Buying on-line

[PJ520]

Ask yourself: how long did you spend surfing the net to find the deal and how long might you spend waiting around for the delivery, possibly returning a damaged first one and so on? How much is your time worth? Also, how soon did you want it?

For £15, able to check it over before paying and with instant delivery, I may well have bought it from the high street.

Good points. Years ago I was appalled at a friend who had spent £15 on an oil change (You can tell how many years by the price) and pointed out he could have done it himself for much less. "My time's worth much more than £15" was his reply. Shut me right up. Nowadays I don't bother checking the internet unless I think it's going to be orders of magnitude less. Not worth the faff.

[PJ520]

I might not be fast but I'm slow. I got a new back tyre at a bike shop after a cheap tyre disintegrated. I told my mate in the UK about it and he pointed out that it cost twice what he would have paid. What I didn't think of at the time was (a) was his tyre from a shop right on the bike path that was open on a Sunday? (b) Did it include a lad to mount the new tyre for him? (c) DId his tyre come with facilities he could use to clean himself up with?

[Cyril Haearn]

As for Debenhams and the like ............ I'll be surprised if department stores are still with us in ten years time. The days of Grace Brothers are gone.

I hear that John Lewis in on the ropes.

Who's next?
Are there any left?

I think things are changing fast because we've now entered the world of time poor so the internet steps in.
I dislike shopping intensely,time in a shopping mall or dept store is a frustrating experience for me,crowds and traipsing up and down to find what I want only to find that they don't have my size is just so much wasted energy,and I'm retired,so I can fully understand people who are working finding it even more frustrating.
The only thing I go to a mall or large town/city for these days are clothes or shoes and it's a rare event.

Story alert:-
Mrs R2 and I were in Lytham St Annes last year and went on the High St for a picnic lunch too take on the prom to eat.
We past a Clarks shoe shop and as I was looking for some open trainer type sandelly type shoes we looked in and I saw what I liked.
They had two colour options available but only had my size in the colour I didn't want.
The lady assistant said to try on the the colour I didn't want and she could order the colour I did want and they would be there in a couple of days.I explained we were only there for the day and not bother,whereupon she said "I can see if we can post them to you at no extra cost and they should be with you in a few days" she made a phone call to confirm.
When she checked the price the colour I wanted were discounted by £15.
Result!
On our way out I asked her if she liked chocolate,she said "yes",
She nearly fainted when I returned 10 minutes later with a box of Thorntons chocs for her and the other two ladies
They cost me a fiver and saved endless walking and traipsing about,and I was still a tenner up on the deal

+1
I bet she went home and told her family, made several more people happy
I like doing good deeds too, telling strangers the way to the station, maybe even accompanying them..

[Vorpal]

I'm generally inclined to buy stuff in person as much as possible. There are several reasons to do so, not the least because I like to see what I'm buying, rather than a possibly misleading picture of it.

If it's bike bits, I like to support local businesses. I can't easily get my favourite tyres here. The shop that ordered them for me last time mounts them for free, but they're 10 km away, so I sometimes order those on-line.

The bike shop I use for service doesn't carry so many bits, but they're more than happy to order stuff for me, and can often get it cheaper than I can. Their prices are otherwise competitive, and they're good for a chat, as well. I organised them to do a Dr. Bike type session at my son's school, and it was good fun. They serviced 60 bikes over a couple of days, and we've had a bunch of happy kids riding to & from school.

The relationship developed with them & other in the cycling community here is worth far more than the small penalty for buying from humans, or even paying to have my bikes serviced.