What have you bought recently?

  • Thread starter Thread starter User.168
  • Start date Start date
Appreciate the tips! Sadly I've tried most of these before, except for trying to use the apps for purchase. I suspect that would be sufficient for me to get the priority for Target. The reason I like target is that I know when the window is and I don't have to waste a bunch of time.

Don't be fooled by the $700 mark on StockX, they add their own extra layer of scalping: $100 shipping. FTS.
Yeah, I'm well aware of Stock X. I've been a casual sneakerhead fan for awhile. So I remember when Stock X invited all the influencers to the home base in Chicago & showed them how they authenticate legit shows for sale & trade. Now, they are selling Pokemon cards!

You also left off the processing fee ( which I believe is a percentage ), besides the inflated shipping charges.

The trade off of course is that Stock X is considered a LITTLE more trustworthy than the guy flexing on Instagram his SUV filled PS5s or buying from that rando on Ebay who's account started the week before PS5s went on sale.
 
Stocking up on a few back-of-pantry items before winter. Wow, Amazon has apparently decided there's not enough margin in the grocery business to bother competing for it with chain supermarkets... or else they're hoping that habitual Amazon buyers won't notice some of their grocery pricing has gone up to cover their new CEO's golden parachute, who knows.

Example: Amazon is currently charging $25 for a 12-can case of 15oz cans of B&M baked beans (so 2.08 per can !! ), whereas you can get that identical can for $1.39 in your local Hannaford supermarket, which works out to only 16.68 for 12 cans... and that's before you inquire of the manager if there's a case-price deal you might get.
 
Stocking up on a few back-of-pantry items before winter. Wow, Amazon has apparently decided there's not enough margin in the grocery business to bother competing for it with chain supermarkets... or else they're hoping that habitual Amazon buyers won't notice some of their grocery pricing has gone up to cover their new CEO's golden parachute, who knows.

Example: Amazon is currently charging $25 for a 12-can case of 15oz cans of B&M baked beans (so 2.08 per can !! ), whereas you can get that identical can for $1.39 in your local Hannaford supermarket, which works out to only 16.68 for 12 cans... and that's before you inquire of the manager if there's a case-price deal you might get.
I talked with some friends the other day about Whole Foods. They are regular customers. They thought when Amazon bought the company, prices would come down because Amazon is supposedly all about lower prices.

Of course that never happened.

Bottom line - Amazon played the break-even/lose money game for years in order to establish market dominance. They seem to feel they’ve got people locked in now and are raising prices. They are also using agreements with many companies to prevent them from selling things cheaper elsewhere... so Amazon would have the lowest price available, even the price is actually quite high. They claimed to end that practice in 2019, but they actually just renamed the program.

 
Yeah, I'm well aware of Stock X. I've been a casual sneakerhead fan for awhile. So I remember when Stock X invited all the influencers to the home base in Chicago & showed them how they authenticate legit shows for sale & trade. Now, they are selling Pokemon cards!

You also left off the processing fee ( which I believe is a percentage ), besides the inflated shipping charges.

The trade off of course is that Stock X is considered a LITTLE more trustworthy than the guy flexing on Instagram his SUV filled PS5s or buying from that rando on Ebay who's account started the week before PS5s went on sale.
Their surcharges really hit above my psychological thresholds. Also, I already have a PS4 that I don't have time to play with so me shelling out nearly twice for a device I won't have time to use is a no go. I'll just play ME Trilogy on my PS4 and it will be just as much fun.
 
I talked with some friends the other day about Whole Foods. They are regular customers. They thought when Amazon bought the company, prices would come down because Amazon is supposedly all about lower prices.

Of course that never happened.

Bottom line - Amazon played the break-even/lose money game for years in order to establish market dominance. They seem to feel they’ve got people locked in now and are raising prices. They are also using agreements with many companies to prevent them from selling things cheaper elsewhere... so Amazon would have the lowest price available, even the price is actually quite high. They claimed to end that practice in 2019, but they actually just renamed the program.


Walmart is still trying to expand its online grocery business. It's tricky for them to try to compete with Amazon online and still retain their in-store business versus other bricks and mortar retailers locally, area by area, and this pricing gig of Amazon's is problematic even for another behemoth like Walmart!

I'm starting to think some of Walmart's sometimes inexplicable behavior online (item by item delivery-available vs pickup-only) might be less about just making sure customers in the stores can lay hands on items, and more about being able to offer better prices to their longstanding in-store customers and so retain them.... exactly because of these Amazon controlled deals. So like some distributor cuts a deal to supply Amazon some item, but Amazon's fine print precludes Walmart or anyone else from being able to jack up online volume by lowering an online price for that item. Sometimes seems it's just one of an array of a brand's product line, like one particular flavoring of beans, or one particular cut-style of some canned veggie. You can get in your car and go get it from Walmart at a good price (not a "sale" price, just a great price) but they won't deliver that particular item via an online purchase at all.

On the other hand what I'm seeing online at Walmart could just be a supply chain issue, thanks in part to covid still messing up everyone's best laid plains including past inventory on hand decisions. And a lot of this stuff is processed abroad or anyway in just a few US locations, so to the extent shipping is still hampered by covid-related transportation or warehouse temporary closures, "anything can happen" and the zillion cans of beans Walmart expected to be parceling out to its own distribution centers right now are bottlenecked somewhere.

Walmart of course has its own way of bearing down on suppliers before it ever even gets to keeping an eye on competitors. Charles Fishman's 2006 book "The Walmart Effect" is a real eye opener. That turned out to be one of those audiobooks I finally had to buy the ebook version and just read it instead... because it didn't put me to sleep the way I'd figured it would. I'd hit play on it and kill the lights and after 2 minutes I'd be sitting bolt upright in bed saying "they WHAT??!" and that would go on until the 15-minute timer expired and annoyed me by stopping in middle of some paragraph. Great book but not a bedtime story.

I'm sure Bezos read that book and understood Walmart's been at this game a lot longer than Bezos has when it comes to groceries. But hey, what are lawyers for, he probably figured, and so began to have his raft of legal beagles write these tight-control deals with suppliers.
 
Lexmark mono laser printer.

My Brother needed a new toner cartridge AND drum. New printer was cheaper.
 
Their surcharges really hit above my psychological thresholds. Also, I already have a PS4 that I don't have time to play with so me shelling out nearly twice for a device I won't have time to use is a no go. I'll just play ME Trilogy on my PS4 and it will be just as much fun.

Right? I mean, anymore, we're a bit late adopters for consoles (we did get the Switch pretty early in its lifecycle ...)

So in the last year or so, we __just__ got a PS4 Pro (very lightly used, mint, upgraded with a 2TB SSD), and we've got maybe 15 hours on it, what we did play was super fun (TLOU 1, also bought 2), but it just shows how our bang-for-the-buck/time spent, is much better with a $200 few year old machine vs. the $600+ "current gen".

Honestly, if we get one more Silent Hill game for it, I'll be thrilled.
 
Right? I mean, anymore, we're a bit late adopters for consoles (we did get the Switch pretty early in its lifecycle ...)

So in the last year or so, we __just__ got a PS4 Pro (very lightly used, mint, upgraded with a 2TB SSD), and we've got maybe 15 hours on it, what we did play was super fun (TLOU 1, also bought 2), but it just shows how our bang-for-the-buck/time spent, is much better with a $200 few year old machine vs. the $600+ "current gen".

Honestly, if we get one more Silent Hill game for it, I'll be thrilled.

I have given up on consoles. I have an XBox One and my daughter has a PS4. She keeps hers on a updates frequently because she plays frequently. I do not. So everytime I get 30 minutes to play, I have to wait until either the console or game updates. No thanks. Bye-bye. I have other things to do.
 
Got myself an OtterBox Symmetry+ MagSafe protective case for iPhone 13 Pro Max.

Now I just need the phone as well, which I (unlike Yay) won’t be getting on the 24th due to Apple’s multiple payment screwups.
 
Got myself an OtterBox Symmetry+ MagSafe protective case for iPhone 13 Pro Max.

Now I just need the phone as well, which I (unlike Yay) won’t be getting on the 24th due to Apple’s multiple payment screwups.
I also bought a case for my new iPhone 13. I discovered I had a bunch of Apple Store gift cards so I figured I’d use them. Got a leather MagSafe case. It could be here today. Phone still shows as coming on Friday.
 
I also bought a case for my new iPhone 13. I discovered I had a bunch of Apple Store gift cards so I figured I’d use them. Got a leather MagSafe case. It could be here today. Phone still shows as coming on Friday.
Yay, another Friday guinea pig! The more the merrier! 🥳

I was tempted by Apple’s leather MagSafe case too, would love to hear what you think about it after having used it for some time. The OtterBox felt like a safe option here, I’ve used cases made by them for about a decade now I think.
 
Yay, another Friday guinea pig! The more the merrier! 🥳

I was tempted by Apple’s leather MagSafe case too, would love to hear what you think about it after having used it for some time. The OtterBox felt like a safe option here, I’ve used cases made by them for about a decade now I think.
I used to use OtterBox only. Then I switched to CaseMate. For the last 2-3 years I’ve been buying cheap Chinese cases because I really like the kind with a strap on the back and a metal loop at the top. I will let ya know.
 
I purchased a portable AC on wheels with a similar profile with dual vents that fit into a window for hurricane season and the next long term power outage, that purchase was accompanied by a portable generator and 50 Gal of gas in the garage.

Do you have the fuel in a fire resistant container?
 
Photo required.

IMG_2918.jpg


IMG_2919.jpg
 
That's a nice size, looks like it holds a fair amount without being a big, bulky backpack or whatever.....

But why LV???? With the initials strewn all over the place? Why not a really high-quality genuine soft, wonderful leather bag without anyone's initials?
 
Back
Top