The Savvy Boomer

Is "Free Shipping" really free?

Is free shipping really free when stores place difficult-to-meet restrictions on consumer purchases? While "Free Shipping" banners and ads are everywhere this year, so are the minimums required by many merchants.

The increase pushes many shoppers to spend more and that's exactly what happened last year. For the week ending Dec. 5, 2010, transactions using free shipping averaged $125.20, or 45-percent higher than those with paid shipping, according to ComScore.com.

Although some 93 percent of e-retailers plan to offer free shipping deals this year -- up from 85 percent last year -- free shipping will come to a cost for consumers.

Here are a few tips to help consumers find the REAL free shipping deals.

 

Ordering flowers online may be a gamble

 

  

With Valentine's day fast approaching, you may be considering buying flowers  online.  Before you do, check out this CBS video that reveals how what you think you've ordered and what actually turns up may be 2 different things.

 

 

Stylish reading sunglasses for boomers

Most of my sunglasses are prescription and now virtually useless because for some reason as I have aged, my eyesight has improved to the point that I now only need glasses for reading.  Regular sunglasses don't help so I have been on a search for reading sunglasses and I have found the answer from the Read In Style online reading glasses site.

I really like these polarized, stylish sunglasses by Scojo because they are bifocal so I can also use them as regular sunglasses, not just reading.  They are very comfortable and while they cost a little more than sunglasses on other sites, I think they are worth it since they are durable and well designed. 

The site seems to carry higher end products with several designer frames, most less than $100 and a couple even under $10.

Fashion Reading Glasses for Savvy Boomers

We've discussed reading glasses a few times on this site over the past couple of years so when I was approached by Fashion Reading Glasses to review their products, I thought it would be more of the same.  However, I was pleasantly surprised not only by their fun and trendy styling, but also their incredibly low pricing.

Just because our older eyes require some assistance to read all the small print, doesn't mean that we have to wear nondescript glasses.  Take a look at the  pictures below (the polka dots are my personal favorites) and you'll see why I think these glasses are great value-most of them around $15.  I gave a couple of pairs to boomer friends who had much the same reaction-both had been using glasses they paid close to $50 for and had zero styling so of course, they were thrilled with these.

Here's the best part.  Order 2 pairs from the Fashion Reading Glasses website and if you mention this post in the comments section of the order, you'll get a 3rd pair free.  In other words, about $30 for 3 pairs of fashionable reading glasses or the same price that you'll pay for 1 old fashioned pair from your drugstore.  A nice touch is they have matching cases.

Also, for our Canadian readers, they are Canuck-friendly with not only Canadian pricing but also no worries about clearing Canadian customs as they also ship from Canada.

Reading glasses-a boomer's best friend

There are several products that lend themselves to buying on the internet and I think reading glasses is one of them.  With 2 pair of boomer eyes in the house, reading glasses are as much of a necessity here as a phone and now that they can be purchased inexpensively, having a few pairs just makes sense.  Like a portable phone, reading glasses tend to end up being located in the last place you used them, but unlike a telephone that will ring to let you know where it is, reading glasses tend to get misplaced regularly.  (Or am I just getting more forgetful?)  I refuse to wear them on a chain around my neck so I've found that having a few pair lying around in convenient spots is the way to go.

We now have no less than 8 pair in the house, after receiving an order of 2 more regular pair from Reading Glasses Shopper.  We also ordered 2 pair of reading sunglasses so that we don't have to wear a pair of sunglasses over top of reading glasses.  They arrived within a few days even though they had to pass through Canadian customs so shipping to their U.S. customers (free for orders over $30) will be even faster.

The best part is that the last 4 pair are not only more stylish (see pictures) than the 4 we previously purchased, but their cost is less than 1/2 of the first 4 pair.  They seem to be better constructed and clearer as well.  If they break, get lost or if when we need stronger power, we'll just order more.  4 pair for well under $100 is a great price.  Take a look at their website which is easy to navigate and even shows you the glasses in the color you choose when you click on the various colors available for each pair of glasses. 

Accept it.  Boomer reading glasses are just a fact of life so you may as well look good wearing them.

Amazon Canada now offers electronics-for a huge premium

I was happy to hear that Amazon was going to start offering electronics on their Canadian website.  We've had quite a few good online sites for a few years so I never understood why Amazon didn't enter the market but until recently, books, DVD's, some music and some software were all that were on the Canadian menu.  But after looking at the site I wondered why they even bothered.

The offerings are extremely limited and prices are completely out of whack with the competition.  I can understand the supply issue initially, but their high prices aren't going to get them a bookmark on my browser.

The example below is typical.  The first price is from Amazon US, the 2nd from Amazon Canada (The Cdn $ is worth about 84 cents US, so the price should be about 20% more than their US price, but it's about 70% more) and the 3rd price is from Costco Canada's online store (if you go to a store, same price and no shipping charge.)

And no sign of the Kindle in Canada yet.  It's a shame that Amazon whose HQ's is only a 2 hour drive from Vancouver treats us like country bumpkins.  At least Best Buy and Costco have it right in Canada.

AMAZON U.S.
 

AMAZON CANADA

COSTCO CANADA

Everyone has an opinion on boomers but this one is hilarious

Look at this opinion outlandish statement on a website-I'm not going to link to it because it's just too embarrassing for anyone to take credit for such a ridiculous post.

"The boomers are the brick and morter consumer. The large majority of them are not computer savy, many are computer literate, but most do not trust the internet. They make their purchases at store, which is why big box stores became so popular. Try to explain owning an online store to them or an affiliate store and watch as their eyes glaze over. The bulk of this generation use the internet for information purposes only."

Not only are the facts presented incorrect and contradictory ("The large majority of them are not computer savy, many are computer literate,") but the spelling and grammar are atrocious.  The author's byline is:

"I have been promoting and building small businesses for the last 10 years. I have started and run 2 very successful home based businesses and understand economic conditions and markets."

The only reason I posted this is that I see so many people offering their opinions on how to sell to the boomer market and very few of them know what they are talking about.  It's beginning to piss me off.

Well, I hadn't ranted about anything for a few days, so what did you expect?

 

A Firefox add-on that can save you money

First of all, if you don't use Firefox, you should (you can download it by clicking on the Firefox button in the column on the right in the Software download section.)  It's faster than Internet Explorer, less prone to unwanted advertising and has thousands of things called extensions or add-ons you can choose from that will make your web browser easier and faster to use.  I found an extension a couple of months ago called "Retailmenot" which will give you coupon codes you can use if you happen to be looking at buying something on a site that participates in the program.

What I really like about it is that I had forgotten that I had installed it because I didn't go to to many shopping sites.  But when I did so before Christmas, up popped a little information box that said that there were coupons available for a site I was looking at buying something on.  I clicked on one and ended up saving 15% on my purchase.  Then recently, I went to a music site called Amiestreet to download some music someone told me about and up popped a coupon that gave me a $5 coupon which basically paid for the music download.