len_mullen

My son's school has notified us that the fall semester will be remote. I suspect this has as much to do with the risk of protest/violence as COVID19. Obviously, we are disappointed, but the finance office sent me an estimate for the cost of the semester and it's damn near free. They have dramatically reduced the costs for the semester and not [yet?] reduced scholarships and grants. This coming on the heels of a two week staycation during which I got my hair cut, I would have to say June is shaping up to be a pretty good month for me. I am 682 days from pension eligibility, 927 days from [likely] retirement, and 18 days from my next two week vacation. If I get laid off in the next 927 days, I will get to collect unemployment plus the stimulus, receive a severance payoff of 35 weeks pay, then start collecting my pension come 5/1/2022. July has THREE paydays. This afternoon, I will purchase gasoline for the first time this month. When I fill my F150 in two weeks, I'll get a $1.00 discount, so I will pay about $1 per gallon. Heating oil is $1.57 per gallon. I am hoping for one more price drop before I fill up . Last time prices were this low was March of 2016 ($1.599). Next week eggs are $0.99 at Market Basket and Sam Adams is $9.99 for a twelve pack at Shaws. While I am starting to feel some stress and frustration at the consequences of COVID19, I would say, overall, 2020 is going well for me and mine. I take some credit for that. I do not watch news on television, severely restrict my access to social media (twitter, Facebook, linked-in all gone; WordPress blogs all deleted). Lots of walks. A little wine. Might as well join me at the half full glass because I think next year will be a mess regardless of who is elected, (I have already convinced myself that things will be fine (for me) regardless of the outcome.) Find one thing to do today to make the day worthwhile. Worry about tomorrow tomorrow.

Locally, Kohls and Walmart displaced Bradlees and Ames. I was pretty excited to have a Walmart in town, but didn't even know what a Kohls was. I had been hoping for a Sears or K-Mart. One day I was shopping at Market Basket when I was overcome by an urge to find a public restroom. That was my first time inside Kohls. It was beautiful from the impulse buy area to the bathrooms. The staff was older and better dressed than I was accustomed to. I was pretty impressed with the selection of goods. Definitely a cut above Ames, Bradlees, or Walmart. While they did not have the weekly sales Ames and Bradlees had or the everyday low prices of Walmart, using their credit card routinely snagged me a discount on my order. Co-located with my favorite grocer and adjacent to a liquor store, Kohls was always convenient. As I spent more time in the store (including one BF), I noticed they adjusted their stock by season. This VERY SMART management meant deals on the stuff I wanted when I wanted it and an opportunity to stock up on consumables at the end of each 'season'. Because Kohls offers 30% off every month, I shop there for things that always cost the same wherever you shop (like my Rug Doctor carpet cleaner). For most things, 30% off puts the price a little below Amazon and Walmart. Kohls Cash seals the deal. (Plus I do not know what Kohls' politics is and I LOVE that.) The last store I ever want to go into is K-Mart. How the mighty have fallen! I have never met a more disengaged workforce. From manager to cashier, not one single employee I have met had an interest in serving me. When I bought my last snow blower from Sears, they dribbled a few hundred dollars of store credit to me each week for a few months. I used most of it to buy steeply discounted jeans. I'd order online for store pickup. Sometimes they would have my order, sometimes they would present me with a random counter of items, and sometimes they would stare blankly at the order information on my phone. I have a friend who tells a story of his last visit to K-Mart. According to my friend, he had to navigate around a large puddle of what appeared to be urine entering the store. By the time he finished his shopping, the puddle had been tracked throughout the cash register area as carriage tracks and footprints. That's gross. I also have gone to K-Mart on one BF. After waiting inline for more than an hour, I followed the line into the store only to find a warzone and no BF items. A CSR told me that because Massachusetts would not let their stores open on Thursday, Mass and NH stores offered their Doorbusters Wednesday and that there would be no rainchecks. Best Buy can be on my way home from work. I recycle a LOT of consumer electronics there and have never been held to the three item per day limit. If a deal comes up, I order online for store pickup and load the trunk with recyclables. My first HD TV was from Best Buy and I have purchased computers from them. Movies too. My relationship with Staples will end in November. I suspect BB will become my Computer Place once that happens.

It smells fine to me as well. Not really the point, though. Walmart is not the store it once was. Low quality merchandise, disengaged employees, and incompetent corporate leadership. Online and B&M are totally unintegrated. At the local store, online pickup is at the back of the store by the toilets and the entrance to the storage area. I've been there for half an hour waiting for someone to show up. Employees stream out of the back area ignoring customers at the counter, "Not my job." I go out of my way to patronize Staples, Best Buy, Target, and Kohls. They seem to want my business at least.

I like bourbon. Not sure I want to show up at work smelling like it.

After I posted this, I was contacted by Walmart via email. A vert cordial exchange ended with Walmart shipping six bottles of the Mint body wash to my home. I was surprised -- shocked really -- then amused when I opened the second shipment of BOURBON VANILLA body wash. I guess I better get used to the scent. Today, they refunded the purchase price, so I have twelve bottles of Bourbon Vanilla body wash. The June/July issue of Fortune magazine arrived the same day as the second shipment. There was an article on Net Promoter Score (NPS) -- The Simple Metric That's Taking Over Big Business. NPS is a ratio between positive and negative/neutral referrals. 2/3 of Fortune 1000 companies use the metric. That's what those 'would you recommend to a friend' surveys are all about. The article lists NPS leaders for ten industries. Walmart was not on the list. Nordstrom was the Department Store All-Star. Not surprisingly, USAA was the leader in Retail Banking and Property and Casualty Insurance. My favorite credit card (Discover) was tops in that category. Other leaders: Vanguard (Wealth Management), Verizon FiOS (Wired Network Operations), Consumer Cellular (Postpaid Wireless Service), H-E-B (Grocery Stores), Walgreens (Drugstores), and Chick-Fil-A (Casual Fast Food). I have been considering dropping my AT&T cell plan for CC. Given that Consumer Cellular uses the AT&T and T-Mobile networks, I do not expect a degradation in service. Savings would be about $50 a month for two lines.

or t-shirts

My son and I got our hair cut yesterday. He snoozed in the truck while I visited Big Lots and Shaws (grocer). Derry is a bigger town (30k residents vs 8k where I normally shop and 4k where I live). We were there from 1:30pm to 4:30pm. I found traffic (vehicle and pedestrian) to be pretty heavy. Big Lots was typically sparse, but Shaws was very busy. I'm ready to unofficially declare New Hampshire open for business.

@Brad No body count for May?

Don't have one. Haven't been in a JCP store since the 80s.

from http://performingsongwriter.com/bobbie-gentry-ode-billie-joe/ Everybody has a different guess about what was thrown off the bridge—flowers, a ring, even a baby. Anyone who hears the song can think what they want, but the real message of the song, if there must be a message, revolves around the nonchalant way the family talks about the suicide. They sit there eating their peas and apple pie and talking, without even realizing that Billie Joe’s girlfriend is sitting at the table, a member of the family. from https://playback.fm/bobbie-gentry-ode-billie-joe-true-story While Bobbie Gentry admits the story is fictionalized, she did explain that it was inspired by the 1954 murder of Emmett Till. Till was only 14 years old when he was shot and thrown over the Black Bayou Bridge in Mississippi for offending a woman in a grocery store. The bridge mentioned in the song soon became an attraction and many attempted to jump from it. However, no casualties were ever reported since the bridge was only 6 meters high. The bridge collapsed in 1972 but was later rebuilt.

Happy June everyone. Sorry I'm late, but I was busy severing ties with Walmart. No one was more excited about Walmart coming to Seabrook New Hampshire than me. Finally, a REAL store with everyday low prices on everything I might want! When Home Depot and Walmart replaced Service Merchandise and Ames in Plaistow New Hampshire, I thought I died and went to heaven. After three decades of steady decline, Walmart is no longer a company with which I want to do business. Nothing sudden, really. Prices never really met expectations. When Amazon came along, Walmart ceded the 'everyday low prices' crown. The staff is HORRIBLE. They do not know their products and do not care about their customers -- they don't have customers. When I was in school, I worked at a department store. The first thing the manager said to me was, "If a customer asks you for help finding something, take him to the item or take him to someone who will. Never let that guy out of the store without buying what he is looking for. That is how we get paid." The last three times I shopped at Walmart, I left without buying what I was looking for. Most recently, I bought some body wash for my kid. It was not available in store or for pickup, so I ordered online. When the package FINALLY arrived (>2 days promised), the inside of the boxes were soiled and the bottles were slick with soap. It looked like my product was too close to damaged product. I cleaned off the bottles, disposed of the soiled packaging, and...noticed it wasn't even what I ordered. Wrong scent. I checked my order to make sure I had selected the right product. I had, so I began the process of returning the product. Piece of cake except that I had no chance to tell them what was wrong or re-order the items, "We'll process your refund after the items are dropped off at any Walmart store by Jun 26, 2020. Please show the barcode below to a customer service associate." This morning I arrived at Walmart only to find a LONG line of socially distanced customers at the service desk. After an unreasonable wait, a young manager looking guy (tie and a clipboard) helped a second cashier set up her drawer. I heard him say, "We ought to turn this sign around so people can actually read it." Everyone laughed. He did. I did. It included a long list of things they would not take as returns. I loosely translated the list as 'everything' so I got his attention. I explained my dilemma and showed him the directive. He shrugged his shoulders, "Can't help you. Have a nice day." When I got home, I tried to contact Walmart again. One hour wait for chat and half an hour to get a call, so I chose the phone call. A very nice young lady named Debra assured my she felt my pain, but offered no more than to send me a label so I could send the items back. On my own for the re-order. I thought about that manager as Debra let me get off the call without re-ordering the right product. Of course, no label was ever sent. The previous time I left Walmart without what I came for was a few months back. I found what I wanted and headed to the cash registers. Just a couple open and the lines were long, so I headed to the self-checkout. The register was unresponsive as I scanned my single item, so I tried again. Two items rang up, so I cancelled the item. This triggered an alert. As I waited for assistance, I noticed my cash register had a red flashing light above. As I looked around, I noticed ALL the self-checkout registers had red lights. I caught the attention of a woman who was standing among the self-checkout registers. She looked at me, looked at the red light, then turned around. I walked out. My pre-previous Walmart failure was to pick up an item ordered online. After waiting nearly an hour for someone to arrive at the pickup counter and waiting another hour for all the others to be served, I was told my item was shipped to another store. I could either pick it up there or wait for it to arrive at my store. I left. I'll probably end up keeping the body wash. I have already wasted too much time trying to deal with 'The People of Walmart'. I won't waste any more time with Walmart. When we start thinking about Black Friday, I won't be thinking of Walmart.

Amazon will own back to school sales if they do this.

The root cause is a supply chain disruption. Should be in better shape by August when Christmas orders are placed. I agree to some extent, but 60% of those who lost their jobs are making more on unemployment with the stimulus bonus. Also, I see help wanted signs everywhere I go.

Eggs are up and promotions are down, but I think that has more to do with social distancing and staffing issues than supply chain. My grocers are running regular ads again. I got porterhouse steaks for $5.67/# and this week NY sirloins are $3.99. I've seen a lot of TV deals. Kohls just ran one of their 'up to 40% off' mystery coupons this week. Personally, I think consumers are kind of full and warehouses are kind of full (Walmart cleared out a 43" a Sceptre U435CV-U 4K UHD HDR 60Hz LED HDTV for $160). I expect this BF to be a LONG, spectacular selloff. I'm shopping for a 75+ hdtv for my new game room. I bet I get a really good deal. Time will tell...

It will be interesting to see how people react to the next virus that makes the rounds. The whole point of BF is to attract a crowd. Making them walk around the stores with noodle hats probably is not going to work out... Then again, "If you can see my noodle, I probably got your Doorbuster," has a nice ring to it.

http://www.cartoonbucket.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Wile.E-Coyote-Falling-Down-Animated-Picture.gif

If by normal, you mean people complaining that it isn't the same as it used to be and that the deals are not as good, then yes.

Good riddance. JCP had a great business, hired a consultant to attract a more affluent clientele, lost their old customers, and never won over the new ones. I have no vendors who treat new customers better than old ones. from https://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/what-went-wrong-at-j-c-penney

While we all strive for perspective (hopefully), I wanted to share this speech from a kid who has it. https://www.facebook.com/dailygoalcast/videos/633117420616060/

I have had the displeasure of witnessing two loved ones being killed by Big Medicine. In both cases, it was obvious to me that there were better options. More power to you if you think you are a 'thriver'. I am happy to live and die without being a science fair project.

I have respiratory issues and am drug/physician adverse. I pay attention to my environment as well as my diet. I tend to abide by social norms just to avoid unnecessary conflicts. I do not get excited about proximity unless the person(s) close to me are exhibiting signs of illness. I am unaware of the social contracts that you speak of. Not sure I would rely on presumed agreements to ensure my safety. Getting aggravated will not preserve your health. Use common sense and avoid people you think put you at risk. If that is everyone, stay home and have your stuff delivered. LOL. We need to protect OURSELVES. People do not know enough about this virus to advise us how to keep safe. On the same day the governor of Massachusetts mandated everyone wear masks, the surgeon general said wearing masks could increase the likelihood of infection. All I know is that a guy arrested for exfiltrating laboratory samples from Massachusetts in January was a student who never attended classes. Just like the guys who set off bombs at the marathon. Boston Stupid. If you feel uncomfortable venturing out for groceries, stay home. That's what I would do. Relying on others to keep you safe is probably not a good idea.

I love shopping. Any kind of shopping. In a store or online. Just for research or against a deadline. It's a distraction. I especially like walking around shopping centers on cool evenings on my way home from work -- when the days are short and people aren't yet Christmas shopping. It was best when my kids were young. Now my kitchen is filling up with gadgets. I grocery shop on my way home from work. I pass a lot of grocery stores on my way home and most are co-located with retailers I have business with. The cycle starts on Wednesday when Hannaford, Market Basket, and McKinnons flyers arrive in my mailbox. I use these to tell Alexa what to put on my shopping list. I don't often shop at McKinnons. When I do, I take a different route home. It's the same route I take to pick my kid up from school. If I have to pick him up, I stop at McKinnons. Thursday morning, the Shaws preview is available online. I use that to amend/complete my list. Friday morning, Shaws posts their just-for-me deals. By the time I leave for work Friday, my shopping plan is complete. McKinnons and Shaws ads start on Friday. I pick one for my ride home Friday night. Generally, I stop at Shaws and Aldis (where I get milk, eggs, and bread) on the way home Friday night as Shaws runs three day specials that end before my next commute. Monday and Tuesday I stop at Market Basket and/or Hannaford as my list dictates. Wednesday we start over again. The pandemic has changed my shopping habits. First, sales are less common and less compelling. Market Basket is inconvenient to get in and out of. Hannaford has been sparsely stocked. I have been living out of my freezers only venturing out for fresh fruit, vegetables, bread, and dairy. Most of the time, I just go to Aldis as they have what I need at good prices with no unreasonable restrictions on access. This week, Shaws ran a decent ad including $5.67/# porterhouse steaks, $4.99/# jumbo shrimp, $0.25 New England Coffee k-cups, and $1.99 Friendlys Ice Cream. I stopped on my way home Friday night. It's work observing the one way traffic restrictions. Good exercise, I guess. Over to Aldis for rye bread (reubens), milk, potatoes, and salmon. They clean the carts for you as you enter and have one way aisles, but the aisles are short and no one loses their mind if you sneak in from the wrong way to grab something. Not stopping anywhere else this week. So, not quite normal, but I felt like lighting up a cigarette on my way home, if you know what I mean. New Hampshire hasn't really been impacted except for the unemployment rate -- first to worst in the nation. Mostly affecting service and hospitality employees. Help wanted signs everywhere, but most I know who have been furloughed are pretty happy with the $600 bonus in their unemployment and expect to return to work soon. My job is business as usual. No complaints. June 1 I start a two week vacation ;-)

Gottadeal flannel boxer shorts for the club and t-shirts for the contests.

I urge you to pull out a history book. Read about colonial life, the Civil War, Antebellum, WWI, The Depression, WWII, Korea, and Vietnam then count your blessings. We are a spoiled generation in a spoiled nation.