I actually read the article and immediately regretted it, the conclusion was that lower quality tools are of lower quality and then some blathering about marketing nonsense.
Voting with your dollar only works if you have a choice. If all companies have headed into the downward "cut costs at an costs" spiral then you have no real choice.
This is easier now than it was before. You can buy high quality online but that usually require you know what you are looking at. Even in store you can buy still sometimes find high quality tools if you go to a good sore. I recently bought an ax locally and the store had about 10 different axes from like 3 manufactures. The best made single bit ax there was the Estwing one with the one piece forged head and handle set in the molded shock absorbing rubber/plastic handle cover. It cost less than $10 more than
That has been one thing that has disappointed me in brick and mortar. I rarely can find the good product I want on the shelves, even if I *were* willing to pay a premium to get it rather than online.
So I have to get online because the brick and mortar's just won't carry it. Instead they try to push cheap crap and hope the shoppers aren't doing any research.
I think a lot of B&M stores have realised that informed shoppers use them as a place to check out products before they buy them online from retailers who have significantly less overheads and therefore lower prices.
As such the B&M stores need to appeal to people who either;
a) Need something *NOW*
b) Are morons
The sad thing is that when the products *do* appear both in store and online, the price delta doesn't strike me as *that* big. Shipping is actually more expensive for online vendor, and as the big players increase their footprint, the sales tax dodge goes away. Yes, there's more real estate, but in terms of manpower, it's actually not that much better for online (they need a bit more individual worker attention for putting together an order, in brick and mortar a lot of that is 'self service).
Of course, this is just guesswork, the final measure is that for products in both places is frequently in the same price area.
Touchy Feely Bullshit (Score:-1)
I actually read the article and immediately regretted it, the conclusion was that lower quality tools are of lower quality and then some blathering about marketing nonsense.
Vote with your dollar
Next.
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
Voting with your dollar only works if you have a choice. If all companies have headed into the downward "cut costs at an costs" spiral then you have no real choice.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
That has been one thing that has disappointed me in brick and mortar. I rarely can find the good product I want on the shelves, even if I *were* willing to pay a premium to get it rather than online.
So I have to get online because the brick and mortar's just won't carry it. Instead they try to push cheap crap and hope the shoppers aren't doing any research.
Re: (Score:1)
I think a lot of B&M stores have realised that informed shoppers use them as a place to check out products before they buy them online from retailers who have significantly less overheads and therefore lower prices.
As such the B&M stores need to appeal to people who either;
a) Need something *NOW*
b) Are morons
In both cases, cheap crap fits the bill nicely.
Re:Touchy Feely Bullshit (Score:2)
The sad thing is that when the products *do* appear both in store and online, the price delta doesn't strike me as *that* big. Shipping is actually more expensive for online vendor, and as the big players increase their footprint, the sales tax dodge goes away. Yes, there's more real estate, but in terms of manpower, it's actually not that much better for online (they need a bit more individual worker attention for putting together an order, in brick and mortar a lot of that is 'self service).
Of course, this is just guesswork, the final measure is that for products in both places is frequently in the same price area.