It isn’t just the higher prices or distance; how many times can you go to a store and find out they either don’t stock something or just don’t have any currently available?
That was what first drove me to test the waters of online shopping, and I’ve never looked back. Except for clothing/footwear (which I prefer to try on before buying), there is simply no reason to buy anything in a store. Last year as Christmas approached I bought items, paid standard shipping, and still received them in a couple of days.
Price and distance are the most important factors for me-I work in construction and jobs are scarce for yet another year-ever since the economy tanked and stayed down-this rural area is very dependent on snowbirds for income in winter, but they can no longer afford the trip from up north in their RVs, or the rent of a cabin for the winter-no snowbirds means no money for owners of RV parks and cabins, restaurants, guest ranches-and that means they can’t add that patio, paint that room or put in new tile, so we are all screwed...
I wear jeans and boots to work-they get rough use-I can buy all the jeans in my size that I need online for $10.00 a pair, and shirts for even less-so why drive to a discount chain store where I might find one or two pairs of jeans my size for $12.99 if I’m lucky? I do buy good brand name work boots, but I get those at overstock.com for at least 1/3 less than retail-I’ve done all my shopping for presents for several years online, too...