Brick and Mortar

[Neighbor]

Ha this world, it changes but remains much the same, just more complex. Somedays I just wish It was simplier more like the good old days of camel caravans and traders and merchants selling purple.

 As a kid there was the Sears and Roebuck  catalog and the lesser Montgomery Ward or even lesser Penney's. Things were looked at  and then we went to the store. Occasionally we bought via the catalog, but it never worked out well and we would have hassles returning items to the company or it's stores.

Then cane the malls,those noisey bee hives, followed by the big box stores and the big box malls. For the most part purchases worked out well enough there.

But now it is internet and websites all varied in format and policy, with credit cards, and pay pal. The merchandise is hard to order, plus even harder to receive.

 Today I completed an order, gave my credit card and then was forced onto pay pal or my order would not finish and log out. No thanks, I don't like pay pal. So I tried to cancel, couldn't do that. So I abandoned the site. Have no idea if a product will be delivered or not. I did not get a confirmation. I guess I will not be receiving product. Somehow I suspect the bill will show up on my credit card  though.

 

Seems to be one big circle of frustrating marketing and merchandising to me.  It must be easier than it seems to be, other people are not having to run around in old rags.

My son pulled up in a new truck yesterday. He just  gave his specs to all the internet dealers and waited at our local dealer for the internet dealer e-mails to come in, telling the local dealer that  it is his deal to lose, that  the dealer just has to beat all the deals coming in. And the cell phone kept punching them out one after another lower and lower trying to beat each other. Finally it stopped and the local dealer  lowered his offer  to beat the lowest internet price offer.

 Me, I used to just tie up the car dealer for up to eight hours until he had so much time invested in me he had to make a deal.

Wonder will it get simpler or is this  a punishment? I didn't think there was purgatory, but....

 

Edited November 27, 2017 by Neighbor
spell check changed a to I , I changed it back

[missmuffet]

1 hour ago, Neighbor said:

Ha this world, it changes but remains much the same, just more complex. Somedays I just wish It was simplier more like the good old days of camel caravans and traders and merchants selling purple.

 As I kid there was the Sears and Roebuck  catalog and the lesser Montgomery Ward or even lesser Penney's. Things were looked at  and then we went to the store. Occasionally we bought via the catalog, but it never worked out well and we would have hassles returning items to the company or it's stores.

Then cane the malls,those noisey bee hives, followed by the big box stores and the big box malls. For the most part purchases worked out well enough there.

But now it is internet and websites all varied in format and policy, with credit cards, and pay pal. The merchandise is hard to order, plus even harder to receive.

 Today I completed an order, gave my credit card and then was forced onto pay pal or my order would not finish and log out. No thanks, I don't like pay pal. So I tried to cancel, couldn't do that. So I abandoned the site. Have no idea if a product will be delivered or not. I did not get a confirmation. I guess I will not be receiving product. Somehow I suspect the bill will show up on my credit card  though.

 

Seems to be one big circle of frustrating marketing and merchandising to me.  It must be easier than it seems to be, other people are not having to run around in old rags.

My son pulled up in a new truck yesterday. He just  gave his specs to all the internet dealers and waited at our local dealer for the internet dealer e-mails to come in, telling the local dealer that  it is his deal to lose, that  the dealer just has to beat all the deals coming in. And the cell phone kept punching them out one after another lower and lower trying to beat each other. Finally it stopped and the local dealer  lowered his offer  to beat the lowest internet price offer.

 Me, I used to just tie up the car dealer for up to eight hours until he had so much time invested in me he had to make a deal.

Wonder will it get simpler or is this  a punishment? I didn't think there was purgatory, but....

 

Hi, neighbor. I remember my parents ordering from the  catalog when I was a kid. I also remember going to Montgomery Ward with my parents and they would order something and write down the description and the number and it would come to us on a conveyor belt. But times are changing. I am not that happy about the changes that technology has brought.

I buy stuff on Amazon and they have never asked me to use paypal. I would not do that. I do not think things will get simpler but more confusing for people like me and more wrapped up in technology. Our world is getting worse,just look around you, and it will not get better until Jesus Christ comes back in the second coming.

[ayin jade]

Im hands on. I need to touch, examine, see in person etc merchandise before I buy it. Too many things that look good online are just garbage, poorly made etc. Especially with clothes. There is such variation in size that I can wear one of 3 sizes depending on how the individual piece is cut. I dont like the hassle of buying online, trying it on, returning the ones that dont fit right. Unfortunately with store closures, I have to do that with the clothes I prefer. Stores do not like keeping certain sizes and styles in stock. 

[Neighbor]

1 hour ago, ayin jade said:

Im hands on. I need to touch, examine, see in person etc merchandise before I buy it. Too many things that look good online are just garbage, poorly made etc. Especially with clothes. There is such variation in size that I can wear one of 3 sizes depending on how the individual piece is cut. I dont like the hassle of buying online, trying it on, returning the ones that dont fit right. Unfortunately with store closures, I have to do that with the clothes I prefer. Stores do not like keeping certain sizes and styles in stock. 

That's probably a clue s to why some people are running around in their PJs.

[missmuffet]

I try not to buy clothes on-line because like Jade said sometimes a certain size will be cut differently. I bought some pajama bottoms that were the size I usually buy and they did not fit at all. The quality was good. Slippers are ok.

[Sower]

1 hour ago, Neighbor said:

Wonder will it get simpler or is this  a punishment? I didn't think there was purgatory, but....

I'm with you Neighbor, considering some web sites. Purchasing some tools or equipment, like finding the specific size band saw blade, width, tooth, thickness, etc, and finally getting to check out and signing in to pay pal, verifying purchase and shipping address, then at the final fee, finding out the shipping cost more then the blade. A waste of time. However, if you're in most any business, you cannot survive with out being internet proficient. My wife, myself, my kids all have businesses that depend upon an ability to navigate through the "purgatory" of online buying/selling. Over a period of time, I have gathered a list of suppliers that I depend on, using the web, and the keyboard is so much closer than having to drive eighty miles round trip plus gas and time lost in production.  Place an order of supplies, pay online, and two three days, the truck is backing up to the shop. Pay Pal is a great advantage to pay online, safe secure, recognized by the huge majority of sellers, free to the purchaser, and will take up your case in a dispute. (But it does cost the seller-myself sometimes- a percentage) Searching out supplies, house hold items such as printers, light bulbs, office supplies, (those #*#%*# essential oils ) etc. Hey, the book you recommended to help  disconnected kids was ordered within minuets of reading your post ($4.69-free shipping), arrived two days later. How cool is that. As compared to when we were kids a half+ century ago, and reading the back page on a comic book and ordering some gadget and waiting a month or more to arrive. Maybe.
There are areas in my lifestyle I refuse to change. I'm one of the weird ones who actually reads the software agreement for their updates, and refuse as many as accept, as they use more and more of our "private" purchasing information for marketing purposes.   Most new software and web "style" is geared to the "young" purchasing crowd, and as usual, neglect us old types, and our old ways. (Don't you hate it that there's never a number to call (like in the past) to vent off a little steam, and express our dislike to the "new more modern and improved" changes.) It's similar to  an old saying,   "You can't live with them, and you can't live without them"

[Neighbor]

Yes Gary Lee I appreciate so many of the points you are making. I just wonder why does it fail for me? I feel I am being selected for extra abuse when I try to buy online. My son who has an addiction to online buying will hear me lament, get up at 10:15 pm hit a few keyboards and tell me - it will be there at 9:17 AM, tomorrow no shipping fees, I  put it on  blah blah blah. And it arrives, sometime a minute early. 

 I made a deliberate effort to buy  online tonight, and it failed. Can it be that hard? Oh well, SIRI doesn't like dealing with me either. That I understand, what with my Bostonese, but Spell Check? I don't get it. Why does spell check want to change the words I type? Somedays I just want to have explectives tattooed in cursive letters on me so that no one can read them under age 30. Well not really  but emolies, really? That's the best we have today? And another thing....

 I think I will just sit in the soft glow of an incandescent bulb under a tiffany lamp and read Lamentations. Get a feel for real trouble

Edited November 27, 2017 by Neighbor

[Running Gator]

Outside of groceries we as a family probably do 50 to 60 percent of our shopping on line and I have not had the issues you speak of.  My 15 year old orders all of his clothing on-line and gets it for half of what going to the mall would cost us.