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I have road tripped to Kankakee and Lansing and I have noticed many Mall stores closed. The locals put the blame on online shopping. How boring it is to have a dead mall in a small town... It's nice to see people in a Mall!
But if I move to a small town, it's wonderful to be able to buy the big selection of stuff on amazon!
I suspect Walmart did the damage, not Amazon. At least, that's the case in the rest of the country.
I have road tripped to Kankakee and Lansing and I have noticed many Mall stores closed. The locals put the blame on online shopping. How boring it is to have a dead mall in a small town... It's nice to see people in a Mall!
But if I move to a small town, it's wonderful to be able to buy the big selection of stuff on amazon!
Just be aware that Amazon prices are rising as competition thins out. Also they've started playing games with their return policy (denying returns less than 30 days). You may want to try Jet.com instead.
There is competition and that should keep Amazon prices under control. Think Walmart/Jet, Rakuten, and a host of other specialty retailers like B&H, Newegg, Zappos etc. I for one am not worried.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
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Cancelling debit/credit cards and getting new ones is just part of our way of life now, until someone figures out how to really prevent hacking. It doesn't matter whether it's inside a store or online, the risk is there. I still don't want to have to deal with cash or checks, so it's going to be debit and mostly online. In fact all of our bills, including the mortgage are paid online with various Apps. It's been years since I have written a check.
I leave my place and socialize with other people frequently ... but with Amazon I get shopping done quickly, and get to spend time with people that I value instead of wasting time going to a B&M store to deal with random strangers that I don't want to deal with.
Also, paying in cash is a real pain in the rear, since I haven't carried cash since the early 2000s.
Using cash is only as much pain as you want to make it out to be. If you're too lazy to go to the ATM and withdrawal cash or to count it out when you're handing it to the cashier, then yeah, you probably want to stick to using credit cards. I'm not an anti-credit/debit card person, but I've always felt the importance to carry cash, because credit card machines don't always work and events don't always take plastic. Nothing is worse than waiting in line to check out only to get up to the front and discover that the credit card machine is down and the only way to make your purchase is with cash.
Anyway, I was mainly making the point that if there were to be a revival of B&M stores and a decrease in online sales, it would be because there are certain incentives offered only at the B&M. It wouldn't be because B&M is more secure and safe. If you get hacked online, the only thing that might get hurt is your credit card. If you get mugged trying to walk to or from the store, then you put yourself in physical danger. At the same time, the advantages to having B&M is economic development.
Using cash is only as much pain as you want to make it out to be. If you're too lazy to go to the ATM and withdrawal cash or to count it out when you're handing it to the cashier, then yeah, you probably want to stick to using credit cards. I'm not an anti-credit/debit card person, but I've always felt the importance to carry cash, because credit card machines don't always work and events don't always take plastic. Nothing is worse than waiting in line to check out only to get up to the front and discover that the credit card machine is down and the only way to make your purchase is with cash.
Anyway, I was mainly making the point that if there were to be a revival of B&M stores and a decrease in online sales, it would be because there are certain incentives offered only at the B&M. It wouldn't be because B&M is more secure and safe. If you get hacked online, the only thing that might get hurt is your credit card. If you get mugged trying to walk to or from the store, then you put yourself in physical danger. At the same time, the advantages to having B&M is economic development.
It's not about being lazy, it's about simplicity, speed, and security.
Cash is irreplaceable. If lost, stolen, etc, there's no getting it back, no way to recover it. Cash is also slower at the checkout, and I can't remember the last time I couldn't run a card due to an outage (I know they happen, but I really don't think it's a major deal).
Going to an ATM always costs me money, as I'm rarely in the same state as either of my banks. Even when I was near my banks, it was always out of the way to go to them.
There are times when we have to deal with cash, and we generally get cash back from a B&M store in those situations, but I'm never going to carry a lot of it, and it's never going to be my primary method of tender.
I guess it's like landlines, newspapers, and other things that some folks still value. I don't get it, but I'm not interested in trying to convince people to abandon what they like.
But yea, B&M stores are going to have to do more to entice customers to shop there. A cash discount isn't going to entice me though. In fact, I stopped going to some local gas stations that offer a lower price for cash customers, since some other stations matched their price with credit or debit.
It's not about being lazy, it's about simplicity, speed, and security.
Cash is irreplaceable. If lost, stolen, etc, there's no getting it back, no way to recover it. Cash is also slower at the checkout, and I can't remember the last time I couldn't run a card due to an outage (I know they happen, but I really don't think it's a major deal).
Going to an ATM always costs me money, as I'm rarely in the same state as either of my banks. Even when I was near my banks, it was always out of the way to go to them.
There are times when we have to deal with cash, and we generally get cash back from a B&M store in those situations, but I'm never going to carry a lot of it, and it's never going to be my primary method of tender.
I guess it's like landlines, newspapers, and other things that some folks still value. I don't get it, but I'm not interested in trying to convince people to abandon what they like.
But yea, B&M stores are going to have to do more to entice customers to shop there. A cash discount isn't going to entice me though. In fact, I stopped going to some local gas stations that offer a lower price for cash customers, since some other stations matched their price with credit or debit.
One place I absolutely agree with you on is the gas station. I don't like hanging around the gas station very long. I do wished the gas pumps worked like the self checkout at the grocery store - where it takes either plastic or cash.
Dept store shopping is a different story. I might carry cash with me, because it gives me a hard limit on what I can spend. If I only have $100 on me, I obviously can't buy that $300 sports coat that I might be tempted to put on credit.
Landlines are actually still quite valuable in areas where cell service sucks. I even know of areas around an adjoining city - right on the main street - where cell service goes out for several blocks. Thus the need for a landline. Not only that, there are areas where cable and DSL is not provided, and satellite internet can be very crappy, so again, landlines are still popular. Analog is still a better option for facsimile than digital in that it's more secure. (That I learned from our IT security officer.) And yes, a lot of businesses, medical agencies, and schools still use fax.
Newspapers? Well, I've never been a big newspaper reader except for the sports and the funnies.
One place I absolutely agree with you on is the gas station. I don't like hanging around the gas station very long. I do wished the gas pumps worked like the self checkout at the grocery store - where it takes either plastic or cash.
Dept store shopping is a different story. I might carry cash with me, because it gives me a hard limit on what I can spend. If I only have $100 on me, I obviously can't buy that $300 sports coat that I might be tempted to put on credit.
Landlines are actually still quite valuable in areas where cell service sucks. I even know of areas around an adjoining city - right on the main street - where cell service goes out for several blocks. Thus the need for a landline. Not only that, there are areas where cable and DSL is not provided, and satellite internet can be very crappy, so again, landlines are still popular. Analog is still a better option for facsimile than digital in that it's more secure. (That I learned from our IT security officer.) And yes, a lot of businesses, medical agencies, and schools still use fax.
Newspapers? Well, I've never been a big newspaper reader except for the sports and the funnies.
In the area in SC where we used to live there's a convenience store chain that accepts cash at the pumps. Pretty handy for those without cards, or that want to pay with cash.
The one thing that I'll disagree on now is fax security (part of my business involves dealing with credit card processors, and I have to deal with this constantly). There was a time when that was kind of true, but analog is only analog until it gets to the CO, and most companies don't use actual fax machines anymore.
The every one of these processors is using some cloud fax service, and so am I, so they upload a file to their fax company (who stores it as a pdf or tiff image file), who sends it to my fax company, who emails it to me as a PDF. At the end of the day two more companies have this plainly readable data than would have if they had just emailed it to me in the first place.
Buying online has all the advantages of price, reviews, in stock, fast delivery and easy return policy. I have returned mattresses and lamps from both Overstock and Amazon and was extremely pleased with their customer service and home pickup. Cannot say that about all B&M stores, plus I did not have to drive to the store and wait in line to return (an event in itself).
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