On 2/28/2016 10:34 AM, Mike Lazzari wrote:
I do need another place to shop. Other more reputable sources have basically corroborated the more lurid Post tabloid
style article. I canceled my B&H account and sent them an email with my reasons. Too bad. Hope they can get it together.
So, where do I take my business? Is Adorama any better?
"Like local rival B&H Photo Video, Adorama has one retail location, at 42 W 18th Street in New York City. Adorama is
similarly owned by Hasidic Jews and is a significant source of employment for the local Hasidic community." That's what
I recalled, and Wikipedia agrees.
I suspect that B&H believe they do have it together, and that the government should stay out of what is, to them, the
commercial arm of a tight knit religious and cultural community. Each Hasidic group lives by Jewish Law - as interpreted
by their own Rebbe. So they are all of the same sort, in a broad sense, and all different in detail.
If you want to be scared, amazed and disgusted at what can happen, right now, within a religious sect in the US, read
Unorthodox, by Deborah Feldman.
I don't imagine that B&H and Adorama are identical in the way they deal with non-Jewish employees or how many they have.
But from our distance, I wouldn't be surprised if they are similar, but don't know how to know.
I do know a couple of other things. they both make customer service at most others look shabby to crappy. And at the
moment, B&H's free shipping is better than Adorama's, for those of us out on the Left Coast. B&H is UPS 3 day; Adorama's
is some sort of Fedex Ground bulk rate that can easily take two weeks, as a service rep freely admitted. He couldn't
give me free shipping, and B&H didn't have one on the item, but he did upgrade me to the faster service for the same price.
Not a fan of amazon
Yup. Their hands aren't clean, either, on employee treatment and other things.
and they charge tax.
Not 'charge', 'collect'. Like any retailer, they send it on to the various governments. I try to avoid it, too, but am
clear on whose pocket it isn't going into.
Henry's is difficult with the exchange. Where do you shop?
I spread it around.
You can avoid tax on many Amazon items by buying from Market Place sellers who aren't in your state, at least that works
here. There are many sellers who use Amazon fulfillment, and thus are Prime eligible, but do not collect CA tax. It's
not uncommon for one of the "Available from other Sellers" that may sell for a bit more to actually be cheaper. That's
what the "Estimate shipping and tax" just below the Checkout button is for. Sometimes I need to weigh free, but slower,
shipping against Prime with tax.
Who Knows Moose
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What if the Hokey Pokey *IS* what it's all about?
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