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ivan@stellysee.de
| From | DanAbnrml9@aol.com |
| Subject | Re: Mail order bad? and 'playing it safe'? No way, Jose! |
| Date | Sat, 1 Mar 2003 12:37:17 EST |
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In a message dated 2/28/03 2:29:09 PM Eastern Standard Time,
wharris1@bcharrispub.com writes:
> When it comes to full-priced items, I certainly try to favor the independent
> stores over the big names...but I'm not going to pretend that, when Best
> Buy
> advertises the new American Hi-Fi for $6.99, for example, I'm not going to
> take the bait. That's just this week's example (I also could've used the
> CD
> by the Music, which is the same price), but, generally, it's pretty hard to
> turn down a brand new CD for $6.99
That's true, BUT those discounts are generally coming from the
labels/distributors, not the retail chains. Both of the aforementioned CDs
were available at Newbury for only 7.99 (as well as the other low-priced
items mentioned, like OKGo, Phantom Planet, etc) and it's likely other
retailers are charging just a buck over Best Buy, too. Retailers aren't the
ones offering the deep, deep discounts that it appears when they have these
items.
<< Then there are stores that have stopped taking
checks altogether ("I've been burned too many times, man")
>>
This is merely a reality in the age of check cards. At Newbury we've dropped
our check limit to $50 and we're planning on getting rid of them altogether
soon. Why? Well, now that almost every bank issues check cards, most people
with healthy checking account balances use those instead. That means a high
percentage of the few people left paying with checks (our high-volume store
gets 5-10 a day) are doing so BECAUSE the money is either not in the account
or "will be there in a day or two". This means thousands and thousands of our
checks DO bounce. Given that we get so few anyway, eliminating them isn't
really a huge problem. I'm sure your local stores, which don't have the
resources to track down the people who burn them, are simply being smart.
--Jason
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