Recently in Stores Category

Today I needed to ship 3 packages.  Since most UPS stores aren't open on Sundays I went to FedEx/Kinko's since most are open on Sunday and some are even 24 hour operations.  I went to the first one and filled out the forms for FedEx Ground and got the items boxed up.  The clerk starting ringing me up.  This takes a bit since she has to type in all the stuff I just hand wrote on all the forms.  She prints out the label for the first box.  As she attempts to print the label for the second one the label printer jams.  She first tried to replace the roll of labels and then it starts jamming again.  Then she asks for help from the other employee.  He is of no help.  Next they open a new box of label rolls.  This one has some type of cleaning cloth, the employee doesn't read instructions on package and just rips it open and starts rubbing it on every surface she can find.  They then put in a second new roll of labels from the new box.  Still no joy.  After about 15-20 minutes of this they give up.  Turns out they only have one label printer so they can't process shipments.  They give me directions to another location.  I pay for the one that could process and head to second location.

After a 15-20 minute drive I arrive at second store.  As I enter the two employees appear from the back as no one else was in store.  Two other customers enter just behind me as well.  Employee one attempts to help me.  She realizes she doesn't have password for system.  She goes to the back and gets her smock and then proceeds to dig through it to find a scrap of paper with her password on it.  She enters it into system and apparently her password has expired.  She now proceeds to call tech support on the phone.  I just keep hearing her say things like "More options", "No" and "Representative".  She gets to a human and they can't help and she calls another number.  After about 15 minutes she gives up and asks the other employee if she can login which she does.

(Quick sidebar - While this is happening with me a lady has been trying to get a print job done.  She has brought in her own labels, a thumb drive and instructions.  She wants 4 different PDF's printed on labels ???  She is trying to tell the employee what print options to choose when printing, it is bizarre to watch.  There is also a third customer that wants to buy a 5 pack of envelopes.  After logging in to the system to allow me to ship the two employees attempt to quickly ring up the poor guy just standing there.  The label lady then goes berserk and screams "NO, FINISH HELPING ME, I AM GOING TO BE BITCHY BECAUSE I AM IN A HURRY!"  At this point my clerk could actually help me so I lost track of what happened.  I am pretty sure her print job is going to be wrong. - sidebar done)

Once she got logged in things went fairly smoothly.  She obviously hadn't done the shipping much as she seemed to have to concentrate and remember what to do.  Also she seemed to do things that weren't needed like giving me my tracking number three different ways.  I was just happy to have it all done by the end.  Good luck all ye shippers.

I will start off by saying that for the most part I like Best Buy, they have good prices, good selection and usually ok customer service.  They now have a program called Ask a BlueShirt, admittedly it is about HDTV but I figured it was a good way to pick on them a bit.  Today I went in to buy some gifts, since the people they are for might read this I will not mention the exact item.  I headed to the section for the item I wanted.  I began looking for the two items.  As I started to look a gentleman in civilian clothes asked me if I needed help.  I noticed he was holding price tags so I guess he was an employee.  The first item was found in the time it took to look in the right place alphabetically.  The second item was far more um entertaining.

Me to first employee: "I am also looking for item 2."
Civilian dressed employee: "Hmm, not sure if we have that?"
He proceeds to walk around the section for 5 minutes while I also look and then gives up.  I continued to look around more and eventually found an end cap advertising what I want.
Me to second employee: "I am looking for item 2?"
Blue Shirt 2 : "I have never heard of it."
I show her the end cap.
Blue Shirt 2: "I don't think it is out yet."
Neither employee offers to look in inventory system for me.  I decided to do it for myself.  I walk over to computer section and find a computer with active Internet connection.  I ended up using a MacBook since it was the first I found with live connection.  I went to Best Buy website and look up item 2, shows as in stock at the store I am standing in.  I then go back to Blue Shirt 2.
Me to second employee: "BestBuy.com says you have it in stock."
Blue Shirt 2: "Oh?"
She finally goes and looks at inventory kiosk.  While she does this she uses headset to call the back and asks if they have it.  Response of yes they do.  Magically Blue Shirt 3 appears holding the item 2 which 5 minutes ago hadn't been released yet.  Since it wasn't in theft prevention package they had to carry it to front.  Once I got through the line it took a few minutes to figure out where it was left at front.

In the end I got what I wanted, but only because I had more persistence and better skill at inventory searching then the employees did.  It shouldn't be this hard to buy something, and like I said at the beginning Best Buy is a lot better than other stores.  Good luck to all ye Christmas shoppers.

In an effort to drum up publicity for this summer's big screen release of The Simpsons movie 11 7-Eleven stores were converted to Kwik-E-Mart stores.  It just so happens that one of these stores is on the way from my house to Roger's.  On the 4th of July I stopped there and got a Squishee (Slurpee) and took some pictures.  All the ones I took are in this set.

https://www.optoutprescreen.com/ or 1-888-5-OPTOUT

The site above or the phone number will allow you to remove yourself from the lists that the four credit bureaus give to companies for pre-approved offers. This will cut down on the junk mail you get somewhat. Also it removes one more potential way for someone to get a loan or credit card in your name and begin the process of identity theft. The website does look a little unprofessional but I have checked it out and it is legit. If you don’t feel comfortable doing it on the web then you can call and complete the same process.

Oh and in case anyone hasn’t done it yet don’t forget to enter your phone numbers in the National Do Not Call Registry at https://www.donotcall.gov/.

Last Saturday night I ordered something from Best Buy's web site. I ordered it ground since I wasn't too worried about when it would arrive. On Thursday I got curious where the package was. According to the tracking the package was picked up by UPS and then handed off to USPS. The package started in IL and should easily have made it to me by Wednesday if it was UPS all the way. I took the second tracking number and looked it up on USPS. The results were:
"Status: Acceptance

Your shipment was Accepted/Picked Up at 9:19 AM on November 30, 2006 in BALTIMORE, MD 21233"
What that meant to me was the package was accepted for delivery or picked up at a post office. I however wasn't at home on Thursday so this concerned me. I called Best Buy this morning and they couldn't even get the level of tracking info I could. I then went to the Post Office and had them look it up. Apparently the above info means that the Post Office accepted it or picked it up from UPS, not the customer. The package might finally be delivered today.

It just seems to me that the tracking info wording could be done a whole lot better. Also the whole UPS and USPS thing seemed to do nothing more than slowing down the delivery of the package.

Last Saturday the 22nd Kelly and I went up the Markets at Shrewsbury. It is about 35-40 minutes away from my house North on 83 just across the Pennsylvania border. We had seen it when driving back from Dan's wedding and wanted to visit. When we got there we first walked around the outdoor show space of their sheds, barns, guest houses and gazebos. I would definitely like to get one of their gazebos to go in the gravel spot in my back yard. Just need to save up to afford it later.

We then went into the first building which was a store of various home items. It had things ranging from shelves to carpets and mats to lamps. It had all sorts of items. The one thing that was surprising was the amount of stuff that was imported, mostly from India. It just didn't seem very Amish to import items.

The second half of first building is more of a permanent flea market. This section had two types of items in it. One was various food markets with things from produce to seafood and baked goods. The other half of the stores were random trinkets and seemed like a true flea market. There were shops that sold NASCAR memorabilia, some that sold dolls and others that just had boxes of junk. We got some baked goods that looked good and then some produce for a party on Sunday.

The second building was basically a furniture store. The store had all sorts of furniture from bedroom to living room and chairs. There was a really cool corner booth that I liked. I am not sure where I would put it, but it was cool. There were some nice bedroom sets as well. Of course none of it is cheap.

The markets weren't quite what we expected but were nice. It is difficult to resolve the whole Amish thing and some of the stuff happening there.

As I mentioned I went to BJ's last night. When I got there I first waked inside expecting to find carts, nope. I then walked back outside to one of their "Cart Corrals." What I found was all the carts chained together. It took me a second to realize there was a big sign up instructing you how to remove cart. Now point one, if you need instructions on how to operate a shopping cart then the solution may be overkill. Anyway, the carts had these locking mechanisms that you had to force a quarter into which would then release it from the next cart and lock the quarter in place. This is fine and dandy if you have a freaking quarter! I of course did not. I luckily found one that was not currently chained to anything.

This method of cart control is one I have never seen before. I can understand the reasoning behind it I guess. The theory seems to be that the incentive of retrieving your quarter will make you return the cart rather than leaving to flail about in the parking lot. However the toll (even temporary) to remove the cart seems very cumbersome. I mean what if someone like I could not find a free cart, would I have to go inside to get change to free a cart? That is not exactly the best way to start a shopping experience. I guess I just usually return the carts sans incentive and don't want to be bothered to find a quarter.

Yesterday I went to Giant to get a few things. As I checked out I got cash back. However it seems I didn't actually get the cash. Apparently I was so out of it I didn't notice it. The cashier also didn't notice either. I noticed it last night and went back to Giant. At that point the cash drawers were locked in a safe and they said they would check this morning. I got a call about 10 AM telling me that they found the drawer $50 rich and I could come and get my money today. Oops.

Saturday morning I ventured out to the local Verizon store. This was an interesting experience. I was first met by a greeter who asked what I needed. At first I just wanted to look at phones. Once I was sure what my replacement was I went to the counter that appeared to be processing purchases. I was informed I needed to put my name on a list to be served. It was like a list at a resteraunt, I have never experienced anything like this. While I waited I looked around. There was also a customer service line, a tech support line and then an ATM like device to pay your bill at. Once my name was called a started working with the sales person. I explained I lost my phone and wanted to get a new one. He informed me that since it had only been 11 months since I got the last phone I would have to pay full retail. My immediate comment was that "I am being punished for being a current customer." He smiled and took it in stride, obviously he had heard this before. He told me he could cut me a little bit of a deal, but it was still about $100 more than the standard price. As a bonus I now have a new 2 year contract.

We talked about the fact that Verizon has crippled the phone I got (Motorola E815) just like they did my previous one (Motorola V710) and all other bluetooth phones. As he was finishing ringing me up he mentioned that the Motorola was better than the LG since it was "less" crippled. At this point I asked if he would have told me I made a bad choice if I got the LG phone. He said no, he doesn't recommend one brand over the other. The funny thing was the customer standing next to me was buying an LG phone and quickly asked "is there something wrong with LG?" The two verizon people then quickly showed that they both have LG phones trying to clean up the mess I created.

I now have a new phone and a new 410 cell number. Anyone reading this please send me your numbers so I can program them in my new phone. Thanks.

Most of my shopping for stuff to work on my house has been at Home Depot. This weekend though I went to Lowes since I had a 10% of coupon to use. I found some interesting differences.

Lowes - Lots of employees, especially at check out counters. Much brighter and cleaner. Selection of wiring stuff stinks, maybe 6 ft wide. Better layout it seems.

Home Depot - Very few employees, one register. Better selection. Half an aisle for wiring. Random layout almost.

For now Home Depot gets my business, but I may check a few more times.