Category Archives: What’s Up With That?

Cease and Desist

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What’s Up With That?

Stop Sign

In The Business of Backpacking I took a jab at gear reviews on personal blogs. Specific blogs were not identified, as I have no interest in pointing out any individual.

Apparently a blogger was put off by my observations, and a “Cease and Desist” email was sent to me via a PM (private message) hosted by an Internet forum. Since there are no Comment or Email capabilities on this Website, it is rather difficult to contact me unless you are a friend or a business client. This is intentional. I really don’t care about what others think.

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Black Friday? Go Camping or Backpacking Instead!

What's Up With That?

What’s Up With That?

I live in a small town and don’t have any personal experience with the Black Friday phenomenon. To be honest, I don’t know a lot about it.

Last year, one week before Thanksgiving, I was working in the Los Angeles area and went to Best Buy the Friday before Thanksgiving. There were several tents set up in front of the store and people were inside them. I thought it was some sort of store display, as most of the tents had music playing inside of them. When I entered the store, I asked one of the employees about the tents outside. He told me they were shoppers who were camped out waiting to be the first ones in the door next week, when the store would open early Friday morning, the day after Thanksgiving. These people were going to live at Best Buy for a week just so they could buy stuff!! I don’t get it.

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REI and the Demise of Western Civilization

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What’s Up With That?

REI-logoRecreational Equipment, Inc., one of the country’s largest outdoor gear retailers (nearly $2 billion in annual sales) has been around since 1938. Actually it is a co-op and members receive approximately 10% of their purchases in a yearly dividend.

REI has been well known for its no-questions asked return policy. And the strategy worked – at least until recently. It appears that those who put the long running 100% satisfaction guarantee policy in place, failed to anticipate the decay of the public’s integrity and morals.

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Condiments, Ethics and Morality

What's Up With That?

What’s Up With That?

I have noticed that among the backpacking community, many folks find the small condiment packages given out by fast food restaurants, to be convenient items to take on backpacking trips. I don’t use them (even with my fast food), but can see the utility.

So my first thought would have been to go to Costco and buy a case of my favorite individually packaged condiment. It would have never occurred to me to grab hands-full of condiments to be used backpacking. Apparently my thought process is different than many others, or perhaps they haven’t thought about it much.

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