What did you do today?

[zannej]

Your experience at the hardware store reminds me of a Beavis & Butthead routine where the customer comes in and asks if the shakes are made with real milk or constituted shake mix. Beavis says "Yeah. hehehe." and the customer asks "Yeah, they're made with real milk or yeah they're made with shake mix?" Beavis: "Yeah." Customer asks to speak to a manager. Butthead comes up and says he's the assistant manager and asks if he can help. "All I want to know is if your shakes are made with real milk or constituted shake mix!" "Butthead: "Uh, we have vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry" Customer: "IDIOTS!"

I try to be mindful that the stores don't bother to train or teach many of the employees- even ones who have been there for years, they under-staff so a single employee is often doing the work of 3 to 5 employees, and they don't get paid enough and/or are often too tired or burned out to be able to memorize all sorts of stuff.

I had an experience at Harbor Freight once where the cashier was too stupid to read. I had a coupon for something and she said that the picture didn't match. So I told her that didn't matter because the description and sku matched. I asked her to scan the coupon. She refused. Long story short, she threw the coupon away instead of scanning it, I walked out without getting anything-- with her swearing a me, and I didn't set foot in HF for a decade.

Just ate a salad and am about to have a nap.

 

[Ron Van]

We're leaving tomorrow morning to go to Lake Wappapello, Missouri for Ruby's family reunion. On the way there, we plan to go through the abandoned town of Cairo, Illinois. It is the southern most tip of Illinois. We will travel through, Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, and then Missouri. We will cross the Mississippi river at Cairo, Illinois.



Abandoned town of Cairo link

Ruby is fascinated by "Urban Decay."

According to this map, Kentucky has a piece of land that is not connected to the rest of the state.

 

[Spicoli43]

Your experience at the hardware store reminds me of a Beavis & Butthead routine where the customer comes in and asks if the shakes are made with real milk or constituted shake mix. Beavis says "Yeah. hehehe." and the customer asks "Yeah, they're made with real milk or yeah they're made with shake mix?" Beavis: "Yeah." Customer asks to speak to a manager. Butthead comes up and says he's the assistant manager and asks if he can help. "All I want to know is if your shakes are made with real milk or constituted shake mix!" "Butthead: "Uh, we have vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry" Customer: "IDIOTS!"

I try to be mindful that the stores don't bother to train or teach many of the employees- even ones who have been there for years, they under-staff so a single employee is often doing the work of 3 to 5 employees, and they don't get paid enough and/or are often too tired or burned out to be able to memorize all sorts of stuff.

I had an experience at Harbor Freight once where the cashier was too stupid to read. I had a coupon for something and she said that the picture didn't match. So I told her that didn't matter because the description and sku matched. I asked her to scan the coupon. She refused. Long story short, she threw the coupon away instead of scanning it, I walked out without getting anything-- with her swearing a me, and I didn't set foot in HF for a decade.

Just ate a salad and am about to have a nap.

Oh yes, I could apply Beavis and Butthead voices to them perfectly...

I figured Harbor Freight was a private company because they don't care one bit about their products. 90 day return on power tools, no warranty, not meant to last... Shows.

I figured ACE was public because it's more of a Mom and Pop kind of place, but they are private.

Lowe's is worth 42% what HD is worth in market cap. That doesn't surprise me because the Lowe's house brand Kobalt is inferior to HD's Husky. There's of course other reasons, but Husky tool chests make Kobalt look like Fisher Price.

 

[zannej]

Have a safe trip, Ron!

Fisher Price used to make good quality toys. I think I still have some in the workshop loft that are in good condition. I think Fisher Price made better stuff than they sell at HF.

I like both Lowes and HD. Lowes has a larger selection of PVC board material. HD is closer and easier to get to. The curbside for both of them sucks.

Mom decided she was hungry so I haven't had my nap yet. She also wanted water but there were no more bottles in the house. I had to bring in all 5 cases.

 

[Eddie_T]

My son has purchased several things at HF and so far no complaints. I guess the oscillating saw is the most used HF item. When you catch it on sale their furniture dolly is cheaper than buying casters. I think I got my hammer drill there but it's not something that gets regular use. The HF $10 hatchet was made famous by a survivalist who reground it into a survival tool (it's $15 now). That's not to say everything HF is good, neither can one say everything HF is trash. One has to be discerning.

 

[Spicoli43]

Have a safe trip, Ron!

Fisher Price used to make good quality toys. I think I still have some in the workshop loft that are in good condition. I think Fisher Price made better stuff than they sell at HF.

I like both Lowes and HD. Lowes has a larger selection of PVC board material. HD is closer and easier to get to. The curbside for both of them sucks.

Mom decided she was hungry so I haven't had my nap yet. She also wanted water but there were no more bottles in the house. I had to bring in all 5 cases.

Well, Fisher Price used to be the joke, but now it's more like "Fisher Price is better than Maytag, Whirlpool, Samsung, LG" etc...

 

[Spicoli43]

My son has purchased several things at HF and so far no complaints. I guess the oscillating saw is the most used HF item. When you catch it on sale their furniture dolly is cheaper than buying casters. I think I got my hammer drill there but it's not something that gets regular use. The HF $10 hatchet was made famous by a survivalist who reground it into a survival tool (it's $15 now). That's not to say everything HF is good, neither can one say everything HF is trash. One has to be discerning.

Why risk HF? MAYBE it's good, are you taking the risk though?

"We guarantee this product to be free from defects in materials and workmanship 90 days from the date of purchase. Limitations apply."

Would you accept that on a 12" Hercules Dual Bevel Sliding Compound Miter Saw for $399?

For barely more than that at Lowes, you get a Metabo (Hitachi) with a 5 Year warranty for $449... Add less than $100 to bump it up to 8 Years.

With HF, if the saw DOESN'T break in the 90 days, you're SOL anyways because going forward, you have zero protection.

 

[Ron Van]

I bought a $18 hand grinder at HF ten years ago for one job thinking it would die (hopefully after the job) but it keeps working!

 

[Eddie_T]

I don't buy any tools in the $400 range. I use a 40+ yr old RAS and angle jigs. Even my master carpenter friend never went for the sliding compound stuff. Maybe if one were solely a trim carpenter a compound miter saw would save enough time to pay for itself but never for a hobbyist. That would be like purchasing a $400 track saw just to reduce a 4x8 sheet of plywood.

 

[zannej]

HF is hit or miss. You can get some decent stuff from them, but there's a lot of junk. I do have an angle grinder from there that works fine. And their moving blankets are ok. I did get those little rolling thingies that hold a lot of weight. I know someone mentioned those already.

I fell back asleep after waking up and am trying to motivate myself to get up and eat and then start cleaning.

 

[Eddie_T]

I think my bench grinder and maybe drill press were HF. I purchased them way back in the days when HF was catalog only with free shipping @ a certain price level. One of my engineers at King's Bay ordered a couple of HF rolling tool chests which were pretty nice for the price. I have never been to a HF store, both in my area are about 35 miles distant. If I ever happen to be in the area I will look around but I don't drive 35 miles to shop. That's why I don't do Sam's Club, the driving directly adds to the price of goods..

 

[Ron Van]

I bought a HF bottom and top tool boxes. Together they are about 5.5’ tall the have roller bearing slides and nice big wheels. I like them a lot. They are the best tool boxes I’ve ever had. I bought them about 5-6 years ago.

 

[zannej]

HF, Samsclub, Lowes, HD, etc are all an hour away from me but there are no comparable stores nearby so that is where I have to go to get certain items.

I ended up falling back asleep and when I was going to clean my back decided not to cooperate.

 

[Spicoli43]

I don't buy any tools in the $400 range. I use a 40+ yr old RAS and angle jigs. Even my master carpenter friend never went for the sliding compound stuff. Maybe if one were solely a trim carpenter a compound miter saw would save enough time to pay for itself but never for a hobbyist. That would be like purchasing a $400 track saw just to reduce a 4x8 sheet of plywood.

The point was the comparison between an 8 year warranty and zero warranty, but I bought the Dewalt slider because I wanted the ability to make Crown molding. In the future, I'll buy the Metabo.

 

[Spicoli43]

My prayers go out to the leadership of Seattle, they are BRAVE Warriors that were under extreme pressure last week for Today's very important Baseball game. The pressure is almost over, City officials... Hang in there, you can do it!


https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/...ide-its-homeless-before-the-mlb-all-star-game

 

[Eddie_T]

The point was the comparison between an 8 year warranty and zero warranty, but I bought the Dewalt slider because I wanted the ability to make Crown molding. In the future, I'll buy the Metabo.

I guess my real point should have been that I already have my power tools and it's not cost effective to buy a new tool just for a project.

 

[Ron Van]

We made it to the abandoned town of Cairo yesterday. It’s right where the Ohio river meets the Mississippi River.










We continued on to Sikeston, MO to Lamperts Cafe, famous for thrown Biscuits.

 

[HandyOne]

@Ron Van Looks like a great trip. What closed down Cairo?

 

[Spicoli43]

Been having unexplainable Kidney pain... It's not back pain and it isn't stones because stones dissolve with several methods like Cranberry Juice or Apple Cider Vinegar with Lemon and Olive Oil...

My currently bad diet, Whiskey and too much salt is causing it, so those are all out... It doesn't appear to be anything real serious as in no Edema and no Blood in the urine...

Let me go to a trusted source and read... Turns out it could be as simple as acidity... Well, let me take a Tsp of Baking Soda in a 8 ounce glass of water... Pain gone 30 seconds later... (Well, 90%)... So I guess going forward, I will monitor my PH with a meter, not the strips... I'll try to stay around 6.8 in Urine tests.

 

[Ron Van]

@Ron Van Looks like a great trip. What closed down Cairo?

According to what I read, it was a series of things like; the railroad bypassed them, 2) frequent severe flooding, 3) Racial tensions (including several lynchings) and 4) General high crime.

However, it is in a prime location between the Mississippi and Ohio rivers. There are people who still live there but the only industry we saw was Government functions.