I'm going to poke the bear a little.

We use Amazon. It's convenient, generally cost effective, and with like 10 warehouses within 50 miles, almost everything is next day. It lets me shop on my schedule and when I have the "Oh yea, we need this" moment.

Saying that - I think if you choose the Amazon route, you can't stand up with your sign and megaphone screaming "Save small businesses!" in general. There are probably exceptions and niche stores of course.

We have a small town outside of Princeton and every house has a "No more trucks" and "No more Amazon" sign out front. I'm tempted to to just sit there one day and count how many deliveries they get.

That's it, back to your regularly scheduled programming.

 

^
Gary, what you say is true. I do have a little guilt when ordering online. I totally dislike Walmart and all their business practices, but I order online from them from time to time. It's just easy. I order things I know I won't have to return as I dis-like going into their chaotic stores. We are frequent Amazon shoppers. The convenience is a huge factor. On the few occasions when I go into stores to look for something, I find the inventory lacking and often leave empty handed. We have a Burlington Coat Outlet in our area. A couple years ago I was looking for a jacket. I need Petite sizes since I'm well, short. In the past I've found things at Burlington. This time, the whole place was just messy and dis-organized. Really messy. I left without trying on a jacket.

Retail stores are hurting, short staffed, low inventory and often you find what you need online, sometimes from their online options, often with Amazon.

 

Totally agree. Shop locally is for the most part near impossible. Short of staff and short of inventory. It was a beautiful night last night and there was a car show downtown. By the time we finished dinner at a local club where we get great service we decided to check out the night life. It was dark and the car show over. Numerous couples were walking the streets. We stopped at one of main bars and waited from someone, anyone, to come to the greeting desk. We finally gave up and left. Walked around some more, realized no one was getting good service except for a brewery that only sells beer. So much for downtown. Went to a neighborhood pub.

 

Yeah Amazon is no longer the gorilla in the room for retailing. More like King Kong.
Home improvement stores survive because they have big bulky things on hand.
It simply isn't economical to ship a 2x4, a 4x8 sheet of 3/4 plywood or a 80 lb bag of concrete.

 

There's no physical Amazon presence here in NZ but the few times I've used their services it's been impressive - generally 4-6 days from ordering something from the US to it turning up at the gate. 15 years ago it would take 3 weeks or so for US-sourced items. As a side note, I managed to get some S2000 floor mats from the UK to my door in 6 days, but that was direct from the supplier.

We try to shop local whenever we can but for some more specialized items it's either impossible to get the quality we're after, or it's not available at all.

 

Somethings are still good locally. $5.50 pour bourbon at our neighborhood pub.

 

^ That sounds like a good deal Dave and some good quantity in that pour.

A week ago I went out to dinner with my wife and I was craving a beer. I almost never drink when out to dinner , so I wasn't up on my alcohol pricing I guess. They wanted $8.00 for a beer and I said that was crazy, no thanks. Small glass of Sangria was no better. They must be nuts charging those prices, but someone must be paying it, just not me.

 

Joey, that's the going rate. I don't drink often, but a sangria can be priced at $12.00 and up.

We stopped at a brewery today. The second time in a week we walk into a brewery and a birthday party is happening. Last week the party had a blue grass band, we didn't hang around long as the brewery was officially closing, except for the party, but what we heard of the music was good. Today, the brewery had just about the worse singer we had ever heard. The band wasn't too bad, but the singer just wasn't hitting the notes.

Rick wanted to try one of their special release beers. $8.00 a pour. It was a :

Sometimes I Buy Coffee - Stout /Pastry. One of their previous beers was Birthday Cake Stout/Pastry. Rick said it was the tastiest beer he ever had. Today's stout was pronounced good but not as good as the other one.

Stout - Pastry 5% ABV

 

That is even more expensive considering it is the US, damn. I think our alcohol pricing here is high (with crazy taxes) , but beer in the US should be cheaper ?. My way of thinking is one beer in a restaurant is almost as much as much as 30% of a case of beer (retail). I might understand a good craft brewery beer cost being higher, but your standard everyday big brewery beers (which don't even taste that good) should be cheap. It is a good thing I don't drink much I guess

 

I placed six Amazon orders in the last four days: a book (for a friend), Ossopan supplement, a waterproof knee cover for showers (for my upcoming Mohs calf surgery), two 18v lithium batteries for my Ryobi tools (mine died), a knee ice-pack wrap, and grass seed and fertilizer.

Beer drinkers, I never liked beer at all until I moved to Colorado. I would have one when out with my son and daughter-in-law, or when out with my honey, Michael. Now I buy 6 packs or mix and match 6 packs. I like New Belgium beer. Do you get them in your state? I also like Breckenridge bourbon, and normally mix it in soda water. I buy it at Costco.