Why do we keep driving to far away stores that are understocked, understaffed and don't care?

[ddbackhoe]

I'm not sure I'd have phrased this quite so strongly or or quite the negative approach.

People like telling other people what they have to do and how to live.

 

[Diggin It]

I use Big Lots quote a bit too. Good for cheap-ish brand name commodity items and some off-brand/generic items. They used to have a lot of closeout and overstock/discontinued items, but that has waned over the years.

I'm going to town tomorrow and will pass by there. They usually offer coupons to their rewards members that can be used on-line or in-store. This month for some reason, it was on-line only. Logged in, found most of the items I wanted were available for pickup in store, but three were only available for shipping to home for free. OK, worked for me. Placed the order and got my 25% off. I'll stop by tomorrow and pick up that stuff, then wait to see if they ship the other stuff or cancel it.

They screwed up my order.

One of the items I ordered was TP, because, hey, why not? I always get their 12 Double roll pack (equals 24 they say) for $5 or less. That's what I ordered and paid for. But I just realized the order picker grabbed the 12 Mega roll pack (equals 48 rolls they say) which sells for $9.00

Should I complain?

 

[Larry Caldwell]

I recently spent 40 minutes driving to a big box store to get some auto parts, filters, household goods and supplies. I came back with only a headache. The big name store is in a smallish town so the auto parts were marked up higher than what I expected, but hey, I was already there.

It was hard to find the electric razor head I needed and I could not find a single employee to help. I read the package for a while and then a young employee came by and answered "if we have it, it's on the shelf" to each question. Heck, I could work there. When I asked where shop vac filters were, he told me construction and lumber. I knew that was wrong so had him look it up and it was somewhere entirely different. What a confusing mess and it happens more often than not.

So I went home, looked everything up on line and clicked away. My stuff will get here Wednesday, a (probably) nice guy will bring it to the door and I could have saved the wear and tear and gas money on something meaningful like intellectual consciousness .


Seriously, why even bother going to brick and mortar stores when we are more knowledgeable than them, when staying home is easier and no driving is required? Are they trying to self destruct?

Here on the Left Coast, you are never more than a few miles from a NAPA store. Quality parts, reasonable prices, knowledgeable staff, lifetime warranty, no questions returns. The alternator in my pickup fried, bought a new one a NAPA, it ran for two years and also died. Took it back, no receipt, and they handed me a new one. There was not a big price difference between a new one and a rebuild, which only had a 90 day warranty. NAPA filters are high quality, manufactured by WIX. They will also make up hydraulic hoses for you on the spot.

 

[Rowdy Redneck]

I hadn't bought anything off Amazon for several months because I think Bezos is a douchebag, but this weekend I broke down and ordered a few things. Placed my order at 11:47 on Saturday night, and three items arrived before 8:00 on Sunday morning. It's kind of mind-boggling.

 

[sixdogs]

I was going to drive to a big box store today for some truck cabin filters and dreaded the event. It would be a guess to see if they had the stock, I'd have to wait a long time to check out or self checkout, which I won't do, and pay top dollar of $20 per filter.

After thinking, I checked Amazon and bought better filters for $14 each from them. They will arrive Saturday or before and I'll bet before. I spent zero gas money, zero mileage and wear and tear and saved an hour of my time.

 

[Doofy]

I was going to drive to a big box store today for some truck cabin filters and dreaded the event. It would be a guess to see f they had the stock, I'd have to wait a long time to check out or self checkout, which I won't do, and pay top dollar of $20 per filter.

After thinking, I checked Amazon and bought better filters for $14 each from them. They will arrive Saturday or before and I'll bet before. I spent zero gas money, zero mileage and wear and tear and saved an hour of my time.

...and possibly your life. Defensive Driving is fast becoming a lost art and it is becoming harder to dodge all the idiots.

 

[Oaktree]

Here on the Left Coast, you are never more than a few miles from a NAPA store. Quality parts, reasonable prices, knowledgeable staff, lifetime warranty, no questions returns. The alternator in my pickup fried, bought a new one a NAPA, it ran for two years and also died. Took it back, no receipt, and they handed me a new one. There was not a big price difference between a new one and a rebuild, which only had a 90 day warranty. NAPA filters are high quality, manufactured by WIX. They will also make up hydraulic hoses for you on the spot.

NAPA stores are all over the place here too, but keep in mind that they're a franchise, and stores are going to vary by franchisee. I'm sure the staffs were knowledgeable once, but I've noticed a big change as the old timers retired. The younger guys are more comfortable with the computer database, and know where the parts are on the shelves but they don't really seem to be "car guys". Their parts seem on the high side price-wise, and quality about the same as the other chains. One thing I especially dislike is that nothing on "this" side of the counter have price tags.

What they do seem to have over O'Reillys, Autozone, etc. is a much better selection of parts for construction equipment, heavy duty trucks, etc. and are a bit more geared toward commercial customers.

 

[ultrarunner]

The old time auto part stores had a full machine shop in back...

Hot Tanks, Valve Jobs, Generator Service, etc...

The one I went to a lot could pour babbitt bearings and had a great old van Norman lathe for turning drums...

They were not alone and I can still tick off the names... all gone now even the ones with multiple locations and now Franchise locations...

 

[Oaktree]

The old time auto part stores had a full machine shop in back...

Hot Tanks, Valve Jobs, Generator Service, etc...

The one I went to a lot could pour babbitt bearings and had a great old van Norman lathe for turning drums...

Back in the day most gas stations did at least some repair work...brakes, tires, oil changes, etc. Pretty hard to find one today that even has someone to pump gas. Started to see the change back in the mid 70s to either repair shops or gas station/convenience stores but rarely both.

There's one autoparts store around here (one of the NAPAs) that still does some machine shop work (or at least they did a few years ago), but I'd be hard pressed to think of another. I'm guessing demand for those services has declined as vehicles have become more trouble-free (and complicated).

 

[ultrarunner]

I bought a used brake lathe but have never used it as my days of customer brake jobs ended shortly after with the transition to property management from mechanic work... drum mic, shoe arcing on and off backing plate and rivet machine would get regular use doing side jobs working my way through school...

I do find it harder to assemble the simple supplies but then newer cars don't seem to need as much...

When was the last time adjusting points and most new cars it's simple to replace rotors if needed...