Are you over paying for hardware?

[Gene Howe]

Ran across this Interesting video in my travels on the intrerweb. Check it out and, see what you think. 

 

 

[Fred W. Hargis Jr]

Hard to disagree with the guy. For years I've bought my glue in gallon jugs for that very reason...even if I have to throw some of it away (because I couldn't use it all before it goes bad) I saved money versus the smaller bottles. For screws i had been buying them from McFeelys in the 1000 count boxes in the 3-4 sizes I use most.  have some I may never use, but I've still saved versus smaller quantities. I've CSH for a lot of stuff, but never for screws...with McFeely's in the toilet after Grainger bought them I'll check CSH for my next order of screws.

Edited January 21, 2022 by Fred W. Hargis Jr

[Wichman3]

Sigh,

    Yes, you can save money by buying in bulk. But are you realistically going to use 80,000 screws in the time you have left?

The wife of the guy I bought my house from (they are/were friends of mine, 20+ yrs) did picture framing, she had bought things in bulk. One item that came with the house is three boxes of saw tooth hangers @ 1000 pieces per box, I'll never use all of them and I do use them.

One of my goals is to only get enough supplies for a particular project (or for a season of scroll saw sales). When I pass (hopefully not for years and years) I don't want the kids to have to wade through piles of stuff that had value to me, but not to the casual viewer. So one of my goals is to go through the backlog of projects that had to be put on hold for one reason or another.

    Just my take on this, no disrespect or offense intended.

 

[lew]

I use CSH for drawer slides and hinges. Great prices and service.

 

Never realize thay had that large of a selection of additional hardware.

[Gerald]

Have to check the screws out. Like Lew I use them for slides and never had a problem.

[Grandpadave52]

Thanks Gene. I watched it last night. I never heard of them. Good to know @Gerald & @lewhave used their products with success.

[HandyDan]

There's a surplus store in town that used to buy stock from dead businesses and resell.  They had hardware of all sorts for 20 cents a pound.  I would buy a pound or two of what I thought I might use and store it in jars on shelves.  Never regretted it except for the items that I ran out of and couldn't replace.  Rarely do I need to buy any screws. 

[Gunny]

17 hours ago, Wichman3 said:

But are you realistically going to use 80,000 screws in the time you have left?

 

 

Maybe.   

[Cal]

On 1/21/2022 at 6:51 AM, Wichman3 said:

Sigh,

    Yes, you can save money by buying in bulk.

 

I'm with you Wich. 

One of my happiest days was when I finally convinced the wife we didn't need the extra freezer out in the garage.  No more Sam's Club, no more annual cleaning out the bottom of the freezer from unknown, unlabeled, labeled 5 years out of date, etc stuff.

While I've never had a screw go bad, I've never thought "gee, I wish I had bought 80,000 back in the day" either

[HandyDan]

[HARO50]

On 1/21/2022 at 6:51 AM, Wichman3 said:

But are you realistically going to use 80,000 screws in the time you have left?

I think I came close to that when I built the 15'x32' deck on the back of the house.

[kmealy]

On 1/21/2022 at 6:51 AM, Wichman3 said:

Sigh,

    Yes, you can save money by buying in bulk. But are you realistically going to use 80,000 screws in the time you have left?

 

I buy #8 screws from wwhardware.com.   They have good discounts.  Last full wholesale box I bought for the furniture bank had 4900 screws.   We go thru a box of 5000 pocket screws in about a year.

 

A good place for nuts and bolts is Rural King or Tractor Supply.  Both sell 3 grades by the pound, so you can get whatever you need and have a few left over.

[lew]

Last time I was at the local Tractor Supply, they seemed to have more of the "packaged" hardware than the loose stuff. They are prepping the old K-Mart building for a Rural King store. Looking forward to seeing what that's like.

[Grandpadave52]

30 minutes ago, kmealy said:

A good place for nuts and bolts is Rural King

That's where I've bought mine for years. I like the options of Grd 2, 5 & 8 depending on application.

 

21 minutes ago, lew said:

They are prepping the old K-Mart building for a Rural King store. Looking forward to seeing what that's like.

You'll like it Lew. Great company.. Fair prices, good quality plus numerous name brands. I buy all my jeans there. Their brand holds up very well. Great prices on K-cup style coffees. Also buy all dog food, treats, etc.

 

From time to time they have specials on 5500 lumen 4' LED Shop lights. Watch for those. You'll never find them for less anywhere. Black Friday they were $12.99/ea linkable to 4.

 

Go online to RK site and sign up for their e-circulars.

[lew]

@Grandpadave52 Thanks for the information! Hoping they will be open for business soon. Heard they are interviewing for employees.

[FlGatorwood]

Prefer to buy from a local hardware store. Super prices, great products and service. They can't be beat.

[HARO50]

1 hour ago, FlGatorwood said:

Prefer to buy from a local hardware store. Super prices, great products and service. They can't be beat.

Same here. Unfortunately, there are few if any left.

[4DThinker]

I've been buying screws and nuts from McMaster.com in 50ct or 100ct boxes, knowing that I'll eventually use them all.   One pandemic day I decided to count the nuts in a 50ct box and found there were only 48 nuts in the box. Sent an email to them about it and they quickly sent me another box, which was "better", but only had 49 nuts in it. Sent another email mentioning I didn't need any more, but would hope they check their source as I suspect most 50ct boxes would be short one or two based on my recent experience.   

 

Now the price per nut was still far lower than if I'd bought them in 3ct-packs or 5ct-pack at HD or Menards, even adding shipping and tax.   But would you be happy if you bought a 100ct box and there were only 97 in the box? 

 

4D