Archive for the “shopping” Category

Miss 604’s latest flickr pic reminded me of something I’ve been thinking about for a while now.

With the trend towards canvas and reusable bags for groceries and assorted shoppingness, is it really better for the planet?

I mean, we already have all these plastic bag plants set up and producing the stuff we’re using at WalMart, The Bay, Canadian Tire etc. Now that we’ve decided it’s trendy, fashionable and sensible to switch over to canvas, how many manufacturing plants are going to have to be built to sate our need for reusable baggage? And are the gasses and crap spewed by these canvas bag makers any better for dear Mother Nature than the plastic people?

If you’re making the switch, good for you. But don’t think you need just one canvas bag - you need lots. There’s trendy bags coming out all the time. That generic green Save-On bag won’t cut it next season, oh no! So you’ll need a new one.

And God forbid you might forget your bags. If that happens, instead of being a bad plastic bag person, you get another canvas one, of course. Pretty soon you have 45 canvas bags filling up your broom closet.

So - do we really need canvas bags, or is the status quo good to go?

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Amazon.ca in Canada is a lot different than Amazon.com in the US. In Canada its old school - just books and dvds and stuff like that. In the US, Amazon.com is the ultimate department store - it sells everything.

Here are the Top Sellers of 2007 at Amazon.com:

DVD: “Planet Earth: The Complete BBC Series”
Electronics: Canon PowerShot A570IS 7.1MP digital camera
Health & Personal Care: Omron HJ-112 digital premium pedometer
Computers: Nokia Internet tablet PC
Software: Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007
Video Games: Nintendo Wii
Automotive: Actron AutoScanner diagnostic code scanner
Watches: LEGO kids’ watch
Toys: Jakks EyeClops Bionic Eye

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You could get flat screens for $400, memory cards for $15. Video games for $10 and sweaters for $20.

I hope you had a great haul, this was my best “get” for the day. Sunset behind the Innukshuk on English Bay.

I got myself the Panasonic FZ-18 for Christmas and haven’t stopped taking pictures since.

I’m back on the radio tomorrow morning, when I will, no doubt, return you to your regularly blogged about fashion, hollywood and trend stories.

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Okay, I’m an online kinda guy. Y’all know that. I’ve written articles on how to get the best bang for your online buck and I’ve been shopping over the internets for years and years and years and years.

But I have to admit sometimes shopping online kinda sucks, as is witnessed by the Future Shop Boxing Day Sale mess.

But that’s just one of the many reasons:

1. YOU DO IT ALONE
This Christmas I missed most of the hustle and craziness in the stores, that’s supposed to be a good thing, but I still missed it. So I went out into the melee a couple more times than I should have, considering I had already bought gifts online, and I ended up going way over budget on presents just so I could visit shops and carry stuff around.

2. WE DONT SHIP TO WHERE YOU ARE
There were soooo many things I wanted to buy for Christmas this year, but living in Canada meant it wasnt going to happen. Saks, Nordtrom, Target. They all had GREAT gift ideas, but not living in the USA meant “No Shipping For You!”

3. WE SHIP TO WHERE YOU ARE, BUT YOU’RE GONNA PAY
Okay, so they will send something from Edmonds, WA to Vancouver, BC. But guess what? It’s gonna cost $20. Seriously? It’s salt and pepper shakers. You’ll send it to Chicago for free, why do I pay $20? Cause I live internationally, that’s why. Oh, and get ready for the duty. I bought a Livestrong cycling jersey this fall. $90 for the jersey, $55 in duties and brokerage fees. Sick.

4. ITS GONNA TAKE A WHILE
Our Christmas tree had more than a few empty spots under it this year. The coolest gifts were ordered at the beginning of the month, but still havent arrived. Books from Amazon. Tshirts from Threadless and others. You’d think 3 weeks was enough to get from Texas to Vancouver, but no. I mean, if we lived in the US, they would overnight it for free, but on top of paying extra for shipping, you have to wait an extra long time. Want to make sure your gift arrives on time? Order it now. For next year.

This all sucks, but there are a couple of easy things to do to solve the problems:

1. Rip down the stupid 49th (for online shopping purposes only). Cmon, make us all one big online economic union.

2. More Canadian retailers need to get on board and have better online shopping sites. (*ahem* Holt Renfrew, Lululemon, Harry Rosen …) The Bay is trying, but the site doesnt have everything the store does. Heck, even Amazon which sells everything on its US site, still only sells books and dvds on its Canadian one.

So things could be better. But they’re not better yet, and that’s why online shopping sucks.

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WTF is up at FutureShop.ca?

They’re trying things differently by launching their big Boxing Day Sale today. It actually started 45mins ago.

Cool, I would like a $60 iPod Shuffle and a $65 8G SDHC Memory Card please.

But instead of being whisked away to a checkout, I’m stuck in a 404-ish limbo. Check this out:

Huh? What the hell is that? I’m online and waiting in line? Ummm… I’m online so I dont have to freeze my ass for 35hrs like every other boxing day jackass. So I wait. Inline. Online.

This is messed up.

**Update** Been at it for over 30 mins now and just got this message:

Guests are over for our Christmas Eve dinner and I’m sequestered upstairs trying to buy a cheap iPod. That’s not very merry, and frankly neither is this experience.

Don’t think it’s gonna happen.

Nice job, FS. Asshats.

**Update 2** It’s now almost 10:30p, some 5 1/2 hours after the sale started and they’ve only sold 400 of the extra cheap iPod shuffles. Something tells me lots of people got screwed on this, gave up and went to bed. Good news, I got my iPod and SD HC dirt cheap. Now I get to go downstairs and wrap presents.

Still not happy I sweated over 45mins of disconnects and stalling and crap at 5p though.

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It may be the final weekend before Christmas, but the stores want to remind you to save some for after Christmas.

Future Shop has a flyer out this weekend advertising their big sale for the 26th, but their website has the in-store handout- with even BIGGER deals. A 2 pack of 2G SD cards for $40? Those would cost you $90 if you bought them today.

They have web only deals too. iPod Shuffle for $60? That’s $30 off - that never happens. A 56″ JVC for $1300? Woah. Portable LG DVD players for $80! (I remember when I bought one of these for a Christmas gift 6 years ago. It cost me $700. Swear.to.God.)

One year, when my Gramma came out to spend Chritmas with us from Montreal, she couldnt get a flight until the 27th. So we waited 3 days to celebrate, until she was in town. Damn good idea. Do all your shopping on the 26th.

Hmmmm … Jen’s Ukranian… I’m thinking next year we wait until January to pass out the presents!

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I went out this morning to pick up the final few scraps of gifts for my list.

Most of my gift buys were done online, and that made it a little weird this year. I feel like I’ve missed out on the hustle and the decorations and the craziness of the season.  There’s just something about the activity of a mall or downtown this time of year.  Sure, it can be stressful, but at the same time there’s excitement and electricity in the city.

Do things online and you skip out on that stuff.  There’s still 3 days left, I’ll probably head out in to the mania one more time.

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Just saw a Friends and Family coupon for Banana Republic over at The Budget Fashionista.

It’s for 30% off and it’s good in Canada and it expires on Friday.

You’re a friend.  Heck, we’re almost family!  So get the coupon and tell your other friends to come on over to this page and get it too!

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