Subj : Re: Solar TV Battery Test II To : Barry Martin From : Nancy Backus Date : Sat Apr 25 2020 20:38:20 -=> Quoting Barry Martin to Nancy Backus on 15-Apr-2020 10:01 <=- 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... BM> Most of it is. I don't go around looking at the darker side of things BM> but seems most of the 'new & improved' is for the manufacturer's BM> benefit. Often merely even a chance to charge more for the same product and get away with it... ;0 BM> Wide mouth in a Thermos is great for soup, stews, etc.; remember BM> reading a 10% increase in the opening of items like toothpaste, BM> ketchup, etc., caused the consumer to use more, so good for the seller, BM> not necessarily good for the buyer as caused more to be used when not BM> necessary. If one doesn't realize that more is coming out the opening... eventually the buyer could figure it out, though, and go back to using the original amount, just squeezing a little less... :) 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... :) BM> Right. Human monitoring and intervention is good up to a point; so is BM> automated monitoring. A combination of both seems to be right for BM> this instance. Indeed. With the right tools, one can do the right combination... :) 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 anymore.. NB>> they went to longer term price reductions on things, like a couple of NB>> months or so.... the idea being that one doesn't have to binge-buy on NB>> something when it finally goes on sale, but can stock up gradually over NB>> the course of weeks... ;) That's been the case for maybe even a NB>> decade now... :) BM> Hy-Vee might be going towards that: they established what is permanent BM> pricing on a lot of items. Some of the sales have changed from a week BM> to a couple/few weeks -- probably takes the urgency out of shopping BM> but is nice to not have to rush out to buy, plus as you said can so a BM> small stock up this week, another one next week -- easier on the BM> budget! Exactly. :) 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 not NB>> been getting the digital manufacturer's coupons... only the paper ones NB>> when they happen to show up for things I buy anyway... :) BM> Possibly due to different state regulations: I'd say most of Hy-Vee's BM> digital coupons are manufacturers'. The one that seems to be an BM> exclusion is Kraft: if their cheese has a coupon always need a paper BM> one; I've never seen it as a digital coupon. The digital ad will also BM> link the advertised item to the digital coupon; for Kraft cheese never BM> has a "load coupon" button but some statement indicating need to clip BM> the coupon out of the paper. Might be state regulations, might just be store policy... Wegmans has a lot of really high quality (and sometimes price) store items, so a coupon to encourage the consumer to try it can be useful... There are some digital coupons on the Wegmans site for brand name products from time to time, just not as often... It does seem very strange, though, to not have any digital coupons available... I'm sure it's a passing thing, and probably related to needing to keep stock on the shelves, and with the crisis not knowing what will have the next run on it... ;) 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... ;) BM> Right now I would have preferred the orange juice over the toilet BM> paper but my mind may change later! Depending on what you were out of at the time... ttyl neb .... BUDGET: an orderly approach to going into debt. --- EzyBlueWave V3.00 01FB001F * Origin: Tiny's BBS - http://www.tinysbbs.com (454:1/452) .