Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!bonnie.concordia.ca!thunder.mcrcim.mcgill.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!ai-lab!rice-chex!bson
From: bson@rice-chex.ai.mit.edu (Jan Brittenson)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.handhelds
Subject: Re: Special Offer/Group Buying - HP Calcs !
Message-ID: <16531@life.ai.mit.edu>
Date: 17 Jun 91 18:32:44 GMT
References: <9106141251.AA07545@lucy.UMD.EDU> <673@lysator.liu.se>
Sender: news@ai.mit.edu
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In a posting of [16 Jun 91 09:22:01 GMT]
   mvh@lysator.liu.se (Martin V. Howard) writes:

 > Why pay $79 extra and have to wait?  Why use this guy's mail order
 > service?  What's the point?  As far as I can see, you pay more and
 > wait longer...

   This thread is an excellent example of what can happen if the
distribution gets screwed up... The guy offering low-priced HP
calculators posted from the University of Toronto, with the
distribution set to "ont," which I assume was supposed to be Ontario.

   Ladies and gentlemen, the prices in the original offer were in
Canadian dollars, for calculators with a Canadian warranty. Most
likely he will only accept orders from Ontario.

   Again, the distribution got screwed up. Someone in the U.S. picked
this up (assuming that "$" meant U.S. $), and explained that you could
order a calculator cheaply from a number of other sources, all in the
U.S. of course. This message makes it to Europe, where it's a common
notion that there is some sort of free trade agreement between the
U.S. and Canada. There isn't, although incidentally, a partial
agreement is under negotiation.

   I hope this will straighten matters out. The offer is not a joke or
a con scheme. Au contraire - it is both legitimate and honorable.

						-- Jan Brittenson
						   bson@ai.mit.edu