B&H puts another local camera store out of business (with my help, unfortunately)

In article ,
Rita Ä Berkowitz ritaberk2O04 @aol.com wrote:

Rebecca Ore wrote:

Plus, there's no need to drive to a UPS terminal or Kinkos when UPS
simply leaves the package on your porch.

If you live in a house. If you don't live in a house, they don't
leave at the front door or porch of an apartment building, even if
you beg, promise to absolve them of all responsibility, and offer to
sign a waiver.

Doesn't the rental office accept packages and other deliveries?

It was in West Philly and the rental office was somewhere in the
suburbs, not in the building (8 units). We didn't have a super on
premises, either.


UPS guys will also pass the place, sign that they attempted delivery
and nobody was home when you saw the truck roll by without stopping.

You really need to complain to UPS corporate office. They *WILL* rectify
the problem. I never had that problem with UPS. At a hint of rain our
drivers will even put the package in a plastic bag even if they leave it on
a covered porch.

I tried. It's close to impossible to find a corporate phone number (or
was -- this was in the late 90s). I had a computer go back to the guy
who was donating it (I'd told him not to ship via UPS and he thought I
was kidding). They refused to cover the insurance because it wasn't
wrapped properly -- totally broken inside the box which had be padded
with air pillows, not peanuts.

"Rita Ä Berkowitz" ritaberk2O04 @aol.com wrote in message
...
Oliver Costich wrote:

The real culprit in the demise of the local photo store is Ritz in its
various guises. In south Florida, where there millions of people,
there are about 4 real photo stores and all are more than 25 miles
away (far north or south), if you exclude the Ritz/Wolf ones.

Not really. It's all about the bottom line. If a store on the internet
or
local has the best price on items I want they get my money. It's very
hard
for local (in state) stores to compete with on-line merchants since the
fact
that one can order on-line and not pay any sales tax. In most cases, the
savings alone from this is the dealmaker. And my local store is great,
but
they usually don't have the items I want when I want them. Of course,
they
could order them, but why when I could do the same and have the item
sitting
in my hands the next business day? Local shops are a thing of the past.







Rita


But that has become less of a bonus as the cost for shipping has gone up. I
sent a package two days before the postal rate increase and with $1600 in
insurance priority mail with delivery confirmation it cost less than $10.
After the post rate increase it cost me $24.45. It used to be that you were
correct Tax would generally cost more than shipping. Now that is not always
the case.

That and I do feel that local stores think they can get away with charging
suggested retail even though they can't. A lot of it comes down to greed.
They want every cent they can get and feel that they are going to be that
one in a million that can pull it off. Add to that that places like Target
or Wal-Mart offer many of the more popular cameras at less than retail and
that adds a problem as well.

As for Ritz I don't know how they stay in business. They people are stupid
and their prices are high and they keep pushing the extended warranties.
They are in many ways like CompUSA which is another store I don't know how
it stays in business.

=(8)

"Michael Meissner" wrote in message
...
Charlie Self writes:

On May 26, 1:42½pm, Rita ½ Berkowitz ritaberk2O04 @aol.com wrote:
Oliver Costich wrote:
The real culprit in the demise of the local photo store is Ritz in
its
various guises. In south Florida, where there millions of people,
there are about 4 real photo stores and all are more than 25 miles
away (far north or south), if you exclude the Ritz/Wolf ones.

Not really. It's all about the bottom line. If a store on the internet
or
local has the best price on items I want they get my money. It's very
hard
for local (in state) stores to compete with on-line merchants since the
fact
that one can order on-line and not pay any sales tax. In most cases,
the
savings alone from this is the dealmaker. And my local store is great,
but
they usually don't have the items I want when I want them. Of course,
they
could order them, but why when I could do the same and have the item
sitting
in my hands the next business day? Local shops are a thing of the past.

Rita

Not totally. Shipping blurs the line here. Except for very expensive
items, shipping often equals or exceeds the cost of sales tax, which
we're supposed to be paying anyway.

I would expect that sooner or later, the states will succeed in their
quest to
get congress to require internet and mail order vendors to collect sales
taxes.

--
Michael Meissner

Move to Montana, they don't have a sales tax! g

Ron

On Mon, 28 May 2007 09:00:46 -0700, =(8) wrote:

They people are stupid and their prices are high

heh heh Great line!

"=(8)" wrote in message
...
As for Ritz I don't know how they stay in business. They people are stupid
and their prices are high and they keep pushing the extended warranties.
They are in many ways like CompUSA which is another store I don't know how
it stays in business.

CompUSA is going out of business or at least they are closing a lot of their
stores. All the stores in Houston and the ones in Seattle. I usually buy
all my computers, laptops and other stuff at Fry's, usually good prices and
wide selection..

"Ron Recer" wrote in message
...


Move to Montana, they don't have a sales tax! g

Ron
Neither does Oregon

"=(8)" wrote

As for Ritz I don't know how they stay in business. They people are stupid
and their prices are high and they keep pushing the extended warranties.
They are in many ways like CompUSA which is another store I don't know how
it stays in business.

After staying in business for a long while (and I don't know how
I manage it either) I have come to the following observations:

o Along with bad stores there are bad customers. You don't want a good
store
to be all clogged up with bad customers. So all the bad customers
go to all the bad stores and everyone is happy.

o Bad customers are also suckers and "Never give a sucker an even break"
is very good advice. If a sucker gets an even break the
sucker^H^H^H^Hcustomer is sure he is being screwed. Conversely
if he is being screwed he is happy because now he's being treated
the way he has been treated his whole life through. The concept
that he is always treated badly (and asks for it) never enters
his head because he _knows_ he has _always_ been treated well.

--
Nicholas O. Lindan, Cleveland, Ohio
Darkroom Automation: F-Stop Timers, Enlarging Meters
http://www.darkroomautomation.com/index.htm
n o lindan at ix dot netcom dot com

"Rebecca Ore" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Rita Ä Berkowitz ritaberk2O04 @aol.com wrote:

Rebecca Ore wrote:

Plus, there's no need to drive to a UPS terminal or Kinkos when UPS
simply leaves the package on your porch.

If you live in a house. If you don't live in a house, they don't
leave at the front door or porch of an apartment building, even if
you beg, promise to absolve them of all responsibility, and offer to
sign a waiver.

Doesn't the rental office accept packages and other deliveries?

It was in West Philly and the rental office was somewhere in the
suburbs, not in the building (8 units). We didn't have a super on
premises, either.


UPS guys will also pass the place, sign that they attempted delivery
and nobody was home when you saw the truck roll by without stopping.

You really need to complain to UPS corporate office. They *WILL* rectify
the problem. I never had that problem with UPS. At a hint of rain our
drivers will even put the package in a plastic bag even if they leave it
on
a covered porch.

I tried. It's close to impossible to find a corporate phone number (or
was -- this was in the late 90s). I had a computer go back to the guy
who was donating it (I'd told him not to ship via UPS and he thought I
was kidding). They refused to cover the insurance because it wasn't
wrapped properly -- totally broken inside the box which had be padded
with air pillows, not peanuts.

It still goes on today (Rita's irrelevant diatribes aside). In Canada, UPS
are essentially non-useable. I have had them say I wasn't home (no response
indicated on their radio-controlled delivery do-dads while I was on the
phone with them tracking the package!!). I have also watched out the window
as the guy came up, looked at our secure entry intercom and then got back
into his truck to back out of the driveway. Luckily, a vehicle had driven
in behind blocking his departure while I slipped on my shoes and sprinted
for the gate (50 yards) to catch him.
KEH once completely refunded my shipping because of the UPS delivery
foolishness.
I have also reported all to the UPS Gurus (they do have a number, but it is
almost impossible to find). I even sent them a photo of our entry list to
counter the driver's contention that "he's not listed".
All-in-all UPS are the worst POS delivery service God ever put two feet
under in Canada. Fedex aren't much better and the couriers are a bit above
that.
I now have anything delivered to my Daughter's place in Bellingham (about 30
min S of here) and it goes across the US for about US$5.00 for surface and
usually gets there in about 5-7 days. I then go get it and clear it coming
back and save the interaction with the idiots.
Bob

Charlie Self wrote:

In my case, convenience is the dealmaker. I have a minimum round trip
of 70 miles to look over a photo store's products. Yes, I can call
first and see if they have what I want, but that's not always
helpful---sometimes, today's real photo store help is no more
qualified than those hired by chains like Ritz.



I must be living in some sort of alternate universe here. The most
convenient place for me to buy 120 film is the very local Ritz and most
of the staff seem pretty well qualified. I'd wager that if asked for an
umbrella, they'd know what I was talking about. Their stock is not large
and definitely more digital these days, but their film processing is
very good. Some of the staff have been there more than ten years that I
know of. My first experience with them was trading in a Pentax about ten
years ago.

Charlie Self wrote:

On May 26, 9:20�pm, David Dyer-Bennet wrote:
Mark B. wrote:
"Matt Clara" wrote in message
...
Yes, Castle Photo of Lansing, in business for over 25 years, is
closing its doors.

According to B&H's website, they've been in operation for more than
30 years. *Castle Photo apparently didn't do something right.

I've been buying from B&H for more than 30 years. *You didn't think
"mail order" started with the Internet, did you?

IIRC, some time in the 1880s with Monkey Ward's.



I did a search on this recently and discovered it actually started in the
mid 1700s.