Ten minutes ago I remembered I had to pick up something at the local hardware store. I do my damndest to stay out of the wallyworlds and the homo-cheapos, and give the local stores my money... except that at two minutes past five in the afternoon, the local place is closed.
This is my biggest bitch about retail. Small independents whine and cry about how walmart and Hode-po underprice them... but they make no effort to give local customers a couple of hours, after work, to shop on the way home. All the local retailers around here pull this shyt. I want to buy fish at the local market, not the A&P - but to do that means making a special trip in the middle of the day. I want to be able to support my local hardware store, the drugstore, etc. - but if they don't want my money after five o'clock, my only choice is to go to a national chain.
The only way these local shops are going to survive in the modern world is through customer service, which the sure as hell can't deliver when the doors are locked and the lights are out. They are just shooting themselves in the foot, and ****ing off the customers they need.
Now I'm sentenced to drive ten miles, to a place I hate, to wait in line with the mouth-breathers and mongoloids, to spend money with a business whose philosophy and practices I loathe, for no reason other than I need something NOW, and they're the only place open. I don't expect 24 hour service, but I don't think its unreasonable to ask a business to give it's working customers a little time in the early evening. Or they can lock up ant five and go home, and keep whining about walmart until they lock it up for good.
-------------------- "A wise man concerns himself with the truth, not with what people believe." - Aristotle
Cam Bortz Finest Kind Signs Pondside Iron works 256 S. Broad St. Pawcatuck, Ct. 06379 "Award winning Signs since 1988" Posts: 3051 | From: Pawcatuck,Connecticut USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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I went into a local business the other day to get some paint mixed. Kind of a last minute thing.
It was Saturday and it was 15 minutes to 3:00. I walked in and asked if I could get some paint mixed and the guy said, kind of whining..."Well, we close at 3:00, I don't know..."
I asked if it was 3:00 now and was he saying he couldn't mix some paint for me and then close???
He whined some more and I told him to just forget it and politely walked out.
I know I wouldn't do that to a customer. There are many times I will stay late to meet someone about a job or go to their place after hours. Whatever it takes.
What if I had looked around and bought more stuff while waiting on the paint? His loss.
Sounds like a great call to arms at the local Chamber of Commerce - or perhaps an "open letter" to small business in the local papers.
-------------------- Jon Aston MARKETING PARTNERS "Strategy, Marketing and Business Development" Tel 705-719-9209 Posts: 1724 | From: Barrie, ON, CANADA | Registered: Sep 2000
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At the risk of sounding like a real snot.... maybe if you both would have done your shopping earlier in the day instead of waiting till the last minute, this would not have happened.
I know what it's like to be busy, and I try to frequent the small guy-type businesses myself. But a lack of planning on your parts do not necessarily make those businesses the bad guy.
Love..."Miss Know-it-all"
-------------------- That is like a Mr. Potato Head with all the pieces in the wrong place. -Russ McMullin Posts: 8834 | From: Butler, PA, USA | Registered: Jan 2001
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Totally agree! Doesn't take to many beans to figure it out, but they do the same thing here. As a signshop on main street I stayed open an hour later and all day on Saturday just for that reason.....oh and don't get sick at noon either. You won't find the clinic open 'till 1:00.
-------------------- Chuck Gallagher Pro Graphics Signs by Design Cabool, MO 417.962.3291 "I grew up in Letterville" Posts: 776 | From: Cabool, Mo. USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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Same thing here. The main street shops bitch & moan about being driven out by the chains, but drive down mainstreet at 5:15 and the only businesses not totally deserted are the bars. And they're packed.
Sometimes I do manage to get in town during the day, but it isn't common. Think about how many people out there work 9-5 (or hours close to those). Basically these businesses are saying "go to walmart, we don't want your business"
Ernie, my bank has me spoiled. Open til 7 all week & 2 on Saturdays.
-------------------- Chris Welker Wildfire Signs Indiana, Pa Posts: 4254 | From: Indiana, PA | Registered: Mar 2001
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but what takes the cake...is the fukn post office...4 people and they all have to take lunch at the same time??? wtf is that shyt??? they actually close for 45mins at lunch time...ya know when other working folks need to get their mail or mail something priority...they suck.
-------------------- Karyn Bush Simply Not Ordinary, LLC Bartlett, NH 603-383-9955 www.snosigns.com info@snosigns.com Posts: 3516 | From: Bartlett, NH USA | Registered: Jan 2001
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I know how frustrating it is to not be able to buy what you need when you need it. Fortunately, in our local small town (pop. 3500) the local businesses have taken the bull by the horns and stay open 7 days a week. 8am to 9pm Mon to Friday and 9 or 10 till 6 on the weekend. No need to head to the big city for stuff!!! And those who ARE staying open ARE thriving!
In these days of 7 day a week booze sales, ATM's, internet banking, online purchasing and instant gratification, you HAVE to conform to the norm or perish.
Just my Canadian point of view.
-------------------- Dave Grundy retired in Chelem,Yucatan,Mexico/Hensall,Ontario,Canada 1-519-262-3651 Canada 011-52-1-999-102-2923 Mexico cell 1-226-785-8957 Canada/Mexico home
posted
The registry of motor vehicles wins top honors for being not only inconvienient, but overly time consuming as well....second to none.
I especially enjoy leaving work to spend 3 hours in line only to find out that there is some obscure reason that my purpose for being there will be thwarted by a robotic human with the charm and grace of a block of cheese.
Rapid
PS: My apologies to cheese for the analogy.
[ August 12, 2004, 06:43 PM: Message edited by: Ray Rheaume ]
-------------------- Ray Rheaume Rapidfire Design 543 Brushwood Road North Haverhill, NH 03774 rapidfiredesign@hotmail.com 603-787-6803
I like my paint shaken, not stirred. Posts: 5648 | From: North Haverhill, New Hampshire | Registered: Apr 2003
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I guess I'm on the other side of the fence. I HATE it when people assume that because they work 9-5, monday to saturday, that I should enjoy a phone call about a sign right as I sit down to supper, or on Sunday afternoon. I also hate that wherever I go, people see me and say, "Oh, ya, I've been meaning to drop by and see you...how much would a sign be, and I'd like this and this and this on it" while I've got my arms full of groceries.
Do YOU guys stay open until 8:00 at night and work on Sundays for the conveniece of others??? If you do, you're a better (wo)man than me!
Suelynn
-------------------- "It is never too late to be what you might have been." -George Eliot
Suelynn Sedor Sedor Signs Carnduff, SK Canada Posts: 2863 | From: Carnduff, SK Canada | Registered: Nov 1998
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Cam - don't you just love it when you are forced to visit that dreadful place, Wally World and you just have an item or two, then your stuck in line with the gem doing a weeks worth of grocery shopping. You have to wait because out of 30 registers, there's only one open!
Karyn - Our local post office used to pull that crap too. They recently just started staying open without closing for lunch. Gee, and they only staff the place with 4 people!
-------------------- Mike Berry New England Posts: 534 | From: New England | Registered: Jan 2002
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Suelynn..I answer the phone in the evening and if it is a regular private individual customer that I have done work for before, I DO talk to them and take some notes. (Regular corporate customers NEVER call after 5, but if they did I REALLY enjoy hearing from them!! ).
I DO work on Saturdays and Sundays when necessary, and usually take the Monday, or whatever day is available, off when there is nothing else to do because I worked on the weekend.
-------------------- Dave Grundy retired in Chelem,Yucatan,Mexico/Hensall,Ontario,Canada 1-519-262-3651 Canada 011-52-1-999-102-2923 Mexico cell 1-226-785-8957 Canada/Mexico home
posted
I'm kinda on both sides of the fence on this one.
Yeah, it sucks that the local hardware and tool shops aren't open at all on weekends, and most of them are closed on Mondays.. then closed some unspecified time smack in the middle of the day .. but Hodepo here isn't much better either, only open til 8pm, higher prices (yeah, I can get stuff cheaper at the local shops) and usually out of stock of the particular item you need regardless of what it is, only after driving 15 minutes out of your way to get there..
On the other side of that is, usually when I realize I need something, it's the last minute so there's no time to plan for it.. which means if it's Friday and I need it NOW, I have no choice but to wait til Tuesday and by that time I'll forget what it was I needed.
The third side of that is, I really cannot expect other businesses to do things I don't do in my own business. There are times I just split in the middle of the day and hit the lake just cause I can, but any time someone needs to call and get ahold of me (Saturday, Sunday, evenings, etc) I'm there. Sure, I'd rather not get any phone calls past 8pm (cause I'm usually nice and relaxed by that time and so far out of work mode) but if someone's calling to place an order, I'll deal with it and gladly take their money any time they wish to call.
-------------------- "If I share all my wisdom I won't have any left for myself."
Mike Pipes stickerpimp.com Lake Havasu, AZ mike@stickerpimp.com Posts: 8746 | From: Lake Havasu, AZ USA | Registered: Jun 2000
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...my cousin Vinney was in Pawcatuck, Ct. trying to buy a sign the other day at 5 pm & the shop keeper was racing out the door for the hardware store in such a hurry he didn't even see my cousin!! wassup wit dat
..or just another way to say Suelynn beat me to my devils advocate point of view.
Big Orange & Lowes are both open until 10 here 6 days a week & 8 on Sunday. I do a lot of projects at home on the weekend & go gang busters all day getting the project to the next level where I can see far enough ahead finally to draw up another material list for the hardware store. I love to go down there weary & filthy, but mentally charged about finishing a project & get all my stuff the night before, so I can start in on further home improvements bright & early the next day w/o a dull trip to the store bringing me down.
Even though I am the king of procrastination, forgetfullness and last minute trips.
We all like to go home on time and for supper, It's too bad we all don't have 135,000 emloyees workign for 2 bucks an hour and know squat just so we can keep the lights on and doors open, selling items made in 3rd world countries, by companies employing 7 year olds working for free.
They may be open but they still suck!
-------------------- Bob Rochon Creative Signworks Millbury, MA 508-865-7330
"Life is Like an Echo, what you put out, comes back to you." Posts: 5149 | From: Millbury, Mass. U.S. | Registered: Nov 1998
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Hey watch it!!! Some of my best friends are mouth-breathers and mongoloids!! (hee-hee!)
-------------------- John Cordova Gitano Design Studio Albuquerque, NM Posts: 268 | From: Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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I thought that people went to Wally Mart brcause it's cheap. On the inside walls of Wally Mart, I would like to see large pictures of the people would make the stuff they sell. And their living conditions as well.Maybe even a giant 4'x8' print of their take-home pay for one week. "Payable to Lou See Wok...$25.76 for 40 hours work.
-------------------- Signs by Alicia Jennings (Mudflap Girl) Tacoma, WA Since 1987 Have Lipstick, will travel. Posts: 3820 | From: Tacoma, WA. U.S.A. | Registered: Dec 1999
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here in pensacola, we have 4 WALLYWORLD SUPERSTORES!!!!! 2 LOWES, 1 HOME DEPOT!!! and maybe couple more i dont go to!!! there are some small mom & pop hardware stores here...still. most of these stock obscure items, make screens, cut glass, etc etc. the only time i EVER ENTER a wallyworld is after 11 P.M.!!!!!! no joke. during the day you cant find a parking spot, you will stand in the checkout line for one item. all this in one of the LOWEST PAY AREAS of florida.....
-------------------- joe pribish-A SIGN MINT 2811 longleaf Dr. pensacola, fl 32526 850-637-1519 BEWARE THE TRUTH.....YOU MAY NOT LIKE WHAT YOU FIND Posts: 11582 | From: pensacola, fl. usa | Registered: Nov 1998
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Ha Ha sounds like Mr Bortz was having a bad day, maybe he couldn't get out on his bike or had got LOST on his way to the store (he does have a habit of doing that you know) Imagine the poor shop keeper thinking "Hmmm well I've been here since 5.30 am stocktaking, now do I stay open an extra hour just in case a miserable looking signmaker comes in for a box of woodscrews and 3 yards of rope or do I go home to see my fameily that I have only had supper with twice in the last month?" I absolutely LOATHE the 24 hour society we have become, Cam how did your Granfather manage his life? without 24 hour service? do you think maybe he got his shyt together, organised his life and didn't complain like a spoiled child?
Hee Hee and if that don't send him off on another rant nothing will
-------------------- Steve Broughton Alpha Grafix Signs Lowfields Road Benington, Boston Lincolnshire, England Posts: 315 | From: Boston, Lincolnshire, England | Registered: Aug 2001
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Secondly, we are open five days a week. "with other hours available by appointment" as it says on my voice mail and on my studio door. So, in essence, you can do business with me anytime you want.
Our local hardware is much the same way here, except they are open til 5:30. Wal*Mart just upgraded to a Supercenter here, and the locals are calling them the "merchant of death" I say get off your duff and do something about it. Everytime a local merchant goes belly up, they blame Walmart. Lets face it, the "mouth breathers" need a place to shop too. Walmart has been in our area for about ten years, and many local business have come and gone. But, no more so than in towns without Walmart.
It's much like people blaming 911 for their business failure when in fact they were struggling with bankrupsy on 910 too. Walmart fills a need for modern society. If you don't like how they do business, don't shop there.
I personally don't care to shop there, I prefer to shop locally. But, if I NEED it, I'll go buy it. And, you would be amazed with how many "local merchants" I run into the few times I am there.
""Good judgment comes from experience; and a lot of that comes from bad judgment" - Will Rogers Posts: 3488 | From: Beautiful Newaygo, Michigan | Registered: Mar 2003
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Ah, Stephen, ye know me all too well... actually I spent most of the day out put-putting around on the new (actually quite old) Norton Commando, so had to work a bit late to catch up. And having indulged myself with a rant and a couple of lagers, I went home, not Walmart. Just couldn't face it. What I needed, I got this morning at the local.
Grandpa didn't need a hardware store. When he needed a woodscrew, he dug ore from the pit, smelted some iron, and forged it himself. I used to do that until the government said I couldn't dig my own iron ore anymore, thus turning me into a spoiled child dependent on shopkeepers.
-------------------- "A wise man concerns himself with the truth, not with what people believe." - Aristotle
Cam Bortz Finest Kind Signs Pondside Iron works 256 S. Broad St. Pawcatuck, Ct. 06379 "Award winning Signs since 1988" Posts: 3051 | From: Pawcatuck,Connecticut USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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I normally stay open until 6 every day and sometimes 7. I occasionally work saturdays doing trucks,but never on sunday. My shop is five miles from my home and in another phone area. People that call me at home, I tell them to call the shop number and leave a message and I will call them when I am back in. I actually had a guy come by the house on a sunday wanting me to go open the shop and cut him some boat numbers. Some you just cant educate. I do agree that some of the small shops in our towns are not fighting back, such as staying open a little longer, treating customers as important commodities, etc. Wally world has everything in one place. Thats a hard act to compete with. I buy all I can from the local merchants and usually will try to get everything I need before the shops close, But, there are times when I need something after hours and I am stuck in the same situation as Cam. It gets bothersome to have to stand in line when there are 20 registers but only two open. But,thats showbiz mom. Chuck Davis has a font called wal-mart people. You'll recognize some of them for sure.
-------------------- Maker of fine signs and other creative stuff. Located at 109 N. Cumberland ave. Harlan, Ky. 40831 606-837-0242 Posts: 4172 | From: Ages-Brookside, Ky. Up the Holler... | Registered: Jul 1999
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I must be one of those "mongoloids" because I love Wal-Mart. I bet I shop there twice a week or more.
Here's why: Their prices are inexpensive, they usually have what I want, they're open 24 hours,they're clean and the help is usually friendly.
However: I try always to buy USA or "friendly" country manufactured products.....and avoid products made in China wherever I can, even if it means paying double. But admittedly, that is for personal and political reasons. It can be difficult to find certain things at WalMart (or anywhere) that aren't made in China.
I see WalMart as a good thing: They provide jobs to many people in rural areas that are disabled, slightly mentally impaired, or uneducated. This gives them an opportunity to make some money and feel proud of their achievments where they otherwise wouldn't have had that opportunity. Better this than collecting welfare. (hmmmmm....maybe I should apply?! )
And my favorite thing about WalMart??? They drove Kmart out of business. Before WalMart came in, Kmart was the only discount retailer in the area....and they never had what you needed, had rude employees, very few employees and checkout clerks, and had a very shabby appearance overall. Just my opinion.
For those who think a business should close at 5, I guess you only do work for huge 9-5 corporations. Fine, I'll still answer my phone at 7 pm when the truck owner/operators (who are on their last run at 5 pm) get home & get the crud washed off and can finally call or the people starting their new business while still working for someone else or the volunteer fire department calls because all the volunteers work real jobs.
As for hardware stores and other local stores that close at 5, would it really kill them to stagger their shifts so this week Joe comes in at 10 and works til 7, next week it's Steve's turn? I'm glad so many can shut down in the middle of the day to go shop there, but with the amount of people who work for others from 9 to 5 and will never see the place, they're being driven to shop at junk-mart & the box stores, which is helping to shut down the local stores.
-------------------- Chris Welker Wildfire Signs Indiana, Pa Posts: 4254 | From: Indiana, PA | Registered: Mar 2001
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i remember years ago that in the state of maine all stores were closed on sunday...no mall even. i bet they lost a lot of revenue...that has changed in the last 25 years. i personally am a bytch...i don't feel i have to even think about answering my phone after 5pm or weekends...providing its a friend or someone i wish to speak with. i work enough without having to answer the phone after hours. but i must say there is always a truck or van in my driveway every weekend so i can accomodate a customer...and i also go on location after hours to letter...but i hate to answer the phone! i can't help it! but....thank god for caller id!
oh and i am a mongoloid...love walmart...and looking forward to home depot or lowes! i'm all for instant gratification....so i guess that makes me selfish...oh well i guess i'll burn in hell with all my friends.
-------------------- Karyn Bush Simply Not Ordinary, LLC Bartlett, NH 603-383-9955 www.snosigns.com info@snosigns.com Posts: 3516 | From: Bartlett, NH USA | Registered: Jan 2001
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quote:they usually have what I want, they're open 24 hours,they're clean and the help is usually friendly.
That's part of my issue with them here. If I have 5 things on my list - they probably don't have 3 or 4 of them. Our store is dingy, the merchandise is usually laying on the floor where some brat threw it. The employees are barely civil and very few of them speak english.
I'll gladly pay more for something at Target even though it also means driving 6 miles to go there rather than 1/2 mile to Wal-Mart. EVERY SINGLE TIME I give in and go to Wal-Mart I tell my husband I will never go in again. Once in a while the convenience of it being close wins out.
Oh and Todd don't even get me started on the Made in China thing. My 7 year old asked me the other day why everything says Made in China on it. I will gladly and proudly pay more for something Made in the USA. (or Canada )
Has anyone seen that John Ratzenburger show on the Travel Channel about products that are Made in the USA? I think that's the title too. It's a great show. He travels to the companies and does the tours. He's done places like Welch's, Harley-Davidson, Titileist, Zippo, John Deere, New Era. Catch it if you have a chance.
-------------------- Kimberly Zanetti Purcell www.amethystProductivity.com Folsom, CA email: Kimberly@AmethystProductivity.com
“Organizing is what you do before you do something, so that when you do it, it is not all mixed up.” AA Milne Posts: 3722 | From: Folsom, CA | Registered: Dec 2001
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I'm sure this will torque a lot of people off, but I'm never open. I don't have regular hours and I don't let clients come to see me. I only see the clients that I want to see, and then, only by appointment. If they do anything to make my life miserable, they won't do business with me twice. My clients are very loyal and nice, because I treat them the same way.
If I sound like a spoiled child...yup! I decided last year that I was fed up with groveling and kissing butt. After 23 years, I took a second shift supervisor's position at a local printing company and I work 4- 10 hour days (2:30 to 1 am) I'm making great money and I get a three day weekend every week. I now only take the jobs that I want and I love it. Self-employment is not for me anymore. Golf anyone?
-------------------- Terry Baird Baird Signs 3484 West Lake Rd. Canandaigua, NY 14424 Posts: 790 | From: Canandaigua, New York | Registered: Dec 2002
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As much as I dislike the mega chains, I sometimes wish there was one colser than a hundred miles from here.
A couple nights ago I was doing some de-construction at home and found my chain saw ripping through a hidden copper pipe. I shut off the mail valve and watched as the water spray diminished to a drip.
So here I am, digging through cans of fittings and finding everything but a copper cap to sweat on. It was after five, so I'd be out of water all night. My daughter was lathered with shampoo in the shower when I cut the pipe. Between a neighbor's copper can and mine, we put together an assortment that got us back in business.
I would have gladly driven the ten miles to town and back for the right fitting.
-------------------- The SignShop Mendocino, California
Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that's creativity. — Charles Mingus Posts: 6722 | From: Mendocino, CA. USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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I know this is off topic...sorry...but here's a weird Made In China story that I couldn't resist posting.
Kimberly: You're cool.
-------------------- Jon Aston MARKETING PARTNERS "Strategy, Marketing and Business Development" Tel 705-719-9209 Posts: 1724 | From: Barrie, ON, CANADA | Registered: Sep 2000
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Everyone is correct here. If you have a successful shop, then your philosophy and business practices work. I make decisions on a case by case basis. Big money = a@@ kissing. Marginal customers that want me to sacrifice my time,(after my hours and theirs), they can get $*@#*$ or pay out the a$$!
Who has the same philosophy?
-------------------- Jeff Poitevint Sign-A-Rama Augusta 4015-M Washington Rd. Martinez, Ga. 30907 706-364-6393 augustasigns@comcast.net www.augustasigns.com Posts: 102 | From: Augusta, Ga. | Registered: May 2004
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Glad to hear your on board with making China walk the plank....I thought I was one of the few.
You gotta come shopping at a WalMart in the good ol' midwest....maybe it's different here....they gleen their employees from a batch of rural country folks...down home country bumpkins at the one closest to me. And I almost always find what I need, but ours is a SUPERcenter WalMart....it has the full grocery store, auto service and even an Optometrist.
I think they even deliver babies and do emergency appendectomies.
And...it's open 24 hours....so if you get kicked out of the house you have somewhere warm to go...just put on a pair of slippers there, grab a sleeping bag frome the camping section, heat up a frozen dinner from the grocery section in a microwave from home appliances and watch a good DVD in the electronics dept. What more could a guy want?
posted
There are some of us that like to buy organic produce and cotton shirts and things that are to the benefit of the poor through co-op ventures. Purchases mean more ideologically than getting the cheapest price at the most convenient moment.
-------------------- The SignShop Mendocino, California
Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that's creativity. — Charles Mingus Posts: 6722 | From: Mendocino, CA. USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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If you haven't had your personal taste of hell.... try making a visit to the California Dept. of Motor Vehicles! The Devil, took control way back when.
CrazyJack
-------------------- Jack Wills Studio Design Works 1465 E.Hidalgo Circle Nye Beach / Newport, OR Posts: 2914 | From: Rocklin, CA. USA | Registered: Dec 1998
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Imagine the poor shop keeper thinking "Hmmm well I've been here since 5.30 am stocktaking, now do I stay open an extra hour just in case a miserable looking signmaker comes in for a box of woodscrews and 3 yards of rope or do I go home to see my fameily that I have only had supper with twice in the last month?" 
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