Posts Tagged ‘photography stores’

amazon jungle in B&H photo

August 28, 2009

well their at it again or should i say still.

Mary went down for a seminar yesterday and i asked her to pick up a firewire cable. same run around go to the back of the store wait in line, select the item, wait for the salesperson to print up an order form, then you take it across the store, wait in another line, see another clerk who then types the item into his computer, throws away the piece of paper you gave him, you and he wait, hopefully you have something to talk about while your item comes up from the basement, which he then scans into computer and prints out a payment statement.

now does this all seem like a waste of time and resources? it’s my personal opinion that B&H is trying to get rid of it’s ‘in person’ customers and just become the amazon of photography stores. it’s a jungle out there full of pitfalls and quicksand .

i for one have always opted for the personal touch, yes price is somewhat important but so is personal contact. i guess this comes from the artist in me, as i am not so much a photographer which captures something them moves on to the next. what is important to me is to be able to create in my images or have them express the feeling that others,my subjects create.

i work with dancers who’s art is so ethereal, gone in a puff of the moment, yet so beautiful in that moment. it’s hard to define as the perfect moment because so much work goes into it, all the class work, rehearsal, stretching and physical exertion, never mind the sweat and pain to achieve a nanosecond of form.

well i guess all this can be remembered as one stands in line after line waiting to spend your money and get on with your life. i could be reliving the ‘nutcracker’ before i get out of the store. well maybe only the first act.

hey made another store.

now if you’d like to express your opinion on this subject to B&H try here no purchase necessary.

B&H Photo new purchasing system

August 21, 2009

boy is this store loosing it. i know they do most of their business on the internet but because of their location i can walk down there in 15 minutes. on a busy day that means i can get away from the studio, computer, to do list for at least an hour. half hour of traveling not thinking about work just observing things on the street. a lovely walk.

yesterday i walked down to pick up some printing paper as we are printing stuff this weekend for another show out in williamsburg brooklyn. simple task i’ve done so many times before.

well now the new system they’ve instituted is, you go to the paper section and have the salesman print up an an 8.5×11 paper which you now have to walk across the store wait in another line to see a clerk who then enters the sku number into computer. this gives you time to chat with the clerk who throws the paper in a waste basket behind him while the item comes up from the basement.

after it arrives it gets scanned into computer then you get a payment slip printed and go down stairs to pay & pickup the item. well the terminal i was at didn’t work and i got tired of waiting and cancelled the order.

i sent them a query on their survey page telling them what i thought about this new system.
1. it wastes electricity
2. it wastes ink
3. it wastes paper (a limited commodity)
4. most importantly it wastes our time.

if you’ve ever had the misfortune to be there on sunday and participated in the B&H zoo dance you know how crazy the place can be. Talking to a salesman friend who says nobody seems to fill out the surveys. i am sure some people do because they have winners every month, no i’ve never won i am sure the numbers are against that. but companies do read these surveys and if enough people said something smart companies react and change their behavior.

i get tired of fighting windmills but hate to see the bad guys win so many matches. i even showed up at a health care ‘single payer option’ rally today. but back to work now.

so you want to make a difference today, write to B&H, using their survey page, asking to go back to the old simpler system.

jene