It has been far from being "18 pages of whining". (But there have been whines about whining.) In fact, quite a few have found value in following this topic. For now it stays.
sorry, can't watch Napcar with all of their gimmicks, NAPCAR peaked in 1992, long before they started the GWC, Lucky Dog and the Chase....
You could always surf UStream for some powerboat racing.... Uh oh. Now the topic is really wildly drifting!
This thread got me to thinking about members' tendency to refer to specific entities obliquely in threads, e.g.: (1) "That auction site" for eBay; (2) "that MD etailer" (and variants) for woo woo woo ¤¤¤¤¤, if my inference is correct. Why the dancing around using oblique references? I have no problem referring to a specific business for experiences good OR bad, e.g., "I ordered X, Y and Z from woo woo woo ¤¤¤¤¤, and this is what happened," or "I found a three-pack of X on eBay." Dieter Zakas
What you have missed here, please read. Self-explanatory: http://www.trainboard.com/grapevine/showthread.php?106711-TrainBoard-Policy-on-Posts-About-Retailers
It is there for a very good reason: http://www.trainboard.com/grapevine/showthread.php?106711-TrainBoard-Policy-on-Posts-About-Retailers
I recieved a shipment today from my usual DCC supplier in Arizona, a Digitrax BDL168 block detector, it came first class mail in a 9x7" padded envelope with a grand total of $4.81 postage after a mere twelve days in transit. If ordered from the large eastern retailer it would have been in a large cardboard carton filled to the brim with styrofoam beads and $40.45 priority mail postage and taken the same amount of time to get here. The $35.64 savings on a $119.99 item (it cost the same from both suppliers) is what makes it worth it to me to order from suppliers who let me choose the shipping method if I can.
OMG!!! Less than $5.00 to ship to OZ??? The trade winds must have been blowing stiffly to the southwest for that canoe to arrive in only 12 days!! LOL Seriously... though... your point is well taken. I commiserate with the comment about voluminous packages with mountains of packing beads from certain e-tailers when they ship certain items. I used to keep those packing beads (aka packing peanuts) until my wife accused me of being a packing peanut hoarder.
Hey... there... lets get back on track here with this... rant or whine or whatever about shipping! After all... what self respecting model railroader wouldn't have opened this thread up to read about the injustice of gorging other poor defenseless model railroaders with exorbitant shipping charges! It should have been front page news on New York Times for heavens sake!!! Why these model railroaders don't even have the luxury of strutting into a local hobby shop to complain about the lack of discount and those darned sales taxes they have to pay as well. CAN YOU IMAGINE the future thread we will have to endure when the NEXUS on-line taxing takes place!!! So enjoy this thread for what it is... information! There has been good points made... I've reviewed my previous purchase habits and costs... we learn and laugh a little too.
I'll chime in--being in Europe can be a pain, shipping-wise. Most of my troubles are retailers that can't/won't ship to an APO box. APO/FPO boxes are post boxes for US service members stationed OCONUS. The mail travels from the east coast to a major int'l civilian airport where it is forwarded by truck to the specific base of assignment. The mail is handed at domestic rates, and is usually treated like domestic mail, but with customs forms required. The exception is lithium batteries. I can receive lithium battery-equipped merchandise (like a Ipad or MP3 player), yet cannot ship it should I need to return it. That's an EU law I think. Germany's domestic shipping can be DHL or somethign similar and is fairly inexensive. I geocache a lot and have bought some gear from a German geocache site online. I have it shipped to my residence fairly cheaply and usually get it a day or 2 later. No complaints there. My fav model RR dealer tends to charge actual postage cost and a small charge for packaging materials. Its very reasonable, but my costs are higher because I request insured shipping for each package since it crosses the pond. I remember the dollar for the item, $40 for shipping ebay fee dodgers, and have since kicked the ebay habit altogether.
Of course the first time somebody doesn't incase the prized locomotive in a bubble wrap bag, in three inches of foam peanuts all around, in a sturdy over sized cardboard box to insure enough room for the peanuts. And when the 500 pound gorilla, plus the Massey Furguson combine/package sorter/processor, plus the lunch break tag football crew get done with it and throw it in the rear of the delivery truck, the merchant will catch hell for not properly packaging it so that it arrives undamaged. I just received a box containing three locos, plus bottles of paint and decals that had three nice hefty dings in the cardboard, and I am not sure if there were teeth marks or not. But the only thing that was going to damage that package contents was to run over it with the delivery truck. I have been in several of those package handling centers and I cringe at what I saw. So the suggestion that the MD based merchant over packs their stuff doesn't hold water with me in fact I like their consideration in damage control.
I knew too many people that died in boats, so it is hard for me to watch. sprint cars and midgets are my true oval love.
