• my taxi story..

    From Ogg@21:4/106.21 to All on Sat Jun 12 20:33:00 2021

    ==================================================================<
    ** Original area : "/FIDO/CHAT"
    ** Original message from : August Abolins@1:153/757.2
    ** Original message to : All
    ** Original date/time : 12 Jun 21, 09:50 >==================================================================<

    The last few days I'm relegated to taking a taxi to get home and get back into town.

    Thurs evening, Fri morning and evening taxi rides were $20 flat rate, between both taxi businesses. I can tolerate that. But this morning my ride into town was metered.. and ended up being $26. Slowing down behind slow traffic did not help. WTF. IÆm going to have ask the driver to simply let me out at the $20 point.

    -+- SBBSecho 3.14-Linux
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  • From Tiny@21:1/222 to Ogg on Sun Jun 13 06:18:10 2021
    Ogg wrote to All <=-

    Thurs evening, Fri morning and evening taxi rides were $20 flat rate, between both taxi businesses. I can tolerate that. But this morning
    my ride into town was metered.. and ended up being $26. Slowing down behind slow traffic did not help. WTF. IÆm going to have ask the
    driver to simply let me out at the $20 point.

    Did you ask for a $20 flat? Most drivers will do it if you say the last
    few drivers took me for $20 is that okay? It also depends on the deal the driver may have. ie: the company I currently drive for takes 55% of the
    meter and I buy the gas, so here there simply are no flat rates. The $6 difference is about all I make. However if the customer is nice and tells
    me it's normally a $20 charge I would do it for the $20 to keep everyone
    happy.

    Previous companys I paid my "nut" and if I made enough to cover it great
    but there are days you take money out of your pocket after sitting in a
    cab for 12 hours.

    Shawn

    ... I know what's in the new martinis and how to make them but I won't.

    --- Talisman v0.24-dev (Windows/x86)
    * Origin: Tiny's BBS II - tinysbbs.com:4323/ssh:4322 (21:1/222)
  • From Ogg@21:4/106.21 to Tiny on Sun Jun 13 20:17:00 2021
    Hello Tiny!

    ** On Sunday 13.06.21 - 06:18, Tiny wrote to Ogg:

    Did you ask for a $20 flat? Most drivers will do it if you
    say the last few drivers took me for $20 is that okay? It
    also depends on the deal the driver may have. ie: the
    company I currently drive for takes 55% of the meter and I
    buy the gas, so here there simply are no flat rates. The
    $6 difference is about all I make. However if the customer
    is nice and tells me it's normally a $20 charge I would do
    it for the $20 to keep everyone happy.

    The second time around (the following morning) it was the SAME
    guy. He just said "the boss says I have to meter this one".

    Whereas the night before when he dropped me off, he said "it's
    out of town limits, therefore it's a flat rate."



    --- OpenXP 5.0.50
    * Origin: (} Pointy McPointFace (21:4/106.21)
  • From Tiny@21:1/222 to Ogg on Mon Jun 14 06:22:20 2021
    Ogg wrote to Tiny <=-

    The second time around (the following morning) it was the SAME
    guy. He just said "the boss says I have to meter this one".

    Could be different rules for morning vs evening. ie: morning is
    normally busier so the boss wants as much of the split as he can get.

    Whereas the night before when he dropped me off, he said "it's
    out of town limits, therefore it's a flat rate."

    Maybe it wasn't out of town limits and he got in trouble. Trust me
    when I tell you he's making less then minimum wage so please don't
    judge too hard.

    Shawn

    ... Features! Give me features! More features!

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  • From Ogg@21:4/106.21 to Tiny on Mon Jun 14 09:30:00 2021
    Hello Tiny!

    ** On Monday 14.06.21 - 06:22, Tiny wrote to Ogg:

    Could be different rules for morning vs evening. ie:
    morning is normally busier so the boss wants as much of the
    split as he can get.

    Hmmm... could be, but the way it was conveyed to me there was
    no distinction between morn and evening.

    Maybe it wasn't out of town limits and he got in trouble.

    Nah.. he was on the phone with "da boss". I heard him.


    Trust me when I tell you he's making less then minimum wage
    so please don't judge too hard.

    It's all good. I kind of treat the expense like supporting
    local biz or gifting extended family anyway.

    Do taxi drivers have time to read? <g> Maybe I can sell an
    audio book via libro.fm/ashlies. <g>

    --- OpenXP 5.0.50
    * Origin: (} Pointy McPointFace (21:4/106.21)
  • From Warpslide@21:3/110 to Tiny on Mon Jun 14 10:39:52 2021
    On 14 Jun 2021, Tiny said the following...

    Maybe it wasn't out of town limits and he got in trouble. Trust me
    when I tell you he's making less then minimum wage so please don't
    judge too hard.

    It sounds like tipping is more than appreciated when taking a cab then?

    I had to take a can a couple of weeks ago (long story) and the lady driving was very personable & warm. She got a ~20% tip, but I included it in the portable debit machine they had. I hope she got to keep that tip.


    Jay

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    * Origin: Northern Realms (21:3/110)
  • From Adept@21:2/108 to Ogg on Mon Jun 14 19:53:05 2021
    Do taxi drivers have time to read? <g> Maybe I can sell an
    audio book via libro.fm/ashlies. <g>

    Out of curiosity, do you sell ebooks, too?

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A46 2020/08/26 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: Storm BBS (21:2/108)
  • From Ogg@21:4/106.21 to Adept on Mon Jun 14 20:29:00 2021
    Hello Adept!

    ** On Monday 14.06.21 - 19:53, Adept wrote to Ogg:

    Out of curiosity, do you sell ebooks, too?

    No. I'd love to if it was affordable. Several years ago when
    the ereader craze first started to rise, a couple of (Canadian)
    companies tried to build a mechanism for independent bookshops
    to do that. But each one had a high price to join. One of them
    wanted $6000 just to register for the privilege of getting
    ebook downloads, and those books were only from THEIR book
    distribution catalog. Then it was a yearly fee (albiet lower).

    Screw that.

    I'm not aware of any independent Canadian bookseller who is
    offering ebooks.

    But, there is a programme in the USA that sounds really good:

    https://www.indiebound.org/ebooks


    --- OpenXP 5.0.50
    * Origin: (} Pointy McPointFace (21:4/106.21)
  • From Ogg@21:4/106.21 to Adept on Mon Jun 14 21:51:00 2021
    Hello Adept!

    ** On Monday 14.06.21 - 20:29, Ogg wrote to Adept:

    Out of curiosity, do you sell ebooks, too?

    [...]

    But, there is a programme in the USA that sounds really good:

    https://www.indiebound.org/ebooks <=== WRONG INFO!


    My BAD. I got that one wrong. There IS another service that I
    was thinking about, but the email comms that I had with the
    company is stored on anothe pc. I'll get back to you on that.


    --- OpenXP 5.0.50
    * Origin: (} Pointy McPointFace (21:4/106.21)
  • From Arelor@21:2/138 to Ogg on Tue Jun 15 04:34:49 2021
    Re: do you sell ebooks, too?
    By: Ogg to Adept on Mon Jun 14 2021 08:29 pm

    Hello Adept!

    ** On Monday 14.06.21 - 19:53, Adept wrote to Ogg:

    Out of curiosity, do you sell ebooks, too?

    No. I'd love to if it was affordable. Several years ago when
    the ereader craze first started to rise, a couple of (Canadian)
    companies tried to build a mechanism for independent bookshops
    to do that. But each one had a high price to join. One of them
    wanted $6000 just to register for the privilege of getting
    ebook downloads, and those books were only from THEIR book
    distribution catalog. Then it was a yearly fee (albiet lower).

    Screw that.

    I'm not aware of any independent Canadian bookseller who is
    offering ebooks.

    But, there is a programme in the USA that sounds really good:

    https://www.indiebound.org/ebooks

    In the early days, a bookshop franchise used to sell you ebook collections on CD. The problem with that is that they got people used to electronic formats, and then those same people starting downloading ebooks with the "mule" instead of purchasing them, so it turns out the whole business wasn't great for the stores.

    Electronic comics killed mangas so hard that the local comic store here had to turn into a board game store, because people who purchased many issues a month started getting them from the mule instead.

    Bonus points because when I set my own store, this guy didn't as much as purchase a piece of soap from me, despite the fact I had been purchasing at his store for more than a decade. I used to pump around 40 bucks per month in his store and now I pump 0. The ammount of money he has lost because he didn't want to spend three bucks in soap :-)


    --
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  • From Tiny@21:1/222 to Ogg on Tue Jun 15 07:39:04 2021
    Ogg wrote to Tiny <=-

    Nah.. he was on the phone with "da boss". I heard him.

    There ya go.

    Do taxi drivers have time to read? <g> Maybe I can sell an
    audio book via libro.fm/ashlies. <g>

    Worth mentioning! I gave the link to Andrea when she was comuting
    but now she's off gor the summer so reading actual books.

    Shawn

    ... You've got to miss them to score sometimes.

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  • From Tiny@21:1/222 to Warpslide on Tue Jun 15 07:43:12 2021
    Warpslide wrote to Tiny <=-

    It sounds like tipping is more than appreciated when taking a cab then?

    Yes it sure is.

    I had to take a can a couple of weeks ago (long story) and the lady driving was very personable & warm. She got a ~20% tip, but I included
    it in the portable debit machine they had. I hope she got to keep that tip.

    I've only worked for one company that stole 5% of the tips when it was on
    debit / credit. Every other company let's you keep the entire tip.

    Shawn

    ... I *did* read the docs; that's why I'm confused!

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  • From Ogg@21:4/106.21 to Tiny on Tue Jun 15 08:58:00 2021
    Hello Tiny!

    ** On Tuesday 15.06.21 - 07:43, Tiny wrote to Warpslide:

    It sounds like tipping is more than appreciated when
    taking a cab then?

    Yes it sure is.

    I thought so too. Then I realized what I dick I really was when
    I got upset about $20 one day, and $26 the next.

    I have some Timmie's gift certificates that I will most likely
    never use. I could just hand those to a couple of the drivers.

    Meanwhile.. I'm conditioning myself to think of the taxi ride
    as my way to support local and return the favour. LOL


    --- OpenXP 5.0.50
    * Origin: (} Pointy McPointFace (21:4/106.21)
  • From Adept@21:2/108 to Ogg on Tue Jun 15 19:09:01 2021
    I'm not aware of any independent Canadian bookseller who is
    offering ebooks.

    It does sound like the system was designed to exclude independent booksellers.

    My condolences.

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A46 2020/08/26 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: Storm BBS (21:2/108)
  • From poindexter FORTRAN@21:4/122 to Arelor on Tue Jun 15 07:22:00 2021
    Arelor wrote to Ogg <=-


    Bonus points because when I set my own store, this guy didn't as much
    as purchase a piece of soap from me, despite the fact I had been purchasing at his store for more than a decade. I used to pump around
    40 bucks per month in his store and now I pump 0. The ammount of money
    he has lost because he didn't want to spend three bucks in soap :-)

    One thing that's come out of COVID is people realizing the power of their money. Instead of ordering something on Amazon, we'll seek out a local store to try and help support it. We did that before, but now we're much more conscious of shopping local when we can - and try to spread the spend, especially with restaurants doing take-out.


    ... Abandon desire
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    * Origin: realitycheckBBS.org -- information is power. (21:4/122)
  • From Arelor@21:2/138 to poindexter FORTRAN on Tue Jun 15 16:35:44 2021
    Re: Re: do you sell ebooks, too?
    By: poindexter FORTRAN to Arelor on Tue Jun 15 2021 07:22 am

    Arelor wrote to Ogg <=-


    Bonus points because when I set my own store, this guy didn't as much as purchase a piece of soap from me, despite the fact I had been purchasing at his store fo
    more than a decade. I used to pump around
    40 bucks per month in his store and now I pump 0. The ammount of money he has lost because he didn't want to spend three bucks in soap :-)

    One thing that's come out of COVID is people realizing the power of their money. Instead of
    ordering something on Amazon, we'll seek out a local store to try and help support it. We did t
    before, but now we're much more conscious of shopping local when we can - and try to spread the
    spend, especially with restaurants doing take-out.


    ... Abandon desire

    I am not so sure. Maybe that is true with really tight communities. Certainly, in my small village,
    where when you needed hands to unload some trucks you hired the village drunktard because "he is
    our drunktard," the sentiment has multiplied by ten.

    Elsewhere, nobody seems to give a damn. They'd rather buy a cheap nail clipper at a big hypermarket
    than a premium nail clipper in the local, family nail clipper store, even if the owner of the nail
    clipper store is their customer - which will eventually result in the nail clipper store
    disappearing and dragging everybody else down with it.


    --
    gopher://gopher.richardfalken.com/1/richardfalken
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  • From Tiny@21:1/222 to Ogg on Wed Jun 16 03:56:31 2021
    Ogg wrote to Tiny <=-

    I thought so too. Then I realized what I dick I really was when
    I got upset about $20 one day, and $26 the next.

    You're also a small business owner though and for people who
    go every day we don't expect a tip as a rule. Some regulars
    do tip and some don't.

    I have some Timmie's gift certificates that I will most likely
    never use. I could just hand those to a couple of the drivers.

    I'd never say no to free coffee. ;)

    Meanwhile.. I'm conditioning myself to think of the taxi ride
    as my way to support local and return the favour. LOL

    LOL I understand. I have to take a cab once a week to work when
    my car is down. As I live in a different city then the one I work
    in, it's the compation for me. ;)

    Shawn

    ... A crises is when you CAN'T say let's forget about the whole thing!

    --- Talisman v0.24-dev (Windows/x86)
    * Origin: Tiny's BBS II - tinysbbs.com:4323/ssh:4322 (21:1/222)
  • From Tiny@21:1/222 to poindexter FORTRAN on Wed Jun 16 04:01:06 2021
    poindexter FORTRAN wrote to Arelor <=-

    One thing that's come out of COVID is people realizing the power of
    their money. Instead of ordering something on Amazon, we'll seek out a local store to try and help support it. We did that before, but now
    we're much more conscious of shopping local when we can - and try to spread the spend, especially with restaurants doing take-out.

    We have always tried to buy local as I've lost a business to a
    chain already once. Hell really twice as the illegal ubertaxi's
    took out my second business. Having said that since no one else
    cares sometimes we don't either and will just suck on bezos teet
    and order from amazon.

    Shawn

    ... An optimist is someone who thinks the future is uncertain.

    --- Talisman v0.24-dev (Windows/x86)
    * Origin: Tiny's BBS II - tinysbbs.com:4323/ssh:4322 (21:1/222)
  • From Ogg@21:4/106.21 to Tiny on Wed Jun 16 10:18:00 2021
    Hello Tiny!

    ** On Wednesday 16.06.21 - 04:01, Tiny wrote to poindexter FORTRAN:

    We have always tried to buy local as I've lost a business
    to a chain already once. Hell really twice as the illegal
    ubertaxi's took out my second business. Having said that
    since no one else cares sometimes we don't either and will
    just suck on bezos teet and order from amazon.

    A new kind of "self-serve" Uber..

    https://ontario.communauto.com/

    Apparently this one is growing too.

    If I lived in a city, and limited my driving to within the
    "zone", I'd probably go for it. The membership/monthly fees
    seem competitively priced compared to the extra expense of
    owning a car.

    One downside that I see would be getting yourself to the
    nearest available car when the weather is not favourable (rain,
    sleet, snow)

    My car insurance is now due. $1177.

    So.. with that kind of payout /yr while I *don't* have use of
    my own vehicle while it is in for repair (additional $,$$$)
    ..having to take a taxi can seem frustrating.

    Sorry to hear about the biz losses mentioned earlier. It can
    seem like a dog eat dog world out there.

    I just also learned about Wise (formerly TransferWise) for
    international money transfers. Their website has a fine
    explanation how SWIFT works and the fees that are involved -
    that one sounds like a racket! But Wise seems very reasonable
    and may be a better alterative than PayPal. Perhaps Wise is
    making PayPal quake in their shoes. Er.. rather another dog-
    bite at the heal of a similar competitor.

    --- OpenXP 5.0.50
    * Origin: (} Pointy McPointFace (21:4/106.21)
  • From Ogg@21:4/106.21 to Tiny on Wed Jun 16 11:12:00 2021
    Hello Tiny!

    ** On Wednesday 16.06.21 - 03:56, Tiny wrote to Ogg:

    I have some Timmie's gift certificates that I will most
    likely never use. I could just hand those to a couple of
    the drivers.

    I'd never say no to free coffee. ;)

    I may have to rethink my tipping priorities. One taxi service
    only operates in the afternoons - and I think it's just a lone
    car. The other one has a few additional vehicles (at total of
    3, I think) and operates all day. HOWEVER, this morning I have
    to wait about 45 minutes before one of them is available.

    (That is why I fired up my computer and am spending some time
    with echomail. LOL)

    The other two are engaged with lucarative out of town rides.

    Technically I open my shop at 11a. But today, the earliest it
    looks like I'll make is 11:50a I am sure to piss a few people
    off.


    Meanwhile.. I'm conditioning myself to think of the taxi
    ride as my way to support local and return the favour.
    LOL

    LOL I understand. I have to take a cab once a week to work
    when my car is down. As I live in a different city then
    the one I work in, it's the compation for me. ;)

    Funny isn't it. All we're really doing is pushing the SAME
    dollars around our community.

    Maybe leave a few pamphlets or biz card of YOUR service in that
    vehicle! :D

    And.. if we stuck to CASH, the banks would not have the
    opportunity to snatch a part of it.


    --- OpenXP 5.0.50
    * Origin: (} Pointy McPointFace (21:4/106.21)
  • From Arelor@21:2/138 to Ogg on Wed Jun 16 11:58:57 2021
    Re: have always tried to buy local
    By: Ogg to Tiny on Wed Jun 16 2021 10:18 am

    I just also learned about Wise (formerly TransferWise) for
    international money transfers. Their website has a fine
    explanation how SWIFT works and the fees that are involved -
    that one sounds like a racket! But Wise seems very reasonable
    and may be a better alterative than PayPal. Perhaps Wise is
    making PayPal quake in their shoes. Er.. rather another dog-
    bite at the heal of a similar competitor.

    Linux News Media (the publisher behind Linux Magazine and Admin Magazine) migrated to
    Wise/Transferwise just because PayPal was so difficult to deal with. The fact that for big
    transfers they are much cheaper is just a bonus. PayPal is a burning mound of infectious elephant
    poo and the faster it consumes itself, the better.

    --
    gopher://gopher.richardfalken.com/1/richardfalken
    --- SBBSecho 3.14-Linux
    * Origin: Palantir * palantirbbs.ddns.net * Pensacola, FL * (21:2/138)
  • From Ogg@21:4/106.1 to Adept on Wed Jun 16 10:03:28 2021
    I'm not aware of any independent Canadian bookseller who is
    offering ebooks.

    It does sound like the system was designed to exclude independent booksellers.


    Correct. The Kobo program for independents didn't last long.

    They even had a department to be a reseller for the Kobo devices. That one only offered a 5% wholesale discount (ie. 5% off the retail price). Meanwhile, the devices were not returnable, and required the reseller to order a minimum of ALL models. Sounds like it was designed to be ignored.

    MEANWHILE, I think I found the original ebook reseller program that I was referring to:

    https://bookshop.org (but.. it is USA only, for now.)

    From there, they use https://www.mymustreads.com/ to manage their order processing, and from there they use https://hummingbirddm.com for the source of the ebook material.

    What a tangled web they weave.
    --- SBBSecho 3.14-Linux
    * Origin: The Rusty MailBox - Penticton, BC Canada (21:4/106.1)
  • From Ogg@21:4/106.1 to Arelor on Wed Jun 16 10:22:53 2021

    [...]

    PayPal is a burning mound
    of infectious elephant
    poo and the faster it consumes itself, the better.

    LOL. I love the phrases you dream up like that.

    BTW.. I just learned that there is a fine extension of bookshop.org that is represented in your country:

    https://es.bookshop.org/
    --- SBBSecho 3.14-Linux
    * Origin: The Rusty MailBox - Penticton, BC Canada (21:4/106.1)
  • From Arelor@21:2/138 to Ogg on Wed Jun 16 16:32:46 2021
    Re: Re: have always tried to buy local
    By: Ogg to Arelor on Wed Jun 16 2021 10:22 am


    [...]

    PayPal is a burning mound
    of infectious elephant
    poo and the faster it consumes itself, the better.

    LOL. I love the phrases you dream up like that.

    BTW.. I just learned that there is a fine extension of bookshop.org that is represented in your country:

    https://es.bookshop.org/

    It blocks Tor, so not very useful for me :-)

    Also, I am a paper diehard. Digital has its place, but anything I care about I must have in paper format.

    --
    gopher://gopher.richardfalken.com/1/richardfalken
    --- SBBSecho 3.14-Linux
    * Origin: Palantir * palantirbbs.ddns.net * Pensacola, FL * (21:2/138)
  • From poindexter FORTRAN@21:4/122 to Tiny on Wed Jun 16 06:42:00 2021
    Tiny wrote to poindexter FORTRAN <=-

    We have always tried to buy local as I've lost a business to a
    chain already once. Hell really twice as the illegal ubertaxi's
    took out my second business. Having said that since no one else
    cares sometimes we don't either and will just suck on bezos teet
    and order from amazon.

    It seems like all of the small business employees displaced by business closures can find a job at a local Amazon warehouse. Self-serving, it is.


    ... Abandon desire
    --- MultiMail/DOS v0.52
    * Origin: realitycheckBBS.org -- information is power. (21:4/122)
  • From Ogg@21:4/106.21 to Arelor on Wed Jun 16 20:00:00 2021
    Hello Arelor!

    ** On Wednesday 16.06.21 - 16:32, Arelor wrote to Ogg:

    https://es.bookshop.org/

    It blocks Tor, so not very useful for me :-)

    Also, I am a paper diehard. Digital has its place, but
    anything I care about I must have in paper format.


    The bookshop.org brand is a "Support local bookstores"
    operation: Apoya a las librerías de proximidad.

    The represented stores are either brick'n'mortar operations or
    virtual stores, but members also sell physical books.

    Might be worth a look.

    It works/reachable with my Tor:

    https://susepaste.org/20751232


    --- OpenXP 5.0.50
    * Origin: (} Pointy McPointFace (21:4/106.21)
  • From Arelor@21:2/138 to Ogg on Wed Jun 16 19:08:12 2021
    Re: have always tried to buy local
    By: Ogg to Arelor on Wed Jun 16 2021 08:00 pm

    Hello Arelor!

    ** On Wednesday 16.06.21 - 16:32, Arelor wrote to Ogg:

    https://es.bookshop.org/

    It blocks Tor, so not very useful for me :-)

    Also, I am a paper diehard. Digital has its place, but
    anything I care about I must have in paper format.


    The bookshop.org brand is a "Support local bookstores"
    operation: Apoya a las librerĂ­as de proximidad.

    The represented stores are either brick'n'mortar operations or
    virtual stores, but members also sell physical books.

    Might be worth a look.

    It works/reachable with my Tor:

    https://susepaste.org/20751232

    Thanks for the info.

    I no longer purchase as many books (because I already own most books I want), but when I do, I go
    to a second hand book store near the clinic I do works for. I used to purchase lots of books from
    Abebooks until Amazon ruined it.

    Before that, I used to purchase my books at the store of the guy who lost me as a customer because
    he didn't buy a single piece of soap from me. I am a very spiteful, revengeful bastard, as you may
    have noticed.

    --
    gopher://gopher.richardfalken.com/1/richardfalken
    --- SBBSecho 3.14-Linux
    * Origin: Palantir * palantirbbs.ddns.net * Pensacola, FL * (21:2/138)
  • From Ogg@21:4/106.21 to Arelor on Wed Jun 16 21:35:00 2021
    Hello Arelor!

    ** On Wednesday 16.06.21 - 19:08, Arelor wrote to Ogg:

    It works/reachable with my Tor:

    https://susepaste.org/20751232

    Thanks for the info.

    But why does it work with my Tor, and not yours?


    I no longer purchase as many books (because I already own
    most books I want), but when I do, I go to a second hand
    book store near the clinic I do works for. I used to
    purchase lots of books from Abebooks until Amazon ruined
    it.

    A-n has indeed ruined the traditional brick-n-mortar
    independent enterprise. A-n may have started with selling
    books, but it clearly has no love of selling books. Bezos just
    took a commodity (that can warehouse well in long-term storage)
    and provided a means to sell it online.

    [Sir Brandon did that with LPs when he started with a Virgin
    enterprise]

    More often than not, he's undercutting a bookselling peer who
    has no option to sell below cost. Meanwhile, A-n offers
    memberships for other things (primarily digital - and again,
    something not requiring longterm physical storage) and makes
    the profits from that. Books have taken a backseat with A-n and
    only providing the illusion of availability and lower prices.

    Before that, I used to purchase my books at the store of
    the guy who lost me as a customer because he didn't buy a
    single piece of soap from me. I am a very spiteful,
    revengeful bastard, as you may have noticed.

    I don't expect my barber (when I *did* go to the barber) to
    come to my shop to buy a book. Maybe he's got other interests.
    (But he *did* put in a good word for my shop to his customers
    when they were captive in his chair)

    I have recognized a few other in-town merchants come to my shop
    and order books.

    But not everyone will have a recipocal interest in our products
    when we buy theirs. That's disconnect is what online barter
    systems recognize. Person A wants what B is selling, but B
    does not want what A is selling.

    I'd say.. just spreading the word about the products that you
    are selling. Someone will appreciate the info.

    Even to this day, even though Ashlie's Books has been
    represented in my town for over 25yrs (I think coming up to 29
    now, and myself as 3rd owner) ..there are people who live in
    the area and tell me that they did not know that there was a
    bookshop. Duh!

    --- OpenXP 5.0.50
    * Origin: (} Pointy McPointFace (21:4/106.21)
  • From Tiny@21:1/222 to Ogg on Thu Jun 17 03:59:13 2021
    Ogg wrote to Tiny <=-

    The other two are engaged with lucarative out of town rides.

    It happens. :(

    Technically I open my shop at 11a. But today, the earliest it
    looks like I'll make is 11:50a I am sure to piss a few people
    off.

    Hope no one was too upset with you.

    Maybe leave a few pamphlets or biz card of YOUR service in that
    vehicle! :D

    LOL

    And.. if we stuck to CASH, the banks would not have the
    opportunity to snatch a part of it.

    I use cash when possible. Even now that I don't get paid in it
    but get a deposit, I still withdraw my spending money for the
    week and use it that way.

    Shawn

    ... Wanted Dead or Alive: One pink rabbit with a drum.

    --- Talisman v0.24-dev (Windows/x86)
    * Origin: Tiny's BBS II - tinysbbs.com:4323/ssh:4322 (21:1/222)
  • From Tiny@21:1/222 to poindexter FORTRAN on Thu Jun 17 04:00:00 2021
    poindexter FORTRAN wrote to Tiny <=-

    It seems like all of the small business employees displaced by business closures can find a job at a local Amazon warehouse. Self-serving, it
    is.

    Yeah, sad but true.

    Shawn

    ... You can tell a real programmer by the keyboard dents in his face.

    --- Talisman v0.24-dev (Windows/x86)
    * Origin: Tiny's BBS II - tinysbbs.com:4323/ssh:4322 (21:1/222)
  • From Arelor@21:2/138 to Ogg on Thu Jun 17 06:13:06 2021
    Re: have always tried to buy local
    By: Ogg to Arelor on Wed Jun 16 2021 09:35 pm

    Before that, I used to purchase my books at the store of
    the guy who lost me as a customer because he didn't buy a
    single piece of soap from me. I am a very spiteful,
    revengeful bastard, as you may have noticed.

    I don't expect my barber (when I *did* go to the barber) to
    come to my shop to buy a book. Maybe he's got other interests.
    (But he *did* put in a good word for my shop to his customers
    when they were captive in his chair)


    Dunno, it depends on the sort of investment you have been making in the other's business.

    I mean, I have been purchasing stuff at worse prices and conditions than available elsewhere at
    this guy's shop for years because I wanted to support the corner bookstore. I think it is no secret
    halñf my purchases there were goodwill driven.

    If goodwill is not returned then I am not giving any more.

    Some merchants in the area did the token effort of purchasing something at my store. Maybe they
    purchased a shampoo upon first opening or something. Not a great effort but they at least showed
    up.

    Quite frankly, I am more prone to purchase flowers from the shop in the next street if I know I
    will see my money back when the owner comes to my store for vitamins. Which is the reason why I
    have switched a lot of purchasing habits - it is just so much better to be your customer's
    customer.

    As for Amazon leveraging books in order to sell other products and services, that is not new. Books
    are a devaluating commodity, and when a commodity is no profitable enough to sell on its own its
    only outlet is to use it to sell something else that is actually profitable. Let's face it, from a
    logistical point of view, traditional books are awful propositions of value (they weight too much
    and offer too low margins), whereas electronic books are simply worthless (something that is
    unlimitedly replicable is unlimitedly worthless). There are lots of books published, but I have
    found that a whole lot of the new publications are not a product, but a tool to leverage another
    product. Or, very frequently, the publisher is siphoning money out of the author rather than the
    readers.

    I mean, I read somewhere in my teen days that Spain was one of the countries in which more Fantasy
    books were published, and also one in which close to nobody was reading them. It seems fishy to me.




    --
    gopher://gopher.richardfalken.com/1/richardfalken
    --- SBBSecho 3.14-Linux
    * Origin: Palantir * palantirbbs.ddns.net * Pensacola, FL * (21:2/138)
  • From Ogg@21:4/106.21 to Arelor on Thu Jun 17 08:19:00 2021
    Hello Arelor!

    ** On Thursday 17.06.21 - 06:13, Arelor wrote to Ogg:

    I don't expect my barber (when I *did* go to the barber) to
    come to my shop to buy a book. Maybe he's got other interests.
    (But he *did* put in a good word for my shop to his customers
    when they were captive in his chair)


    Dunno, it depends on the sort of investment you have been making in the other's business.

    I mean, I have been purchasing stuff at worse prices and conditions than available elsewhere at this guy's shop for years because I wanted to support the corner bookstore. I think it is no secret hal├▒f my purchases there were goodwill driven.

    Just wondering.. did you ever say something like.. "hey bud,
    your prices are a bit higher than I've seen elsewhere.. but I
    like coming here because <insert why>. BTW.. I operate my own
    shop just down your the way.. and sell quality soaps and health
    products."

    Maybe just hoping people will notice is not good enough. We
    have to do human networking.


    If goodwill is not returned then I am not giving any more.

    Well.. another recent example. As you may have been reading,
    I've been relegated to taking taxis everyday for the last week.
    I've been tipping them at about 20 to 25%. I don't expect them
    to come running to my shop and buy anything..(although I wish
    they would) but maybe they can spread the word to one of their
    customers about the fine bloke who operates the bookshop in
    town.

    Some merchants in the area did the token effort of
    purchasing something at my store. Maybe they purchased a
    shampoo upon first opening or something. Not a great effort
    but they at least showed up.

    There was a modest upswing of biz when someone tweeted and
    facebook'd a message about supporting local a few months ago.
    The momentum died down after 2 weeks though.

    Quite frankly, I am more prone to purchase flowers from the shop in the next street if I know I will see my money back when the owner comes to my store for vitamins. Which is the reason why I have switched a lot of purchasing habits - it is just so much better to be your customer's customer.

    Check my "A wants something from B, but B doesn't need what A
    offers" example.

    Maybe offer people some transferable coupons that they can give
    to someone who WANTS a product from your shop.

    As for Amazon leveraging books in order to sell other products and services, that is not new. Books are a devaluating commodity, and when a commodity is no profitable enough to sell on its own its only outlet is to use it to sell something else that is actually profitable.

    A-n is purposely choosing to devaluate the books they get from
    the distributors. The distribs are happy 'cuz they get their
    standard share (I know the discounts that A-n gets because I've
    received some invoices packed into my orders) and A-n is free
    to destroy the books if they want.

    I've called a couple of the distribs and chatted about that and
    asked them why not limit the discounts they give to A-n since
    they warehouse the product, sell at below cost and return the
    vast majority of unused copies. I could do the same thing (I
    have a barn) and order 100,000 copies of a book, sell 25, and
    return the rest. But my 100,000 order would make me appear that
    I am a hot retailer.

    Let's face it,
    from a logistical point of view, traditional books are awful propositions of value (they weight too much and offer too low margins), whereas electronic books are simply worthless (something that is unlimitedly replicable is unlimitedly worthless).

    The replicable inversely proportional to value is an
    interesting point. I never thought of that. But there are
    other digital products (I sell GPS cards too) that are $80-$199
    and the A-n marketplace (lookup: brmb gps) does not seem to
    discount those. ;)

    There are lots of books published,
    but I have found that a whole lot of the new publications are not a product, but a tool to leverage another product. Or, very frequently, the publisher is siphoning money out of the author rather than the readers.

    I think there is a mix of shit like that going on. Another term
    for such a strategy might be "a door crasher". A biz
    advertises something on "sale" (but with conditions), or when
    they sell out, offer something higher-priced after they got the
    customer through the door.

    I mean, I read somewhere in my teen days that Spain was one of the countries in which more Fantasy books were published, and also one in
    which close to nobody was reading them. It seems fishy to me.

    I remember hearing that Stephen Hawkin's book "A Brief History
    Of Time" had/has the dubious distinction of the best selling
    science book that nobody reads.


    --- OpenXP 5.0.50
    * Origin: (} Pointy McPointFace (21:4/106.21)
  • From Arelor@21:2/138 to Ogg on Thu Jun 17 07:40:43 2021
    Re: have always tried to buy local
    By: Ogg to Arelor on Thu Jun 17 2021 08:19 am

    Just wondering.. did you ever say something like.. "hey bud,
    your prices are a bit higher than I've seen elsewhere.. but I
    like coming here because <insert why>. BTW.. I operate my own
    shop just down your the way.. and sell quality soaps and health
    products."

    Maybe just hoping people will notice is not good enough. We
    have to do human networking.


    He is actually extremely knowledgeable of the markets he operates in. I didn't tell him I was making a specific effort to go to his shop specifically, but I can assure you he knew.

    Also I told him of my shop and website obviously.

    Bonus points because he has todlers. Todlers consume things such as infantile bathroom products. Therefore I don't buy the idea that I don't have anything he may want to use. I mean, book store owners have a shower from time to time, I think.

    Regarding other issues you have mentioned: I have read the Brief History of Time. And have read it.

    Expecting other people will do advertising for you is too optimistic to be realistic at all. Mainly because they are very bad at it when they actually go and try. I have memories of fans of mine pursuing people and trying to force them to buy my books at conventions XD

    The fact the digital product is for sale for a price does not mean it is selling at that price. Also, when talking about software and appliances, you are usually buying tech support from them etc which are not unlimitedly available. Compare that to old office suites people downloads and installs from pirate sites. Those are indeed free de-facto, as opposed to, say a subscription top a map or navigation service.




    --
    gopher://gopher.richardfalken.com/1/richardfalken
    --- SBBSecho 3.14-Linux
    * Origin: Palantir * palantirbbs.ddns.net * Pensacola, FL * (21:2/138)
  • From Spectre@21:3/101 to Arelor on Fri Jun 18 10:38:00 2021
    Quite frankly, I am more prone to purchase flowers from the shop in the

    You can always feed them to the fillies. You'll build your goodwill with them ì:P

    Spec


    *** THE READER V4.50 [freeware]
    --- SuperBBS v1.17-3 (Eval)
    * Origin: We know where you live, we're coming round to get you (21:3/101)
  • From Arelor@21:2/138 to Spectre on Fri Jun 18 03:35:57 2021
    Re: have always tried to buy local
    By: Spectre to Arelor on Fri Jun 18 2021 10:38 am

    Quite frankly, I am more prone to purchase flowers from the shop in the

    You can always feed them to the fillies. You'll build your goodwill with them :P

    Spec


    *** THE READER V4.50 [freeware]

    Actually, my favorite mare's sister loved roses. She would sneak into her owner'ws rose garden and
    lay among the plants. And snatch a flower every now and then. Her owner was an old dude who lacks
    what it takes to deal with a naughty horse and lived perpetually stressed that this mare would end
    up destroying anything important, so he ended up selling her. Such a pity, because she was a
    sweetheart and clearly meant no harm.

    I hate it when horseowners are lazy and prefer to get rid of a horse that is mostly not troublesome
    than educate her.

    --
    gopher://gopher.richardfalken.com/1/richardfalken
    --- SBBSecho 3.14-Linux
    * Origin: Palantir * palantirbbs.ddns.net * Pensacola, FL * (21:2/138)
  • From Ogg@21:4/106.1 to Arelor on Fri Jun 18 06:19:43 2021
    Hey Arelor..

    I just got a notification that the international parcel has been delivered.

    Not too bad at 14 calendar days total.

    June 18
    9:18 am
    Item successfully delivered
    24008, Spain
    7:23 am
    Item has arrived at the delivery office in the destination country
    2403396, Spain
    7:23 am
    International item is in transit to the delivery office.
    Esmadb, Spain
    7:22 am
    Item has been released by Customs Spain

    June 16
    6:58 pm
    Item has been sent to customs in the destination country
    Esmadb, Spain
    --- SBBSecho 3.14-Linux
    * Origin: The Rusty MailBox - Penticton, BC Canada (21:4/106.1)
  • From Adept@21:2/108 to Arelor on Fri Jun 18 20:03:50 2021
    he didn't buy a single piece of soap from me. I am a very spiteful, revengeful bastard, as you may
    have noticed.

    Username checks out.

    (Seems obligatory)

    --- Mystic BBS v1.12 A46 2020/08/26 (Linux/64)
    * Origin: Storm BBS (21:2/108)
  • From Arelor@21:2/138 to Adept on Fri Jun 18 15:07:51 2021
    Re: Re: have always tried to buy local
    By: Adept to Arelor on Fri Jun 18 2021 08:03 pm

    he didn't buy a single piece of soap from me. I am a very spiteful, revengeful bastard, as
    may
    have noticed.

    Username checks out.

    (Seems obligatory)

    I like you, mortal, so I will grant you a glorious death fighting heretics so your name will
    decorate the walls of a monument to any of the Clergy's victories.

    --
    gopher://gopher.richardfalken.com/1/richardfalken
    --- SBBSecho 3.14-Linux
    * Origin: Palantir * palantirbbs.ddns.net * Pensacola, FL * (21:2/138)
  • From Spectre@21:3/101 to Arelor on Sat Jun 19 09:33:00 2021
    Actually, my favorite mare's sister loved roses. She would sneak into her owner'ws rose garden and lay among the plants. And snatch a flower
    every now and then. Her owner was an old dude who lacks what it
    takes to deal with a naughty horse and lived perpetually stressed

    I hate it when horseowners are lazy and prefer to get rid of a horse that is mostly not troublesome than educate her.

    Clearly we're not all made of the same stuff... if we were the world would be ìa boring place. Perhaps it was the old dude that needed the edjumacation as ìmuch as the mare?

    Spec


    *** THE READER V4.50 [freeware]
    --- SuperBBS v1.17-3 (Eval)
    * Origin: We know where you live, we're coming round to get you (21:3/101)
  • From Arelor@21:2/138 to Ogg on Sat Jun 19 04:27:08 2021
    Re: international parcel has been delivered
    By: Ogg to Arelor on Fri Jun 18 2021 06:19 am

    Hey Arelor..

    I just got a notification that the international parcel has been delivered.

    Don't you have private Netmail over there? I sent you one but I think you didn't get it.

    Nevertheless, the pizzas arrived no problem. Also, I loved the extra toppings added to the pizza. I am nearly crying, stupid me :-)

    --
    gopher://gopher.richardfalken.com/1/richardfalken
    --- SBBSecho 3.14-Linux
    * Origin: Palantir * palantirbbs.ddns.net * Pensacola, FL * (21:2/138)
  • From Ogg@21:4/106.21 to Arelor on Sat Jun 19 07:47:00 2021
    Hello Arelor!

    ** On Saturday 19.06.21 - 04:27, Arelor wrote to Ogg:

    Don't you have private Netmail over there? I sent you one but I think you didn't get it.

    No netmail from you, yet. I thought that you might use our
    other private channel, but nothing is there either.

    Nevertheless, the pizzas arrived no problem. Also, I loved the extra toppings added to the pizza. I am nearly crying, stupid me :-)

    Awww. ;) Glad you approve.


    --- OpenXP 5.0.50
    * Origin: (} Pointy McPointFace (21:4/106.21)
  • From poindexter FORTRAN@21:4/122 to Ogg on Sat Jun 19 07:37:00 2021
    Ogg wrote to Arelor <=-

    Hey Arelor..

    I just got a notification that the international parcel has been delivered.

    Not too bad at 14 calendar days total.

    Thanks to changes at my local post, it took 28 days for a letter to get
    across town, via certified mail.

    Due to changes in mail routing, all mail (including local mail) needs to go
    35 miles away to a processing center instead of being processed locally.
    Then it needs to go back to the local center for sorting and delivery. All
    in the name of cost-cutting and efficiency.

    These changes were rolled out in advance of a national election that had record turnouts and record number of ballots mailed in because of COVID.

    Our current postmaster general is in the process of being fired. It couldn't happen fast enough, but we'll be disgusted to hear the terms of his
    severance. Hopefully they'll mail it to him.


    ... Where are we? When are we? Is this now?
    --- MultiMail/DOS v0.52
    * Origin: realitycheckBBS.org -- information is power. (21:4/122)
  • From Blue White@21:4/134 to poindexter FORTRAN on Wed Jun 23 13:22:33 2021
    Thanks to changes at my local post, it took 28 days for a letter to get across town, via certified mail.

    Due to changes in mail routing, all mail (including local mail) needs
    to go 35 miles away to a processing center instead of being processed locally. Then it needs to go back to the local center for sorting and delivery. All in the name of cost-cutting and efficiency.

    Several of the changes being blamed on the current postmaster have actually been going on for years. What you describe in the second paragraph there happened to us 20+ years ago. That means if you have to post anything to our state capital, it goes to one of two cities first, one of which is ~ 50 miles away. Local mail goes all the way to one of those two towns before coming
    back.

    It may all go to one of those two cities now, but it used to get split
    between the two which made me really wonder how efficient that could be.

    Multiple blue drop off boxes started disappearing in 2009 or 10. I live in an area where the mail is delivered on foot so I used to rely on the one at
    the front of the subdivision for my outgoing mail. It disappeared shortly
    after I moved in, which was in late 2009. I really noticed it being gone
    when the pandemic hit and I quit going to the office every day.



    ... Got my tie caught in the fax... Suddenly I was in L.A.
    --- MultiMail
    * Origin: Possum Lodge South * possumso.fsxnet.nz:7636/SSH:2122 (21:4/134)
  • From Arelor@21:2/138 to Blue White on Wed Jun 23 17:46:14 2021
    Re: Re: international parcel has been delivered
    By: Blue White to poindexter FORTRAN on Wed Jun 23 2021 01:22 pm

    Several of the changes being blamed on the current postmaster have actually been going on for years. What you describe in the second paragraph there happened to us 20+ years ago. That means if you have to post anything to ou state capital, it goes to one of two cities first, one of which is ~ 50 mile away. Local mail goes all the way to one of those two towns before coming back.

    It sounds like the logistics agency I use for running my business. When you leave a parcel in their office, they always send it to Madrid and, from Madrid, to its final destination. This is stupid because it often means that a package supposed to go, say "north", is sent "south" first and then "north" later.

    I have had parcels delayed because there was some weather issue in Madrid despite the fact the parcel was to be delivered to a nearby province and there was nothing blocking a direct delivery from my province and its destination.

    That said, incidences are less than 5%. So far I have never had something really bad happen. Therefore I conclude that shipping everything to a central hub for distributing it later is actually effective for both the agency and the customers.

    to
    --
    gopher://gopher.richardfalken.com/1/richardfalken
    --- SBBSecho 3.14-Linux
    * Origin: Palantir * palantirbbs.ddns.net * Pensacola, FL * (21:2/138)
  • From poindexter FORTRAN@21:4/122 to Arelor on Thu Jun 24 06:36:00 2021
    Arelor wrote to Blue White <=-

    It sounds like the logistics agency I use for running my business. When you leave a parcel in their office, they always send it to Madrid and, from Madrid, to its final destination. This is stupid because it often means that a package supposed to go, say "north", is sent "south" first and then "north" later.

    A comedian (I think it was Scott Adams) suggested that, to look busy, you should take all the papers off of your desk, and send them via inter-office email to yourself. It'll take 3-5 days, he said, and your boss will think you're burning through your work.


    ... Give way to your worst impulse
    --- MultiMail/DOS v0.52
    * Origin: realitycheckBBS.org -- information is power. (21:4/122)
  • From Ogg@21:4/106.21 to poindexter FORTRAN on Sun Jun 27 07:55:00 2021
    Hello poindexter FORTRAN!

    ** On Saturday 19.06.21 - 07:37, poindexter FORTRAN wrote to Ogg:

    Thanks to changes at my local post, it took 28 days for a
    letter to get across town, via certified mail.

    I don't understand how that is even allowed to happen.


    Due to changes in mail routing, all mail (including local
    mail) needs to go 35 miles away to a processing center
    instead of being processed locally. Then it needs to go
    back to the local center for sorting and delivery. All in
    the name of cost-cutting and efficiency.

    Something similar happens to mail destined to a small town that
    is only a short 25min drive north of my town. If I address a
    letter for that northerly town, that letter gets sent SOUTH to
    a larger sorting facility about 130km away. Then, it comes BACK
    to my local town, and then it gets loaded onto vehicles that
    take it north.

    Our current postmaster general is in the process of being
    fired. It couldn't happen fast enough, but we'll be
    disgusted to hear the terms of his severance. Hopefully
    they'll mail it to him.
    ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

    LOL. And certified!


    --- OpenXP 5.0.50
    * Origin: (} Pointy McPointFace (21:4/106.21)
  • From poindexter FORTRAN@21:4/122 to Ogg on Sun Jun 27 07:37:00 2021
    Ogg wrote to poindexter FORTRAN <=-

    LOL. And certified!

    Did I mention that the letter that took 28 days was sent certified mail?


    ... Consider different fading systems
    --- MultiMail/DOS v0.52
    * Origin: realitycheckBBS.org -- information is power. (21:4/122)
  • From Oli@21:3/102 to Ogg on Tue Jun 29 08:21:54 2021
    Ogg wrote (2021-06-27):

    Hello poindexter FORTRAN!

    Thanks to changes at my local post, it took 28 days for a
    letter to get across town, via certified mail.

    I don't understand how that is even allowed to happen.

    I thought it was the main strategy of one party for the last election:

    1. delay mail (ballots)
    2. ?
    3. win

    ---
    * Origin: %p%s%s%s%s%n (21:3/102)
  • From Ogg@21:4/106.21 to Arelor on Mon Jul 26 20:44:00 2021
    Hello Arelor!

    ** On Thursday 17.06.21 - 07:40, Arelor wrote to Ogg:

    Also I told him of my shop and website obviously.

    Bonus points because he has todlers. Todlers consume things
    such as infantile bathroom products. Therefore I don't buy
    the idea that I don't have anything he may want to use. I
    mean, book store owners have a shower from time to time, I
    think.

    Perhaps people are already settled in with the sources for the
    "basics" that you sell. I would imagine that a family is
    accustomed to shopping at Walmart/Costco/Shoper'sDrugMart etc
    will stick to those places for a one-stop-shop experience or to
    collect their bonus points, etc.

    Regarding other issues you have mentioned: I have read the
    Brief History of Time. And have read it.

    Ah.. But have you read the expanded and updated edition that
    was published 10 years later? LOL

    There is also a "A Briefer History of Time: The Science Classic
    Made More Accessible | Paperback"

    I have to say that I could NOT finish the original for one
    reason or another.


    Expecting other people will do advertising for you is too
    optimistic to be realistic at all. Mainly because they are
    very bad at it when they actually go and try. I have
    memories of fans of mine pursuing people and trying to
    force them to buy my books at conventions XD

    Most people are really bad when it comes to convicing someone
    to try a book that they enjoyed. Most of the time people just
    say "this is really good, you should read it" ..and leave it at
    that.


    --- OpenXP 5.0.50
    * Origin: (} Pointy McPointFace (21:4/106.21)