Pocket PC + Bluetooth + T68 saves shopping experience

[Ed Hansberry]

aaaaarrrrrrrgggggghhhhhh.

Nov 16 and they already have this asinine Christmas music. :( Heh Heh - I found some comfy chairs at the mall and am on the net while my wife is in the funny smelling soap fragrance store.

[Janak Parekh]

Were you posting from there? ;)

Was consulting in one of those funny-smelling deluxe "toiletry and fragrance and related thingy" store today, and I came out smelling all fresh and sweet 8O I don't know how people can work in there all day. :D

Bluetooth rocks when it works. Now if GPRS was actually 56Kbps instead of wannabe 56Kbps...

Last-- aren't they supposed to wait for the Christmas music until Thanksgiving? It's been my perception for a while that it seems to be getting earlier each year.

--bdj

[Steven Cedrone]

They used to wait until after Thanksgiving. Now it seems as if there is nothing between Halloween and Christmas. It's a shame, they really make it hard to enjoy the holiday season, by the time it does roll around, your already sick of it...

I think it's just another case of greed and the pursuit of the almighty $...

Just my .02

Steve

[Janak Parekh]

They used to wait until after Thanksgiving. Now it seems as if there is nothing between Halloween and Christmas. It's a shame, they really make it hard to enjoy the holiday season, by the time it does roll around, your already sick of it...
Even with the later start, I'm usually sick of the jingles even by December 2 ;) I now totally stop listening to pop radio... what's up with the technique of "let's save money and play Christmas songs all week long"? I do have to say though that classical radio (WQXR) in NY is great stuff the last two weeks of the year. You get to hear fantastic classical Christmastime pieces and then they have the year-end countdown. But in any case, I have my iPaq as MP3/Ogg player so I'm armed :)

The problem with saying it's pursuit of the $ is that it doesn't work. Don't disappointing Christmas sales year-after-year make it clear to the stores that they've overhyped it by now?

--bdj

[Steven Cedrone]

The problem with saying it's pursuit of the $ is that it doesn't work. Don't disappointing Christmas sales year-after-year make it clear to the stores that they've overhyped it by now?

Good point, I think it's a case of "less is more". They did well when they had about a month to hype the season, then they probably thought "We can do even better given more time"...And it backfired!!!

Gotta tell you though, I have a 4 year old and a two year old - the holidays are starting to be fun again...

Steve

[Janak Parekh]

Gotta tell you though, I have a 4 year old and a two year old - the holidays are starting to be fun again...
Corny tunes aside, Christmas is one of the best times in NYC too... apart from the fact that everyone is freezing, people tend to be almost nice here. ;) And the decorations look all preeetty.

--bdj

[Steven Cedrone]

Gotta tell you though, I have a 4 year old and a two year old - the holidays are starting to be fun again...
Corny tunes aside, Christmas is one of the best times in NYC too... apart from the fact that everyone is freezing, people tend to be almost nice here. ;) And the decorations look all preeetty.

--bdj

When I worked there, it was my favorite time of year. Still take the family there at least once in December (Also there overnight for the Thanksgiving Day Parade every year too)...

Steve

[Ed Hansberry]

Was consulting in one of those funny-smelling deluxe "toiletry and fragrance and related thingy" store today, and I came out smelling all fresh and sweet 8O I don't know how people can work in there all day. :D
I can't stand that smell. I was in there less than 30 seconds when my wife saw i was fidgeting looking for an exit. I found some chairs outside to sit in while she shopped. I don't do those stores with all those spices either. Nasty.

[Steven Cedrone]

I can't stand that smell.
The worst ones (IMHO): Macy's and the clones that have the huge perfume departments. At least most of the employees ask before they try to spray some of that crap on you...

Man, I get an instant headache as soon as I walk in the door...

Steve

[Janak Parekh]

I can't stand that smell.Man, I get an instant headache as soon as I walk in the door...
Steve - you learn to walk fast through those - unless it's Macy's 34th, which has what seems like a few thousand square feet of those perfume booths, and is way too crowded to walk fast. :)

You know, what we need now is an olfactory-equipped iPaq. Just insert your nose into the speaker foam and breathe deeply. :lol:

--bdj

[Steven Cedrone]

You know, what we need now is an olfactory-equipped iPaq. Just insert your nose into the speaker foam and breathe deeply. :lol:

--bdj

Ha!, that reminds of that movie(I think with Divine) that was in "Smell-o-rama"(I think that's what it was called). Anybody remember that? :wink:

Steve

[karen]

doesn't work[/i]. Don't disappointing Christmas sales year-after-year make it clear to the stores that they've overhyped it by now?

--bdj

...but for many retailers, the Christmas season will bring in 80% of their entire year's revenue. So they LOVE to extend the season to spread the revenue out over more months.

Second, a November Thanksgiving is a US thing. We Canucks already celebrated ours in October. :)

[Janak Parekh]

...but for many retailers, the Christmas season will bring in 80% of their entire year's revenue. So they LOVE to extend the season to spread the revenue out over more months.
If they keep on making it earlier, though, like July (ok, absurd, but follow me here), it's not going to be 80%. Or maybe it will, if you count it as 6 months of sales instead of 2. It would be interesting to see a link as to how they get those %'s, and which stores really rely on Christmas for 80%.

Second, a November Thanksgiving is a US thing. We Canucks already celebrated ours in October. :)
Ahh, that's it! It's a Canadian conspiracy! I'm posting on a Canadian webboard! We're doomed! ;)

--bdj

[Kati Compton]

...but for many retailers, the Christmas season will bring in 80% of their entire year's revenue. So they LOVE to extend the season to spread the revenue out over more months.
If they keep on making it earlier, though, like July (ok, absurd, but follow me here), it's not going to be 80%. Or maybe it will, if you count it as 6 months of sales instead of 2. It would be interesting to see a link as to how they get those %'s, and which stores really rely on Christmas for 80%.

Personally, I don't care when stores start Christmas - it's not going to make me buy any more presents than I would anyway. I suppose it could be an issue for people that like to splurge but don't have the income to necessarily support it - they can spread out the shopping over more paychecks. They could do that anyway, or save for it, but with the reminder to spend, maybe it makes a difference.

[Janak Parekh]

Personally, I don't care when stores start Christmas - it's not going to make me buy any more presents than I would anyway.
Agreed. I was walking along Broadway around Union Square last night and the holly decorations just looked downright wrong at this time of the year.

--bdj