Brick & mortar stores vs. online shopping

debodun said:
Another tussle with WalMart. I need a coin folder for my National Park quarters. I look at their Web site and according to that, they are available in stores. I went to the nearest WM and couldn't find any. I asked one clerk who palmed me off on another who was sorting women's garments. I repeated my request and she look like she didn't understand what I wanted and went back to her garment manipulation. I lassoed another and he showed me everything from coin rollers to coin sorters, but couldn't make him understand. At least he made an effort to ask someone else, but he came back saying "We haven't carried those in years." I said that the Web page indicated that they were in stock at stores, to which he replied that they may be in stores, but just not this one and I would have to call around to see who had any. Now there are only 2 WalMarts within my comfort driving range zone. I also tried to order online and there's a $12 shipping fee - 3 times what the folder costs. This is something along the lines of what I want:

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Have you checked around eBay? You can find almost anything there, and many do offer free shipping.
 

I was also disappointed at the ladies slipper and sport shoe selection and bras. They had two sizes of bras in the style I prefer - too big and too small. Either I have a popular size and they are sold out, or they just cater to the 32A or 44DD sizes. The slippers either looked like what an Eskimo would wear to go seal hunting or something a Hollywood starlet would wear. I just didn't care for any sneaker styles in the women's shoes, so I took a stroll in the men's section and found a pair of light blue I liked. Okay, so they are men's shoes - who's gonna know the dif?

sneaker.jpg
 
debodun said:
I went to WalMart the other day and was disappointed at the selection of 2-slice toasters available in the store and the ones there looked like demos. From their web page it looked like they had a lot more models and brands available. I grabbed a clerk and asked where a certain model was, She said that it was probably only available online, but if I ordered it online, they can ship to the store in a few days. Is the day coming where actual store buildings will become obsolete with all the online shopping?
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Have a look at the toaster ovens. They are much more versatile and can do more things.
 
I love being able to sit at the computer and order items for holidays and special occasions. I get ideas for gifts online that I would never have though of if I was aimlessly walking through the stores. Sometimes,when quality counts I like to go to the store. I recently bought sheets on Amazon and not knowing much about thread count and fabric combinations I received sheets that were paper thin. If I had been in the store and felt the sheets I never would have purchased them. A few months ago I purchased drapes in the store. I needed another set and the store was out of them. I looked online and was able to buy my extra pair. I guess there are pros and cons to both.
 
People these days want to spend ZILCH for stuff. Some people coming to my garage sales look around , then say "Don't you have anything for FREE?" I tried to sell a beautiful maple end table for 2 years on every Internet venue I could think of (Craig's List, FB Online Garage Sales, a local classified magazine, etc). Started out at $25 - no interest, dropped to $20 and no nibbles, even at $10 no one was interested. I put it on Craig's List in the free merchandise section and got over 10 inquiries the first hour. When The person the first responder came to pick it up, I told him what I had been through with it. He said most people only look at the free stuff section.
 
debodun said:
People these days want to spend ZILCH for stuff. Some people coming to my garage sales look around , then say "Don't you have anything for FREE?" I tried to sell a beautiful maple end table for 2 years on every Internet venue I could think of (Craig's List, FB Online Garage Sales, a local classified magazine, etc). Started out at $25 - no interest, dropped to $20 and no nibbles, even at $10 no one was interested. I put it on Craig's List in the free merchandise section and got over 10 inquiries the first hour. When The person the first responder came to pick it up, I told him what I had been through with it. He said most people only look at the free stuff section.
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Deb, You can't hate people for wanting FREE stuff, I love it and so do you. LOL!

I would take that two year lesson to heart and just get rid of the stuff, lighten the load and let someone else get some good out of the things that you don't need.
 
Malls will be converted to warehouses/fulfillment centers.


Years ago my sister had an apartment in NYC that had a fireplace. She used to burn old furniture in it. Firewood was too expensive.
 
Shopping online is wonderful for convenience and ease of comparison shopping. I have found many items online that were not available in local stores, or where I didn't like the selection.

The down side is that you can't try anything on. So I would never buy shoes, for instance, online.
 
I like buying online. But not anything, you need to try on, like shoes. But there is a problem with buying on line. I bought a fridge on line from Sears. No problem. But Sears has their stores and Sears has their online store. The are two separate things.
I bought some chairs from Lazy-Boy on line. They were to replace their company chairs I bought years ago. again it was like dealing with two separate companies. It was a horror show, because each didn't know about the other. At one time, both were going to charge me for the same chairs. I was on the phone for hours.
 
I broke my shoulder years ago and quickly discovered the joys of online shopping. It was wonderful having such heavy items as pet food delivered to my door, and a couple of the drivers I got to know would even bring it inside for me. So much easier than schlepping bags of food one-armed from the pet food store to the car trunk and from the car trunk into the house.

Online shopping is my preference for most things. I buy the bulk of my groceries online, the major exceptions being produce and fresh meat. I'm too finicky about those things to let anyone pick them out for me.

My old microwave finally gave up the ghost last month and I went online to see what was available. I got what I wanted even down to a door that opens manually, paid a lot less than I expected (partly because the model I wanted was on sale), and it was delivered to my door two days later. I like being able to comparison shop among a number of online sellers without having to go from store to store to do the same thing, which I find exhausting.

I know my sizes in the brands I buy, so I don't hesitate to buy clothes and shoes online. Back when I shopped in retail stores, they always had a major surplus in some sizes and ran out of others. Their buyers apparently never figured out what their customers wanted. Online I buy what I want, in my size and without dealing with clerks or limited color choices. I'm retired and I live pretty simply. I avoid like the plague any occasion where I am expected to play dress-up; that probably helps.
 
Smiling Jane said:
I broke my shoulder years ago and quickly discovered the joys of online shopping. It was wonderful having such heavy items as pet food delivered to my door, and a couple of the drivers I got to know would even bring it inside for me. So much easier than schlepping bags of food one-armed from the pet food store to the car trunk and from the car trunk into the house.

Online shopping is my preference for most things. I buy the bulk of my groceries online, the major exceptions being produce and fresh meat. I'm too finicky about those things to let anyone pick them out for me.

My old microwave finally gave up the ghost last month and I went online to see what was available. I got what I wanted even down to a door that opens manually, paid a lot less than I expected (partly because the model I wanted was on sale), and it was delivered to my door two days later. I like being able to comparison shop among a number of online sellers without having to go from store to store to do the same thing, which I find exhausting.

I know my sizes in the brands I buy, so I don't hesitate to buy clothes and shoes online. Back when I shopped in retail stores, they always had a major surplus in some sizes and ran out of others. Their buyers apparently never figured out what their customers wanted. Online I buy what I want, in my size and without dealing with clerks or limited color choices. I'm retired and I live pretty simply. I avoid like the plague any occasion where I am expected to play dress-up; that probably helps.
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I do the same things, Jane. I've always wondered why stores stock up on women's size 5 shoes -- they always wind up on sale for almost nothing (and I would assume the store loses money on them). Haven't retailers figured out that most women in the US have larger feet? They always run out of sizes 8.5 and upwards almost immediately -- wouldn't you think that would tell the store buyers something? Evidently it doesn't. Which is why I buy my Nikes online (and many other things).
 
I do most of my shopping on line including groceries and I love it. I can't walk through the stores like I use to and online makes it so much easier for me. The only time I bother going into a store is if I need the item immediately and , I'm really not sure what size would fit best.
 
debodun said:
One woman came to my sale and asked if I had TVs for free. I showed her what I had and she looked do disappointed. She said "Those are the BIG old ones!" Did she expect she was going to get a flat-panel set for free????
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Since they've been quite common for over 10 years, probably. You'll likely have to pay a disposal fee to get rid of those dinosaurs.
 
Yesterday was the first full day without rain in I don't know how long, Butterfly. We sure got our monsoon season late this year, although the weather reports are attributing it to various weather fronts. They're probably right because the thunderstorms we've been getting lately have been fierce, nothing like our regular monsoons. I've turned off the electrical connections to both the TV and desktop PC several times in the past couple of weeks, something I rarely do.
 

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