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Repair or replace
Repair or replace. That question often comes up here. I had two examples in
the past week. I have a Rubbermaid mailbox and post that wad damaged in the snowstorms. Replacement post, delivered $54 New mailbox and post $52 The light under the kitchen cabinet burned out. It is a fluorescent fixture that takes an F15 bulb Replacement bulb $6.88 New fixture including bulb $6.96 The fixture is "assembled in USA" too. Makes one wonder how they do the pricing of this stuff. |
Repair or replace
On Sun, 27 Mar 2011 00:53:38 -0400, "Ed Pawlowski"
wrote: Repair or replace. That question often comes up here. I had two examples in the past week. I have a Rubbermaid mailbox and post that wad damaged in the snowstorms. Replacement post, delivered $54 New mailbox and post $52 I've always had doubts about Rubbermain mailboxes. For one thing, doesn't the mail get wet when you do the dishes? In your case, if it's rubber, why didn't the post bend and bounce back when the snow sat on it or the car hit it? The light under the kitchen cabinet burned out. It is a fluorescent fixture that takes an F15 bulb Replacement bulb $6.88 New fixture including bulb $6.96 The fixture is "assembled in USA" too. Makes one wonder how they do the pricing of this stuff. It's a puzzlement. |
Repair or replace
"mm" wrote I have a Rubbermaid mailbox and post that wad damaged in the snowstorms. Replacement post, delivered $54 New mailbox and post $52 I've always had doubts about Rubbermain mailboxes. For one thing, doesn't the mail get wet when you do the dishes? In your case, if it's rubber, why didn't the post bend and bounce back when the snow sat on it or the car hit it? We don't do dishes until the mail comes first. Sometimes the mailman leaves his coffee cup too. I'm not sure how old it is, but over ten years. Until this year's heavy snow, it has actually held up well against the plow debris. Maybe it just got brittle over time, but it was cracked at the bottom and I had one hell of a time breaking the rest of it off. The design is a steel rod pounded into the dirt, no digging, no cement to mix. The one feature of this mailbox we really like is the telltale flag. When the MM opens the door, it pops up a yellow flag on the side and it is visible from the house so you know if the mail came. We get mail late (sometimes around 5 PM) so it has save many a false trip to retrieve it. Not a big thing, but on a very cold or rainy day, we appreciate it. One of those things, once you've had one you wonder why every mailbox does not have one. Even all the Rubbermaid don't. |
Repair or replace
I had a similiar moment with Schlage B-162 deadbolts. The
inner cylinder cost more than the entire lock. -- Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus www.lds.org .. "Ed Pawlowski" wrote in message ... Repair or replace. That question often comes up here. I had two examples in the past week. I have a Rubbermaid mailbox and post that wad damaged in the snowstorms. Replacement post, delivered $54 New mailbox and post $52 The light under the kitchen cabinet burned out. It is a fluorescent fixture that takes an F15 bulb Replacement bulb $6.88 New fixture including bulb $6.96 The fixture is "assembled in USA" too. Makes one wonder how they do the pricing of this stuff. |
Repair or replace
mm wrote:
On Sun, 27 Mar 2011 00:53:38 -0400, "Ed Pawlowski" wrote: Repair or replace. That question often comes up here. I had two examples in the past week. I have a Rubbermaid mailbox and post that wad damaged in the snowstorms. Replacement post, delivered $54 New mailbox and post $52 I've always had doubts about Rubbermain mailboxes. For one thing, doesn't the mail get wet when you do the dishes? In your case, if it's rubber, why didn't the post bend and bounce back when the snow sat on it or the car hit it? [I caught the humor-- just had to say. . . .] Last summer I just happened to look out as a truck hit my Rubbermaid mailbox and sent it 50 feet up the road. Mine is on a 4x4 post mounted on a round post so it can swing when the plow hits it. The post was fine. The little lever that tells me when the mailman has opened the box was missing. But otherwise, the mailbox was fine. It was just 'unsnapped' from the mount. Snapped it back in-- and saw the little lever thing in the grass, which also snapped back into place. By the time I got around to putting it back together, my wife was already out buying a new box-- so now I've got a spare in the garage for when a tank runs over the one that is out there now. They are sturdy little buggers. Jim |
Repair or replace
"Ed Pawlowski" wrote in message ... Repair or replace. That question often comes up here. I had two examples in the past week. I have a Rubbermaid mailbox and post that wad damaged in the snowstorms. Replacement post, delivered $54 New mailbox and post $52 The light under the kitchen cabinet burned out. It is a fluorescent fixture that takes an F15 bulb Replacement bulb $6.88 New fixture including bulb $6.96 The fixture is "assembled in USA" too. Makes one wonder how they do the pricing of this stuff. I bought four four foot fluorescent fixtures, and a dozen bulbs, and with the power company rebate, the cost was zero. I'm like you, how do they figure this stuff. Steve Heart surgery pending? www.cabgbypasssurgery.com |
Repair or replace
On 3/27/2011 12:13 PM, Steve B wrote:
"Ed wrote in message ... Repair or replace. That question often comes up here. I had two examples in the past week. I have a Rubbermaid mailbox and post that wad damaged in the snowstorms. Replacement post, delivered $54 New mailbox and post $52 The light under the kitchen cabinet burned out. It is a fluorescent fixture that takes an F15 bulb Replacement bulb $6.88 New fixture including bulb $6.96 The fixture is "assembled in USA" too. Makes one wonder how they do the pricing of this stuff. I bought four four foot fluorescent fixtures, and a dozen bulbs, and with the power company rebate, the cost was zero. I'm like you, how do they figure this stuff. Steve Heart surgery pending? www.cabgbypasssurgery.com It's called the Gillette business model. Give away the device, and you have them by the short and curlies forever on the consumables. Inkjet printers are famous for that. In the case of the shop lights, the power company rebate is because of reduced demand (in theory), but because THEY get a tax credit for promoting 'efficient' lights. -- aem sends... |
Repair or replace
On Sun, 27 Mar 2011 08:27:21 -0400, "Ed Pawlowski"
wrote: The one feature of this mailbox we really like is the telltale flag. When the MM Are you talkin' about me? Are YOU talkin' about me? opens the door, it pops up a yellow flag on the side and it is visible from the house so you know if the mail came. We get mail late (sometimes around 5 PM) so it has save many a false trip to retrieve it. Not a big thing, but on a very cold or rainy day, we appreciate it. Absolutely. It was more than 100 feet from our door to the mailbox, sometimes in the snow or rain or cold. One of those things, once you've had one you wonder why every mailbox does not have one. Even all the Rubbermaid don't. I don't know why these aren't more popular either. My mother bought one, that screwed on to our metal mailbox, in 1958! You'd think everyone would have one by now. But in 7 years in the suburbs then, I only saw 4 or 5 others, and here it is 50 years later and still they are so uncommon. Hers had a weight on one end, with a thin metal piece that got clipped between the mailbox door and the side, and a yellow metal flag on the other end. I saw one or two with a parallelogram shaped set of metal parts that caused the flag to go up. But those are long gone afaict. They do, however, sell electronic transmitters that are supposed to know when you get mail and beep in your house. Far less reliable, needs batteries, what a project, when the yellow flag is 100% reliable and should last for 50 years. |
Repair or replace
On Sun, 27 Mar 2011 08:57:01 -0400, Jim Elbrecht
wrote: mm wrote: On Sun, 27 Mar 2011 00:53:38 -0400, "Ed Pawlowski" wrote: Repair or replace. That question often comes up here. I had two examples in the past week. I have a Rubbermaid mailbox and post that wad damaged in the snowstorms. Replacement post, delivered $54 New mailbox and post $52 I've always had doubts about Rubbermain mailboxes. For one thing, doesn't the mail get wet when you do the dishes? In your case, if it's rubber, why didn't the post bend and bounce back when the snow sat on it or the car hit it? [I caught the humor-- just had to say. . . .] Last summer I just happened to look out as a truck hit my Rubbermaid mailbox and sent it 50 feet up the road. Mine is on a 4x4 post mounted on a round post so it can swing when the plow hits it. The post was fine. The little lever that tells me when the mailman has opened the box was missing. But otherwise, the mailbox was fine. It was just 'unsnapped' from the mount. Snapped it back in-- and saw the little lever thing in the grass, which also snapped back into place. That is pretty good. By the time I got around to putting it back together, my wife was already out buying a new box-- so now I've got a spare in the garage for when a tank runs over the one that is out there now. They are sturdy little buggers. Rubbermaild boxes or wives. Jim |
Repair or replace
On Sun, 27 Mar 2011 08:34:09 -0400, "Stormin Mormon"
wrote: I had a similiar moment with Schlage B-162 deadbolts. The inner cylinder cost more than the entire lock. Just like an inkjet printer. Once you have that fixture, you are "stuck" buying bulbs. Unless you want to remove/re-install the complete fixture every time - which MOST people do not want to do. |
Repair or replace
mm wrote:
On Sun, 27 Mar 2011 08:57:01 -0400, Jim Elbrecht wrote: -snip- By the time I got around to putting it back together, my wife was already out buying a new box-- so now I've got a spare in the garage for when a tank runs over the one that is out there now. They are sturdy little buggers. Rubbermaild boxes or wives. In my case, both.g I've seen 'less-than-sturdy' wives. I chose the lifetime model this time. Jim |
Repair or replace
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Repair or replace
Ed Pawlowski wrote: Repair or replace. That question often comes up here. I had two examples in the past week. I have a Rubbermaid mailbox and post that wad damaged in the snowstorms. Replacement post, delivered $54 New mailbox and post $52 The light under the kitchen cabinet burned out. It is a fluorescent fixture that takes an F15 bulb Replacement bulb $6.88 New fixture including bulb $6.96 The fixture is "assembled in USA" too. Makes one wonder how they do the pricing of this stuff. Hi, My rule of thumb, buy best you can afford, keep it long. Stay above prosumer level quality. |
Repair or replace
Pricing- manufacturing and parts is a small fraction of the total
cost, so the difference between the bulb and the housing plus bulb is minimal. They sell the whole unit cheaper than the (most expensive) part because they move a lot of whole units. If they don't sell very many replacement bulbs (and at this price they probably don't) then the cost of inventory's much higher- they stock something that takes two years to sell, that costs them something. And if they didn't stock the replacement bulb people would complain- What do you mean I can't buy a bulb, I have to buy a new one, throw away the whole thing and reinstall it? |
Repair or replace
On Sun, 27 Mar 2011 14:49:14 -0700 (PDT), Shaun Eli
wrote: Pricing- manufacturing and parts is a small fraction of the total cost, so the difference between the bulb and the housing plus bulb is minimal. They sell the whole unit cheaper than the (most expensive) part because they move a lot of whole units. If they don't sell very many replacement bulbs (and at this price they probably don't) then the cost of inventory's much higher- they stock something that takes two years to sell, that costs them something. And if they didn't stock the replacement bulb people would complain- What do you mean I can't buy a bulb, I have to buy a new one, throw away the whole thing and reinstall it? Why not take the bulb out of the new one and throw it (the new one) away? |
Repair or replace
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Repair or replace
What? Man, that's some text trim.
-- Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus www.lds.org .. "Bob F" wrote in message ... Interesting case of clipping the previous post. Remove everything rela |
Repair or replace
Prosumer? Huh?
-- Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus www.lds.org .. "Tony Hwang" wrote in message ... Hi, My rule of thumb, buy best you can afford, keep it long. Stay above prosumer level quality. |
Repair or replace
On 3/27/2011 7:34 PM, Stormin Mormon wrote:
Prosumer? Huh? That's between a professional and a consumer. |
Repair or replace
On 3/26/2011 11:53 PM, Ed Pawlowski wrote:
Repair or replace. That question often comes up here. I had two examples in the past week. I have a Rubbermaid mailbox and post that wad damaged in the snowstorms. Replacement post, delivered $54 New mailbox and post $52 The light under the kitchen cabinet burned out. It is a fluorescent fixture that takes an F15 bulb Replacement bulb $6.88 New fixture including bulb $6.96 The fixture is "assembled in USA" too. Makes one wonder how they do the pricing of this stuff. the one i love is the ink for my inkjet printer. printer complete with 4 inks and 2 printheads on amazon.com $98 pkg of 4 inks alone (no print heads) $125. Yes, twice i've bought new printers, pulled the ink out of the top of the box and put the rest in the dumpster. -- Steve Barker remove the "not" from my address to email |
Repair or replace
On 3/26/2011 11:53 PM, Ed Pawlowski wrote:
Repair or replace. That question often comes up here. I had two examples in the past week. I have a Rubbermaid mailbox and post that wad damaged in the snowstorms. Replacement post, delivered $54 New mailbox and post $52 The light under the kitchen cabinet burned out. It is a fluorescent fixture that takes an F15 bulb Replacement bulb $6.88 New fixture including bulb $6.96 The fixture is "assembled in USA" too. Makes one wonder how they do the pricing of this stuff. What kind of ballast did either light have? I'll make a SWAG that the heavy copper wire ballast will now be more costly than an electronic switching ballast with small light transformers. At one time electronic ballasts were more expensive than boat anchor ballasts. TDD |
Repair or replace
Steve Barker wrote:
On 3/26/2011 11:53 PM, Ed Pawlowski wrote: Repair or replace. That question often comes up here. I had two examples in the past week. I have a Rubbermaid mailbox and post that wad damaged in the snowstorms. Replacement post, delivered $54 New mailbox and post $52 The light under the kitchen cabinet burned out. It is a fluorescent fixture that takes an F15 bulb Replacement bulb $6.88 New fixture including bulb $6.96 The fixture is "assembled in USA" too. Makes one wonder how they do the pricing of this stuff. the one i love is the ink for my inkjet printer. printer complete with 4 inks and 2 printheads on amazon.com $98 pkg of 4 inks alone (no print heads) $125. Yes, twice i've bought new printers, pulled the ink out of the top of the box and put the rest in the dumpster. It's the Gillette business model: Give away the razor and sell the blades. In your case, I recommend refilling the cartridges. We just bought a set of refillable cartridges (six) for $13 from an Ebay seller. Even if you DON'T refill them, the initial charge of ink (included) is still way cheaper than OEM replacement cartridges. |
Repair or replace
On Sun, 27 Mar 2011 00:53:38 -0400, "Ed Pawlowski"
wrote: Repair or replace. That question often comes up here. I had two examples in the past week. was thinking about getting a new head for my electric razor. new head is $28. new razor is $32 |
Repair or replace
On Mar 28, 6:59*am, bob wrote:
On Sun, 27 Mar 2011 00:53:38 -0400, "Ed Pawlowski" wrote: Repair or replace. That question often comes up here. *I had two examples in the past week. was thinking about getting a new head for my electric razor. new head is $28. new razor is $32 I service roll laminators for a living around pittsburgh. They put plastic on paper think menus. I try to buy junk GBC ultimate 65 laminators to use for parts. The machines retail street price is 1500 bucks Rollers at 500 bucks each, for 4 and other parts like main board make repairing them expensive. GBCs profit center must be parts a 6 bucks circuit breaker from digi key is sold by GBC for about 30 bucks. Of course their labor rate just went up again to $250 to $300 bucks for the first hour:( Some companies dont want people to fix stuff there must be tremendous big bucks in importing china and korean made products |
Repair or replace
On 3/28/2011 5:48 AM, HeyBub wrote:
Steve Barker wrote: On 3/26/2011 11:53 PM, Ed Pawlowski wrote: Repair or replace. That question often comes up here. I had two examples in the past week. I have a Rubbermaid mailbox and post that wad damaged in the snowstorms. Replacement post, delivered $54 New mailbox and post $52 The light under the kitchen cabinet burned out. It is a fluorescent fixture that takes an F15 bulb Replacement bulb $6.88 New fixture including bulb $6.96 The fixture is "assembled in USA" too. Makes one wonder how they do the pricing of this stuff. the one i love is the ink for my inkjet printer. printer complete with 4 inks and 2 printheads on amazon.com $98 pkg of 4 inks alone (no print heads) $125. Yes, twice i've bought new printers, pulled the ink out of the top of the box and put the rest in the dumpster. It's the Gillette business model: Give away the razor and sell the blades. In your case, I recommend refilling the cartridges. We just bought a set of refillable cartridges (six) for $13 from an Ebay seller. Even if you DON'T refill them, the initial charge of ink (included) is still way cheaper than OEM replacement cartridges. I prefer to use the genuine HP ink. Its why i use an HP printer. On the occasions i print color, i don't need any cheap assed wanna be ink in my printer. I refilled back in the day, and all i can say is "BTDT". no thanks. -- Steve Barker remove the "not" from my address to email |
Repair or replace
On 3/26/2011 21:53, Ed Pawlowski wrote:
Repair or replace. That question often comes up here. I had two examples in the past week. I have a Rubbermaid mailbox and post that wad damaged in the snowstorms. Replacement post, delivered $54 New mailbox and post $52 Rubbermaid uses economy of scale by packaging complete mailbox assemblies and shipping them to retailers through an established distribution network. Replacement parts are a deviation from the norm, and prices reflect the increased cost of maintaining a supply of replacement parts and specially delivering them to the consumer. The light under the kitchen cabinet burned out. It is a fluorescent fixture that takes an F15 bulb Replacement bulb $6.88 New fixture including bulb $6.96 The difference between this example and that of the mailbox is that the bulb is a consumable item. Otherwise the same pricing principles apply. -- |
Repair or replace
On Sun, 27 Mar 2011 08:27:21 -0400, Ed Pawlowski wrote:
I'm not sure how old it is, but over ten years. Until this year's heavy snow, it has actually held up well against the plow debris. Maybe it just got brittle over time, but it was cracked at the bottom and I had one hell of a time breaking the rest of it off. The design is a steel rod pounded into the dirt, no digging, no cement to mix. The previous owners of our place mounted the box on a spring-loaded arm - it's been clipped by passing plows a few times and so far hasn't broken. I'm surprised there isn't a commercial kit to do that - seems to work well, and I see many destroyed boxes up here in the winter. The one feature of this mailbox we really like is the telltale flag. When the MM opens the door, it pops up a yellow flag on the side and it is visible from the house so you know if the mail came. That's a nice feature. Shame it can't tell between good mail and junk ;-) cheers Jules |
Repair or replace
On Sun, 27 Mar 2011 00:53:38 -0400, Ed Pawlowski wrote:
Makes one wonder how they do the pricing of this stuff. The stuff is crap and cheap to make - the cost is all in maintaining the inventory, and it costs about as much to hold the parts as it does the complete item. |
Repair or replace
On Sun, 27 Mar 2011 20:39:51 -0400, Tony Miklos wrote:
On 3/27/2011 7:34 PM, Stormin Mormon wrote: Prosumer? Huh? That's between a professional and a consumer. Oh... professional. Not prostitute. ;) |
Repair or replace
On Sun, 27 Mar 2011 15:44:31 -0600, Tony Hwang wrote:
My rule of thumb, buy best you can afford, keep it long. I'm not sure that works so well these days - I see a lot of expensive stuff on the market that still isn't built to last or be repairable when it does break... for the higher-end items, companies are often relying on the good reputation that they once had more than anything. It can be amusing looking at big shiny stuff like TVs in the store, then asking the salesfolk if you can take it apart to see if it's actually any good or not. They're usually rather reluctant. ;-) |
Repair or replace
On Sun, 27 Mar 2011 18:35:01 -0400, aemeijers wrote:
Are there any tinkerers and DIY's that don't have a touch of OCD? I have stuff spread over three continents :-) cheers Jules |
Repair or replace
If a prosumer is a customer for prostitutes, what is an
assumer? Or a consumer? -- Christopher A. Young Learn more about Jesus www.lds.org .. "Jules Richardson" wrote in message ... On Sun, 27 Mar 2011 20:39:51 -0400, Tony Miklos wrote: On 3/27/2011 7:34 PM, Stormin Mormon wrote: Prosumer? Huh? That's between a professional and a consumer. Oh... professional. Not prostitute. ;) |
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