The promo code offers for Fry’s e-newsletter e-subscribers (free to e-join) for Monday 2/8/16 includes:
+ 20pk 4×6 inch ColorWay (brand name) 68lb high-glossy photo-paper for $0.99 total (limit 5)
+ refurbished Panasonic ZS35 20x optical travel-zoom for $100
+ 50-inch Vivitar VIV-VPT-1250 tripod for $5
+ various tech items as usual
+ offers mentioned in this blog-post are good in-store and online, with a limit of one per item per customer unless otherwise indicated in the block above; this style makes posts more readable since most items follow this pattern
A word of caution for those who get on Fry’s e-mailing list but are not within reasonable driving distance of a Fry’s store. Meaning most folks in the Western Hemisphere. “Available online and in store” in the e-mail blurb can mean an item you’d like to buy can be ordered online and sent to your home. Or, if you click the e-mail blurb and go to Fry’s Web site, you’re likely to find there that “available online” really means you can only order and pay for the item online. If you want to actually take possession of the item, you have to pick it up in store.
You might think this limitation would apply to big, heavy, hard-to-ship items. Maybe a refrigerator or 6-by-8-foot TV. But no; the latest instance involved a gizmo in the form of a slightly elongated flash drive — something that could be dropped into a jiffy mailing bag and sent out with the mail carrier or UPS guy. Heaven forbid any Fry’s personnel should have to stoop to such manual labor, apparently.
I don’t know if this is an online retailing variation of bait and switch, to get more clicks to Fry’s Web site, reflects a screw-the-rubes attitude on the part of Fry’s management or is just the result of sheer stupidity. I do know it’s a bad habit I don’t have time or patience for. So, Fry’s e-mails to me are being shunted to the junk mail directory.
Thanks for the detailed feedback! Fry’s is indeed a “special bird”. I am trying to include multiple retailers but sometimes some of them should not be. I will post a poll on whether readers find Fry’s posts useful to see whether I should stop featuring them. I am guessing a lot of Frys problems is trying to do things with as few resources/overhead/personnel as possible.