I Miss The Days..

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Matt_K

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Dec 30, 2009
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Location
Shreveport, La.
..when you could walk into your local Sears and actually find repair parts for their stuff. Or at least order the part you needed from the store.
I found a Craftsman 4 stroke weed eater someone was tossing. It was just the head unit, lower spool part was gone, as it was one of those "quik-link" deals. I've got an old electric Ryobi w/ the same connection, so the lower fits right on it. It seems to have compression, and looks to be lightly used. Only thing missing seems to be one of the screws that holds the air filter/choke assembly to the block.
Part cost: $1.65 S&H: $8.00
$10.00 for a screw? Sheesh....
Granted, I will hopefully have a working weedeater for that 10 buck investment, but still..that S&H will bite ya!
 
My father in law gave me a craftsman chainsaw from the 80's. It was in good shape I had to order tune up parts online and now it runs like new. And now he seems to borrow it frequently
lol.gif
S&H does stink though haha.
 
We live in this disposable society now......if it don't work, or breaks, throw it away.....as you've witnessed, cheaper to "upgrade" the appliance and buy new.....so much for this whole 'green' movement, eh?
 
I still use my dad's old Craftsman high speed drill. It has a metal body. He bought it in the 1960s or earlier. Great drill too.
 
China's breaking the link to the US$, and it's made SFA difference.

Maybe the problem's not China
 
Originally Posted By: hardcore302
Anybody notice that appliances made long ago last forever (with maintenance) and brand new stuff seems like junk?


quality stuff is expensive. it was expensive int he olden days too. people buy the cheapest deal, things break. cheapest is not always the best.

buy a VW and that will be turned on its head.
 
Originally Posted By: crinkles
quality stuff is expensive. it was expensive int he olden days too. people buy the cheapest deal, things break. cheapest is not always the best.


Agreed. There are still plenty of quality products available. Many people have a cheaper is better mentality and look at price before quality.
 
But it is harder to buy quality products ... and with the shifting MFG base, it's harder to determine if previously quality products are still good.

I recently returned shoes to Costco. The soles were [censored] and prematurely wore out with light use over ~1yr. The lady was surprised I was returning - claiming it WAS one year. I don't wear them constantly and have shoes that have lasted 15-20yrs with occasional use. If more people would return garbage products, companies would be forced to rethink their supplier choices.
 
Originally Posted By: Matt_K

..when you could walk into your local Sears and actually find repair parts for their stuff. Or at least order the part you needed from the store.
I found a Craftsman 4 stroke weed eater someone was tossing. It was just the head unit, lower spool part was gone, as it was one of those "quik-link" deals. I've got an old electric Ryobi w/ the same connection, so the lower fits right on it. It seems to have compression, and looks to be lightly used. Only thing missing seems to be one of the screws that holds the air filter/choke assembly to the block.
Part cost: $1.65 S&H: $8.00
$10.00 for a screw? Sheesh....
Granted, I will hopefully have a working weedeater for that 10 buck investment, but still..that S&H will bite ya!

I feel your pain. I went through this last year, a bracket on my 8-year-old Craftsman mower holding one of the rear wheels up broke. I didn't think this was a problem at first since there's a Sears Parts store on my way to work, the only problem would be getting there before it closed. Called them up and after 3 tries to get someone to even answer the bloody phone, the person on the other end informs me that I can order online -- which I already knew, only I didn't want to pay something like $3 for the part and $7 for shippping. She informed me that they didn't stock parts in the store, so I asked if they don't stock parts because the mower is so old, and she said no, they don't stock parts like that, period. I resisted the urge to ask why there was a store like this then, and instead asked if I could have the part shipped to the store for pickup. Her response was that I could, but S&H would cost the same so why make the special trip to the store when I could have it on my porch.

So to make the S&H fee a little more palatable, I also ordered a new skirt or whatever the thing is that drags along behind the mower is called, total for the order was $16 and change. It came in less than a week and with about 20 minutes of labor, I saved the cost of a new mower.

But I still wonder why Sears even bothers to staff a "Parts" store anymore. I've seen more "parts" and one of the few hardware stores they have left.
 
Originally Posted By: TallPaul
I still use my dad's old Craftsman high speed drill. It has a metal body. He bought it in the 1960s or earlier. Great drill too.


I use a 1974 black and decker with metal everything. That thing is a beast. They really don't make drills like that any more.
 
My sears mall location has one outlying warehouse, approx 3 blocks away, that stocks the oven elements and other parts. A second warehouse, third location, has the big screen TVs.

I was in the showroom trying to buy a HDTV and the clerk said, sorry, the showroom is open but the warehouse closed (shorter hours) and we can't get you the TV you want.
06.gif


But of course they have that awesome mall real estate. If the gov't bought them instead of K-Mart I could rant about how we shouldn't have bailed them out.
 
Try buying a toaster made in USA....Good luck I've tried. I always try to buy USA or European made quality items.
34.gif
 
My Dad, a Canadian, has also been trying in vain to buy an American made toaster. Even in Port Angeles WA he couldn't find one at the thrift stores..
 
At least some try to buy made in USA . I try to buy made in the USA as possible then Canada and Mexico. Then Europe then Asia then last of all China. China is the place to manufacture . Low labor costs and you can dump all the toxics in the river . That saves lots of dollars. Also the lowest quality.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: Steve S
At least some try to buy made in USA . I try to buy made in the USA as possible then Canada and Mexico.


Mexico is high on my list too. Quality is as good as the manufacturer insists on and the US benefits from Mexicans having decent jobs in their own country. As long as the jobs are leaving the US we might as well have them go someplace that indirectly benefits the US.
 
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