Price Matching Policies

I promised the fellow at the store I would blog about this, so here I am...

Recently, a critical part in the espresso maker I've had for 4½ years broke and rather than try and obtain a replacement part, if that's even possible anymore, I decided it was time to simply buy a new one. A few days later I bought myself a brand-new espresso maker from the local Sears. It's a great unit, a step up from my last one and I love it, except for one detail. A couple days later I stumbled across the exact same unit on sale from Amazon, for $93 cheaper. Well, to be precise, $104.16 cheaper including tax.

I walked in to Sears with my receipt and a printout of the Amazon.ca page for the product, and asked if I could get a price match. I was told no, because they don't consider Amazon to be a competitor. The answer remained no, even after I clearly outlined what my next steps were going to be—buying that unit from Amazon instead, packing up and returning the one I had bought from them, and them losing a sale and a customer.

On my way home I stopped by a couple other stores to see if they a) had that same unit in stock, and b) were willing to price match Amazon. They both indeed carried it, but as expected the price match was a no go. I'm considerably more forgiving in those instances, because in those cases it was simply a case of finding the best place to buy something, and hoping that someone would price match, so I wouldn't have to wait for a package to be delivered.

When those other two stores didn't match Amazon's price they lost a potential sale, yes, but that's a different scenario from the one Sears is in, where they are losing a sale because the sale was already made and it's going to be undone, plus now they're going to have a slightly used espresso maker to try and unload. From their perspective I think it would have been better for them to have lost $93 in profit (but at least they'd still have some profit, in contrast with the zero they're going to have now), but end up with a very satisfied, and most importantly, repeat customer, plus not having the hassle of dealing with another returned product.

I just finished placing my order on Amazon, so now I've passed the point of no return. Well, I guess not quite yet as I can still cancel the order up until when they actually ship it. The next thing is to pack up my other one to take back to Sears. But since they do have a 30-day return window I have some time to make myself a couple more egg nog lattes before going for a week with no espresso maker. At least I have plenty of regular coffee to hold me through.

PS - I know I could take the unit I get from Amazon and return that one to Sears, completely unopened, since they're identical, and save the step of repacking the one I have, but I don't know if my new one will arrive in time before Sears' return window closes. Plus, that would also end up being a huge help to them, eliminating their “slightly used espresso maker to try and unload” problem...

In Memoriam

2005 - 2010

Today I mourn the passing of my coffee press. It seems that when I washed my dishes last night I wasn't careful enough when I put it or other dishes in the sink. When I grabbed it out of the sink to wash it I found a nice big crack down half of it that wasn't there before. Even though I rarely fill it past the half-way mark anyway as I usually only make enough for one mug (if I want more a few hours later I'm better off making it fresh), I suspect the heat would still make it worse, or perhaps even cause it to shatter.

Oh well. It had a full life. It was a birthday gift, from shortly after my brother got married and moved out, taking the coffee maker with him (for some reason he decided he'd rather live with his wife than me—what a jerk!). That would place it at 5 years old. I guess I won't be able to make myself any coffee for a bit, but at least until I get a replacement I can make do with espresso instead. I don't think that will be tough.

Services will be held this Friday evening at 7 PM at the dumpster outside my building.

A Plain Vanilla Post

Vanilla is a curious thing. I recently read that vanilla is the second most expensive spice, after saffron, since it's such a labour intensive process to grow the pods. And yet, vanilla has become such a common and sought after flavour. So much so, that lots of people seem to equate “vanilla” with “plain.”

Yes, it doesn't get any
fruitier than vanilla, does it?

So did I, for about the first two thirds of my life. Then at some point in my early twenties it clicked that vanilla by itself was a perfectly viable flavour, rather than the absence of a flavour like I previously considered it to be. And suddenly I had a greater appreciation for things like vanilla milkshakes, vanilla ice cream, and vanilla yogurt.

It's interesting how extremely versatile vanilla is, which I guess is why it's so widely used, despite its cost. Aside from it being a great stand-alone flavour, it complements so many other things well. Making chocolate chip cookies? The recipe includes vanilla. Want an ice cream sundae? Yep, start with vanilla ice cream and add your toppings. Order pie a-la-mode and you're never asked what flavour ice cream you want—you always get vanilla. And the one that still amazes me is Starbucks' Caramel Macchiato. Yes, the primary flavouring in that is vanilla syrup. The only caramel in it is what they drizzle on the top!

All this talk of vanilla has suddenly got me craving a vanilla latte... I don't have any vanilla syrup, but I found a very simple recipe I think I'll try. What better way to start out a lazy Saturday morning than with a nice hot vanilla latte.

The Case of the Leaky Travel Mug, Part 2

I wrote previously about a travel mug I have that suddenly had a mysterious leak. Well, I am here to say that the mystery has been solved. And you know what, it wasn't terrorists after all. Or robot ninjas. Or terrorist robots. Someone else had the same experience and shared his findings with me, and I decided to test them out myself.

The Case of the Leaky Coffee Mug

I have a travel mug I use on occasion, which was given to me a couple years ago. It's nothing fancy, but it does the job. For me, at least. Others who have the same travel mug have complained in the past about it leaking, but it never did that for me. Until yesterday morning, that is.

I noticed that the place I set it down had a wet circle, and the bottom of the mug did indeed feel damp. After finishing off the remaining coffee and letting the mug sit for a little bit it felt dry again. Then I refilled it, and as soon as I picked it up the bottom felt wet again.

All Good Things Must Come to an End

It was sometime in 2003 when I learned that Starbucks was having their own branded Visa card, complete with great rewards. Unfortunately, it was only available in the US at the time which was quite disappointing. So in early 2005 when I discovered that it was finally available in Canada, I signed up immediately. And at the very beginning of March 2005, I received my brand new Starbucks Duetto Visa card. So new, this program was, that my card number had five consecutive zeros.