Ever wish it was the 50's again?

O.K., I'm so ancient it took me too long to write my last post. I even got this 'we are doing a maintenance post' from this site.

Mods,

I'm sure this post belongs in the archives somewhere...move it as you see fit but hopefully give some folks the time to read.

This week I realized what I miss from the 60's and 70's camera shops....

One on one.

There were camera shops in every small town...what fun.

In the 70's I bought a camera from a local dealer...fun...he knew his stuff...

I wore out my camera in England.

So what's the issue?

I had a problem(regarding a rebate)with one of the advertisers on this forum. I got to talk to a robot...live or animated it didn't matter....

The message was the same....we'd love to help you out but....

For the first time in years, realizing it would cost more, I wish I had a real person(not a robot)to talk to regarding my problem.


Now I'm part of the problem from years back.

I grew up in the 50's as a kid. If I had a problem with the quality of say...my banana popsicle....I walked across the street and talked it over with the corner grocery store owner...

In later years I marveled at how I could buy stuff on the net at severly discounted prices.

Thanks to my efforts and others like me....

Now I have to deal with someone who (1) doesn't know me, (2) lives thousands of miles away and (3) could really care less if my situation was resolved....

But they do say they care.

Some things get better, some things get worse. It's a never-ending trade.

my memory of the 70s is that taking stuff back anywhere was a nightmare whereas shops seldom bother to even query now.
As for buying online I may have been lucky but I always check seller ratings first. When I can I buy from a shop like Park Cameras.

Who cares if they care (in some cases)?

I got my 50D for less than $800 brand new, shipped on eBay through Cameta Camera. I could have spent $1,100 and got it at a local camera store....

Now, if my camera were to have issues, i'm sure i'll have a hell of a time or go through Canon's warranty support system. Stores are great if you need someone to explain the differences and help you make your purchase, but if you know what you want, why not get it cheaper online?

Don't know since I am not that old. I do work in the retail industry (I used to work in BTW). Yeah, you can still buy stuff at a store. Unfortunately, many of these large retail chains just don't intend to keep the same staff (management) for long. As soon as you have been with the company long enough, they let you go and put someone new and paying them less. And they expect this new person to be as friendly and out-going.

Price, quality, service. Pick two.

ha, same is said for cars.

Fast, reliable, cheap. pick two.

I'm very lucky, I have a real shop, with real staff who are very friendly and very helpful.

Case in point, I wanted to find out which 1.4x converter to buy. I spent two weeks playing with every make and model known to man. They were happy for me to borrow them for as long as it took.

They are slightly more expensive than on-line retailers, but I consider its worth buying locally for the help I receive. I've just bought a 16-35 f/2.8L from them, paying £100 more than the £1049 cheapest online price and I collected it less than 24 hours after ordering it.

Mosca wrote in post #9576654
Price, quality, service. Pick two.

that was pretty profound and in my experience very true.

No. As a woman--it was harder then. Setting up my first darkroom in 1978--I read everything in books to learn about what and how to do it--all self-taught, but then going into the one and only store in the area that sold enlarger and chemicals--with a list of what I needed--they made me feel dumb--even when I was buying what they'd probably recommend, they didn't like the 'here's the list of what I need' approach. They had their 'regulars' and sure, they'd take my money, but it was a lot of raised eyebrows and snickers. I'd saved for almost a year to get everything I needed and it was terribly intimidating and should have been fun! I went in there hoping it would be fun, but it definitely wasn't. I did get what I needed, though.

Same thing later, different location, buying/trying new lenses. The assumption was--"let us tell you what you want/need' and if you don't, you don't know your photography.

First major purchase on Amazon was a digital camera--the Rebel XT. Since then, I've learned everything online, and purchased online. I like it this way and I can and have returned things without question when necessary.

With today's technology in digital cameras there are so many different technical aspects. There is not really a "best" camera anymore. You can compare a 7D to a D300s or a D3x to a 1DsmkIII but in the end it often comes down to the personal bias of the salesperson working in the store. Would I recommend a D60 over a XSi? Not likely, but that camera does have it's place even if I feel it is inferior. Just like when i was looking at the 7D and the girl at the counter started raving about the D300 saying it has better autofocus. Is that a fact?
Back in the SLR days things were a bit simpler.


Off the topic of camera stores... Now I'm only 26, consider myself still quite young and inexperienced in life compared to the masses. however I do notice how teenagers and younger people are going to be facing social problems. They walk around with their cell phones texting each other rather then actually TALK. Facebook is replacing "real life".. I don't know if it's because people are becoming lazier, or more antisocial because of today's technology. Maybe I just don't have a clue what I'm talking about. :P

I'd probably be into cars and girls, bikes, surfing and living somewhere warm not photography in the cold hard arctic..there wasn't bugger all up here in the 50s nearly!!!...so no not at all.

Rog,

Probably, to most of the members here, who grew up in the 80's & 90's, its hard to miss what you never had.

I've got a few miles on my odometer too, and come from a retail background, having had my own non-photo related store for many years. We charged fair prices and gave great customer service. You can't always be the cheapest, but you can be competitive while giving service. That, at least, still seems to be B&H's philosophy. While you might find something a few dollars cheaper elsewhere, if you have the luxury of being in NY and able to go into their store, there are actually knowledgeable folks there that seem to care. Unfortunately, here in NJ, while we used to have a number of local photo stores, they're all gone.

With very few exceptions, as a whole, we sold our souls to the price-chasing devil a long time ago. That's why our jobs are outsourced to other countries and Wal-Mart is looked at as the end-all in retail. Society is the poorer for that in the long-run, as the last time I checked, no one from Bangalore was sponsoring a local Little League Team, contributing to local charities or hiring the local high school kids into jobs that might lead them to a career later on. While the Wal-Marts of the world may provide, low-paying, entry level jobs, their predatory practices preclude many from opening small businesses, that have always been the backbone of our economy.

The 50s sucked from where I was.

Mosca wrote in post #9576654
Price, quality, service. Pick two.

+1!!! One of my favorite sayings!

I'm a sales rep for a manufacturing company, and I use this all the time!