plywood's getting thinner....

Pretty soon we'll be buying thin air, but by gosh, it will NOT go up in price! This is spreading to most consumer products, selling less product at the same price (or more) to "compete" with other companies.

You think so? My impression is that, for the most part, retailers are lowering prices, and then finding ways to hide that they are really selling less product. If you go into Home Depot, Lowes, Target, Wal Mart, etc, you'll see price drop stickers all over the place, more so than in the past it seems. A few years ago, I remember seeing a lot more stickers advertising new, improved models, etc. I think the extended slow economy has made the retailers re-evaluate their strategy. That's all just my non-scientific impression, though.

Jon

Funny, I noticed the same thing on a 1/4" board I bought last week at HD. I thought they were trying to hold prices, but that couldn't be because their prices were up and their plywood was under thick. Dan

Sun, Jan 2, 2005, 8:07pm (EST-1) snipped-for-privacy@hotmail.com (bob) says: Bought a sheet of 1/4" oak plywood at HD

You're not dealing with rocket scientists there, you know. I've frequently found wood/plywood listed wrong, or stacked in the wrong stack. Pays to doublecheck.

JOAT People without "things" are just intelligent animals.

It was 3/16 because it was paneling, no matter what it was listed as.

Maybe it was a 5.2mm thickness, that's closer to 3/16" than 1/4". What does your receipt indicate?

cabinet. I

Once again, the word is "nominal." This means 1/4 in name, not necessarily in dimension. Might not be the same dimension from supplier to supplier, so if you're mixing - be careful.

Without hoping to provoke the calculus boys again, you have only to look at the cereal boxes to see that we see broadly, not in depth. At the coffee can to know that it's diameter is still what a three-pound can used to be, but the height is less. Let's not get into Hershey bars....

Caveat Emptor

It gets worse. I bought a sheet of 1/2" a few weeks ago - claerly stamped as12.5 mm on the side byt the manufacturer. When I measured it, it was only 12 mm. Phoning and complaining was a complete waste of time. (this was to HD Curity store in Toronto). And how do they get away with making it out of 4 layers?! Even their 3/4" stuff is only 5-layer - bendable as 'real' 1/2". I'd rather pay more for quality so I don't buy ply there anymore :-(. Wish they weren't so dishonest about their specs. Bet they wouldn't apprecaite me paying only $120 for a $125.40 bill and saying it's close enough.

Does anyone at HD read this group?

Nigel

A race to the bottom. Being led by WalMart

on the side

complaining was a

get away with

'real' 1/2". I'd rather

dishonest about

and saying it's

Find yourself a real lumber yard and refuse to give any more money to HD, Lowes or thier ilk... that's what I did.

-Keith

on the side

was a

get away with

'real' 1/2". I'd rather

dishonest about

saying it's

Admirable in some regards as I also dislike what the box stores have done to availability of better materials, but for ply materials in general it was instigated by the manufacturers, not the retailers...

I thought ply and other sheet goods were rated for strength, not for thickness, so '3/4" CDX' specified in order, a strength, a finish grade, and a glue type.

on the side

was a

get away with

'real' 1/2". I'd rather

dishonest about

saying it's

Very unlikely. You know, you can usually get higher quality *and* lower priced wood by going to an actual lumberyard. I don't know about plywood specifically, but I do know that hardwoods are dramatically overpriced where I'm at. For example, Red oak sells for $2.35 a bf at my local hardwood dealer. All their wood is kiln-dried, and most of it is figured at least slightly- they carry about 20 different species of timber, plywood and mdf.

The other local lumberyard sells red oak (all of it is highly figured and very nice, from what I've seen of it) for $3.25 a bf. That yard will get your lumber to finished dimentions, S4S in their shop for $7 an hour- and they can get a lot of lumber through in an hour. It's all straight, and it's all pretty, but they only supply spruce, oak, and on a good day, beech.

Menard's, OTOH, sells a lower-quality oak for $8-12 a bf- It is dimentional, sure, but it is also warped and the "surfacing" they do is with sanders, and not with planers. They offer a pathetic selection of 4-5 different hardwoods, all with similar prices- I've seen cherry marked at over $25 a bf, compared to the dealer I use, who charges $5.50 for extremely curly cherry. (Lackluster cherry is $4.25 a bf) They call Luoun "mahogany" and almost every peice of lumber and plywood in the rack is twisted.

So why do people keep supporting these places? The borgs DO NOT care about the wood they sell. Your local hardwood dealers do- and they're probably woodworkers just like you. Ah well, may as well try and stop the relentless pursuit of WalMart. (Incidentally, I do not and will not shop at WalMart for any reason either.)

Aut inveniam viam aut faciam

Receipt says....... " 1/4 oak".

I should, but the lumber yard isn't open at 8:30pm or on Sundays, or in the case of my posting, on New Years Day.

Bob

I have an awesome hardwood dealer in the area. Unfortunately, he is 30 miles away from home and 45 from the office, and only open during the week from 8 to 4. He is open on Saturdays 8 -12, but I piss away the entire morning driving down there. I really, really, should plan ahead, piss the half day away, and stock up when I go down there.....

supplier, so

But the amount of coffee or amount of chocoate on those products are accurately measured, whereas wood is as big of a misrepresentation as there is in retail products.

Could you imagine buying a pound of coffee, and getting 12 ounces?? Or buying a gallon of milk and getting 3 quarters?