Posted on 12/13/2022 8:58:50 AM PST by Responsibility2nd
Yesterday me and Mrs. R2 went to town. She had a doctors appointment, I filled up the gas tank, I had two property inspection jobs to do, we had lunch, we went to HEB (grocery store) and a UPS store.
The line at the UPS store was out the door, but still; I was in and out in about 15 minutes. I shudder to think what a similar line of folks would be like at the USPS.
While at HEB, I needed to make an exchange at the Service Desk. While there, a man cut in line and was served ahead of me. Fortunately I thought of Peace on Earth and remembered the Spirit of Christmas and did not make a scene.
And throughout the day - traffic was not good. And all this got me to thinking of how Christmas and especially Christmas shopping used to be.
Remember huge shopping malls? Remember Walmarts and Targets full of frustrated shoppers? Parking lots full of no places to park?
I'm looking at our Christmas Tree with hundreds of dollars of presents under it. 90% of which all came from Amazon.
I love it. I don't miss hours spent looking for and not usually finding that special gift.
For even more fun, take the ice cream out and eat it while parked in your primo parking spot.
You may learn some new colorful words!🤣
Lowes has the worst inventory system of any big box retailer.
I like to purchase online and then go pick it up at the local store. I cannot count the number of times I have ordered something from Lowes and then been told that, even though their website says the local store has several in stock, they don’t have any and won’t for a week or more. I have never had that happen with Home Depot, Walmart, or Office Depot.
“I have never had that happen with Home Depot, Walmart, or Office Depot.”
For us, that happens all the time at Walmart. Luckily, it’s only about five minutes away so not too much time and gas are wasted.
LOL if you boycott everything damned on FR you have to become Amish or at least Mennonite.
I’ve heard starting in January, not only will you be doing self checkout at WM but you have to help unload the semi-trucks in the shipping dept.
I remember my small town in the 1960-70’s at Christmas. The month of December all the stores would stay open until 9:00pm one day a week instead of closing at 5:00pm for Christmas shoppers. I remember going into Woodsworth with my grandparents to buy gifts one year, I was probably 4-5 years old.
They would put a red barn on a corner of town square and on those nights and Saturdays Santa would be in there for the kids. Nice memories of a special and long gone era...
Darn it Laz.
I have a perfectly good Rock I was going to regift to you. Now I’ll have to think of another perfect gift for you.
Might take some time. Maybe next year.
Merry Christmas.
I use Amazon to buy stuff that I can’t find locally.
I repurposed my son’s room after he moved out into my “Room of Requirement”. It was my 60th birthday present to myself. I have my way-too-much-power computer with the almost-too-wide monitor, a 65 inch OLED TV, a PS5, surround sound, and lots of shelves to hold memories and knickknacks. There is a very comfortable futon to relax on. I wanted my room to be kind of steam punk/industrial, so we put in dark wood flooring, painted the walls dark green, and the shelves are planks supported by what look like pipes attached to the walls.
All that to say that a lot of the furniture and items in this project were not available in Albuquerque. There were a couple of places that would special order the shelves, but I bought them on Amazon for less and they came in less than a week. My desk and TV stand needed to match the style of the shelves and again, nothing local. Amazon was inexpensive, good quality and fast.
We did get the flooring and paint at Home Depot.
I miss the shopping malls. Now we have to drive from store to store, or order everything for delivery.
Dollar stores kill regarding cleaning products...prices are way better. Greeting cards, gift wrapping, pens,pencils,Aluminum foil cookware, etc. Way cheaper.
If we could get American manufacturers to start making this stuff, so our money don’t go to ccp.
One can find almost anything on websites other than amazon
Reviews can be outdated, fake, and the product manufacturing may have changed since last reviewed. That still doesn’t verify proper handling...so let the buyer beware.
I was looking for a retractable indoor clothesline ...checked on many site...the product offered looked cheap as h*ll...and. Seemed the same from each vendor..from 8-20 bucks.
I built my own from old plastic coated speaker wire,two u-bolts, and two medium size hooks in the door moulding. Retraction came by unhooking one end and rebooking wire on other end.
The nonviolent way to protest Free Trade and the massive election fraud, is for people to just stop buying unnecessary junk. Unfortunately, they won’t. Back when GM was the biggest company in the world, I knew a guy who refused to buy a car from them. It was just a matter of principle with him. He wasn’t going to make GM any richer, not with his money. People today, including too many FReepers, just don’t get the power of declining discretionary purchases. Last year, I gave a lot of gift certificates to local restaurants. None of my Christmas spending went to China. It’s easy enough to do.
Well, I DO buy from ebay and Amazon when there is a large price and / or selection advantage. But, my wife just bought a bunch of footwear for herself and our daughter, online. Not only were the prices not great, I just simply can’t imagine buying footwear without trying it on and walking on it...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.