Random Thoughts Thread

[Moliere]

I'm just wondering when everything gets back to normal. We flew Delta back to Utah on Saturday. Very glad this didn't bite us.

We’ve had the daughter of a friend of ours at our house for three days. They are from Florida but she was at BYU for the week for an internship thing. She was supposed to fly back last weekend but was only able to make it to Houston on Monday. MJ went down to the airport to grab her so she had a place to stay since her rebooked flight is for Wednesday afternoon. Otherwise she’d likely be camping out at the airport.

[Uncle Ted]

We’ve had the daughter of a friend of ours at our house for three days. They are from Florida but she was at BYU for the week for an internship thing. She was supposed to fly back last weekend but was only able to make it to Houston on Monday. MJ went down to the airport to grab her so she had a place to stay since her rebooked flight is for Wednesday afternoon. Otherwise she’d likely be camping out at the airport.

The Atlanta airport must be (or was) a huge mess... When I lived in Utah I dreaded flying Delta to the east coast. It seemed like all delta flights to the east coast must go through Atlanta.

[Pelado]

According to CoPilot:

Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL) is the primary hub for Delta Air Lines, which also has its corporate headquarters and Technical Operations Centre at the airport. Delta's hub at ATL is the world's largest, with more than 1,000 flights per day to more than 200 destinations worldwide.

[YOhio]

Sam’s Club offers the best middle class accessible retail shopping experience. So much better than Costco

[Copelius]

[beefytee]

We like Sam's club too. Not enough locations compared to Costco though. We have to travel farther to get to one.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Sam’s Club offers the best middle class accessible retail shopping experience. So much better than Costco

Sam's is great. We live near a Costco and our son works at Sam's so we routinely use both. I genuinely like them both. In most respects they are largely the same. Sam's is less crowded and definitely has a more ... uhhh ... blue collar clientele.

One area where Sam's blows Costco out of the water is self checkout. At Costco you you have lift everything out and place it on a surface (presumably to measure it), which is a huge PITA when shopping in a warehouse store. At Sam's you just grab the hand-held scanner and scan everything sitting in your cart. That thing is magical how quickly and easily it finds those bar codes. You can be done in seconds. You can even scan your items with your phone using the Sam's app as you put them in the cart, but that is not nearly as efficient so I don't do it.

Also, with Sam's you can order everything online and drive to the warehouse and they will have your order boxed and put it in your car for you. I don't use that, but I know a lot of people that love it.

[Copelius]

Sam's is great. We live near a Costco and our son works at Sam's so we routinely use both. I genuinely like them both. In most respects they are largely the same. Sam's is less crowded and definitely has a more ... uhhh ... blue collar clientele.

One area where Sam's blows Costco out of the water is self checkout. At Costco you you have lift everything out and place it on a surface (presumably to measure it), which is a huge PITA when shopping in a warehouse store. At Sam's you just grab the hand-held scanner and scan everything sitting in your cart. That thing is magical how quickly and easily it finds those bar codes. You can be done in seconds. You can even scan your items with your phone using the Sam's app as you put them in the cart, but that is not nearly as efficient so I don't do it.

Also, with Sam's you can order everything online and drive to the warehouse and they will have your order boxed and put it in your car for you. I don't use that, but I know a lot of people that love it.

I am struggling to see the self checkout as more efficient than the scan n go. I am not the brightest bulb in the fixture, so maybe there is something I am not seeing. I absolutely love the scan n go.

[YOhio]

Sam's is great. We live near a Costco and our son works at Sam's so we routinely use both. I genuinely like them both. In most respects they are largely the same. Sam's is less crowded and definitely has a more ... uhhh ... blue collar clientele.

One area where Sam's blows Costco out of the water is self checkout. At Costco you you have lift everything out and place it on a surface (presumably to measure it), which is a huge PITA when shopping in a warehouse store. At Sam's you just grab the hand-held scanner and scan everything sitting in your cart. That thing is magical how quickly and easily it finds those bar codes. You can be done in seconds. You can even scan your items with your phone using the Sam's app as you put them in the cart, but that is not nearly as efficient so I don't do it.

Also, with Sam's you can order everything online and drive to the warehouse and they will have your order boxed and put it in your car for you. I don't use that, but I know a lot of people that love it.

Costco self-checkout is the worst possible version of self-checkout.

[YOhio]

I am struggling to see the self checkout as more efficient than the scan n go. I am not the brightest bulb in the fixture, so maybe there is something I am not seeing. I absolutely love the scan n go.

I'd advise against asking that kind of question to an engineer with JL-level OCD. I don't know for certain that he has a spreadsheet comparing the two approaches, but I 100% believe he does.

[Bo Diddley]

I'd advise against asking that kind of question to an engineer with JL-level OCD. I don't know for certain that he has a spreadsheet comparing the two approaches, but I 100% believe he does.

[Jeff Lebowski]

I am struggling to see the self checkout as more efficient than the scan n go. I am not the brightest bulb in the fixture, so maybe there is something I am not seeing. I absolutely love the scan n go.

To scan with your phone you have to hold the camera close to the bar code and sometimes it takes a while to focus and scan it. With the hand-held thing you just point and click and it is instant. Overall I think it is faster and easier. YMMV.

I'd advise against asking that kind of question to an engineer with JL-level OCD. I don't know for certain that he has a spreadsheet comparing the two approaches, but I 100% believe he does.

[PaloAltoCougar]

I've never been in a Sam's Club, in part because the nearest one is a 30-minute drive and we have three Costcos within fifteen minutes. Does SC have rotisseried chicken? Are the people of Sam's Club in the same demographic with the people of Walmart?

[YOhio]

I've never been in a Sam's Club, in part because the nearest one is a 30-minute drive and we have three Costcos within fifteen minutes. Does SC have rotisseried chicken? Are the people of Sam's Club in the same demographic with the people of Walmart?

I go to the one in South Jordan and it seems to be pretty much the same demographic as Costco. It does have rotisserie chicken but it's not quite as magical as Costco, thought they still use the clamshell container. That's nice.

[YOhio]

The other great thing about Sam's Club is that they sell chicken in a single flat tray. Not the vacuum sealed slimy goo compartments you get at Costco.