Is Lowes cheaper than HD, or is this just some weird sample?
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$6.11
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$3.08
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$11.97
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The alligator clips are what caught my eye Also, when searching for alligator clips in Lowes.com , they don't come up for me. I don't know how I found them the first time, but the second time it was only because it kept track of what I'd looked at. Both HD and Lowes had terrible webpages even after most other places had good ones.
This one, which was $3 since yesterday and for 30 minutes today, and which they said they had 8 at one branch and 12 at another and about 10 at the other 6 branches that showed when I tried Check other Branch, suddenly became unavailable at 3 different branches and no price specified anymore.
And so did the weed killer below, at Lowes. For both it ssys To check availability, please call at -- and then usually there is no phone number.
You just have to be careful you are comparing apples to apples. The cheaper clips may not be the same quality as the more expensive ones (thinner metal). In the case of the weed killer, they don't even look like the same product, maybe different chemicals. The package is different. The HD also says "with crab grass control". These guys are pretty careful to be sure it is hard to actually compare one on one. They quite often have stuff made and packaged differently, just to screw with people who want a price match.
Well the alligator clips are both Model # 14-077 and that's the manufacturers's number, but....
You're sure right about that. I've bought something similar at HD for years and never seen more than one product in that shape of container, so I didn't even notice that one store it was yellow and the other orange, let alone that one mentioned crabgrass. (Still I wouldn't be surprised if among the 250 weeds it kills, crabgrass was one of them.)
Lowest doesn't sell the sprayer with crabgrass control but does sell a 1 gallon refill for only $15. Unfortuantely based on the pictures only, no text about it, it's meant to be applied full strength, not with the garden hose. Why is life so complicated?
IMI the only crabgrass control worth buying is Bayer Advanced that has Acclaim herbicide in it. Acclaim is the trademark name, you can look for the actual chemical. It's very effective against CG and unlike other herbicides it won't damage grass at the concentrations needed. I'd buy just that if you could obtain it in small quantities, but Acclaim is only sold for like $500 a gallons which will treat acres. But Bayer has a weedkiller product for lawns that includes it.
Others have commented on your specific examples, but I would say generally speaking they are extremely similar in price, at least on the things that I regularly buy. I mostly pick up construction grade dimensional lumber, especially 2x4's and 2x6's, and sheets of 3/4" and 1/2" plywood and OSB. On things like that, HD and Lowe's are usually only a few pennies apart.
Nope. Totally different product - and in stores that DO carry both, the crabgrass killing product IS more expensive. Generally the premixed product is also more expensive thanthe stuff you dilute to apply whenyou calculate the cost per diluted unit - and you ARE paying for the sprayers.
Not so much with garden supplies - the producers produce and package the same for everyone.
Try shopping at a REAL garden supply store - or even a local hardware store instead of the "BORG" and other big box stores. They often carry a LOT better assortment of products.
I prefer a farm store like Rural King if you have one. You can buy Garlon or a generic Triclopyr that has the same chemical as the original purple label Brush B Gone. Garlon is going to kill damn near anything. You can also buy glyphosate concentrate in big containers a lot cheaper than at the home stores if you just want to knock the leaves off or kill grass.
I have a strategy. If I'm walking from work to pick up small items I go to Lowe's because it's on the same side of our busiest street that's a pain to cross as a pedestrian. If I'm going home, I have to cross the street anyway so I go to Home Depot on the other side.
Weekends when I not at work I go to Ace Hardware and screw them both.
If it is something they all will have, I use the same strategy. I do find Home Depot seems to have more stuff aimed at trades, obscure electrical and plumbing fittings, better deal on bagged concrete etc. Lowes has nicer home furnishing stuff. Other than that, Lowes and Ace give me my 10% veteran discount HD doesn't. (only retired/active military or on veterans day)
Lowes also gives the 10% discount on online orders, unlike HD.
The HD workaround is to order online but have the item(s) delivered to the store. When you go to pick up the order, you refuse the pickup and they're left with the item(s) just sitting there. Now you buy the items as you normally would and get the discount. It's a pain and they won't love you for it, but it's how you get a discount on things not normally carried in the store. If you're ordering online, just use Lowes.
Thanks. That means I'll buy the one that kills crabgrass. I should have bought it yesterday but it was really windy anyhow, and today will be too. I haven't tended the yard for 2 or 3 years and the dandelions are already blooming. Just want to kill them before they go to seed.
Yes, I've tried to avoid that, by planning to buy refills, but something always went wrong.
One in a well-to-do neighborhood closed for some reason. They had everything.
One is 8 miles away and there is another in a totally residential n'hood
4 miles away in the other direction. I don't know where it is exactly and I only come across it by accident every few years (so I usually forget it exists) and they don't have an online catalog, so I can decide before I leave home. Today that was important. Hmmm, I think I found the intersection, and it may have burned down or it's next door and been converted to a liquor store. Look at this street view: https://www.google.com/maps/@39.293017,-76.7310431,3a,75y,137.33h,93.26t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1s836om8KRak5LNFvMGTqSBQ!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo1.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3D836om8KRak5LNFvMGTqSBQ%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D168.12874%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i16384!8i8192?hl=enThe whole store is fogged out of the picture. Ingleside and Johnnycake. The map shows a Chinese restaurant (Chung Wah), Crab House, and Gem Discount Liquors all in one building. I wonder which one is fogged out. Now I have to go and look. https://www.google.com/maps/place/Green+Fields+Nursery/@39.293017,-76.7310431,385m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m8!1m2!2m1!1sgardeb+shop!3m4!1s0x89c81ab22e4d960f:0xa27b8e67c82f5342!8m2!3d39.3610131!4d-76.6464299?hl=en
For rose bushes and the occasional tree, I go to one 10 miles away that is just garden stuff, but almost all plants and not much stuff sold indoors, that is, not much in the way of weed killer.
Hmmm. Google maps finds anolther one, with a detailed webpage including
7 different pages for different kinds of plants. "Green Fields has everything you need to succeed in your garden, including specialty hand tools from Burgon and Ball and clippers by Corona and Felco. We have lots of gloves to choose from and a variety of sprinklers, hoses, nozzles and watering cans- both fun and functional. We offer trellises, arches, obelisks and stakes. Check out our kidsÂ’ gardening section for tools, wheelbarrows and birding and gardening projects for your little helpers. Green Fields has a great selection of pottery in all sizes and colors and will happily repot or create mixed planters for your home."
But nothing about chemicals. Darn natualists!
Still it's good to know it's there. It's a low-key store at a busy intersection where I've spent my time watching the traffic so I don't have a collision.
I guess the borgs have driven the independants out of business.
That's what I thought, and I always go to the one that's closer, so that's why this suprised me so much. I was wrong on the weed killer, but for some reason I think I'm still right on the alligator clips.
Maybe they're cheap because no one buys them becuase when you put alligator clips into their search field, these don't come up, at least some of the time they don't.
They're about a quarter mile from each other here. Reserve Street is as close as we come to a California traffic jam so I think which side of Reserve you're on is more significant than brand loyalty.
My tire pump melted its cigarette light plug, and I've been hooking the bare wires to the battery posts. Clips would make it easier to stick on. I have a whole 8-oz margerine container full of alligator clips, but I can't find it.
Of course now that I have two newer tires, I may not need to use the pump anymroe.
You know the easiest way to find that pile of clips? Buy a new set and pay too much for it - you will find the others the day after you install the new ones - GUARANTEED!!!
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