# Consumer Reports

> Consumer Reports is an independent US nonprofit that turns anonymously purchased products, laboratory tests, large member surveys, investigative reporting, and policy advocacy into practical buying guidance and marketplace reform. Its roughly 5 million members can access more than 10,000 ratings and reviews, while the wider public uses its journalism, recall information, campaigns, privacy tools, and free guidance. Unlike ad-supported review publishers or affiliate sites, CR says it accepts no advertising, buys the products it tests, and funds its work primarily through memberships and donations.

- **Founded:** 1936
- **Headquarters:** Yonkers, United States
- **Founders:** Arthur Kallet (Co-founder and first director), Colston E. Warne (Co-founder and first board president)
- **Team size:** 501-1,000 employees on LinkedIn; the supplied company record lists 690, while a 2025 CEO note described more than 500 staff.
- **Products:** ConsumerReports.org ratings and buying guidance, Consumer Reports magazine, Consumer Reports mobile app, AskCR, Permission Slip
- **Notable:** Built a national membership of roughly 5 million and a library of more than 10,000 ratings and reviews., Tested more than 2,300 products and services across 100-plus categories in fiscal 2025., Mobilized 1.24 million consumer actions and received $32.5 million in individual donations in fiscal 2025.

## Products & services

- **ConsumerReports.org ratings and buying guidance** — Member access to independent ratings, reviews, comparisons and advice for more than 10,000 products and services across over 100 categories.
- **Consumer Reports magazine** — The flagship print publication carrying product tests, investigations and consumer guidance; its predecessor first appeared as Consumers Union Reports.
- **Consumer Reports mobile app** — Mobile access to ratings, AskCR, product image scanning, deals and other membership tools.
- **AskCR** — An expert-powered conversational advice engine grounded in CR's own published product research; beta launched in 2024 and broadly released in 2025.
- **Permission Slip** — A privacy app that sends deletion and opt-out requests to companies on a user's behalf; CR announced a planned transfer to DeleteMe in 2026 after nearly 5 million requests.
- **Security Planner** — A free personalized guide for improving digital security and privacy.
- **Research, investigations and advocacy** — National surveys, laboratory and field research, investigative reporting, standards work, public campaigns and policy advocacy across safety, sustainability, financial fairness and digital rights.
- **Content and mark licensing** — Controlled licensing of CR content, video and the CR Recommended mark under rules intended to preserve context and independence.

## Achievements

- Built a national membership of roughly 5 million and a library of more than 10,000 ratings and reviews.
- Tested more than 2,300 products and services across 100-plus categories in fiscal 2025.
- Mobilized 1.24 million consumer actions and received $32.5 million in individual donations in fiscal 2025.
- Its early smoking research informed the Surgeon General's landmark 1964 report.
- Helped advance seat-belt, child-seat, product-flammability, food-safety, right-to-repair, privacy and financial-protection measures over its history.
- An investigation into BlendJet 2 failures preceded a recall of 4.8 million portable blenders in 2023.
- Permission Slip initiated 2.5 million data requests by fiscal 2024 and nearly 5 million before CR announced its planned 2026 transfer to DeleteMe.
- AskCR passed one million consumer questions in October 2025.
- A joint investigation of Instacart's AI pricing experiments preceded the platform ending same-item differential-price testing in December 2025.
- Named to Fast Company's 2026 list of the World's Most Innovative Companies.

## Latest updates

- **2026-04** — CR updated its Instacart investigation after Wegmans discontinued the pricing software and state and federal scrutiny expanded.
- **2026-03** — Consumer Reports joined the Agentic AI Foundation and was named to Fast Company's 2026 list of the World's Most Innovative Companies.
- **2026-02** — CR introduced a Safety Verdict rating and published its 2026 annual Top Picks for new cars, trucks and SUVs.
- **2026-01** — Consumer Reports and Duke University opened a 90-year archive exhibition.
- **2025-12** — Instacart ended technology enabling retailers to test different same-item prices after a joint CR investigation.
- **2025-10** — AskCR surpassed one million questions.
- **2025-07** — AskCR moved out of beta to broad availability on the CR website and mobile app after conversations with more than 200,000 users.

## Links

- Website: https://www.consumerreports.org/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/consumer-reports
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/ConsumerReports
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@consumerreports
- Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/consumerreports.org
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/consumerreports/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ConsumerReports

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/consumer-reports
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-08-13