Better than Home Depot!

[Yalerider]

Alright, whats with you guys trashing my favorite store(next to Wilco that is). I usually know what I want anyway so don't use the shelf stockers.

 

[FL_Cracker]

We did it to ourselves. We want lower prices, and we push until the stores remove all the service and personal that we like. All because we run to the next lower price.

Today loyalty is "The Lack of a Better Opportunity"

Cheap, Cheap, Cheap ~~~ Stinks, Stinks, Stinks

Now we must live with the monster we created.... If you don't like HD the go back to the local hardware store that we dropped like a hot potato for a little better price. Oh yea, their gone....

/forums/images/graemlins/ooo.gif /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

 

[meledward23]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Alcohol Tobacco Firearms, should be a convienence store instead of a government agency........ /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif )</font>


Second That!

 

[meledward23]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( We did it to ourselves. We want lower prices, and we push until the stores remove all the service and personal that we like. All because we run to the next lower price.



Absolutely, and you will notice only about half of those that complain about Big Box Stores actually dont use them. The other half still use them. And since the portion of the population that complains about them is below 30%(guessing) then that isnt much of a market anyhow.

I am amazed when I am in the company of my friends friends (I only have two friends) so it is usually all their buds I hob nob with on rare occasions. Oh yeah I am usually suprised at the number of them that are Wall, Lowes, Home Loyal. They wouldnt think of shopping anywhere else......

Hmmm..... Have to say, I dont get it.... For me, it is TSC, some off the wall general hardware store (locally owned has every bolt, nut, and screw ever invented (three times as many as a Home Depot)).

Oh well..... One days soon Kroger and Home Depot will Merge, then Lowes and Walmart will Merge, then finally those two conglomerations will merge and you can shop in one 30 acre enclosed roof and get your hardware, apple, whisky, rifle, T-shirt, underpants, and Toilet Paper....

 

[hobbyfarm]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( I am really tired of everything being made so cheap, and breaking. When will we realize as a nation that if we keep losing our American job to china then we will have no quality items left...let alone any jobs left.....)</font>

Have you ever shopped for a drill press?
As far as I've been able to find the only one NOT made overseas is the <font color="blue">General</font> made in Canada.
Most everything else is Taiwan (china light /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif). And, of course, the Generals are expensive.

 

[hobbyfarm]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( One days soon Kroger and Home Depot will Merge, then Lowes and Walmart will Merge, then finally those two conglomerations will merge and you can shop in one 30 acre enclosed roof and get your hardware, apple, whisky, rifle, T-shirt, underpants, and Toilet Paper.... )</font>

Ooops,
You forgot Kmart & Sears... /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[erich]

(you can shop in one 30 acre enclosed roof and get your hardware, apple, whisky, rifle, T-shirt, underpants, and Toilet Paper....)

My dad always said if Blain's Farm & Fleet ( it's a Mid west store) sold groceries he would never have to shop anywhere else! They had hardware, apple, whisky, rifle, T-shirt, underpants, and Toilet Paper not to mention tires, auto parts, Bib overalls, Cowboy boots, electronics and more stuff than I can list. He bought my first socket set there thirty five years ago so I would stay out of his tools. I still have it today.

When my son (the First Lt. Air Force Navigator) was five, he was all excited when we moved to Chanute AFB because down the road a bit there was a "Farm and Fleas!" just like at Granpa's.

Eric

 

[jgh]

20051013

(This is a rich thread, thanks to all for the entertainment!)

Couple (that's a Mark Chalkley <font color="green">"couple"</font>) of comments:
1- In NC (and elsewhere?), Lowe's name is on some grocery stores.
2- In Winston-Salem, NC, Leinbach's is the farm/tractor supply place to go, much like Pleasant's Hdw in Richmond is for general hardware.
3- Don't get me started on my "experience" with the newly combined Sears/KMart and their "new attitude" about the Craftsman warranty.
4- I have to say again that my experiences with several local Home Depots is actually fairly positive (we have a bunch here). Maybe I am just lucky and it helps to have fed people in my restaurant.
I had a major negative Lowe's experience about 6 years ago, but will say they jumped on fixing things after my complaint to North Wilkesboro HQ. And experiences since then have been better.
In short it never hurts to know names and personalities for the stores you deal with. They get the same treatment when they buy from me.

Just my 2¢ worth. This list is a great place! But it makes me stay up too late /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif!

And I'm getting more like Chalkley, every day (<font color="red">Wordy</font>, that is!).

/forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

Jim

 

[Tim_in_IA]

Blain's is my favorite store. You can get your Levi's lynch pins, hunting equipment, tools, and even toys for your kids during the christmas season. There is one near my wife's hometown, and everytime we visit the in-laws they know I'm going to be gone to Blain's for a while.....

Blain's Website

 

[PILOON]

Have you ever shopped for a drill press?
As far as I've been able to find the only one NOT made overseas is the <font color="blue">General</font> made in Canada.
Most everything else is Taiwan (china light /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif). And, of course, the Generals are expensive. )</font>

Even general has 2 qualities. True, their good ole GENERAL line is made in Canada, but I have it from reliable sources that the 'General International ' line is import (presumably Chinese) or again from the same factories as all the rest of the imports.

I noticed a lot of casting similarities as the run od the mill imports.
Being in Canada and near a major tool distributor that carries virtually all brands and every model makes it easy for me to compare.
Price tags will also tip you off.
One does not need to be a rocketr scientist to determine that the unit priced 50% lower than a similar speced unit is an import.

In my estimation many import castings coupled with a US made motor makes for a good tool. Just add a bit of 'fine tuneing' and you generally have a decent machine.

<font color="blue"> </font> Funny, we knock imports, but if an actual survey were made I'm sure that less than 10% of you (us) own a true MADE IN USA TRACTOR. (Kubota, Honda, Mitsubishi,Kioti etc) <font color="black"> </font>

Face it, some import products are really good.

 

[hobbyfarm]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Face it, some import products are really good. )</font>

Yeah, I know that. But, it's a shame that the imported stuff is filtering through.
I've always bought "Made in USA" stuff whenever I can, but, with Toyota (et al) putting factories here, the lines are blurring. That money for the most part still gets turned into yen.

I was looking for a new pipe wrench, I've always been a Ridgid type of guy (they make great tools). And at the store, next to the Ridgid brand was an Irwin pipe wrench (Irwin is good stuff too), and it had a rubber grip and was cheaper, well, I picked it up, and the darned thing said CHINA on it (I dropped it like it was HOT /forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif). At that point, I did not care if the Ridgid was twice the price, I bought the Ridgid.
Now, there goes another good old American brand shopping overseas. /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

In case you are wondering, <font color="green">This</font> is some of the brands they have...some pretty well respected brands and they have their noses overseas. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif

 

[Farwell]

I purchased a cheap pipe wrench set a couple of years back while waiting for my Ridgid wrenches to get to Michigan from California. The wrenches looked as good as any of my Ridgid wrenches but when I tried them on some 2 inch galvanized water pipe they would smear the metal and not grip. I ended up using a Sawzal to cut the pipe out. Later, as a test on the same pipe, I used my Ridgid wrench and it locked on the pipe and would not spin the metal off the pipe. I visually compared the two brands and still do not understand why the Ridgid worked and the cheap ones did not. Several of my Ridgid wrenches are over 40 years old and are really showing signs of serious use but still work like new.
Farwell

 

[Farwell]

Jim,
The "new attitude" that Sears/Kmart has towards the Craftsman Warranty is something that I have not yet experienced, can you educate me? I have thousands of dollars worth of Craftsman tools and if they are no longer going to honor the "Life Time Warranty" on their tools I will never purchase another tool from them and will enlighten everyone that I come into contact with about the change.
Farwell

 

[Tim_in_IA]

same here. for wrenches and other non-motorized tools I always pick craftsman since i know I can get it replaced free. If this changes I'll be going to another brand.

 

[Tim_in_IA]

Look towards the bottom of this page where it says forever:

Craftsman Warranty


Looks like it's still the same. If someone refused to replace a broken tool I'd seek someone higher up.

 

[shepherd]

HEY i have to disagree with that alot /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gifCanada isn't bad /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gifhere we have home hardware along with canadian tire and their not bad at all. /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gifi trust TSC also.but what can you do at times

 

[sneaky_pete]

I've bought a lot of Craftsman tools over the years, but now that the closest real Sears store is 30 miles away, it's not very handy to keep returning them. Their ratchets do break (I've got two broken ones right now), their 12-point sockets round off, and my barely-used inch-pounds torque wrench fell apart and I can't figure out how to get it back together and calibrated. No lifetime warranty on torque wrenches either.

For the last several years, I've been buying Snap-on tools as needed. Expensive, but worth it to me. Plus, you can buy them on-line and have them delivered to your door.

 

[hobbyfarm]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( HEY i have to disagree with that alot Canada isn't bad here we have home hardware along with canadian tire and their not bad at all. i trust TSC also.but what can you do at times )</font>

Please don't misunderstand me.
North American (and even European) products I don't have a problem with.
It's Asian stuff that don't cut it for me. But, even that said, I took a chance on a cheap drill bit set from Sam's Club, it was from China /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif, and it had some darned good steel in them. They cut real well and they also hold an edge. My friend bought one just like it and it was sorry. Apparently they have a consistency problem. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif (Maybe they had a Gilligan /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif working in the factory?? - walking by with a box of rejects and trips /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif and dumps them into the box of good stuff /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif - to which those are the ones they sell to the Sam's buyer??? /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif)
Yet another exception to my rule, Japanese Mitutoyo products are high quality products.
You just have to watch what you get when you buy from Asia /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif.
There are some excellent products available, but there are also some stuff that shouldn't be exported.

 

[Bird]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( There are some excellent products available, but there are also some stuff that shouldn't be exported )</font>

Can that not be said about almost any country in the world, including the USA? /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[jgh]

20051014

Let me clarify:

I took back a Craftsman grease gun (air powered, externally!) that bled grease every time I used it (run-on if you will), putting more on the ground than into the fitting. The young dudes puzzled about my problem and finally suggested Sears would replace it under their ONE YEAR warranty, since this was a POWER tool. Oh, you did not buy it that recently? Ooooooh, can't do nothing for you!

Well, I took exception since I had hardly used the tool, the box and enclosed literature do NOT mention any warranty (and the replacement I finally received is exactly the same), and, once upon a time, Sears had, in addition, an ironclad SATISFACTION GUARANTEED policy. I would not have asserted that if I had not felt the tool should reasonably had just never been right.

Note: I have only returned 2 defective tools (plus this one) to Sears in my lifetime. I've actually had pretty good luck.

The young fellows now seemed in their element when I started asserting that last policy since I had bought the hand? tool several years ago and was not going to win with them on it being guaranteed forever. They KNEW that since the merger, only your REASONABLE satisfaction was now guaranteed. They said "see the bottom of our new CR receipts" since we saw the (blue?) light after our merger". OK not an exact quotation /forums/images/graemlins/smirk.gif.

Politely I pointed out that asserting that was changing a contract "signed" long ago with me when I purchased. Don't think law was their thing 'cause that went right past each of them.

I asked politely to see the mgr, waited a few minutes and Mr Attitude, the MOD (mgr on duty) finally deigned to appear for an audience with lowly customer me. Arrogant SOB! He said NO NO NO until I turned back as I was walking away to ask how to spell his name! THAT seemed to get his attention! Got my new one forthwith.

What a charmer he was, get the customer mad then give them what they asked for. Might as well have let me leave MT handed for the love he left me with.

/forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif

Can you hear the growl?

Jim