Y U no shop online?

[Perd Hapley]

The place where I work is a lighting distributor focused mainly on selling bulbs, fixtures, ballasts, etc., to local businesses; although we also have a fairly important sideline in marine lighting for the barge industry, mainly for the Midwest and Gulf Coast. We're open to the public, but we're not exactly set up to best serve your residential lighting needs. Most of our fixtures are the sort of utilitarian stuff you wouldn't want in your dining room. We have plenty of bulbs that you might use in your home, but it'd be a lot easier for you to choose them from the shelf at the hardware store, rather than have us slowly comb through our ancient order entry/inventory system, to see if we might have what you’re looking for. Or just get something from the internet. Plus, we don’t sell wire, conduit, or boxes, and we have very little in the way of switches.

So it puzzles me that we have at least a couple of home-owners every week that want to stand at the counter for 15 minutes, or half-an-hour, and in many cases, they end up just having us order something they could have gotten faster, easier, and possibly cheaper online. Which is great for us. But it puzzles me.

All that being said, we can be a great resource, if you need to replace that odd-ball fluorescent bulb that lives under your kitchen cabinets. Or if you need an HID for your yard light, or just something no one else has locally. We have plenty of obscure stuff in the warehouse. It’s just curious to me that so many home-owners come to us.

Some are people who don’t know a “candle-opera” base from a FS-2 starter, and they need our expertise. Some of them are well-to-do gentry, who I suspect are too good to buy their lighting supplies at Home Depot, with the unwashed. I guess some of them just trust us more than the internet, so I guess I should be glad about that.

[MillCreek]

Are these repeat customers?  Maybe their periodic visit to the shop is the highlight of their day.

[tokugawa]

Do you have GE 4' T8, ballast powered LEDs ,5000k, 1500watt, 2300 lumen bulbs?  I used to buy them by the case from Lowes, I can't even find a listing for them now. We use them in high bay application.
 
GE # LED15ET8G4/8510L

[Brad Johnson]

My father would be first in line.

I've lost track of how many times he's driven hours, sometimes days, to "look at something" he could have easily researched online. He wants to see it in real life, no matter what it is. His excuse is that he can't tell if it's the right thing by looking at it on the computer. It's also a rare day that he doesn't make multiple trips because because what he drove all day to see wasn't what he was looking for. Or he bought the wrong thing. Usually both. Why? Because in addition to being stubborn, old-fashioned, and hands-on, he's also deathly allergic to things like identifying information, critical dimensions, and unit specifications. If it's roughly the same shape, size, and color, ring it up. I've seen him reduce counter guy almost to tears trying to figure out the electric motor he needed. Apparently "I need one about that big with a half inch shaft and a plug-in cord" is insufficient.

As for bulbs... My dear sainted mother has yet to wrap her head around how LED lamps which say 60w are talking about the relative illumination, not actual power use. Yes, I've tried to show her how they relate. I might as well have been trying to teach the cat to hula. She will turn on a track with three 75w incandescents rather than the better-illuminating overhead fixture with six LEDs that draw only 54 watts total. Three is less than six so it's less electricity and that's that. I've given up trying because it's a losing battle. I just quietly replace the incandescent lamps with equivalent LEDs as they burn out.

Brad

[French G.]

Cherish the oddballs. I shop online because I have tried many times to call a local shop to get a part and support them. With the exception of small engine people they can't be bothered. Screw'em, I hope I drive past their vacant storefront.

[Perd Hapley]

Do you have GE 4' T8, ballast powered LEDs ,5000k, 1500watt, 2300 lumen bulbs?  I used to buy them by the case from Lowes, I can't even find a listing for them now. We use them in high bay application.
 
GE # LED15ET8G4/8510L

Check PMs.

[MillCreek]

I thought the professionals called them 'lamps'.

[Perd Hapley]

I thought the professionals called them 'lamps'.

Yeah, but I'm havin' ta talk to you ignorant civilians.

Hey, now that we've established a rapport, wanna buy some lights? 

[230RN]

I realize this depends on local energy costs, but what's a "going number" for the time it takes to amortize out the additional cost of LED lamps in household use?

For myself, I like the longevity so I don't have to drag kitchen chairs around to change ceiling bulbs.

(Although I did have one LED go "pop" and went dim.)

It's 15 cents a kilowatt-hour including all taxes and other charges* around here, but I understand electrical costs are going to go sky-high.

Terry

* $ I write the check for ÷  kWh on the bill

[griz]

One reason to buy from a brick and mortar store is the simple fact that if you don't buy stuff from them they will go away.  I try and keep that in mind when possible, books come to mind.  Maybe some of your customers are thinking along those lines.

[Calumus]

My father will still drive to Lowe’s or Home Depot to see if they have something in stock. I think at 72, he spent enough years having to go to the store to see something that he’d just rather not change.

[Perd Hapley]

My father would be first in line.

I've lost track of how many times he's driven hours, sometimes days, to "look at something" he could have easily researched online. He wants to see it in real life, no matter what it is. His excuse is that he can tell if it's the right thing looking at it on the computer. Hell, he'd even do it back when he could do it using a parts book.

If it's something we have in stock, and others don't, I understand that. What's weird is people going through us, when we don't have it in stock, and Amazon would ship it free, take it back for free, and do it faster, for the same or lower price. Or when they could go directly to the store shelf at Home Depot. Here, they have to go through us to actually look at most things. We do have some things out where customers can see and handle them, but our "showroom" is pretty small.

[Larry Ashcraft]

They appreciate your expertise, that big box stores may or may not have.  Simple.

[Perd Hapley]

They appreciate your expertise, that big box stores may or may not have.  Simple.

Yeah, I guess.

[MechAg94]

Sometimes you just want to take the old one somewhere and say "I need a new one" without having to learn anything about it.   

[Cliffh]

My father will still drive to Lowe’s or Home Depot to see if they have something in stock. I think at 72, he spent enough years having to go to the store to see something that he’d just rather not change.

If you call the store, you'll be lucky to have one of the over-worked personnel answer the phone.  If they do answer, you'll be extremely lucky if they have the time/desire to go look.

If you look online, well, that's not always accurate.  There are many stories around about how customers will show up saying "But it says you have it online!" when the item is out of stock or even deleted from inventory.

[MillCreek]

^^^This is one of my pet peeves.  I check the online inventory at Lowe's or Home Depot, I go there, and it is actually not in stock.  I have just wasted 30-40 minutes of my time driving, and I probably could have gotten it off Amazon.