Does your Home Depot and Lowe's have free wifi?
Fred
errand SHE put you on to get the upstairs bedroom painted some color
you'll hate, pop out your wifi smartphones and logon to the free wifi in
both of these places. I'm using Home Depot's nice satellite-based wifi
at night from the Waffle House down the street around the corner and,
dispite them blocking YouTube and the other major streaming sites, it's
really nice free wifi. Up and down speeds are 1.5Mbps T-1 rates off the
satellite, especially after the store closes at night and there's no
loads. The video blocking problem is easy to defeat. Just use a webpage
not related directly to YouTube to access youtube through a popup window
from that webpages seems to defeat the blocking. Use
http://www.streaming-madness.net which uses mostly youtube science videos
through a streaming Flash app. Its IP is not on the block list.
Every day I find lots of new wifi using the high powered Alfa external
USB adapter. I got the 9dbi antenna in for it today and did some
wardriving with the adapter suction cupped to the tailgate window outside
the Smart car with the 9dbi antenna sticking up above it. There was page
after page after page of wifi stations to choose from, all over town!
Lots of home stations had no passwords at all and most still had the
manufacturer's default SSID! They didn't even change the default
"admin" passwords....amazing.
No, I didn't crap on their stupidity, if that's what you're thinking.
Never bite the hand that feeds you FREE INTERNET anywhere in town.
Who needs expensive sellphone data? This place is LOADED if you have the
right high powered adapter stuck to a window!
John Navas
<Xns9E39206357A...@74.209.131.13>, Fred <nob...@here.net>
wrote:
>Next time you have your smartphones at Home Depot or Lowe's on that
>errand SHE put you on to get the upstairs bedroom painted some color
>you'll hate, pop out your wifi smartphones and logon to the free wifi in
>both of these places. I'm using Home Depot's nice satellite-based wifi
>at night from the Waffle House down the street around the corner and,
>dispite them blocking YouTube and the other major streaming sites, it's
>really nice free wifi. Up and down speeds are 1.5Mbps T-1 rates off the
>satellite, especially after the store closes at night and there's no
>loads. ...
Been there; done that (legitimately when shopping in the store).
Unfortunately, signal coverage in stores I've used has had lots of
weak/dead spots, and service has often been sluggish even when I have a
good connection. I usually get much better performance over 3G
cellular, and since I have an unlimited data package, I often turn Wi-Fi
off when in Home Depot.
--
John
"If the only tool you have is a hammer,
you will see every problem as a nail."
-Abraham Maslow
Carl
Home Depot? All I want to do is get out of there ASAP. Do they now have
little cafe tables and serve you lattes? Has going there now become a family
outing, instead of, say, taking the kids to the Smithsonian?
Personally, I dislike Home Depot and Loews. I go to Ace Hardware which is
more local, smaller and more convenient to get around, faster to get in and
out of, and has 95% of the things I need these days. I'll forgo the free
wifi, thanks.
nospam
<crot...@NOSPAMoptonline.net> wrote:
> I am curious as to how one has time to surf the internet when shopping at a
> Home Depot? All I want to do is get out of there ASAP. Do they now have
> little cafe tables and serve you lattes? Has going there now become a family
> outing, instead of, say, taking the kids to the Smithsonian?
people don't go to home depot to surf. they go there to shop and while
there, they use the wifi there to check prices at other stores, do a
little research on what product is best, take a photo and email it to
the other half to evaluate, etc.
Fred
$607e...@cv.net:
> taking the kids to the Smithsonian?
>
When you get to the Smithsonian, have a little fun with the staff.
Ask them why the big Edison exhibit is lit up and powered by Tesla's
multiphase AC and Tesla's flourescent lights and the heating and cooling
in the exhibit runs off Tesla's induction motors.
The bastards at Smithsonian refused to even accept a bust of Tesla from
some elementary school class the teacher of which is a Tesla fan. Stop
the first guide you find and ask them were the massive Tesla exhibit hall
is located so you can see all the thousands of Tesla inventions that make
our world so electrified, radios, remote controls, etc.
(Don't look, there isn't one. Tesla isn't even mentioned by these
snobbish bastards from academia.)
Fred
news:231120101416352007%nos...@nospam.invalid:
Not here. You can't connect to lowes.com from Home Depot or vice-
versa....(c;]
Best Buy is the worst. They do everything they can to prevent you from
price checking! I pocket my Cricket aircard plugged into my Cradlepoint
pocket router before entering the store. From their own laptop, I
connect to my pocket router and find the very laptop tens of percent
cheaper elsewhere. "How come this laptop is so expensive when buy.com
has it for $380 less money?"
As I trundle away, they're tracing their network back to find out who
screwed up and didn't block buy.com from the servers. The Geek Squad
never seems to catch on by looking to see WHO it's connected to....(c;]
JC Dill
> "Carl"<crot...@NOSPAMoptonline.net> wrote in news:4cec1ad7$0$7116
> $607e...@cv.net:
>
>> taking the kids to the Smithsonian?
> (Don't look, there isn't one. Tesla isn't even mentioned by these
> snobbish bastards from academia.)
False:
http://www.teslasociety.com/dctrip.htm
jc
DevilsPGD
<nob...@here.net> was claimed to have wrote:
>As I trundle away, they're tracing their network back to find out who
>screwed up and didn't block buy.com from the servers. The Geek Squad
>never seems to catch on by looking to see WHO it's connected to....(c;]
Well that, plus they only have a few seconds to figure it out since once
your access point goes out of range, the laptop jumps to their own wifi.
Carl
> In article <4cec1ad7$0$7116$607e...@cv.net>, Carl
> <crot...@NOSPAMoptonline.net> wrote:
>
>> I am curious as to how one has time to surf the internet when
>> shopping at a Home Depot? All I want to do is get out of there
>> ASAP. Do they now have little cafe tables and serve you lattes? Has
>> going there now become a family outing, instead of, say, taking the
>> kids to the Smithsonian?
>
> people don't go to home depot to surf. they go there to shop and while
> there, they use the wifi there to check prices at other stores,
>
wifi system for its shoppers- price comparison with other stores- great
business success model indeed: the store pays so that you can find a better
price elsewhere. I like it...
>
>do a little research on what product is best,
>
no longer find in the aisles of a Home Depot- and the ones now adding to
that 10% unemployment figure...
>
>take a photo and email it to the other half to evaluate, etc.
>
I get your ideas. Just a-foolin' around with ya. Thanks.
DevilsPGD
<crot...@NOSPAMoptonline.net> was claimed to have wrote:
>nospam wrote:
>> In article <4cec1ad7$0$7116$607e...@cv.net>, Carl
>> <crot...@NOSPAMoptonline.net> wrote:
>>
>>> I am curious as to how one has time to surf the internet when
>>> shopping at a Home Depot? All I want to do is get out of there
>>> ASAP. Do they now have little cafe tables and serve you lattes? Has
>>> going there now become a family outing, instead of, say, taking the
>>> kids to the Smithsonian?
>>
>> people don't go to home depot to surf. they go there to shop and while
>> there, they use the wifi there to check prices at other stores,
>>
>:-) I'm sure that's exactly what Home Depot had in mind when installing its
>wifi system for its shoppers- price comparison with other stores- great
>business success model indeed: the store pays so that you can find a better
>price elsewhere. I like it...
If you believe your store has the lowest price already, you don't need
to worry that customers have one more way to verify this fact.
More importantly, you can look up specs, compare models and buy on the
spot rather than going home to compare specs, then deciding to just buy
from Amazon instead of driving back to the store.
Fred
news:4hv3f69kpkicomrlh...@4ax.com:
> If you believe your store has the lowest price already, you don't need
> to worry that customers have one more way to verify this fact.
>
Precisely why Best Buy tries everything it can do to prevent you from
comparing online prices. They KNOW their prices are all way inflated.....
(c;]
Steve Sobol
If I wanted to price-shop, I wouldn't be at Best Buy in the first place.
There are any number of places I could go to get the exact same merchandise for less money.
I get the convenience of being able to walk out of the store with my purchase. Best Buy's management knows that. Plus, Best Buy has a lot more overhead than, say, Amazon. Amazon doesn't even maintain a significant inventory. It costs money for Best Buy to purchase the inventory, and every year, they have to pay taxes on it. (Inventory is a taxable business asset.) Plus, they have all of the other expenses associated with a brick-and-mortar retail store. Amazon doesn't have most of those expenses.
But the big reason for me to buy at BB is convenience. That's why I'm sometimes willing to pay $1.59 at Circle K, for the same package of Ho-Ho's that Food4Less sells for $1.00. I don't have to wait in a long line at Circle K.
(Yes, I do keep track of the price of Hostess snack cakes; laugh at me if you want to!) :)
--
Steve Sobol <sjs...@justthe.net>
JC Dill
> (Yes, I do keep track of the price of Hostess snack cakes; laugh at me if you want to!) :)
Ho Ho! :-)
jc
Carl
house. Home Depot is not going to beat them. And I save the gas. So stay
home with me and we'll have a hot chocolate... :-)
Carl
> On Sun, 28 Nov 2010 21:35:05 +0000
> Fred <nob...@here.net> wrote:
>
>> DevilsPGD <Still-Just-A-...@crazyhat.net> wrote in
>> news:4hv3f69kpkicomrlh...@4ax.com:
>>
>>> If you believe your store has the lowest price already, you don't
>>> need to worry that customers have one more way to verify this fact.
>>>
>>
>> Precisely why Best Buy tries everything it can do to prevent you from
>> comparing online prices. They KNOW their prices are all way
>> inflated..... (c;]
>>
>
> If I wanted to price-shop, I wouldn't be at Best Buy in the first
> place.
>
> There are any number of places I could go to get the exact same
> merchandise for less money.
>
> I get the convenience of being able to walk out of the store with my
> purchase. Best Buy's management knows that. Plus, Best Buy has a lot
> more overhead than, say, Amazon. Amazon doesn't even maintain a
> significant inventory.
>
>
this is incorrect. I get things from Amazon sometimes within one day.
Apparently, they actually have storage warehouses around the country which
enable them to ship things inexpensively, and because the warehouses are
closeby, they arrive to you quickly.
We were talking about this the other day. I believe Amazon may very well be
the best business model anywhere. Where else can you buy anything from books
to guitars, at the lowest prices, and get free delivery and get it quickly?
I think it's an amazing organization.
Carl
> On Sun, 28 Nov 2010 21:35:05 +0000
> Fred <nob...@here.net> wrote:
>
>> DevilsPGD <Still-Just-A-...@crazyhat.net> wrote in
>> news:4hv3f69kpkicomrlh...@4ax.com:
>>
>>> If you believe your store has the lowest price already, you don't
>>> need to worry that customers have one more way to verify this fact.
>>>
>>
>> Precisely why Best Buy tries everything it can do to prevent you from
>> comparing online prices. They KNOW their prices are all way
>> inflated..... (c;]
>>
>
> If I wanted to price-shop, I wouldn't be at Best Buy in the first
> place.
>
> There are any number of places I could go to get the exact same
> merchandise for less money.
>
> I get the convenience of being able to walk out of the store with my
> purchase. Best Buy's management knows that. Plus, Best Buy has a lot
> more overhead than, say, Amazon. Amazon doesn't even maintain a
> significant inventory. It costs money for Best Buy to purchase the
> inventory, and every year, they have to pay taxes on it. (Inventory
> is a taxable business asset.)
>
>
you got your information from, but I believe it to be virtually totally
incorrect.
It is my understanding (and my practice) that inventory is tax-exempt if
it's purchased for the purpose of resale. That's why businesses fill out tax
resale certificates. In NY State, this is known as Form ST-120, and you can
see it here
http://www.tax.state.ny.us/pdf/current_forms/st/st120_fill_in.pdf. Read the
requirements.
Secondly, inventory is depreciable, which means that you get a tax reduction
for every tax period that you are still in possession of that same
inventory. As the inventory gets old, it becomes worth less, and you get to
write that loss off.
Here's some general business tax information for you:
http://taxguide.completetax.com/text/Q14_2910.asp
If your accountant is doing otherwise, I suggest you find a new one.
SMS
> On Sun, 28 Nov 2010 21:35:05 +0000
> Fred<nob...@here.net> wrote:
>
>> DevilsPGD<Still-Just-A-...@crazyhat.net> wrote in
>> news:4hv3f69kpkicomrlh...@4ax.com:
>>
>>> If you believe your store has the lowest price already, you don't need
>>> to worry that customers have one more way to verify this fact.
>>>
>>
>> Precisely why Best Buy tries everything it can do to prevent you from
>> comparing online prices. They KNOW their prices are all way inflated.....
>> (c;]
>>
>
> If I wanted to price-shop, I wouldn't be at Best Buy in the first place.
>
> There are any number of places I could go to get the exact same merchandise for less money.
>
> I get the convenience of being able to walk out of the store with my purchase. Best Buy's management knows that. Plus, Best Buy has a lot more overhead than, say, Amazon. Amazon doesn't even maintain a significant inventory. It costs money for Best Buy to purchase the inventory, and every year, they have to pay taxes on it. (Inventory is a taxable business asset.) Plus, they have all of the other expenses associated with a brick-and-mortar retail store. Amazon doesn't have most of those expenses.
Exactly. Normally I'd just order from Amazon, it's less hassle, but
sometimes you need the item fast. I.e. my GPS stopped working just
before a Thanksgiving trip. Amazon and Best Buy both sold the
replacement unit I wanted, and actually they had the same base price,
but I had to pay $13 more at Best Buy because of sales tax. But I picked
it up about 30 minutes after I placed the order.
Fred
news:4cf3dd68$0$16255$607e...@cv.net:
> To the best of my ability, I just START with Amazon. No need to leave
> the house. Home Depot is not going to beat them. And I save the gas.
> So stay home with me and we'll have a hot chocolate... :-)
>
>
I like to kick the tires before I hit the credit cards online. Isn't that
why Best Buy built a store near me?....(c;]
DevilsPGD
<crot...@NOSPAMoptonline.net> was claimed to have wrote:
>Steve Sobol wrote:
>> On Sun, 28 Nov 2010 21:35:05 +0000
>> Fred <nob...@here.net> wrote:
>>
>>> DevilsPGD <Still-Just-A-...@crazyhat.net> wrote in
>>> news:4hv3f69kpkicomrlh...@4ax.com:
>>>
>>>> If you believe your store has the lowest price already, you don't
>>>> need to worry that customers have one more way to verify this fact.
>>>>
>>>
>>> Precisely why Best Buy tries everything it can do to prevent you from
>>> comparing online prices. They KNOW their prices are all way
>>> inflated..... (c;]
>>>
>>
>> If I wanted to price-shop, I wouldn't be at Best Buy in the first
>> place.
>>
>> There are any number of places I could go to get the exact same
>> merchandise for less money.
>>
>> I get the convenience of being able to walk out of the store with my
>> purchase. Best Buy's management knows that. Plus, Best Buy has a lot
>> more overhead than, say, Amazon. Amazon doesn't even maintain a
>> significant inventory.
>>
>>
>It's not that I know for a fact, but my experience has implied to me that
>this is incorrect. I get things from Amazon sometimes within one day.
>Apparently, they actually have storage warehouses around the country which
>enable them to ship things inexpensively, and because the warehouses are
>closeby, they arrive to you quickly.
For stuff that Amazon fulfills, they don't necessarily have everything
at every location, just enough to fulfill the expected volume in a
particular region until the next shipment to that particular warehouse
arrives, and should there be a spike, they'll simply ship from another
warehouse (possibly at higher shipment cost)
They likely don't have particularly significant standing inventory
either, especially not vs a retail store since Amazon won't lose a sale
for being out of stock on any one item at any particular location
whereas a retail store can't simply ship from another location while the
customer is still in the store. For tax purposes they probably have a
tiny fraction of their inventory on-hand in states that charge higher
tax rates on inventory.
One of their biggest tricks though is not just locating themselves
geographically but also locating themselves near their shipping
company's hubs (and of course presorting, so entire pallets or even
truckloads from Amazon can go straight from Amazon to the appropriate
truck/plane/train, saving them from having to be sorted like a package
you might send at a retail outlet)
As a result of their optimizations and sheer volume, they likely pay
some of the lowest shipping rates available on average, even if the odd
item is higher due to fluctuations and it's amazingly difficult to
compete with them. Whether that's a good thing or a bad thing, I'm not
sure.
As a consumer I'm certainly not complaining, I'd rather have things show
up at my door for less money than delivering them myself at higher cost
and my own traveling expense, but just the same, competition is healthy
for everyone including Amazon.
>We were talking about this the other day. I believe Amazon may very well be
>the best business model anywhere. Where else can you buy anything from books
>to guitars, at the lowest prices, and get free delivery and get it quickly?
>I think it's an amazing organization.
Not everything on Amazon is fulfilled by Amazon, and anything that isn't
will come from another store entirely. I'd hazard a guess that guitars
and similar are probably fulfilled by a third party company, not Amazon
themselves (although I've honestly never looked, maybe they do have some
guitars on-hand themselves)
Steve Sobol
"Carl" <crot...@NOSPAMoptonline.net> wrote:
> It is my understanding (and my practice) that inventory is tax-exempt if
> it's purchased for the purpose of resale. That's why businesses fill out tax
> resale certificates. In NY State, this is known as Form ST-120, and you can
> see it here
> http://www.tax.state.ny.us/pdf/current_forms/st/st120_fill_in.pdf. Read the
> requirements.
I'm talking about income tax. Goods purchased for resale are exempt from SALES tax in most states. New York's ST-120 is an exemption from sales tax.
> Secondly, inventory is depreciable, which means that you get a tax reduction
> for every tax period that you are still in possession of that same
> inventory. As the inventory gets old, it becomes worth less, and you get to
> write that loss off.
Over several years, yes. That doesn't mean you don't pay income tax on said inventory.
And actually, I'm not 100% sure that inventory is depreciable. Capital assets like your equipment, computer, and buildings are depreciable for sure. Inventory, not sure. I've never run a company that carried inventory, so I've never needed to know.
--
Steve Sobol <sjs...@justthe.net>
Steve Sobol
"Carl" <crot...@NOSPAMoptonline.net> wrote:
> It's not that I know for a fact, but my experience has implied to me that
> this is incorrect. I get things from Amazon sometimes within one day.
> Apparently, they actually have storage warehouses around the country which
> enable them to ship things inexpensively, and because the warehouses are
> closeby, they arrive to you quickly.
They may maintain SOME inventory. But they have third-parties that fulfill many of their orders (check the website and you can see whether or not a third party will ship any given item).
Same with Walmart.com.
> We were talking about this the other day. I believe Amazon may very well be
> the best business model anywhere. Where else can you buy anything from books
> to guitars, at the lowest prices, and get free delivery and get it quickly?
> I think it's an amazing organization.
Yeah, I like Amazon too. :)
--
Steve Sobol <sjs...@justthe.net>
tlvp
> I'm not an accountant, but I am a small business owner. I don't know where
> you got your information from, but I believe it to be virtually totally
> incorrect.
>
> It is my understanding (and my practice) that inventory is tax-exempt if
> it's purchased for the purpose of resale. That's why businesses fill out tax
> resale certificates. In NY State, this is known as Form ST-120, and you can
> see it here
> http://www.tax.state.ny.us/pdf/current_forms/st/st120_fill_in.pdf. Read the
> requirements.
Different strokes for different folks, different rates for different states.
In CT, business property (and that includes inventory of items for sale)
is entered upon the Grand List each October 1, to be subject to the local
municipal authority's property tax mil rate the following July 1.
A lot of pre-October clearance sales around here to minimize that inventory,
and those inventory-Grand-List-valuations, every year :-) .
> Secondly, inventory is depreciable, which means that you get a tax reduction
> for every tax period that you are still in possession of that same
> inventory. As the inventory gets old, it becomes worth less, and you get to
> write that loss off.
That's a valid Federal write-off, perhaps, irrelevant to the state of CT.
> Here's some general business tax information for you:
> http://taxguide.completetax.com/text/Q14_2910.asp
>
> If your accountant is doing otherwise, I suggest you find a new one.
Be aware that in these benighted states we have literally hundreds of
different taxation requirements, and those that apply to you are but a
tiny minority, hardly representative of the great diversity of the rest.
Cheers, -- tlvp
--
Avant de repondre, jeter la poubelle, SVP