A little ranting: Target and the 2012 Olympics

Hi, everyone! I thought I'd rant a bit today in addition to another post later on. My sister and I always look forward to the Halloween holiday as it's one of our favorites. We love going to Target during the fall to see what cute things they have out for the holiday. Yet again this year we were sadly disappointed. It is another of what my sister and I term a 'recession year' for merchandise with the Halloween section full of large bags of candy and a small amount of other goodies for sale.

We both realize that people are saving their money and being frugal with their purchases. The essentials come first before spending hard earned cash on frivolous items. But I miss the opportunity to spend my money on Halloween decorations for the house, baking goodies, and small gifts for my annual gift package to friends. When the holidays come around I always set aside money to spend on goodies and candy. My letter to Target: please give us more items besides a hundred choices of bagged candy. Have faith in customers that money will be spent on other things besides candy and costumes for their kids, etc. Adults have fun during Halloween too. Sincerely a loyal and faithful Target shopper.

My other rant for the day is regarding the 2012 Olympics. As you know the Summer Olympics are being hosted in London next year. With this in mind, I went to their shop website earlier this week to see the various merchandise on sale in celebration of the event. I wrote out a list of items that I wanted to purchase with the idea of saving some money up to buy things and have them shipped to the U.S. (since British pounds are £1 = $2, which means the something that costs £10 = $20).

I went to the delivery section of the website to see how much I was looking to save up in order to have it shipped and couldn't find the U.S. listed. I went to the FAQ section and read this:

Q: I live in the USA and would like to buy from the London 2012 online shop.

A: As the United States Olympic Committee runs its own Olympic website http://www.teamusa.org we are unable to deliver to the USA but you can buy a great range of London 2012 merchandise from their online shop http://www.teamusashop.com.

I thought 'okay, I'll just go to the U.S. website and see what they have for sale' and with a click of my mouse off I went to see what was out there. I was utterly disappointed! I realize it's a bit early for merchandise and maybe it will get better, but there were only forty-eight items for sale for the 2012 Olympics; all the other merchandise on the website were items on clearance from previous Olympic years.

None of the cute London items are for sale and I have to wonder if the U.S. shop will only have a few of the things that are in the London shops with a majority of the merchandise being U.S. items in support of our country in the Games. I was hoping to buy a few bags, a plushie of the Wenlock mascot, and a couple of the coins and pins. Now I can't even do that with a majority of those items. Yes, eBay would be an option, but even they do not have the selection that is on the London website.

Now I had the thought that maybe I could get my friend in New Zealand to help me out, but shipping to New Zealand is £35 which equals $70. Ouch!! I was thinking of asking one of the UK bloggers that I read to help with my problem, but I don't know if anyone would help with this issue.

So another letter: Dear U.S. Olympics Committe, please let U.S. citizens purchase from other countries. Loyal fans of the Olympics love to purchase merchandise from the hosting country along with the U.S. during the Games. If you think it is a loss of profit, make some kind of deal with the hosting country's website where a portion of the shipping costs goes to the U.S. Olympics website or some sort of charity in exchange with the hosting country for engaging in commerce with U.S. citizens. Thank you for your time.

Enough ranting for the day!

Until next time ^___^