One Two, Buckle My Shoe

Somehow I become the guinea pig for breaking in my brothers new video camera. Here's how to tie a shoe in 2 seconds. (Because you never know when you're gonna need to leave in a hurry!)

'It Follows': Best Horror Movie for 2015?

Released in American theaters April 3rd 2015, 'It Follows' is a modern horror flick worthy of any fan interested in that genre. The plot was fresh, the acting capable, and was directed in a way that worked for me. It was distributed on DVD July 14th 2015 and I highly recommend this film. Here are a couple of reviews from Rotten Tomatoes.


Allison Wilmore – BuzzFeed: It's a testament to how scary a movie It Follows is that for days after watching it, you walk around thinking up survival plans - should you hide, stay on the move forever, pass the haunting on to someone else? Full Review...

Mark H. Harris – About.com: A good old-fashioned spooky tale that forces us to confront the inevitability of death and asks what we would do if we could see it coming. Full Review...

Does Amazon Deceive Customers at Checkout?

I have been an avid Amazon.com shopper for many years. I highly recommend their vast amount of goods, competitive pricing, and excellent customer service. With that being said, there is one questionable practice that Amazon engages in that to me is an outright deception. Here are some screenshots to walk you through.

Screenshot #1: I have chosen a pair of Bluetooth headphones. It has free shipping if the order exceeds $35.00. So I'll just find another item I need for at least $6.10. As you can tell by the picture the FREE Shipping is in bold. Now to add another item...

Screenshot #2: I found an armband. It's $7.99 so that brings that total to $37.89. This item also ships free if the order is over $35.00. I love Amazon! I'm going to get free shipping! Right? Right??

Screenshot #3: So I've hit the checkout button. Good thing too I need to get off here and do some stuff and.......hey wait, where is my free shipping? I don't understand. What did I do wrong? So after rechecking everything......

Screenshot #4: Bingo! I found the problem! I had to scroll down a bit. Amazon distinguishes between Free Shipping (5-8 days) and Standard shipping (4-5 days). So I have to CHOOSE Free Shipping....(thought I already did when the total exceeded $35.00.) So now I will check Free Shipping...

Screenshot #5: And look what happened! I get my Free Shipping! Oh and by the way, why was it 6.25 when I was going to have to pay it but 5.25 when they issued the credit? (I've yet to figure that one out, but it had no effect on the total cost.)

By now you should see where I'm going here. Why doesn't the cart default to the free shipping option if it meets the requirements? If this is not bait and switch it is very close to it. I discovered this discrepancy a few years back when ordering something in a hurry with my smart phone. Realizing Amazon had charged for shipping a few minutes after getting the confirmation, I contacted them to complain and they promptly refunded the shipping.

Can you imagine how many customers don't catch this? Good for Amazon's bottom line, not so good for unaware customers.

To those of you that wonder why I don't sign up for Amazon Prime which offers free 2 day shipping on eligible items, stay tuned, I have a few things to say about that in a later post. Web designers that work on shopping sites like Amazon are top notch. Every word and picture and placement thereof are extremely calculated. So what do you guys think? Is this much ado about nothing?