The evolution of the point of sale

In our semi retired state, we still have two business interests which has always had the point of sale being a simple paper receipt and cash or check only. We are now making our point of sale online, and will accept credit cards. In the last year we have increasingly used Amazon, Lowes, Home depot, tractor supply, and Best Buy to purchase retail items and have them delivered.

We are convinced that we must have the point of sale in the cloud and online. We will go live later this month, but it is amazing what this point of sale cloud processing can offer and it neatly syncs with our quickbook accounts. I wish ten years ago we had switched. I Just had an inverter and fan delivered to my home on a sunday.......by the us mail. We will see how the web changes and point of sale will work.

I'm probably passing the 40% point now. I even order my groceries online now and they are delivered to my door. They would even put them away for me... but I prefer to do that. The service costs $50 a year... and I tip generously. I've never really liked big stores... and can't stand malls. Xmas had always been torture. So I couldn't be more pleased with the direction this is going.

BTW... played a poker cash game for a few hours today.... was up almost 200 but finished up 75. Ran into a couple of big hands that the guy just trapped. I shouldn't have called the min river raises. I'll remember him.

no poker for me. PRRT shortly after the scan on the 23rd and then on 8 week cycles. This online purchasing is really something we did not use much until the last year and our percentage of use is increasing daily.

I don't buy much online, just some sheet music on ebay. Oh, and I don't think I'll ever go to Best Buy again. Their return policy stinks...14 days to return an item, and they gave us a hard time even though the purchase was a gift. Nope...I'll find a better retailer.

We just bought 48 rolls of northern toilet paper online. Amazon delivers it for free and we have a couple porta potties and with guests, family, and friends visiting dying seaoat, it was easier to have the tp delivered to the house with no delivery charge. I am using the boxes to burn debris from the floods. I foresee that we will be buying much much much more online now that we have found out how easy and convenient it is.

Been buying online for many years, especially clothing (SO much easier to find special sizes such as talls for my husband).  Also buy all kinds of things via eBay - much easier to deal with than Amazon IMHO though we buy from the latter as well on occasion.

I buy on line all the time.

We just had 48 rolls of toilet paper delivered on a Sunday and it cost less than going to our local grocery story, and I had to hardly do a thing. I used the box to put all the deliveries from prior Amazon deliveries which I use to start the fires to burn down the flood debris at the causeways, and simply put the rolls in the laundry room. If a porta potty needs extra tp, we have it now.

I had to go about 25 miles to a Lowes to get some lumber. I filled the dump truck up and then when I returned I filled it again. It cost $25 gas to pick up the lumber, and I know Amazon will never deliver construction material, but you begin to see the savings of just keeping your vehicle parked.

I ordered the 40 watt solar panel and controller. I already have the inverters. I will begin to build the floor and then frame the walls and my wife will be bringing the billboard vinyl we have been using on the project in Florida. We will tie the structure into the trees so if it floods the electronics will not float to Memphis. also in a rush we can store the poles, stakes, and tent right at the site, rather than packing everything up and taking it up by the house. We also purchase battery gauges which will allow us to monitor the charge condition of the batteries. We will play with this but it will be nice when friends and family come out to enjoy the islands that they now can camp on them without the hassle of setting up tents. This has been expensive, but in light of my decline it will be nice to spend time with folks fishing and boating and generally enjoying nature.

My best week of the month has always been the week before my sando shot. Doing much better the last two days and I unloaded 12 sheets of plywood and about 40 2x4s......feel pretty good. I will show photos next weekend, as I think I should have one tent set up finished. I also am cutting out a door to the garage where there was a window. I have to be careful because this garage is probably close to sixty years old. We just need to keep some of our equipment out of the rain and I will be building a side shed with a vinyl cover for the golf cart, ATV, and John Deere commercial mower, but will keep the bobcat in the steel shipping container. A very productive day with minimal pain......all good.

2seaoat wrote:We just had 48 rolls of toilet paper delivered on a Sunday and it cost less than going to our local grocery story, and I had to hardly do a thing.  I used the box to put all the deliveries from prior Amazon deliveries which I use to start the fires to burn down the flood debris at the causeways, and simply put the rolls in the laundry room.  If a porta potty needs extra tp, we have it now.

I had to go about 25 miles to a Lowes to get some lumber.  I filled the dump truck up and then when I returned I filled it again.  It cost $25 gas to pick up the lumber, and I know Amazon will never deliver construction material, but you begin to see the savings of just keeping your vehicle parked.

I ordered the 40 watt solar panel and controller.  I already have the inverters.  I will begin to build the floor and then frame the walls and my wife will be bringing the billboard vinyl we have been using on the project in Florida.  We will tie the structure into the trees so if it floods the electronics will not float to Memphis.  also in a rush we can store the poles, stakes, and tent right at the site, rather than packing everything up and taking it up by the house.  We also purchase battery gauges which will allow us to monitor the charge condition of the batteries.   We will play with this but it will be nice when friends and family come out to enjoy the islands that they now can camp on them without the hassle of setting up tents.  This has been expensive, but in light of my decline it will be nice to spend time with folks fishing and boating and generally enjoying nature.

My best week of the month has always been the week before my sando shot.  Doing much better the last two days and I unloaded 12 sheets of plywood and about 40 2x4s......feel pretty good.  I will show photos next weekend, as I think   I should have one tent set up finished.  I also am cutting out a door to the garage where there was a window.  I have to be careful because this garage is probably close to sixty years old.  We just need to keep some of our equipment out of the rain and I will be building a side shed with a vinyl cover for the golf cart, ATV, and John Deere commercial mower, but will keep the bobcat in the steel shipping container.  A very productive day with minimal pain......all good.

48 rolls of TP on the wall, 48 rolls of TP, take one down and pass it around

If you live in a rural area, the savings could mount up PDQ. My daughter does live in "the boonies". She often ships packages to me for birthdays and holidays, which is certainly convenient. But Amazon needs more competition.

Amazon's pricing is very competitive.

I just found out that I can get my roller bearings for my bobcat with free shipping on very heavy bearings. Huge savings. This is unreal. I have heard that online ordering has caused a huge trucker shortage as 80k positions are unfilled because the demand is outstripping the supply of drivers. Pretty good gig for a retired person to drive a truck.

Every other week it seems we hear a new story about the status of truck driver jobs in this country. Wonder what the real facts are.

2seaoat wrote:Amazon's pricing is very competitive.

Forgive if I've already said (too tired tonight to go back and read), but personally I prefer to buy on eBay rather than Amazon if/when the same merchandise is available at either site, which it often is. EBay offers a guarantee on all purchases, and makes it MUCH easier to communicate directly with the seller on any/all questions/problems before, during or after the sale.

We buy on ebay, but when we are buying used billboard vinyl the shipping costs almost are more than what we bought. We pay NO shipping costs with Amazon and the savings are very real, and the convenience is amazing.

Glad you've found what works for you. Most of our purchases on eBay include free shipping, but we're not buying used billboard vinyl. (???)

Vinyl from billboards make great structures. The strength is much greater than regular vinyl you can purchase from brick and mortar. We completed the one tent and it worked perfectly. The marine battery was charged by a 40 watt solar panel and an inexpensive controller all bought on Amazon. We go the inverter, a led battery charge indicator, and cables all off Amazon. Everything works perfectly.

My wife has pulled out a Pacific Yurt 16foot Yurt which we stored after the flood of 2010. I had forgotten we had it and I had asked my wife to move some piles of "stuff" from behind the house as I am redoing the electric in the garage putting a 30amp box and two 15 amp breakers. We now are going to erect the Yurt on our little sound stage we built 12 years ago to let my son's band and my nephew entertain from a stage. We invited everybody in town to our mini concerts, but now both my nephew and son are being parents and are not playing any more. So we have decided to put the Yurt on top of the wooden stage which is elevated 3.5 feet. It is at a high point and we can only hope it will survive a flood, but because it is round, the water in anything but a record flood will simply slide around the round base which we will secure to the wood sound stage. I can do about twenty minutes of wiring and then I rest for an hour, but erecting the Yurt......yikes.....it was a bear erecting it when I was healthy.......I am counting the days now.....24, and I am only hoping my strength can make it so these new found projects will keep me focused on other things than my physical demise. It has gotten quite ugly now.

Counting the days along with you, Sea. Very sorry for the ugly part but the beautiful part is you're still striving, despite all our concerns for same. Glad you've listened to your inner strength and not to us wimps, as it's obviously kept you going. Still, can't help but think: Yet ANOTHER project?? lol Does Mrs. Sea have any trouble keeping up with your plans?

Can you at least get a little extra help on the yurt? In any event, do send a pic when done, if feasible.

Wiring....hm. Does Illinois allow a homeowner to do his own? We were able to do so back in CT when we built our own house, but here I think a licensed electrician is required.

Wiring....hm. Does Illinois allow a homeowner to do his own? We were able to do so back in CT when we built our own house, but here I think a licensed electrician is required.

Most of Illinois requires a permit to do electrical work. I live in one of the last remaining rural counties which only requires an electrical permit when pulling a new installation permit, which means farmers and homeowners as long as they are not doing anything with the utility company do not require a permit. I have wired four houses with my wife, and kids. Both of my kids can frame, do plumbing, and wiring. Mrs. Seaoat is invited over to neighbors all the time to figure out their electrical problems and fix their wiring. We both spent hours reading electrical installation and watching youtube before building and my son has many aptitudes where he taught us things, but most of the youtube is pure crap where people do not know what they are talking about. I have been really frustrated with the level of competency in Florida among electricians and plumbers. I have seen some horrifying things where we had to rip out plumbing and electrical when our property manager hired so called pros to do repairs when we were in Illinois. Even our most recent project in Florida had a plumbing crew....working for a master plumber, completely screw up a two inch water main connection. We had to rip it all out and repair what looked like a sixth grade kid had completed the plumbing. We had a $400 water bill, and now have NO faith that other connections were done correctly on the water lines. The waste lines appear to be correct. So if you wonder why I do my own work.....it is simple. I care about the end product. Too many people want quick fixes and hide their work.

Back in the fifties a major league manager retired from baseball and opened a restaurant in our tiny rural town. He moved our house from what became the parking lot for the restaurant to its present location on a block foundation where he and his wife moved in and lived to the early eighties. The following owners gerry rigged everything and the electrical was a nightmare. The garage just lost all power and rather than repair crap, we decided to build a new wall between the house and garage and run electric to a new 30amp box where I will have two 15 amp breakers. We will also be using the vinyl billboard material make a shelter for the golf cart adjacent to the garage to keep it out of the weather, but not take space in the garage. Again, our home is over a hundred years old and is a river cottage and not part of some cookie cutter subdivision with covenants and restrictions, did that and would never be part of a HOA or condo again in my life.....simplicity......with some electricity.