Warning: This post is long, opinionated, and may or may not be a sales pitch. It just depends.

You know [of course you don't], I was in retail and retail management for *counts on fingers* almost 10 years.

And that's not counting the times [in high school] I had to fill-in for the 2 guys at the counter in the Parts Department of my Dad's truck and trailer company when they decided they were both too sick to come in and sell parts to truck drivers. [Both on the same day? Yeah right.]

And that's not counting when I waited on customers when I was in elementary school and junior high at my Mom's pet shop. [That she never liked, but that my Dad bought her because he thought she had way too much time on her hands. *snort*]

And there are some things I learned while working in retail in these different capacities, but one thing I learned was very important.

The customer is always right. [Even if they are completely and absolutely wrong.]

A retail person and salesperson's [And, yes, those are different. Related, but different.] job is to sell the customer what they want.

However, if the customer asks a retail person their opinion on what they're considering buying, then suddenly the retail person has the chance to become a salesperson. I use the word "chance" because they may or may not know anything about the product or service in question. [They're just there to pick up a paycheck so they have money to go out that weekend.]

However, on the off-chance the retail person actually does know something about the product or service, a customer may be able to make an informed purchasing decision.

And, no, you're not on the wrong blog. This is a blog about technology and genealogy. I promise. Just hang tight.

Here's the tie-in.

If you want to purchase a Flip-Pal, I will be more than happy to sell one to you.

They're popular. Everyone wants one. All the genealogists say to get one. They go like hotcakes at the conferences. Everyone seems to have "Flip-Pal fever." And being an affiliate for them, I can tell you they have an awesome commission structure. Therefore, if you want one, I'd be stupid not to sell you one.

However, if you were to ask me if you should buy one, I'd say, "I'm not sure. It depends."

What do you specifically need a scanner for?

• What will you be scanning mostly? Photos? Documents? Both?
• Do you have a lot of photos and/or documents to scan?
• What size of photos will you be scanning?
• Will you be scanning ephemera or heirlooms [like paintings, baby blankets, etc]?
• How many photos and documents do you have to scan that are larger than 4" x 6"?
• Do you already own a newer smartphone or tablet with camera capabilities?
• Do you already have a dedicated flatbed scanner?
• Do you already have an all-in-one printer with scanning capabilities?
• Where will you be doing most of your scanning?
• And then, of course, there's your budget. [If only we didn't need to be concerned with that.]

I can honestly say ~ if you were asking ~ that you generally should buy a Flip-Pal if the following situation exists:

• You will be scanning 4" x 6" photos or smaller; and
• You will be scanning some [not many] larger photos and documents; and
• You will be on-the-go [like at your aunt's house at the holidays]; and/or
• You have some larger-than-usual items like paintings or baby blankets to scan.

[Please take notice of the word and in bold above.]

But if you have the following situations, you need to reconsider:

• You already have a flatbed scanner, newer smartphone [like not a Blackberry] with a decent camera on it or a tablet with a decent camera on it, and a good scanner app.
• You have a mixture of both photos and documents of all sizes to scan, then the Flip-Pal might not be the best choice as a scanner. Because stitching together more than just a few photos or docs together that are larger than 4" x 6" with the stitching software that comes for free with the Fllip-Pal is tedious at best. [That's a tech workaround and not a feature in my opinion.]
• You have a bunch of loose typed documents or papers that you might like to OCR.
• You have slides or film negatives you need to scan.

I could go on with the scenarios [because there are definitely more], but what it comes down to is this: It just depends on your situation.

If you want a Flip-Pal, I'll be happy to sell you one.

If you want my opinion on what scanner is right for you and your situation, I'll be glad to give it to you, and then if Amazon sells it, I'll be glad to sell it to you. Or sell you a Flip-Pal if that's right for you.

If you want my opinion on scanners and your situation and then want to buy from someone else [including from a local business because they have a better deal], that's fine too. Contact me or, better yet, comment below because you may have the same situation as someone else.

You can even buy truck and trailer parts and pet supplies from me through Amazon because Amazon sells just about anything and everything. [It's like a one-stop-and-shop shop.]

It just depends.

I'll sell you whatever you want or nothing at all because the customer is always right.

~Caroline

For your convenience, here's some links:

• My Flip-Pal sales page.
  
• My Amazon Store [If you want to buy something else on Amazon other than what I have in my store, as long as you click on one of my links to Amazon first and then search for whatever, I get credit. You know, in case you need some truck and trailer parts and/or some pet supplies. And, again, you don't have to buy from me at all.]
  
• Contact me.
  

Disclosure: In case it wasn't clear in my blog post, I am a Flip-Pal affiliate and an Amazon affiliate. If you click on any of their links and buy something, I will get a referral commission. [Which is small from Amazon and to make anything more than like what one normally spends on the neighborhood ice cream truck when it comes by, I'd have to have, like, a gazillion people visit my site every month, which I don't. But, hey, the Choco Taco off the ice cream truck is good. And if you don't want to buy anything, that's okay too.]