On 04/14/2015 07:46 PM, Bill wrote:
DerbyDad03 wrote:
On Tuesday, April 14, 2015 at 6:31:29 PM UTC-4, Bob La Londe wrote:
Harbor Fright Down Grades Quality Again

I've got a couple Harbor Fright Drill press. One is a floor model.
Its not
wonderful, but its atleast 15 years old and it works. Once you learn
a few
tricks you can drill decent holes. The other is a 12 speed bench
model. In
some ways its better than the floor model. I keep a tapping head in
that
one. I tap a lot of 10-32 holes in aluminum with it. It was the
smallest
least expensive drill press I could find that had a regular MT2
taper, and
it works great for what I use it for. Tapping holes.

A buddy from another newsgroup gave me a good deal on another tapping
head a
little bigger than the one I had. I figured I would set it up, and just
leave a 1/4-20 machine tap in it since that's the second most common
hole I
tap. I was thinking another one of those Harbor Fright 12 speed bench
toppers would do the trick, so I started hunting for a coupon or a sale.
Finally I found an outfit that would "sell" me a coupon for it for $5.
Since it would save me $40 if it wasn't bogus I figured it was worth
a shot.
I printed my coupon and checked on-line to make sure the coupon code was
good. Off to Harbor Fright to buy my drill press. There were none on
display, but there was one below in a box. I opened up the box to
make sure
everything was there, and noticed the head didn't look right. I checked
further and found it doesn't have an MT2 taper anymore. Its got that
stupid
fixed BT16 spindle taper instead. The one that is on the smaller
cheaper
drill presses. Just to be double sure I looked at the manual. Yep.
They
downgraded the unit a LOT and didn't lower the price.

I left the coupon on the box for the next guy.
Hmmm...downgraded the unit and didn't lower the price. Where have I
heard that before?

http://c.o0bg.com/rf/image_960w/Bost...nsumer_g01.jpg



Went to Lowes the other day to buy another box of Hefty 39-gallon 1.3
mil "Steel-Sak" garbage bags. From my records, I have observed these
price increases:

2009, $9.99
2010, $10.98
2011, $11.99
2015, $12.99

The price increase didn't bug me that much this year. What bugged me
was when I got home I found out there are now only 28 bags in the box
instead of 30! Along with the price increase, it bugged me...lol There
are cheaper options, and will be choosing one of them. My new choice is
unlikely to involve either Lowes or Hefty.


Lowes margins haven't changed much in years, in fact they may have gone
down some. Yes, their gross and net have increased with selling more
and adding stores. Their financials seem to reflect a well run company.


--
"Socialism is a philosophy of failure,the creed of ignorance, and the
gospel of envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery"
-Winston Churchill