Category Archives: VanRamblings

Stories of a Life | Megan, Jude & Me and Movies | 80s and 90s

September 12, 2020Cinema, fixin to die rag, Jude and Megan, Pop Culture, Stories of a Life, Vancouver, VanRamblingsRaymond Tomlin

Film has always been a central, organizing force in my relationship with both my daughter, Megan, and my son, Jude.
Our collective love of the cinema, attending film festivals and discussing what we saw following the various screenings we attended (usually at the Fresgo Inn on Davie, which was alive no matter the time of night or early morning) was, over the years, a central feature of our relationship — the relationship between son and daughter, and dad — that allowed us to delve deep into discussions of the meaning of life, and our collective responsibility to work towards creating a fairer and more just world for everyone.
Heart and deep caring for humanity was at the centre of our love of film, and at the centre of our loving familial relationship, informing the choices we made about how we would conduct ourselves in the world, and the projects and causes to which we would devote our time and our energies.

In the 1980s, when Cathy and I were going through a rancorous divorce, film brought us together. When in Seattle — which we visited frequently, always staying on the non-smoking 33rd floor of the Weston twin towers — in 1984, we took in a screening of Garry Marshall’s The Flamingo Kid — the story of a working class boy (Matt Dillon) who takes a summer job at a beach resort and learns valuable life lessons. Megan was seven years of age, and Jude 9 — both were uncertain about the efficacy of our trip south (without their mother’s permission — we called her upon arriving at our hotel), but the screening alleviated and, finally, repaired any of their concerns, and all went well that weekend. Fortuitously, too, upon our return, the divorce proceedings inexplicably moved forward into a more reasonable and thoughtful direction, reflective of all our collective concerns.
Whenever there was “trouble” in our relationship — generated, most usually, by their mother — film served to salve the wounds of dysfunction, allowing us to find our collective centre while healing the wounds that rent all of our lives during a decade-long, million dollar custody dispute.
Film spoke to us, made us better, took us out of the drudgery of our too often protean daily and, more often, troubled lives, and engaged us while putting our lives into a broader and more human scale perspective. Never once was there a film that we saw together when we didn’t come out of the screening feeling more whole, and more at one with ourselves & the world.

Such was true, at the screenings of Glenn Close and John Malkovich’s Dangerous Liaisons over the holiday period in 1988, or months later at the screening of Kevin Costner’s Field of Dreams, which we took in at the Oakridge Theatre, a favourite and comforting cinema haunt of ours.
When Megan wanted some “alone time” with me, it almost always revolved around watching a film together, although as Megan matured (and as her love for film matured), Megan made it plain that she was present in the theatre to watch the film, not “share time” with me, choosing always to sit in a whole other section of the theatre (it drove her crazy in the times that we were sitting together in a theatre that I would check in occasionally with her, looking at her to determine how she felt about the film — talking during a film was an unforgivable sin, so that was never going to happen).
Some days, Megan would call and say, “Dad, take me to a film.” And because I was a film critic at the time, and had a pass to attend at any cinema in North America, off the two of us would traipse to see Kathy Bates’ Fried Green Tomatoes (1991) or Johnny Depp’s Benny & Joon (1993) at the old 12-theatre complex downstairs in the Royal Centre mall.
Other times, post dinner and after Megan had finished her homework, I’d say to Megan out of the blue, “I’m heading out to attend a screening of a film. Do you want to come along with me?” Megan would ponder my question for a moment before asking, “Which film?”
In 1991, one very long film screening we attended was Kevin Costner’s directorial début, Dances With Wolves, about which we knew nothing other than it starred one of our favourite actors, and off the two of us went.

At screening’s end (Megan and I actually sat together at this particular screening, which took place in the huge Granville 7 Cinema 7, cuz the preview theatre screening room was just packed), Megan turned to me, and said, “Dad, I knew this was going to be a great film.” And it was. “And, you know what else? It’s going to pick up a raft of Oscars this year, too, and be considered one of the, if not the best, films of the year.”
Jude and Megan also attended film festival screenings with me.
Almost inevitably, Vancouver International Film Festival founder, and co-owner of Festival Cinemas Leonard Schein was present with his wife Barbara, and at a screening’s end, Megan would make her way over to wherever Leonard and Barbara were sitting to enquire of him whether or not he intended to book the film into either the Varsity, Park or Starlight.

Following screenings of Neil Jordan’s 1992 putative multiple Oscar award winner, The Crying Game or, that same year, Baz Luhrmann’s Strictly Ballroom, Megan marched right over to Leonard, and asked him boldfacedly, “Well, what did you think?” When Leonard indicated that he thought the films were not quite his cup of tea, that both films would have difficulty finding an audience, and that it was unlikely he’d be booking either film into one of his cinemas, Megan lit into Leonard with a passion and an anger that I had rarely observed as coming from her, saying, “Are you out of your mind? Strictly Ballroom (or, The Crying Game) is a wonderful film, and just the sort of film that not only should you book, but that you MUST book — these are both groundbreaking films that will only serve to reinforce your reputation as an arts cinema impresario, but will also make you a tonne of money, and we all know that you’re all about the money. Either you book these films into The Varsity, or believe me when I tell you that there’ll be hell to pay when you see me next.”
And with that, Megan marched off.

At the 1990 Vancouver International Film Festival, I’d caught a screening of Whit Stillman’s directorial début, Metropolitan, in preview, and knew that this would be a film that Megan would just love (and be astounded by, at the revelation of one of the characters, mid-film). I made arrangements to pick Megan up from University Hill Secondary at 3pm sharp on the day of the festival screening, we drove downtown, found a parking spot, and rushed over to The Studio Cinema on Granville to catch the 4pm screening of Metropolitan — which as I had predicted, Megan just loved.
In early December 1993, on a particularly chilly and overcast day, at 10am in Cinema 2 at the Granville 7 theatre complex, I caught a screening of Jonathan Demme’s groundbreaking new film, Philadelphia — a film about which I knew little, and a film that knocked me out (along with the handful of film critics in attendance at the theatre for the screening). Emerging from the theatre just after noon, making my way onto Granville, I looked for the nearest telephone in order that I might call Megan at school.
I called the office at University Hill Secondary, and asked them to find Megan and bring her to the phone. When Megan asked, “Dad, is everything all right?”, I told her about the film I had just seen, and that when it opened in January, I wanted to take her and Jude to a screening at the Granville 7. We talked about the film for a few minutes, with her saying about 10 minutes in, “I’m holding up the school phone, and calls coming in. Let’s get together after school. Come and pick me up, and we can continue our conversation. I’ll see you then, Dad. I love you.”
There are gifts we give our children. From my parents, it was what would emerge as a lifelong love for country music. For Jude and Megan, my gift was a love of music, a love of the ballet, and an abiding love for film.

On the Left = Daily Activism Towards a Fairer, More Just Society

November 28, 2019BC Politics, Politics, VanRamblingsRaymond Tomlin

If You Ain’t Marchin’ at Rallies For Causes You Support, Working Within Your Union (or Organizing a Bargaining Unit in a Non-Union Place of Employment) and Are On The Union Executive, If You Haven’t Joined a Left-of-Centre Political Party (Municipally, Provincially and Federally — Parties to Which You Donate Monies Each Month), Are Not Actively Engaged in the Fight Against Racism & Intolerance, If You’re Not Engaged in the Fight for LGBTQ Rights and Offering Your Active Support To Members of Our Transgender Community, If You Are Not Championing UNDRIP and Offering Your Active Support For The Right to Self-Determination for Members of Indigenous Communities — And Do Not Acknowledge That You Are Living On Stolen Land — If You Ain’t Fighting Together With Your Neighbours, and With A Broad Cross-Section of Members of Our Community Towards Achieving a Fairer, More Just Society for All — And Are Not Actively Engaged in That Fight — You Ain’t a Leftist.

Rally held in Vancouver, Feb. 10, 2018 protesting wrongful death of 22-year old Colten Boushie of the Cree Red Pheasant First Nation fatally shot on a rural Saskatchewan farm.

Approximately a year and a half ago, in the lead up to the 2018 Vancouver civic election, a former neighbour contacted me to ask if I would be open to discussing with her the latest article by noted left wing journalist and documentarian, John Pilger, on the continuing genocidal debacle in Syria.
As was the case with another former neighbour, Marion had experienced a late in life conversion to leftist politics, dedicating herself to reading Noam Chomsky, John Pilger, Naomi Klein, Owen Jones, Irshad Manji and others.
During the course of our conversation, I asked her how she would involve herself in the upcoming municipal election, which civic party or parties and which candidates for those parties she would be supporting and working to get elected, which groups she had aligned herself with, and what for her were the key issues that drove her commitment to moving the societal agenda forward towards the realization of a fairer and more just society.

“Oh, there’s no one in the city who’s as left as I am, no one with whom I would affiliate, and no political party that reflects the approach I believe needs to be taken to tear down the old order, and build a new and more democratic society,” Marion told me. “I would never join the NDP — they’re neoliberal collaborators, every single one of them — and there are no other parties on the left who reflect my values, municipally or otherwise.”
I asked her if in the past she had ever worked on a New Democratic Party provincial or federal campaign, or worked in Vancouver’s left leaning, sometimes thought to be Communist, Coalition of Progressive Electors, with whom she had affiliated herself, and with whom she had worked urgently towards the realization of the societal change she felt critical and essential.
The answer: no one, ever, on any issue, ever, never worked with anyone.

Calling Yourself Left Wing Means Unequivocal Community Activism
Words without action accomplishes nothing. One cannot describe oneself as progressive or a leftist without working with others towards social change. Activism is not ever a solitary activity, change does not occur in isolation.
If you’re going to call yourself a progressive, a leftist or a socialist, here are the pre-conditions necessary to adopt that nomenclature …

Join a political party. During the course of the 2017 British Columbia election, more than 400 volunteers joined the Re-Elect David Eby campaign, out daily door knocking, participating in burmashaves, delivering NDP literature to constituents across the Vancouver Point Grey provincial riding, out on the streets daily, including teachers who lived in Kitsilano but taught in Coquitlam, Delta, Langley and Surrey — but there they were every day, picking up literature, receiving instruction and their assignment from David’s inspiring (and organized) volunteer co-ordinator, Danika Skye Hammond. The 400 number doesn’t account, either, for the 200 inside volunteers working the phones from 9 a.m. til 9 p.m. seven days a week.
The same energy and passion David Eby’s volunteers brought to his 2017 re-election campaign — and aren’t you glad that David is British Columbia’s Attorney General & Minister of Justice? — an equal number of enthusiastic volunteers brought to Mable Elmore’s campaign in Vancouver-Kensington, Adrian Dix’s re-election campaign in Vancouver Kingsway, and to every BC NDP campaign in every riding across the province of British Columbia. Cuz getting out to actively support and contribute to your candidate’s campaign for office is what democratic socialist / leftist politics is all about.
Gaining friends. Feeling isolated in your community? See people on the street in your neighbourhood, and think to yourself, “I bet they’d be interesting to get to know” — but you’re hardly going to walk up and start a conversation with a complete stranger, someone you don’t even know. Joining with other like-minded members of your community in an important political endeavour that will help to bring about the necessary change you want to see and know needs to occur sooner than later serves to break down the pervasive sense of isolation that plagues contemporary society.
Campaigns for left-of-centre parties rely on volunteers — they can’t raise, and in most cases don’t want, the corporate funds that the Liberals and Conservative parties hoover up in the millions. All of which means: the federal NDP, the BC NDP, COPE and OneCity Vancouver — if you live in Vancouver — need you to contribute whatever funds you can afford.

At 11am, this upcoming Saturday, November 30th, hundreds of members of our community will rally at what was once the Little Mountain social housing site, at 33rd and Ontario in Vancouver, to protest the utter lack of progress over the past 12 years in building social and moderate rental housing on the Little Mountain site — rallying, as well, to encourage the provincial government to re-acquire the site sold to Holborn Properties Ltd. in 2007 by the B.C. Liberals, in order to immediately begin the development of social and moderate rental housing, and co-operative and co-housing projects, on the site.

Rallies. If you’ve never attended a rally, or do not regularly attend rallies — on climate change, indigenous issues, tenant’s rights, affordable housing, anti-racism, in support of public education, or any of the myriad issues of societal concern — you are neither a progressive nor a leftist. Rather, you’re a couch potato, or as George Orwell wrote in 1984, a prole:

… a member of the lowest rung of society, of society’s bottom class, those who are only educated to a basic degree and in consequence perform routinized tasks or perform menial labour that requires little thought or engagement, those in society who are utterly without power and who are given over almost entirely to hedonistic pursuit, to drinking and carousing and sex, to attendance at mass sporting events, and those who live in society without any sense of a social conscience or an understanding of the nature of the state, and who simply ‘don’t want to know’ because it taxes their brains, or keeps them away from their hedonistic pursuits — allowing them not to think or engage in common cause with others, or find any meaning in their regrettable, pitiless lives.

Academic studies have shown that only four per cent of the population is at all engaged in the life of society, have joined a political party, are actively involved in their union, have ever attended a march or a rally, or ever engaged with others to bring about societal change towards the realization of a fairer and more just society. That lamentable circumstance must change if we are to survive as a species, if the quality of our lives and that of our children, our friends, colleagues and our neighbours are to prevail.

Being a Union member
Unions have a substantial impact on the compensation and work lives of both unionized and non-unionized workers.

1. Unions raise wages of unionized workers by roughly 20% and raise compensation, including both wages and benefits, by about 28%;

2. Unions reduce wage inequality because they raise wages more for low- and middle-wage workers than for higher-wage workers, more for blue-collar than for white-collar workers, and more for workers who do not have a college degree;

3. The most sweeping advantage for unionized workers is in the benefits that are afforded. Unionized workers are more likely than their non-unionized counterparts to receive paid leave, are approximately 18% to 28% more likely to have employer-provided health insurance, and are 23% to 54% more likely to be in employer-provided pension plans;

4. Unionized workers receive more generous health benefits than non-unionized workers. They also pay 18% lower health care deductibles and a smaller share of the costs for family coverage. In retirement, unionized workers are 24% more likely to be covered by health insurance paid for by their employer;

5. Unionized workers receive better pension plans. Not only are they more likely to have a guaranteed benefit in retirement, their employers contribute 28% more toward pensions;

6. Unionized workers receive 26% more vacation time and 14% more total paid leave (vacations and holidays).

Unions play a pivotal role both in securing legislated labour protections and rights such as safety and health, overtime, and family/medical leave and in enforcing those rights on the job.
All the gains that union membership affords — increasingly, for all of us, union members as well as (to a lesser degree) non-union members — have not occurred as part of a befuddingly magical process. All of us live in an increasingly just society arising from the hard work of union members over many, many decades, marching on picket lines, and placing themselves in harm’s way facing down intransigent employers given to violence against their employees (more a feature of the past, although it still occurs today).
If you are a member of a union: your union needs you, needs your energy, your passion and your compassion. Take the training and become a shop steward. Run for a position on your union executive. Get to know your fellow union members, build community, build solidarity of purpose and intent — and, as above, in joining a political party — break down your sense of community isolation while working towards building relationships full of meaning that will enhance the quality of your life, gain new friends, and know that when you go to sleep at night that you’ve made a difference.

As a leftist, you are perforce an activist — which means you are working actively with others towards the realization of a fairer, more just society.
Other than working with political parties and working within your union, supporting causes that are important to you, marching and rallying with others to bring attention to the issues that require our immediate attention, how else might you address yourself to the issue of societal change?

1. Attend a meeting of your local City Council, School Board, and in Vancouver, the Park Board meetings — find out what the core issues are that these elected bodies area attempting to address, see democracy in action, get yourself on the speaker’s list at Council or Park Board.

Get involved!

2. If you live in Vancouver, make application to be a member of one of the city’s 33 advisory committees that help determine city policy. Every community provides opportunities for citizen involvement in the decision-making process in civic government. Get involved. Make a difference;

3. Attend talks & seminars on diverse topics. Thursday night, November 28th at 7pm, for instance, there’s a seminar, deemed a “conversation,” at SFU Woodwards, 149 West Hastings Street on the topic, Shaping Vancouver 2019: Conversation #4: What’s Happening to Heritage?

4. Change-makers to follow on social media. If you’re not following, regularly reading and interacting with community activists Derrick O’Keefe and housing activist Stephanie Allen — currently, VanRamblings’ favourite, make a difference, live every moment of their lives with integrity, community activists — you can’t honestly say you know what’s going on in our city. Vancouver and District Labour Council President Stephen (pronounced Stefan) Von Sychowski on Facebook is a must-follow, as is recent Coquitlam-Port Coquitlam federal NDP candidate, Christina Gower — my favourite friend find on Facebook in three years, her every post on social media compelling, humane and full of compassion and wit — and former / almost won Vancouver False Creek 2017 NDP candidate and community and transgender activist, Morgane Oger on Twitter — if you aren’t following all five you don’t know what you’re missing. A lot!
The same is true for public education activist, Patti Bacchus — VanRamblings’ favourite non-elected political figure in the province, if not all of Canada, an honest, unafraid truth teller of the first order.

The persons whose names are listed above are agents of change.

To reiterate: leftist politics requires activism and engagement. Activists work for necessary, meaningful change, and do not in any way hinder it.

There are two more features to left politics, caring and empathy.

Those who are working on the left are involved in selfless endeavour, requiring not just a little bit of caring, but rather the capacity for immense caring, and activism: we fight with people who for too long have been voiceless in the decision-making affecting their lives. Men fight together with women towards the creation of a fairer, much safer society for our distaff population of partners and spouses, sisters and children.

More than caring, even immense caring, we require throughout our day, every day, empathy for all those around us, for all those persons with whom we come into contact, and on behalf of whom we engage in activism towards a fairer and more just society.
What is required of us always is empathy, of which commodity there is too little in our world, be it at our current city council or school board or, for far too many, in the daily machinations of our lives.
If you are white and middle class, before you speak, put yourself in the position of others — be they persons of colour, indigenous persons, immigrants or refugees, or members of the LGBTQ community — listen to what members of these minority communities have to say about their life experience, and the discrimination they face — and, for good measure — acknowledge your white privilege, that just by very dint of your skin colour, chances are that your experience of life is so very much easier than those who are members of a minority community.
And act accordingly.

Fight, along with our indigenous peoples and our federal and provincial governments for reconciliation — just yesterday, our provincial legislature unanimously endorsed UNDRIP, the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the first province in Canada to do so.
If our governments — municipally, provincially and federally — are committed to reconciliation with our indigenous peoples, that reconciliation has been acknowledged as a core Canadian value, then it is incumbent upon each and every one of us to do all that is in our power to support reconciliation with our indigenous population, to ensure that centuries of genocide are acknowledged, and a commitment to a just reconciliation with our indigenous peoples is atop the social and political agenda.
And, finally, on the topic of empathy, this quote from Joshua Halberstam …

Saving the Environment | Fast Fashion vs the ‘Thrift’ Economy

November 19, 2019Environment, Jude and Megan, News, Pop Culture, Vancouver, VanRamblingsRaymond Tomlin

Fashion is today the second most polluting industry in the world, following only the oil business.
For altruistic and ecological reasons, the shopping attitude of Canadians towards second-hand clothes has been changing, and consignment stores are bustling with their newfound clientele, and consequent increased sales.
What was once a $12 billion North American market only a few short years ago is now a thriving $24 billion consignment clothing market, with the marketplace expected to top $50 billion by the middle of the next decade.
In other words, the ‘second hand economy’ is thriving.

Consignment stores are not what they used to be, offering quality like never before, carefully curated collections, and an elevated shopping experience for their burgeoning customer base.
A recent published study shows that in 2018, 64% of women and men were willing to buy pre-owned consignment store clothing — clothing which often has never been worn, and acquired from businesses which have gone bankrupt — up from 45% in 2016. The clothing retail industry believes that by 2028, up to half of the clothes in women’s and men’s wardrobes are likely to be ‘secondhand’. Fashion circularity, a new term referring to the recycled life of a garment, as indicated above is projected to reach $51 billion in five years, up from the current $24 billion.
In discussion with consignment store operators across Vancouver, proprietors told VanRamblings that where there was once “a stigma attached” to purchasing consignment store clothing — conjuring images of the yellow sweat patches, clothes strewn casually and confusingly hung (if at all) and emotional baggage people often associate with used clothing …
“Now, thankfully, purchasing clothing from consignment stores is not just acceptable — it’s cool and has completely captured the fashion zeitgeist,” one consignment clothing proprietor recently told us.
A recent study published by the Raymond James Financial Centre reports that 56% of women and men aged 18-29 prefer the consignment second hand market over conventional retailers of new clothing. Shopping in a thrifty manner guarantees shoppers the uniqueness of their own style. Most of the pieces in a consignment clothing shop are one of a kind, and allow endless possibilities of matching and styling in a creative and unique way.
All of which is to say, no longer is there a taboo about consignment clothes shopping. The rise of the sharing economy has also helped — it’s taken the stigma out of resale and removed the need to own something forever.

In September, fast fashion chain Forever 21 announced it was closing all its international locations, including 44 stores in Canada, amid flagging sales.
According to a recent interview conducted with the CBC finance guru Diane Buckner, British Columbia retail consultant Bruce Winder told her fast fashion’s target market — young, style-conscious shoppers on a budget — are also among those most concerned about the health of the planet.

“The younger millennial specifically, along with Gen Z, are incredibly environmentally conscious,” he said. “And they look at every brand and every product in terms of what is the impact on society, but also what is the impact on the employees and the environment.”

Not only do consignment stores benefit from the fact that the city’s stylish set are clearing out their closets like never before, a return to quality over quantity in the minds of most shoppers means visits to consignment stores for quality designer goods that will last (i.e. not end up in a landfill) and not break the bank will only continue to rise.

How does consignment clothing store shopping save the environment while also saving you money? Thrift shopping at consignment stores offers a viable solution for anyone looking to help out the environment.

Saving Money. Thrifted clothing is far more affordable than new clothes of comparable quality.
Smarter Buys. You tend to spend more time looking over each item instead of buying it outright.
Unique Finds. It’s highly unlikely that anyone else is walking around in the same clothes as you.
Creative Potential. You might be inspired to try new combinations, or even some DIY reconstruction!

If that isn’t enough incentive, as promised above, here are seven ways Erich Lawson writes thrifting helps the environment …

1. Consignment clothing shopping lowers your carbon footprint. A great deal of energy goes into clothing manufacture, right from the transportation of raw materials to the production process. Then, there’s the energy required to transport clothing to stores, and dispose of unwanted pieces. When shoppers buy from consignment stores, we prevent wastage of energy & resources on production of new clothes.

2. Aiding in Water Preservation. In addition to energy, water consumption is extremely high at every stage of clothing production. For instance, growing one kilogram of cotton requires 5,300 gallons of water, while wet processing and printing use 18 and 21.6 gallons respectively, per pound of cotton. Manufacturing, packaging and transportation processes add to this cost as well.

3. Reducing Chemical Pollution. The production of cotton is highly pesticide-intensive, causing soil acidification and water contamination. Textile manufacturing processes also involve the use of harmful dyes, caustic soda and crude oil by-products. These chemicals are generally dumped into areas around manufacturing units, contaminating surface and ground water through soil runoff.

4. North Americans throw out anywhere from 60 to over 80 pounds of textile waste annually, and only about 10% of this makes it to consignment stores. If more people start shopping for consignment clothes, less fabric ends up being dumped in landfills. That’s not all. Packaging material is also reduced, keeping plastic, paper and metal out of the waste stream.

5. Inspiring Green Living. Thrifting is an essential part of green living, in more ways than one. When you buy consignment clothing, you keep them from being sent to a landfill and reduce manufacturing demand as well. Also, by donating consigning clothes you no longer wish to wear, you encourage others simply by giving them something they can use.

6. Boosting Community Development. Shopping at consignment stores means support for local business instead of multinational corporations. Consignment stores provide employment in retail outlets, creating more jobs and boosting the local economy. Many hire disabled workers and support local community programming projects as well.

7. Encourages Recycling. Did you know that recycled cotton clothing uses less than 3% of the energy that would have gone into producing new clothes? When you reuse or recycle clothes, you’re decreasing the demand for production & encouraging sustainabity. It may not seem like much, but every item that doesn’t end up in a landfill counts as a win!

In the 1990s, when VanRamblings was charged with training Statistics Canada employees on how to conduct the annual Survey of Household Spending, during the role play portion of the training exercise, in answer to the question as to how much we spent on clothing and shoes each year, we responded with: $500. Senior staff at Statistics Canada guffawed loudly when VanRamblings offered this bit of information, saying to us at days’ end, “Raymond, suggesting that you spend only $500 a year on clothing and shoes is the funniest thing I think I’ll ever hear. How clever of you. Good for you. It brought lightness to the day’s proceedings.”

Little did senior staff know that, in fact, VanRamblings was acquiring most of our clothing from Arthur’s for Men on West 1st Avenue just west of Burrard Street, where fashionable wool sweaters could be had for $15, shirts and pants for $10, and jackets and shoes for $25, or less.
VanRamblings’ children had long encouraged shopping at consignment stores.

“Dad, not only are you colour blind, you have no fashion sense. In the past, you’ve bought your clothing at The Bay, and you’ve tended to shop for the store brands. You are much better off shopping for name label clothing at a consignment store: those clothing items are priced less expensively than what you’re buying now, the clothes are of invariably better quality — and will hold their nap in a way your current shirts, sweaters and pants will never do, meaning the clothing will last longer.”

“Buying name label consignment clothing assures quality, assures — at least in most cases — proper colour and design that will match the remaining items in your wardrobe, and as long as you shop at Arthur’s for Men, the owners will know what clothing items you have in your wardrobe at home, because they have a list of what you’ve purchased, so will be able to recommend complementary items.”

And now to the present.
Recently, we purchased an Italian suede jacket we’d seen at a neighbourhood Italian clothing boutique that had now gone out of business.
The jacket was retailing for $380.
When Turnabout (our consignment clothing shop of choice, these days) purchased almost the entire stock of the bankrupt Italian clothing boutique, that $380 suede jacket was put on sale for $40!

When walking into the store the morning the jacket was put on sale, staff approached me to say, “Mr. Tomlin, we’ve just put a jacket out on the floor that we think you’ll love,” directing me to the suede jacket. “You’d better buy it now, or it’ll be gone by noon.”
So, we did — and enjoy wearing it today!

Now, it may be a lark that our former employers at Statistics Canada thought our voiced annual clothing expenditure to be a laugh, but in our current scarce and uncertain economy, if sales at the consignment store we most often attend is any indication — where only a decade ago, we could wait for an item to drop 80% in price were we to wait six to eight weeks — when an item we like now appears in the shop, we purchase it immediately, because if we don’t, it’s almost a certainty that it’ll be gone the next day.

Holiday Season Gift Giving | Hacking Amazon to Save Big Bucks

November 18, 2019Diversions, Food & Health, News, Vancouver, VanRamblings, Web & TechRaymond Tomlin

With the holiday season coming up, gift giving is on the minds of a great many people, gifts for family, friends and colleagues, and gifts for oneself.

Given the uncertain nature of the economy and the scarce dollars available to most folks, a bargain is always appreciated — and make no mistake, with Black Friday coming up on November 29th and Christmas sales at the ready across our land to entice you to spend, there’ll be plenty of bargains to rein in whatever disposable income you’ve set aside for gift acquisition.

Retail online sales, if projections are correct, will top $40 billion Canadian this holiday season, with total world sales expected to exceed $3.5 trillion for 2019 — most of which monies will be spent acquiring products made available on the Amazon website (or app, as the case may be). Latest figures published by Statistics Canada indicate that 3 out of 5 Canadians do most of their non-food shopping on the Amazon.ca website — cuz it’s less expensive than the retail stores as well as reliable, and if you’ve acquired an Amazon Prime membership, goods delivery is free within 12 – 36 hours.

If you’re not in the market for anything in particular — say you’re just looking for gift ideas or killing time during your lunch break — you can get to the Amazon Warehouse Deals landing page by heading to Amazon.ca and search for “Amazon Warehouse” or “Warehouse Deals.” From there you can browse the categorized listings just as you would at any online retailer.

Most people who shop on Amazon, though, know exactly what they’re looking for. If you already have something specific in mind but want to see if there’s a discounted Amazon Warehouse option available, this is where your sleuthing, money-saving skills come into play, saving you up to 50%.

The bottom line: why pay full retail when there’s a perfectly fine — and much cheaper — alternative?

In much the same way that VanRamblings does most of our clothes and shoe shopping at consignment stores (Turnabout is our current favourite, where we save up to 80% on new sweaters and jackets), the Amazon Warehouse has perfectly fine ‘used’ goods at 50% off or better savings.

For instance, we recently acquired a Dash 1.2 L Compact Electric Air Fryer (which we’ll write about later in the month) for $42, when the retail price on Amazon.ca and at Walmart was a much steeper $101.67, plus tax. The Dash Air Fryer arrived in the original box, in pristine condition, in 48 hours.

All we did when arriving on the Amazon web page for the Dash Air Fryer was scour the page, keeping our eyes peeled for words like “New & Used,” “Buy Used,” “New & Used Offers” or just plain “Used” — and with the click of a couple of buttons, our ‘new’ Dash 1.2 Litre Compact Air Fryer was on its way, at a cost saving of pretty darn close to 60 per cent.

Why’s Amazon Warehouse stuff so cheap? Just like other major retailers such as Walmart or Costco, Amazon takes in a lot of customer returns, which it can no longer sell as new-in-box, regardless of why the buyer sent the item back or whether it’s even been opened.

That’s why everything Amazon Warehouse sells is listed as used, even if the product itself has never been touched. Regardless of its condition, used stuff is just worth less — sometimes a lot less. And that, most often, is very good for you.

Amazon has five different grades it assigns to items it resells. Here they are with brief explanations of what Amazon means by them.

Renewed: This is the highest grade an Amazon Warehouse item can receive and is on par with what other companies might call “refurbished.” Renewed items have been closely inspected and tested and determined to look and function like new and come with a 90-day replacement or refund guarantee.

Used, Like New: No noticeable blemishes or marks on the item itself, although the packaging may be damaged, incomplete or missing all together. All accessories are included, and any damage to the package will be described in the listing.

Used, Very Good: Item has been lightly used, with minor visible indications of wear and tear, but otherwise in good working order. Packaging might be damaged, incomplete or the item repackaged. Any missing accessories will be detailed on the listing.

Used, Good: Item shows moderate signs of use, packaging may be damaged or the item repackaged and could be missing accessories, instructions or assembly tools.

Used, Acceptable: Very well worn, but still fully functional. Major cosmetic defects, packaging issues and/or missing parts, accessories, instructions or tools.

How to choose the right grade? If there are multiple listings with different grades available for the product you want to buy, think about what you’re going to use it for. If it were something purely functional and you couldn’t care less about its cosmetic condition, like hair clippers or a cordless drill, our suggestion: go with the cheapest option, period.

Honestly, a low enough price on just about anything can woo most folks into dealing with some scratches or scuffs. Not to mention, Amazon tends to err on the side of caution, marking items as Good or Acceptable that the average person would consider Very Good or Like New. One of the benefits of purchases made through Amazon Warehouse is that

Amazon’s standard 30-day replacement or refund return policy applies, which comes in handy if you wind up with a lemon. Amazon does caution that because these products are considered used they don’t come with the manufacturer’s original warranty — but you can, in fact, register the product online with the manufacturer for the full two year, or better, warranty.

And remember: Amazon Prime members still get free shipping. Subscribing to Amazon Prime won’t get you a bigger discount on Amazon Warehouse Deals, but you’ll get free shipping just as you would for any other Prime-eligible item, which is why it remains a good deal, at $90 Canadian a year to sign up for Amazon Prime (which also gives you access to Amazon Prime TV, for most folks a pretty good deal when you get right down to it, and applicable to all Amazon Warehouse purchases, as well).

As above, most stuff you buy through Amazon Warehouse ships and arrives within the same one- to two-day window you get with new items, although some orders do take longer to fulfill. If that’s the case, the extra handling time is usually indicated on the listing, so you know what to expect.

Of course, Amazon will be participating in this year’s big Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales too, with some deals starting as early as Nov. 22nd, with all current Amazon.ca Black Friday deals available here.