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My Steelbook experience


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Are costs to ship to the US higher because of new security regulations on the US side? I don't doubt that. But charging a substantial flat fee, which can be an additional 50% on top of postage, seems to be the wrong way to do it. Instead postage should be increased proportionally. As you say, it already costs more to ship to Afghanistan, so just increase the postage rate to the US.

Yeh it is more a PR marketing thing, if they up the postage everyone says"Hey they are upping the postage" if they say Surcharge because of 9/11 "We go, oh no! Bloody terrorists, we gotta help our mates in the US out"

It's the Australian way, blame it on something else and invoke mateship.

The other little problem we have is that we are all a very long way from each other so our postage really does cost a lot more.

Not sure where domestic violence comes into the picture but it is almost impossible to insult an Aussie, lest you liken us to a Kiwi. :P

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Yeh it is more a PR marketing thing, if they up the postage everyone says"Hey they are upping the postage" if they say Surcharge because of 9/11 "We go, oh no! Bloody terrorists, we gotta help our mates in the US out"

This is certainly one of the possibilities I considered. In the US our Postal Service is 100% US Government owned, though they do outsource some components as seems to make sense. The catch is that they are not supposed to receive 1 penny's worth of taxpayer's money. Instead they have to run themselves like a business and cover their own costs through postage fees. And earlier this year they were running $3 billion in the negative. Lots of factors there, but unfortunately like so many other businesses these days... they are very reluctant to raise their prices because they fear it will lead to even more revenue losses through lowered volume.

It's a wonderful world we're in these days.

The other little problem we have is that we are all a very long way from each other so our postage really does cost a lot more.

No doubt! The issue is whether there is suddenly a true $9 extra cost for a 500g package or if they're playing fast and loose with the accounting. When I see flat fees that are insensitive to base cost I do suspect something's amiss.

Not sure where domestic violence comes into the picture but it is almost impossible to insult an Aussie, lest you liken us to a Kiwi. :P

Don't worry, I'd never do that to a Kiwi :D

Steve

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It's a wonderful world we're in these days.

Thing is, it is a changing world. I wouldn't consider ordering from BFC via post, I much prefer the downloads. This is a bit of a thing across the board where email is devastating mail services across the world.

Ironically with the whole online shopping thing you would think that parcel post would be rising but it seems we are not at that stage just yet.

I can see a day where the retail store is a thing of the past and all of our shopping is done in the home with a delivery service.

I am much at that stage myself it is rare I go to the shops, even for groceries.

The times they are a changin'

Don't worry, I'd never do that to a Kiwi :D

No best not, they wouldn't know what to do with it.

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I can see a day where the retail store is a thing of the past and all of our shopping is done in the home with a delivery service.

I am much at that stage myself it is rare I go to the shops, even for groceries.

The same with me- I consider shopping in a store to be cruel and inhuman punishment! Especially when it comes to birthday and Christmas shopping, I'd lose my mind if I couldn't do it on my computer at home!

Not being stuck behind some moron who is standing in the middle of an aisle, talking on their cell phone, with no consideration for those trying to get through, or listening to spoiled brats scream at the top of their lungs to get their way, or stand in line to check out, only to see all the other lines moving quickly, while yours is at a stand still... the withering of retail stores may mean lost jobs, but I can't feel bad about that!

:D

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Ironically with the whole online shopping thing you would think that parcel post would be rising but it seems we are not at that stage just yet.

I think the problem is that the postal services are still geared towards letters. First Class Mail in particular. It's not just that people are emailing each other instead of writing letters or sending postcards. It's all the thousands of businesses that aren't sending out bills, payment reminders, marketing info, etc. It's also that we have a major Recession still going on world wide (economic indicators are missing the reality) which means less activity beyond the routine stuff.

In short, until the postal services have a system that caters to packages they're going to be in a downward spiral. They're going to have to give up home mail delivery sooner rather than later. It's unavoidable.

What I see happening is you get an email stating that you have something to pick up at the post office. You go down and get get it, nobody brings it to you. This cuts out 10s of thousands of employees for a big nation like the US.

Well, at least that's one way to do it.

The same with me- I consider shopping in a store to be cruel and inhuman punishment! Especially when it comes to birthday and Christmas shopping, I'd lose my mind if I couldn't do it on my computer at home!

Heh... in the US we have something called Black Friday. This is when the sheep flock to the slaughter. They spend the whole night waiting to get into a store and when they do, chances are they don't walk out with what they went in for. It's not uncommon for someone to have wasted 8 hours of their life and walk out with a DVD that was $5 off. Not really smart.

This past year I needed a new TV (previous one was pushing 20 years old!). I bought it a week before Black Friday from Amazon. I got exactly what I wanted (I researched the heck out of it), no hassles with getting to/from the store (which for me is a 1.5 hour round trip), no annoying instore experience with either the lack of help or the understaffed checkout counters, and it was delivered to my doorstep. Best of all, I paid less than the chumps that waited up all night and experienced the Hell that is Black Friday.

Traditional retail is only going to fool the masses for so long. Each year more and more people figure out. It's an unsustainable shell game they're playing.

Steve

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Traditional retail is only going to fool the masses for so long. Each year more and more people figure out. It's an unsustainable shell game they're playing.

Steve

Wait..you mean...no malls? You sir are anti american!! Our whole way of life is based on the mall! Maybe we can just turn the malls into giant internet cafes...hmmmm. That could be where all the laid off postal employees will hang out..probably not a very safe place to go.

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Well, my non-steel steelbox experience has been good.

It wasn't I, but a friend who opened the mail package, and although yes, the box did suffer damage, it still impressed my friend a great deal, who thought it very pretty indeed.

I thought it was nothing too special, but I'm a cynical bitch and I've been spoiled by Flight Simulator 2004's, I think it was, or CFS3, I don't remember. That was a pretty cool full real metal metalbox. Solid, sturdy.

Anyway, the box is pretty indeed, my friend approves of it, and I approve of its look. Very nice. Sadly, there's no promotional accompanying mouse pad. :( Dude, where's my mouse pad? CMSF's is getting worn out...

Also good was the lucky sneaky passage of the package through customs, without eliciting import fees. WHERE'S YOUR GOVERNMENT NOW?! I'm glad this place isn't as efficient as IngSoc.

So, ok, cool, nice box.

The sepia over sepian-gray manual wasn't the best of choices, but it's also not as bad as it looks on the PDF. It's easier to read than the PDF IMO actually. Still, please don't go artsy in manuals, at least not on the important bits, i.e. the main text.

On the bad side, the box got damaged both in the front and back. The front damage was very slight, a minor depression near the top. The rear damage was deeper and more pronounced, actually extending to open a crack along the height of the inner plastic body from top to bottom, near the top inner corner of the box. Meh. I'm not a collector and didn't buy this for the box; the game mostly works, so we're still in business.

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  • 4 weeks later...
Make your own, like what I does. :D

hetzer16.jpg

This model is a work of art, its like a real tank shrunk to scale, totally awesome build, could you post more pictures of this and any other models you have made ?

The last time i ever saw modeling at this level was a programme i watched about Japanese modelers.

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