I built a house a number of years back. On most things I was adamant about seeing what I was buying before making a decision. When it came to ordering faucets, fixtures, etc. we wanted oil rubbed bronze colors on the finish. That "look" meant different things to different companies such as Moen vs. Delta etc. We worked with local companies whenever we could to keep our money circulating close by. The local plumbing supply store who serves all the plumbers in the area was showing us black and white pictures out of a thick catalog. Hard to tell actual size from that, let alone color.
So this is how our conversation went...(mind you this is a showroom store but didn't have on display what we were wanting.) I asked.... why don't we just order one so we can see it, and if it isn't what we want you could send it back?
Sure thing, but if you don't want it you will have to pay a restocking fee and additional shipping. Well...OK, I guess that's fair. I'll take a chance that it's the one we want anyway. Be here in a few days?
Well...... Since we're a satellite store to our parent store, our parent store needs to order it first from the manufacturer. Usually takes a week and a half to two weeks IF it's in stock. Then we have a company truck that will deliver it out of our Sioux Falls facility to our satellite store here.(which is only 200 miles)
So...two weeks then?
Probably not, you see that truck only makes the trip up here once a week on Tuesdays so if it misses the truck it'll be another week, so it could take three weeks.
Three weeks huh?
Well....If the truck is not at least half full, they will wait another week so they can be more efficient to make the trip with a full truck.
So up to a month if things don't fall into place????? Wow!!!! Can I pick it up in Sioux Falls myself when it gets there if they let me know?
We're not set up to do that. It'll be packed in with a whole pallet of stuff heading for this area. They can't pull it out.
OK....so why couldn't they just set it aside before they load the pallet and I'll pick it up myself or they could drop it off at UPS?
We're not set up to do that.
OK...Well...the only problem I can see with this is the plumbers will want to start fitting before 30 days so we'll need to get everything ordered like...last week for it all to get here on time..????
Pretty much!
.....By now I'm getting pretty frustrated at the total lack of efficiency when I know that faucet is sitting at point A and there are many ways to get it to point B in a couple of days if people would cooperate. This is one of only two plumbing suppliers in town unless you want to buy from Menards who's quality is the Kmart of the plumbing world. I just can't believe that all the plumbers in this town are waiting three or four weeks anytime they want to pick up a faucet. But this is the supplier my plumber uses and he gets volume discounts for all his purchases which he passes on to me because he's getting his on the labor. Supposed to be saving me bundles of money over going to Menards for cheaper stuff.
When I get pushed, I get stubborn. When I got pressured to order all my fixture sight unseen, I pushed back and started to get ornery. My wife knows me well enough to get me out of there before I told him what I thought of his "business model" to put it politely. I asked him to make me a copy of the catalog page or write down the part numbers so I don't forget which ones we talked about and then we got out of there.
I didn't know what I was going to do when I walked out the door but I knew I wasn't going to be hurried with my decision making and I damn sure wasn't going to reward him with a sale after that kind of ineptness. There's also a certain amount of stress when building a house with the constant decisions and time constraints and we were determined to enjoy the process, not have a divorce over it. So we're in the car driving away.....And then it happened.......
My wife says....they probably have it on Amazon.
Huh??? I thought they sold books online???
They sell other stuff too.
Well....yeah, it seems like I heard you could get novelty gifts and toys or stuff like that.
No...they've got all kinds of stuff. They probably have the faucets.
Why would they have faucets? They sell books!
That's how they got started but that was years ago and now they sell everything.
I'm not convinced. But we get home and bring up Amazon on the computer, punch in faucets, brand, model, color, part number etc. and there it is. Can order it from multiple suppliers through Amazon. Prices are mostly similar to each other but all of them far cheaper than my quote from the guy in town. Sort out the higher priced ones and the odd ones. (Gotta read the fine print and read some reviews before choosing one.) Click purchase. Free shipping. No hassle return policy. If you don't want it send it back. Mind you this was the same afternoon after getting home from town and talking to the "big supplier of plumbing parts", and in LESS THAN 24 hours, the NEXT DAY !!!!, UPS dropped in right at my door. Unbelievable!
And THAT my friends, is how my eyes were opened to the beauty of Amazon.
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Today's Featured Article - Old Time Threshing - by Anthony West. A lovely harvest evening late September 1947, I was a school boy, like all school boys I loved harvest time. The golden corn ripens well and early, the stoking, stacking,.... the drawing in with the tractors and trailers and a few buck rakes thrown in, and possibly a heavy horse. It would be a great day for the collies and the terrier dogs, rats and mice would be at the bottom of the stacks so the dogs, would have a busy time hunting and killing, all the corn was gathered and ricked in what we c
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