I was in my local AutoZone a few weeks ago and overheard a customer asking if they would match the store price to the lower internet price. It was AutoZone's own lower internet price...

Clerk said NO, that they can't or don't sell at their internet price. Dude walks out and says he is ordering online.

Fry's electronics used to do that same thing, until they finally changed the policy to match their own online price.

I sort of get it though, the B&M stores have overhead, etc to deal with but does seem odd that a store wouldn't match their own price.

I posted a while ago about going to my local paint store to buy 5 gallons of Sikins stain. I found it online for $300 including shipping. I asked if he could give me a discount... not match the price just a discount as his price was $100 higher. He said nope so I ordered online. I tried.

I had something similar happen in December. Online the prices were discounted with free 2 day shipping. I asked if the store could match the online price but they wouldn't... so I ordered online.

I don't hesitate to buy Amazon.

This morning I ordered two sets of pruning saw blades and they were delivered about a half hour ago.

I was at HD yesterday and they wanted an arm and a leg for them and didn't have the brand I wanted. But I did look. And I did buy some stuff while there.

I spread it around but bottomline is I buy from whoever gives me the best price, the right products, and best delivery.

Agree with Biosurfer....no matter what you buy and from who it's helping someone locally.

That would have been the ultimate mic drop!!!:D

I am a Prime member until my yearly membership expires and love the convenience of what they offer. I have spent tens of thousands of dollars with them over the years. But I strongly disagree with their desire to interfere in politics and impeding freedom of speech and refuse to support them because of it.

Local business will need to try harder AFA customer service if they are to stay in the game. The only bright spot I see in B and M stores anymore is trying on clothes. But, Amazon has that covered too. Zappos has been doing it for a decade.

AFA restaurants go I feel no sorrow as they drop like flies. The experience of going out to eat and really enjoy a good meal with EXCELLENT service disappeared years ago. I don't miss any restaurant that goes under.

There's a good reason they didn't make it. Maybe the new start ups will get it right. I can remember the days when some gum chewing chick passes by and asking about your meal was not a thing. They stood back and observed and it anything seemed to be needed, then they came forward — the good ones anyway.

The most subtle form of proper attention is coming by to fill water glasses w/o a word. Or reach over to the bottle of wine and pour just enough.

That's just a bit better than, "What'll it be Mack?"

No soup for you? That jerk should have been run out of NY in chains.

There are some fantastic Jewish delis in L.A. that go way beyond average and the lines out the door prove whose business will stay while others go.

The average life expectancy of a food service business or restaurant is 5 years. In these times if you are close to your sell date due to apathy, you're gone. Too many servers try and put on a 'personality' like, "I'm so and so and I'll be serving you today.

TMI, just do it. I wasn't going to give a tip to Tammy 'with love' anyway. I'd rathe throw a fiver in the busser's pocket.

And doesn't it really piss you off when they come by while you have a 3rd of a plate left to eat and say, "Are you finished with that?" Table churning. Blame the money greedy manger for that.

When the utensils and are all on the plate and it's been pushed away 6 inches, that might be to cue to come and remove. Not while you still have a fork in you hand and your napkin in your lap.

In this country restaurants have been putting out crap with lousy service for so long the art of dining out is lost to 99% of the population.

Probably the best eats and best service is located in roadside café with ten stools at the counter and a half dozen booths all manned by one server, one buss and one cook. And the locals go THERE. No rush.

^ And the server calls you 'hun'!

Everywhere is local to someone. Another reason i stick to ebay and the smaller sellers and try to buy stuff closer to me so they dont have to pay so much shipping.

I tend to use Click & Collect if I want something pretty quickly . At least you know you will get the item when you arrive at the store and the line will be very short, if at all.

That’s what’s really bad. All of the mixers sold locally would have been eligible to pay online and then pick up in the store. Which would have wasted even more of my time.

I just paid $400 for a tiny control board for my Wolf oven. Stock on new ovens is zero...

Exactly. Online sales assume lower overhead, and can pass that lower cost along as a lower retail price.

If you want B&M convenience (ability to see/touch item before purchase, ability to have item immediately, ability to talk to a person about item) then you also have to be willing to pay for that (employees, nice appearance, utilities, taxes, customer-convenience item placement, delivery, infrastructure, POS systems, parts lookup systems, etc...). None of that stuff is free.

The absolutely lowest price wins mentality is the reason that Walmart and the other big box stores started clobbering the small stores, and that's why Amazon is kicking the crap out of B&M stores.

You have to be willing to pay more. Folks that are already not doing that well

I don't get the whole back log issue . I ordered Trex decking for a job. 9- 11,week delivery time! WTF!! Ordered a few panels of metal roofing, took 7 weeks to get delivered to HD, which they lost when I went to go pick it up. Customers don't understand or want to hear why it's taking so long to complete a job.

As far as buying local, I try to as much as possible. I hate online shopping with a passion. The problem is lack of stock and variety most of the time, so you get stuck wirh having to do it online.


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My local Hone Depot doesn't even have flooring nails in stock right now.

Steve,
In my example it was Autozone's website vs walking into Autozone. I've never experienced a situation where the store wouldn't honor the online sale price until this. Seemed weird for the online and in store to be different prices for the same item.

Believe it or not, there are areas with no cell signal on regular roads as well. We still use our Gamin and Waze as a backup.

We ordered a new GE freezer back in September. It was delivered two weeks ago and it does not work and they are telling us 60 days to wait for an exchange to come in. Sucks because we needed the larger capacity.

I posted a while back about having my fridge die, having parts be so far out that I decided to buy a new one, and having to drive 2.5 hrs to OKC to get the last one in stock. Crazy.

Drift. If you want to make her happy, skip the Kitchen Aid and find either a new Ankasarum or a used Magic Mill, Electrolux assistant, or DLX . They're all the same machine, and superior for doing just about everything.
The consumer level Kitchen Aids have plastic gears that die. But the worst part is its darn near impossible to add stuff to the bowl while its running. The DLX style machines are completely open, and knead better because the bowl turns, not the hook. The also do attachements.
I have a 10 year old Kitchen Aid pro that saw some commercial use before I retired, and its ok, but my used dlx is the only mixer I generally use.