Monkey Wards and Amazon

[BA Deere]

As a kid I remember the big Montgomery Wards catalogs 1 in the spring and 1 in the fall.  They sold everything from pantyhose to circular saws, you`d order from the order form and send a check and about a week the UPS truck would bring the stuff down the dusty road to your rural route #2 address, Anywhere, USA.   How the driver found those places without GPS is beyond me. 

But the catalogs had a index, kind of like the menu on Amazon`s search engine.  The rich people could order on the phone with a credit card and get their stuff sooner.  Larger items that UPS couldn`t handle went to a local Wards pickup store, I remember Dad ordered honey bees once and they nervously called wanting him to pick them up asap.  🙂

It`s just kind of funny/strange Wards had that huge advantage for 100yrs or whatever and now they`re broke and Amazon came along years after and ate their lunch.  Had Wards stayed viable and was able to get in on the online craze...who knows?    But I suppose Wards went broke in the early 90`s and Amazon got rolling (probably losing money at first) about 10yrs ago.  

Amazon pits the lowest prices against each other when Wards didn`t.  Amazon has free shipping in many cases, where Wards had high shipping costs.  Wards used to soak you state sales tax and Amazon has been skirting that.

Anyway some random thoughts going down that ribbon of highway, the 21hrs of the day that Rush isn`t on the radio   🙂

[k-289]

BA - Intersting  thought's -  and it's AmaZing  on the sales tax issue, as local - state politicians seem to have a message of  '' I never thought of that '' sales tax   EXEMPTION  ''' while clamoring to get some corporate headquarters brought into the state,  LOADED with TAX gimmies --- 

Truely  AmaZing --- 

[elcheapo]

Personally I find amazon a bit high, usually eBay
A bit cheaper, depends what your looking for.

Used to be catalogs in the mail all the time...sale
Catalogs in addition to the big ones

Used to be catalogs were cheaper but not always.

[sw363535]

Gimic marketing  ........... 

Amazon won't make 100 years...

[k-289]

FREE  shipping is going to hit the sand ---

[BA Deere]

It is funny what happens to some companies that were considered rock solid and the stock for widows and orphans.   I`m thinking of the Eastman Kodak company on top for so long, then bankrupt, then in a few years people started taking better pictures with the phone in their hand.....the hell you say!     There`s a whole generation that doesn`t know what a "Kodak moment" is.

http://www.timetoast.com/timelines/eastman-kodak-company-history   

I`ve driven most major brands of olde timey tractors.  You had the torture machines F-20 Farmall.  The "70 Oliver" circa 1938 it had 6 cylinders ran like a sewing machine, 6 forward gears, they were the Cadillac tractor.  John Deere hung on to 2 cylinders and a hand clutch way into the 1960`s.  So Oliver/White went broke and John Deere WILL be here 100 years from now.  

[k-289]

I'll call that  John  Deere  bet, gota  get thru the next 10 first  ---

[BA Deere]

It`s kind of funny on Ebay people won`t bid $10 and $2 shipping "buy it now", but if you list it "$15 and Free shipping!!!"  they`ll run it up to $20 and think they got a bargain.

[BA Deere]

John Deere has the secret sauce, selling construction equipment to Dubai, lawn tractors on Long Island and combines in Tennessee.   Not to mention safes, socks, jackets, wrenches, power washers.

I love all brands of machinery, however if I won the lottery and was gonna buy new, it`d be John Deere because of the service and parts availability.

[sw363535]

The technology thing and when to invest in it and when to avoid it has  been on my mind a lot.

Was watching this great movie about homesteading in minnesota and the one farmer in the community had bought a tractor in the 1920's........ bigger, better, faster....... if you know the movie....  The guy was going out of business because the cost of the investment was taking too long and the other "tools" of fieldwork had not caught up yet.

But at the same time the banker in the community owned the only steam tractor in the community and was raking in a fee from every farmer driving the stationary threshing machine............

Technology is always the wave of the future and the nightmare of the present (or the cash flow statement if you bite too early)

Deere is comical.......... desperately diversifying and adjusting in one of the most profitable times ever ..... and also the most risky time.