Annoying when you are not home and they deliver things early. Like last week I picked deliver on the 13th, half the items arrived on the 10th and sat on my porch for 2 days.
It is surprising how often they are cheaper. I was ordering some glue, decided to double check the price, I could drive for 30 minutes and buy local, and pay more or order it for cheaper from Amazon. I didn't need it the same day so getting it tomorrow didn't matter. Amazon also sells everything need some M2 screws Amazon will have them, no idea where to buy something like that locally Home Depot won't carry them.
The proper comparison isn't Amazon vs local, it's Amazon vs other web shops (likely with more traditional supply chains) - especially for items that are only ever going to be part of a wide selection like M2 screws. HomeDepot.com and Lowes.com have M2 screws, as well as Zoro, McMaster, or other specialty web shops [0]. My specific go-to for one-off [1] screws is usually Zoro, as I usually prefer stainless (or grade 8 for larger sizes).
[0] I had been fond of "Albany County Fasteners" but I've soured as they've gradually jacked up the prices while removing free shipping. I don't even like free shipping, but it is a way for ordering to be more convenient as it prevents me from wanting to sit on an order for a while to batch it up.
What is shipping like from Zoro? The number one reason I tend to use Amazon for this stuff (nuts/bolts) is because shipping is free given a Prime subscription.
If I buy a handful of bolts from McMaster or BoltDepot, I'm paying like $10 to ship, on an order this is probably $10 in goods :(
So I'm basically always picking between Amazon and AliExpress.
Zoro shipping is free over $50 order, otherwise I think it's only $5? I generally just batch, especially with the way they rotate promo codes. I've always got some slow-roll projects going on.
Time frame it really depends - delivery dates a day or few days out are generally accurate. Most items they stock at a local distribution center, so I get them next day. Some things come from further warehouses of theirs and take a few more days. There are also third party vendor items that are all over the place for delivery time, but you know those by their estimated delivery time being more than a few days out, and saying ground shipping only. (They're slowly taking away "free shipping" from items that require LTL though, heh heh)
For fasteners specifically, their parametric search has gotten better. I'd have Digikey's interface everywhere if I could.
I can drive for 5 hours, or take the 1 hour flight. The one hour flight has a total time of over 5 hours when you include getting to the airport, clearing security and getting bags at the other end. Plus I will not have a vehicle. For one person the cost is probably a wash, for two or more driving will be cheaper. 1000 miles does tip towards flying. Under 300 miles driving is going to be way less hassle to drive.
It has very little to do with security though. I usually go through security in 5 minutes at my home airport. I do leave a lot more time than that partially because my car company sort of insists on it. (Of course, the car company is another cost.)
Honestly, it would be faster and possibly cheaper for me to drive to Manhattan than take the train--in which case security doesn't enter in at all. And certainly for two people. But I hate driving into Manhattan.
The math does pencil out for Boston to New York. I'd be an hour to my local airport, arrive 2 hours in advance (could cheat a bit with an early flight--it's taken me almost 2 hours to get into Boston near rush hour--especially given basically a commuter flight but a good hour drive in), probably an hour for a shortish flight, baggage claim (if relevant), then transportation into the city.
Were I amenable, which I'm generally not, could probably drive 4 hours from my house into the city. (Almost always take the train.)
I had one food delivery driver call me while standing in the middle of the street. Seemed like he was afraid to approach and knock or ring. So strange.
Some people get really weird if you approach their house in a way they don't like. I imagine if that happens a few times to you as a delivery driver, you might be more cautious.
I know people like this, but would assume if they ordered a delivery that the person would be expected and not a cause of alarm. If someone can’t handle a person coming to their door, they shouldn’t be allowed to use delivery services.
Are they doing an edition a every couple of years now? I think I have the 4th edition rules, but haven't painted or played in like 12 years. I do have some of my nicely painted models on display in a cabinet. I mostly stopped buying models when GamesWorkshop stopping letting the UK stores sell online as their models were really cheap compared to what they sold them for in Canada.
I don't really understand how blurring out a house adds privacy. Looking around my neighborhood on Google street view I sometimes find houses that are blurred, now that otherwise normal looking house is now suspicious. Because I am physically close I can just look at the house if I wanted to. Someone "special" lives there.
I'm confused. If he has nothing to hide he has nothing to fear, right?
Seems like some Good Samaritan should set up a mobile pole camera (or twelve) outside his house 24/7. Rest easy, it's all being done for his own safety!
It does enhance curiosity. As an experiment i once requested Google Street view to blur my previous home. It really stands out being the only blurred house in the entire area. And i can’t undo it either :)
now that otherwise normal looking house is now suspicious
Mysterious? Yes. Suspicious? I wouldn't think that. Plenty of houses in my neighborhood are blurred. I don't think much about it. And yes, I can just walk over and look. But I'm their neighbor. Not someone megameters away...
Oh, turns out you can't blur the satellite images. Then yeah idk how this helps.
Edit: Well maybe you aren't a target to begin with, but mass scanning can make you one. Like if you park some expensive car out front and someone far away checks all houses with expensive cars. It's a bit far-fetched, but there also aren't that many reasons not to blur your house unless the concern is they only target blurred houses.
The only way to have affordable, ubiquitous testing stations is to make it universal. At least, in states that do not also require safety inspections. If only 10,000 cars were tested each year, nobody would buy the equipment.
I don't see what the issue is. Pay the people running the test station more per test but less overall.
Extremely rough example numbers: Instead of testing a million cars for $20 each, 10k cars are tested for $200 each. 85% of testing stations shut down, and the rest downsize if they can, but there's still plenty of them around. The total cost of testing drops 90%. The state taxes every car $2 to pay for the randomized testing; being selected means you lose an hour driving to the station, not that you lose $200 of your own money.
I added a new head unit to my 13 year old Santa Fe, it is like a new car now, wireless Android Auto. Connects quick, bigger nicer screen. Should allow me to keep the car for another 10 years assuming I don't blow up another engine, only the first one is free.
Updating the infotainment head unit on most newer vehicles is effectively impossible due to the way they're tightly integrated into the rest of the vehicle's systems and controls.
Just having a good photographer is amazing. When my friend was selling their place I was amazed and how good the house looked in the listing. How big it looked, when I know it was not big. This was before AI filters were available. So not a new issue but certainly made worse and cheaper to do.
Even if you're not a good photographer, wide angle lenses make rooms look enormous, by exaggerating the size difference between close and far objects. Before AI most estate agents used that.
And time. I have archived some of my collection, but it does take a lot of time to rip the disks, test that they worked correctly. Then years later find out you did something wrong and there is no sound anymore, or you just got stereo and the surround mix is broken.
Streaming is so easy, don't need to find a disk. Load it, watch all the ads and warnings.
