Disappeared News

I stopped by last week to see if there might be some bargains at CompUSA downtown. Perhaps there are, but as I wrote earlier, you need to know the street prices of anything you're interested in, or you could pay too much.

I've had my eye on the HP touchscreen laptop that CompUSA used to offer for $999.99. Last week the liquidators were still offering it for $1139.99, clearly no bargain.

But get this—the same computer is in this week's Office Depot ad for $699.99.

I don't know  if it would qualify for any rebates if purchased at CompUSA. Nor did the CompUSA sales person nearby.

I just feel sorry for the folks I saw hauling away shopping carts of stuff that they probably didn't check on. Actually, very few shopping carts were in evidence. Most visitors to the store were wandering around, as I was, looking at stuff, but not carrying much.

The junk is surfacing, too. Memory cards that have small capacity by today's standards at prices not competitive with those advertised elsewhere. But oops... someone snatched away the card I was looking at. Sucker! Curiously, there was a sticker on it identifying it as a "store fixture."

And that touch screen computer is falling apart. It's actually not a very sturdy machine, and not a real Tablet PC, so I won't be buying it. See how the keys are popping off? Some of the other stock, including single clearance items, was no longer pretty either, but no cheaper for the wear.

I guess that's how liquidation works. Like a spider in a web, just wait, and sooner or later the prey will come. But we know better than to become prey, don't we.