How Is Traditional Retail Still Around?

The past week I have awakened to various alarms going off in my house on more than one occasion.  One was a smoke detector that went off in our bedroom for no apparent reason.  Turns out three of the alarms upstairs were tripped, indicated by their flashing green lights.  There was no fire or smoke detected.  We read later that sometimes dust can cause a smoke detector to be tripped.  Who knew?  I hate when those things go off.  They always scare the crap out of me.

The second alarm that went off was one of the dreaded alarms in the sump pump area.  Better an alarm than a flood, but still a bit annoying.  Typically the "Battery fluid" light is on, meaning I need to replace the fluid in the back-up pump's battery.  This time the incredibly descriptive "Battery problem" light was flashing.  Sarah found the manual and they recommended cleaning the terminals (which weren't very dirty) and replacing the battery if problems persisted.  Sarah cleaned the terminals and the alarm went off and I though we were in the clear, until the next morning when the alarm was tripped again.  The battery is about 5 years old so I decided to go to Lowe's and buy a new battery, because we have been getting moisture lately and I do not want a flooded basement.  This is where the trouble begins.

One day after work and after helping put the kids to bed, I drove to Lowe's to pick up the battery, only to find the area on the shelf where the battery was supposed to be located to be vacant.  I hunted down a sales associate and was told that they were sold out of the batteries and would have more in stock within a day or two.  I was mildly annoyed at the situation, but I was also mildly annoyed at my decision to go to the store in the first place.  I buy almost everything online, and yet for some reason it didn't even cross my mind to buy this battery online.  I went home and was able to buy the battery from Lowe's website for the same price and for free shipping.  It arrived at my home within 3 days.  With this experience and with quicker and cheaper shipping I have no idea why anyone would ever go to a store to buy anything.  The rare exception is an item that is needed within hours (as opposed to a day or two) or something like clothes or food.  Even food is becoming purchasable online.

After buying the battery, the alarm switched from the "Battery problem" light to the "battery fluid" light.  I have since added fluid to the battery and we haven't had a problem since, and that was a week ago.  I now have a $150 battery sitting in a box in my garage, needing to be returned.