Treasure Your Good B&M Shop

[rmbittner]

I posted about this elsewhere, but I thought it was an experience worth sharing here:
I recently emailed a distant B&M store where I've shopped to see if they had any Esoterica tobaccos in stock. Now, this place is six hours away from me, so I'm not a regular customer. But I have bought a fair number of pipes and tobaccos from them over the years. I explained that in my e-mail, just so they'd know I wasn't some random guy. Anyway, they checked and they did have several bags of Margate. So I followed up with a phone call and placed an order.
At the end of the call, the shop owner asked me this: "Do you want to give me a credit card number, or do you just want to send me a check when you get the package?"
This man was prepared to send me 3 bags of Margate -- a $90 order -- trusting that I would mail him a check later! That just knocked me out.
Such shops are few and far between these days. But if you know one, treasure it. I'm sure the question meant nothing to him. But I'll never forget it.
Bob

 

[slownumbers39]

That is a great find and a nice offer by the B&M to have you send them a cheque upon arrival. Hope you keep supporting that place.
Just when I start to lose faith in present day humanity, a geat thing like this gets posted. Well done.

 

[wnghanglow]

I grew up in a small town, one where the general convient store kept a book of who in town owed what for when harvest came in. This way of living is dieing but not dead and it makes me smile every time I see an instance of it. With that being said I do want to give you a slimmer of hope, I can't say for sure but congress is always trying to pass laws where you have to pay your state tax on online orders, if that ever becomes nation wide I believe we will see a lot more mom and pop baccy shops, since the price difference will be negligible.

 

[jbbaldwin]

I grew up in a small town, one where the store kept a book...

So did I - you would go in to buy something and ask the clerk to "put it down" and she would - no initials, no receipt.
It was like the Lum-and-Abner "Jot 'em Down store" - surely there are those on the forum who remember that show (I'm too young, but I'm a codger at heart.)

 

[JimInks]

Jbbaldwin: I'm a big Lum and Abner fan and I didn't live through that era either. I'm listening to all the existing shows in chronological order and am now into 1949. My friend Donnie Pitchford writes and draws the Sunday newspaper strip. In fact, I had to remind him that Squire Skimp smoked a pipe, not a cigar (the latter he smoked in the movies, but he used a pipe on radio). If you're unfamiliar with the strip, here's a link to all the episodes: http://firstarkansasnews.net/lum-and-abner/
Back on the subject of B&Ms. I have a local one that has a good stock and knowledgeable owner, but he took advantage of me and a friend of mine; very two faced. If he doesn't like you and/or thinks he can get away with it, he charges you more than he does his regular customers. If he was selling Stonehaven or FVF at a nickle an ounce, I wouldn't shop with the guy after the way he treated me.