"There.s a possibility that Home Depot shareholders will sue to get the company to cancel its $210 million buyout golden - more like a platinum - parachute to fired CEO Bob Nardelli. Anticipating that the money will be returned, price changes are already showing up in local Home Depot prices. The 99-cent air filter I bought last week for $22 is now on sale for $19.95." - Ted Sherman - Satirist
(snip)Hey, you mean we still make machines here to export? Who, where to, which
I meant if your exporting FROM China!! --dave
Yes, he is. It's 2 molecules of wood fibre .
I've only ever used melamine and masonite from HD. Both were OK. When I was building the bed for our bedroom, I needed to build 12 drawers 18Wx24Lx8D. I looked at the plywood that HD had and it looked and felt like junk. I decided to try Lowe's (not much better) and went back to get melamine. The local yard is closed on the weekend so either I have to plan or get it at the BORG.
Yep, ran into another bit of "value engineering" last week. I added another outlet to the power pole so that each of the three tools around that pole have their own plug-in. In the past, there was a threaded bus bar to which one would attach the wire. The "value-engineered" versions have a cheap, thin metal busbar and use a screw with a capture nut behind that stamped bar. That leads to all sorts of fun trying to capture your piece of wire while the screw is moving in and out of the hole.
Actually the real thief in disguise here is the out-going CEO who's taking away $210 million while the stock has done nothing in the past 6 years, quality has gone down, and they have lost market share to Lowes. Shoot, I'd retire if somebody gave me that kind of severance package, matter of fact, I'd save them some money and take 10% of that.
I'm sure that they have lots of people who can apologize though.
+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ If you're gonna be dumb, you better be tough +--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
I just bought a sheet of teak plywood. It is made for cabin soles in boats and has strips of holly (probably maple) running the length of the sheet at approximately 1 5/8" intervals. I need to but up against a sheet I had bought last year. Well, not only was it 3/32 thinner but the face teak ply could only be measured in microns it was so thin. I brushed it off with a soft brush (afraid a stiff brush would puncture the ply) and immediately coated with West System 105/207 so that the veneer could be handled. Its cost (not including the epoxy I had to apply) $149.00. If I ever put another cabin sole in a boat I will use solid 1/4 teak with maple strips. I believe manufacturers are making the final veneer so thin that woodworkers are realizing that it is all but unusable. Wholesalers contribute to this situation by purchasing this shit but they all seem to focus on maximum profit. Even the quality suppliers often can not resist real cheap shit when it is offered to them. If they can buy it for $10 less a sheet and cut the price $5 a sheet they still come out ahead.
I am coming to agree more and more with the poster (who name does not immediately come to me) who says that "It's time to throw the tea in the water again." Or words to that effect.
One definition of a colony is that which supplies another with raw material. So that begs the question , are we a chinese colony? Pat(longtime lurker)
I've noticed this only the past two or three years with some long time suppliers, only they don't cut the price.
I think it's a desperate attempt to stay in business after years of using an old business model that's worked since the "Industrial Age", but no is no longer guaranteed to do so in the "Me/TV Age": "Give the customer quality and service".
My local supplier of Chinese plywood gives a fortune cookie with every sheet.
I have noticed also the selection of other plywoods has disappeared. A goodly number of years ago, one could purchase firply in a number of thicknesses and finishes. I personally still have some remnants in my scrap bin of 1/4", 5/16", 3/8", 1/2", 5/8" and 3/4" firply. It used to be available in sanded, unsanded, and thicker sheets in tongue & groove for flooring. Now at the BORG and the few remaining lumber yards in sanded undersized 1/4", 1/2" and 3/4", and they consider this a full selection.
Yeah, I got one of those fortune cookies. I opened it up to read the following message: "Help me! I'm being held prisoner in a Chinese Plywood Factory."
Um, fortune cookies are not Chinese, they are American...
The "real" plywood suppliers still have a vast array of options to drool over. When I was in CT I used to get my good plywood from Atlantic Plywood in South Windsor. They are only wholesale, but you can place your order at the building supply place a few miles down rt 5 and then go pickup your order up the street. The building supply place doesn't have real good info on what they have at Atlantic so it's best to make a trip up to Atlantic to get the listing of what they actually have and if you can take a walk through their warehouse.
Pete C.
Ever hear of the 80/20 rule?
A statistical rule as follows;
80% of your sales come from 20% of your customers. 80% of your sales come from 20% of your products. 80% of your profits come from 20% of your sales. 80% of your problems come from 20% of your customers.The list goes on, but you get the idea.
With the advent of the large scale use of computers, it it possible to not only minimize the amount of inventory to maximize profits, but also minimize the number of people working at any time to minimize costs.
That's why you won't find high end and/or very smsll/lsrge size clothing at your friendly department store.
Lew
Lew
Also clothing and shoes are ordered and supplied by the manufacturer in "lots" of all the sizes they want to sell with only one item of the extreme sizes and gradually more of average size, if you ask them to order a pair of size 13 shoes, they have to pay extra for it and pay the shipping for one pair which makes it totally uneconomical to place that order.
With two you get eggroll.
Not just Tarheels: Hooker Furniture in southern Virginia announced last week they are shutting down their LAST wood furniture plant in the U=2ES., so that's 280 more jobs gone aglimmering.
Can you say, 'Bell Curve' . . .
SNIP
I think the undersizing is due to the fact that the manufacturers are manufacturing the material to metric sizings not imperial. So there isn't any true 1/4" 3/8", 1/2", 5/8" or 3/4" plywood made any more.
I am also amazed when I go to the order desk at other non HD stores (Home Hardware here in Canada) to purchase plywood and they ask if I want VC or PC core. In my mind PC core is not plywood it is particle board with a veneer on it.
Dan
EXT wrote:
They are total crap.. I bought some about 2 years ago and it had some red stuff that showed through the veneer.
They used to sell good oak plyood in the 90's.. but it's degraded to the point of being unusable now.
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