-=> Bill Swisher wrote to Dave Drum <=-

 DD> I find that Amazon and its on-line competitors have a *much* larger
 DD> variety  of stuff available - in a much easier to parse

 BS> Often it's a matter of the local thing being vastly overpriced compared
 BS> to Amazon/ebay.  For instance, I have 4 Raspberry Pi's running 24X7 and
 BS> they go through muffin fans fast, I'm on my second order of 4 right
 BS> now.  The local electronics store sells single fans for the price of 4,

Oddly I just took three cases (the last of a huge lot I bought at a surplus 
auction for nearly zip-a-dee) to the local Habitat for Humanity Re-Store. 
These were pretty bog-standard 12v fans that were seemingly indestructible 
..... at least I never had one die on me even in 24/7 service over several 
years. More than a decade in a couple cases.

 BS> and then it's ordered and shipped here so I'd have to wait on it
 BS> anyhow. Or it's just not available locally.  The biggest problem, not
 BS> as bad as it was, is that the phrase "Free shipping"
seems to stop when
 BS> it hits an ocean or leaps over Canada.  It's not unusual to find out
 BS> the shipping is more than the product, so I tend to send them an ugly
 BS> email telling them why they lost my sale, US mail costs exactly the
 BS> same no matter where in America, or the territories, you are.  I used

One of the things that used to get up my wick was "No shipping to APO/FPO 
addresses" even for stuff that could be mailed. Also "no P.O.
Boxes - physical 
address only".

 BS> to be able to wait until I went through Las Vegas/Phoenix to get stuff.
 BS>  Locally the only place to get most electronic stuff is Best Buy.

And you can order on-line and choose "Ship to store".   Bv)=

MMMMM----- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v8.06
 
      Title: Ship Wreck
 Categories: Five, Beef, Potatoes, Casseroles
      Yield: 6 Servings
 
      3 lg Potatoes; sliced
      1 lg Onion; sliced
      1 lb Hamburger
      3 tb Uncooked rice
      1 c  Tomatoes
 
  Layer the ingredients in order given. Sprinkle with salt
  and pepper and 1 teaspoon of sugar.
  
  Cover and bake 1 1/2 hours in 350øF/175øC oven.
  
  NOTE: Looks like a Burton Ford Special
  
  Recipe from: http://www.recipesource.com
  
  Uncle Dirty Dave's Archives
 
MMMMM

... Optimist: A proponent of the doctrine that black is white -- Ambrose 
Bierce
--- MultiMail/Win32