Inspired by Amazon (although I had a negative experience yesterday), I got bold enough to order socks, underwear and a pro-America T-Shirt directly from Hanes over the Internet a few days ago. Hanes just happens to be up the road in Winston Salem.
The package just arrived via the venerable US Postal Service, which now requires postal workers to do actual work for 8 hours a day to earn their pensions.
Just imagine how different our world would be if the Congress had written laws to put Fedex and UPS out of business. It took a while, but Alvin Toffler’s Third Wave has arrived. Mass merchandising is dead.
You know, I ordered some stainless steel braid brakes lines for the car. The vendor was in City of Industry, ‘Kalifornia’. Ordered on Monday and they were in my mailbox on the Wednesday ! USPS priority mail. I cannot complain. They were an excellent price, and free shipping. They had to put them on a plane Monday night. I was really surprised. I have the rears on with new caliper and pads. Its snowing here today so fronts will have to wait.
Sometimes if you get something from the ‘a-zon’ if it ships from Tacoma Washington, it rides BNSF to Chicago and then NS to Greensboro. Granted its a full 6-7 days to get here, and usually UPS has beat the daylights out of the box!
SoCAL warehouse will is BNSF ‘Transcon’ , that is a little faster, even though its Chicago and hand off to NS.
‘Uncle Pete’ has a route for UPS, I have noticed once, and they hand off to NS in Memphis TN. It generally rides to Atlanta then put on a truck out to the hinterlands.
IF FedEX ground has it, your package rides those tandom trailers with non-onion team drivers. I followed one package Fedex ground from AZ. it was I-40 all the way.
Interesting thing is it checked in at Nashville TN. then they drove right on by, went to Martinsburg W.VA. They gave it to the post office ( surepost carp) and then came back down 81 to SWVA, two days later. That was annoying .
parrott
I spent many an afternoon during my first retirement in the 90s watching trains go by in Porter Indiana. The UPS trains flew by at 79 mph, which you know is the maximum unless the tracks are under Positive Train Control. I wonder if Republicans will get around to dropping the PTC mandate.
CSX has long had sophisticated remote train control operated out of Jacksonville Florida so they can optimize fuel costs and crew scheduling. I watched in awe in New Buffalo Michigan as the computers precisely timed the meets so that neither train had to stop on the siding.
ok. so fred wants socks and men’s underwear and parrott wants a brake thing. but what if you don’t know what you want?
i went clothes shopping today for an upcoming trip. i tried on at least 8 pairs of slacks to find 2 i liked enough to buy — and for another item i tried on at least 6 or 7 different sizes/styles/colors. two store employees worked like crazy to make the sale.
i need real stores, with real live human beings that help you find what you need.
and then there’s the ” agora” factor. (it means marketplace in greek.) ancient cultures understood that there’s a social element to shopping that’s very important. going to the same vendor on saturdays at a farmer’s market to buy herbs. talking to the waitress at the corner bistro where you pick up a sandwich re how her son is doing in college. stuff like that builds a sense of human connectedness and reduces the anomie (fancy word i remember from college for social alienation) that people in our culture fight constantly.
like dylan thomas, i “rage, rage against the dying light.” can’t help it.
Fred/Countess – I am in the touch, feel, smell crowd. For clothing, shoes, kitchenware and the like I need to touch it, see it, feel the material and see if it meets my expectations before I purchase. Do I buy these online? – yes when there is no realistic option (I won’t drive from Ohio to California for a specific shirt or shoe).
So, you can return things you buy online from reputable retailers, but you will need an RMA (return merchandise authorization) and you will likely pay return shipping (and possibly a small restocking fee). I have done it, but it isn’t my favorite thing to do.
I bought a heavy duty lightning cable for my ipad that arrived in my mailbox and expect to get a 6 port usb charging station at the door today. I decided that the bedroom is the wrong place to charge devices.
I ordered a replacement door handle from Amazon for the freezer door on my refrigerator and they sent me what fairly obviously was a previously returned item that wasn’t the right part. They are supposed to have UPS pick it up today and will refund the money within 7 business days. We’ll see how that goes.
From the avalanche of similar comments on customer reviews, GE (brand) appears to have made a deliberate design choice to generate a handle that breaks about once a year. The part costs $90 at Sears, more if you want a nice guy to come out and fix it for you. They seem to be working from the inkjet printer business model where they guve the printer away at cost and profit from selling ink. Of course, that was the business model for instamatic cameras, and heroin.