Pre-RIP: Best Buy?

I read an article on Forbes (IIRC) recently that said Best Buy is doomed, and now BB is announcing that they're closing 50 stores. With my luck they'll close the one in Las Cruces and leave the two or three in El Paso alone, just like they did for Toys R Us.

With Toys R Us, they were bought out by a rather mercenary capital group who thought that in some cases the land the stores were on were more valuable than the stores themselves, never mind if they provided services to the community that were profitable for the corp. I've seen many such sites still vacant after the stores closed, not unlike when Mervyn's died.

In this case, I think most of the blame can be laid at the feet of poor customer service and constantly pressing people to buy extended warranties. They're blaming a lot of their woes on Amazon, which demonstrates that they're failing at the customer service game, something that Amazon is well-regarded for.

BB reported a $1.7 billion US loss for their fourth quarter, versus a $651 million US profit the previous fiscal year. I told my wife after I read the Forbes article, which mainly blamed poor customer service, that I'm giving them four years before they're gone or bought out, but who would buy them out? Now I'm giving them less than three.

This saddens me, because if I need to buy some strange computer gear, locally I'll be limited to Staples, Radio Shack, and Walmart, or wait until I'm in Phoenix and can go to Fry's Electronics if I want to handle it and actually look at boxes, otherwise it'll be Amazon or similar.

You'd think that as well as Amazon is doing, that the US Postal Service would be doing better. I really don't like the concept of internet-only purchasing for people who live in somewhat remote communities like I do.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SBB0001424052702303404704577311322427071212.html

http://news.slashdot.org/story/12/03/30/1830209/best-buy-closing-50-stores

What would happen if Texas succeeded at seceding?

NPR did a little study at the ramifications of Texas seceding from the United States. It would have the 13th largest economy in the world. But they didn't mention a couple of things that I wish they'd addressed. One was infrastructure costs: the United States government, meaning the 49 other states, paid for a bunch of roads, airport upgrades, military bases, etc. How much would it cost Texas to buy all that back. I think the remaining 49 would be due a rebate, which might help quite a bit with the deficit.

And while on the topic of military bases, Texas doesn't have a lot of manufacturers of tanks and jeeps and jets as far as I know. I know they have some aerospace. NASA would probably have to move their Texas operations to Florida or elsewhere since Texas would be a sovereign nation.

And what about agriculture? I don't think Texas produces everything they might want for a varied diet.

But most of all, I'm curious about border control. Considering that Homeland Security now requires a passport or border card to enter or return from Mexico or Canada, I'm sure the same requirement would be made for The Nation of Texas. But what about flights going through DFW or Houston? Would you be able to change planes as long as you didn't leave the international area, or would you have to be re-screened? Speaking of which, Homeland Security just announced that Brits flying to Canada or the Caribbean have to be pre-screened PRIOR to leaving the UK, even though they're not touching American soil. But I'll leave that for another post.

http://www.npr.org/2012/03/30/149094135/lone-star-state-of-mind-could-texas-go-it-alone?sc=17&f=1001

DHS requiring Brits to be screened if they're flying to Canada or the Caribbean or Mexico

One million British travellers planning to fly to Canada, the Caribbean and Mexico this year face the risk of being turned away at the airport – at the insistence of the US Department of Homeland Security.

New rules require British Airways and other airlines flying to certain airports outside America to submit passengers' personal data to US authorities. The information is checked against a "No Fly" list containing tens of thousands of names. Even if the flight plan steers well clear of US territory, travellers whom the Americans regard as suspicious will be denied boarding.

Wow. How long until everyone from any country has to be screened by DHS before boarding any flight anywhere?

http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/planning-a-trip-to-canada-or-the-caribbean-us-immigration-may-have-other-ideas-7584912.html