Went to Screwfix for 4 items. 3 packets of jigsaw blades
and 50 cross dowels. All of which can easily be held in one
hand. The guy serving me wheeled them out on a basket trolley
thing with duff wheels he had trouble pushing. He then had
to bend right down to get the stuff out of the trolley.
You'd think he might have caught on when he got the last thing
out of the rack/bin. Dunno. Anyway.
Turning from the counter on the way out there was a promotion
bin featuring
- Dewalt Socks



michael adams

....

In message , michael adams
writes
Went to Screwfix for 4 items. 3 packets of jigsaw blades
and 50 cross dowels. All of which can easily be held in one
hand. The guy serving me wheeled them out on a basket trolley
thing with duff wheels he had trouble pushing. He then had
to bend right down to get the stuff out of the trolley.
You'd think he might have caught on when he got the last thing
out of the rack/bin. Dunno. Anyway.
Turning from the counter on the way out there was a promotion
bin featuring
- Dewalt Socks

Screwfix Sunday afternoon...

Queue out of the door, one clerk on duty and a customer at the front who
clearly had not sorted out his *back ups* for the out of stock items.

B+Q were not much quicker and about 3x the price:-(

regards

--
Tim Lamb

On 6 Nov, 10:36, Tim Lamb wrote:
In message , michael adams
writes

Went to Screwfix for 4 items. 3 packets of jigsaw blades
and 50 cross dowels. All of which can easily be held in one
hand. The guy serving me wheeled them out on a basket trolley
thing with duff wheels he had trouble pushing. He then had
to bend right down to get the stuff out of the trolley.
You'd think he might have caught on when he got the last thing
out of the rack/bin. Dunno. Anyway.
Turning from the counter on the way out there was a promotion
bin featuring
* - Dewalt Socks

Screwfix Sunday afternoon...

Queue out of the door, one clerk on duty and a customer at the front who
clearly had not sorted out his *back ups* for the out of stock items.

B+Q were not much quicker and about 3x the price:-(

regards

--
Tim Lamb

Screwfix Livingston - Sunday afternoon; now shut Sunday and Saturday
afternoon. OK that might be necessary business wise, but why couldn't
they be joined up and use their databases to send out en email to the
regular customers ?

Rob

On Fri, 6 Nov 2009 04:43:23 -0800 (PST), robgraham wrote:

Screwfix Livingston - Sunday afternoon; now shut Sunday and Saturday
afternoon.

Sunday I can almost understand but Saturday?

Just find a a Tool Station. There is one in Carlisle now, whoo hoo!
45 mile round trip but I go that way at least once a week. The
nearest Screwfix is an 70 mile round trip in a direction I rarely go,
screw them...

--
Cheers
Dave.

On 6 Nov, 10:36, Tim Lamb wrote:

Screwfix Sunday afternoon...

Queue out of the door, one clerk on duty and a customer at the front who
clearly had not sorted out his *back ups* for the out of stock items.

Or "going to Toolstation in the first place" as I prefer to term them.
Our local Screwfix doesn't seem to stock anything now except 16th
edition consumer units and NiCd batteries.

On 6 Nov, 15:17, Andy Dingley wrote:
On 6 Nov, 10:36, Tim Lamb wrote:

Screwfix Sunday afternoon...

Queue out of the door, one clerk on duty and a customer at the front who
clearly had not sorted out his *back ups* for the out of stock items.

Or "going to Toolstation in the first place" as I prefer to term them.
Our local Screwfix doesn't seem to stock anything now except 16th
edition consumer units and NiCd batteries.

Ours has a prominent display of bathroom porcelain and a selection of
clothing on hangers !
Is their strap line still "where the trade buys" ?
Simon.

On Fri, 06 Nov 2009 08:18:06 -0800, sm_jamieson wrote:

Is their strap line still "where the trade buys" ?

Where the trade buys, if it can, is at their masonic Plumbfix or Sparkfix
counters where, apart from cheaper prices on everything in the relevant
catalogues one can also buy regular screwfix stuff without the queues of
plebs (i.e. uk.d-i-y types ducks! ;-))


--
John Stumbles -- http://yaph.co.uk

Hypnotising Hypnotists Can Be Tricky

On 7 Nov, 18:00, YAPH wrote:
On Fri, 06 Nov 2009 08:18:06 -0800, sm_jamieson wrote:
Is their strap line still "where the trade buys" ?

Where the trade buys, if it can, is at their masonic Plumbfix or Sparkfix
counters where, apart from cheaper prices on everything in the relevant
catalogues one can also buy regular screwfix stuff without the queues of
plebs (i.e. uk.d-i-y types ducks! ;-))

So where are the plumbfix and sparkfix branches ? None round here as
far as I know.
Are they online only ?
Also, I've heard you have to prove you are in the trade by having a
gassafe number etc.
But if you have a screwfix number, there is a loophole that lets you
join.
Anyone know any details about this, and what the special handshake
is ?
Thanks,
Simon.

On Sat, 07 Nov 2009 11:33:49 -0800, sm_jamieson wrote:

On 7 Nov, 18:00, YAPH wrote:
On Fri, 06 Nov 2009 08:18:06 -0800, sm_jamieson wrote:
Is their strap line still "where the trade buys" ?

Where the trade buys, if it can, is at their masonic Plumbfix or Sparkfix
counters where, apart from cheaper prices on everything in the relevant
catalogues one can also buy regular screwfix stuff without the queues of
plebs (i.e. uk.d-i-y types ducks! ;-))

So where are the plumbfix and sparkfix branches ? None round here as
far as I know.

Dunno how common they are. Here in Reading we've got 2 Screwfixes (and a
B&Q Trade-Pointless, less than a mile from the more -recently-opened SFX)
with plumbfix/sparkfix at the newer one.

Also, I've heard you have to prove you are in the trade by having a
gassafe number etc.

If you're gas registered I think you're automatically in with plumbfix,
and I think the same is true of NICEIC and sparkfix. However I got in on
the latter by quoting my NAPIT registration at them, so I guess you should
be able to get in on plumbfix with suitable evidence of trade-ness (e.g.
PL insurance as a 'plumber' or NVQ if you've got one)


Anyone know any details about this, and what the special handshake is ?

I could tell you, but then I'd have to kill you ;-)


--
John Stumbles -- http://yaph.co.uk

"I used to think correlation implied causation.
Then I took a statistics course and now I don't."
"Sounds as if the statistics course helped."
"Well, maybe."

On 7 Nov 2009 21:49:25 GMT, YAPH had this to say:

On Sat, 07 Nov 2009 11:33:49 -0800, sm_jamieson wrote:

On 7 Nov, 18:00, YAPH wrote:
On Fri, 06 Nov 2009 08:18:06 -0800, sm_jamieson wrote:
Is their strap line still "where the trade buys" ?

Where the trade buys, if it can, is at their masonic Plumbfix or Sparkfix
counters where, apart from cheaper prices on everything in the relevant
catalogues one can also buy regular screwfix stuff without the queues of
plebs (i.e. uk.d-i-y types ducks! ;-))

So where are the plumbfix and sparkfix branches ? None round here as
far as I know.

Dunno how common they are. Here in Reading we've got 2 Screwfixes (and a
B&Q Trade-Pointless, less than a mile from the more -recently-opened SFX)
with plumbfix/sparkfix at the newer one.

Also, I've heard you have to prove you are in the trade by having a
gassafe number etc.

If you're gas registered I think you're automatically in with plumbfix,
and I think the same is true of NICEIC and sparkfix. However I got in on
the latter by quoting my NAPIT registration at them, so I guess you should
be able to get in on plumbfix with suitable evidence of trade-ness (e.g.
PL insurance as a 'plumber' or NVQ if you've got one)

I have a SF account to buy odds and ends for an amateur theatre; when
Plumfix started I was sent numerous catalogues (these seem to have now
subsided) and an account, even though I've no connection with gas
stuff and have never even bought any gassy-type bits 'n' pieces for
use as stage props, from SF.

I think most of these supposed 'trade-only' places are only too
willing to sell to the general public - after all, most of my SF
purchases are more or less just one-offs. Probably any issue is with
the local authority not wanting the area to become a 'retail
park'-type of place.

At work we had an RS account and I never had any trouble buying stuff
for myself from their trade counter, just quoting my organisation's
delivery point code and paying by my own debit card. In fact when I
bought stuff for work I preferred to use my organisation's credit card
rather than put it 'through the system'.
In fact, since I retired a while ago, I'm a little wary of going back
to RS in case the account has been closed and I'm embarrassingly
turfed out of the place :-) Certainly the regional office to which
the account was related has now gone...

--
Frank Erskine

On Sat, 07 Nov 2009 23:36:19 +0000, Frank Erskine wrote:

I think most of these supposed 'trade-only' places are only too
willing to sell to the general public - after all, most of my SF
purchases are more or less just one-offs. Probably any issue is with
the local authority not wanting the area to become a 'retail
park'-type of place.

At work we had an RS account and I never had any trouble buying stuff
for myself from their trade counter, just quoting my organisation's
delivery point code and paying by my own debit card. In fact when I
bought stuff for work I preferred to use my organisation's credit card
rather than put it 'through the system'.

I remember many years ago (1970s) not being able to buy anything at RS's
Wust Mooodlands TC (somewhere in the arse-end of Brummagum, forget exactly
where) unless you were brandishing something like the letterhead of a
company with an account with them.

--
John Stumbles -- http://yaph.co.uk

The astronomer married a star

On Sat, 07 Nov 2009 23:36:19 +0000, Frank Erskine wrote:

I think most of these supposed 'trade-only' places are only too
willing to sell to the general public - after all, most of my SF
purchases are more or less just one-offs.

Agreed, with a small proviso that you know what you want. A
"non-trades" persons money is just as good a "trades" persons money.

Probably any issue is with the local authority not wanting the area to
become a 'retail park'-type of place.

That could be a reason, most "trade" places are industrial estates
with limited parking etc and do generally only deal with the trade.

The company could end up in a bit of mess if some one tried to use
consumer law against them in a dispute. Business to business sales
don't have all the consumer protection. But I think the only people
to benefit from such a case would be the lawyers.

--
Cheers
Dave.