From: nospam@needed.invalid   
      
   On Sat, 2/14/2026 12:38 AM, Lawrence D’Oliveiro wrote:   
   > On Mon, 12 Jan 2026 19:30:41 -0500, Paul wrote:   
   >   
   >> Monitor stocks are depleted where I am. At one computer store,   
   >> virtually all the monitors are "Special Order", which means, upon   
   >> receipt, you cannot return them.   
   >   
   > That doesn’t make any sense to me. Surely if stocks are low, they   
   > would be happy to take returns, to sell to a customer who would   
   > appreciate them more.   
   >   
      
   Based on a check today, for an item I was tracking, there   
   seems to be some amount of hoarding going on. Virtually all   
   the stores in the chain, had that particular hard drive bought   
   up, and at the price charged for the drive, there was no reason   
   at all for anyone to buy them.   
      
   I would then expect to find "Model xxx hard drive" on ebay.ca   
   for some ridiculous price, with a little extra profit for   
   the scalper. The size of the drive, is not attractive for AI datacenters,   
   it's a smaller drive for a home user. It's just weird that all   
   the stores were cleaned out. Only two of the drives remain.   
   Which is also weird :-/   
      
   DRAM at the store is marked as "zero inventory" as well. But I   
   suspect, if I drove to the store and bought a motherboard   
   and a CPU and I said to the clerk "now, what DDR5 can I install   
   in this new build?", like magic he would reach under the counter   
   and pull out 2x8GB DDR5. I think there is still DRAM, except   
   they're not exposing it on the web site so scalpers cannot   
   mechanically clean it out.   
      
   If the store resorts to "drop shipping everything", then...   
   it isn't really a store any more.   
      
   I'm just waiting for that store to go bankrupt. This is   
   what the AI era should lead to, is no more retailing possible   
   and a sector just wiped out. Even Newegg.ca is looking   
   pretty sad right now, in terms of choices for materials. One   
   search I did there, resulted in six items on the web page,   
   which is roughly the same result as my local computer   
   store web site gives for the same search.   
      
   I know that some items are plentiful. I have always been able   
   to get motherboards and CPUs. I used to be able to say the word   
   "RAM" too in such an example, but not any more. In the store, the   
   counter area with motherboards and CPUs was always jam packed full.   
   But other areas (want a USB stick?), the wall of hooks is empty,   
   and in the case of USB sticks, that was not hoarding, it's basically   
   no stick was available starting about mid year last year.   
      
   The monitor section is just demonstrator models, no boxed stock   
   waiting to go. And the web site, instead of listing all those   
   as "open box", instead lists all monitors as "Special Order", and   
   usually with "Special Order" items, there are fewer options   
   like the return options. Because they're just drop-shipped   
   from somewhere else.   
      
   Even the Staples I checked, was thin. I was trying to see if   
   they had any 4K 32" monitors. Well, it's just an aisle of HD   
   monitors 1920x1080. Usually in January, I check for bargains   
   there, as they usually have some B-grade monitors they bring   
   in on purpose for people like me. But there was nothing   
   of note this year. If I needed some sort of monitor, I could   
   have one, but there wasn't an excess of boxed units under   
   the shelf.   
      
   Summary: There are just two possibilities at retail   
           1) Scalping hoarders buy up all the stock (have to hide the DDR5).   
           2) Supply side is not working, nothing coming in.   
      
   You can still get a motherboard and a CPU, but nothing   
   else to finish the built :-) There's no reason for an NVMe   
   or a HDD or a monitor (boxed/new) to be just sitting there.   
   Hoarded or unavailable.   
      
   And the pricing of unrelated items has gone up. Presumably   
   as the store approaches bankruptcy. They've already reduced   
   the staff as much as they can. A minimum staff is needed   
   just to prevent shoplifting.   
      
      Paul   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)