My Recent Online Purchases - What Were Yours?

I believe that this has something to do with the level of service one experiences (from a January 2020 article):

 

Two hours ago, it was supposed to be here by 10 pm today, although they hadn't even shipped it yet. Now, it's arriving Monday. That's the kind of crap I get from them all the time. I am working on that category now, and I wanted the book for my research.

 

That sucks.

I've only seen constant date changes once the shipment is in the hands of the USPS (not so much with UPS, though.) I have never experienced the stuff you are experiencing with Amazon.

I wonder if the Amazon Distribution Center that serves your region is the problem (I guess the answer is obvious, but I really mean that it's that specific center and not Amazon universally.) Not that there's anything you can do about it.

 

It's been a while since I've bought anything online (or anything in real life, other than groceries.)

I got an ad from ThermoWorks for their No Touch IR Forehead Thermometer, and when I saw them tout the "highly accurate" tolerance of ±0.4°F I started wondering what good that really was (meaning if my temp is 98.6°, it might read 98.2° or it might read 99.0°) So I researched. It seems that this is as accurate as they get. I am shocked! So I broke out my old Vicks digital oral thermometer (its accuracy is ±0.2°F) to have ready to use in conjunction with my old school "mercury equivalent" thermometer should the need arise, and found that it needs a fresh battery. The CR1225 is not available in stores (a common complaint for this model), so I went online and ordered a 4 pak. In fact, when you go to Amazon and Walmart, the auto-suggest descriptions say "For thermometer," so this battery seems to have limited applicability. I've got nothing else that takes it. At least it's still available.

I've also been looking for a Pulse Oximeter. I bought one in the 70s when I first got into bike riding, and used to take readings when I would first wake up in the morning to see how low I cold get my resting heart rate. I broke it out a while ago and it's dead. Fresh batteries do not help. So I went online and ordered a new one.

I also refreshed my supply of cheap Hills Brothers whole bean coffee ($5.25/#).

Thank you, Walmart!

 

I had both websites opened and pinged back & forth comparing price & availability. I also went online to research brands of pulse oximeter, since there are so many out there it made my head spin.

I went with Walmart because I needed to replenish my supply of Hills Brothers Arabica whole bean coffee, and Amazon only carries their Dark Satin coffee in the whole bean option.

I've got no complaint with either. The upside to Walmart is that every time I make a purchase (online or in the store) I get an invitation to take a Survey, which enters me in a drawing for gift cards...up to a $1,000 one.

 

When I lived alone in north Idaho, I found a small electric snow shovel that our hardware store was closing out because summer was coming. It was wonderful and helped me a lot in keeping the porch cleared and even making the little paths out to feed the horses and other livestock I had.
I had a couple long extension cords connected, so I could actually get a ways away from the house with it, and it was really lightweight and easy to use.
It was kind of like a super-mini snowblower and looked about like the one in this picture.

 

Yeh, I have one of those in my inbox right now, along with the guilt-ridden "Waiting For Review" backlog sitting in my account. There are some things I have yet to have sufficient experience with. Why ask me to review a book you just sent a few days ago???

A friend told me that he has been driving home with a purchase he just made at Lowes sitting on his front seat, and he's received a "Please review your purchase" text on his phone. Kinda diminishes the value, huh?

 

I just bought this one gallon canister on EBay for my food vacuum system:


I prep my salad fixings for an entire week so that making a salad for dinner involves no washing or cutting...I just assemble the prepared ingredients. I wash and tear 2 heads of lettuce and a head of radicchio, run it through my salad spinner and then put it into this large vacuum canister, where it will stay fresh for 10 days or longer. A supply of carrots, scallion and radishes are washed & sliced and put into Tupperware.

After 10+ years of daily use, the lid on my old one finally stress-failed under the vacuum:



It stinks, but it's a testament to the strength of the vacuum. They stopped making these large canisters a very long time ago as the original Tilia® brand got sold and morphed into Food Saver. So I gotta go on EBay and buy used when I want one. $35 delivered. It's about the same price as the smaller new containers currently being sold.

If I don't have something like this, I won't bother from-scratch prepping a salad every night. I guess at $3.50/year it's no big deal. It helps me eat healthy.