Price Comparison between Ace Hardware & Lowe's

[GROVER]

I needed a dozen or so right angle screw hooks ( the ones I wanted seem to be made from 8 gage wire). So off to the hardware aisle at Lowe's. There they are, packaged two to a see through poly envelope. Price two for 89 cents. Or about 45 cents each. Seems a bit pricey. I asked the clerk do you carry these in a box quantities. He says, " nope, 89 cents for the bag." I voted with my feet.

Later on I visited Ace. They had the same item packaged 5 to a blister pack at $1.29 or about 26 cents each. No box quantities either.

The Borgs get you on the small items which you just load into your basket. I suppose the moral of the story is buy in box quantities if you can.

Joe G

[tom]

Sometimes even the boxes aren't discounted. Case in point: I needed a lot of irrigation hose connectors, so I grab a case of 'em at the Borg. At checkout, I'm charged for each piece _individually_. Tom, who much prefers Ace over Lowes anyday.

[Bill Hall]

Could be worse. Not too many tears ago, I lived in a small town in Texas that only had a Mom/Pop hardware store. The owner would buy nuts/bolts/screws in bulk, then repackage them in individual plastic bags. IN 3/5/ quantities ! You were almost always forced to buy two bags for any project. Years later, when the big box stores moved closer, he went out of business.

[John B]

Snip>> J

I had the exact same experience at Bunnings. I was chasing cup hooks, Eye screws and square hooks, and was sick of buying them in blister packs of 10 and occasionally 25 pieces. I contacted the importer and it was suggested that Bunnings would place a special order with them for bulk boxes. So of the Bunnings I go and place an order for 500 of each. About a week later I'm notified that the goods are in."You beaut, no more bloody blister packs". I dutifully attended the store to collect my 3 boxes of goodies and, yep, you guessed it. 3 outers with blister packs of 25 pieces. And the price-the same as if I had picked them of the shelf myself. Well I guess you live and learn.

regards John

[Edwin Pawlowski]

The moral of the story is to avoid the big box stores altogether.

[Robert Allison]

You know, I am surprised that this myth is not on Snopes.com. I have found few items that are not cheaper at other stores than HD or Lowes. I have never been impressed with the prices at the big box stores. Maybe that is because I am used to the prices (and the contractors discounts) at the real supply houses.

I use HD and Lowes, but not because of their prices. Only because of their convenience. I can pick up a couple of unrelated items there when I would have to go to a couple of different suppliers otherwise.

[Toller]

I don't know about Lowes (because I never sold to them) but HD was significantly cheaper than other stores until about about 1992. Then they realized their position was sufficiently dominant that they didn't have to worry about little things like low prices. About 1995 they gave up on customer service also.

[RicodJour]

I was in one today. {shudder} It was unbelievable. Crappy selection, clerks - excuse me, associates, yakking on their cell phones and having long conversations with one another with people having to interrupt them to ask questions, and the icing on the cake - the self service checkout line. Those things are an abomination. They keep everyone waiting so they can layoff one or two checkout clerks. GMAFB. If the scanners worked that would be one thing, but they don't. I had all packaged items with easily readable bar codes and the scanner still had fits. The one clerk manning the four self service checkout registers had a back log of people to help. I threw in the towel halfway through my scanning and went over to stand on a line at a manned counter with four people in front of me. The guy behind me at the self service register, next in line, left the store just after me. So, tell me again about those great savings...

R

[Curran Copeland]

It's that way on a lot of items. I buy dowel rods whole sale for about $0.15 and at the local hardware they are $0.75 and at Lowes about $0.79 last time I bothered to look. Granted I buy them by the hundreds, but from the same supplier that Lowes uses. One nail that I use costs me $0.025 and at Lowes $0.10. The finish I use costs $40 a gal at Lowes and $29 at the local lumber yard. On handtools however Lowes is the best price within a hundred miles. The Local hardware doesn't give any discounts on quanity, if they did I would probably buy from them even at a slightly higher price. You can get a lot better deals from mail order and whole sale houses if you bother to look for them then at the local borg.

[Roger Shoaf]

Something like this?

9594T14 Zinc-Plated Steel Screw-in L-Hook .135" Wire Diameter, 1-1/4" Projection In stock at $8.81 per Pack This product is sold in Packs of 100

From Mcmaster Carr

[GROVER]

Reply to Roger, Your suggestion, re mail order, seems to be the way to go (about 9 cents a piece, plus shipping and that all time favorite, handling.) Joe G