Wickes price promise

Like most sheds Wickes have a 'price promise' thing, I think theirs is called Smart Value.

It used to have a get out clause whereby the product had the be the same brand, so it didn't apply to own label products.

Lots of get out clauses; had to be the same brand, had to be in stock locally, online suppliers not included etc.

Seems like things have changed. Last week I needed some grab adhesive, usually buy Gripfill from TLC or Toolstation @ around £2.50 inc VAT.

Wickes own brand was £3.99.

Moaned lightheartedly to the checkout girl, who immediately reduced the price.

Tried it again today with silicone. Wickes own brand over £6. Again, TLC or Toolstation around £2.50. Immediate reduction.

All they asked was my name & address - they have that anyway - I have a Wickes Mycard, where it was cheaper, how much I paid. Didn't check, didn't ask for proof.

I ain't paying Wickes full prices anymore!

Reply to
The Medway Handyman
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It will be interesting to see how long they can keep that up... I am sure that much like PC world et al, they can only sustain their headline cheap prices on big ticket items, but gouging on the multiple markup on the small stuff. (i.e. buy a printer at cost price, make the equal of

15% margin on the printer with the sale of the USB lead)
Reply to
John Rumm

Interesting that Toolstation have maintained their free delivery over £10 for so long.

Reply to
The Medway Handyman

Why would anyone need a USB lead?

Doesn't everyone have a drawer full already?

tim

Reply to
tim....

Every time I try one from that drawer, it seems to have one end wrong. The other end from the one which plugs into the computer. Just how many varieties are there?

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

Pretty much everything I used to use USB for is now Ethernet.

(Apart from keyboard and mouse.)

Owain

Reply to
Owain

Only six in my drawer. USB A, USB B, mini USB, micro USB, and an odd mini USB one with strange wiring which I need to charge one device. And the odd one out for the Fuji camera.

Reply to
John Williamson

as the (wise) old adage goes: "The great thing about standards is there are so many to choose from."

At least the newer generation can start to appreciate the pain RS-232 caused us :-)

Reply to
Jethro

7 - there's a type A-A which is still occasionally found (ironically where a mini wouldhave been better suited!)
Reply to
Tim Watts

Still causes! Most datacentre grade kit still sports RS232 as a starting point to get the management net up or to do bootloader level thingies [1]

More joy too: in the last 10 years I have seen RS232 connectors in the following forms:

9 pin D type (good) 25 pin D type (hardly see those any more)

RJ45 - well, it's almost a standard but I have seen a couple or wiring variations

3.5mm audio jack (shit - proned to dropping out if a gnat chuffs nearby)

PS2 type mini DIN (WTF?)

And very recently, some weird bastard connector that has no name used on the storage processor module of a Dell EMC Clariion SAN (don't ever lose that cable!)

At least everything agrees that 8 bit no parity is the right way. Just leaves the baud (anything from 9600 to 115000) and still some choice as to handshaking XON/XOFF method...

How fecking hard could it be to send a low rate serial stream...

At least USB negotiates the speed and protocol level :)

Cheers,

Tim

[1] Or not...
Reply to
Tim Watts

You forgot the DEC MMJ.

Reply to
Bob Eager

All six have an A plug at one end, and I forgot the active extension to beat the normal length limit, which is A plug to A socket.

The only unit I have which uses the A plug to A plug lead is an ancient Archos mp3 recorder.

Reply to
John Williamson

ISTR old Macs used something like this as well...

BBC Micro was a standard sized DIN connector on its RS423 port..

Add that to the collection that includes the lead for an HP 7475 plotter and an old APC UPS - both "interesting" wiring variations I seem to recall.

Oh, you wait until you try to use radio modems ;-)

Sync serial interfaces on the data port, and async on the control port just to add to the complexity, and the handling of the handshake lines is also tied into the key line output to the radios. Hence you have to tit about with software delays to allow the radio to get through any level setting and equalisation processes, and into a stable transmission state after you have asserted RTS, but before you start clocking out real data.

Takes all the fun out of it!

Reply to
John Rumm

I raise that to brand new Kodak digital picture frame (SWMBO work leaving pressie). Sad they are still doing that bodge...

Reply to
Tim Watts

Howzat for thread drift - from Wickes to USB leads in 3 posts :-)

Reply to
The Medway Handyman

Endeavouring to drift even further away...

When I see USB on our list, I assume we are going to the supermarket =

rather than Currys-PCW (which in this town is almost next door to Wickes= ). =

For 'tis unsalted butter.

Reply to
polygonum

I have vague memories from ny student days of one of the early RS232 standards including an *extra* auxiliary 37-pin connector!

In my teens, I used to have a Sinclair QL that used plugs that were a mirror image of the BT phone plug. One port was wired DTE and the other DCE so if it didn't work in one, you tried the other.

But needs to install drivers that may not be compatible with your OS.

SteveW

Reply to
Steve Walker

BSS Soundweb (front panel) has PS2 type

Reply to
Part Timer

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