Tomorrow in the US we will be celebrating Thanksgiving. This day we spend thinking about what we are thankful for and seeing friends and family. While eating ourselves in to a coma. I am thankful for all my BBS friends. I was welcomed in to the community and so many people her are enthusiastic about all the same nerdy things I am in to. Its been a great time. I am not sure exactly how long my board has been up now but I know it's been a great time.


Even if you aren't in the US I still wish you a happy Thanksgiving. For us its the start of the holiday season. Keep up the BBS world and thank you all so much.

|23|04Dr|16|12Claw
|16|14Sysop |12Noverdu |14BBS |20|15Radio|10@|14HTTP://Noverdu.com:88
|16|10 Standard ports for SSH/Telnet |04 WEB|14@|12HTTP://noverdu.com:808 |20|15Global Chat, Global Messaging and Games! |16|10Ditch the Unsocial Media

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 2021/12/24 (Linux/64)
* Origin: Noverdu BBS (21:1/210)

On 22 Nov 2023, claw said the following...

Even if you aren't in the US I still wish you a happy Thanksgiving. For us its the start of the holiday season. Keep up the BBS world and thank you all so much.

Happy Thanksgiving to you as well, and to everyone else!

-Zarnock

... This virus requires Microsoft Windows 3.x

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 2021/12/24 (Linux/64)
* Origin: The Zone BBS - zonebbs.net (21:1/174)

On 22 Nov 2023 at 08:16a, claw pondered and said...

Even if you aren't in the US I still wish you a happy Thanksgiving. For us its the start of the holiday season. Keep up the BBS world and thank you all so much.

Best wishes for the day and I hope you have room for desert :)

Kerr Avon [Blake's 7] 'I'm not expendable, I'm not stupid and I'm not going' avon[at]bbs.nz | bbs.nz | fsxnet.nz

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 (Linux/64)
* Origin: Agency BBS | Dunedin, New Zealand | agency.bbs.nz (21:1/101)

On 22 Nov 2023 at 02:28p, Zarnock pondered and said...

Happy Thanksgiving to you as well, and to everyone else!

-Zarnock

And to you too :)

We don't really do this holiday over here in New Zealand but the retailers have started to embrace those Black Friday sales it seems.... anything to drum up some customers I think ;)

Kerr Avon [Blake's 7] 'I'm not expendable, I'm not stupid and I'm not going' avon[at]bbs.nz | bbs.nz | fsxnet.nz

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 (Linux/64)
* Origin: Agency BBS | Dunedin, New Zealand | agency.bbs.nz (21:1/101)

We don't really do this holiday over here in New Zealand but the
retailers have started to embrace those Black Friday sales it
seems.... anything to drum up some customers I think ;)

We have thanksgiving in October, however as a rule my household does the
US thanksgiving as normally we have more time.

This year FIL is just taking the whole family out to a big buffet. I'd
rather stay home and cook a turkey but whatever less work this way. :)



Shawn


--- Talisman v0.48-dev (Windows/x86)
* Origin: Tiny's BBS - tinysbbs.com:4323/ssh:4322 (21:1/222)

Tomorrow in the US we will be celebrating Thanksgiving. This day we
spend thinking about what we are thankful for and seeing friends and family. While eating ourselves in to a coma. I am thankful for all my
BBS friends. I was welcomed in to the community and so many people her are enthusiastic about all the same nerdy things I am in to. Its been a great time. I am not sure exactly how long my board has been up now but
I know it's been a great time.

Happy Thanksgiving to Claw and to everyone in the BBS world!

I'll echo your comments on how awesome the BBS community is. Great bunch of folks!

I'm sure I'll be in a food coma today. The recliner will be calling my name :)

|02-=|10Cozmo|02=-

... Condense soup, not books!

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 (Windows/32)
* Origin: Lunatics Unleashed (21:3/135)

Hello claw!

On 22 Nov 2023, claw said the following...

Even if you aren't in the US I still wish you a happy Thanksgiving. For us its the start of the holiday season. Keep up the BBS world and thank you all so much.

Thanks, and a Happy Thanksgiving to you, too!

Here it has been a rather hectic workday, topping it off with a replacement of one of the NAS HDDs at home to cure a growing number of bad sectors... Always good to have a spare drive ready for those occasions. =)

Best regards
Zip

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 2023/04/30 (Linux/64)
* Origin: Star Collision BBS, Uppsala, Sweden (21:1/202)

On 23 Nov 2023, Avon said the following...

We don't really do this holiday over here in New Zealand but the
retailers have started to embrace those Black Friday sales it seems.... anything to drum up some customers I think ;)

It's seeming like here black Friday is now a week instead of just a day. I imagine cyber Monday will follow suit soon enough. I hope if you're shopping for something you find good deals, and if not I hope you just have a nice relaxing time with family all the same.

-Zarnock

... Next time you wave at me, use more than one finger!

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 2021/12/24 (Linux/64)
* Origin: The Zone BBS - zonebbs.net (21:1/174)

Tomorrow in the US we will be celebrating Thanksgiving. This day we
spend thinking about what we are thankful for and seeing friends and family. While eating ourselves in to a coma. I am thankful for all my
BBS friends. I was welcomed in to the community and so many people her are enthusiastic about all the same nerdy things I am in to. Its been a great time. I am not sure exactly how long my board has been up now but
I know it's been a great time.

Even if you aren't in the US I still wish you a happy Thanksgiving. For us its the start of the holiday season. Keep up the BBS world and thank you all so much.

DrClaw

Thank you, even though in Australia its just another Thursday. We seem to have imported "Black Friday", with many many retailers going on the "Black Friday" bandwagon. It's kind of odd to see this popup without any context. For the US, its the day after Thanksgiving, but here, its just, another Friday. I would like once to have a white Christmas, not one with a long day and warm weather.

My younger daughter literally just asked me while I'm typing this, after seeing an ad on the TV, "What is the point of Black Friday?" Greed? Consumerism?

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 (Linux/64)
* Origin: Agency BBS | Dunedin, New Zealand | agency.bbs.nz (21:1/101)

Hello boraxman!

** On Friday 24.11.23 - 21:25, boraxman wrote to claw:

My younger daughter literally just asked me while I'm typing this, after seeing an ad on the TV, "What is the point of Black Friday?" Greed? Consumerism?

Both?

--- OpenXP 5.0.57
* Origin: (} Pointy McPointFace (21:4/106.21)

Re: Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!
By: Ogg to boraxman on Fri Nov 24 2023 07:24 pm

My younger daughter literally just asked me while I'm typing this, after
seeing an ad on the TV, "What is the point of Black Friday?" Greed?
Consumerism?

Both?

It's a day that stores often offer sales.. Stores do that sometimes. I'm not sure it means it's purely greed and consumerism..

Nightfox

Re: Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

Both?

It's a day that stores often offer sales.. Stores do that sometimes.
I'm not sure it means it's purely greed and consumerism..

Nightfox

Definitely consumerism. People buying stuff they don't really need.

Australian retailers have been pushing Black Friday, sometimes stylised as BLKFRI heavily this year, far, far more than previous years. Definitely consumerism when your cultural events are now manufactured just to move products.

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 (Linux/64)
* Origin: Agency BBS | Dunedin, New Zealand | agency.bbs.nz (21:1/101)

My younger daughter literally just asked me while I'm typing this, af
seeing an ad on the TV, "What is the point of Black Friday?" Greed?
Consumerism?

Both?

It's a day that stores often offer sales.. Stores do that sometimes.
I'm not sure it means it's purely greed and consumerism..

Yep, I try not to judge the stores as then I'd need to judge the people.
The crazy behavior sometimes shown in the media how people hunt and fight for bargain only shows how low-lives some may have to turn themselves into such primitives occasionally. But that's not so often visible today as in the past (I remember a tv news spot about 20 years ago about Black Friday night opening in a store and people sprawling in like if it was some zombie apocalypse movie).

Today with online domination for sales I expect more shipping vans with DHL, UPS, FeDEX or similar brands driving around right after weekend than anything else.

Considering it, day as many days with promos. I never truly picked up on Black Friday, some start stashing xmas presents that day, hunting for occasions. I'm way too spontaneous to even consider that.

I like sales promos right after xmas in my country. Stores are almost empty as people still consume their xmas break somewhere else and stores want to finish the year well so getting 30-50% discount on stuff they didn't sell trough whole year is what I often observe in the last days of December.

-h1

... Xerox Alto was the thing. Anything after we use is just a mere copy.

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 (Linux/64)
* Origin: 2o fOr beeRS bbs>>>20ForBeers.com:1337 (21:2/150)

Re: Re: Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!
By: hollowone to Nightfox on Fri Nov 24 2023 10:28 pm

Yep, I try not to judge the stores as then I'd need to judge the people.

My business is not that seasonal, but my understanding is that scheduled discount events exist mainly in order to get rid of overstocks.

I get it. It has to suck to buy two vans worth of cough tablets and then discover you have not sold half of it by the end of Winter, so you need some scheduled discount event to get rid of as much stock as you can.

If just to make space for seasonal Spring products.

IMO if retail did finer management then we would not need crazy stock and restock cycles such as this. I suppose it is hard to do at large scale.

--
gopher://gopher.richardfalken.com/1/richardfalken
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Re: Re: Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!
By: hollowone to Nightfox on Fri Nov 24 2023 10:28 pm

Yep, I try not to judge the stores as then I'd need to judge the people. The crazy behavior sometimes shown in the media how people hunt and fight for bargain only shows how low-lives some may have to turn themselves into such primitives occasionally. But that's not so often visible today as in the past (I remember a tv news spot about 20 years ago about Black Friday night opening in a store and people sprawling in like if it was some zombie apocalypse movie).

Yeah, there were a few years where I heard news stories about people rushing into the stores as soon as they opened, and I'd heard a couple stories where people got hurt by others rushing in.

Nightfox

IMO if retail did finer management then we would not need crazy stock and restock cycles such as this. I suppose it is hard to do at large scale.

I think it was part of the challenge for local stores, especially if they had bad deal regarding returns of the over stock.

I believe online sales should help better leverage various storage options across regions, especially if you're part of the chain.

and If you're just a local store and still trading online as well, then that's how you can get rid of your volume at proper margin, whole year.. assuming you hit the right market!

but I'm not in retail business by experience, so I just try to figure out some logic here.

-h1

... Xerox Alto was the thing. Anything after we use is just a mere copy.

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 (Linux/64)
* Origin: 2o fOr beeRS bbs>>>20ForBeers.com:1337 (21:2/150)

Hello Arelor!

** On Saturday 25.11.23 - 05:27, Arelor wrote to hollowone:

IMO if retail did finer management then we would not need crazy stock and restock cycles such as this. I suppose it is hard to do at large scale.

It's hard to do even for a smaller shop, like mine. At one
point i looked into stocking CDs, but the distributor had a
rather large minimum order requirement, and "non-returnable".
Under that scheme, stock would just grow and grow as new
recordings were released. At some point, the retailer would
practically have to give the product away and report a loss.


--- OpenXP 5.0.57
* Origin: (} Pointy McPointFace (21:4/106.21)

restock cycles such as this. I suppose it is hard to do at large scale.

I think it was part of the challenge for local stores, especially if they had bad deal regarding returns of the over stock.

Hmm missing some of the original quote,... I seem to recall seeing
somewhere.. that a lot of large retail ordering is done more or less on a
punt some 3 months or so in advance... So you've not got much way of knowing whats going to sell or what you're going to have left over...meaning end of season, or known seasonal sales are a good exit method.

Not sure what smaller stores are meant to do with whatever they have.

The black friday sales, seem reminiscent of our Boxing day sales here.

Spec


*** THE READER V4.50 [freeware]
--- SuperBBS v1.17-3 (Eval)
* Origin: Good Luck and drive offensively! (21:3/101)

BY: Ogg (21:4/106.21)

|11O|09> |10It's hard to do even for a smaller shop, like mine. At one |07 |11O|09> |10point i looked into stocking CDs, but the distributor had a |07 |11O|09> |10rather large minimum order requirement, and "non-returnable". |07 |11O|09> |10Under that scheme, stock would just grow and grow as new |07 |11O|09> |10recordings were released. At some point, the retailer would |07 |11O|09> |10practically have to give the product away and report a loss.|07
I ended up buying a clearance album that was stuck on the shelf for like 5.99 when it used to be 29.99


--- WWIV 5.9.0.3695[Windows]
* Origin: inland utopia * california * iutopia.duckdns.org:2023 (21:4/108)

Not sure what smaller stores are meant to do with whatever they have.

What I meant is that small shops, run by individuals not networks may not have access to best deals, and best deals may include more arguments for more efficient return policy.


If that's not the case then basically they are left with all that stuff ordered for sale and I believe sometimes storage cost is more critical than selling at loss.. I claimed that many small scale shops had to sell to empty storage for new season and sometimes it's losing less than keeping the store occupied by unsold and unsellable items.

I also found that Internet comes as remedy as even if you don't have market for your wares in the neighborhood, then you can always post them available online individually and also try to find good whole sale deal for companies who specialize in long-tail selling tactics.

I'm pretty sure that we would not have brand new floppy disks still available if somebody didn't see business storing them for so long beyond the life cycle of the product.

Diversion from the core topic regarding consumerism and Black Friday, to glue it back, I believe that all options for sellers and buyers are important and come with value.. as long as there is some plan, or at least, sanity check in place.

-h1

PS. I finally upgraded my TV last weekend. After 15 years, my old FHD got replaced by a proper OLED 4K, 10'' bigger than the previous one! Hah!

... Xerox Alto was the thing. Anything after we use is just a mere copy.

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 (Linux/64)
* Origin: 2o fOr beeRS bbs>>>20ForBeers.com:1337 (21:2/150)

My business is not that seasonal, but my understanding is that scheduled discount events exist mainly in order to get rid of overstocks.

There do seem to be other advantages. E.g., the loss-leader aspect, with hoping that people won't buy _just_ the most-discounted things.

And the fact that people are viewing it as a day/time period to get the stuff they want at reduced prices, so having sales means that you might catch people who might normally go, "Oh? Advertising e-mail? Meh."

But, yeah, your idea does make the most sense as a sensible business thing.

That said, I did wind up clicking around various things, and looked at a couple of satirical magazines in Germany, and, while I definitely wouldn't have normally gotten anything, one offered a three-month trial offer that _automatically ends_, so I ordered it.

...and then wound up buying the other magazine at a newsstand, so, eh, maybe not that great in the end.

Not that I think I'm likely to convert into a longer-term subscription, as I'm basically just trying things that might be easier in some ways with my very-slowly-improving German reading skills.

But satire, while it oftentimes has illustrations, also oftentimes uses... interesting language, various unexpected turns of phrase, and references deeper details of German politics, all of which might make them not great language things for an American who is still pretty incompetent with the language.

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 (Linux/64)
* Origin: Storm BBS (21:2/108)

On 24 Nov 2023, boraxman said the following...

Thank you, even though in Australia its just another Thursday. We seem
to have imported "Black Friday", with many many retailers going on the "Black Friday" bandwagon. It's kind of odd to see this popup without
any context. For the US, its the day after Thanksgiving, but here, its just, another Friday. I would like once to have a white Christmas, not one with a long day and warm weather.

My younger daughter literally just asked me while I'm typing this, after seeing an ad on the TV, "What is the point of Black Friday?" Greed? Consumerism?

Well its a day of greed following a day of thankfullness. Heres the short version

Very slowly over the year retailers increase the prices of key products. Then on Black Friday they sell it at a discount sometimes less than the original price sometimes at the original price. All as a big sale.

I always love how they tell you your saving big. Well saving big is when you just don't buy it and save the money. But thats just me.

Once in a while there is a retailer that actually has a good deal. Doesn't hurt to look, just don't get hooked.

|23|04Dr|16|12Claw
|16|14Sysop |12Noverdu |14BBS |20|15Radio|10@|14HTTP://Noverdu.com:88
|16|10 Standard ports for SSH/Telnet |04 WEB|14@|12HTTP://noverdu.com:808 |20|15Global Chat, Global Messaging and Games! |16|10Ditch the Unsocial Media

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 2021/12/24 (Linux/64)
* Origin: Noverdu BBS (21:1/210)

Re: Re: Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!
By: hollowone to Arelor on Sat Nov 25 2023 12:21 pm

and If you're just a local store and still trading online as well, then that

Dunno. Your online store is not going to sell many barbecues in Winter, nor many cough tablets in Summer. Being online helps you find customers but if you buy a seasonal dud it is not going to help as much as people thinks.

--
gopher://gopher.richardfalken.com/1/richardfalken
--- SBBSecho 3.20-Linux
* Origin: Palantir * palantirbbs.ddns.net * Pensacola, FL * (21:2/138)

Re: IMO if retail did finer management..
By: Ogg to Arelor on Sat Nov 25 2023 08:06 pm

It's hard to do even for a smaller shop, like mine. At one
point i looked into stocking CDs, but the distributor had a
rather large minimum order requirement, and "non-returnable".
Under that scheme, stock would just grow and grow as new
recordings were released. At some point, the retailer would
practically have to give the product away and report a loss.

That summarizes 99% of the products I deal with.

My point is if you have steady sales you can estimate you are going to sell 800 collagen units per year, and if you do, you won't buy 1200. If you calculate you are gonna sell 20 boxes of cough tablets, you order a number close to it so you don't have to get rid of it badly after Winter.

Come to think of it, it should be easier at a scale because bigger numbers favor long term planning.

--
gopher://gopher.richardfalken.com/1/richardfalken
--- SBBSecho 3.20-Linux
* Origin: Palantir * palantirbbs.ddns.net * Pensacola, FL * (21:2/138)

Re: Re: Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!
By: Spectre to hollowone on Sun Nov 26 2023 08:35 pm

Hmm missing some of the original quote,... I seem to recall seeing somewhere.. that a lot of large retail ordering is done more or less on a punt some 3 months or so in advance... So you've not got much way of knowing whats going to sell or what you're going to have left over...meaning end of season, or known seasonal sales are a good exit method.

Well, unless your store is doing very badly, you usually have an idea. I certainly know how much of my top-tier products I am going to sell a given month. My boss at my other job knows how many patients from each given insurance company he is gonna have in the clinic each month, if just because you can check other months and other years. Estimations are far from perfect but you are not blind either.

--
gopher://gopher.richardfalken.com/1/richardfalken
--- SBBSecho 3.20-Linux
* Origin: Palantir * palantirbbs.ddns.net * Pensacola, FL * (21:2/138)

Re: Re: Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!
By: claw to boraxman on Mon Nov 27 2023 02:16 pm

I always love how they tell you your saving big. Well saving big is when you

Saving big is when you buy something at a discount and then make money from it or sell it at a non-discount price later :-P

But in general I agree with the spirit of your statement.

--
gopher://gopher.richardfalken.com/1/richardfalken
--- SBBSecho 3.20-Linux
* Origin: Palantir * palantirbbs.ddns.net * Pensacola, FL * (21:2/138)

Re: Re: Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!
By: hollowone to Spectre on Mon Nov 27 2023 05:34 am

PS. I finally upgraded my TV last weekend. After 15 years, my old FHD got replaced by a proper OLED 4K, 10'' bigger than the previous one! Hah!

My living room TV is one that I bought in 2015 - I don't want to replace it yet because it supports 3D, and I've heard they've stopped making 3D TVs.. (It also does 4K as well). I do still like watching 3D content sometimes, and I own several movies on 3D blu-ray.

I understand not enough people were interested in 3D, but it's frustrating when they stop making a certain feature that I actually like.

Nightfox

Not sure what smaller stores are meant to do with whatever they have.

What I meant is that small shops, run by individuals not networks may not have access to best deals, and best deals may include more arguments for more efficient return policy.

This wasn't any kind of indictment. I've never worked that kind of retail so
I have no idea how it might work. But I can't see any supplier wanting to
take stock back.. In the paint business, even if the suppliers discontinue
some obscure base they won't take them back or give you a credit for them.
Of course they want you to buy in anything new at full boar.

The only passing information I have is that larger organisations used to at least, order months out from the season, hope they picked the right stuff,
and warehoused their own stock... and shuffle stuff to wherever it sold best and ultimately flogging the rest off end of season.

than selling at loss.. I claimed that many small scale shops had to sell to empty storage for new season and sometimes it's losing less than keeping the store occupied by unsold and unsellable items.

Granted.. You'd have to hope that they manage to sell enough to cover costs
at full price early on. So that while the per unit sale price may either
break even or go negative, that they are still effectively making profit over the entire supply.


Spec


*** THE READER V4.50 [freeware]
--- SuperBBS v1.17-3 (Eval)
* Origin: Good Luck and drive offensively! (21:3/101)

On 23 Nov 2023 at 10:02p, Zarnock pondered and said...

On 23 Nov 2023, Avon said the following...

We don't really do this holiday over here in New Zealand but the retailers have started to embrace those Black Friday sales it seems.. anything to drum up some customers I think ;)

It's seeming like here black Friday is now a week instead of just a day.
I imagine cyber Monday will follow suit soon enough. I hope if you're

It seems like Black Friday here is still a new thing but they have been going out a few days earlier than the day and saying the sale was on already.... we're not quite up to where you are - yet ;)

Kerr Avon [Blake's 7] 'I'm not expendable, I'm not stupid and I'm not going' avon[at]bbs.nz | bbs.nz | fsxnet.nz

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 (Linux/64)
* Origin: Agency BBS | Dunedin, New Zealand | agency.bbs.nz (21:1/101)

It seems like Black Friday here is still a new thing but they have
been going out a few days earlier than the day and saying the sale was
on already.... we're not quite up to where you are - yet ;)

We're having cyber monday now, or maybe just yesterday.. not sure.. black friday was definitly longer that just friday.

I bought some things on ebay, and got a coupon for black friday, so am
happy about that.

I don't mind the sales, it means I am more likely able to afford the
stuff I want. Although it would be nice if sale prices were regular
prices, that's not going to happen. So I'm all for any excuse for a sale.

Andrew


--- Talisman v0.48-dev (FreeBSD/amd64)
* Origin: Smuggler's Cove - scove.talismanbbs.com:2323 (21:1/182)

Hello Arelor!

** On Monday 27.11.23 - 15:06, Arelor wrote to Ogg:

It's hard to do even for a smaller shop, like mine. At one
point i looked into stocking CDs, but the distributor had a
rather large minimum order requirement, and "non-returnable".
Under that scheme, stock would just grow and grow ...

That summarizes 99% of the products I deal with.

You also need to contend with expiration dates on meds, no?

My point is if you have steady sales you can estimate you
are going to sell 800 collagen units per year, and if you
do, you won't buy 1200. If you calculate you are gonna sell
20 boxes of cough tablets, you order a number close to it
so you don't have to get rid of it badly after Winter.

My point is that it is not always possible to estimate what and
how much of it is going to sell. For example, I started
carrying wall calendars and planners a few years ago. I just
picked a handful of designs. I didn't sell too many at all, and
the rest were waste. I just ordered a reasonable minimum, just
2 copies of each design.

I tried again the following year, and there was more interest,
and I even ordered more for the same year, but I still ended up
with product to discard.

2020 was the worst year; no one seemed to be interested in wall
calendars or planners at all. It was a big process to return
what I could get credit for.

2021 was a bit better because I discovered some indigenous art
designs and people seemed to like their unique look.

The following year, 2022 was another disaster. Instead of
processing the calendars for credit, it was just easier to
throw them out.

I am not carrying calendars this year - although some people
have asked me when I was going to get my 2024 stock.

For the most part, I'll just stick with product that I can
return without too much fuss and bother.

--- OpenXP 5.0.57
* Origin: (} Pointy McPointFace (21:4/106.21)

Well, unless your store is doing very badly, you usually have an idea. I certainly know how much of my top-tier products I am going to sell a given month. My boss at my other job knows how many patients from each given insurance company he is gonna have in the clinic each month, if just

I think we're talking about wildly different stores here. Insurance isn't exactly retail.. No idea what you're doing... but I'm thinking here in Aus would be Big W, K Mart, Target... more or less mixed reatail including clothing, small appliances and assorted household stuff.

In my mind clothing would be the biggest headache.. ordering in advance,
hoping its popular... Shifting what you can and doing the best you can with
the rest...

Spec


*** THE READER V4.50 [freeware]
--- SuperBBS v1.17-3 (Eval)
* Origin: Good Luck and drive offensively! (21:3/101)

Re: Re: Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!
By: Nightfox to hollowone on Mon Nov 27 2023 16:20:31

Hi, Nightfox.

My living room TV is one that I bought in 2015 - I don't want to replace it yet because it supports 3D, and I've heard they've stopped making 3D TVs..
I understand not enough people were interested in 3D, but it's frustrating when they stop making a certain feature that I actually like.

That's a good point - I have a 46" TV in my lounge which Samsung dropped support for a couple of years ago, which annoyed me no end as it was perfectly good. Sadly now it has developed pin-striping due to an iffy buffer chip, I'll probably end up "having a go" at reflowing / swapping out the chips but reading this I suddenly remembered that it's 3D capable... and the only one I have with that capability.

I'll definitely be keeping hold of it now, just for that...

BobW
--- SBBSecho 3.20-Linux
* Origin: >>> Magnum BBS <<< - bbs.magnum.uk.net (21:1/205)

On 27 Nov 2023, Nightfox said the following...

I understand not enough people were interested in 3D, but it's
frustrating when they stop making a certain feature that I actually like.

Nightfox

I wanted on very much back in those days when they were really popular. Anything respectable was $1000ish, and I had kids that were still in diapers. so raising a family and getting one wasn't going to be an option. Just when TV prices started dropping they stop making them. I bet if they were making them today at slightly higher prices than TVs are now people would buy. Seems most people I knew had kids and not extra money.

|23|04Dr|16|12Claw
|16|14Sysop |12Noverdu |14BBS |20|15Radio|10@|14HTTP://Noverdu.com:88
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--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 2021/12/24 (Linux/64)
* Origin: Noverdu BBS (21:1/210)

On 28 Nov 2023, apam said the following...

We're having cyber monday now, or maybe just yesterday.. not sure.. black friday was definitly longer that just friday.

I bought some things on ebay, and got a coupon for black friday, so am happy about that.

I don't mind the sales, it means I am more likely able to afford the
stuff I want. Although it would be nice if sale prices were regular prices, that's not going to happen. So I'm all for any excuse for a sale.

Andrew

The reason Black Friday is a whole week plus a Monday, is due to how many people have died as a result. Look up Black Friday on youtube. Watch stampedes, people fighting each other, and several other scammy things. They used to do things like the first 100 people get this deal or something like that. After several law suits they then started making people line up and then fights broke out.

Eventually they decided that just trying to have enough for everyone and putting a stop to the limited deals crap was the only solution. Its not so bad anymore.

|23|04Dr|16|12Claw
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|16|10 Standard ports for SSH/Telnet |04 WEB|14@|12HTTP://noverdu.com:808 |20|15Global Chat, Global Messaging and Games! |16|10Ditch the Unsocial Media

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A47 2021/12/24 (Linux/64)
* Origin: Noverdu BBS (21:1/210)

Re: Re: Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!
By: Spectre to hollowone on Tue Nov 28 2023 11:44 am

This wasn't any kind of indictment. I've never worked that kind of retail so I have no idea how it might work. But I can't see any supplier wanting to take stock back.. In the paint business, even if the suppliers discontinue some obscure base they won't take them back or give you a credit for them. Of course they want you to buy in anything new at full boar.

It depends on the sector.

If you buy stocks of some product that sells well nationwide but you don't get to sell very well, your supplier is likely to rebuy it from you and hand it over to some store that will sell it better than you, as long as the stock is not very old.

Usually they just tell you to F yourself if you try to apply for a return, unless the distributor is a cooperative you are a member of or something.

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Re: IMO if retail did finer management..
By: Ogg to Arelor on Tue Nov 28 2023 01:15 am

You also need to contend with expiration dates on meds, no?

Yeah, but the stuff I carry has expiration horizons of 3 to 5 years.

I sometimes have to discard overstock, but usually it is overstock they gave me as part of a deal and was forced to take. "Sure, we can sell to you this VitamineD order at half the regulñar price, but you need to order 5 boxes and also take this box of Oat Milk for free".

In the example, I might be confident I can sell all the Vitamin D within the year and I am also sure I won't ever sell the milk. I think sometimes they do this to me because they have dead stocks themselves and they don't want to store it anymore. What happens is I drink the milk myself until it expires, then discard it :-P


Local economy is in heavy contraction, so I don t buy stocks that are not guaranteed to sell just in case I may hit it big with them. That is something I used to do when I started because I needed to figure out what worked and what didn t. The only exceptions are products that are bad business but sell products that are extremely good business. For example, there isn not much money in selling cotton disks, but there is money in selling products for removing makeup. HOwever, people who buys de-makeup products also likes to buy cotton disks in the same store, so if you want to sell demakeup products you need to have cotton disks.

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Re: Re: Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!
By: Spectre to Arelor on Tue Nov 28 2023 03:14 pm

I think we're talking about wildly different stores here. Insurance isn't exactly retail.. No idea what you're doing... but I'm thinking here in Aus would be Big W, K Mart, Target... more or less mixed reatail including clothing, small appliances and assorted household stuff.

In my mind clothing would be the biggest headache.. ordering in advance, hoping its popular... Shifting what you can and doing the best you can with the rest...

My personal store is a parapharmacy. I have vitamins, suplements and hygiene products for the most part. Also orthopedia accesories since I work in close collaboration with a clinic here (which has me on the payroll as an employee for an unrelated activity).

IMO what has to be a total nightmare is selling IT products, since those lose value as fast as fruit. Would you buy a year old banana? Because I don t think many people would walk into retail and buy a year old GPU for the label price...

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Arelor wrote to hollowone <=-

Dunno. Your online store is not going to sell many barbecues in Winter,

Unless the buyers are planning to give them as Christmas gifts.



... Internal Error: The system has been taken over by sheep at line 19960
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Re: Re: Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!
By: Blue White to Arelor on Tue Nov 28 2023 08:44 am

Unless the buyers are planning to give them as Christmas gifts.

Fair point, but I don't remember seeing anybody get a bbq as a CHristmas gift ever.

We once bought a barbecue for a friend, but it was because he let us party in his home so often and we certainly bought it in summer.

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Re: Re: Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!
By: Arelor to Blue White on Tue Nov 28 2023 11:46 am

Unless the buyers are planning to give them as Christmas gifts.

Fair point, but I don't remember seeing anybody get a bbq as a CHristmas gift ever.

I imagine someone somewhere probably would like a barbecue as a gift, and/or may have bought one for someone else..

Nightfox

Dunno. Your online store is not going to sell many barbecues in Winter, nor many cough tablets in Summer. Being online helps you find customers but if you buy a seasonal dud it is not going to help as much as people thinks.

Chinese ship captains say if you have winter, there is always some place down under some other folks enjoy summer. As looks as the right wind blows your sails and the shipping costs are low, you can trade your wares worldwide.

But I know.. far from a perfect time to truly say it can work for everybody.

All I'm trying to say is one must be creative and positive outcome focused to succeed. I haven't heard any single person with complaining attitude who's won anything serious in life.

Nor I'm suggesting anything nor implying to you personally. Just trying to follow above thinking when I tried to answer your concern.

Even in US alone.. not every state or place has the same Winter in winter... like Wisconsin :)

I live in Poland and I do BBQ from February till November, and the only reason I'm not BBQing in remaining months is because xmas is traveling to visit family and January is winter vacation in most of my years.

But I can tell you that I was BBQing during New Year Eve last year with my father in law and sausages were absolutely fantastic with all the firework in the background with all the boring people who just yelled and fired them up everywhere else.

-h1

... Xerox Alto was the thing. Anything after we use is just a mere copy.

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 (Linux/64)
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Re: Re: Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!
By: hollowone to Arelor on Tue Nov 28 2023 01:37 pm

Chinese ship captains say if you have winter, there is always some place dow

If you want to go international, you need a big sales volume to back it up.

I have a nice logistics deal and still I don't think international shipment would be competitive for anything that weighted as much as a barbecue.

Also, I do barbecue all year, just that in Winter I do it in-house by putting all the foodstuff on a grill in the fireplace. If you are a BBQ lover you need to try it. Yesterday I had some ribs with baked potatoes and sauerkraut from my personal harvest. I love pouring all my hatred, pesimism and negativity out when all my stuff is fixed only :-P

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On 28 Nov 2023 at 01:56p, apam pondered and said...

We're having cyber monday now, or maybe just yesterday.. not sure.. black friday was definitly longer that just friday.

I bought some things on ebay, and got a coupon for black friday, so am happy about that.

Nice. yeah for me I am not full of ideas at the moment for stuff to get / play with etc. I think daily life has taken it's toll on me to be creative.

Kerr Avon [Blake's 7] 'I'm not expendable, I'm not stupid and I'm not going' avon[at]bbs.nz | bbs.nz | fsxnet.nz

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It depends on the sector.

Welp here in the paint game it works like Pirates of the Carribean. Take
what you can, give nothing back!

Spec


*** THE READER V4.50 [freeware]
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IMO what has to be a total nightmare is selling IT products, since those

In the past, I've seen allusion to buying a raft of stock, selling it as
close to full price as you can until you cover costs and then push anything left out the door at any price you can get for it.

Used to apply to mixed retail, I imagine something similar would work for IT
I can't see how you'd cope with the devaluation otherwise..

Spec


*** THE READER V4.50 [freeware]
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Hello Arelor!

** On Tuesday 28.11.23 - 09:15, Arelor wrote to Ogg:

I sometimes have to discard overstock, but usually it is
overstock they gave me as part of a deal and was forced to
take. "Sure, we can sell to you this VitamineD order at
half the regul├▒ar price, but you need to order 5 boxes and
also take this box of Oat Milk for free".

In the example, I might be confident I can sell all the
Vitamin D within the year and I am also sure I won't ever
sell the milk. I think sometimes they do this to me because
they have dead stocks themselves and they don't want to
store it anymore. What happens is I drink the milk myself
until it expires, then discard it :-P

That's hilarious - "drink the milk myself". Good to hear that
your industry offers freebies in that manner. In mine, the most
I can hope for is some branded shopping bags or bookmarks. :(

Last year, I participated in an ad campaign in the Globe and
Mail newspaper. The G&M apparently reaches the more educated
demographic. The ad was "free", but the catch was that I had
to order a minimum number of certain titles. Well.. I did
that, but the ad didn't really make any difference in drawing
people to the shop. Thankfully, I could simply return the
overstock several months later at my expense. The cost of
returns was surely much less than placing an ad in that paper
myself.. but their ad was just a 2-liner for my shop while the
rest of the ad was promoting some kind of Reading Week for a
particular publisher or something. You'd have to look hard to
spot my shop name in amongst other shop names as it was a group
ad.

...people who buys de-makeup products also likes to buy
cotton disks in the same store, so if you want to sell
demakeup products you need to have cotton disks.

In my industry it's not that obvious what to stock. I have to
keep in mind what my clientelle might gravitate to at any one
time. Sometimes it can be based on something that is suddenly
getting awarenes on TikTok, or the radio, or tv, or a film
based on a book.


--- OpenXP 5.0.57
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On Wed Nov 29 12:19:00 2023, Avon wrote to apam <=-

Nice. yeah for me I am not full of ideas at the moment for stuff to get / play with etc. I think daily life has taken it's toll on me to be creative.

Life can get like that, hope it gets better for you soon.

I didn't really get anything that interesting, two packages a 1 TB SSD and a Lenovo USFF PC without SSD. It's to replace the USFF HP computer I used for the ESXi server to run the BBS. I was using it for linux stuff (my main computer has windows on it so I can play games)

It's supposed to be a big storm here tonight. It doesn't look like it when I look out of the front door, but if I looked out the back door it's probably a different story.. but I don't want to get up :P

Wife is a bit nervous, we don't have any undercover parking available, and supposed to be big hail storms. We've been ok so far, so touch wood.. not that we can do anything about it if it does happen.

Will probably unplug PCs if the storm eventuates, I hate doing that, but I'd hate it worse if the one time I didn't was the time the powerlines got hit.

Andrew

=== TitanMail/winnt v1.2.4

--- Talisman v0.49-dev (FreeBSD/amd64)
* Origin: Smuggler's Cove - scove.talismanbbs.com:2323 (21:1/182)

Arelor wrote to Spectre <=-

IMO what has to be a total nightmare is selling IT products, since
those lose value as fast as fruit. Would you buy a year old banana? Because I don t think many people would walk into retail and buy a year old GPU for the label price...

Most IT products do indeed lose value pretty quick. OTOH, some folks still like the older Raspberry Pi models because the projects they are working on
do not require all of the upgrades. But by and large, most stuff gets
eclipsed pretty quickly.


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Spectre wrote to Arelor <=-

Used to apply to mixed retail, I imagine something similar would work
for IT I can't see how you'd cope with the devaluation otherwise..

Yeah some hobbiest somewhere would want that older chip version or whatever
for some retro project they are working on.


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claw wrote to apam <=-

The reason Black Friday is a whole week plus a Monday, is due to how
many people have died as a result. Look up Black Friday on youtube.
Watch stampedes, people fighting each other, and several other scammy things. They used to do things like the first 100 people get this deal
or something like that. After several law suits they then started
making people line up and then fights broke out.

If you watch any "Black Friday" videos from the US this year, you will
likely see a couple of things:

1) some videos that show hardly anyone there when the doors open -- that is
not heard of, even after Black Friday was extended beyond Friday, but
happened a lot this year.

2) other videos where there are some big knock-down drag-out fights in
malls that don't appear directly related to the shopping experience, i.e.
they didn't happen when the stores opened and people were fighting to get
in, but rather in the common areas and food courts.

You will also find some mass shoplifting videos.

The fighting ones look more violent than anything I ever remember seeing
from the old Black Friday. People having clothes ripped off, being dragged
by close and hair, large groups fighting each other, etc.

Part of the "Black Friday" extension has less to do with what used to
happen on Fridays as it does with an attempt to compete with online
retailers who started "Cyber Monday" a few years back and also extended
some of their deals into the weekend leading up to that Monday, which is
the Black Friday weekend.



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Arelor wrote to Blue White <=-

Unless the buyers are planning to give them as Christmas gifts.

Fair point, but I don't remember seeing anybody get a bbq as a
CHristmas gift ever.

We once bought a barbecue for a friend, but it was because he let us
party in his home so often and we certainly bought it in summer.

I honestly don't ever remember anyone getting one, either. I am thinking
along the lines of a husband or father maybe receiving one from the wife or kids, but that'd probably more likely happen at Father's Day (during the
Summer here).

I did receive an electric grill for Christmas once, but that is the closest
I have seen anyone to receiving a bbq at that time of year. ;)

Saw your other post about BBQing on the fire in the house... sounds
delicious. ;)


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On 29 Nov 2023, Blue White said the following...

claw wrote to apam <=-

The reason Black Friday is a whole week plus a Monday, is due to how many people have died as a result. Look up Black Friday on youtube. Watch stampedes, people fighting each other, and several other scammy things. They used to do things like the first 100 people get this de or something like that. After several law suits they then started making people line up and then fights broke out.

If you watch any "Black Friday" videos from the US this year, you will likely see a couple of things:

1) some videos that show hardly anyone there when the doors open -- that is not heard of, even after Black Friday was extended beyond Friday, but happened a lot this year.

2) other videos where there are some big knock-down drag-out fights in malls that don't appear directly related to the shopping experience, i.e. they didn't happen when the stores opened and people were fighting to get in, but rather in the common areas and food courts.

You will also find some mass shoplifting videos.

The fighting ones look more violent than anything I ever remember seeing from the old Black Friday. People having clothes ripped off, being dragged by close and hair, large groups fighting each other, etc.

Part of the "Black Friday" extension has less to do with what used to happen on Fridays as it does with an attempt to compete with online retailers who started "Cyber Monday" a few years back and also extended some of their deals into the weekend leading up to that Monday, which is the Black Friday weekend.

I'm glad it's now more just stupid people being stupid rather than the greed of insanity going on.

|23|04Dr|16|12Claw
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On 29 Nov 2023 at 08:24p, apam pondered and said...

Life can get like that, hope it gets better for you soon.

thanks :) yep you and me both, I need a holiday I think...

It's supposed to be a big storm here tonight. It doesn't look like it
when I look out of the front door, but if I looked out the back door
it's probably a different story.. but I don't want to get up :P

hopefully it went ok?

Will probably unplug PCs if the storm eventuates, I hate doing that, but I'd hate it worse if the one time I didn't was the time the powerlines
got hit.

I think the storm you guys have had/are having is coming our way in a few days - eep!

Kerr Avon [Blake's 7] 'I'm not expendable, I'm not stupid and I'm not going' avon[at]bbs.nz | bbs.nz | fsxnet.nz

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 (Linux/64)
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thanks :) yep you and me both, I need a holiday I think...

Queensland is nice this time of year.. :)

hopefully it went ok?

Yeah, turned out to be a bit of a non-event here. No hail, and only
rained for a little bit, there was thunderstorms, but not so close that I
was worried about it hitting a pole.

I think the storm you guys have had/are having is coming our way in a
few days - eep!

Well, if it's the same storm no need to worry. The one adelaide had a few
days ago might be a bit different, was apparently quiet a bit of flooding.

Andrew


--- Talisman v0.49-dev (FreeBSD/amd64)
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don t think many people would walk into retail and buy a year old GPU
for the label price...

What's entertaining about this particular example, is that GPUs have been something where the price very well might hold up over that year.

E.g., just read an article about how Nvidia 4090 cards now go for more than they did 6 months ago.

But, yeah, I imagine this is a case where you would've sold your entire stock already, or the products where you didn't sell your entire stock are ones that aren't worth the price anymore.

And probably why, when I've seen IT stuff at non-electronics stores, it tends to be things like cheap USB sticks or other stuff that's fairly cheap, and that a year-old version is probably fine for what you need it for.

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 (Linux/64)
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Also, I do barbecue all year, just that in Winter I do it in-house by putting all the foodstuff on a grill in the fireplace. If you are a BBQ lover you need to try it. Yesterday I had some ribs with baked potatoes and sauerkraut from my personal harvest. I love pouring all my hatred, pesimism and negativity out when all my stuff is fixed only :-P

Nice. My fireplace wasn't designed for such experiment so when I say I do
BBQ all year. I mean outside. No negative Celsius temperature can scare me
away to fire it up and then bring the food back home or take an extra
blanket outside for family consumption on the deck.

The only blocker that I still find reasonable is wind.. this can make grill fire freaking dangerous. especially if you mix charcoal with real wood.

But if winter is frost beyond measure I still use Raclette table grill, placed on the dining table. It's electric, you have small shovels where you can put cheese and potatoes with veggies to get grilled and melted together and the top platter is regular electric grill I put sliced chicken or beef.

It works very well as BBQ equivalent for the winter time in my case.

-h1

... Xerox Alto was the thing. Anything after we use is just a mere copy.

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A48 (Linux/64)
* Origin: 2o fOr beeRS bbs>>>20ForBeers.com:1337 (21:2/150)

claw wrote to Blue White <=-

2) other videos where there are some big knock-down drag-out fights in malls that don't appear directly related to the shopping experience, i.e. they didn't happen when the stores opened and people were fighting to get in, but rather in the common areas and food courts.

You will also find some mass shoplifting videos.

The fighting ones look more violent than anything I ever remember seeing from the old Black Friday. People having clothes ripped off, being dragged by close and hair, large groups fighting each other, etc.

I'm glad it's now more just stupid people being stupid rather than the greed of insanity going on.

Yeah, while I wish it wasn't happening at all, it is good that at least one
of the seven deadly sins appears to have been reduced in the equation. :D



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On 30 Nov 2023 at 08:13p, apam pondered and said...

Queensland is nice this time of year.. :)

do you work part time for the local tourism board :)

Yeah, turned out to be a bit of a non-event here. No hail, and only
rained for a little bit, there was thunderstorms, but not so close that I was worried about it hitting a pole.

that's good.

Well, if it's the same storm no need to worry. The one adelaide had a few days ago might be a bit different, was apparently quiet a bit of
flooding.

I think it is, it's hitting the South Island of New Zealand now and onto the North Island over the coming day or so, not as bad here, just wet...

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Kerr Avon [Blake's 7] 'I'm not expendable, I'm not stupid and I'm not going' avon[at]bbs.nz | bbs.nz | fsxnet.nz

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