+power69 Posted April 23, 2011 Share Posted April 23, 2011 I'm glad to hear Best Buy is carrying caching stuffs now. I'll still never set foot in one of their stores again...... WHAT? You don't want an extended warranty on that lock n' lock Quote Link to comment
+Nelmel Posted April 23, 2011 Share Posted April 23, 2011 Alright, I have to reply to this! Some of you act lije this is some sacred game, or should have a 'need-to-know' basis. Like its a fraternity that you must be invited in! God for bid I pull out my I-phone and find your cache, while dropping a sig item or geocoin mind you. Know one individual owns the 'sport' (as many call it), of GEOCACHING. I mean what hapoens when you find alk your caches in your area? You wait for more to be published right? Some of which are from NOOBS! You were once a noob yourself, correct? Im speaking to everyone against growth of caching of course. It sounds selfish, and puts a negative spin on the sport if you ask me! This world and enviroment was put here for EVERYONE to explore, not just the ones who own GPSR's, but even the weekend warriors who possess an I-phone. Groundspeak is not being pessimistic and discriminating, so why should you? Allow everyone to experience this vast world we live in by geocaching. One or two bad apples dobt spoil the bunch! Continue to educate the new comers, and teach them how to respect things around them. This is how i see it, its not about you...its about everyone sharing a piece of something great! Quote Link to comment
+dfx Posted April 23, 2011 Share Posted April 23, 2011 That's right. Unless you know something different, usually, it is someone in Pakistan who places the order through the internet which is linked into a computer where it loads into a que for an 'Automated Bin Retrieval System' (ABRS), which picks the part which places it on a conveyor, which is put into an automated box machine with computer generated shipping label attached and then loaded onto a truck. Everything automated except for the hi-lo driver who loads about 60 trucks per day and the actual driver who delivers it. Interesting, I've ordered a lot of stuff online and it's always been shipped from where the store was, never from Pakistan. I guess I got lucky there Quote Link to comment
knowschad Posted April 23, 2011 Share Posted April 23, 2011 Seeing a thread about Best Buy having a Geocaching section set of the alarm bells. Then I read that it's just an inconsequential reference to a section of their website devoted to GPSrs. Can you imagine what I was thinking? No? Yes? (If so, better get your towel and Joo Janta 200 Super-Chromatic Peril Sensitive Sunglasses out) I thought this was going to be a bit about the actual Stores having a section - complete with cheesey cache containers, a fine selection of last year's geocoins and various other knick-knacks tangentially associated with Geocaching (or not even close to tangentially associated, but they wish to make a buck on anyway.) I'm actually calmed and contented that is isn't thus. Now for a real scare - think of WallyWorld getting behind Geocaching! (Get out those Joo Janta 200 Super-Chromatic Peril Sensitive Sunglasses now and duct tape them to your head!) Just a black rectangle here, DW Quote Link to comment
Mr.Yuck Posted April 23, 2011 Share Posted April 23, 2011 I know I stopped playing any sports since the summer and winter olympics made everything so popular. You can even go to the sporting goods stores and find footballs and soccer balls and stuff. Totally over saturated. Joined March, 2011. OK. Got it. We'll see what you're saying a few years from now. Joined August of '03, a few folks were wailing about over-saturation and the 'tipping point' where popularity would ruin the game back then. Some are still waiting, others have accepted that this game appeals to but a small fraction of the population and attrition (those who drop out) will keep the active player population limited. The device we use to geocache has zero bearing on the type of cache we'll hide or find and even less on what kind of cacher we'll be. The resentment of those of us who cache with cell phones is too silly to address further. It sounds to me as though you misunderstood the point of my post. Mr. rav_bunneh was saying that he felt it ridiculous that some are complaining about the way that things have changed. I was simply pointing out that he has no real idea of what has changed, since he just joined. That said, I do believe that the use of cellphones has changed the activity. In the "old days", it took someone with enough interest and commitment to spend several hundred dollars for a GPS to play the game. Typically, that was also somebody that had an interest in the outdoors, since many of those GPSr's were originally purchased for hiking, hunting, and fishing, and geocaching was only an afterthought. Today, it only takes a commitment of $10 (or less) to play the game. That doesn't mean that each and every person that caches with a smartphone and app lacks the love of the outdoors that the early cachers had, but it does mean that there are many getting introduced to it that do not have that. Perhaps not bad... but to say that there hasn't been a change would be a mistake. I can't stress enough how much I agree with this post by Knowschad. Speaking as someone who has been known to rail on some cell phone Geocachers, and their TFTC logs, or emoticon logs on the website. I couldn't possibly express it better than Knowschad, so I'll just roll with that. I'm not a cellphone hata. I have one, you know. Doesn't everyone? Quote Link to comment
+Sharks-N-Beans Posted April 23, 2011 Share Posted April 23, 2011 (edited) Alright, I have to reply to this! Some of you act lije this is some sacred game, or should have a 'need-to-know' basis. Like its a fraternity that you must be invited in! God for bid I pull out my I-phone and find your cache, while dropping a sig item or geocoin mind you. Know one individual owns the 'sport' (as many call it), of GEOCACHING. I mean what hapoens when you find alk your caches in your area? You wait for more to be published right? Some of which are from NOOBS! You were once a noob yourself, correct? Im speaking to everyone against growth of caching of course. It sounds selfish, and puts a negative spin on the sport if you ask me! This world and enviroment was put here for EVERYONE to explore, not just the ones who own GPSR's, but even the weekend warriors who possess an I-phone. Groundspeak is not being pessimistic and discriminating, so why should you? Allow everyone to experience this vast world we live in by geocaching. One or two bad apples dobt spoil the bunch! Continue to educate the new comers, and teach them how to respect things around them. This is how i see it, its not about you...its about everyone sharing a piece of something great! +1 My thoughts yesterday, but I posted a sarcastic blurb instead of a well executed post like this....but I got a fav Edited April 23, 2011 by Sharks-N-Beans Quote Link to comment
+Castle Mischief Posted April 23, 2011 Share Posted April 23, 2011 My wife and kids bought themselves a gps at Best Buy recently. It seems to be a few bucks less then anywhere else from these parts. I don't buy online. I support local businesses, people with real jobs. So the guy who picks the products off the shelf in the warehouse, the guy who picks up the package when it is ready to ship, the guy who drives the truck half way across the country, the guy who sorts the big truck load into smaller trucks, and the guy who delivers it to your door don't have real jobs? That's right. Unless you know something different, usually, it is someone in Pakistan who places the order through the internet which is linked into a computer where it loads into a que for an 'Automated Bin Retrieval System' (ABRS), which picks the part which places it on a conveyor, which is put into an automated box machine with computer generated shipping label attached and then loaded onto a truck. Everything automated except for the hi-lo driver who loads about 60 trucks per day and the actual driver who delivers it. Having worked in the manufacturing and logistics business for over 15 years, I can tell that I doubt that any of the big .com businesses are hubbing from Pakistan. Most of these businesses have warehouses in the major hub cities and send them out from there. I can also tell you that while an "automated" picker system sounds really cool that most of these warehouses are using guys on forklifts that make $9 an hour. The fancy robo-pickers generally aren't seen outside Japan or the major OEMs for manufacturing of the more proprietary systems. Just like the "paperless office" is a dream that is seldom seen in reality, fully automated warehouses are not widely used in the US, Middle East, or Europe. It's customer support that's housed across the seas, but more likely in India than Pakistan. Quote Link to comment
+CacheFreakTim Posted April 23, 2011 Author Share Posted April 23, 2011 I'm glad to hear Best Buy is carrying caching stuffs now. I'll still never set foot in one of their stores again...... Ouch! Didn't think it was that bad of news. Quote Link to comment
4wheelin_fool Posted April 23, 2011 Share Posted April 23, 2011 I would not purchase anything from that place. They have a 14 day return policy for GPS units and it's 30 days for other things. If you are a "Premier Silver Member" you get an entire 45 days to return something. I bought a camcorder from them, but it did not have the features that the salesman thought it did, so I returned it in time, and got hit with a 15% restocking fee. (about $40) I did not even unwrap the camcorder from the inner package. All I did was open the box and read the owners manual. The manager tells me that since the outer seal on the box was broken, then he was required to charge that. LLBean and REI have lifetime return policies. If a business does not trust it's customers and slips in extra fees, as well as a "gotcha" return policy then I don't know why anyone would want to shop there. Best Buy no longer has a restocking fee. I know because I recently brought back both a mouse and digital tablet, and it was quite painless and no restocking fee. Correct about the 30 days for those items. I don't know if GPS units are still only 14 days as you state. Possible correction: Although I was told that they eliminated the restocking fee, their online policy for instore purchases states: A restocking fee may be applied for opened items in some product categories. It goes on to say: 14 days for computers, monitors, projectors, camcorders, digital cameras, iPad, tablets and radar detectors 30 days for all other products 45 days for all products for Reward Zone Premier Silver members* Make no mistake: I'm not defending Best Buy, and I'm not a huge fan of theirs, but I think that criticisms need to be true and fair. As for REI... I LOVE them and shop there often. But to compare their return policy to Best Buys is simply not fair. Don't kid yourself... you pay for REI's return policy with each and every purchase. Yes, I now notice that they have recently eliminated the restocking fee as of this past December, but only after years of complaints. Sued by the state of Ohio Impersonating customers Selling a 9 year old hard drive as new Nasty business practices Lies to customer about installation cost, so he pays it in $2 bills. Then they call the cops and have him detained to see if the money is real. Using fake in-store website to defraud. Best Buy internal documents point to shady anti-price matching policies. Just my 2 cents, er $40. Quote Link to comment
+NicknPapa Posted April 23, 2011 Share Posted April 23, 2011 I'm personally hoping geocaching doesn't get any more popular than it already is. That's why I'm not particularly fond of the smart phone apps put out by Groundspeak. I think too many people geocaching will ruin the novelness of it and lead to issues and problems. Any organism, be it plant, animal or community, that fails to grow and evolve dies. It just takes longer and is more painful for a community..... Quote Link to comment
+Sol seaker Posted April 23, 2011 Share Posted April 23, 2011 I would not purchase anything from that place. They have a 14 day return policy for GPS units and it's 30 days for other things. If you are a "Premier Silver Member" you get an entire 45 days to return something. I bought a camcorder from them, but it did not have the features that the salesman thought it did, so I returned it in time, and got hit with a 15% restocking fee. (about $40) I did not even unwrap the camcorder from the inner package. All I did was open the box and read the owners manual. The manager tells me that since the outer seal on the box was broken, then he was required to charge that. LLBean and REI have lifetime return policies. If a business does not trust it's customers and slips in extra fees, as well as a "gotcha" return policy then I don't know why anyone would want to shop there. Best Buy no longer has a restocking fee. I know because I recently brought back both a mouse and digital tablet, and it was quite painless and no restocking fee. Correct about the 30 days for those items. I don't know if GPS units are still only 14 days as you state. Possible correction: Although I was told that they eliminated the restocking fee, their online policy for instore purchases states: A restocking fee may be applied for opened items in some product categories. It goes on to say: 14 days for computers, monitors, projectors, camcorders, digital cameras, iPad, tablets and radar detectors 30 days for all other products 45 days for all products for Reward Zone Premier Silver members* Make no mistake: I'm not defending Best Buy, and I'm not a huge fan of theirs, but I think that criticisms need to be true and fair. As for REI... I LOVE them and shop there often. But to compare their return policy to Best Buys is simply not fair. Don't kid yourself... you pay for REI's return policy with each and every purchase. You also pay high at Best Buy even though they have a crappy return policy. They are overpriced. They used to have good prices there a long time ago, but they are not that great anymore. I bought a computer there and had a lot of problems when I wanted them to take care of things under warranty. I had to raise heck to get them to follow through, and then, even though they rave about their own repair service and advertise all of their cars that will go to places to repair company computers, they still sent mine to CA to be repaired and said I might get it back in three weeks. They were very minor problems they should have fixed in a few minutes in their shop at the store. They have a bad attitude there. No customer service, and now the prices are high. At REI it's worth any extra to get the good service and return policy. Hit them on a 20% off sale (any one item if you're a member) and REI is cheaper than anywhere else. Quote Link to comment
+Sol seaker Posted April 23, 2011 Share Posted April 23, 2011 I would not purchase anything from that place. They have a 14 day return policy for GPS units and it's 30 days for other things. If you are a "Premier Silver Member" you get an entire 45 days to return something. I bought a camcorder from them, but it did not have the features that the salesman thought it did, so I returned it in time, and got hit with a 15% restocking fee. (about $40) I did not even unwrap the camcorder from the inner package. All I did was open the box and read the owners manual. The manager tells me that since the outer seal on the box was broken, then he was required to charge that. LLBean and REI have lifetime return policies. If a business does not trust it's customers and slips in extra fees, as well as a "gotcha" return policy then I don't know why anyone would want to shop there. Best Buy no longer has a restocking fee. I know because I recently brought back both a mouse and digital tablet, and it was quite painless and no restocking fee. Correct about the 30 days for those items. I don't know if GPS units are still only 14 days as you state. Possible correction: Although I was told that they eliminated the restocking fee, their online policy for instore purchases states: A restocking fee may be applied for opened items in some product categories. It goes on to say: 14 days for computers, monitors, projectors, camcorders, digital cameras, iPad, tablets and radar detectors 30 days for all other products 45 days for all products for Reward Zone Premier Silver members* Make no mistake: I'm not defending Best Buy, and I'm not a huge fan of theirs, but I think that criticisms need to be true and fair. As for REI... I LOVE them and shop there often. But to compare their return policy to Best Buys is simply not fair. Don't kid yourself... you pay for REI's return policy with each and every purchase. Yes, I now notice that they have recently eliminated the restocking fee as of this past December, but only after years of complaints. Sued by the state of Ohio Impersonating customers Selling a 9 year old hard drive as new Nasty business practices Lies to customer about installation cost, so he pays it in $2 bills. Then they call the cops and have him detained to see if the money is real. Using fake in-store website to defraud. Best Buy internal documents point to shady anti-price matching policies. Just my 2 cents, er $40. I priced computers in there recently and was looking at a 250.00 computer. They told me I needed to have it "set up" by their computer department for an additional 50. bucks. I asked what that entailed, and they said they would install anti-virus software "and do other things to make it run faster." They could not go into any other detail besides that. For fifty bucks??? What a racket!!! I bought a better one elsewhere, with no set-up fee, for 200. Quote Link to comment
+Don_J Posted April 23, 2011 Share Posted April 23, 2011 I priced computers in there recently and was looking at a 250.00 computer. They told me I needed to have it "set up" by their computer department for an additional 50. bucks. I asked what that entailed, and they said they would install anti-virus software "and do other things to make it run faster." They could not go into any other detail besides that. For fifty bucks??? What a racket!!! I bought a better one elsewhere, with no set-up fee, for 200. A few years back, my step father made the mistake of letting them "Setup" his newly purchased PC. He ended up with a bunch of overlapping trial security programs that expired in 30 days, unless you paid for upgrades from the individual software vendors. I idea of paying someone to clutter up your hard disk with crap, seems ludicrous. The fact that they wanted you to pay for a service but would not provide you with the details of the service sounds like an outright scam. Quote Link to comment
knowschad Posted April 24, 2011 Share Posted April 24, 2011 I would not purchase anything from that place. They have a 14 day return policy for GPS units and it's 30 days for other things. If you are a "Premier Silver Member" you get an entire 45 days to return something. I bought a camcorder from them, but it did not have the features that the salesman thought it did, so I returned it in time, and got hit with a 15% restocking fee. (about $40) I did not even unwrap the camcorder from the inner package. All I did was open the box and read the owners manual. The manager tells me that since the outer seal on the box was broken, then he was required to charge that. LLBean and REI have lifetime return policies. If a business does not trust it's customers and slips in extra fees, as well as a "gotcha" return policy then I don't know why anyone would want to shop there. Best Buy no longer has a restocking fee. I know because I recently brought back both a mouse and digital tablet, and it was quite painless and no restocking fee. Correct about the 30 days for those items. I don't know if GPS units are still only 14 days as you state. Possible correction: Although I was told that they eliminated the restocking fee, their online policy for instore purchases states: A restocking fee may be applied for opened items in some product categories. It goes on to say: 14 days for computers, monitors, projectors, camcorders, digital cameras, iPad, tablets and radar detectors 30 days for all other products 45 days for all products for Reward Zone Premier Silver members* Make no mistake: I'm not defending Best Buy, and I'm not a huge fan of theirs, but I think that criticisms need to be true and fair. As for REI... I LOVE them and shop there often. But to compare their return policy to Best Buys is simply not fair. Don't kid yourself... you pay for REI's return policy with each and every purchase. Yes, I now notice that they have recently eliminated the restocking fee as of this past December, but only after years of complaints. Sued by the state of Ohio Impersonating customers Selling a 9 year old hard drive as new Nasty business practices Lies to customer about installation cost, so he pays it in $2 bills. Then they call the cops and have him detained to see if the money is real. Using fake in-store website to defraud. Best Buy internal documents point to shady anti-price matching policies. Just my 2 cents, er $40. I would not have doubted a claim of years of complaints. You should have saved yourself the effort of looking up all those links for me. All I was saying is that they no longer have it on most items. Quote Link to comment
+gelfling6 Posted April 25, 2011 Share Posted April 25, 2011 its not FINDING with cellphones, its LOGGING with them. Same could be said about the Magellan Explorist-GC.. It's field notes is probably the most horrendous I've dealt with. I'll usually leave a simple few words, then when uploading the logs to GC.COM, it'll do a major edit of them. I'm surprised, BestBuy has also gotten themselves in trouble with fair trade, advertising one price on the website, but once you get to the store, the price changes to higher, and when they check the website there (Catch-22, Their OWN in-store website, is a local LAN version of the global website), the higher price is there. Granted, I do shop there from time to time, and have picked-up a few good bargains, but I trust places like Staples a little more for guaranteed lower price. I still miss Comp-USA, for their external hard drive cases. (far more reliable than some of the name-brand externals. I've had 2 USB-EIDE(ATA) boxes last longer, and run cooler than a I/O-Gear box I got at Staples.) As for a Geocaching section? I've always thought their variety of GPSr's has been limited to more of the car type, or Golf type, and very little in the hiking/geocaching types. Absolute ZERO for marine/water use. I'll just have to stop by and take a gander. As as long as it doesn't recognize the laptop I bought there nearly a year ago, I can breath easy. (which, knock wood, is still working, save for a bad card reader.) Quote Link to comment
+GeoGeeBee Posted April 25, 2011 Share Posted April 25, 2011 I actually admit that I like the geocaching section at REI... it's so convenient. Pretty spendy for what they have. That's why we call it "Really Expensive Items." Quote Link to comment
+A & J Tooling Posted April 25, 2011 Share Posted April 25, 2011 [As for a Geocaching section? I've always thought their variety of GPSr's has been limited to more of the car type, or Golf type, and very little in the hiking/geocaching types. Absolute ZERO for marine/water use. I'll just have to stop by and take a gander. As as long as it doesn't recognize the laptop I bought there nearly a year ago, I can breath easy. (which, knock wood, is still working, save for a bad card reader.) I had to help my kids pick out a gps for me (them). They (BB) had 3-4 handheld for this type of activity, 2-3 marine ones and the rest were for driving. Not big selection by any means but a seperate section is still a step up. It was fun listening to the sales geek talk a bunch of crap that he had no clue what he was talking about. Quote Link to comment
+nittanycopa Posted April 25, 2011 Share Posted April 25, 2011 I actually admit that I like the geocaching section at REI... it's so convenient. Pretty spendy for what they have. That's why we call it "Really Expensive Items." I quit shopping there for climbing and camping gear. I'm a shareholder and my dividend never seems to accurately reflect my purchases for the given year. I'm always told a line about "well, see, that item was technically on sale"... So, Amazon.com it is for my caching, climbing and outdoors needs. Lowest price (usually) and delivered to my door for free in 2 days with my prime membership. And Best Buy...ugh, don't get me started on them. I quit shopping there a few years ago. I highly doubt them carrying GPS units will do much of anything negative to the hobby of geocaching. Quote Link to comment
+Team GPSaxophone Posted April 25, 2011 Share Posted April 25, 2011 The resentment of those of us who cache with cell phones is too silly to address further. There's resentment towards cell-phone cachers? Wow, sometimes I find myself outside of my PQ range and look up nearby caches on my Droid. Who knew finding a cache or two without my "real" GPSr was something bad. its not FINDING with cellphones, its LOGGING with them. You're probably referring to "TFTC! Logged with my Binford 6100 smartphone" or something like that. Even on my phone, I type in a normal log and I don't have a lame signature that tells others what kind of phone I used. Quote Link to comment
+lamoracke Posted April 29, 2011 Share Posted April 29, 2011 went to a Best Buy today. None of the employees had even heard of Geocaching, much less had a section for them. Not in that store to be sure. They do not even have hand held GPS devices. Only lock n locks REI had were the ones with pencils AND coins mixed in so the price was too high. If I want to buy a coin, I will buy a coin. Quote Link to comment
+CacheFreakTim Posted April 29, 2011 Author Share Posted April 29, 2011 went to a Best Buy today. None of the employees had even heard of Geocaching, much less had a section for them. Not in that store to be sure. They do not even have hand held GPS devices. Only lock n locks REI had were the ones with pencils AND coins mixed in so the price was too high. If I want to buy a coin, I will buy a coin. I don't consider Best Buy employees to be salesmen at this point. They are more like store clerks. The difference is salesmen can add value to their products and know them inside out. Clerks just hand you a box and say have a nice day. Quote Link to comment
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.