General Request to pretty much everybody (or so it seems).

[shooterdon]

JMO but it's sort of crass for a noob to attempt to request setting a forum precedent based on a personal bias...

I was thinking the same way. But I noticed Diggin It likes to post a lot, so it kind of makes sense. He either wants to increase his post count, or just enjoys sharing his opinions with us. People enjoy the aroma of their own BS and have strong beliefs about it. I know I do! It has been a better thread than I first thought.

Just want to add a comment on those who posted many Amercians are not willing to work. I see it more and more as well. Part of the problem is the "safety net" of assistance programs that make it possible to survive without working much if at all. Some of these people work for cash to keep their entitlements and also to avoid taxes. Maybe it is more of a rural thing....at least in my area it is common. We are raising generations of people like this and it will not bode well for our country.


The end point will be socialism as it will impossible to pull back on their "right" to entitlements. It has or is happening in every developed country. At the extreme, it will revert to communism. And the sheeple will follow.

BTW, most of us will enable it. I am on of them...not proud of it but it is reality. I know contractors who pay people under the table and those who are paid that way. I should report them but do not. I pay more in taxes because of people like this who pay nothing. We have accepted that cheating the government is ok....but the government will get the money from someone.

 

[Jstpssng]

You had to have got my point. Why not just walk around town and hand out money to the shop keepers. A little here, a little there. In a sense, it would be the same as making a decision to support them at an extra cost to you.

As far as the convenience stores go. I try and stay away from them as I feel I am supporting CULTURES, not of my own, which seems to be endangered.

And further more. Those people are all smiles when they take your money. Try asking for something "FREE" sometime.

I was working in NH years ago, staying in a motel which I used for several weeks each year. I picked up a check rather than having it mailed to my house 250 miles away, and asked if the motel owner could help me cash it. He said that he would have to charge me 10%, but finally agreed to let me mail the check and pay him for the next few days once the check hit my bank.
Mail service isn't instantaneous; but for the next few nights I got a call as soon as I got back to my room until I could give him the money.

I went home for a few days, and upon returning stayed across the road with his competition. Word got back to me that he wasn't very happy about it.

 

[mark02tj]

I went home for a few days, and upon returning stayed across the road with his competition. Word got back to me that he wasn't very happy about it.

Oh, well. Hopefully he figured out that asking for 10% of someone's check cost him a LOT more than that 10% would have been.

 

[PJSprog]

It has been a better thread than I first thought.

Yeah, there have been a couple of points where I thought things might start going badly, but it's remained pretty civil. It's actually a pretty good conversation ... as most are here on TBN.

 

[Jim Nelson]

When I was a kid, Montgomery Wards and Sears were the big retailers in our area,Speigel's was big in some areas. There was also the Jewel Tea man and Grand Union man who came around every couple of weeks. There were 3 hardware stores in town that sold everything from nuts and bolts to dynamite and blasting caps.My Mom didn't drive and my Dad was gone a lot working on the railroad so the local grocery stores had delivery service. Gas stations sold gas and service with a soda machine and candy machine maybe.
All of that has changed and you can whine and complain all you want but it is a lot better now and Amazon is just the latest iteration of that change.
Jeff Bezos is just the new version of the Rockefeller and Kennedy families and we should feel lucky to have someone keeping the ball rolling. This is what makes our country great.

 

[Diggin It]

When I was a kid, Montgomery Wards and Sears were the big retailers in our area,Speigel's was big in some areas.

Speigel's is gone now too. They were huge for a while, but there were some rumors that one of the execs raided the company coffers for personal use. That information seems to have been scrubbed from the web as I can't find the original sources any more. Not sure if it was false information or if somebody was able to power the details away.

 

[Piston]

I love amazon, I hate Walmart. I hope amazon puts Walmart out of business. (Not likely)


I hate Walmart.

 

[4570Man]

'Load 16 ton, what do you get?
Another day older and deeper in debt.
St. Peter don't you call me cuz' I can't go
I owe my soul to the company store'.

Where did I say it was 16 ton?

 

[Gary Fowler]

I shop the cheapest site with free shipping, it could be Amazon, ebay or just some business that has the product that I need. I don't pay for AmazonPrime to get free shipping since almost everyone does free shipping, if not one seller then the next guy in line will. I can almost always find the same item for less at other than Amazon or ebay.

 

[mark02tj]

Sears was basically the Amazon of the late 1800's / early 1900's. With the catalog they sold everything from underwear to houses and they'd mail it to you. Not in 2 days, but you'd eventually get it.

I was out by the local mall yesterday and saw the big, yellow "Store Closing" banner on the Sears store. Went inside and it was pretty sad. Merchandise and store fixtures being sold. Still a pretty good selection as stuff (in the tool department) was only marked down 15-25%. I didn't see anything that I HAD to have, so I left empty handed.