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Beartaco posted:The strip mall near me has signs up saying that if I want to use the parking there to visit any of the shops, I have to download their app and register my plate whenever I park up. This includes if I'm using their generous 30 minutes of free parking. it's especially galling how totally informal and one-time purchases require registering an "account". think about the definition of that word - there's no ongoing arrears or loaning or business relationship at all here, i'm paying for a god drat PVC pipe cause my sink is leaking and i'll never buy anything else you sell. this is not an "account" relationship. i feel a lot of issues would be solved by making it illegal to require an account for a purchase, or at least a requirement to have guest checkout as an option
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Jul 16, 2023 13:13
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My local mall recently put an Outback Steakhouse at an odd angle right in the middle of the parking lot and I didn't see any construction so I can only assume it grew.
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Jul 16, 2023 13:18
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Deep Glove Bruno posted:it's especially galling how totally informal and one-time purchases require registering an "account". Also some free online downloads or what not. They than make you make a more secure password than most anything else. Hey, this account has a made up name and a temp email address that will auto delete in 10 min linked to it, why the hell would anyone even want to steal it? Like literally the only reason hackers would be interested in would be to grab an email/password list to see if it could be used to break into an actually useful thing.
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Jul 16, 2023 13:25
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Deep Glove Bruno posted:it's especially galling how totally informal and one-time purchases require registering an "account". think about the definition of that word - there's no ongoing arrears or loaning or business relationship at all here, i'm paying for a god drat PVC pipe cause my sink is leaking and i'll never buy anything else you sell. this is not an "account" relationship. I work in e-commerce and have mountains and mountains of data that shows a store will make mounds more money having guest checkout versus whatever benefit they think forcing account creation provides. It’s about 50/50 on if the decision-maker at the company will actually listen.
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Jul 16, 2023 13:31
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I miss Sears.
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Jul 16, 2023 13:33
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Boogaloo Shrimp posted:I work in e-commerce and have mountains and mountains of data that shows a store will make mounds more money having guest checkout versus whatever benefit they think forcing account creation provides. It’s about 50/50 on if the decision-maker at the company will actually listen. not surprising in the least. people just signed onto the "data is power" myth.
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Jul 16, 2023 13:42
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My octogenarian downstairs neighbor had to buy his first ever mobile phone earlier this year and learn how to use it so he could make appointments to do basically anything anymore. I routinely hear things like gently caress YOUR APP coming up through the floor.
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Jul 16, 2023 13:50
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More often than not it’s entrenched cheapness and not wanting to invest time/money in fixing the site versus being greedy about data. It’s always the sites with the shittiest user experience that have forced account creation because they, you know, didn’t want to pay a designer that actually thinks about this poo poo. The data-hungry people are actually more likely to offer guest checkout because that’s what the data is telling them to do. Penny wise but pound foolish.
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Jul 16, 2023 13:54
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Dip Viscous posted:My octogenarian downstairs neighbor had to buy his first ever mobile phone earlier this year and learn how to use it so he could make appointments to do basically anything anymore. I routinely hear things like gently caress YOUR APP coming up through the floor. lol that guy owns
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Jul 16, 2023 14:20
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I try not to complain about traffic because we are all traffic, we're not special, but yeah it's gotten so much worse. When I started my last job in April 2021 it *occasionally* took me 50 minutes to get in. When I left in April 2023 it routinely took 75-90 minutes. (Without traffic it's about 35 minutes, I've gone in super early or at night) Just getting around my town is awful too, the main road in and out is backed up both ways all times of day (I've been out of work for 3mo so try to avoid "rush hour.") and everyone drives insanely, left on reds have become incredibly common for some reason, I've had people scream at me for only going 30 in a residential area that's 25. They put in speed humps and people take them at full speed. If you stop at a crosswalk there's a decent chance the person behind you will rage & try to zoom around you while the people cross 
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Jul 16, 2023 15:02
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bus hustler posted:I try not to complain about traffic because we are all traffic, we're not special, but yeah it's gotten so much worse. When I started my last job in April 2021 it *occasionally* took me 50 minutes to get in. When I left in April 2023 it routinely took 75-90 minutes. I had to physically go back into work before pretty much everyone else during the lockdown and the very first day, I drove from my house to my parking garage (about a 15 minute trip) without seeing ONE other car, truck, bus, etc. It was a bit eerie.
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Jul 16, 2023 15:04
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redshirt posted:I miss Sears.  , but also Montgomery Ward. It was my parent’s go to for literally everything and I have a buttload of memories going there all the time and browsing Atari through PS1 games and checking out all the electronics and toys (Electric Ave. was the best). I bought a 5.1 channel Technics receiver from there in 2000 before they went out of business and still use it to this day.I remember my mom buying me Friday the 13th for NES from a bargain barrel of games for $20, and yes, I still love it; gently caress the haters. haljordan posted:I had to physically go back into work before pretty much everyone else during the lockdown and the very first day, I drove from my house to my parking garage (about a 15 minute trip) without seeing ONE other car, truck, bus, etc. It was a bit eerie. I was an essential worker throughout the lockdown and I still had to go into work, and a lot of times I felt like Charlton Heston driving around Los Angeles devoid of life during the opening credits of The Omega Man. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Hx0m1TgSBw
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Jul 16, 2023 16:37
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You Are A Elf posted:
That is an excellent comparison, thank you.
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Jul 16, 2023 16:39
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I got my Packard Bell 486sx from Montgomery Ward. In a mall, the Port Charlotte Town Center, that is basically dead. Air conditioned enclosed malls are crap, while walk in the heat high end strip malls are thriving.
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Jul 16, 2023 16:48
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Dip Viscous posted:My octogenarian downstairs neighbor had to buy his first ever mobile phone earlier this year and learn how to use it so he could make appointments to do basically anything anymore. I routinely hear things like gently caress YOUR APP coming up through the floor. I’m in my 30s and work in IT and even I say gently caress your app. Sure let me sign in again with a password Bitwarden of course didn’t catch last time, then reset, then two factor, then maybe I might get to order food at some point
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Jul 17, 2023 05:56
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It was just amazing/reassuring to see him go from having never touched a smartphone to being on the same page as everyone else about app shittification in the span of four months. I think he went into it with the assumption that there'd be a standardized way of doing things and he just needed to get with the times.
Dip Viscous fucked around with this message at 06:39 on Jul 17, 2023 |
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Jul 17, 2023 06:35
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I am not important but also very important.
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Jul 17, 2023 06:38
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Well sure. You have to establish the danger to the main character's.
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Jul 17, 2023 06:48
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Big Lots stores. There was a time that going to them was a drat adventure and you didn't know what you could find. Strange regional food products, refurb goods, discontinued products, etc. Like Big Lots used to actually sell full-fledged computers and laptops. Now you go in there and it's all the same as other discount places or mainstream retailers. There's not that same sense of finding something uniquely special outside of some of their food and furniture.
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Jul 17, 2023 07:07
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There are still stores like that, Ollie's and in the northeast Ocean State Job Lot still get like... bins of random poo poo that they only have once. But outlet stores in general, the demand for them and the psychology of getting a deal means there's never actually enough merchandise to fill them with leftovers, and people don't like going and seeing the store has literally 0 pairs of dress pants that day, so they just make shittier versions of the real product that are only sold there.
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Jul 17, 2023 18:44
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Pretty much ready to drop Amazon Prime, they don't seem to be able to fulfill orders anymore? And they lie on their customer service chat and say escalating to a sup won't get you a refund for something hypothetically in-delivery when they first thing the sup does is issue the refund. So you have to dodge around the first customer service person you run into and get to the supervisor boss-level to actually get your money back, which is good and fun. With the post-COVID rollout and maintenance of delivery options from grocery stores and e.g. Target I think the whole premise of Prime has sort of deteriorated anyway. I don't actually do a lot of shopping on Amazon (it's all handled by my SO), but I hopped on the site for the first time in forever during Prime Day(s?) to get heat-resistant grill gloves and I'm just assaulted with 30 brands I've never heard of all selling essentially the same exact, shittily-reviewed product for the same price. I'd pay 20-50% more for a version that actually does what it is supposed to do, but apparently that's not an option on Amazon. They really pissed the whole business down their leg.
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Jul 17, 2023 18:54
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Oh yeah Amazon's just an online junk store at this point. You'd have better luck buying from eBay.
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Jul 17, 2023 18:55
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Amazon, the online store, kinda seems like a quaint atavism that's only weighing down Amazon, the surveillance empire.
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Jul 17, 2023 18:59
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steinrokkan posted:Amazon, the online store, kinda seems like a quaint atavism that's only weighing down Amazon, the surveillance empire. Yeah it has some "Neflix disk-by-mail service" energy at this point. I don't even pay attention to Prime Day as an event but I managed to hear what a suck-fest it was.
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Jul 17, 2023 19:06
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Other retailers have definitely stepped up, I’ve been buying from Target more and haven’t had any problems. They do seem to have other retailers on their platform but they make it extremely clear as to who you’re buying from. Also Target Circle is free and kicks rear end, they have codes for nearly every Apple service that are good for several months at a time and the codes renew on a yearly basis.
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Jul 17, 2023 19:10
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bus hustler posted:There are still stores like that, Ollie's and in the northeast Ocean State Job Lot still get like... bins of random poo poo that they only have once. Man, I have a weird love of Ocean State Job Lot. I also have no idea what that name means. I know Ocean State is Rhode Island, so I assume the store started there...but the gently caress is a "Job Lot"? But yeah, there's none near me, but typically once or twice a year I'll end up on a vacation/road trip through parts of New England that does have one. However, "two towns over" from me is a store called Vermont Discount Store. It's the kind of name Ron Swanson would give a store. But it's a standard liquidation outlet, so no promises on anything they might have in stock at a given time. Sometimes it's slightly damaged goods, other times it's slightly "expired" food or medicine*, and maybe even seasonally packaged items (like cereal with Christmas stuff on it) once that season is over. *There's also LOTS of little signs/notes throughout the store letting you know expiration dates are mostly meaningless, so don't worry about them. Which is mostly true for a lot of dry and canned goods.
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Jul 17, 2023 19:13
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This isn't tech related but I noticed a handful of companies that make seltzer / sparkling water have switched from 12 packs to 8 packs of cans but the price remained the same. My local grocery store regularly now runs "sales" on packs of seltzer but even the sale price ends up being more per can than the full price was when there were 12 in the box. 
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Jul 17, 2023 19:20
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DrBouvenstein posted:Man, I have a weird love of Ocean State Job Lot. There's an Ocean State Job Lot in Oxford ME!
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Jul 17, 2023 19:37
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Recruiters for job openings all seem five times as sketchy as they used to when I last applied for a job. "Hello I am Deepak Chopra* representing (unintelligible) Tech Services, can I please have your date of birth and social security number for our systems so I can submit you to mystery client" *Yes this recruiter was actually named Deepak Chopra, i'm not doing an ironic racism
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Jul 17, 2023 19:42
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And the company name is so consistently unintelligible with these calls, I feel like it's a goddamn conspiracy.
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Jul 17, 2023 19:44
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bus hustler posted:There are still stores like that, Ollie's and in the northeast Ocean State Job Lot still get like... bins of random poo poo that they only have once. DrBouvenstein posted:However, "two towns over" from me is a store called Vermont Discount Store. It's the kind of name Ron Swanson would give a store. Pour one out for Building 19.
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Jul 17, 2023 20:29
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Still hella mad about Capriotti’s changing their 12” sub to 10 inches, charging more for it, then saying it’s because of consumer trends.
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Jul 17, 2023 20:50
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wash bucket posted:Oh yeah Amazon's just an online junk store at this point. You'd have better luck buying from eBay. I checked Amazon because I’m looking for Emergency!, the ‘70s paramedic show on DVD and it’s currently listed for $65 for the complete series, but it’s used and from third party sellers. Amazon also has region 2 listed as the one to buy because it’s new for $58, but it’s also third party and yeah I’m not region 2. Why even list it If I’m not that region? Checked eBay and reputable sellers I’ve bought from before are selling it for $40 brand new still in the shrink wrap and with actual pictures of the box set instead of a GIS’ed stock picture and free shipping. gently caress Amazon at this point.
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Jul 17, 2023 21:03
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You Are A Elf posted:I checked Amazon because I’m looking for Emergency!, the ‘70s paramedic show on DVD and it’s currently listed for $65 for the complete series, but it’s used and from third party sellers. Amazon also has region 2 listed as the one to buy because it’s new for $58, but it’s also third party and yeah I’m not region 2. Why even list it If I’m not that region? Save a few shekels and watch Adam-12 on MeTV.
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Jul 17, 2023 21:04
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Here's one related to Amazon being a loving BLDG 19 rummage sale - Amazon wishlists have clamped down like Twitter banning people sharing their mastodons or whatever. I can't add freetext ideas anymore, and I can't use some weird browser plugin to add external links, and god damnit is there some other place I can put a wishlist that will work like that? Just a bunch of shopping links that somebody can check off if they buy it? Almost none of what I put on that goddam thing was from Amazon for obvious reasons, and it's how a lot of far-flung family from across the world see what I'm into these days. What are my options?
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Jul 17, 2023 21:16
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Deep Glove Bruno posted:Here's one related to Amazon being a loving BLDG 19 rummage sale - Amazon wishlists have clamped down like Twitter banning people sharing their mastodons or whatever. A google docs spreadsheet could work, I guess? It's also funny to me that ebay now feels like a more trustworthy place to buy from than amazon - and I feel like their search and filtering is better, too.
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Jul 17, 2023 21:42
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coldpudding posted:It's not just ATMs, around here they have been replacing all card terminals with touchscreen ones that like you said have zero provision for anyone with vision impairment, the old machines had stuff like braille on the keypad and headphone sockets for accessibility but now they replaced them with touchscreens so people can't even go to the grocery store or take a taxi without having to give out their pin number. It's a total gently caress you to the blind community. otoh I was in a drive through ATM today with an audio jack
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Jul 17, 2023 23:05
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Harbor Freight stopped sending out their catalogues in the mail which also annoys me
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Jul 17, 2023 23:07
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The only reason I keep ordering poo poo from Amazon is that I live in an apartment building and they are the only service that will actually deliver to me. UPS, FedEx, DSL, and Purolator just come stick a "we missed you" sticker on the building door without even attempting to buzz me. More often they don't even bother coming at all, just pretend they did. I also don't have a car so picking poo poo up from the depot located in the middle of nowhere is not ideal.
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Jul 17, 2023 23:54
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I do a lot of Amazon purchases for work and lately they've been quietly removing our account's tax exempt status and making us resubmit our info to get tax refunded every 3rd purchase or so. It's baffling.
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