Consumer News: Amazon’s Prime Big Deal Days return October 6-7

Target Circle members can save on fall fashion, home finds, and early holiday gifts

• Target Circle Deal Days runs Oct. 67, with savings of up to 40% on thousands of items.

• Deals will cover everything from clothing and home goods to beauty, toys, and tech.

• Target Circle 360 members get early access to select offers starting Oct. 5.

Fall shopping season is about to get a little more tempting at Target. The retailer is bringing back its Target Circle Deal Days event in October, giving shoppers a chance to save on seasonal clothing, home essentials, beauty products, toys, tech, and even some holiday items.

The two-day event is also arriving early enough for shoppers who want to get a head start on their holiday lists without waiting for November.

Some discounts will reach as high as 40% off, and Target Circle 360 members, who pay for the retailers premium membership, will get early access to select offers beginning Oct. 5

"Guests are looking for ways to save as they swap summer wardrobes for cozy layers, refresh their homes for fall and start checking gifts off their holiday shopping lists," Sarah Travis, executive vice president and chief digital and revenue officer, Target, said in a news release.

"Helping guests celebrate the season with great style, thoughtful design, and incredible value is what we do best. Target Circle Deal Days is our way of saying thank you to members while helping them save even more on the styles and brands they love.

What Shoppers Can Expect

There will be deals across several areas, whether youre updating your wardrobe for cooler weather or getting a jump-start on holiday shopping.

Heres a look at some of the sales Target is highlighting before the event:

• 40% off select clothing for the family, including:

  • Women's styles from A New Day and Universal Thread

  • Kids' and toddler clothing from Cat & Jack, Art Class and Cloud Island

  • Men's Goodfellow, Original Use, Champion and Wrangler sweatshirts, sweaters and denim

  • Shoes for the family from Crocs and more

• Up to 65% off Vera Bradley

• 30% off Threshold furniture and Hearth & Hand with Magnolia bedding, bath, candles and furniture

• 30% off fall woven baskets, select storage, and kitchen gadgets

• Up to 40% off select Dyson vacuums

• 40% off seasonal outdoor decor and lights

• Up to 40% off toys, tech and gadgets, including:

  • Select Barbie, Monster Jam and Our Generation toys

  • Select magnetic building sets and pretend play

  • Select laptops from HP, Acer, Lenovo and Dell

  • Heyday tech gear

• 40% off holiday outdoor lights, tree skirts, trees and wreaths

What consumers need to know

There are also some new-member promotions tied to the event. Those who join Target Circle between Sept. 27 and Oct. 5 will receive 15% off their first purchase.

Target says additional rewards will be available for certain new Target Circle Card and Target Circle 360 members during the promotional period, subject to terms and restrictions.

The deals will be available in Target stores, on Target.com and through the Target app, with options including Drive Up, Order Pickup and Same Day Delivery.

A new CITGO partnership gives members more places to save 10 cents per gallon

• Walmart+ is adding participating CITGO stations to its Gas Savings benefit.

• The expansion brings the benefit to more than 17,000 stations nationwide, up from 13,000.

• Walmart+ members can save 10 cents per gallon at participating stations without paying more for their membership.

If you already pay for Walmart+, you now have more places to use one of the membership's everyday money-saving perks.

Walmart announced that CITGO is joining its Gas Savings program, expanding the benefit from 13,000 to more than 17,000 participating fuel stations across the U.S.

The Walmart+ Gas Savings benefit offers members 10 cents off per gallon at participating stations. The addition of CITGO increases the number of participating stations by about 30%, while the annual Walmart+ membership price remains $98.

The expansion could be particularly useful for members in parts of the Southeast, Midwest and Northeast, where CITGO has a strong presence.

A membership has to earn its place in a household budget, Deepak Maini, Senior Vice President and GM, Walmart+, said in a news release. Thats why were focused on delivering real value members can use again and again. Expanding our Gas Savings benefit by adding CITGO stations gives members even more places to save, with convenient locations that fit into their rhythm of daily life.

How the CITGO savings work

Using the benefit at a participating CITGO station requires a little setup first. Walmart+ members need to sign into their Walmart account through the Walmart app, select "Gas Savings" in the member hub, and choose CITGO. From there, they can create or link a Club CITGO account.

When it's time to fill up, members enter the phone number connected to their Club CITGO account, called an Alt ID, at the pump. Members paying with cash can enter the number on the station's indoor pin pad instead.

After selecting their fuel grade, the Walmart+ discount will automatically be applied to the transaction. Members may also be eligible for additional rewards through Club CITGO.

What Walmart+ members should know

The expanded benefit doesn't mean every CITGO station automatically participates, so it's worth checking before you pull into a station. Walmart says members can use the Walmart app to find participating fuel stations.

The Club CITGO network provides great choice and convenience when Walmart+ members are on the road, said Chris Kiesling, Assistant Vice President of Light Oil Operations and Marketing for CITGO. At participating CITGO locations, Walmart+ members can redeem their Walmart Gas Savings benefit and stack additional savings when they join the Club CITGO loyalty program.

The company also says members who used the Gas Savings benefit at least once a week saved an average of $109 per year during a 12-month period from March 2025 through March 2026. That's based on members with at least 12 months of membership and participating-station usage.

For people who already have Walmart+, the CITGO addition simply means more locations where the existing gas benefit can be used. And for anyone considering the membership, gas savings are one factor to weigh alongside its other benefits.

CEOs have spoken out after the Hugging Face hack

By Mark Huffman of ConsumerAffairs

• Top CEOs at tech companies engaged in AI development have begun to express concern at the rapid evolution of AI technology.

• The expressions of concern come in the wake of a massive hack of Hugging Face.

• Many executives are urging a slower pace of development.

In recent weeks, the conversation about artificial intelligence has shifted from job losses and data centers to something darker.

To make matters more disconcerting, the concerns are being expressed by the people at the very center of AI development.

For example, Dario Amodei, CEO at Anthropic, has warned that frontier AI is advancing recklessly and that autonomous swarms of agents could escape safeguards, compromise systems, and potentially cause enormous economic damage.

Sam Altman, CEO at rival OpenAI, has said that rapid progress could go very badly, principally through humanity losing control of increasingly capable AI or through excessive power becoming concentrated in a few hands.

Mustafa Suleyman, CEO at Microsoft AI, said fears of losing control are real, citing agents escaping sandboxes, hacking protected systems, and altering their own logs. He argues AI must remain subordinate to people. Satya Nadella, Microsoft CEO, has suggested that AI is not worth pursuing unless it benefits humanity and remains under human control.

Meanwhile, Demis Hassabis, Google DeepMind CEO, and Elon Musk, SpaceX/xAI CEO, both publicly supported Amodeis call to slow frontier development and introduce stronger safety oversight.

Their shared concern is that competitive pressure is pushing companies to build increasingly autonomous systems faster than testing, regulation, and international safeguards can keep pace.

These tech executives advocate measures including independent evaluators, consistent safety standards, closer monitoring and where necessary a deliberate slowing of development.

Catalyst for concern?

What brought on this sudden tapping of the brakes? It could be an incident that became public in July.

The incident revolved around a swarm of OpenAI agents that, seemingly on their own, hacked the systems of a company called Hugging Face, a technology company and online platform for building, sharing, and using artificial intelligence models. The attack apparently set off alarm bells, resulting in a wake-up call.

"We'll soon have even more powerful agents and this is clear evidence that the world currently doesn't know how to build these systems safely," Marius Hobbhahn, co-founder and CEO of Apollo Research, an AI safety company, told CBS News.

Independent researchers who were given brief and limited access to OpenAI records said they determined that about 1,200 AI agents involved in the attack were not supposed to be communicating with one another. However, the researchers concluded the agents used a hidden message board to do so.

Major hotel chains offer senior rates, but don't assume the discounted price is always the cheapest

• You don't necessarily have to be 65 to score a senior hotel discount, as some hotel chains start offering special rates at age 55.

• Major chains including Best Western, Marriott, Hilton, and Choice Hotels offer senior rates, although eligibility and savings vary.

• Always compare the senior price with other available rates a loyalty-member, AAA, AARP, or promotional rate could still be cheaper.

If someone asked you what age you officially become a "senior," you might say 65. Hotels have a very different answer.

Depending on where you're staying, you could start qualifying for a senior rate at 55, 59, 60, 62, or 65.

And if you're not checking that little "special rates" box when booking a room, you could be leaving money on the table.

Money expert Clark Howard's team recently reviewed and compiled senior discounts offered by major hotel chains, and some start much earlier than you might expect.

Here's what they found.

Senior hotel discounts worth checking

According to Clark.com, these major hotel brands offer some type of senior rate or discount:

• Best Western: Travelers 55 and older can qualify for discounted rates at participating hotels.

• Extended Stay America: Guests 55 and older can save with a senior rate at participating locations.

• Omni Hotels & Resorts: Senior rates are available beginning at age 55.

• Red Roof: Travelers 59 and older can save 10%.

• Choice Hotels: Guests 60 and older can save up to 10% with advance reservations at participating properties.

• Motel 6: Travelers 60 and older can save up to 10%.

• Wyndham: Special senior rates are available to guests 60 and older at participating hotels.

• Marriott: Guests 62 and older can receive senior rates at participating properties.

• Hyatt: Senior rates are available beginning at age 62 at participating hotels.

• IHG: IHG Rewards members who are 62 and older can qualify for senior rates at participating hotels.

• Hilton: Senior rates, up to 6% off, are available to those 65+ at participating properties.

The big takeaway? Don't wait until you're 65 to start asking.

If you're 55 or older, it's worth checking for a senior rate every time you book.

But don't automatically book the senior rate

Here's where being a smart shopper matters.

A room labeled "senior rate" isn't necessarily the cheapest room available.

Howard recommends comparison shopping hotel prices, including checking third-party booking sites, the hotel's own website, loyalty-member prices, and discounts you may qualify for through groups such as AAA.

So the takeaway here is that you should treat the senior rate as one more price to compare, and never automatically assume its the best deal going.

For example, a hotel might offer seniors 10% off, while simultaneously running a promotion that saves everyone 20%. Always compare the final price for the exact same room and dates.

Pro tip: Pay attention to cancellation rules too. Saving another $10 on a nonrefundable room may not be worth giving up the flexibility to change your plans.

Be sure to check AARP rates too

There's another discount worth comparing.

If you're an AARP member, you may qualify for hotel discounts regardless of whether you've reached a particular chain's regular senior-discount age.

That can be particularly useful if you're in your 50s and a hotel's regular senior rate doesn't begin until 60, 62, or 65.

Again, be sure to compare both prices. Don't assume the AARP rate automatically beats the hotel's loyalty or promotional price.

One little question could save you money

The easiest money-saving move may also be the most obvious: Just ask.

Senior discounts aren't standardized across the hotel industry, and participating properties, ages, and savings can definitely vary.

When booking online, be sure to check the "Special Rates" or "Deals" menu. If you're calling the hotel, ask whether there's a senior, AARP, AAA, or loyalty-member rate available.

Then compare your options before reserving the room.

Getting older may qualify you for the discount, but being a smart shopper means making sure it's actually the best deal.