Subj : Solar TV Battery Test II To : Nancy Backus From : Barry Martin Date : Wed Apr 15 2020 10:01:00 Hi Nancy! NB>>>> I tend to be mostly impervious to advertising.... unless I'm already NB>>>> considering something, and have been already checking it out, their NB>>>> rhetoric doesn't get to me... :) BM>>> But-but-but: it's New _and_ Improved!! NB>>> And.........??? BM>> And?! But it's 'New' and 'Improved'!!' What more could one want?!! NB>> Working, and doing what I need it to do....? Oh, and not costing NB>> excessively, or actually not being any different from the previous NB>> item.... ;) BM> Working better than before is always a nice thing! Even better is BM> when I notice the proclaimed improvement and it actually does BM> something. "Now with more bubbles!" is fine for a bubble bath but not BM> necessarily for a car wash soap! NB> Exactly... it is possible for a product to actually be improved, NB> in a way that is useful.... ;) But often it's only hype... Most of it is. I don't go around looking at the darker side of things but seems most of the 'new & improved' is for the manufacturer's benefit. Wide mouth in a Thermos is great for soup, stews, etc.; remember reading a 10% increase in the opening of items like toothpaste, ketchup, etc., caused the consumer to use more, so good for the seller, not necessarily good for the buyer as caused more to be used whne not necedssary. BM>>> I'll tend to glance at the electronics (more computer) advertising, BM>>> sort of to see what's out there, sort of for planning future computer BM>>> builds/expansions. NB>>> That somewhat makes sense... not so much planning on buying as NB>>> keeping abreast on what might be happening... BM>> The 'buck/boost' device idea derived from a 'technical advertisement'. BM>> Will admit it took a few postings of the ad to finally catch. NB>> It finally dawned on you what good it might do YOU... ;) BM> Yup! I had been thinking Zener diode which would 'buck' the high BM> input voltage but would do nothing for the low input. For than I had a BM> digital voltmeter: visually monitoring. Both of those have a bit of a BM> flaw, which is probably why I didn't persue. NB> Having something to handle both ends of the problem without your NB> needing to intervene is indeed a useful thing... :) Right. Human monitoring and intervention is good up to a point; so is automated monitoring. A combination of both seems to be right for this instance. BM>> Hy-Vee announced last week they were temporarily discontinuing their BM>> print ad because they couldn't guarantee sufficient stock due to BM>> COVID-19 issues. Did have the on-line ad, at least for this week BM>> (effective date March 25), though IMO wasn't much in it; I probably BM>> would have skipped if it wasn't for me being across the street for the BM>> cards, etc., at Dollar General and needing a few things which rarely BM>> go on sale. NB>> Wegmans had discontinued theirs a couple of years ago... long before NB>> anything like this was happening.... We just do our weekly shopping... NB>> I have noticed, though, that some of the sales (noted from the shelf NB>> tags) have quietly ended early.... I guess there's no need to NB>> stimulate sales when one at the same time has to limit how much NB>> shoppers can buy at a time, with stocks diminishing too quickly... ;0 NB>> There haven't been any new digital coupons either... BM> I'm wondering if Hy-Vee (and other grocers and possibly retailers in BM> general) will take this as an opportunity to cut back on their BM> advertising? I'm sort of reluctant to eliminate print ads as I think BM> they serve as a reminder ("remember us!") but I don't think short-term BM> sales are necessary. Actually I find them rather annoying: so if I go BM> Friday instead of Thursday I could save, but Fridays are inconvenient. BM> ...Suppose not much different than it's on sale this week but not next. NB> Wegmans has very few short-term (even just a week long) sales NB> anymore... they went to longer term price reductions on things, NB> like a couple of months or so.... the idea being that one doesn't NB> have to binge-buy on something when it finally goes on sale, but NB> can stock up gradually over the course of weeks... ;) That's NB> been the case for maybe even a decade now... :) Hy-Vee might be going towards that: they established what is permanent pricing on a lot of items. Some of the sales have changed from a week to a couple/few weeks -- probably takes the urgency out of shopping but is nice to not have to rush out to buy, plus as you said can so a small stock up this week, another one next week -- easier on the budget! BM> As for the lack of digital coupons, Clorox and the like don't need to BM> advertise much less give money off; DiGiorno probably would still like BM> to tempt customers away from Tony's. And redeemed coupons add several BM> cents to the store's bottom line. NB> I was thinking more of the store's own digital coupons... I've NB> not been getting the digital manufacturer's coupons... only the NB> paper ones when they happen to show up for things I buy anyway... :) Possibly due to different state regulations: I'd say most of Hy-Vee's digital coupons are manufacturers'. The one that seems to be an exclusion is Kraft: if their cheese has a coupon always need a paper one; I've never seen it as a digital coupon. The digital ad will also link the advertised item to the digital coupon; for Kraft cheese never has a "load coupon" button but some statement indicating need to clip the coupon out of the paper. BM>> Will be interesting to see what next week's electronic ad offers. NB>> Indeed. :) BM> I was telling someone last week's Hy-Vee digital ad had over 1,000 BM> items while this week's had a little over 400. And their 99› orange BM> juice (limit two) was sold out. (But I did get the last roll of Angel BM> Soft toilet paper, plus I had a dollar off digital coupon!!) NB> Win some, lose some... ;) Right now I would have preferred the orange juice over the toilet paper but my mind may change later! ¯ ® ¯ Barry_Martin_3@ ® ¯ @Q.COM ® ¯ ® .... Out of my mind. Back in five minutes. Well, maybe. --- MultiMail/Win32 v0.47 þ wcECHO 4.2 ÷ ILink: The Safe BBS þ Bettendorf, IA --- QScan/PCB v1.20a / 01-0462 * Origin: ILink: CFBBS | cfbbs.no-ip.com | 856-933-7096 (454:1/1) .