The cost of

[Gregor 4,846]

small town living. I went to the local Farm & Home store today to get some things for my latest project. Mostly galvanized pipe nipples and fittings. When she told me the total I was a bit surprised.

 

3/8 x 6" pipe nipple 5.99    Menards  1.79

3/8 x 4" pipe nipple 4.59    Menards  1.29

3/8 pipe coupling    3.99    Menards   1.19

3/8 T                       4.59    Menards     .99

1/2" threaded rod    8.99    Menards   4.79

 

Among other things.

 

I still would not live in the "big city" though. I guess I should be thankful we have a store at all.

[ebinmaine 67,594]

And that's the exact reason why I do online shopping. 

 

I DO try to give certain local businesses my money as often as possible. 

Many of them are at the mercy of their supplier(s) to set pricing. Multiple "middle men" makes too much of a price increase for me to absorb. 

 

I wouldn't be likely to have paid that much difference unless it was an emergency repair.  

 

[Gregor 4,846]

8 minutes ago, ebinmaine said:

I wouldn't be likely to have paid that much difference unless it was an emergency repair.  

Not an emergency, but stuff I wanted. Doesn't seem like a he!! of a lot until you buy 4 or 5 of each item. Then it gets cashy.

[SylvanLakeWH 25,599]

Farm and Home (or Menards) vs online is apples to cucumbers…

 

I too shop online, but there is a reason strip malls and small town main streets are vacant… retail and office are in a tectonic shift… it will be ugly… delivery drones are not far from commonplace… already delivering pizzas with autonomous vehicles…

[ebinmaine 67,594]

11 minutes ago, SylvanLakeWH said:

small town main streets are

One of the interesting things about my area...

Small towns and villages are becoming MORE successful instead of shrinking. 

I'm sure there are dozens of causes. 

Southern Maine is now and has been in an ever expanding sprawl for years. 

Also, more and more folks are trying to avoid letting the world go to big bigger biggest businesses. 

 

[Achto 27,601]

11 hours ago, Gregor said:

I still would not live in the "big city" though. I guess I should be thankful we have a store at all.

 

I know how you feel being thankful to have a store. I live in a small village and work in a larger city. I shop my home stores as much as possible even though I could easily stop at larger stores with lower prices on my way home from work. For example, we used to have a nice grocery store in our village. Due to most people shopping at larger stores 20min away from our village, our store eventually shut down. Now I have to drive 20min to buy groceries, instead of having a store with in 5 min walking distance.

Edited December 21, 2021 by Achto

[squonk 41,150]

Try to avoid stores that have all the parts wrapped individually if you can. These are normally higher priced because they are pre packaged. Also big stores buy larger quantities so they normally pay less per part.

[ri702bill 8,328]

I too try to support the local Ma & Pa small businesses nearby. I have 2 great outdoor power outlets nearby - I prefer to buy from them over online IF their price for OEM parts is competitive - usually is.

I had an exceptional auto parts store 3 blocks from my house a few years ago until the death of the owner and this satellite store closed. They were a true automotive jobber - dealt mostly with area repair garages and they knew their stuff. They also had a walk in counter for retail sales at a discounted price for frequent customers, like me.

Two quick stories why I miss them - I ordered some parts on a Friday for a Sunday afternoon repair - all but one part came in on Saturday and it would arrive Monday - they had the other part sent to their largest store where I picked it up Sunday morning.

When my son was in his twenties he used to buy and flip $200 or so cars - each was given 30 days to sit on the edge of the lawn - if not gone by then I got rid of it!!

Day 28 and I needed a battery for a sweet first year Ranger, a 1984 . Went to see these guys with a tape measure and multimeter to look over the pallet of used batteries that customers had exchanged - found one that looked like it would hold a charge and they said I could swap it with the one from the Ranger - no charge - they just need the correct count of cores. Bought them a dozen donuts for the favor. Doubt you could do that a a large chain store today...

Bill

Edited December 21, 2021 by ri702bill

[Ed Kennell 38,210]

57 minutes ago, squonk said:

Try to avoid stores that have all the parts wrapped individually if you can.

Case in point.   I love my ACE Hardware but they sell bolts by the piece.    TSC sells bolts by the pound.     Much cheaper at TSC, but ACE has a better variety of fasteners.

[tunahead72 2,424]

14 minutes ago, ri702bill said:

... Bought them a dozen donuts for the favor. Doubt you could do that a a large chain store today...

 

No you couldn't, because the kid behind the register wouldn't be able to find a "code" on the computer for that transaction. 

 

My very local independent car mechanic sometimes happily accepts a batch of my daughter's home-baked chocolate chip cookies as payment. 

 

[squonk 41,150]

39 minutes ago, ri702bill said:

I too try to support the local Ma & Pa small businesses nearby. I have 2 great outdoor power outlets nearby - I prefer to buy from them over online IF their price for OEM parts is competitive - usually is.

I had an exceptional auto parts store 3 blocks from my house a few years ago until the death of the owner and this satellite store closed. They were a true automotive jobber - dealt mostly with area repair garages and they knew their stuff. They also had a walk in counter for retail sales at a discounted price for frequent customers, like me.

Two quick stories why I miss them - I ordered some parts on a Friday for a Sunday afternoon repair - all but one part came in on Saturday and it would arrive Monday - they had the other part sent to their largest store where I picked it up Sunday morning.

When my son was in his twenties he used to buy and flip $200 or so cars - each was given 30 days to sit on the edge of the lawn - if not gone by then I got rid of it!!

Day 28 and I needed a battery for a sweet first year Ranger, a 1984 . Went to see these guys with a tape measure and multimeter to look over the pallet of used batteries that customers had exchanged - found one that looked like it would hold a charge and they said I could swap it with the one from the Ranger - no charge - they just need the correct count of cores. Bought them a dozen donuts for the favor. Doubt you could do that a a large chain store today...

Bill

Used to do that all the time when I worked at a Napa. Many times I would leave the store if a shop had a problem fixing something. "Hey Louie, you're putting the muffler on backwards" that sort of stuff.  One time a good customer had to cut off a caliper from a car it was so seized. It was a $175 core and being cut it wasn't a good core.  He paid me$ 20 to go to a local yard to get him a core off of another car. (I was going there anyway.) Later on when I worked at our local hospital, generator batteries had to be swapped out every 2 years. So we ended up with a lot of good batteries. We bought the new ones from the store I worked at so we would bring in junk batteries from home for cores and take the good generator batteries home. For years I had a group 31 battery on a cart as my "jump pack"

Edited December 21, 2021 by squonk

[rjg854 11,378]

28 minutes ago, Ed Kennell said:

Case in point.   I love my ACE Hardware but they sell bolts by the piece.    TSC sells bolts by the pound.     Much cheaper at TSC, but ACE has a better variety of fasteners.

The lumber yard in my village is like that, selling by the piece, so we always made the extra stop at the local TSC or the Farm and Home because they sell by the pound.  When you're building houses by the piece that can get expensive.

[Gregor 4,846]

14 hours ago, ebinmaine said:

Also, more and more folks are trying to avoid letting the world go to big bigger biggest businesses. 

There is a couple who live just outside of town. I am going to guess, in their 30's. She is a school teacher. He does something techy, I'm not sure. When they got married, 10 - 15 years ago, they headed east for the honeymoon. On the drive back home they stopped somewhere in Pa for gas, snacks, lottery tickets, "pit stop", whatever, and continued home. When they got home, she continued teaching school, he did techy things. Lo and behold one of those lottery tickets hit. To the tune of $47,000,000.00. That's MILLION !In the last 3 years or so, he has been buying up empty buildings up town and refurbishing them. Nicely to boot. Empty brick building are getting tuck pointed, all new windows and doors, roofs, the works. I mean a lot of buildings. Old shoe store, appliance business, TV shop, printing office, and more. The old Jr High School is now an apartment building. The old "Carnegie" library is some type of teaching academy for computers I think. Most of the buildings it seems will be used for "techy" things, again, I'm not sure. Still, 10 or so years after that honeymoon, she is still a school teacher, he still does techy things. It is quite a transformation to see buildings that have sat empty for years, not only being used, but put back to their original splendor. A lot of small towns could use an up-lift like this,  but I'm sad to report, I have heard no rumors about a new hardware store. Can't have everything.

[SylvanLakeWH 25,599]

@Gregor that is simply outstanding!!!

 

Thank you for sharing a great story!!!

 

A good, solid use of lottery winnings bringing positive things to many people!!!