at Sun, 19 Mar 2006 00:38:38 GMT in <dH1Tf.7771$Y7.1368
@bignews7.bellsouth.net>,
[email protected] (jmcquown) wrote :
>Can you ask your local market/supermarket to order something and they will
>do it? And I'm not just talking promises; do they actually do it?
>
I've had bad luck, but this is as much a result of hyperspecificity as it
is of what the grocery store is willing to do. Generally if I make a
specific request it's either for something extremely exotic or for some
unusual combination of a specific brand and a specific variety of an item
that the store carries, often in both that brand or variety, but not for
the combination. Another problem I run into is that some products are
typically not sold in retail formats (so that it's not just a matter of
"you have to buy a case" - it's a matter of that the item requested only
comes in 50-lb sacks, or 10-gallon drums, etc. etc.).
The chances on most of the items I request is that therefore either their
distributor doesn't carry the brand, doesn't carry any of the type of item
I'm looking for, or that that particular combination turned out to be
unpopular (usually because relative to other varieties and/or brands of the
item it was a bit more expensive) and the distributor discontinued it.
I find that if something is actually carried by any of the distributors in
your area you can find it with a determined search of retail outlets
without having to special-order. Usually the only things that I find would
need to be special ordered are the things that aren't available at all from
the local distributors. And it all comes down to them, not the grocery
stores.
--
Alex Rast
[email protected]
(remove d., .7, not, and .NOSPAM to reply)