Buy mac in JFK

[blevins321]

Suggestion?

This is just a suggestion. I personally would do this for someone if I lived in the same state . Maybe offer someone here a bit of $ for their time and trouble and have someone pickup your Mac for you and meet you at the airport? The person who did it would only (possibly) be cheated out of time and travel effort, because they could just return the Mac if for some reason you didn't show. Otherwise it might be a good little jaunt to do on a boring weekend

 

[swingerofbirch]

I don't know where the OP is from, but my relatives from Scandinavia love to come to the US for the deals. These relatives of mine decide to go to college every once in a while--so that the government will pay for an apartment and living expense. One cousin of mine studied at Columbia for a year and lived in a $3,000/month penthouse the Swedish government paid for. My American friends who go to college in the US work up to two jobs to pay for a car, tuition, and books. They live in dorms or apartments with roommates. Our price structure is lower because we don't tax at a rate where we provide for general welfare the way Western Europe does, and we spend an exorbitant amount of money on defense.

I have a lot of respect for the Western European cradle to grave system. I wish the US spent less on defense and cared for its own people through the government more. But we don't. And we have low sales tax or no sales tax in some states and no national sales tax at all. I believe in the Western European system you see in Norway, Finland, Denmark, and Sweden, but I don't know how much the people of those countries believe in their own system when they come to the United States and avoid paying taxes to their own countries but still expect the benefits.

If you are from a wealthy, Western European country, would say do it the right way, knowing that part of what you are paying for is part of what some Americans can't afford that your government provides: healthcare, education, etc.

 

[Esbenam]

take the subway

Isn't that more trouble? Getting around/switching trains and stuff?

This is just a suggestion. I personally would do this for someone if I lived in the same state . Maybe offer someone here a bit of $ for their time and trouble and have someone pickup your Mac for you and meet you at the airport? The person who did it would only (possibly) be cheated out of time and travel effort, because they could just return the Mac if for some reason you didn't show. Otherwise it might be a good little jaunt to do on a boring weekend

I have thought of this, but sadly I don't know anybody in New York right now.

 

[BigPrince]

10 HOURS!?! Man, you must be walking.

You want to give yourself about 3 hours just getting back into the terminal.
- Up to an hour for getting thru security, and the customs and you need to be at least approximately 2 hours early at the airport if your checking a bag in on an international flight.


If you don't know how to get the air train that is gonna take some walking around....then if you don't have the times down you might just miss the train you need and be waiting a while for the next one.....then you could easily screw up your stop and get off at the wrong station....so that is another potential hour....

then you gotta find the damn store once you get off at the correct station....process your order at the store and buy the thing....then find the station again carrying your new computer....that is another potential hour....

then you gotta take the right trains in reverse and and get the stations correct along with the train times and get off at the right terminal and what not....that is another potential hour....


so I would give myself at least 6 hours for being un-familar with NYC transit...and actually since I am paranoid....id give myself 8 to get it right.

 

[jenzjen]

There are 3 Best Buys just a few miles in each direction from JFK, don't they sell Macs?

Not sure why OP doesn't want to go this route. For sure, there's 2 Best Buy's within 4 miles of JFK. This would be the fastest option by FAR.

I'd get a cab from the airport and have him wait the 5-10 minutes at Best Buy before taking me back to the airport. More expensive than the subway, sure, but you'll be back at the airport within an hour. That leaves 9 hours to play with the new toy vs dealing with the subway, etc.

 

[Esbenam]

Not sure why OP doesn't want to go this route. For sure, there's 2 Best Buy's within 4 miles of JFK. This would be the fastest option by FAR.

I'd get a cab from the airport and have him wait the 5-10 minutes at Best Buy before taking me back to the airport. More expensive than the subway, sure, but you'll be back at the airport within an hour. That leaves 9 hours to play with the new toy vs dealing with the subway, etc.

That might be the best solution. I would be avoiding a lot of train problems at least, and that is probably worth the extra cost..

 

[Esbenam]

Thank you for all your help.

Got the macbook this friday. Everything went smooth. I ended up taking a cab to the nearest best buy - took 25 minutes all included and I was back in the terminal.

 

[BigPrince]

how much was the cab ride total?

 

[jenzjen]

Thank you for all your help.

Got the macbook this friday. Everything went smooth. I ended up taking a cab to the nearest best buy - took 25 minutes all included and I was back in the terminal.

Glad it worked out and appreciate your coming back to say thanks

 

[Esbenam]

how much was the cab ride total?

35 dollars. But I kept the cab waiting while buying. I could easily have taken another cab back and saved like 10 dollars. It just seemed to be the easy way to do it.

 

[jtp098]

That's not true. If your home country knows it is brand new you still have to pay tax even if you decided to throw out the box/packaging.

If you wanted to try and pass it off as old, you might be able to try and get away with it, but it is deception.

(Most custom declaration forms have a box asking about goods purchased abroad)



Where are you flying to? It should be available from your local customs, just look on their web page.

A lot of countries with GST/VAT will want you to pay that on items >~$500.00, as well as import duty. IT may or may not be worth the hastle to save yourself $100 or what ever

they have no way to tell if it's new or not. A year old computer looks new.. no such thing as deception in this world.. or our governments would have even more problems.... if it's in a computer bag it's used in a box it's new its the basics in customs......... they don't keep track of the things you bring in..

 

[palpatine]

taxi to nearest store?

http://www.apple.com/retail/locator/index.html?storename=Apple Store&q=11430

is it worth the time and effort? how much do you think you are going to save? this sounds like a real pain.

 

[marc11]

You won't be able to buy one in the airport. If you want to go to the trouble of going all the way into the city, it is doable in 10 hours.

10 hours from JFK and back??? Do you live or work in NYC? You can get from JRK to mid town in under 30 min most times, 30 mins or so to buy your Mac and back to JRK. 2 to 3 hours tops, depending on Subway or taxi or even bus to GCT.

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You want to give yourself about 3 hours just getting back into the terminal.
- Up to an hour for getting thru security, and the customs and you need to be at least approximately 2 hours early at the airport if your checking a bag in on an international flight.

Come on, you DO NOT need 3 hours to get through security these days, and you DO NOT need to be in the airport post security 2 hours before a flight either. That is just dumb airline suggestions, international is no different then domestic, give yourself an hour for security and an hour buffer before the flight, so 2 hours before take off get to the airport and you are fine. There is no customs for leaving the USA, only coming in, they check your passport at the gate. Take a taxi from JFK to the Apple store you will be there in 30 min or less if traffic is normal, an hour if traffic is heavy, like wise going back. So 4 hours, including traffic and getting to the airport 2 hours early is MORE than enough time.

 

[nastebu]

10 hours from JFK and back??? Do you live or work in NYC? You can get from JRK to mid town in under 30 min most times, 30 mins or so to buy your Mac and back to JRK. 2 to 3 hours tops, depending on Subway or taxi or even bus to GCT.

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Come on, you DO NOT need 3 hours to get through security these days, and you DO NOT need to be in the airport post security 2 hours before a flight either. That is just dumb airline suggestions, international is no different then domestic, give yourself an hour for security and an hour buffer before the flight, so 2 hours before take off get to the airport and you are fine. There is no customs for leaving the USA, only coming in, they check your passport at the gate. Take a taxi from JFK to the Apple store you will be there in 30 min or less if traffic is normal, an hour if traffic is heavy, like wise going back. So 4 hours, including traffic and getting to the airport 2 hours early is MORE than enough time.

Why do people bother responding at length (and with attitude) to a thread that they haven't even bothered to read? The 10 hours is the time he had as a layover. The person you quoted was merely saying--quite accurately--that a 10 hour layover is plenty of time to get from JFK and back. You're not even giving good advice, since 30 minutes from JFK to Midtown in a taxis is very optimistic, and 2-3 hours round trip via subway or bus is fantasy.

And if you had read the end of the thread, you'll have seen the OP took someone else's very good advice and went to a Best Buy much closer to JFK.

 

[marc11]

Why do people bother responding at length (and with attitude) to a thread that they haven't even bothered to read? The 10 hours is the time he had as a layover. The person you quoted was merely saying--quite accurately--that a 10 hour layover is plenty of time to get from JFK and back. You're not even giving good advice, since 30 minutes from JFK to Midtown in a taxis is very optimistic, and 2-3 hours round trip via subway or bus is fantasy.

And if you had read the end of the thread, you'll have seen the OP took someone else's very good advice and went to a Best Buy much closer to JFK.

So I made an error in reading, oh well, ***** happens, hope I didn't ruin your day! An 1.15 min there, 30 min to buy the laptop and 1:15 min back, no freaking problem, even by subway. Sorry to the quoted poster, my bad.