Customer Service To Remember

Whenever I have to buy something or even get a quote, I always pay close attention to the service being offered. While I do purchase many products online, the buying experience is still an important one to me which is why, when I receive excellent customer service (and a great price) I always do my best to pay it forward. I have had some atrocious experiences with various companies and at a myriad of stores and dealerships over the years but I have also had some excellent transactions which have made the experience much more pleasant. In those instances, I also make sure to seek that sales person out when returning to the store.

My recent car ordeal was a perfect example of this as I experienced the range of interactions between the various dealerships. Once my brother’s dealership was ruled out (they don’t sell the car that I settled on), I proceeded to stop by a variety of Mercedes dealers to both talk with a sales person and see what price they could offer. My first stop was to Tom Masano in Reading where the sales woman with whom I spoke was excellent and they offered a great price. The second stop was to Mercedes-Benz of Fort Washington where they were less than welcoming and brushed me off not even bothering to follow up with a reasonable offer. The third was to Euro Motorcars of Devon where I received the same excellent experience that I had in Reading and they came back with a better price. Deal done.

More recently, I have experienced the same variety of satisfaction when getting quotes for the initial projects that we wanted to get done around the house. Some of the contractors listened to exactly what I wanted, others just went about designing something that didn’t make much sense at all. Some prices were really high and others were lower than I was expecting. However, while price was an important factor, it was the interaction that I had with each of the companies that really made the difference as some were clearly looking at the task with dollar signs in mind while others, one in particular, took the time to make sure it was the solution that made the most sense and that would be done right.

Even with regard to our banking, the way that we are treated makes a huge difference. While the hours and locations are convenient, TD Bank has continued to offer one of the worst customer experiences that I have ever encountered with a financial institution. We have already switched our primary banking and now we will be transitioning our secondary banking in the near future as these other institutions are actually pleasant to deal with on a regular basis and haven’t hampered us with ridiculous charges.

Of course, there are the basic retail sales associates that I know by name that have made many transactions much more pleasant in recent years like Dave at Raymour & Flanigan, Frank at Coins & Currency of Wayne, my cousin when I need clothes, many employees at the local Lowe’s, the entire staff at Tanner’s Sports Center, and many other people at various local businesses. Additionally, the customer support teams at Amazon and Sportsman’s Guide have been excellent as of late. Great people that continue to make things just a little easier.

Prime Day Done Right

Last year most viewed Amazon Prime Day as nothing more than a ploy as the online retailer didn’t really offer up any of the amazing deals that everyone was expecting. While I didn’t have as strong a response last year, there was clearly room for improvement as I only found a few items that were of interest with most of those small purchases being for my son. When all was said and done, the real deals were on items that only a few people were looking to purchase while the rest of us not finding any discounts beyond that which we have been seeing for years in the daily deals. This was the expectation that many of us had when Amazon announced that they would, once again, have an Amazon Prime Day on July 12^th.

This was probably why it wasn’t until later in the morning when I decided to log into my account and see if there was anything that piqued my interest. Scrolling through the pages upon pages of discounted products I did find a couple that I considered purchasing and subsequently added them to my cart. However, none of those things I would qualify as anything that I needed to purchase so I decided to take a closer look at some of the things that my wife and I had been looking to purchase that were, at the time, saved in my cart for future consideration.

It was in these items, varied as they may be, that I noticed the huge difference between the flop last year and the vastly improved experience this time around. While I couldn’t find anything that was singled out as a deal, I did find that most of the products and items in my cart were part of a larger category or collection of items that were being offered at 10, 20, and 30 percent off. This is the kind of sale that many of us were looking for last year and were now ready to take advantage of this summer.

And this didn’t just apply to the new items. I also noticed that many categories in the “Amazon Warehouse” carried with them the same discount. The compounded savings on a few items finally pushed me to purchase some of the things that I had been thinking about for some time and now, at nearly 70 and 80 percent off, it was definitely the time to buy.

It may not have seemed likely but Amazon did actually learn something from the tepid response that they received the first time around and now, it is safe to say, most of us are looking forward to how they will improve the experience in the years to come. Of course, those beyond the 1 hour delivery areas are just waiting for our packages to arrive. And some of us are just letting them take their time so that we can further our frugality just a little bit more with the digital credits we are earning because we are willing to wait. Safe to say that next week should be an interesting UPS experience.

Book Update: Finally, Some Progress!

One of the goals I set for myself at the beginning of the year was to pull together many of the collections of poems and essays that I have compiled over the years and publish them. I have considered this endeavor in the past but was never able to see it to the end. Well, over the past couple of months, I was finally able to see many of those projects come to fruition. It took some time, a considerable amount of energy, and a few dollars but I was finally able to get four books published through Author House.

The first book that I worked on was a collection of poems that I wrote as an undergraduate student at Endicott College. All of the poems in the collection were written at that time, many of them published both in literary journals and in a limited run I pulled together with a local print shop at the time titled Teaching A Stone To Talk: Nature Poems. I am still grateful for the help that I received from Carol Raiche for the formatting the modest book and putting me in touch with the printer.

Now, accompanied with photos taken over the past decade, these poems are once again available in the collection Paintings In Under A Thousand Words: Nature Poems.

Many of the poems found in these pages are all but memories of experiences that have colored my early life. Some see these moments as glimpses of a time past but I see them as paintings formed in slow deliberate strokes that highlight the details of life that instill the feeling of accomplishment when looking at your past. These images don't need the long drawn out descriptions laden with unnecessary letters, they are flashes quick to flood the mind and equally fast in fading back deep into the gray matter. This is why I see these poems, these memories of my encounters with nature, as paintings in under a thousand words.

The next book to be edited was a project that I started while at Endicott and which later served as my Master’s thesis at Rosemont College. The first sequence of poems was published previously both as individual poems in various literary journals and in my first official chapbook, Kaddish Diary, which was published in 2005 by Pudding House Publications. This small collection has long since been out of print and even one of the anthologies that included a couple of the poems has since gone out of print as well. In the years following the publication of the chapbook, I created two additional sequences based on two other works of holocaust literature. However, this collection also remained nearly forgotten on a flash drive for nearly a decade. Now, I have finally brought this project of passion to light in What Was Not Said: Echoes From The Holocaust.

The Holocaust is a subject all of us are aware of but there are countless accounts that are seldom heard. Based on the diaries, letters, and memoirs of Hertha Feiner, Janusz Korczak, and Filip Müller, these poems describe the life surrounding these writings. Every memoir has something missing. This is not a conscious decision by the author; it is the perspective of the writer filtered through the impermanence of memory. Sometimes it is a forgotten foreshadowing phrase said in passing or what is happening outside when their focus is on the room in which they are sitting. These are the aspects painted in this collection.

The next two collections will be quite familiar to many of you as they are collections of posts from this blog. The first of these books consolidated all of the genealogy posts and is really only the first of many that I expect on this topic. It highlights both the process and the discoveries that I have made over the years and includes many family photos and documents that many in the family may have not seen before. I am glad to finally be able to share many of these colorful leaves with the rest of the family in Out On The Limbs: Searching For Answers In The Family Tree.

This is collection which illustrates how one family tree can give shade to the entirety of American history. Each leaf has a little more to add to my family history just as each piece of fall foliage adds to an autumnal landscape. All different trees offering a different variety of colors but working in unison to tell the same story. These essays offer a cross section of topics which includes recent additions to my family tree, interesting resources or programs, and discoveries that have given greater depth to the lives of my ancestors.

The final project in this initial push is the one that means the most to me. Again, these are posts from the blog which spans the past year and a half. This time around, I collected all the posts about the pregnancy and my first year of fatherhood into a single volume. You could even say that this is a baby book taken to the next level. For me this book is a gift to my son and hopefully something that first time parents, especially fathers, will enjoy. After all, it does tell the reader about The Good, The Bad, And The Adorable: My First Year As A Father.

After my son was born I found myself having conversations with other parents about some of the interesting things that I should anticipate happening during the first year. I had not heard about any of these antidotes before and so I wanted to start writing more regularly about these usually humorous occurrences. Arranged chronologically, this book is a collection of both those early posts of doctor appointments and preparations for arrival as well as the more interesting moments that I experienced during my first year as a father.

Well, that is what has been keeping me busy over the last couple of months and partly why there have been times when I have fallen behind on these daily posts. There are other books that I am currently working on but that is a completely different post for another day. In the meantime, if you happen to read any of these books I would appreciate hearing your thoughts and, hopefully, they proved to be worth the purchase price. Four down and countless volumes to go!

Firearms Friday: ‘Tis The Season For Deals

This time of year it seems that everything is on sale. While some deals are better than others, you are pretty much guaranteed to receive some kind of discount on whatever you order. And these sales are not just limited to the national retail chains or products with general consumer appeal, there are even deals to be had for those of us that enjoy the shooting sports. Having written about this before, in one form or another, you can basically consider this as the annual lock and load post.

As many of you have experienced, especially over the last few years, some retailers have better deals than others. While I won’t call out any websites or stores, we all know which ones to avoid. However, there are always great prices on a variety of items with some being sent to email subscribers, Facebook followers, and others exclusive to club members or existing customers. There are also great sites such as Slickguns that make it easy to find the prices that are just too low to pass up. Keep in mind that these sites usually don’t include local gun shop deals.

Over the past couple of months there have been a number of deals that caught my attention with the majority of them being discovered first in my email. Here are a few examples of the tempting products with retailer, item, and sale price included for reference:

• Palmetto State Armory (Daily Deal) - 7.62 x 39 Complete 7.5” Upper (with BCG and Charging Handle); $269.99

• Sportsman’s Guide (with Double Discount coupon) - S.W.T 30 Round AR15 Magazines: $5.59 - 30 Round Beretta 92 Magazines: $11.99

• Delta Team Tactical (Black Friday / Cyber Monday) - Crosshill Tech / Davidson Defense Right Side Charging AR15 Upper Receiver (with BCG): $239.99

• Damage Industries (50% off sale) - AR15 Short Barrel Muzzle Break and Sleeve: $34.95

• Amazon (Flash Sale) - Stack-On PDS 500 Drawer Safe: $31.99

Basically, anyone who is looking to build an AR has had a heck of a time and saved a lot of money recently. Some of these are more recent than others but not all of them were Black Friday / Cyber Monday prices and that is the most important point that I can make in this post. Sometimes the best prices are not during the holidays, they can really happen at any time. The key to finding a good deal is waiting (and getting to know your local shop owner) but sometimes, especially recently, the deals seem to just happen and if you’re paying attention, and didn’t spent too much somewhere else, you can take advantage of them.

TMI Tuesday: Thank You Daddy!

A few months back while spending the day with our friends for their son’s birthday party, our son found one the toys in their house to be greatly entertaining. It was a stationary car that allowed him to sit on the floor and play with all the buttons, steering wheel, and the other odds and ends that are included on it. He must have spent close to an hour that afternoon entertaining himself while the rest of us ate lunch and caught up in our conversations. It didn’t take long before my wife and I realized that was going to be one of his Hanukkah gifts this year.

A couple of weeks ago, before we moved, I got really lucky and found the same car, the only difference was that it was in blue not red, on sale on Amazon. I think it only took me about 10 or 15 seconds from the time I saw it until I had the order placed. A few days later it arrived in an abnormally large box at my office. There it stayed until we got settled in to our new home which, at that point, I moved it into the office closet one night while our son was asleep.

Yesterday, having taken the day off from work, the box finally emerged and while our son was excited enough about the big box he was going to be able to play with, once we were able to put the car together his face lit up as he seemingly recognized the toy that he had enjoyed previously. Just like the first time he saw it, once my wife and I put him in the car he spend at least an hour playing with all the buttons and features occasionally glancing up at the two of us and smiling.

After a while he decided he was done and wanted to squirm around on the floor and play with mommy and daddy. This is not a surprise as any parent will tell you that it doesn’t matter how much they like a toy they are going to get bored with it after a while. What we didn’t expect was for our son to come after me kissing me, smiling, laughing, and seemingly thanking me for a toy that he really wanted. It was one of the most adorable 10 minutes that I have ever spent with our son and something that I was both not expecting and will never forget. I just feel bad that he didn’t do the same for his mommy.

Holiday Shopping

Because I haven’t had enough to do lately, I have also been looking around and taking care of some holiday shopping. In addition to the “Black Friday” and “Lightening Deals” that are found all over now, there have also been some moments over the past couple of months when better deals were found. And some of those discounts didn’t even require haggling like at Raymour and Flanigan. At this point, because we started so early, we are basically done our holiday shopping. We have either already ordered or picked up gifts or we know exactly what we are getting for some people.

Of course, that has only been half of the purchasing equation lately as many of our orders haven’t been for others but rather for things that we need around the house. Furniture obviously being the biggest of these expenses which would have cause a coronary had we not known the total beforehand and certain death had we not negotiated a decent discount. Most of the other exciting things have been replacements for what was obviously worn out and we had been putting off purchasing until now.

While there is a little more of a sense of immediacy in these orders, especially for our kitchen, I was still able to wait on a number of items and get really lucky on others. Most of the effort was actually in scanning through the Amazon “lightening deals” while keeping a slightly open mind as to brand and style. We managed to get a lot of the things we need for a significantly lower price than we were expecting to pay and, in most instances, the quality of the product was much better too.

With all of this said, there is a word of warning that I would like to share with you. While most of you are aware of this fact, the reality is that Black Friday and Cyber Monday aren’t always the best days to find deals. I spoke with one retailer who specifically said that those days might be the worst times of year to find deals as they already know people are going out to shop so they specifically offer a smaller discount compared to other holidays throughout the year (President’s Day was mentioned as an example). My response to this and my advice is simple… keep shopping around, track the prices of what you are looking to buy, and never be afraid to either price match with another retailer or haggle them down beyond the sale price.

We are all watching our pennies and, like taxes, why pay more than you absolutely have to… a good rule of thumb is to never accept a discount less than 40% during Black Friday sales. This is the generally accepted bar for a good deal. If you take your time, shop around, get to know some retailers and salespeople, and sometimes price match, you can get the best deal no matter what time of year no matter what you are buying. It really is that simple.

Reversing the Flow of Packages

While I have received a number of packages from Amazon and other retailers (i.e. Allen Edmonds) lately, I have also been sending a lot of packages out as well. In fact, I have been sending out more packages and items overall than I have been receiving. In addition to the returns process (which has been pretty good despite what some have said about Amazon customer service) because of clothes being absurdly smaller than that which is stated on the tag and overall descriptions not quite matching up with what I received, I have also been collecting the unused items, unwatched DVDs, and unplayed video games from around the house and selling them to Amazon for credit.

At this point I think we have gotten rid of about five or six moving boxes worth of stuff that, in the future, I won’t have to haul from place to place, store here or there, and open and close trying to find that one misplaced item. Putting in the time and selling these items now is saving us a lot of time in the future and putting a little bit of credit in our account as well. Of course, that credit did lead to some of the aforementioned returns so really it is just a vicious cycle. But at least shipping is free across the board.

That credit has also served to help us get a head start on buying some of the Hanukkah gifts for our son. Nothing big but some toys that we have been eyeing since we either saw them in a store or at someone else’s home. However, while we have gotten a bit of a jumpstart on our holiday buying (definitely not the first time we have been in this situation) it has also introduced another issue. Remember that vicious cycle I mentioned earlier. Well, we may have gotten rid of a lot of stuff but we also have a lot of stuff coming in which is currently stacked in a few boxes along the back wall of my office.

It is actually a pretty eclectic pile as there are toys, home upgrades, gifts for family members, shoes, and a completely overhauled wardrobe. And those are just the things that I can remember or see when I glance over. Thankfully, the pile is a bit deceiving as the packaging takes up a bulk of the space, the clothes are replacing ones that I have already donated, and the gifts will be handed out in about a month so it really isn’t that bad and we are still saving space. Of course, I don’t expect this to last and I am sure I will find myself writing about this again like I am doing now and I have done in the past. But, until then, we will certainly enjoy a little extra space.

So Long DSW!

Over the years, I have bought and replaced countless pairs of shoes. Many of those pairs were purchased at the crap shoot known as DSW where the prices are usually pretty good (at least in the clearance section) but the durability can sometimes be questionable. In reality, most of the shoes that have any kind of longevity for me have been ones that aren’t usually found on the discount or clearance shelves.

My most recent workhorses were a couple of pairs of Johnson & Murphy dress shoes which I surprisingly found on clearance at Macy’s for about $40 a pair. The brown shoes met their maker a few years ago while the black ones held on until just recently. In the past, I had a pair of Allen Edmonds loafers that put up with daily abuse for over four years before finally giving up on me… holes in the soles are never fun when you step in a puddle. These were also the most comfortable shoes that I have ever owned and I hoped to once again buy a pair but the price has always been prohibitive running about $400+.

With my work and lodge shoe choices dwindling and few stores carrying wide sizes, I spent some time a few weeks ago trying to find some decent shoes at a good price. After having a few options returned to Amazon due to foot strangulation issues, I decided to see if I could find any of the Allen Edmonds shoes on sale somewhere at a price that I could at least justify. My thought process was rather simple… I currently spend about $50-75 on a pair of shoes that last me a year so if I can find a pair of Allen Edmonds for $200-250 that last me four years (like my last pair), I am basically breaking even.

So I started my search scanning the numerous Amazon sellers, sifted through the Nordstrom Rack website, and quickly clicked on and backed out of Shoebuy. All of them had limited selection, prices that were still too high, and didn’t carry the right size for me. I had just about given up on trying to find this unicorn when I clicked on one more link to a website that I didn’t recognize. This is when I found the Shoe Bank, Allen Edmonds' factory seconds website. It didn’t take long before I came to the realization that the site met all the criteria that I was looking for including prices that were far lower than I was expecting… basically at the same price point as lesser quality brands found at DSW. And I am fine with a small blemish that prevented it from passing quality control but that no one else is able to find.

The only aspect of the buying process that may prevent some people from taking advantage of these prices is the fact that there is no e-commerce capabilities to be found on the site. While the current stock and prices are listed, you have to call the store to place an order. Not an issue for me, I was on the phone within 30 minutes and had the receipt emailed to me shortly thereafter. A week later and my feet are once again enjoying the comfort of a luxury shoe. And now, a few weeks later, and nearly all my shoes have been replaced with the only holdovers being my work and combat boots.   

So, if you find yourself in the same position, definitely take advantage of the prices and quality offered at the Shoe Bank. You will not find the same quality for these prices anywhere else and, if you go through shoes like me, it is going to save you a heck of a lot of money in the long run. One big category checked off the shredded wardrobe overhaul list… on to the next.

From Anorexia To Gluttony

Following a weekend of sugar shock and house cleaning it would have been nice to enjoy a simple fall day before the last vestiges of color seeped from the fall foliage. A day without holiday anticipation, decorations, expectations, or advertisements. That is the way that things used to be. The week following Halloween was a time when we were given a seasonal reprieve, a few days to rest before turning up the obnoxious advertising to eleven.

Well, that was then and this is now. There were a few hours in the middle of the night when the commercials stopped and the decorations in the stores were taken down. However, by the time we got out of bed and turned on Sunday Morning, the Thanksgiving, Black Friday, and Christmas promotions began trickling across the airwaves (keep in mind that Hanukkah commercials will begin the night before). And, in the stores, the Christmas decorations were immediately put in place where the ghouls, goblins, witches, and vampires once dominated the shelves. Santa was back and he really wasn’t waiting any time this year.

It seems like I find myself saying this every year but the holidays keep getting earlier and earlier. Heck, even when logging on to Amazon, they are already starting to promote their Black Friday sales… let’s hope they are better than their summer debacle. On top of all this, stores are starting to come out with their holiday, i.e. Thanksgiving, hours. Better not eat any turkey this year or you won’t have the energy to beat everyone to get the good stuff. And, if you do enjoy a nice feast, you might want to consider moving everything to lunch time as many stores will be open by dinner this year.  

It really is a shame that the marketing for all these holidays has gotten so out of hand. It is a beautiful time of year, my favorite season, when the weather is usually warm enough to be comfortable but cool enough that you appreciate the moments you spend walking among the fire falling from the trees. It is the last moments that we have to enjoy being comfortable outside before the bitterness of winter descends. It seems as though the spectacular season beyond the windowpane is no longer enough for most people… they need to focus on what they can buy, what they can look forward to, and what they want to get rather than enjoying the present which doesn’t cost them a thing.   

Trick, Treat, Or Video Game

My wife and I are not ones that put stock in the Halloween holiday. It has actually proven to be more of an inconvenience than anything else most years. We are actually one of those houses that simply puts a bowl of candy out as the sun goes down with the hope that some kid doesn’t dump the whole thing in his bag or bucket. Of course, we mitigate some of this by putting half out at the beginning of the night and the other half a little later after having checked the rate of depletion. Generally speaking, this keeps things pretty quiet outside our door.

However, while we don’t care much for the holiday itself, we appreciate the opportunity that this night has afforded us over the years. I am not talking about the amount of money that we have to spend on candy (seems like a waste to me) or the scant leftovers remaining in the bowl after the noise subsides. The evening gives us an opportunity to clean out the house a little bit… in the past we have handed out Starting Lineup figures (they were actually cheaper than candy that year) and this year we were able to add something even better to the bountiful bowl.

A few seconds after I finished dumping the rest of the candy in the bowl tonight, the next group of kids walked up to the front door to inspect the offerings. It is safe to say that based on their wide eyed expressions and near shaking excitement, none of them expected to go home with a free Wii video game. I have to admit that we both chuckled a little bit when we could hear the next group of kids come up to the door after being summoned by the previous visitors and proclaiming “this is the best house ever… by far.” What they didn’t realize is that they were helping us out a little.

Unbeknownst to them, we spent some time earlier in the day putting together a trade in order on Amazon after we had come to the conclusion that we were probably not going to be using the various video game systems that have been collecting dusk in the basement and laying unplugged on our shelf in the family room. All those games that Amazon wouldn’t take (that were age appropriate) were what we put out in that tiny candy bowl. By the end of the night, all the games were either packed in boxes ready to be shipped or in the hands of neighborhood kids. However, the most important thing is that it cleared out about five boxes worth of stuff that was not being used. Everybody won tonight.

My Solution For Disappearing Pens

A few weeks ago I got a package left on my desk at the office. Just like every other item that I have delivered to me at work, someone inevitably asked what I had ordered. This is especially true when the items arrive from overseas and most of the writing on the envelope, with the exception of the address, is in another language. However, this time, when I responded to the query I received a somewhat blank stare followed by another question of “what is that?”

For much of my working life, I would do to the supply area and pull out a pen or two to keep at my desk… not everything is done on the computer contrary to what some people may say or the younger generation thinks. This has pretty much been a weekly routine as I would either run out of ink or, what was more common, I would leave it in the conference room where someone would inevitably pick it up and bring it back to their own office. These are just disposable pens so it was no big deal to just go get another one from the supply drawer.

However, I have always been one that enjoyed a good pen while at the same time, I don’t want to spend a lot of money on something that I could easily lose. Those aforementioned packages contained something to solve a large part of my problem of going through so many writing instruments (while also saving my hand). What I found out in those simple questions from a younger colleague was that many people are unfamiliar with fountain pens.

I have always been a proponent of fountain pens as I can write almost all day without my hand getting tired and it is easy to replace the ink cartridge in something that I have become used to. What I am finding now is that if I do leave it somewhere, it is brought right back to me. Some of those returns are because people are unfamiliar or uncomfortable using them. It is actually quite amusing when you see someone use a fountain pen for the first time… it is almost like they are learning to write for the first time.

It is a unique pen to carry these days but, for me, it is completely functional as my hands are no longer sore after a long day of taking notes or writing and I know that it will always come back to me should I leave it on the conference room table. And, frankly, I am rather surprised with the quality that I received in these shipments from China given that I spent about two or three dollars (including shipping) on each pen (under a dollar for the disposable ones)… especially when you consider that the prices for the ballpoint and rollerball pens of similar quality are about five times higher. It is nice to enjoy the practicality of the fountain pen even though many may wrongly believe that it is an absurdly outdated writing instrument.

That Plan Didn’t Work

It is pretty obvious to my coworkers, neighbors, and anyone who reads this blog that I do a lot of ordering from Amazon. The selection is good, prices are reasonable, the shipping is usually fast, and I have never had an issue regarding the occasional return. I have had a solid overall experience with Amazon over the years which is why I was interested in the Subscribe & Save program. Pretty straight forward… select a few items that you would like to receive on a regular basis (i.e. coffee, paper towels, dish soap, baby formula, etc.), set the delivery date, and have them automatically show up at the door on the date you specified. At least that is how it is supposed to work.

A couple of weeks before we left on our Virginia vacation, my wife and I put a list together of the items that we would been upon our return. We could just as easily pick them up from the grocery store the following day but this offered a convenient and cost effective alternative… it is also nice to have all the bulky items on the doorstep rather than my wife having to pick them up while shopping with our son. So I logged into my Amazon account, selected the items, and adjusted the delivery date for the Monday after we got back.

When we pulled into the parking lot and approached the front door, we could see that there was a note left for us. Before we had a chance to open it, our neighbors stopped us and let us know that they moved our packages inside their house so they wouldn’t get wet. I wasn’t sure what packages could have arrived as the deliveries were scheduled for tomorrow, nothing else had been ordered from any other website, and our mail was on hold until the following day. When they emerged with a rather large box in hand I knew that Amazon screwed up at least some part of the order (I double checked later to ensure that it was their mistake and not mine).

When I went to the post office before work the following morning I found the rest of the items that we put on order. Not one thing was delivered on the day specified so now I am wondering if it is worth the aggravation to keep the subscriptions active. While normally it wouldn’t be an issue we almost had a serious problem… imagine if the baby formula were sitting out the in 90+ degree sun for nearly a week? Thankfully, this time, there were no sun baked boxes. I really have to think about this for a while but it just goes to show that sometimes you can be too fast with your shipping. After all, no one likes premature packages.

Note: Amazon customer service is of little help with this issue offering not explanation or honest apology (of course I could only understand about half of what they were saying).  

TMI Tuesday: Adjusting And Replacing

Our son is growing. This is far from a surprise but that doesn’t mean that the rapidity of his growth is something that we were necessarily prepared for. We knew that we would be changing clothing sizes on a regular basis according to months but we are quickly finding out that those numbers on the back of the clothes are merely a suggestion (diapers too). Currently our three month old son is fitting comfortably in six month clothes. What can I say, we have a long baby… and a heavy baby too.

In addition to the bassinet that we previously moved him out of because of space limitations, we are now finding ourselves having to purchase a separate changing table for the same reason. We originally decided to purchase the changing table attachment for the crib that we selected. The thought that this would last a bit longer than it has was obviously a mistake. He is now only an inch away from the top and bottom which usually leads us to change him diagonally. We knew he was growing but we thought we had some more time. Looks like another visit to Amazon.

We have also been frequently adjusting his car seat. When we first started driving him around we got an insert to keep his head up and to just make things more comfortable for him. The insert is now gone and we have now had to adjust the straps twice so that he fits. All because he is getting to long for the previous setting. Again, we thought we had a little more time but that is simply not the case… time is flying and our son is growing way ahead of schedule. We wish we could slow things down and enjoy more of the moments and him as a certain size but that is one of the many things beyond our control in this adventure in parenting.

While we should probably start trying to plan for the continued growth of our, not so little, baby it seems as though any timeframe that is suggested as the ‘norm’ just doesn’t apply. He is growing faster than all of the books, websites, and the doctors originally thought and he is slowly becoming more aware of everything around him. In nearly all categories, he is ahead of schedule regarding all means of growth. His coordination is progressing, his strength is dramatically improving, and his size is beyond what we expected. We have a healthy baby boy and that is all we could have every hoped for.

Mixed Opinion About Amazon

I have been shopping on Amazon for years now and to date really haven’t had any issues with the items that I have ordered. Actually, it has been a great resource to find some of the more obscure items that most stores don’t carry particularly when it comes to hard to find books. Additionally, the shipping has always been reasonable which is why I have preferred Amazon over other sites like Abe Books.

It continues to be a great place for one stop shopping offering a wide variety of items across numerous categories and from multiple vendors. When comparing one item over another or even on brand over another has been a great resource and, at least in the past, the prices have been the best around. However, things change and Amazon is slowly becoming just another place to shop with not guarantee as to best price and soon without the same variety that I have enjoyed up to this point.

Over the last couple of months, there have been a few stories that have come to light that have but a slight damper on the current and future shopping experience on the site. In addition to the general flux regarding the marketplace (non Amazon products) and whether or not the storefronts will remain beyond this year, there was recently a price fixing scheme uncovered that explained, at least on some products, the lack of competitive pricing of those items not offered directly from Amazon. Makes sense, with price no longer the main driver, why many retailers are willing to price match products sold and shipped by Amazon but not in the general marketplace. I guess this is a big reason why there are other sites that are easily beating the Amazon site as a whole in the pricing game. 

However, with all of that said, I still find myself purchasing a good amount from the site (and my coworkers can attest to the piles of packages that I get on occasion). There are still some moderately priced items, the general availability is still good, shipping is free (most of the time), and the convenience of being able to order a quick item or two while at the office is still key to my continued use. Actually, this is only one of the two main drivers of my continued patronage with the other being the benefits of Prime membership.

I am generally not a big proponent of the membership services offered by Amazon and the like but the video and music benefits have been worth the $100 per year (it helps that a lot of the movies have been watched on a free Kindle). The free video content has been utilized not just at home but on the road during business trips as well. I don’t mind waiting a year or two to watch a ‘new’ movie so it is nice to have free access to the entire prime library. I have also found that when I have ordered DVDs during the holidays that it, many times, comes with free prime access as well. An ancillary perk has been that of free 2-day shipping which has come in handy when I order that occasional item.

Overall, while things have changed and it is no longer the site that I first started using years ago, it is still a decent place to find the items that you are looking for and it is a good resource to compare prices (and match prices). While the purchasing of physical products may no longer be my primary use of the site, the value still exists in the access to a tremendous library of digital content through my prime membership. There are other sites that I go to if I want to find a better deal and in some instances there are a few physical stores where I know the prices will be better. It really is amazing to think about how much has changed over the years and where we now find the value at different places such as on Amazon.

So Long Harvest…

While I don’t read as much as I used to I still enjoy opening the pages of a book when I have time and furthering my informal education. The greatest resource for any avid reader is a great used book store and for the last 15 years my wife and I had access to one of the best, Harvest Book Company in Fort Washington, Pennsylvania. Unfortunately, this weekend was our last trip to the warehouse as the store is closing its doors to daily shoppers and transitioning to a completely online storefront.

Over the years, my wife and I have made countless trips to both buy and sell books, DVDs, and CDs at Harvest and not being able to swing by the store on the weekend for some inexpensive entertainment is a little disappointing. I guess we are going to have to find another outlet that will be able to come close to the $2 per book that we are used to spending. While I am confident that we will be able to meet the price, I doubt that we will be able to meet the quality and selection to which we have become accustom.

Harvest was the place we would go to find items for ourselves, gifts for one another, as well as gifts for friends and family. All of this while being greeted by a staff that recognized us when we walked in the door and knew us by name. That may be a bit old fashioned for some but it is a hugely important to me and something that I am finding in fewer and fewer places as stores change, towns evolve, and online commerce becomes more prevalent.

That seems to be the trend lately as I have noticed more and more places changing around me. Buildings are being torn down, storefronts are changing, and some of the places that I remember going to years ago are long gone. Of course with books no longer containing paper, Wal-Mart discounting just about everything, and Amazon providing greater selection than could ever be found in a brick and mortar location I can’t say that I am really surprised by all the changes happening around us.

But, until this weekend, we still had Harvest where we could go and pick up those bundles of bound paper, movies, and albums at prices that couldn’t be matched online or in any of the major retailers around us. Now we will be forced to wait until the occasional sales when they will open their doors again. But no more spontaneous trips to Fort Washington and picking up those last minute inexpensive gifts. Things change but that doesn’t mean that I like it.

Dialing Decisions

It is that time again… my iPhone is beginning to slow and the battery life is not what it used to be. Normally I would simply go to AT&T and get whatever the $0.99 upgrade is at the time but due to some of the changes to their policies that doesn’t seem like the most viable option. So, with that said, I am expanding my search for a replacement.

The iPhone has served me well over the past few years. Both the 3 and the 4 have held up well and I have year to break one (I don’t know how people do it). The apps, when not a complete waste of time, are actually quite useful and some of them have even been beneficial at times. However, the compatibility issues with my laptop and the limited battery life are getting on my nerves. Additionally, I am getting tired of the idea of having a phone which require proprietary cords, apps, and doodads rather than a simple platform which communicates with my other non-Apple devices.

So, I have taken a few minutes of the day and looked at my phone trying to pinpoint what I really use it for, how I could use it, and how I should use it. By stepping back I realized that all of the things that do nothing but waste my time are things that I can really do without and I don’t care if they are not available on other phones. At the same time, some of the other apps that I use regularly are not just in app form and so a mobile website can easily take their place (i.e. Ancestry, Facebook, Blogger, etc.). Everything else can be found on other smart phones just in a different configuration and/or under a different name.

With that said, I am used to the platform. I know where everything is and I know exactly how it works. Changing things over isn’t really a challenge but it can simply be time consuming getting used to and figuring out a new way. Time is something that I have very little of at the moment. When I think about that though, given the frequency with which I have to stop using my phone just so it can charge, it might not be that much of a time difference if any.

What I would like to be able to accomplish is to have a phone that doesn’t cost $500+ just in case I need to replace it. Something that I can easily sync with my computer and other devices. Much more efficient use of power… I miss the days when I only had to plug in my phone every other day even with constant use. And, maybe something that I can work on just in case my computer craps out… it has happened before and an iPhone is not a pleasant working tool in that regard.

So, that is my dilemma. What phone should I switch to? Should I stay with Apple (a 6 is NOT an option people)? What is on your mobility wish list? Let me know what you think. I will be sure to write about the phone I chose (probably later this week or next).