Personally, I just like wandering around at a brick and mortar Walmart—smelling tires and playing random video games? Great precursor to buying a bunch of crayons inexplicably priced at 2 cents a pack.
@jouest@yakkoTDI There are still two K-mart stores in the mainland US! Or maybe about 1½, actually, as one was dramatically downsized.
FWIW, they’re thriving down under.
/image K-mart Australia
(Amazing what happens when you have leadership that’s looking at the company, not just their own pockets like the hedge fund/vulture capitalist that was at the helm of Sears/Kmart here.)
Online - Amazon Resale, formerly known as Amazon Warehouse, which resells returns and box damaged items. Sometimes stuff is so stupid cheap I’ll buy them even if I don’t need them – like some AC2100 routers for 33 cents.
I’ll also check “Today’s Deals” at the category level. Sellers with aged inventory will sometimes just clear their items out for way below cost just so the Amazon storage fees don’t keep piling up.
Brick and mortar - when I need tools, Harbor Freight. They aren’t as cheap as they used to be, but overall quality has improved over the decades too, so the value is still there. They’re still cheaper than other places like Home Depot or Lowe’s, so there’s that too.
@narfcake I have exactly one tree and it dropped a huge branch on my house. Bought a Harbor Freight chainsaw to slice it all up. Exactly their place in the world.
@jouest@narfcake When Beryl hit Houston, lots of trees came down in my neighborhood. The winds hadn’t completely died down when I got out my Ryobi cordless chainsaw and started clearing the street out front. That caused all the neighbors to pitch in, and our end of the street was open in less than an hour. The other end, not so much. (To be fair, they had bigger problems, but nobody was even trying to work on them.)
By the time it was over, I think three of my neighbors had decided that they needed one of these 12" Ryobis. We ran six 4Ah batteries down on those trees. Fortunately, I had charged up all of my packs before the storm.
Do I buy from Amacrap? Sadly yes. I’d rather not, but some things are difficult to find if you don’t live in a huge city I don’t do prime though. Waste of money imho. .
Given a choice of big box stores I do Target. Politics bothers me less, probably because it is not in my face and it’s also across the street basically. LOL
@jouest This is a big one, was a super target back when they did those. But it can get that way. I usually go at opening during the week if I have to go, so…
In all honesty, there are even a few food items I will buy there by choice if I am there. I like bagged salads, I am more likely to eat them. And my preferred one is Taylor Farms. Good and Gather might or might not be made bu them but has some good ones. Variety ya know. Other things I stay away from.
I like to touch and fee most of that which I buy. I mean TP is okay to order but I’m not buying food I cannot touch, had too many issues during Covid to go there again and i hear from picky foodies who stil do it and well, … not going there.
I have a folder full of bookmarks for specialized suppliers that I use at need, but I find myself doing a lot less mindless merch-foraging these days. I will admit to having found some good stuff on a certain four-letter-name-starts-with-T site in the relatively recent past, though.
@chienfou@narfcake I thought they don’t issue them unless you are $600+ consistent with companies in general not required to issue them if someone earns less than $600 (of course you are supposed to declare it regardless, of course likely few do). Has that law changed recently?
@Kidsandliz@narfcake
I generally don’t get things just to be getting things. I’m at the Gold level currently, and use it as my first look for whatever things I need. I consider it a win since actually I’m paying my effective tax rate for whatever I get. (Those being mostly things that I would have gotten anyway.) It’s been pretty great and I get a lot of pretty cool items I use a lot.
For instance I’ve gotten a 3D printer and a pizza oven (that fits in my BBQ grill) which I love. Those are some of the most expensive items I’ve gotten excluding some of the lawn tools that I had them send.
@Kidsandliz@narfcake
By and large I’ve been pretty happy with things. A few things that were not up to par got less than stellar reviews. I think being honest about the drawbacks for items makes your review of them a lot more valuable. I also tend to post pictures frequently as well as specific details and pics of any problems that the items present. I have had a couple of things that I dissed, but was able to either amend or ameliorate to make them work better. That’s practical for me but it’s not really what you want to have to do if you’re buying something up front. I think people should know that. A good example was a bamboo Pizza Peel I got to go with the pizza oven. It had about a 3/8 in lip on the front which made it very difficult to get underneath the pizza. I ended up running it through the belt sander to taper it and was able to salvage it and it’s actually very handy. That shouldn’t be something you have to do to make an item that you just bought usable.
@Kidsandliz@narfcake
A great example of a benefit is yesterday. I puncturedthe sidewall on a front tire for my riding lawn mower and the plug just wouldn’t seal fully. I was able to score a couple of replacement wheels with tires installed from vine. That probably saved me 60 bucks.
Target, Costco, Amazon. I used to be on eBay wayyy too much, but I’m not buying the stuff I bought back then (letterpress printing equipment and type, and stones and beads for jewelry making.) The printing stuff got really expensive when people caught on to the fact that it was available there. And I have too much everything. And eBay is super annoying to negotiate now, as is Amazon. But Amazon is useful for stuff that’s hard to find locally.
@werehatrack I’ve gotten stuff at places like Michael’s when they’re pretty much equivalent. It’s amusing how snobby and purist some people can be about equipment and supplies; I figure whatever gets you the results you want is the “right” tool!
@Kyeh@werehatrack
I got off eBay over the last few years as well. I was finding it harder and harder to find things that were reasonably priced. They used to be my go-to for non OEM ink cartridges for my printer, but no longer since their prices aren’t even as good as Amazon most of the time.
That being said, I just bought a 40 volt Ryobi string trimmer from eBay for about 40% less than I could have gotten it from home Depot for an “open box”. It arrived in perfect shape. My only complaint is that they quit taking AmEx. No Delta points for me!
Personally, I just like wandering around at a brick and mortar Walmart—smelling tires and playing random video games? Great precursor to buying a bunch of crayons inexplicably priced at 2 cents a pack.
@jouest I miss wandering around in K-Mart and Zayre.
@jouest @yakkoTDI
wow… Zayre. That’s a chain I almost forgot about. Sort of like Venture!
@jouest @yakkoTDI There are still two K-mart stores in the mainland US! Or maybe about 1½, actually, as one was dramatically downsized.
FWIW, they’re thriving down under.
/image K-mart Australia
(Amazing what happens when you have leadership that’s looking at the company, not just their own pockets like the hedge fund/vulture capitalist that was at the helm of Sears/Kmart here.)
@jouest @narfcake @yakkoTDI I heard last night in the news that the last US one is closing.
@jouest @Kyeh @yakkoTDI Damn, I did not know that!
@jouest @narfcake @yakkoTDI
https://www.scrippsnews.com/business/company-news/kmart-to-close-its-last-full-mainland-us-location-after-once-holding-prominent-spot-in-retail-world
@jouest My Target has a popcorn machine.
Online - Amazon Resale, formerly known as Amazon Warehouse, which resells returns and box damaged items. Sometimes stuff is so stupid cheap I’ll buy them even if I don’t need them – like some AC2100 routers for 33 cents.
I’ll also check “Today’s Deals” at the category level. Sellers with aged inventory will sometimes just clear their items out for way below cost just so the Amazon storage fees don’t keep piling up.
Brick and mortar - when I need tools, Harbor Freight. They aren’t as cheap as they used to be, but overall quality has improved over the decades too, so the value is still there. They’re still cheaper than other places like Home Depot or Lowe’s, so there’s that too.
@narfcake I have exactly one tree and it dropped a huge branch on my house. Bought a Harbor Freight chainsaw to slice it all up. Exactly their place in the world.
@jouest @narfcake When Beryl hit Houston, lots of trees came down in my neighborhood. The winds hadn’t completely died down when I got out my Ryobi cordless chainsaw and started clearing the street out front. That caused all the neighbors to pitch in, and our end of the street was open in less than an hour. The other end, not so much. (To be fair, they had bigger problems, but nobody was even trying to work on them.)
By the time it was over, I think three of my neighbors had decided that they needed one of these 12" Ryobis. We ran six 4Ah batteries down on those trees. Fortunately, I had charged up all of my packs before the storm.
Do I buy from Amacrap? Sadly yes. I’d rather not, but some things are difficult to find if you don’t live in a huge city I don’t do prime though. Waste of money imho. .
Given a choice of big box stores I do Target. Politics bothers me less, probably because it is not in my face and it’s also across the street basically. LOL
@Cerridwyn Does your Target have Black Friday style lines every single day to check out? Because that’s how mine is now.
@jouest This is a big one, was a super target back when they did those. But it can get that way. I usually go at opening during the week if I have to go, so…
In all honesty, there are even a few food items I will buy there by choice if I am there. I like bagged salads, I am more likely to eat them. And my preferred one is Taylor Farms. Good and Gather might or might not be made bu them but has some good ones. Variety ya know. Other things I stay away from.
I like to touch and fee most of that which I buy. I mean TP is okay to order but I’m not buying food I cannot touch, had too many issues during Covid to go there again and i hear from picky foodies who stil do it and well, … not going there.
I have a folder full of bookmarks for specialized suppliers that I use at need, but I find myself doing a lot less mindless merch-foraging these days. I will admit to having found some good stuff on a certain four-letter-name-starts-with-T site in the relatively recent past, though.
Amazon… for my Vine offerings. Gotta love free shit.
@chienfou So how much do you “buy” a year? Just under what you will have to pay tax on or do you go all out?
@chienfou @Kidsandliz As an ex-Viner, unless the year ended up at $0, there’s no “under”. Everyone will get a 1099-Misc.
@chienfou @narfcake I thought they don’t issue them unless you are $600+ consistent with companies in general not required to issue them if someone earns less than $600 (of course you are supposed to declare it regardless, of course likely few do). Has that law changed recently?
@Kidsandliz @narfcake
I generally don’t get things just to be getting things. I’m at the Gold level currently, and use it as my first look for whatever things I need. I consider it a win since actually I’m paying my effective tax rate for whatever I get. (Those being mostly things that I would have gotten anyway.) It’s been pretty great and I get a lot of pretty cool items I use a lot.
For instance I’ve gotten a 3D printer and a pizza oven (that fits in my BBQ grill) which I love. Those are some of the most expensive items I’ve gotten excluding some of the lawn tools that I had them send.
@chienfou @narfcake Hopefully the things you got were decent items.
@Kidsandliz @narfcake
By and large I’ve been pretty happy with things. A few things that were not up to par got less than stellar reviews. I think being honest about the drawbacks for items makes your review of them a lot more valuable. I also tend to post pictures frequently as well as specific details and pics of any problems that the items present. I have had a couple of things that I dissed, but was able to either amend or ameliorate to make them work better. That’s practical for me but it’s not really what you want to have to do if you’re buying something up front. I think people should know that. A good example was a bamboo Pizza Peel I got to go with the pizza oven. It had about a 3/8 in lip on the front which made it very difficult to get underneath the pizza. I ended up running it through the belt sander to taper it and was able to salvage it and it’s actually very handy. That shouldn’t be something you have to do to make an item that you just bought usable.
@Kidsandliz @narfcake
A great example of a benefit is yesterday. I puncturedthe sidewall on a front tire for my riding lawn mower and the plug just wouldn’t seal fully. I was able to score a couple of replacement wheels with tires installed from vine. That probably saved me 60 bucks.
Target, Costco, Amazon. I used to be on eBay wayyy too much, but I’m not buying the stuff I bought back then (letterpress printing equipment and type, and stones and beads for jewelry making.) The printing stuff got really expensive when people caught on to the fact that it was available there. And I have too much everything. And eBay is super annoying to negotiate now, as is Amazon. But Amazon is useful for stuff that’s hard to find locally.
@Kyeh I am still amused that an ink knife is exactly the same tool as an icing spatula, but the prices are dramatically different.
@werehatrack I’ve gotten stuff at places like Michael’s when they’re pretty much equivalent. It’s amusing how snobby and purist some people can be about equipment and supplies; I figure whatever gets you the results you want is the “right” tool!
@Kyeh @werehatrack
I got off eBay over the last few years as well. I was finding it harder and harder to find things that were reasonably priced. They used to be my go-to for non OEM ink cartridges for my printer, but no longer since their prices aren’t even as good as Amazon most of the time.
That being said, I just bought a 40 volt Ryobi string trimmer from eBay for about 40% less than I could have gotten it from home Depot for an “open box”. It arrived in perfect shape. My only complaint is that they quit taking AmEx. No Delta points for me!
BlueQ.com they have cool stuff, they do cool things such as contribute to charity and hire people with disabilities.
@ironcheftoni that’s kinda cool