On Friday, January 13, 2017 at 9:36:28 AM UTC-5, Leon wrote:
On 1/12/2017 9:56 PM, DerbyDad03 wrote:
On Thursday, January 12, 2017 at 10:57:42 AM UTC-5, Leon wrote:
On 1/12/2017 9:44 AM, Jack wrote:
On 1/12/2017 6:06 AM, Ed Pawlowski wrote:
On 1/11/2017 9:47 PM, wrote:


Yes, hindsight is always 20/20. And it would be just as accurate to
say Radio Shack should be exactly where Best Buy and Dell combined are
today. In the 1970s and 1980s Radio Shack was the computer store.
Everything electronic was at Radio Shack. Radio Shack was in every
mall back then so they had presence everywhere in the country. All
the new computer buyers of the 1970s, 1980s, and into the 1990s should've
have bought from Radio Shack. But the Shack is now about gone. Why
didn't the people at Radio Shack predict the prevalence of computers
and online everything that came 30 years later? Probably the same
reason Sears did not see everyone ordering everything in the mail
(FedEx and UPS are a big part) fifty years later.


Radio Shack did predict it and figured they would be selling computers
to the world. They thought they could sell them at full retail price
while others were selling them for 30% less.

RS was a good place if you need a diode or resistor, but not for
equipment.

Every time I went into Radio shack I had to give them my name, address,
phone number, wife's maiden name, first born's name, favorite dogs name
and other assorted stupid crap. I once tried to buy without giving them
the info and they wouldn't sell to me until I did. There's a great
marketing strategy, **** off your customers. I believe they have a
pretty good online presence, in which they probably found even better
ways to **** off customers.



WOW! They must have been picking on you in particular, I never
experienced that.


They weren't just picking on him, they picked on me too. I hated answering the same
questions over and over again. It's a frigging electronics store. Shouldn't just a phone
number bring up everything they needed? Even Harbor Freight can do that.

I used to make stuff up just to screw with them.



I never had any issue, just gave them my telephone number. If you were
making stuff up they probably got several extra hits on your reference
and then had to narrow it down to which one you were going to pick for
that day.

I didn't start making stuff up until they annoyed me by constantly asking
for the same info. I even mentioned (more then once) that they already had
my info.

"Why do you ask me all the same questions every time I come in?"

"That's how the system works, sir. May I have your name please?"

Eventually, I figured that if my real info wasn't being retained, I
might as well just give them whatever I wanted.

On 1/12/2017 5:59 PM, Leon wrote:
On 1/12/2017 10:53 AM, -MIKE- wrote:
On 1/12/17 9:48 AM, Leon wrote:
On 1/12/2017 9:37 AM, Jack wrote:
On 1/11/2017 9:47 PM, wrote:
On Wednesday, January 11, 2017 at 10:17:14 AM UTC-6, Jack wrote:
Sears should be where Amazon is today, based on their long
history of
catalog and mail order sales.
--
Jack


Yes, hindsight is always 20/20. And it would be just as accurate to
say Radio Shack should be exactly where Best Buy and Dell combined are
today. In the 1970s and 1980s Radio Shack was the computer store.
Everything electronic was at Radio Shack. Radio Shack was in every
mall back then so they had presence everywhere in the country. All
the new computer buyers of the 1970s, 1980s, and into the 1990s should
have bought from Radio Shack. But the Shack is now about gone. Why
didn't the people at Radio Shack predict the prevalence of computers
and online everything that came 30 years later? Probably the same
reason Sears did not see everyone ordering everything in the mail
(FedEx and UPS are a big part) fifty years later.

It's not hindsight, it is now. Sears could have easily shifted to
online sales at any time, but my guess is management had their
collective heads where the sun don't shine.

Sears has had on line sales for most of this millennium.


But like Walmart, for most stuff they are simply redirecting to "partner
vendors."




I see that as an increasing trend. Best Buy too.

Amazon as well, and if buying enough stuff for free shipping, you have
to be very careful the "partner" isn't gouging you on shipping which
isn't included in the free shipping part. Amazon can make it a bit
confusing to say the least, and thus, more diligence required, the less
trust they get.

--
Jack
Add Life to your Days not Days to your Life.
http://jbstein.com

On Friday, January 13, 2017 at 10:33:14 AM UTC-5, Jack wrote:
On 1/12/2017 5:59 PM, Leon wrote:
On 1/12/2017 10:53 AM, -MIKE- wrote:
On 1/12/17 9:48 AM, Leon wrote:
On 1/12/2017 9:37 AM, Jack wrote:
On 1/11/2017 9:47 PM, wrote:
On Wednesday, January 11, 2017 at 10:17:14 AM UTC-6, Jack wrote:
Sears should be where Amazon is today, based on their long
history of
catalog and mail order sales.
--
Jack


Yes, hindsight is always 20/20. And it would be just as accurate to
say Radio Shack should be exactly where Best Buy and Dell combined are
today. In the 1970s and 1980s Radio Shack was the computer store.
Everything electronic was at Radio Shack. Radio Shack was in every
mall back then so they had presence everywhere in the country. All
the new computer buyers of the 1970s, 1980s, and into the 1990s should
have bought from Radio Shack. But the Shack is now about gone. Why
didn't the people at Radio Shack predict the prevalence of computers
and online everything that came 30 years later? Probably the same
reason Sears did not see everyone ordering everything in the mail
(FedEx and UPS are a big part) fifty years later.

It's not hindsight, it is now. Sears could have easily shifted to
online sales at any time, but my guess is management had their
collective heads where the sun don't shine.

Sears has had on line sales for most of this millennium.


But like Walmart, for most stuff they are simply redirecting to "partner
vendors."




I see that as an increasing trend. Best Buy too.

Amazon as well, and if buying enough stuff for free shipping, you have
to be very careful the "partner" isn't gouging you on shipping which
isn't included in the free shipping part. Amazon can make it a bit
confusing to say the least, and thus, more diligence required, the less
trust they get.


I recently had a situation where I bought a $42 item and got a message
saying that if I added a $7 item I could get free shipping. I found a
blade for my oscillating tool that was labeled as an "add-on" item,
one that Amazon describes as:

"The Add-on program allows Amazon to offer thousands of low-priced items
that would be cost-prohibitive to ship on their own."

I put it in my cart and my shipping cost was reduced to $0.

I then received 2 different emails, one for each item, with different
tracking numbers and different delivery dates. The $42 item arrived last
Friday, the $7 item arrived yesterday. So much for their "cost-prohibitive
to ship on their own" criteria.

On 1/13/2017 9:17 AM, Jack wrote:
On 1/12/2017 10:48 AM, Leon wrote:
On 1/12/2017 9:37 AM, Jack wrote:
On 1/11/2017 9:47 PM, wrote:
On Wednesday, January 11, 2017 at 10:17:14 AM UTC-6, Jack wrote:
Sears should be where Amazon is today, based on their long
history of
catalog and mail order sales.
--
Jack


Yes, hindsight is always 20/20. And it would be just as accurate to
say Radio Shack should be exactly where Best Buy and Dell combined are
today. In the 1970s and 1980s Radio Shack was the computer store.
Everything electronic was at Radio Shack. Radio Shack was in every
mall back then so they had presence everywhere in the country. All
the new computer buyers of the 1970s, 1980s, and into the 1990s should
have bought from Radio Shack. But the Shack is now about gone. Why
didn't the people at Radio Shack predict the prevalence of computers
and online everything that came 30 years later? Probably the same
reason Sears did not see everyone ordering everything in the mail
(FedEx and UPS are a big part) fifty years later.

It's not hindsight, it is now. Sears could have easily shifted to
online sales at any time, but my guess is management had their
collective heads where the sun don't shine.

Sears has had on line sales for most of this millennium.

After a thousand years of on line sales you would think they would be
better at it...


Have you looked at their P&L sheet? Their internet sales may very well
be what is making money. Speculation does not override the facts on the
balance sheet. The over saturated brick and mortar locations are
certainly a loosing proposition with few to no customers in the many of
the locations.

And the holding company may be totally at fault. It could very well be
robbing Peter to pay Paul/KMart. Sears was making money and not that
long ago. The losses in the last 20 quarters would choke any horse. If
Sears has had losses for every quarter in the last 5 years there must
have been profits prior to that.

On 1/13/2017 9:33 AM, Jack wrote:
On 1/12/2017 5:59 PM, Leon wrote:
On 1/12/2017 10:53 AM, -MIKE- wrote:
On 1/12/17 9:48 AM, Leon wrote:
On 1/12/2017 9:37 AM, Jack wrote:
On 1/11/2017 9:47 PM, wrote:
On Wednesday, January 11, 2017 at 10:17:14 AM UTC-6, Jack wrote:
Sears should be where Amazon is today, based on their long
history of
catalog and mail order sales.
--
Jack


Yes, hindsight is always 20/20. And it would be just as accurate to
say Radio Shack should be exactly where Best Buy and Dell combined
are
today. In the 1970s and 1980s Radio Shack was the computer store.
Everything electronic was at Radio Shack. Radio Shack was in every
mall back then so they had presence everywhere in the country. All
the new computer buyers of the 1970s, 1980s, and into the 1990s
should
have bought from Radio Shack. But the Shack is now about gone. Why
didn't the people at Radio Shack predict the prevalence of computers
and online everything that came 30 years later? Probably the same
reason Sears did not see everyone ordering everything in the mail
(FedEx and UPS are a big part) fifty years later.

It's not hindsight, it is now. Sears could have easily shifted to
online sales at any time, but my guess is management had their
collective heads where the sun don't shine.

Sears has had on line sales for most of this millennium.


But like Walmart, for most stuff they are simply redirecting to "partner
vendors."




I see that as an increasing trend. Best Buy too.

Amazon as well, and if buying enough stuff for free shipping, you have
to be very careful the "partner" isn't gouging you on shipping which
isn't included in the free shipping part. Amazon can make it a bit
confusing to say the least, and thus, more diligence required, the less
trust they get.



Yes Amazon as well. I would suggest not dabbling in what you don't
understand. Like those $1.99 shelf brackets that are more expensive
than the Prime brackets once you add in the shipping.

On 1/13/2017 9:31 AM, DerbyDad03 wrote:
On Friday, January 13, 2017 at 9:36:28 AM UTC-5, Leon wrote:
On 1/12/2017 9:56 PM, DerbyDad03 wrote:
On Thursday, January 12, 2017 at 10:57:42 AM UTC-5, Leon wrote:
On 1/12/2017 9:44 AM, Jack wrote:
On 1/12/2017 6:06 AM, Ed Pawlowski wrote:
On 1/11/2017 9:47 PM, wrote:


Yes, hindsight is always 20/20. And it would be just as accurate to
say Radio Shack should be exactly where Best Buy and Dell combined are
today. In the 1970s and 1980s Radio Shack was the computer store.
Everything electronic was at Radio Shack. Radio Shack was in every
mall back then so they had presence everywhere in the country. All
the new computer buyers of the 1970s, 1980s, and into the 1990s should've
have bought from Radio Shack. But the Shack is now about gone. Why
didn't the people at Radio Shack predict the prevalence of computers
and online everything that came 30 years later? Probably the same
reason Sears did not see everyone ordering everything in the mail
(FedEx and UPS are a big part) fifty years later.


Radio Shack did predict it and figured they would be selling computers
to the world. They thought they could sell them at full retail price
while others were selling them for 30% less.

RS was a good place if you need a diode or resistor, but not for
equipment.

Every time I went into Radio shack I had to give them my name, address,
phone number, wife's maiden name, first born's name, favorite dogs name
and other assorted stupid crap. I once tried to buy without giving them
the info and they wouldn't sell to me until I did. There's a great
marketing strategy, **** off your customers. I believe they have a
pretty good online presence, in which they probably found even better
ways to **** off customers.



WOW! They must have been picking on you in particular, I never
experienced that.


They weren't just picking on him, they picked on me too. I hated answering the same
questions over and over again. It's a frigging electronics store. Shouldn't just a phone
number bring up everything they needed? Even Harbor Freight can do that.

I used to make stuff up just to screw with them.



I never had any issue, just gave them my telephone number. If you were
making stuff up they probably got several extra hits on your reference
and then had to narrow it down to which one you were going to pick for
that day.

I didn't start making stuff up until they annoyed me by constantly asking
for the same info. I even mentioned (more then once) that they already had
my info.

"Why do you ask me all the same questions every time I come in?"

"That's how the system works, sir. May I have your name please?"

Eventually, I figured that if my real info wasn't being retained, I
might as well just give them whatever I wanted.

Must have been a location thing.

On 1/12/2017 10:39 PM, wrote:
On Thursday, January 12, 2017 at 9:37:06 AM UTC-6, Jack wrote:

It's not hindsight, it is now. Sears could have easily shifted to
online sales at any time, but my guess is management had their
collective heads where the sun don't shine.

Amazon started from scratch, Sears had a long history of catalog sales.
They blew it big time by ignoring the CURRENT trends. How on earth could
a retail store with a history of catalog sales IGNORE Amazon? Brain
dead is what I think.

--
Jack

You seem to believe everything is so easy. Back in August Wal-Mart paid $3 BILLION for Jet.com online sales company. After spending years trying to increase online sales at Wal-Mart. Did all the fools at Wal-Mart have their head up their behinds? Why couldn't they just make online sales magically? Why? Wal-Mart is the largest retailer in the world. How could they not know how to sell online?

Business is seldom easy unless you have a monopoly. I think it's easier
for a multi-billion dollar retail company to set up an on line business
than someone with no money, no sales experience, no products and so on.

I bought my earphones a few months ago on-line from Walmart, not Amazon,
so they are doing something about it. IF they get it wrong, they will
run into problems, just like everyone else. As fast as on-line sales is
growing, retail stores are dying. That's why I say hindsight is not it,
it is now, get with it now or die a slow death. If you can't get on-line
sales to work, you better get new people that know how to get it
working. Sears didn't, but they were killing their business before
on-line came into being, so no surprise there.

As for comparing catalog sales to online sales. Maybe they are similar, maybe not. Catalog sales for Sears started dying out in the 50s, 60s. They had physical stores so no need for catalog sales. And the US became far more urban, not rural, in the second half of the century. Today everyone almost lives in a city or near a city. So today almost everyone is close to a physical Sears store. Why would they use a catalog? Online sales you have 50 choices and prices. Catalog you have 5. Are they the same? I have a tool catalog from Acme Tools on the shelf. I doubt I would order anything from it. I'd go to the store in town or use the internet. Is a catalog the same as online ordering, even in philosophy?

I think catalog sales and online sales are almost identical. On-line is
cheaper and easy to keep up to date. Today, people occasionally go to a
retail store if in a super hurry, bored, or want to physically see and
touch a product before ordering it on-line.
--
Jack
Add Life to your Days not Days to your Life.
http://jbstein.com

On 1/12/2017 10:56 PM, DerbyDad03 wrote:
On Thursday, January 12, 2017 at 10:57:42 AM UTC-5, Leon wrote:
On 1/12/2017 9:44 AM, Jack wrote:

Every time I went into Radio shack I had to give them my name, address,
phone number, wife's maiden name, first born's name, favorite dogs name
and other assorted stupid crap. I once tried to buy without giving them
the info and they wouldn't sell to me until I did. There's a great
marketing strategy, **** off your customers. I believe they have a
pretty good online presence, in which they probably found even better
ways to **** off customers.



WOW! They must have been picking on you in particular, I never
experienced that.


They weren't just picking on him, they picked on me too. I hated answering the same
questions over and over again. It's a frigging electronics store. Shouldn't just a phone
number bring up everything they needed? Even Harbor Freight can do that.

Yes, that's what they did to everyone around here, and they did it for
many, many years and in different stores, so it seemed to be a company
policy that was poorly implemented. Rockler, HF and others do it with no
annoyance.

I used to make stuff up just to screw with them.



--
Jack
Add Life to your Days not Days to your Life.
http://jbstein.com

On 1/13/2017 9:36 AM, Leon wrote:
On 1/12/2017 9:56 PM, DerbyDad03 wrote:

WOW! They must have been picking on you in particular, I never
experienced that.


They weren't just picking on him, they picked on me too. I hated
answering the same
questions over and over again. It's a frigging electronics store.
Shouldn't just a phone
number bring up everything they needed? Even Harbor Freight can do that.

I used to make stuff up just to screw with them.


I never had any issue, just gave them my telephone number. If you were
making stuff up they probably got several extra hits on your reference
and then had to narrow it down to which one you were going to pick for
that day.

You missed the part where he said "Shouldn't just a phone number bring
everything up" If that worked, we wouldn't be bitching about the
annoyance they caused.

If your RS only wanted a Phone number, they should have passed that
secret on to the rest of their stores. Apparently they were not smart
enough to do that, or were _you_ getting special treatment?

--
Jack
Add Life to your Days not Days to your Life.
http://jbstein.com

On 1/13/2017 10:24 AM, Jack wrote:
On 1/13/2017 9:36 AM, Leon wrote:
On 1/12/2017 9:56 PM, DerbyDad03 wrote:

WOW! They must have been picking on you in particular, I never
experienced that.


They weren't just picking on him, they picked on me too. I hated
answering the same
questions over and over again. It's a frigging electronics store.
Shouldn't just a phone
number bring up everything they needed? Even Harbor Freight can do that.

I used to make stuff up just to screw with them.


I never had any issue, just gave them my telephone number. If you were
making stuff up they probably got several extra hits on your reference
and then had to narrow it down to which one you were going to pick for
that day.

You missed the part where he said "Shouldn't just a phone number bring
everything up" If that worked, we wouldn't be bitching about the
annoyance they caused.

If your RS only wanted a Phone number, they should have passed that
secret on to the rest of their stores. Apparently they were not smart
enough to do that, or were _you_ getting special treatment?



If I shop at RS and my wife shops at RS and my son Shops at RS and we
all give RS our own unique phone number and a common address there has
to be a way to differentiate us, hence the questions to narrow down who
is being sold to. Then enter into the mix phone number changes, new
addresses.

Typically is in such a hurry that he does not wait to have the
information updated and you have to go through this process each time.

I do this every time at Woodcraft. I have a taxable account and
business non taxable account and to make it easier to differentiate I
tell them to pick the one that references my or or my wifes name
depending on whether the sale is taxable or not. Both of our phone
numbers and old land line number pointed to the same two business accounts.

On 1/13/17 9:31 AM, DerbyDad03 wrote:
On Friday, January 13, 2017 at 9:36:28 AM UTC-5, Leon wrote:
On 1/12/2017 9:56 PM, DerbyDad03 wrote:
On Thursday, January 12, 2017 at 10:57:42 AM UTC-5, Leon wrote:
On 1/12/2017 9:44 AM, Jack wrote:
On 1/12/2017 6:06 AM, Ed Pawlowski wrote:
On 1/11/2017 9:47 PM, wrote:


Yes, hindsight is always 20/20. And it would be just as
accurate to say Radio Shack should be exactly where Best
Buy and Dell combined are today. In the 1970s and 1980s
Radio Shack was the computer store. Everything electronic
was at Radio Shack. Radio Shack was in every mall back
then so they had presence everywhere in the country.
All the new computer buyers of the 1970s, 1980s, and into
the 1990s should've have bought from Radio Shack. But
the Shack is now about gone. Why didn't the people at
Radio Shack predict the prevalence of computers and
online everything that came 30 years later? Probably the
same reason Sears did not see everyone ordering
everything in the mail (FedEx and UPS are a big part)
fifty years later.


Radio Shack did predict it and figured they would be
selling computers to the world. They thought they could
sell them at full retail price while others were selling
them for 30% less.

RS was a good place if you need a diode or resistor, but
not for equipment.

Every time I went into Radio shack I had to give them my
name, address, phone number, wife's maiden name, first born's
name, favorite dogs name and other assorted stupid crap. I
once tried to buy without giving them the info and they
wouldn't sell to me until I did. There's a great marketing
strategy, **** off your customers. I believe they have a
pretty good online presence, in which they probably found
even better ways to **** off customers.



WOW! They must have been picking on you in particular, I
never experienced that.


They weren't just picking on him, they picked on me too. I hated
answering the same questions over and over again. It's a frigging
electronics store. Shouldn't just a phone number bring up
everything they needed? Even Harbor Freight can do that.

I used to make stuff up just to screw with them.



I never had any issue, just gave them my telephone number. If you
were making stuff up they probably got several extra hits on your
reference and then had to narrow it down to which one you were
going to pick for that day.

I didn't start making stuff up until they annoyed me by constantly
asking for the same info. I even mentioned (more then once) that they
already had my info.

"Why do you ask me all the same questions every time I come in?"

"That's how the system works, sir. May I have your name please?"

Eventually, I figured that if my real info wasn't being retained, I
might as well just give them whatever I wanted.


When I still had a Radio Shack within driving distance, it got to the
point where I was getting 3 mailers all to the same address, because
inevitably whichever salesman on that particular day didn't know how to
use the computer and would re-enter my info on a new account.

The last time they tried to tell me they needed my name for the sale, I
just said, "You make it a cash sale or you don't get the sale."


--

-MIKE-

"Playing is not something I do at night, it's my function in life"
--Elvin Jones (1927-2004)
--
http://mikedrums.com

---remove "DOT" ^^^^ to reply

On 1/13/2017 9:41 AM, DerbyDad03 wrote:
On Friday, January 13, 2017 at 10:33:14 AM UTC-5, Jack wrote:
On 1/12/2017 5:59 PM, Leon wrote:
On 1/12/2017 10:53 AM, -MIKE- wrote:
On 1/12/17 9:48 AM, Leon wrote:
On 1/12/2017 9:37 AM, Jack wrote:
On 1/11/2017 9:47 PM, wrote:
On Wednesday, January 11, 2017 at 10:17:14 AM UTC-6, Jack wrote:
Sears should be where Amazon is today, based on their long
history of
catalog and mail order sales.
--
Jack


Yes, hindsight is always 20/20. And it would be just as accurate to
say Radio Shack should be exactly where Best Buy and Dell combined are
today. In the 1970s and 1980s Radio Shack was the computer store.
Everything electronic was at Radio Shack. Radio Shack was in every
mall back then so they had presence everywhere in the country. All
the new computer buyers of the 1970s, 1980s, and into the 1990s should
have bought from Radio Shack. But the Shack is now about gone. Why
didn't the people at Radio Shack predict the prevalence of computers
and online everything that came 30 years later? Probably the same
reason Sears did not see everyone ordering everything in the mail
(FedEx and UPS are a big part) fifty years later.

It's not hindsight, it is now. Sears could have easily shifted to
online sales at any time, but my guess is management had their
collective heads where the sun don't shine.

Sears has had on line sales for most of this millennium.


But like Walmart, for most stuff they are simply redirecting to "partner
vendors."




I see that as an increasing trend. Best Buy too.

Amazon as well, and if buying enough stuff for free shipping, you have
to be very careful the "partner" isn't gouging you on shipping which
isn't included in the free shipping part. Amazon can make it a bit
confusing to say the least, and thus, more diligence required, the less
trust they get.


I recently had a situation where I bought a $42 item and got a message
saying that if I added a $7 item I could get free shipping. I found a
blade for my oscillating tool that was labeled as an "add-on" item,
one that Amazon describes as:

"The Add-on program allows Amazon to offer thousands of low-priced items
that would be cost-prohibitive to ship on their own."

I put it in my cart and my shipping cost was reduced to $0.

I then received 2 different emails, one for each item, with different
tracking numbers and different delivery dates. The $42 item arrived last
Friday, the $7 item arrived yesterday. So much for their "cost-prohibitive
to ship on their own" criteria.



I have noticed that too but to be fair, I see it happen on all prime
orders regardless of cost too.
You have to think that Amazon is loosing money on items that sell for $5
and have free second day delivery.

They cannot look at each individual sale and determine the logistics for
each. They had to come up with a happy medium. Some times it works out
better for them, sometimes it does not. If they analyze each order and
make each order work in their favor customers will get tired of the math.

Jack wrote in news

Amazon as well, and if buying enough stuff for free shipping, you have
to be very careful the "partner" isn't gouging you on shipping which
isn't included in the free shipping part. Amazon can make it a bit
confusing to say the least, and thus, more diligence required, the
less trust they get.


I've never been confused as to what was included or not included with
shipping. The big Prime logo or fulfilled by Amazon means it's free
shipping if you qualify, and if it's not the shipping price is stated
clearly on the page.

Add On items are clearly indicated as well, as annoying as they can be
sometimes. (They're not included with Prime Shipping benefits, you still
have to have that minimum purchase amount.)

Puckdropper
--
http://www.puckdroppersplace.us/rec.woodworking
A mini archive of some of rec.woodworking's best and worst!

On 1/13/2017 10:46 AM, Leon wrote:
On 1/13/2017 9:33 AM, Jack wrote:
On 1/12/2017 5:59 PM, Leon wrote:
On 1/12/2017 10:53 AM, -MIKE- wrote:
On 1/12/17 9:48 AM, Leon wrote:
On 1/12/2017 9:37 AM, Jack wrote:
On 1/11/2017 9:47 PM, wrote:
On Wednesday, January 11, 2017 at 10:17:14 AM UTC-6, Jack wrote:
Sears should be where Amazon is today, based on their long
history of
catalog and mail order sales.
--
Jack


Yes, hindsight is always 20/20. And it would be just as accurate to
say Radio Shack should be exactly where Best Buy and Dell combined
are
today. In the 1970s and 1980s Radio Shack was the computer store.
Everything electronic was at Radio Shack. Radio Shack was in every
mall back then so they had presence everywhere in the country. All
the new computer buyers of the 1970s, 1980s, and into the 1990s
should
have bought from Radio Shack. But the Shack is now about gone. Why
didn't the people at Radio Shack predict the prevalence of computers
and online everything that came 30 years later? Probably the same
reason Sears did not see everyone ordering everything in the mail
(FedEx and UPS are a big part) fifty years later.

It's not hindsight, it is now. Sears could have easily shifted to
online sales at any time, but my guess is management had their
collective heads where the sun don't shine.

Sears has had on line sales for most of this millennium.


But like Walmart, for most stuff they are simply redirecting to
"partner
vendors."




I see that as an increasing trend. Best Buy too.

Amazon as well, and if buying enough stuff for free shipping, you have
to be very careful the "partner" isn't gouging you on shipping which
isn't included in the free shipping part. Amazon can make it a bit
confusing to say the least, and thus, more diligence required, the less
trust they get.



Yes Amazon as well. I would suggest not dabbling in what you don't
understand. Like those $1.99 shelf brackets that are more expensive
than the Prime brackets once you add in the shipping.

I'd suggest not dabbling in what you don't understand. Like Sears
charging 79 cents for shelf brackets that I bought from Amazon for 5
cents. Shipping may or may not be an issue. In your case, the
shipping didn't bring the cost up to near what Sears was charging at the
store, which was the original point.

Amazon prime issue is different, my issue with that is I have seen them
sell the exact same item for more money under prime than not prime. So
the free shipping was not as free as they let on, breeding lack of trust
for their sales tactics. Worse, increased diligence needed just when it
harder to muster as age creeps up. Perhaps a class action age
discrimination suit would be cool.

--
Jack
Add Life to your Days not Days to your Life.
http://jbstein.com

Jack writes:
On 1/13/2017 10:46 AM, Leon wrote:

Yes Amazon as well. I would suggest not dabbling in what you don't
understand. Like those $1.99 shelf brackets that are more expensive
than the Prime brackets once you add in the shipping.

I'd suggest not dabbling in what you don't understand.

Since neither of you seem to have any experience with
online retailing, perhaps you're both tilting at windmills.

On 1/13/17 11:01 AM, Leon wrote:
On 1/13/2017 9:41 AM, DerbyDad03 wrote:
On Friday, January 13, 2017 at 10:33:14 AM UTC-5, Jack wrote:
On 1/12/2017 5:59 PM, Leon wrote:
On 1/12/2017 10:53 AM, -MIKE- wrote:
On 1/12/17 9:48 AM, Leon wrote:
On 1/12/2017 9:37 AM, Jack wrote:
On 1/11/2017 9:47 PM, wrote:
On Wednesday, January 11, 2017 at 10:17:14 AM UTC-6,
Jack wrote:
Sears should be where Amazon is today, based on their
long history of catalog and mail order sales. --
Jack


Yes, hindsight is always 20/20. And it would be just
as accurate to say Radio Shack should be exactly where
Best Buy and Dell combined are today. In the 1970s and
1980s Radio Shack was the computer store. Everything
electronic was at Radio Shack. Radio Shack was in
every mall back then so they had presence everywhere in
the country. All the new computer buyers of the 1970s,
1980s, and into the 1990s should have bought from Radio
Shack. But the Shack is now about gone. Why didn't the
people at Radio Shack predict the prevalence of
computers and online everything that came 30 years
later? Probably the same reason Sears did not see
everyone ordering everything in the mail (FedEx and UPS
are a big part) fifty years later.

It's not hindsight, it is now. Sears could have easily
shifted to online sales at any time, but my guess is
management had their collective heads where the sun don't
shine.

Sears has had on line sales for most of this millennium.


But like Walmart, for most stuff they are simply redirecting
to "partner vendors."




I see that as an increasing trend. Best Buy too.

Amazon as well, and if buying enough stuff for free shipping, you
have to be very careful the "partner" isn't gouging you on
shipping which isn't included in the free shipping part. Amazon
can make it a bit confusing to say the least, and thus, more
diligence required, the less trust they get.


I recently had a situation where I bought a $42 item and got a
message saying that if I added a $7 item I could get free shipping.
I found a blade for my oscillating tool that was labeled as an
"add-on" item, one that Amazon describes as:

"The Add-on program allows Amazon to offer thousands of low-priced
items that would be cost-prohibitive to ship on their own."

I put it in my cart and my shipping cost was reduced to $0.

I then received 2 different emails, one for each item, with
different tracking numbers and different delivery dates. The $42
item arrived last Friday, the $7 item arrived yesterday. So much
for their "cost-prohibitive to ship on their own" criteria.



I have noticed that too but to be fair, I see it happen on all prime
orders regardless of cost too. You have to think that Amazon is
loosing money on items that sell for $5 and have free second day
delivery.

They cannot look at each individual sale and determine the logistics
for each. They had to come up with a happy medium. Some times it
works out better for them, sometimes it does not. If they analyze
each order and make each order work in their favor customers will get
tired of the math.


Most of the time the only difference between what they offer with free
shipping or paid shipping (same with Prime stuff) is what they carry in
their regional warehouses. Those Amazon delivery drivers pack their
vans full of stuff for delivery all to the same part of town (just like
UPS drivers) and head out from the regional warehouse.

The other thing that allows then to offer free shipping is their
relationship with the USPS. They negotiated an insane shipping discount
with the USPS because of the millions and millions of packages they ship
every year. It's kind of like junk mail. Without junk mail, the USPS
would be bankrupt. Did you ever notice that the USPS now delivers
Amazon on Sundays?

Many don't realize this, but you can sell your used stuff on Amazon.
They'll send you a pre-paid shipping box and you send your stuff to
them, they sell it and you get paid. It might not be as much as you'd
get selling it in a private sale, but you didn't really have to do
anything. Plus, you get to clean out your closets. :-)


--

-MIKE-

"Playing is not something I do at night, it's my function in life"
--Elvin Jones (1927-2004)
--
http://mikedrums.com

---remove "DOT" ^^^^ to reply

On 1/13/2017 11:14 AM, Scott Lurndal wrote:
Jack writes:
On 1/13/2017 10:46 AM, Leon wrote:

Yes Amazon as well. I would suggest not dabbling in what you don't
understand. Like those $1.99 shelf brackets that are more expensive
than the Prime brackets once you add in the shipping.

I'd suggest not dabbling in what you don't understand.

Since neither of you seem to have any experience with
online retailing, perhaps you're both tilting at windmills.


Granted there is a lot I do not understand with on line retailing but I
do have a lot of shipping experience and understand why certain
conditions for shipping and stocking item prices don't seem to be
consistent. Having been the GM of a wholesale distributor I set the
margins and rules for pricing and shipping, and the volume of business
the customer did with that changed that matrix. That was 20+ years ago
but margins are margins and profit is profit regardless of when.

It just seemed that Jack was comparing different prices on Amazon for
the same thing and apparently not noticing that a low price, that does
not include shipping, was more expensive than the Prime item which
included shipping.

Granted again prices are all over the board on Amazon. While Prime is
expensive up front each year, $99, that gets whittled away quickly if
you need items quickly and actually pay extra for 2nd day delivery.

Prime is good for some and so much for others.

On Friday, January 13, 2017 at 12:01:23 PM UTC-5, Leon wrote:
On 1/13/2017 9:41 AM, DerbyDad03 wrote:
On Friday, January 13, 2017 at 10:33:14 AM UTC-5, Jack wrote:
On 1/12/2017 5:59 PM, Leon wrote:
On 1/12/2017 10:53 AM, -MIKE- wrote:
On 1/12/17 9:48 AM, Leon wrote:
On 1/12/2017 9:37 AM, Jack wrote:
On 1/11/2017 9:47 PM, wrote:
On Wednesday, January 11, 2017 at 10:17:14 AM UTC-6, Jack wrote:
Sears should be where Amazon is today, based on their long
history of
catalog and mail order sales.
--
Jack


Yes, hindsight is always 20/20. And it would be just as accurate to
say Radio Shack should be exactly where Best Buy and Dell combined are
today. In the 1970s and 1980s Radio Shack was the computer store.
Everything electronic was at Radio Shack. Radio Shack was in every
mall back then so they had presence everywhere in the country. All
the new computer buyers of the 1970s, 1980s, and into the 1990s should
have bought from Radio Shack. But the Shack is now about gone. Why
didn't the people at Radio Shack predict the prevalence of computers
and online everything that came 30 years later? Probably the same
reason Sears did not see everyone ordering everything in the mail
(FedEx and UPS are a big part) fifty years later.

It's not hindsight, it is now. Sears could have easily shifted to
online sales at any time, but my guess is management had their
collective heads where the sun don't shine.

Sears has had on line sales for most of this millennium.


But like Walmart, for most stuff they are simply redirecting to "partner
vendors."




I see that as an increasing trend. Best Buy too.

Amazon as well, and if buying enough stuff for free shipping, you have
to be very careful the "partner" isn't gouging you on shipping which
isn't included in the free shipping part. Amazon can make it a bit
confusing to say the least, and thus, more diligence required, the less
trust they get.


I recently had a situation where I bought a $42 item and got a message
saying that if I added a $7 item I could get free shipping. I found a
blade for my oscillating tool that was labeled as an "add-on" item,
one that Amazon describes as:

"The Add-on program allows Amazon to offer thousands of low-priced items
that would be cost-prohibitive to ship on their own."

I put it in my cart and my shipping cost was reduced to $0.

I then received 2 different emails, one for each item, with different
tracking numbers and different delivery dates. The $42 item arrived last
Friday, the $7 item arrived yesterday. So much for their "cost-prohibitive
to ship on their own" criteria.



I have noticed that too but to be fair, I see it happen on all prime
orders regardless of cost too.
You have to think that Amazon is loosing money on items that sell for $5
and have free second day delivery.

They cannot look at each individual sale and determine the logistics for
each. They had to come up with a happy medium. Some times it works out
better for them, sometimes it does not. If they analyze each order and
make each order work in their favor customers will get tired of the math.

Just FYI...

If you need to pad an order to get free shipping, you can search for
low priced items by using generic search terms such as:

filler items under 20
or
add on under 15

You can even be more specific by using terms like "tools under 7"

It's not perfect in that you may get some higher priced items, but it
narrows the selection to make padding the order much easier.

Leon lcb11211@swbelldotnet writes:

Granted again prices are all over the board on Amazon. While Prime is
expensive up front each year, $99, that gets whittled away quickly if
you need items quickly and actually pay extra for 2nd day delivery.

Prime is good for some and so much for others.

While I have no claim on internet retailing experience, I've found that
my prime membership (and my costco executive membership) have paid for
themselves each year, so far. Just watching Bionic Woman episodes
on Amazon Prime TV was sufficient, Ah Jamie :-).

On 1/13/2017 11:46 AM, Scott Lurndal wrote:
Leon lcb11211@swbelldotnet writes:

Granted again prices are all over the board on Amazon. While Prime is
expensive up front each year, $99, that gets whittled away quickly if
you need items quickly and actually pay extra for 2nd day delivery.

Prime is good for some and so much for others.

While I have no claim on internet retailing experience, I've found that
my prime membership (and my costco executive membership) have paid for
themselves each year, so far. Just watching Bionic Woman episodes
on Amazon Prime TV was sufficient, Ah Jamie :-).



LOL... good on you. We watch a lot of Prime too.

Is it really that hard for posters here to delete the irrelevant text
that they are responding to? It's a very common problem from many of
the regulars here and that has long been an annoying thing in usenet.
Really guys - you can't snip everything except the relevant point you
are responding to? Sheese...

-Mike Marlow-




---
This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
https://www.avast.com/antivirus

On Fri, 13 Jan 2017 11:07:44 -0500, Jack wrote:

On 1/12/2017 10:39 PM, wrote:
On Thursday, January 12, 2017 at 9:37:06 AM UTC-6, Jack wrote:

It's not hindsight, it is now. Sears could have easily shifted to
online sales at any time, but my guess is management had their
collective heads where the sun don't shine.

Amazon started from scratch, Sears had a long history of catalog sales.
They blew it big time by ignoring the CURRENT trends. How on earth could
a retail store with a history of catalog sales IGNORE Amazon? Brain
dead is what I think.

--
Jack

You seem to believe everything is so easy. Back in August Wal-Mart paid $3 BILLION for Jet.com online sales company. After spending years trying to increase online sales at Wal-Mart. Did all the fools at Wal-Mart have their head up their behinds? Why couldn't they just make online sales magically? Why? Wal-Mart is the largest retailer in the world. How could they not know how to sell online?

Business is seldom easy unless you have a monopoly. I think it's easier
for a multi-billion dollar retail company to set up an on line business
than someone with no money, no sales experience, no products and so on.

I bought my earphones a few months ago on-line from Walmart, not Amazon,
so they are doing something about it. IF they get it wrong, they will
run into problems, just like everyone else. As fast as on-line sales is
growing, retail stores are dying. That's why I say hindsight is not it,
it is now, get with it now or die a slow death. If you can't get on-line
sales to work, you better get new people that know how to get it
working. Sears didn't, but they were killing their business before
on-line came into being, so no surprise there.

As for comparing catalog sales to online sales. Maybe they are similar, maybe not. Catalog sales for Sears started dying out in the 50s, 60s. They had physical stores so no need for catalog sales. And the US became far more urban, not rural, in the second half of the century. Today everyone almost lives in a city or near a city. So today almost everyone is close to a physical Sears store. Why would they use a catalog? Online sales you have 50 choices and prices. Catalog you have 5. Are they the same? I have a tool catalog from Acme Tools on the shelf. I doubt I would order anything from it. I'd go to the store in town or use the internet. Is a catalog the same as online ordering, even in philosophy?

I think catalog sales and online sales are almost identical. On-line is
cheaper and easy to keep up to date. Today, people occasionally go to a
retail store if in a super hurry, bored, or want to physically see and
touch a product before ordering it on-line.
What I can't figure out is why, after going to the store to handle
the thing, you go home and order it online instead of taking it with
you - particularly at stores that will "price match".

On Fri, 13 Jan 2017 12:09:08 -0500, Jack wrote:

On 1/13/2017 10:46 AM, Leon wrote:
On 1/13/2017 9:33 AM, Jack wrote:
On 1/12/2017 5:59 PM, Leon wrote:
On 1/12/2017 10:53 AM, -MIKE- wrote:
On 1/12/17 9:48 AM, Leon wrote:
On 1/12/2017 9:37 AM, Jack wrote:
On 1/11/2017 9:47 PM, wrote:
On Wednesday, January 11, 2017 at 10:17:14 AM UTC-6, Jack wrote:
Sears should be where Amazon is today, based on their long
history of
catalog and mail order sales.
--
Jack


Yes, hindsight is always 20/20. And it would be just as accurate to
say Radio Shack should be exactly where Best Buy and Dell combined
are
today. In the 1970s and 1980s Radio Shack was the computer store.
Everything electronic was at Radio Shack. Radio Shack was in every
mall back then so they had presence everywhere in the country. All
the new computer buyers of the 1970s, 1980s, and into the 1990s
should
have bought from Radio Shack. But the Shack is now about gone. Why
didn't the people at Radio Shack predict the prevalence of computers
and online everything that came 30 years later? Probably the same
reason Sears did not see everyone ordering everything in the mail
(FedEx and UPS are a big part) fifty years later.

It's not hindsight, it is now. Sears could have easily shifted to
online sales at any time, but my guess is management had their
collective heads where the sun don't shine.

Sears has had on line sales for most of this millennium.


But like Walmart, for most stuff they are simply redirecting to
"partner
vendors."




I see that as an increasing trend. Best Buy too.

Amazon as well, and if buying enough stuff for free shipping, you have
to be very careful the "partner" isn't gouging you on shipping which
isn't included in the free shipping part. Amazon can make it a bit
confusing to say the least, and thus, more diligence required, the less
trust they get.



Yes Amazon as well. I would suggest not dabbling in what you don't
understand. Like those $1.99 shelf brackets that are more expensive
than the Prime brackets once you add in the shipping.

I'd suggest not dabbling in what you don't understand. Like Sears
charging 79 cents for shelf brackets that I bought from Amazon for 5
cents. Shipping may or may not be an issue. In your case, the
shipping didn't bring the cost up to near what Sears was charging at the
store, which was the original point.

Not necessarily pointing this to the current poster - I've lost track
of the web of the thread or whatever - - SO to whoever is
bitching abot the difference between 5 cents and 79 cents or whatever
for the same product from retailer and online - - -


You need to run 2 businesses so you can understand the diffewrence.
Open a bricks and mortar store in a prime retail location and hire
workers who won't riob you blind, will treat the customer like a
human, and will show up alert for work every day. This includes front
line sales people, shelf stockers, and cleaning staff. Then open a
web presence drop-shipping product from your wholesaler's warehouse.

Stock the same small parts in your store as in the wholesaler's
warehouse, and sell those $0.05 parts from your retail store for the
same price as from the warehouse drop-shipper, and see how long the
store stays in business.

This is particularly poignant in businesses that carry hundreds or
thousands of different small bits where purchaces may vary from 1 to
several hundred, and where you may make several sales a day, but may
not sell ANY of several of the items for 3 months, then sell 50 each
to 5 people in the next week.

There is a REASON there is a difference between wholesale (warehouse)
and retail (store) pricing - and it has nothing to do with the
retailer going after your gonads.

Amazon prime issue is different, my issue with that is I have seen them
sell the exact same item for more money under prime than not prime. So
the free shipping was not as free as they let on, breeding lack of trust
for their sales tactics. Worse, increased diligence needed just when it
harder to muster as age creeps up. Perhaps a class action age
discrimination suit would be cool.

On Fri, 13 Jan 2017 17:14:06 GMT, (Scott Lurndal)
wrote:

Jack writes:
On 1/13/2017 10:46 AM, Leon wrote:

Yes Amazon as well. I would suggest not dabbling in what you don't
understand. Like those $1.99 shelf brackets that are more expensive
than the Prime brackets once you add in the shipping.

I'd suggest not dabbling in what you don't understand.

Since neither of you seem to have any experience with
online retailing, perhaps you're both tilting at windmills.


I suspect neither has any experience in retailing PERIOD.

Leon wrote:
On 1/13/2017 9:17 AM, Jack wrote:
On 1/12/2017 10:48 AM, Leon wrote:
On 1/12/2017 9:37 AM, Jack wrote:
On 1/11/2017 9:47 PM, wrote:
On Wednesday, January 11, 2017 at 10:17:14 AM UTC-6, Jack wrote:
Sears should be where Amazon is today, based on their long
history of
catalog and mail order sales.
--
Jack


Yes, hindsight is always 20/20. And it would be just as accurate to
say Radio Shack should be exactly where Best Buy and Dell combined
are
today. In the 1970s and 1980s Radio Shack was the computer store.
Everything electronic was at Radio Shack. Radio Shack was in every
mall back then so they had presence everywhere in the country. All
the new computer buyers of the 1970s, 1980s, and into the 1990s
should
have bought from Radio Shack. But the Shack is now about gone. Why
didn't the people at Radio Shack predict the prevalence of computers
and online everything that came 30 years later? Probably the same
reason Sears did not see everyone ordering everything in the mail
(FedEx and UPS are a big part) fifty years later.

It's not hindsight, it is now. Sears could have easily shifted to
online sales at any time, but my guess is management had their
collective heads where the sun don't shine.

Sears has had on line sales for most of this millennium.

After a thousand years of on line sales you would think they would be
better at it...


Have you looked at their P&L sheet? Their internet sales may very
well be what is making money. Speculation does not override the facts
on the balance sheet. The over saturated brick and mortar locations
are certainly a loosing proposition with few to no customers in the
many of the locations.

And the holding company may be totally at fault. It could very well
be robbing Peter to pay Paul/KMart. Sears was making money and not
that long ago. The losses in the last 20 quarters would choke any
horse. If Sears has had losses for every quarter in the last 5 years
there must have been profits prior to that.

About 15 years ago I was a proud Sears investor; after all Sears was an
american icon--almost as old as the trains. When it went down 20% or
so, I doubled up, after all. The results of that made me really
unhappy. When I had a chance to get out with "only" a $500 loss, I took
it, and that turned out to be absolutely the right thing to have done.
That was of course, before they left their shareholders behind via their
bankruptcy (and reorganization with Kmart). Lesson learned (I'm not
exactly sure what it was, but I learnt it!)

On Fri, 13 Jan 2017 17:46:17 GMT, (Scott Lurndal)
wrote:

Leon lcb11211@swbelldotnet writes:

Granted again prices are all over the board on Amazon. While Prime is
expensive up front each year, $99, that gets whittled away quickly if
you need items quickly and actually pay extra for 2nd day delivery.

Prime is good for some and so much for others.

While I have no claim on internet retailing experience, I've found that
my prime membership (and my costco executive membership) have paid for
themselves each year, so far. Just watching Bionic Woman episodes
on Amazon Prime TV was sufficient, Ah Jamie :-).

Do not do Amazon in this household, you see my wife is in the
publishing business. Amazon has made margin in that business a joke.

On 2017-01-13, Markem wrote:

Do not do Amazon in this household, you see my wife is in the
publishing business. Amazon has made margin in that business a joke.

Publishers have mede it a joke, specially fer textbooks.

nb

notbob wrote:
On 2017-01-13, Markem wrote:

Do not do Amazon in this household, you see my wife is in the
publishing business. Amazon has made margin in that business a joke.
Publishers have mede it a joke, specially fer textbooks.

Lost Art Press seems to be holding up their end. What happens with
textbooks is more like a crime... One possible exception may be
Pearson--they accompany most of their textbooks with pretty nice online
software (online homework, for instance), which takes the resource to
another level--and they are aware of it.



nb

On 1/13/2017 2:06 PM, wrote:
On Fri, 13 Jan 2017 17:14:06 GMT, (Scott Lurndal)
wrote:

Jack writes:
On 1/13/2017 10:46 AM, Leon wrote:

Yes Amazon as well. I would suggest not dabbling in what you don't
understand. Like those $1.99 shelf brackets that are more expensive
than the Prime brackets once you add in the shipping.

I'd suggest not dabbling in what you don't understand.

Since neither of you seem to have any experience with
online retailing, perhaps you're both tilting at windmills.


I suspect neither has any experience in retailing PERIOD.


And you would be wrong. I ran an automotive center at 21 and chose to
retired at 40. I knew retail pretty well.

On 1/13/2017 1:48 PM, Mike Marlow wrote:
Is it really that hard for posters here to delete the irrelevant text
that they are responding to? It's a very common problem from many of
the regulars here and that has long been an annoying thing in usenet.
Really guys - you can't snip everything except the relevant point you
are responding to? Sheese...

-Mike Marlow-




---
This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
https://www.avast.com/antivirus



Did you change the topic to OT? I thought your post was going a
contribution. ;~)

On Fri, 13 Jan 2017 17:58:17 -0600, Leon lcb11211@swbelldotnet
wrote:

On 1/13/2017 2:06 PM, wrote:
On Fri, 13 Jan 2017 17:14:06 GMT, (Scott Lurndal)
wrote:

Jack writes:
On 1/13/2017 10:46 AM, Leon wrote:

Yes Amazon as well. I would suggest not dabbling in what you don't
understand. Like those $1.99 shelf brackets that are more expensive
than the Prime brackets once you add in the shipping.

I'd suggest not dabbling in what you don't understand.

Since neither of you seem to have any experience with
online retailing, perhaps you're both tilting at windmills.


I suspect neither has any experience in retailing PERIOD.


And you would be wrong. I ran an automotive center at 21 and chose to
retired at 40. I knew retail pretty well.
Then you should know better than most what is involved - I spent
the first half of my working life in the automotive repair business -
not a tire and muffler shop but real automotive service - half of it
in dealerships. (from age 15 to 37) - then later a few years working
in the window business and computer business, supporting business
management systems etc.

On Fri, 13 Jan 2017 16:28:36 -0600, Markem
wrote:

On Fri, 13 Jan 2017 17:46:17 GMT, (Scott Lurndal)
wrote:

Leon lcb11211@swbelldotnet writes:

Granted again prices are all over the board on Amazon. While Prime is
expensive up front each year, $99, that gets whittled away quickly if
you need items quickly and actually pay extra for 2nd day delivery.

Prime is good for some and so much for others.

While I have no claim on internet retailing experience, I've found that
my prime membership (and my costco executive membership) have paid for
themselves each year, so far. Just watching Bionic Woman episodes
on Amazon Prime TV was sufficient, Ah Jamie :-).

Do not do Amazon in this household, you see my wife is in the
publishing business. Amazon has made margin in that business a joke.

OTOH, Amazon allows individuals to self-publish, keeping more of their
royalties and saving the buyers money. Not good for publishers but
they don't have a value add in this sort of market.

On Fri, 13 Jan 2017 14:48:03 -0500, Mike Marlow
wrote:

Is it really that hard for posters here to delete the irrelevant text
that they are responding to? It's a very common problem from many of
the regulars here and that has long been an annoying thing in usenet.
Really guys - you can't snip everything except the relevant point you
are responding to? Sheese...

Just as annoying are people who don't leave any context.

On Fri, 13 Jan 2017 23:11:34 -0500, wrote:

On Fri, 13 Jan 2017 16:28:36 -0600, Markem
wrote:

On Fri, 13 Jan 2017 17:46:17 GMT, (Scott Lurndal)
wrote:

Leon lcb11211@swbelldotnet writes:

Granted again prices are all over the board on Amazon. While Prime is
expensive up front each year, $99, that gets whittled away quickly if
you need items quickly and actually pay extra for 2nd day delivery.

Prime is good for some and so much for others.

While I have no claim on internet retailing experience, I've found that
my prime membership (and my costco executive membership) have paid for
themselves each year, so far. Just watching Bionic Woman episodes
on Amazon Prime TV was sufficient, Ah Jamie :-).

Do not do Amazon in this household, you see my wife is in the
publishing business. Amazon has made margin in that business a joke.

OTOH, Amazon allows individuals to self-publish, keeping more of their
royalties and saving the buyers money. Not good for publishers but
they don't have a value add in this sort of market.

Well as my wife is Director of an university press the damage done by
Amazon is viewed critically. Self publishing is easy, getting your
stuff sold though. As a matter of survival she has started a "vanity
publishing arm" and so it goes.

If you know of the OLD and first store - not far from it.
I was in MITS building next door to HP and the medical building.

If you know the area - the HP building had a linear Accelerator and
various targets to make isotopes for medicine.

I'm familiar with the SLAC on the campus of Stanford.


Martin

On 1/13/2017 7:45 AM, Scott Lurndal wrote:
Martin Eastburn writes:
On 1/12/2017 10:18 AM, Scott Lurndal wrote:

All the stores have the large checkout area with 50 or so registers.

I don't recall ever seeing them use the second set of 25, and in the
few years, they seldom have more than two or three registers open. But
then I go there once or twice a year now (more frequently in the past).

Each store has a "theme". The Brokaw store is Mayan themed, the Burbank
store looks like a crashed spaceship from a 50's SF movie. The Palo
Alto store is a wild-wild-west theme. The Campbell store is Egyptian
themed. I haven't been to the Anaheim store, but it is based on the
Space Shuttle.

Houston looks like it's oil (suprise!) themed.

http://www.frys.com/template/isp/ind...tore%20History

I used to work across from one in Sunnyvale. It was a place to eat
lunch and look at the new tech books and buy the odd thing needed at
home. Then at Christmas - the kitchen area was large and I found plenty
of presents there when I wanted.
That was in Y2k and thereafter.


*top posting fixed*

Which sunnyvale store? There have been three, if I recall correctly.

On 1/13/2017 11:49 PM, Markem wrote:

Do not do Amazon in this household, you see my wife is in the
publishing business. Amazon has made margin in that business a joke.

OTOH, Amazon allows individuals to self-publish, keeping more of their
royalties and saving the buyers money. Not good for publishers but
they don't have a value add in this sort of market.

Well as my wife is Director of an university press the damage done by
Amazon is viewed critically. Self publishing is easy, getting your
stuff sold though. As a matter of survival she has started a "vanity
publishing arm" and so it goes.


From some stories I've heard, the publishing industry is getting what
they deserve. I guess it depends on what side of the fence you are on.

A guy I work with wrote a book with the intent of having it as a memory
for his family. Amazon let him publish and list it and he has sold
about 400 copies. Simon & Schuster types would not bother with the
likes of him.

Times are changing. No money in publishing? How about going into buggy
whip and shoe hooks?

wrote:
On Fri, 13 Jan 2017 17:58:17 -0600, Leon lcb11211@swbelldotnet
wrote:

On 1/13/2017 2:06 PM, wrote:
On Fri, 13 Jan 2017 17:14:06 GMT, (Scott Lurndal)
wrote:

Jack writes:
On 1/13/2017 10:46 AM, Leon wrote:

Yes Amazon as well. I would suggest not dabbling in what you don't
understand. Like those $1.99 shelf brackets that are more expensive
than the Prime brackets once you add in the shipping.

I'd suggest not dabbling in what you don't understand.

Since neither of you seem to have any experience with
online retailing, perhaps you're both tilting at windmills.


I suspect neither has any experience in retailing PERIOD.


And you would be wrong. I ran an automotive center at 21 and chose to
retired at 40. I knew retail pretty well.
Then you should know better than most what is involved - I spent
the first half of my working life in the automotive repair business -
not a tire and muffler shop but real automotive service - half of it
in dealerships. (from age 15 to 37) - then later a few years working
in the window business and computer business, supporting business
management systems etc.


17-23, tire stores. Manager at 21. 23-28, manager of the parts
department for a large Olds dealership.
28-30, Service Sales Manager for same Olds dealership. 30-33, parts
director for Olds and Isuzu dealership.
33-40 the GM for an AC/Delco 3M wholesale distributor. 40 retired my real
jobs. Last 22 years custom design and build furniture, a hobby that has
evolved into a small business.. 2016 was a banner year.

On 1/13/2017 12:14 PM, Scott Lurndal wrote:
Jack writes:
On 1/13/2017 10:46 AM, Leon wrote:

Yes Amazon as well. I would suggest not dabbling in what you don't
understand. Like those $1.99 shelf brackets that are more expensive
than the Prime brackets once you add in the shipping.

I'd suggest not dabbling in what you don't understand.

Since neither of you seem to have any experience with
online retailing, perhaps you're both tilting at windmills.

How would you know how much experience we have with on line retailing?

Besides, we certainly have plenty of experience with on-line retailing
from the customers point of view, and that's about all that counts. If
the customer doesn't like what you're doing, you're doing it wrong.

--
Jack
Add Life to your Days not Days to your Life.
http://jbstein.com

On 1/13/2017 12:37 PM, Leon wrote:

It just seemed that Jack was comparing different prices on Amazon for
the same thing and apparently not noticing that a low price, that does
not include shipping, was more expensive than the Prime item which
included shipping.

No, that's not what I was doing, and in fact bitched about item prices
being higher when bought thru prime. If an item cost $5 plus $5
shipping and $9 with free shipping under prime, then, how much free
shipping are you getting? Someone is lying, both can't be right. I'm
absolutely certain Amazon used to do that, not sure if they still do,
but they did, and I bet they still do.

Granted again prices are all over the board on Amazon. While Prime is
expensive up front each year, $99, that gets whittled away quickly if
you need items quickly and actually pay extra for 2nd day delivery.

Prime is good for some and so much for others.

My kids have Prime, I sometimes buy through them if the item warrants
it. Mostly I just add stuff to my wish list and when it gets high enough
for free shipping, I buy it. Everything they sell doesn't qualify for
free shipping, and everything doesn't qualify for prime, so due
diligence is required. I've been screwed more than once when I paid
stupid prices for shipping that I thought was included with the free
stuff.

Another nasty habit I noticed is sometimes an online search will find
the item on Amazon at a low price. If you go off the page and do a
search directly on Amazon for the exact same item, it comes up with a
different price and you can't get back to the original price. They
obviously have a number of pricing schemes to get into your pocket.
Another reason Amazon loses trust from me. They are a shaky out fit and
if you are price conscious (cheap, like me) due diligence is a must.
--
Jack
Add Life to your Days not Days to your Life.
http://jbstein.com

On 1/13/2017 2:48 PM, Mike Marlow wrote:
Is it really that hard for posters here to delete the irrelevant text
that they are responding to? It's a very common problem from many of
the regulars here and that has long been an annoying thing in usenet.
Really guys - you can't snip everything except the relevant point you
are responding to? Sheese...

One of my main peeves, although I gave up complaining about it during
Fidonet days. When you see me not snip a long post, you can be sure
it's to get back at the poster(s) that didn't snip to begin with. It's
FAR more annoying than punctuation issues.

If they are too freaking lazy/dumb to snip, I'm happy to add to the mix.
Complaining about it never works, so might as well try to annoy them back.

--
Jack
Add Life to your Days not Days to your Life.
http://jbstein.com