Quoted from Yoski:Retail going out of business:
Yesterday I was trying to buy some soldering flux for electrical work at a local store here in Miami. I went by the ACE hardware store on my way home from work. After an extensive search in the soldering and electrical department I came up empty handed. The associate wasn't much help either. OK HomeDepot MUST carry some basic item like that. After fighting rush hour traffic for 1/2 an hour I arrived at the local HD store. Nothing in the electrical department. Somewhere around aisles 7 to 9 I was told by a not so friendly sales associate. The shelf with the flux was empty. The sign was still there but no product. So after a while I found another sales associate willing to help. Yes, according to the inventory database it should still be somewhere in the store. But ultimately he wasn't able to find any flux for electrical work, only for plumbing.
So after a stressful 90 minutes I got home and spend 2 minutes ordering some of the correct flux on E-bay. That's what I should have done in the first place. Retail stores are a waste of my time. Traffic, lack of product, local taxes and unfriendly sales associates are all things I can do without.
Agreed that retail stores are becoming a total waste of our time. Traffic, bad customer service, parking, lack of product, rude people. Its much more efficient to order everything online nowadays. Even groceries. I think the older generation (like my in-laws) love the thrill of the hunt. Driving around all day to different stores looking for anything new to buy. Myself personally, I rather use that time to spend with my family, play pinball and have shit delivered to us. Better use of everyone's time IMHO.
