On 1/16/2016 1:30 PM, rbowman wrote:
On 01/15/2016 11:06 PM, Don Y wrote:
The BIG advantage to brick and mortars is you can actually *see*
what you are buying and don't have to rely on some dweeb to put
the *right* item in the box!

Perhaps where you live. In a town of 50,000 finding something to see is a
chore or the price is ridiculous. I bought an Omron strapless HRM late last
year. The only one I could find in town was $50 at Walmart. The same item was
$25 from Amazon.

"A town of" is misleading. I grew up in a town of 20,000 -- the high school
sat in the middle of a corn field. But, in a metro area of some several
MILLION! In the time it took me to drive to high school, I could have headed
off for any of the surrounding "cities".

My worst experience was after I bought a car without a radio. It was a new
model so the dash kit was also a new design. I went to the leading car stereo
store in town and selected a radio. The salesman said they didn't have the kit
and would give me a call. Okay. A couple of days later, he calls to say there
isn't a kit but they might be able to modify one. Meanwhile, I'd been on a
Toyota forum and gave him the manufacturer and part number. It was a Metra kit,
one of the major providers. He said he'd order it from the his supplier and it
should be delivered in three days. Okay. Three days later, I called. The
shipment had arrived with no kit. He would try to order it from Spokane. Okay.
Two days later, the Spokane delivery arrived, no kit.

I thanked him for his trouble through clenched teeth, went home, and ordered
the radio, dash kit, and harness from Amazon. Two days later there was a pile
of boxes on my deck when I got home from work and I installed the radio.

That's how it runs for most things around here and it isn't only Amazon. I went
to a local archery shop looking for glue on target points. They're mostly into
compound bows, not traditional archery. The guy said he could order them for
me, but I could find them on the internet as easily as he could.

Back to books: I went into the B&N store looking for a title and she said she
could order it and it would be a week or two at the full list price. I ordered
it from B&N online for 10% less and free delivery to my door.

I really, really try to support the local brick and mortar stores but I'm
starting to think they all have a death wish.

I feel sorry for them. Many folks use them as "showrooms" and do their
purchases online (clearly not fair to the B&M as they've had to maintain
showroom floor space, not WAREHOUSE floorspace). OTOH, what they *should*
be touting is service and the immediacy of acquiring *the* product
sought (not the *hoped for* product ORDERED).

The pants I mentioned that SWMBO received from Amazon, upthread, were
originally purchased at a local B&M. I buy my jeans there (certain
sizes aren't easy to find elsewhere) and was always impressed with the
service and knowledge of their sales staff.

Sure as hell, SWMBO was *tickled* when thy pointed her at *exactly*
what she was looking for and worked to find the best fit, etc.

"Great! I'll take them! Can I get two more pairs? And, maybe
another pair in this other color, same size?"

"We'll have to order them in from one of our other stores."

"No problem! I can only wear one pair at a time! When will
they be in?"

"Thursday" (that day being saturday) "we'll call when they arrive"

Thursday comes. No call -- yay or nay. Call THEM on friday.
"Oh, the manager is out of the store, today. I'll leave a message
and have her get back to you tomorrow."

You can see where this eventually ended up with NOTHING after two
weeks of waiting!

"OK, we know which make/model/color you want; let's just order
from Amazon!"

Wait a week for Amazon to deliver them. Then notice they are
two different sizes and look as if they'd been worn for weeks
(lots of wear at the cuffs).

Go through the effort of packaging them up, getting the UPS shipping
label printed, dropping off at the UPS office by the library
(so we don't have to worry about when the UPS guy will show up at
our door for them), wait (and remember to check for!) for the credit
on the charge card...

Then, go to Target and buy the same pants off the shelf -- after
trying on BOTH pairs!