On Sun, 6 May 2018 11:58:51 +0100, Andrew
wrote:

Worthing store still has a pile of bacofoil 'digital'
tv aeriels reduced from £49 to £29 !!!!.

Various reels of cable, including CAT 6 for more than
you could pay online anyway. :-).

'Bargain' lucky dips - choose ten bagged items for
only' £8, about what they are worth normally.

They were sometimes convenient, but the last time I bought anything
was around three years back. The same stuff as could be obtained from
Ebay or Amazon at around half the price.

Also with mail order you don't have to wait in line while the pillock
in front of you is having an in depth conversation on the merits of
zinc carbon vs alkaline for his penlight.

Whatever the price, most of the stuff was junk and warranty
replacements were only after long drawn out arguments.

Good Riddance!!

AB

Worthing store still has a pile of bacofoil 'digital'
tv aeriels reduced from £49 to £29 !!!!.

Various reels of cable, including CAT 6 for more than
you could pay online anyway. :-).

'Bargain' lucky dips - choose ten bagged items for
only' £8, about what they are worth normally.

I had no trouble with returns or advice in our one, I think you must have
had a bad one.

However who on the high street now can you buy a nice short wave receiver
from? My guess is nobody, and what people forget about shops like Maplin is
that they have to keep quite small stocks and have slow moving items. The
general result after the escalating costs of running a shop, is higher
prices. We had the same with specialist hi if shops back in the 80s, and of
course the inevitable happened, the public looked at the specialist stores
tested the gear then went round the corner and bought one from a box
shifter. Now the problem is the Internet, and unfortunately all these brave
towns like ours here in Kingstons plans to make a new retail offering in the
next few yeas do seem doomed to failure unless they can find a way to cut
the costs of running high street stores.
Brian

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This newsgroup posting comes to you directly from...
The Sofa of Brian Gaff...

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"Archibald Tarquin Blenkinsopp" wrote in
message ...
On Sun, 6 May 2018 11:58:51 +0100, Andrew
wrote:

Worthing store still has a pile of bacofoil 'digital'
tv aeriels reduced from £49 to £29 !!!!.

Various reels of cable, including CAT 6 for more than
you could pay online anyway. :-).

'Bargain' lucky dips - choose ten bagged items for
only' £8, about what they are worth normally.

They were sometimes convenient, but the last time I bought anything
was around three years back. The same stuff as could be obtained from
Ebay or Amazon at around half the price.

Also with mail order you don't have to wait in line while the pillock
in front of you is having an in depth conversation on the merits of
zinc carbon vs alkaline for his penlight.

Whatever the price, most of the stuff was junk and warranty
replacements were only after long drawn out arguments.

Good Riddance!!

AB

On Sun, 6 May 2018 13:59:41 +0100, "Brian Gaff"
wrote:

I had no trouble with returns or advice in our one, I think you must have
had a bad one.
SNIP

Possibly, it was a USB TV stick that sort of worked, it got around
seven channels off a roof mounted aerial.

Basically I was fobbed off because it was a sale item I suppose. I
would no doubt have had the refund in the end, but I had better things
to do.


I fully agree with what you say regarding the convenience and stock. I
would haave been happier if some of the gear was a little more
upmarket quality wise, I got the impression that managers had no
leeway on local prices because my local store used to do PC boards etc
at well over the price of a one man shop a couple of hundred metres
away.

I used to use them quite a lot, but I just don't build things anymore.
My components are bigger, bulkier and more likely to come from Newey &
Eyre.

I would guess that few people have the patience to work with surface
mount, which is what electronics seems to be now.

AB

On Sun, 6 May 2018 11:58:51 +0100, Andrew
wrote:

snip

'Bargain' lucky dips - choose ten bagged items for
only' £8, about what they are worth normally.

A mate showed me a DMM he just picked up from them that was £17.99,
supposedly down from 70 quid or summat?

I asked him if it was something special (thinking that was probably
the right (bricks n mortar / retail price for such things) and I think
he mentioned it could also measure temperature [1]-(

Cheers, T i m

[1] Many of my DMMs came with a temperature probe (thermocouple?) but
in most cases I've long since misplaced it / the box when I actually
find a use for it. Similar with the serial / USB interfaces that use a
'special' connector at the DMM end. ;-(

On Sun, 6 May 2018 08:14:33 -0700 (PDT), wrote:

On Sunday, 6 May 2018 13:59:43 UTC+1, Brian Gaff wrote:
"Archibald Tarquin Blenkinsopp" wrote in
message ...
On Sun, 6 May 2018 11:58:51 +0100, Andrew
wrote:

Good Riddance!!

The one & only occasion we bought something from them it was daylight robbery.


I had no trouble with returns or advice in our one, I think you must have
had a bad one.

However who on the high street now can you buy a nice short wave receiver
from? My guess is nobody,

because they're obsolete


Only because of the heat wave, come the cold weather, waves will be
much shorter ;-)

Incidentally Lidl had a short wave radio recently for about £8-00, I
was tempted but it didn't have a BFO, Magda at the checkout wasnt sure
about the IF selectivity either, so I gave it a miss.


shifter. Now the problem is the Internet, and unfortunately all these brave
towns like ours here in Kingstons plans to make a new retail offering in the
next few yeas do seem doomed to failure unless they can find a way to cut
the costs of running high street stores.
Brian

that's easy - cut the rates. The whole town centre loss of business problem is largely down to rates.

This will be remedied :-(

How would councils exist on less income?

They wont, they will up the income.

Stop wasting so much of it would be a good start.

They cannot stop wasting money, it's inherent in the system. Making
individuals accountable for their incompetence would go a long way
toward cutting waste, but it wont happen.


AB

On Sunday, 6 May 2018 13:59:43 UTC+1, Brian Gaff wrote:
"Archibald Tarquin Blenkinsopp" wrote in
message ...
On Sun, 6 May 2018 11:58:51 +0100, Andrew
wrote:

Good Riddance!!

The one & only occasion we bought something from them it was daylight robbery.


I had no trouble with returns or advice in our one, I think you must have
had a bad one.

However who on the high street now can you buy a nice short wave receiver
from? My guess is nobody,

because they're obsolete


shifter. Now the problem is the Internet, and unfortunately all these brave
towns like ours here in Kingstons plans to make a new retail offering in the
next few yeas do seem doomed to failure unless they can find a way to cut
the costs of running high street stores.
Brian

that's easy - cut the rates. The whole town centre loss of business problem is largely down to rates.
How would councils exist on less income? Stop wasting so much of it would be a good start.


NT

On Sunday, 6 May 2018 16:32:41 UTC+1, Archibald Tarquin Blenkinsopp wrote:
On Sun, 6 May 2018 08:14:33 -0700 (PDT), tabbypurr wrote:
On Sunday, 6 May 2018 13:59:43 UTC+1, Brian Gaff wrote:

shifter. Now the problem is the Internet, and unfortunately all these brave
towns like ours here in Kingstons plans to make a new retail offering in the
next few yeas do seem doomed to failure unless they can find a way to cut
the costs of running high street stores.
Brian

that's easy - cut the rates. The whole town centre loss of business problem is largely down to rates.

This will be remedied :-(

I wish, it's killing retail

How would councils exist on less income?

They wont, they will up the income.

Stop wasting so much of it would be a good start.

They cannot stop wasting money, it's inherent in the system. Making
individuals accountable for their incompetence would go a long way
toward cutting waste, but it wont happen.


AB

it would be easy to stop it, but as you say it won't happen


NT

In article ,
wrote:
On Sunday, 6 May 2018 13:59:43 UTC+1, Brian Gaff wrote:
"Archibald Tarquin Blenkinsopp" wrote in
message ...
On Sun, 6 May 2018 11:58:51 +0100, Andrew
wrote:

Good Riddance!!

The one & only occasion we bought something from them it was daylight
robbery.


I had no trouble with returns or advice in our one, I think you must
have had a bad one.

However who on the high street now can you buy a nice short wave
receiver from? My guess is nobody,

because they're obsolete


shifter. Now the problem is the Internet, and unfortunately all these
brave towns like ours here in Kingstons plans to make a new retail
offering in the next few yeas do seem doomed to failure unless they can
find a way to cut the costs of running high street stores. Brian

that's easy - cut the rates. The whole town centre loss of business
problem is largely down to rates. How would councils exist on less
income? Stop wasting so much of it would be a good start.

Business rates are set by central government. Sommetime local councils are
allowed to keep some of the income.

--
from KT24 in Surrey, England
"I'd rather die of exhaustion than die of boredom" Thomas Carlyle

On Sun, 6 May 2018 12:34:40 -0700 (PDT), wrote:

On Sunday, 6 May 2018 16:32:41 UTC+1, Archibald Tarquin Blenkinsopp wrote:
On Sun, 6 May 2018 08:14:33 -0700 (PDT), tabbypurr wrote:
On Sunday, 6 May 2018 13:59:43 UTC+1, Brian Gaff wrote:

shifter. Now the problem is the Internet, and unfortunately all these brave
towns like ours here in Kingstons plans to make a new retail offering in the
next few yeas do seem doomed to failure unless they can find a way to cut
the costs of running high street stores.
Brian

that's easy - cut the rates. The whole town centre loss of business problem is largely down to rates.

This will be remedied :-(

I wish, it's killing retail

Sadly the remedy wont help the retail outlets. The remedy for incurred
loss will come when the general public have their council tax ramped
up.

It wont be the councils fault, they will blame central government.

Of course it can,t be central governments fault................


The one thing that I am not happy with regarding the EU, I now have to
pay council tax in Ireland.

From past experience when the Irish bring in taxes, they start off
nice & low, then match and increase on the worst that the UK manages.


There's no justice :-(

AB

On Mon, 7 May 2018 16:32:32 +0100, JoeJoe wrote:

On 06/05/2018 20:34, wrote:
On Sunday, 6 May 2018 16:32:41 UTC+1, Archibald Tarquin Blenkinsopp wrote:
On Sun, 6 May 2018 08:14:33 -0700 (PDT), tabbypurr wrote:
On Sunday, 6 May 2018 13:59:43 UTC+1, Brian Gaff wrote:

shifter. Now the problem is the Internet, and unfortunately all these brave
towns like ours here in Kingstons plans to make a new retail offering in the
next few yeas do seem doomed to failure unless they can find a way to cut
the costs of running high street stores.
Brian

that's easy - cut the rates. The whole town centre loss of business problem is largely down to rates.

This will be remedied :-(

I wish, it's killing retail

How would councils exist on less income?

They wont, they will up the income.

Stop wasting so much of it would be a good start.

They cannot stop wasting money, it's inherent in the system. Making
individuals accountable for their incompetence would go a long way
toward cutting waste, but it wont happen.

Ever heard of a public sector employee losing their job due to
incompetence? I haven't... It generally tends to result in a
promotion from my experience ;-)

I have a local [UK] council that seems to be around 50/50 Competent/
incompetent.

The incompetent seem to speak a different language and indeed use
different logic to myself.

The competent seem just as frustrated as I get, yet apart from a
degree of sympathy and understanding, there is no benefit from
communicating with them either.

The exception being small specialist units, I suppose the idiots don't
fit and professionals are still professionals even if they work for a
dysfunctional tax drain.

AB

On 06/05/2018 20:34, wrote:
On Sunday, 6 May 2018 16:32:41 UTC+1, Archibald Tarquin Blenkinsopp wrote:
On Sun, 6 May 2018 08:14:33 -0700 (PDT), tabbypurr wrote:
On Sunday, 6 May 2018 13:59:43 UTC+1, Brian Gaff wrote:

shifter. Now the problem is the Internet, and unfortunately all these brave
towns like ours here in Kingstons plans to make a new retail offering in the
next few yeas do seem doomed to failure unless they can find a way to cut
the costs of running high street stores.
Brian

that's easy - cut the rates. The whole town centre loss of business problem is largely down to rates.

This will be remedied :-(

I wish, it's killing retail

How would councils exist on less income?

They wont, they will up the income.

Stop wasting so much of it would be a good start.

They cannot stop wasting money, it's inherent in the system. Making
individuals accountable for their incompetence would go a long way
toward cutting waste, but it wont happen.

Ever heard of a public sector employee losing their job due to
incompetence? I haven't... It generally tends to result in a
promotion from my experience ;-)

In message
JoeJoe wrote:

On 06/05/2018 20:34, wrote:
On Sunday, 6 May 2018 16:32:41 UTC+1, Archibald Tarquin Blenkinsopp wrote:
On Sun, 6 May 2018 08:14:33 -0700 (PDT), tabbypurr wrote:
On Sunday, 6 May 2018 13:59:43 UTC+1, Brian Gaff wrote:

shifter. Now the problem is the Internet, and unfortunately all these
brave
towns like ours here in Kingstons plans to make a new retail offering in
the
next few yeas do seem doomed to failure unless they can find a way to cut
the costs of running high street stores.
Brian

that's easy - cut the rates. The whole town centre loss of business
problem is largely down to rates.

This will be remedied :-(

I wish, it's killing retail

How would councils exist on less income?

They wont, they will up the income.

Stop wasting so much of it would be a good start.

They cannot stop wasting money, it's inherent in the system. Making
individuals accountable for their incompetence would go a long way
toward cutting waste, but it wont happen.

Ever heard of a public sector employee losing their job due to
incompetence? I haven't... It generally tends to result in a
promotion from my experience ;-)

Not many private sector employees either. When they are sacked they walk
away with a golden handshake.

--
John Bryan

"John Bryan" wrote in message
...
In message
JoeJoe wrote:

On 06/05/2018 20:34, wrote:
On Sunday, 6 May 2018 16:32:41 UTC+1, Archibald Tarquin Blenkinsopp
wrote:
On Sun, 6 May 2018 08:14:33 -0700 (PDT), tabbypurr wrote:
On Sunday, 6 May 2018 13:59:43 UTC+1, Brian Gaff wrote:

shifter. Now the problem is the Internet, and unfortunately all these
brave
towns like ours here in Kingstons plans to make a new retail offering
in
the
next few yeas do seem doomed to failure unless they can find a way to
cut
the costs of running high street stores.
Brian

that's easy - cut the rates. The whole town centre loss of business
problem is largely down to rates.

This will be remedied :-(

I wish, it's killing retail

How would councils exist on less income?

They wont, they will up the income.

Stop wasting so much of it would be a good start.

They cannot stop wasting money, it's inherent in the system. Making
individuals accountable for their incompetence would go a long way
toward cutting waste, but it wont happen.

Ever heard of a public sector employee losing their job due to
incompetence? I haven't... It generally tends to result in a
promotion from my experience ;-)

Not many private sector employees either. When they
are sacked they walk away with a golden handshake.

Its only those at the top that get any golden handshake when sacked.

On 06/05/2018 1:59 PM, Brian Gaff wrote:
I had no trouble with returns or advice in our one, I think you must have
had a bad one.

However who on the high street now can you buy a nice short wave receiver
from? My guess is nobody, and what people forget about shops like Maplin is
that they have to keep quite small stocks and have slow moving items. The
general result after the escalating costs of running a shop, is higher
prices. We had the same with specialist hi if shops back in the 80s, and of
course the inevitable happened, the public looked at the specialist stores
tested the gear then went round the corner and bought one from a box
shifter. Now the problem is the Internet, and unfortunately all these brave
towns like ours here in Kingstons plans to make a new retail offering in the
next few yeas do seem doomed to failure unless they can find a way to cut
the costs of running high street stores.
Brian

Yeah, Bri, it makes you wonder what town centres will become?

Rather than need, it could become a place of entertainment? Old markets
could pop back up? Boot-sales right in the centre with some potential
pop idols entertaining in every street.

I was just old enough to witness the disappearance of the music halls
and the streets of Manchester lost it's entertainers.

I think there's going to be plenty of room for that.

Ray.

"Huge" wrote in message
...
On 2018-05-18, RayL12 wrote:
On 06/05/2018 1:59 PM, Brian Gaff wrote:
I had no trouble with returns or advice in our one, I think you must
have
had a bad one.

However who on the high street now can you buy a nice short wave
receiver
from? My guess is nobody,

Except this always was the case. That's too small a market (and amateur
radio is, like most technical hobbies, dying also). "The Internet subsumed
everything that was interesting about amateur radio" -- Phil Karn, KA9Q.

[snippage]

next few yeas do seem doomed to failure unless they can find a way to
cut
the costs of running high street stores.
Brian

Yeah, Bri, it makes you wonder what town centres will become?

Rather than need, it could become a place of entertainment?

Correct. High Streets need to sell experiences instead of things. You
can't get experiences delivered by courier.

Depends on what gets delivered. If it’s a bomb or anthrax etc, you do.