mm wrote:
- At a real lumber yard, he'll say, What can I do for you? or Which
- grade do you want, and if you don't know you look stupid. (at least a
- lot of people feel that way.)

Sounds like a lack of confidence to me. If I don't know what I want or
need, I ask an expert. I don't feel stupid for not knowing everything
about everything. If the person behind the counter treats me like I'm
"stupid", I simply take my business elsewhere.

- The same thing for electrical supplies, probably even more so. You
- have to tell the guy at the electrical supply house what you want.

No, you don't have to tell the guy what you want, you only have to tell
them what you want to do. Any electrical supply house that won't help
you isn't worthy of your business. I can't tell you how many times I
have gotten help from both sides of the counter - from the employee as
well as customers (read: contractors) - at supplies house for all types
of materials just by explaining to them what I am trying to do. Most
people really enjoy teaching others. Just look at this newsgroup.

- At self service, you can spend hours staring and pondering until you
- finally decide what you think maybe you should buy. Or you can buy
- something and easily return it if you buy the wrong thing. I don't
- know for sure, but I don't think professional supply houses that sell
- to the trade like doing returns. Maybe 50 dollars if someone bought
- 1000 dollars worth in the last few months, but not 4 dollars for
- someone who spent 4 dollars.

The chances of having to return items to a professional supply house is
reduced because you received professional help in choosing your items.
Besides, just about every store will take back what you purchased from
them. That's just about the standard everywhere these days. Even the
supply houses have to compete on a certain level with the self service
stores. Accepting returns simply makes sense from that perspective.

- Concommitantly, I've noticed that clerks in wholesale places are a
lot
- friendlier and more helpful, becuase they deal with professionals and
- arent' stuck answering hundreds of stupid questions all day long.

Very true, and in many cases the advice offered is better than the
advice offered by even the nicest employee at the home center.

mm wrote:
On Wed, 03 Jan 2007 12:29:30 -0500, George
wrote:

Jack wrote:
Went to a few HD's and Lowes in my area to get a dozen 2x4 studs for a
project. After going through the piles for 15 minutes at each place to find
straight lumber, I gave up. Most of the stuff was twisted. (Bowed studs I
could have used in a pinch).
.
Have you all had similar experiences? Do you have better results at a
lumber yard even though its usually alot more expensive?
Thanks.




I just buy good stuff at the local real lumber yard for a similar price.
I told this story before. We were putting a deck on the house and I went
to the local lumber yard and gave them the material list. They delivered
the material and my neighbor remarked "so you must have been at 'the
depot' all day picking this out". He couldn't understand that all of the
big box marketing was mostly spin and there are better places to buy
quality stuff. I asked one of the lumber yard owners why their stuff was
better and she said they can order any quality material they want and
they order quality stuff. If you go there yourself there is no picking
needed because all of the wood is decent quality.

For a rank amateur, HD and Lowes can be more face-saving than a real
lumber yard with a real clerk who knows something about wood.

At the first two, you take your chances but the check out clerk isn't
qualified to tell you you bought junk, and if you use self-checkout,
there is no one at all who can second guess you. Sure they might not
be straight, but for many people it's worth it.

At a real lumber yard, he'll say, What can I do for you? or Which
grade do you want, and if you don't know you look stupid. (at least a
lot of people feel that way.)

The same thing for electrical supplies, probably even more so. You
have to tell the guy at the electrical supply house what you want. At
self service, you can spend hours staring and pondering until you
finally decide what you think maybe you should buy. Or you can buy
something and easily return it if you buy the wrong thing. I don't
know for sure, but I don't think professional supply houses that sell
to the trade like doing returns. Maybe 50 dollars if someone bought
1000 dollars worth in the last few months, but not 4 dollars for
someone who spent 4 dollars.

Concommitantly, I've noticed that clerks in wholesale places are a lot
friendlier and more helpful, becuase they deal with professionals and
arent' stuck answering hundreds of stupid questions all day long.