"Costco kills return anytime policy"

[Malia]

There will always be B&M stores because there'll always be people who'd rather pay more to buy in person. Undoubtedly, there will be fewer and fewer B&M stores around, and you'll have to drive farther to get to one. So?

How often do you buy a piece of electronics that you must experience in person? Look at the screen, see if the mouse is comfortable, hear the speakers, whatever. It's inconvenient to drive further, but it's a rare inconvenience.

Oh, and you don't have to actually buy from that one gigantic store in the middle of nowhere. There's a lot more people per AV store in the area, so there will still be enough purchases for the store to make money.

So, bottomline: sucks for people who like to buy in person, but the savings are worth it for those that don't care. I actually prefer shopping online for just about everything so I don't have to be in crowded places, wait in lines, be polite to people I don't like, and spend time going from store to store which makes shopping a whole affair. And I actually like shopping.

Malia

[grumpy3b]

So, bottomline: sucks for people who like to buy in person, but the savings are worth it for those that don't care. I actually prefer shopping online for just about everything so I don't have to be in crowded places, wait in lines, be polite to people I don't like, and spend time going from store to store which makes shopping a whole affair. And I actually like shopping.

Malia

Sounds like we are related...we buy almost everything but food online anymore. The big box stores drove mom 'n pop out now the web is killing the B&M's big retail stores for the most part. In one way I love the karma of that but in another way I don't see where people are going to work in another 10-years.

[Malia]

Your response is exactly why the A/V specialty shops are a dying bread.

No arguments there. However, the only thing that you're losing is the time it takes to drive to a store. There's many ways to look at it. One of them is, since fewer people are going shopping physically, maybe there's less av-shopping-related driving and associated CO2 emissions. In other words, it's not all negative for one group, and the negative part isn't so bad anyway.

Actually, I don't know if you specifically are losing anything since you like high end stuff, and if it was all over the place, it wouldn't be high end, - so when CompUSA closes half its stores, I would guess you're not affected.

Sounds like we are related...we buy almost everything but food online anymore. The big box stores drove mom 'n pop out now the web is killing the B&M's big retail stores for the most part. In one way I love the karma of that but in another way I don't see where people are going to work in another 10-years.

I wish FreshDirect delivered to where I live! I wouldn't so mind if the supermarkets here weren't so bad though. Well, as is, I guess my arms are getting some exercise carrying groceries home or something - cause I like a lot of juice and juice is heavy!

A friend of mine's family used to own a hardware store. Then, Home Depot came to town, forced my friend's family's store out of business, and now my friend's dad is working at Home Depot himself. Boo hoo, right? Well, he's making something like $20 an hour, so I don't feel sad. So he can't waste money on Betamaxes of today just for the hell of it, so what. Mom & pop shops are inefficient and can't possibly have the selection of Home Depots. It's kind of the same thing with online. Yeah, there's not a lot of stores with gigantic selection like Amazon. However, all online stores are equally accessible; the main difference that consolidation would make is combined shipping, but it's no big deal when you compare it to sales tax. I hate sales tax with passion! It's a regressive tax against poor people. Arg.

Re where (unskilled) people will work in 10 years - Well, I guess a bit fewer teenagers will have jobs. On average though, the population is becoming more and more educated, which will offset some of the demand for unskilled jobs. However, this discussion pertains mostly to electronics. Most clothes will still be sold in stores because Americans like to try things on, most food - in supermarkets since most are quite nice and sane, stationery - in drugstores and office supply stores 'coz they aren't that pricy per item to begin with which makes the convenience worth it, and so on. The remainder will work in warehouses created by more online stores

Malia

[Gator]

You have a good point zx10guy, but it is the nature of technology is to eliminate the need for unskilled labor. A good example would be the checkout lines at supermarkets. Five years ago, you couldn't find a store with an automated checkout line. Three years ago, you start seeing one or two of those auto-checkout lanes in the occasional supermarket. Nowadays, most brand name stores in my area use automated checkout lines, and it's hard to find a cashier line in service at an off hour. How much longer before the role of the supermarket cashier becomes as obsolete as the Pony Express? How much longer before machines will be able to do the work of our farmers, soldiers, doctors, etc...?

The only profession that has always withstood the test of time and technology is that of the lawyer. So come 2055, my prediction is we'll have 3 billion lawyers and 9 billion unemployed on welfare.

P.S. Does Costco sell food? Cause I'm looking forward to sampling some canned caviar, then sending back the can for a refund.

[Gator]

It's very hard, especially in a free capital society with a laissez fair political outlook, for outsourcing not to happen. The only thing that most big businesses really need to care about in such a society is the color of the ink that goes into the accountants' books, and outsourcing jobs to countries where the workers are willing to work for a fraction of the labor costs provides a quick and dirty way of getting black ink into the books instead of red.

Sure, the quality of work may not be as good, and the long term socioeconomic prospects of the businesses' home country may be damaged, but most business executives won't care as long as they triple the company's earnings while they're in charge and get that $20 million dollar bonus.

Not saying it's right, and not saying companies doing charity work and donating funding to community projects shouldn't be applauded, but at the end of the day if they are for-profit organizations then their only real objective is to make a profit and live to see another quarterly earnings report.

But hey, I'm with you on how this trend of outsourcing tech jobs is damaging to the homeland economy. Maybe a big, 1930's era recession will force politicians to start reigning in their business partners and put some New Deals onto the table.

[DaCheese]

I once returned a notebook to costco after about 2 month because it was just not living up to my standards. I felt bad and told them so. The return guy said its no problem since this is my first computer return, and that there are many people who return their computer system every 5 month. He told me that Costco is loosing money in their computer sector, and I guess their unlimited return policy did the same to the rest of electronics.

On the other hand that is one of the apeals of buying stuff there, right? I feel less inhibited of buying that $5000 TV if I know I can return it if I don't like it. And if I like it, I will keep it. WIthout the return policy I would have probably not bought it because I would feel the danger of not liking it and regretting the purchase is too high. They are in effect getting rid of the "buyers remorse" danger by offering unlimited return policy. I am not sure if a 3 month return policy will make me feel comfortable enough to buy big ticket items. And what is the difference now of buying from Costco vs. Best Buy, or some online retailer if the prices are the same?

[grumpy3b]

The only profession that has always withstood the test of time and technology is that of the lawyer. So come 2055, my prediction is we'll have 3 billion lawyers and 9 billion unemployed on welfare.

P.S. Does Costco sell food? Cause I'm looking forward to sampling some canned caviar, then sending back the can for a refund.

hehehehe...no argument there! Besides if I did eventually someone might sue me for defaming the profession.

As for food as Costco, yup they sell everything from industial sized drums of joke itch powder to china peas. Funny is they give away free samples during the day for the most part. Year ago the a bunch of use guys from the office would hit Costco for "lunch" a couple times/month. Got to where we knew the sample gals by first name.

For those who mentioned the issue of the jobs leaving being "unskilled" think again. When I started college in the late 70s the push was to get degrees in technology fields. Well, there are so many software engineers working at the hardware store because their jobs were not just outsourced but off-shored.

I have to agree that large corporations do have a responsibility to the communities. People deserve loyalty if they are themselves hard working and loyal to a business.

And as ZX mentioned this is outside the scope of the thread but I thought I would fire it off anyway...sorry...it's just not possible to read such a discussion when some opinions do not really seem to understand that if a person spends a lifetime doing the right thing only to have someone say "it's just business...good luck on your next career" is simply not right. Maybe it's more that it became the in-thing for corporations to do. And with all the cookie cutter CEO's and talk head VP's around with business, ahem, "degrees", cough, laugh, cough, who never were taught what ethics means in terms of people, it's a scary thing to see in the short period it has happened.

I happened to read an interesting article in the LA Times last week about just this issue. They were researching today's college students and they seem to have become very ME oriented and over ambitious sorts with little in the way of compassion for their fellow humans. They care more about getting big $$$ then about quality of life. Maybe it's a reflection of the materialistic bent people have anymore. Gawd I sound like an old geezer...d'oh!!

All I know is I got out of that part of life almost 15 years back and it was the smartest thing I ever did...if I had not I would have been on of those guys coding for $15/hr just to pay the bills.

again sorry for contributing to the thread-jack...

[grumpy3b]

But hey, I'm with you on how this trend of outsourcing tech jobs is damaging to the homeland economy. Maybe a big, 1930's era recession will force politicians to start reigning in their business partners and put some New Deals onto the table.

You may be very close to right...given the house markets and how many people got coaxed into some pretty spooky mortgages that are now coming due, only time will tell.

[bw1985]

I bought my laptop from Costco in december under their old 6 month return policy, so are they required to still honor this return policy or do I get screwed over with not having the option of returning it now?

[Ur ex-wife]

so you are saying that you purposly bought it and knew you would want to return it later?...