Replacing a Flash Drive

After I gave my last major presentation, I purchased a suitable flash drive to store my documents.  It did not have loaded to it.  Maybe one PowerPoint and one or two Word Documents.  No pictures of travel or my infant grandchildren.  Nothing irreplaceable.  Many come with access to keychains.  I never lose my car or house keys.  I do lose flash drives.  The loop that enables placement on a ring has the same plastic that makes the case of the device.  Every one I have ever owned snapped off the host key ring, most lost forever.  As a result, the last two that I've purchased, I keep in a coin purse.  One in the interseat compartment of my car, the other in my pocket with the coins.

Unfortunately, my last two coin pouches came to my possession as freebies offered at expo tables.  One a sturdy coarse material, the other a lighter nylon fabric.  The cloth does well.  The seams do not.  Each has separated.  I repair each with packing tape or duct tape, only to have the seam separate somewhere else.  One pouch I designated as my auto first aid kit, supplying it with Band-Aids, salve, and tape.  It sits in the interseat compartment of my car.  The other seemed to do well in my pocket.

I looked for the flash drive.  Not there.  Lots of coins.  An Eagles money holder with a few small folded bills.  A micro tool set too innocuous to get a TSA inspector suspicious.  But no flash drive.  Fortunately, nothing on it of irreplaceable value, or even immediately needed content.  I looked at the cloth pouch.  Another seam separation, large enough for the flash drive, too small for the currency clip.  These pocket pouches are not easy to replace, but duct tape won't suffice.  I don't think sewing is the way to go either.  I'll keep my eye open for a replacement.

The flash drive should be replaced.  Needing an afternoon escape, I drove not far to Target, expecting both small electronics and a suitable coin purse.  I found no coin purses.  They carried flash drives.  I walked to the back of the store where a few hung from hooks.  Target has been losing shoppers, with multiple pundits promoting their pet reasons.  DEI policy, scarce employees, inferior selections, and prices higher than Walmart.  Don't know about DEI, but the others seem true.  While my storage needs are few, I really did not want to settle for less than 64G.  Lowest price, about $12 had 32G.  Anything above that, much more costly, and only one brand of somewhat shoddy appearing devices.

I left purchasing nothing.  Back to my laptop.  Search Flash Drive.  Now Google could at least tell me where to buy one.  A few retail options.  Staples, Best Buy, Walmart, Walgreens.  The drug store had a minimal selection at a high price.  Staples looked good.  staples.com looked very inviting.  I drove there.  No better than Target.  A few 32G items for about $12, everything else much more.  I did not want to drive to Walmart and have shunned Best Buy based on some past experiences.  

Online shopping seemed a good option.  Amazon had oodles of choices at favorable prices.  I would need to buy other things to avoid a shipping charge that would add a significant increment to my flash drive purchase.  There are things that I'd considered, including the coin purse and some tissue box holders, but unlikely to get me to the Amazon threshold.

One of the suggestions that popped up is temu.com, that controversial Chinese firm which trades reliability against low prices.  I've bought things from them before.  Most good buys, one item unusable.  They had a lot of flash drives.  Up to now, mine have always had a USB A connector.  At Temu they displayed dual connectors, one A for my laptop, one C for my cell phone.  Storage 256G.  Price $13 + $3 shipping.  While Temu probably has a tariff expense as a Chinese retailer, they apparently have an American warehouse which either avoids the tariff surcharge or it has already been paid by the importer.  I can handle $16.

Placing the order took more effort than placing one at Amazon, Wayfair, or Walmart, my usual sources of e-commerce.  It went through.  I expect the item to arrive within a week.  No urgency on my part.  However, Temu has a reputation for items not arriving at all.  I risk $16.

I wonder about some of my local stores, though.

Temu Order

My order has not come, though it is not yet late.  I did not know what Temu was, though after placing my first order some message from the company arrives in my inbox at least twice a day.  And I've had a chance to explore the company.  For all its negative press, I only have about $25 at risk.

My exposure started simply enough, and with the help of advertising algorithms far removed from Temu.  A beloved AM/FM radio that I have taken to the beach for decades broke its necklace.  I glued it with rubber cement, which will get it fairly securely to my next beach outing, but is likely to fail again.  The device cost about $5 at a place like Walmart in the 1990s.  Technology is obsolete so unlikely duplicates are made.  Indeed, I could find a few duplicates on eBay, cost about $12 with shipping.  For that, I could get a replacement with more modern features, so I searched Amazon and Walmart which still sell radios of that style and capability for about $15 plus shipping.  Think about it, or maybe defer the purchase until I have another item that boosts me above the free shipping threshold.  When I did my next search, the automated algorithm knew the type of product I wanted, posting on top a picture of a suitable replacement for about $12, shipping included, from a place called Temu, which I had not heard of.  I went to place the order, really having nothing to lose, when up popped some solicitations for other obsolete electronics.  I couldn't pass up a new digital tape recorder for $10.  So I ordered that too.  Credit card swiped, confirmation sent, with a message that these should arrive together in about two weeks.  They will notify me of shipping and delivery by their electronic tracking system, much as other online purchases now do.  Eventually I should have a real cheap AM/FM mini radio and a second digital recorder, each best housed in the secure nylon travel pouch that I wear next to my chest when I go on a trip.

One a thoughtful purchase generated by pseudo need, the other an impulse buy generated by bargain price.  Its attraction was low price, for which people are willing to make compromises.  That experiment has been done many times, with Walmart selling a merger of price and reliability that they call value.  Amazon sells availability and convenience.  Dollar Stores sell low price, and for people of means like me, they also offer something of a treasure hunt, as do yard sales and Goodwill Stores.  Temu seems more like the yard sale, you want it when you see its availability and its price.

Will my two items ever arrive?  Reviews of Temu suggests that they often don't, but I've received a message that mine have been sent out of the factories, as Temu is really a direct interface with the factories which make the products that they sell.  My own risk is small.  A nominal sum on my card, which also offers me a feature to challenge an unsatisfactory transaction.  I don't really need either of the products that I ordered.  So like a yard sale, I purchase As Is, though with a modicum of protection from the credit card issuer.

Moreover, for the radio that I sought, Amazon and Walmart had first dibs.  They lost out for inability to supply at the price I was willing to fork over for a mostly frivolous product.  Temu appeared as an univited back-up.  If my experience proves decent, multiplied by similar reaction from other customers, they will have earned some loyalty for their niche, which the e-retailers in competition will need to address.  If they fail to deliver, their orders will plummet.  Reliability is important in e-commerce, particularly when dollar amounts are more substantial.  The constant online solicitations annoy me.  Once my transaction has completed, it's easy enough to unsubscribe until next time.