Shopping in TV is very hard, it’s very limited here. Most of what I find on amazon comes from a seller in China. (Annoying) there fore I won’t order it. If the selling company isn’t in US I don’t buy it. I truly prefer the option ships and sold by Amazon. Shopping online is so time consuming, to me it takes more time. Then if you have to return……. UGH.
Then you factor in the annual amazon rate i have to pay vs the people who only have to pay $5.99 a month. Grrrrrrr


I just get aggravated give up and take off in golf cart. :gc:

We sail on the same ship. :coolsmiley:

Be careful, if Amazon feels a person returns too many items they may close that persons account.

I have not had to return anything yet and I have been shopping with them for years.

just put in new granite counter tops in NE house. . . we are putting in the backsplash or maybe someone else. .
but finding the right color pattern?

can't do that online, both HD and Lowes had actual tile. BUT HD also had online tiles for incredibly cheap. . . BUT whole box sales only. and only a sample on the wall which was was not able to be taken home and examine the patterns against all the other patterns. can buy a sample on line, but takes two weeks to deliver. . . tried taking pictures on the phone, not good enough. Tried on line, never sure hue saturation and all the other RGB monitor adjustments match reality of the tile. Without the counter tops installed, we picked out 4 different patterns. . At lowes buying samples, i just grabbed one which looked interesting subconsciously, (without conscious analysis) while at the store which we never considered . . turns out that one vs the others we ruminated over with several visits might be the one. .

So there will always be times when b&m store is the best. . .but the simpler the life, the less b&m stores are needed. .
except for food. . . fresh food is the one area of debate. .

Yes, life has changed since the pandemic and the mobile phone at the fastest pace in human history in a positive way. .
The down side is that the entire world is connected to you directly digitally. . .

If you wait until you have I think $25 worth of stuff to buy (might be $35?), you get your shipping free on the whole order. You don't have to be a Prime member to get free shipping.

As for my preferences: I buy certain things from Amazon all the time. The under-sink water filter cartridge, coffee pod filters (we use our own bagged coffee and a re-usable plastic pod plus paper filter for our Keurig espresso every morning), my bras, and we've added a subscription to fancy feast cat food delivery because it's less expensive than Walmart.

For other things we often buy, I much prefer personal interaction at the supermarket or department store. I rarely buy clothes on line because I just WANT the thing - I don't want to try it on, find it doesn't fit, send it back, wait for the replacement, try THAT on, find out it doesn't fit, send it back, etc. etc. Novelty stuff like t-shirts with fun sayings on them, no problem. A fitted shirt? Forget it. I'll get that at a store where I can decide right then and there if I like how it looks/fits.

The bras were a matter of necessity - there are no stores anywhere near here that have them in my size, so I have to buy them online. Since I know the style/size, I can just get the same one at Amazon and pay less for it than at Nordstroms website.

I have ordered 3 items since last October and they were all free and arrived as fast or faster as Amazon would have delivered. The lowest priced item was $14 and it took one day. Also had good results using Lowes online.

Competition helps keeps the prices down so I don't want all of my online purchases to come from Bezos.

It’s complicated. I can find things on Amazon, that I simply can not find easily elsewhere. And they have inventory that will get that item to you quickly. Want a wide shoe size? Good luck to find it nearby. Want a repair part for your fridge or dishwasher or dryer? Get it in two days from Amazon. Your local repair guy will also have to order it

But I have a problem with Amazon’s business model. Amazon loses an average of 2% on every online sale in North America. They lose an average of 4% on every online sale outside of North America.

They are able to continue this business model because Amazon’s AWS cloud service has profit margins of 35% and covers all their losses on their online business. All of the local stores can not compete because they need to make a profit to continue business. So local businesses are squeezed out by Amazon. When the locals are gone Amazon will be able to raise prices.

From Amazons 10Q 2022 financial statement:
N. American E-Commerce Revenue = $69 billion
N. American Profit = loss of $1.6 billion
International E-Commerce Revenue = $29 billion
International E-Commerce Profit = loss of $1.3 billion
Amazon AWS Cloud Services Revenue = $18.4 billion
Amazon AWS Profit = $6.5 billion

Didn't know that. I'm a very infrequent shopper, but I'll keep that in mind.

I have tried to stream from Prime but my oldish Smart TV can't do it. New phone and new computer both aren't able to download either. So frustrating. I'll try to get help from a customer service person Monday.

About 8 years ago I was looking for something and went into a Dicks sporting good store in upstate NY. There were 10 checkout stations, but, (surprise!) only one checkout line working. This was between Thanksgiving and Christmas. There were at least 15 people in line, and two "managers" folding sweaters. I called out to them "hey, guys! Maybe you need to stop folding sweaters and man the cash registers." Their reply was, "we can't do that until 5PM"... My arms were full of stuff. As much as I could carry. I stepped out of line, walked over to them, laid all of my stuff on the table of sweaters they were folding and said, "You know, guys, I can by all of this **** online. Which is exactly what I am going to do. Share this episode with your bosses when they wonder why people shop online instead of coming into this store." I haven't been in a Dicks since.

Dick’s has carts, too bad you didn’t utilize one of those. I don’t have much sympathy for the “me first crowd”.

Timing staff and putting cash in registers at certain time is normally based on traffic patterns for the store and it can be unpredictable. Ever notice that everyone seems to want to checkout at the same time at the grocery store? And then the seasoned checkout clerk for that shift may have been ill. First world problems…

That's an interesting perspective. While in person shopping is not a favorite "hobby" of mine, I probably ordered what ever I need on line 75% and did about 25% in person shopping. I especially prefer to see small appliances, clothing, and shoes IN PERSON. But....after the virus misery, I found new satisfaction, could even say "excitement", maybe pleasure would fit, in just looking items in a grocery store, touching them to look at labels and compare similar items, choosing my own produce, or loaf of bread from the bakery, etc. It actually surprised me, that I was so aware of (and so appreciated) such a routine task as shopping "in person". Talk about learning a lesson on appreciating such a small pleasure as being free to enter a store and shop for things !

"Me first"??? More like, "me 23rd". Screw that. After I walked out, several others followed.

There were two "managers" folding sweaters. They should have enough flexibility to open two more registers for this unexpected rush, which, considering it was between Thanksgiving and Christmas shouldn't have been unexpected at all.
Instead, they were content to fold sweaters instead of helping with the rush.
And the problem wasn't that I didn't have a cart. The problem was being expected to stand in a long line to pay for my goods, when the line could have been 1/3 the length had the two sweater folders been willing or able to run a register.
First World Problem? Maybe, but that's the world I live in.

I try to use brick and mortar for anything I need over Amazon, but sometimes the convenience of a click and next day delivery is too tempting to pass up, especially if the item is less expensive on Amazon.

They will give you a warning first so just cool it for awhile and you can start sending back returns again in the near future.

It seems when you send back a lot in a shirt period of time a red flag goes off.

I got the phone call once and didn't return anything for 6 months but now I have no problem sending things back within moderation.

Years ago, when I worked in a store, we were told that if the lines at the cash register got long, we were supposed to open up more lines. We made money from sales and the object was to make sales - not stack shelves or fold sweaters!!

That does not seem to be the case these days!!

It’s cheaper, delivered to your door in short time, no time or gas wasted shopping, can get just about anything imaginable, and returns are hassle free. Why wouldn’t anyone use Amazon? Rarely physically go into anyplace but a grocery store for fresh food or a hardware store when I need a part to complete a project.

They already told you they were not permitted to do that until 5pm. Even store managers have bosses, if they work for a chain. The digital cash registers log every transaction including when a manager opens the register to put the till in. They get in trouble if they do it too early. You don't have to like it, but that's just how it is.

Work retail in a modern store long enough to be promoted to manager and you'll realize - it IS a "me first" attitude you have.

In the meantime, everyone who walked out after you? Meant the person behind THEM was next. So thank you for freeing up the line for those who just wanted to wait their turn, get their stuff, and leave with product in hand. And for those who didn't want to have to go home, order it online, wait a day or more to get what they asked for, and hope it was the right one/fit/not damaged.

Your loss was their gain.

You also gave the managers more things to do other than folding sweaters, so that's a bonus. I'm sure they would've preferred to be running the register to get entitled twerps out of their store faster, so putting all that stuff away will hopefully be a welcome distraction.

Do you know of any employee who got in trouble for opening another cash register lane when there were long lines of people waiting?

Business 101: NEVER make a customer wait to give you their money...

"Entitled Twerps"...

Didn't you say something about "name calling"?

That said, "Entitled Twerps" would make an awesome name for a band...

Ain't that the truth!

Well, as I said in my first post, I told them to tell their bosses that people can buy this stuff on the internet. My point being that someone at Dicks was using an outdated concept. That model might have made sense if my choices were between standing in a long line and not having the goods I wanted. But those days are gone.
Instead my choice was between standing in a long line or buying these goods from the comfort of my recliner, and not standing in a line, and not paying for gasoline, and not spending 40 minutes round trip to buy my stuff in their brick and mortar location.

I believed the sweater folders when they said they couldn't open a register. Hopefully Dicks is smart enough to get feedback from the employees on the floor when they find their sales dwindling. Maybe not. Maybe they'd just rather cry about how internet sales are ruining their business.

Market Basket!!!
 

Market Basket is the best. One of the few things I miss about Taxachusetts. Finally found a reason to contribute to these threads.

You forgot the other choice, the one you actually chose:

Spending 40 minutes round trip to buy your stuff in their brick and mortar location, spending however long to do the actual shopping, then more time standing in line, then changing your mind and walking out without the product you came for.

Sounds like you wasted a lot of time, effort, gasoline, and peace of mind while they got paid whether you bought stuff or not.

There are security measures in some chains, to ensure that only specific authorized people working on those specific shifts are handling the tills. Yes - people have gotten in trouble for it. Usually the write-up occurs after a few repeat offenses at the same till.

We live and we learn.
This particular event was maybe 10 years ago. I hadn't really embraced the idea that I could more easily buy all this stuff online. I was still a "brick and mortar" guy, and frankly, probably unaware of just how far along the rest of the world was on this road between internet shopping and brick and mortar (probably hadn't even heard the term "brick and mortar") shopping.
In 1977 I moved to a small Upstate NY town that had a mercantile district in the town center. I could buy just about anything within walking distance of my residence. One by one, these stores closed down as they couldn't compete with the big chains that were opening up in malls and shopping centers slightly out of town "on the 4-lane".
40 years later these malls and shopping centers were losing the big chains, one-by-one as they lost their market to the internet.

In all likelihood the die was cast for this store, as the changing dynamic would have its effect regardless of policy, but that event made it very easy for me to never go back in that store. I'm sure the decision makers had their reasons for their policies. Their thinking was flawed. They took away the one advantage they might have held against internet shopping; a positive personal interaction.
Stupid for them, but a learning experience for me.

I had to return a burial urn a few months ago. Not the one I ordered.

Guy at The UPS Store raised his eyebrows when I brought it in. “An urn?” He commented.

“Yeah”, I replied. “I got better”.

Got a chuckle out of the woman behind me in line.

......... and they are getting better. We really like Panera soups and right now you can buy any of the Panera soups in Market Basket, win win for both parties.

I shop in NH. Market Basket and Amazon are everywhere up here. Great for the consumer.

I think there is a solution to the brick and mortar stores that Amazon is killing. We are desperately short of middle income and low income housing. What about taking the box stores in the Malls and turning them into affordable housing, expensive proposition, but it would give a return on investment if done right.

Some of them are being turned into pickleball clubs.

Exactly! It appears that the related shopping experience wasn’t too effective since Dicks doors are still open.

The online business with old people will become even more interesting when AI takes over.

I wanted a specific item that I had no idea what B&M store would carry it. I plugged it into Amazon and wha la. There it was. I ordered it from Amazon and still do not know where in the world I would have found that item in a B&M store.

Full disclosure.......I much prefer to shop at B&M stores.