OT: Decoding Store Receipts

Built into the barcode app on my Android phone. Just point the camera at the bar code, and it looks it up. It can also find you the best prices locally and on the net.

This will surely be the end of brick and mortar book stores. People go to Barnes & Noble to brows, then scan the barcode on the book they want and order it from Amazon. I've actually see this happen at my local B&N.

That wouldn't have worked in my application. There wasn't a barcode for me to scan.

I was looking over a recent receipt. I understood what most of the items were, despite the non-English descriptions. One puzzled the heck out of me. Googling did no good but the upcdatabase.com decoder reminded me that the item was a particular kind of electrical part. From there, I was able to remember that I'd received it.

--Winston

Too_Many_Tools fired this volley in news: snipped-for-privacy@i6g2000vbe.googlegroups.com:

God forbid I should ever agree with you, but you're right.

I shop _everything_ I can mechanical, plumbing, housewares... everything down to welding supplies from my local (small town) ACE hardware.

Being in a small town, they are very well-stocked. It costs about 15% more to shop there than in the big-box stores. But they are THERE WHEN I NEED THEM. I have to drive 25-40 miles (in any direction) to get to a big box. Ace is just 9 miles down the road, and they'll do anything to keep my business.

Keep your local merchants in business. Shop locally. DON'T burn two gallons of gas to save a buck.

Lloyd

Absolutely.

However, I have a few local shops who apparently have not gotten the memo about the economy. Two examples:

• The guy behind the counter at my local paint store refused to sell me a gallon of regular paint because of 'security concerns'. :) I asked him for clarification but he didn't offer to explain further. (I purchased my paint literally across the street in about 15 minutes. The counter guy at that store was not aware of the unstable nature of eggshell enamel, apparently.) :)

• The guy behind the counter at a highly - recommended welding supply store jerked me around for days regarding an oxygen bottle refill. First, he argued with me about the hydro test date stamped on my return bottle (had 7 years to go), sold me an empty bottle that was 40 (fourty) YEARS out of hydro. When I came back into the store and returned this bottle, he told me I would have to come back to pick up because he didn't have a tested, full bottle of the size I gave him. He wasn't in the store when I returned on the prescribed day, so I just grabbed a full bottle of the proper size and hydro test date off the ready rack and left. Jeeze!

I don't get it. It's like these guys are really tired of being in business.

--Winston

Looks like you are seeing first hand the phenomenon of the Petty Tyrant. It is brought out in people when they have a some power but have low status or feel a lack of respect.

(...)

Thanks for that. It made me feel better.

In casual Googling just now, I did not uncover a strategy for dealing with my friends at the paint store, the welding store or the fish counter, other than by spending my money elsewhere. Hopefully the replacement businesses will thrive.

--Winston

Sounds like an opportunity for someone.