On Fri, 15 Jan 2010 21:23:07 +0000, Theo Markettos wrote:

Tim W wrote:
Andy Dingley
wibbled on Thursday 14 January 2010 16:22


A "home improvement store" is Focus. They sell lampshades. If they
sell nails, they're in packs of 10, for a fiver a pack.

This is one of my complaints with B&Q - small packs of sundry hardware cost
a fortune. And yet, I can also buy 3m packs of coving for less than the
builder's merchant next door, ditto plaster (OK, I just get fatigued by
endless haggling so I go where the marked price is cheaper if I can).

Trouble is, if you sell 3 nails at 3p each, you don't even cover costs for
the time to count them.

That's why it's all done by weight at my local farm supply place - I just
grab the quantity I need from the big bins and put it in a bag, weigh it
with the supplied scales, write down the code and weight on the bag, and
take it to the till. Sometimes they'll weigh it there too, just to check
I'm not trying to pull a fast one, and sometimes they won't.

I get exactly the amount I need, far cheaper than the sheds with the
blister packs, and with a minimum of wasteful packaging.

They still offer boxes of nails and screws, too, for those who want it (I
usually keep a stash of 'generic' things on the shelves at home, so once
in a while I'll just grab a box of 200 or 500 of something so they're
there for random little projects when I need them)

Then you don't have to have anyone manning the
pick'n'mix desk (apart, I suppose, from worrying about people slipping
them in their pockets).

They just don't seem worried about it here. Maybe some loss from theft is
factored into things, or maybe they just trust people more, or maybe they
rely on the place being busy enough that someone wouldn't try taking
things.

cheers

Jules