May 28, 2005Time to roll the gas grill out of the shedMemorial Day weekend is the unofficial kickoff to the summer barbecue season. As folks here in the States prepare to kick back in the backyard, those fabulous gas grills are rolled out of the storage shed for the first time of the year. But lets be realistic … some of those gas grills are less than fabulous … segue to my biggest online purchase ever (with the exception of geek goodies, of course). Set the clock back to 1999 … It was the peak of the dotcom boom. All of a sudden, it seemed like you could buy absolutely anything online. From the sublime to the ridiculous, nothing seemed more awesome (at the time) than the ability to shop for and buy a gas barbecue grill online. Oh, I'd been to plenty of home improvement stores. But I never seemed to hit them when the gas grill I wanted was on sale. And even worse, I had no way to bring the gas grill of my dreams home from the store (as a result of driving little cars). Tack on the state tax and the store delivery charges, and whoomp ... all of a sudden there was a monetary penalty for buying in the real world. I'd owned a number of gas grills over the years ... but all of them were el cheapo models that fell apart after only a few seasons. I was determined to do the research and find a suitable replacement. I set out to find a gas grill online. It didn't take long to find one. Work wise, I had just finished up The Complete Guide to Associate and Affiliate Programs on the Net for McGraw-Hill. As a result of my research, I had signed up with a whole bunch of merchants. One of those stores just happened to have the gas grill apple of my eye -- a humble Weber Genesis -- at a great price, with free shipping to boot. So what clinched the deal? I was hooked after I determinined that it was okay to order the barbecue grill through my own links and reap the affiliate fee. A ten percent commission added up to a substantial discount. A few clicks and the order was placed. The grill arrived in a week or so, via tractor trailer. (There's a certain drama to delivery when the driver circles his 18-wheeler in your cul-du-sac.) We unloaded the brand spanking new Weber Genesis in the driveway and by that evening we were grilling burgers. Unfortunately, the affiliate commission didn't arrive so easily. In fact, it didn't arrive at all. The merchant ended up a victim of the dotcom bust. Six years down the road, the barbecue grill is still grilling like a champ. (If only I could rig up a web cam and an automatic burger flipper, I'd be set ...) The morals of this story? Do your research. Don't settle for what's available locally. And check out your merchants carefully ... Posted by geekbooks at May 28, 2005 07:52 PM |
