Online Buying vs Brick & Mortar.

[Oaktree]

Lowes does it again. I can't find what I want in their store, so I go to their website. I'm looking for some metal face plates with a little star at each corner. I bought a bunch of them in the store years ago, but now it's hit or miss if they have any, and then it's just one or two, and this time, not what I wanted.

They had them in three different stores, so I ordered them online and got free delivery. They will be here on Tuesday.

It's getting harder to go to the store when you never know if it will be in stock or not.

Haven't had that problem with Lowes, but it does seem to happen a lot with Walmart. The website will show multiple of an item in a store, but when you get there nothing. Apparently, the website doesn't always update in a timely manner, and other times items in the "return to warehouse" section are counted as inventory.

Here's a question for you related to the topic. What percentage of your spending is because of the convenience of online shopping?

In other words if it wasn't so easy would you still be buying the things you are?

I don't think it would make much difference, but we don't order a lot online to begin with. Mostly just stuff that's either not available locally or is considerably less pricey online.

One other aspect is porch pirates... so my orders go to work address...

Porch pirates not really an issue here. When I was still working, my work base was in a neighboring state that had a sales tax (mine doesn't). Nope for shipping there!

 

[two_bit_score]

Nowadays Seems I go to the store for fun more than the things I need.

I still like to see it and feel it before I buy it, on most things. Now, if I am making a repeat purchase I’ll order.

One thing I don’t like to do is go to a store to buy something and they don’t have it in stock. That’s the main reason I order re-purchases of known products.