly from China to the U.S., there are a couple of loopholes,” John said. “If you ship something less than 800 bucks, you don’t have customs duty to pay. I would be absolutely surprised to discover they’re making money now. They don’t expect to make money now, they’re expecting over the long run, 30 million people in the U.S. to be ‘shoppetainment’ people.”
Now, the big question: Are these products any good?
We ordered several products from Temu and Amazon that were similar, if not the same, to compare.
Many items did look similar at first glance, but ended up having quality and price differences. Temu items were generally significantly cheaper, but some items, like a flower vase meant to look like a book, came with a typo.
However, other items like pizza cutters were seemingly the same, except the Amazon pizza cutter came with a branded logo.
Temu advertises free shipping and free returns, just like Amazon does. However, on the Better Business Bureau’s website, many of the complaints against Temu involve items that were significantly delayed or not having arrived at all.
Also upon closer inspection, we found both pizza cutter listings used the exact same photos. We reached out to Temu for a response about this, as it may raise copyright concerns.
The company’s spokesperson agreed to chat but asked to remain unnamed and off-the-record. She did, however, send a written statement that reads in part:
“Temu has faced roughly 10 lawsuits stemming from (intellectual property rights) in the U.S… We’ve instituted rigorous measures and are proactive in addressing and combating all kinds of potential infringements.”
WATCH: We ordered and tested several of Temu’s cheapest items:
Cybersecurity concerns
None of the shipping minutiae may matter to a consumer looking to fill their time with online shopping. However, what matters is what the consumer might be giving up in exchange for the deals.
Temu has direct ties to China. It’s owned by “PDD Holdings Inc.,” headquartered in Shanghai. You don’t have to look too hard to find reports that accuse the retailer of tracking everything from your location to your social media profiles.
A lot of other retailers do that as well, but reports show “PDD Holdings” takes it a step further by allegedly using malicious codes to bypass your phone’s security settings, and sometimes changing them without your consent.
All of this, in order to track the user’s every digital move — from the apps they’re using to their personal text messages.
“Each and every category of data… like financial and usage data… is necessary to make the consumer shopping experience better,” the company spokesperson told KARE 11.
They added the data they collect is “common industry practice.”
Back in June, the House Committee on the Chinese Communist Party said its investigation into products offered to American consumers from Chinese retailers like Temu “could be made with forced labor in China,” which is another aspect consumers might want to consider when shopping through Temu.
“Many of us don’t think too much about it or we just don’t know the truth,” professor John said. “I would not use my regular credit card on any of these sketchy websites. I’d use a gift card. That way, you’re protected in case something happens. In case there’s a data breach and stuff like that, your core data is not compromised.”
In the end, Temu did have some deals. However, some of them ended up being junk. While Temu’s slogan is “Shop like a billionaire,” consumers might want to do so — at their own risk.
The former state trooper is charged with the killing of 18-year-old Olivia Flores.
ROCHESTER, Minn. — Editor’s Note: The above video first aired on 8/26/2024.
The former Minnesota State Patrol trooper charged with the killing of an 18-year-old girl is asking for his case to be dismissed and a change of venue for it to be moved out of Olmstead County.
The former trooper, Shane Roper, and his attorney argue that the “extensive and regional media coverage” jury pools are likely tainted and a fair trial could not be conducted in Olmstead County.
According to a criminal complaint, Roper was driving 83 miles an hour, full throttle with his lights and siren off when he sped through the busy Rochester intersection by the mall and slammed into 18-year-old Olivia Flores.
Records show he’d been suspended twice and reprimanded twice more for similar behavior.
The order from Roper’s attorney also asks the court to preclude the introduction of any evidence related to prior speeding or traffic incidents involving Roper.
Roper and his attorney are asking for charges 1-8 to be dismissed for “lack of probable cause.”
Kare11
‘This doesn’t change anything’ Biden apology for Native American boarding schools draws mixed reaction
For the very first time, a sitting President has apologized for boarding schools that tore Native Americans apart and led to countless cases of abuse and death.
MINNEAPOLIS — During his first presidential visit to Indian Country on Friday, Joe Biden delivered a historic and emphatic apology, acknowledging 150 years of abuse, trauma and death inflicted by Native American boarding schools.
“I formally apologize, as President of the United States of America, for what we did,” Biden said. “It’s one of the most horrific chapters in American history,” said President Biden.
Christine Diindiisi McCleave, former CEO of the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition, spent years documenting the stories of boarding school survivors and advocating for justice and accountability by the US leaders.
“My family has two generations of boarding school history that I know of,” McCleave said, during an interview for the KARE 11 Series “Lost History,” which detailed the impact of boarding schools in Minnesota.
During his speech on Friday, President Biden acknowledged the work of the Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition and efforts to better understand the horrors and generational trauma the schools inflicted.
“Generations of Native children stolen, taken away to places they didn’t know,” Biden said. “Children abused emotionally, physically and sexually abused, forced into hard labor, some put up for adoption without the consent of their birth parents. Some left for dead in unmarked graves.”
Christine Diindiisi McCleave: “I struggle with what I’m supposed to say and what I really feel.”
Kent Erdahl: “Why do you say that?”
McCleave: “Well, because today is historic and while I am grateful to see this progress being made. I am also realizing just how short it falls… from real reparations, from real healing.”
She knows she’s not the only one who feels that way. The National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition surveyed survivors in 2016.
“The thing they wanted the least was an apology because, while it is an acknowledgement, it doesn’t change anything,” McCleave said. “The majority of them said they wanted a truth commission. Trying to find out exactly how many boarding schools existed, how many children went to those boarding schools and how many children died at those schools.”
She says an investigation led by Interior Secretary Deb Haaland, whose grandparents and mother were among those sent to these schools did help better understand that impact, but it only scratched the surface.
“They were only able to investigate the Federal Government’s records,” McCleave said. “Half of these schools were run by churches, of various denominations, and so a truth commission would be able to look into those records as well.”
“Nearly one thousand documented Native child deaths, though the real number is likely to be much, much higher,” Biden said on Friday.
Bills in both the House and the Senate could make that commission a reality, but until that happens, Christine says she can’t ignore the politics of an apology that took place in a swing state, just days before an election.
McCleave: “This apology doesn’t change anything for my mother, who was abused as a child. Of for my grandfather who was a abused at a Catholic Indian Boarding School.”
Erdahl: “Do you hope that this isn’t just an election ploy?”
McCleave: “I hope that this apology actually helps that bill get passed. Native American people are no stranger to being political pawns, so you know what, if this is an election ploy so be it, I hope something good comes out of it.”
Researchers spoke about increased THC potency and the impact on youth brain development.
ST PAUL, Minn. — Whether purchased from dealer or dispensary, weed has become more potent over the years. In 2022, the federal government reported THC levels more than tripled since 1995.
Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation Graduate School addressed this Friday at its first cannabis summit. Attendees primarily included the nonprofit’s graduate students as well as undergraduate students from nearby universities.
Speakers included researchers from the University of Minnesota, Hamline University, Mitchell Hamline School of Law and others.
Ken C. Winters, is a senior scientist at the Oregon Research Institute’s Minnesota location and a consultant for the University of Iowa’s Native Center for Behavioral Health.
He covered the interplay between youth, cannabis and health.
“It’s not your grandparents’ marijuana these days,” Winters said to the students.
The Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation Graduate school offers a 2-year program, in which students like John Ryan and William Barksdale are earning counseling degrees in substance use and mental health.
“The takeaway would be that you’ve seen potency levels increase quite a bit, and the research is trying to keep pace with that,” Barksdale said.
“As we saw today, marijuana use has gone up in the last couple years such that it’s eclipsed alcohol use in terms of daily users in the United States,” Ryan added. “It’s is much more concerning now because there is such a higher degree of potency that’s available on a wider basis.”
Ryan says it’s especially concerning for youth.
“The subject of the last presentation, which I found quite engaging, was the specific effects on adolescents,” he said. “So, teenagers and people within that young adult range, the 18 to 25-year-olds because that’s generally the period the most brain development takes place. So that’s the area of concern … but it’s still something that I think is being studied and being observed in the first stages of that.”
Kevin Doyle provided opening remarks. He has more than 35 years of experience as a licensed professional counselor. Today, he’s president and CEO of the grad school.
“Potency, dosage, frequency of use, availability, legal cutoffs in terms of age, all those things need to be talked about,” Doyle said. “Adolescent brain development. We know more and more about that every year. Sometimes it seems like every day we learn more about that.”
“How do we as a treatment community need to be prepared to respond?”
The summit comes as Minnesota works to set rules for the cannabis industry after legalizing the drug for recreational use last year. A public comment period is expected later this fall.
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