I always love Menace's posts because he/she/it takes misspelling, bad grammar, incorrect punctuation and general stupidity to a new level of art form. After all, it is quite a bit of effort to "bread" bacteria. I never realized you could actually "bread" bacteria. And what's classic about that particular screw up, is that he/she/it not only stated it once (making it a possible simple typo), but twice, very emphatically, showing that he/she/it is TRULY STUPID. Post away, Menace, so we can continue to laugh at you.

Amongst my work colleagues, at least, statements like "all generalizations are false" are part of a well-known joke. We say "all generalizations are false... including this one." Since two people (at least) reacted negatively, I probably should have included both the punchline and a smiley for those who don't get my sometimes dry humor. Sorry if it seems like I was flipping anyone off. I tried to show examples of sales tax being due and collected collected when one might think it would not, as well as the other way around .. so I was really only trying to make the point about generalizations being dangerous and often inaccurate. FWIW, I believe that MT and OR are not the only states with no sales tax... I think NH an DE (and AK) similarly have no sales tax. I don't know if local jurisdictions impose a tax or not, nor do I know anything about whether the jurisdictions in any of these 5 states impose a use tax on out-of-state purchases that are brought into the state. Obviously, a person living in these states have a different set of concerns than persons who live in other states. It's also true that some states have (like NY) have what I think they call "safe harbor provisions" on their tax returns. With these, you can voluntarily pay the state essentially an "estimated" use tax based on your AGI. These may not cover everything -- in NY I think it only applies to purchases under $1k. YMMV, of course .. .and I'm not a lawyer, CPA, or employee of the Tax department. The real point I was trying to make is that folks should 'never say never' or 'never say always' when it comes to these kinds of topics, since the laws vary dramatically from state to state. Finally, re: local vs. "internet" purchases -- Weissman is correct that depending on the individual (and the manufacturer), after sales service may or may not be a consideration. The macroeconomic arguments for or against local vs long-distance purchases are interesting. The conclusion is not obvious (to me, anyhow). The impact on the local economy is more obvious. This should be an incentive for "local" vendors to provide well-trained sales folks and competitive pricing.

I have a Weber gas grill and I get a lot of grease in the grease pan...but I also cook a lot of dark meat chicken and pork roasts on the grill. Thinking about it, if the grease pan is underneath the grill, like on my Weber, the type of metal isn't going to make any difference because it's never going to get hot enough to fume. For some reason, I was thinking about those flavorizer bars in my Weber (that sit over the burners rather than having lava rock or ceramic briquettes) when I responded originally. Definitely, you would NOT want those to be made out of galvanized metal and have the fumes permeating your food. Oh, and Webers are fantastic grilling machines. Flare-ups are pretty much history. Expensive grill if you buy new but I found a working grill for only $20. The end casting on the hood was broken so it didn't have a handle. Used it for few weeks until I located another parts grill for $35. Fixed the hood and salvaged a set of slightly used burners and cooking grid for replacements later on. Anyway, just had to tell you how much I love the Weber. This is our 4th or 5th grill, by far the best grill we've owned plus it represents the least am't of money we've ever spent on one. I'm just thrilled with my bargain grill!!

I'm going to guess that many commenting on this topic are past 30....or 40. It's a different world now, fellow fogies :). I feel fortunate that I work with college kids, and have twentysomething offspring because I get a front row seat to see how very different their perspective is. To start, EVERYTHING is online, and online is literally at their fingertips. This isn't just millenials of course, but it certainly permeates the retail world. Used to be one really did depend on the salesman/woman to provide important information about whatever product we were shopping for. Just not the case any more--anything you want to know is usually available online, so like it or not the expectation is that the shopper already has done some research. And shopping online is here to stay. Again, like it or not-and Faron is eloquent about the service he provides as an independent vendor-many/most people shop based on price. Lower cost, free shipping and delivery to your own front door for many folks are always going to trump service. Corollary is what Faron also mentioned-people who use bricks n mortar shopping just to enhance what they already plan to buy online. Think sales people don't deal with that every.single.day? They do and it certainly colors how they feel about customer service. And last but not least, auntjen is IMO entirely correct. That last mile interface-the sales staff on the showroom or big box store floor-is almost certainly not making much more than minimum wage in most cases. It's awfully easy to sit at home on a computer and opine about how much better and more thoroughly you would be providing service....especially those who maybe haven't worked in a store for awhile, if ever. It's a tough way to make a living and many struggle to do so on the wages that stores pay.