The “Water Cooler” is a feature on Claycord.com where we ask you a question or provide a topic, and you talk about it.
The “Water Cooler” will be up Monday-Friday at noon.
Today’s question:
QUESTION: Would you rather do shopping (non-grocery shopping) online or in the store?
Talk about it….
28 comments
if looking for an exact item; 50/50… Otherwise i like to look in person at the item, then again 50/50 if in store or online….
I like to shop, but I prefer online. I’ve spent enough time in the stores, and shopping online is right up my alley. I know what I’m looking for, and online browsing is easier and more convenient. There are certain things I still shop for in the stores (shoes, etc.), but I can see why retailers are hurting. Most people lead very busy lives, and online retailers are succeeding for a reason.
in store. Have to check for flaws and size, as no sizes are ever the same.
Don’t like risking credit card problems online OR PAY FOR SHIPPING and get it stolen at front door.
We don’t go shopping much to began with, only if need be,…maybe once ever 3 months. Hubby has to go to Costco once a week,…got to do his “window shopping” and then get what supply are needed,…like beer, LOL! For our life style, on-line shopping is very rare,…maybe twice a year.
Almost always in store. I need to see something in person to make a decision if I’m going to buy it or not, and I prefer the immediacy of having something right away instead of waiting for a package to arrive.
This depends what I am looking for. I prefer to try clothes on ever since vanity sizing was introduced to men’s clothes. It also depends on how much the local stores charge. In 1991 I purchased my TV from a company in NYC because all of the local stores would not discount it. Can we say price fixing?
Online as much as possible.
You know,.. there was a time when I swore I would always prefer to shop in a store. But lately, shopping at stores has been terrible. They (purposely?) don’t keep any selection, stores are messy, sizes very limited. I always end up buying online. If the brick and mortar stores WANT to stay brick and mortar, they sure don’t act like it.
Pretty much everything online, unless I need it sooner than a day or two.
Used to be so nice to walk the isles of an old fashioned hardware store.
You were able to flesh out the design of a project as you came across items you could include to achieve your goal. Problem these days is lack of variety at big box hardware stores.
At least internet offers variety along with hard to find items you can’t find locally but are readily available on eBay. As example was able to find in a single evening pneumatic components needed to built an automated aluminum can crusher. (Large allowance and I do lack adult supervision.)
I do most shopping in the store – well – with a caveat…
I order items online from Walmart – have them shipped to the store so I don’t have to worry about them being left on my porch all day – and then I go pick up groceries at Walmart and grab the boxes of the stuff I ordered to save time not having to walk around picking up all of the non-perishable stuff.
My wife was complaining that i shop too much online and that i had to send some stuff back where it came from.
So i have sent her back to Thailand
If it’s for clothes or shoes I will always shop at the store because I have to try them on and I also like to exam the stitching and quality of the item. About the only thing I buy online is something that I can’t find in a store. Also, If an item is too big to fit in my car I will buy it online so it will be delivered. I once bought a 20 ft ladder online and it was delivered by UPS. I have a classic car and most parts are no longer carried in auto parts stores, so I buy them online too.
Store. Last four times I’ve ordered online, twice delivered to the wrong address, once stolen after delivery, once we don’t know what happened to it. It disappeared between Sacramento and here. I do check the online prices for bigger items then try to get brick and mortar places to at least get close. Plus I get impatient and want instant gratification. LOL
I prefer to buy in store, most especially clothes as I want to try them on and feel the material. Also I work in SF so I don’t want my packages to be left out in front of my house nor do I want to carry them home from work on Bart.
I have cloistered myself for religious reasons so I do not go out except for important business such as seeing my doctor or dentist. I do practically all my shopping online. For groceries nothing beats Amazon Fresh which is absolutely first rate. In fact I do practically all my shopping for everything at Amazon which is really great. No wonder Jeff Bezos is the richest man in the world – he has created an incredible organization which I cannot give enough praise it is so wonderful.
Except the fact that Amazon pays no taxes.
Amazon may not directly pay taxes, but they employ thousands of people who pay taxes, plus they sell billions of dollars worth of merchandise on which sales tax is paid. So it’s not like they don’t contribute a hell of a lot more to the government than any of us do.
But, he couldn’t keep something as simple as his marriage vows. Cheater …
Mostly I reserve online shopping for those items I can’t find in a store or are significantly cheaper online. I also like ordering things online that are too big to fit in my car as long as I don’t have to pay for shipping.
It’s come to the point if I walk into Starbucks and there is a line I pull up the app and order my drink online then walk over to the pickup spot. Once the barista was just finishing up my drink as I reached there. That time the line was hung up while a new staff member was learning the register. But some days there are people who are ordering for “the whole office” and it really makes sense then.
Since Fry’s is likely going away I need to rethink my tech ordering. Even with Fry’s I often placed the order online especially if it was going to be iffy about being in stock then wait for the email saying it’s ready. I even do that for some things at Walmart and they’re just a mile away.
Weird world we’re living in now. Sometime I get a kick out of watching a movie from the 70s or 80s, the “analog age” when life was simpler.
I became enamored with mail order in the 1990s when I lost my driver’s license for a few years, and had way too much stuff to schlep home every day from the store along with the kid. I got so many beautiful catalogs every day in the mail that were fabulous fun to look at, and I called toll free numbers to place my orders and Voila! No driving. I was relieved when they ever so slowly stopped sending them to me. It was all so wasteful, and they would NOT stop when I asked. Since then I’ve made a conscious effort to patronize stores I’d prefer that not dry up and blow away. I do buy online, but only stuff I can’t get within 25 miles from us.
Walking into a physical retail location sucks.
I prefer to shop in a store. I’ve been happy with everything I have purchased online, but I feel it is too risky, anymore, and I don’t want to take the chance. I, too, got into the catalogs in the 90s, and QVC and HSN shortly thereafter. Bought a lot of really cheap phony jewelry that I never wear, and a bunch of down pillows, featherbed, and down comforter … right when I was going into menopause. Really stupid! The temptation is just too great. In a store I can control myself. I was also a professional shopper for a while. I really enjoy it. Lots of times, I just look!
I prefer to shop at a brick n mortar store where I can “caress before buying”, and pay with “cash is king”, but most of the deals are online. It sucks that we have to be concerned with potential fraud and identity theft associated with various forms of electronic payment methods.
100% in person. The problem is almost nothing is available in stores anymore if I am looking for a specific item. I hate that I have to order online. I would prefer to look at items firsthand before purchasing because I don’t like the hassle of having to return things. I do order online from Amazon if I can’t find the item I need, and know what I will be getting from Amazon because I have ordered it previously. I find it extremely frustrating that I can’t run to a store to purchase an item because it has to be ordered. I blame this on Amazon because stores don’t want to bother competing.
Concordejet, That’s a good one! I personal do both, online and brick and mortar shopping. Unfortunately, people today have forgotten or don’t understand the idea or importance of patronage. Yes, it is convenient to shop online from the safety of your home and it’s easy to track down the cheapest price and save what is sometimes just a few cents over going to a store. But oftentimes in doing so you’re undercutting a small business down the street that can’t complete with Amazon or Walmart with their big online presence. But what you don’t get with them is the face to face interaction and the experience and or expertise of that person you’re buying the product from. You can’t go back to them with a question about how to use it or an issue you have other than texting or over chatting with them online it’s not the same. The higher price that you may pay at a local shop usually pays its self-back in the when you just go to ask a question or for someone to “show” you how to do something. The loss of Hobby Town comes to mind, people went in to see what they wanted to buy and got “free” advise, then went home and bought it online for a few bucks cheaper, and I mean just a few buck…
It was sad to see Hobby Town go away. On the weekends you would see parents and kids bringing in their destroyed RC airplanes, boats, and cars and ordering the parts to repair them. The youngsters working there were always knowledgeable. They earned your business by supplying good advice. Some patrons did not understand that.
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