Needing some Postcrete, I checked out local prices, and Wikes
seemed best. The oddity is that, at £5.60 each, or £4.03 each for
5, buying 5 is cheaper than 4. As I have 4 posts to fix, it was a
no-brainer.

Chris
--
Chris J Dixon Nottingham UK


Have dancing shoes, will ceilidh.

On 03/02/2011 17:26, Chris J Dixon wrote:
Needing some Postcrete, I checked out local prices, and Wikes
seemed best. The oddity is that, at £5.60 each, or £4.03 each for
5, buying 5 is cheaper than 4. As I have 4 posts to fix, it was a
no-brainer.

Chris

Wickes are like that.

10 pack of 18 x 28 x 1.8m PSE timber is £10.49. Singles are £1.49, so
if you want more than 7 you may as well buy the pack.

The reverse is also true. An 8 x 4 of 12mm ply is £25.67 but an 8 x 2 of
12mm ply is $24.59?

Go figure

--
Dave - The Medway Handyman www.medwayhandyman.co.uk

Chris J Dixon wrote:
Needing some Postcrete, I checked out local prices, and Wikes
seemed best. The oddity is that, at £5.60 each, or £4.03 each for
5, buying 5 is cheaper than 4. As I have 4 posts to fix, it was a
no-brainer.

Chris

I found that buying tiles for my kitchen at Topps. It was cheaper to buy
4m2 than 3. Very odd and not a little wasteful.

On 03/02/2011 17:58, The Medway Handyman wrote:
....
The reverse is also true. An 8 x 4 of 12mm ply is £25.67 but an 8 x 2 of
12mm ply is $24.59?...

Assuming that should be a pound sign, it is not at all uncommon to find
that a cutting charge makes a cut size is nearly as expensive as the
manufactured size.

Colin Bignell

In article ,
says...
Needing some Postcrete, I checked out local prices, and Wikes
seemed best. The oddity is that, at £5.60 each, or £4.03 each for
5, buying 5 is cheaper than 4. As I have 4 posts to fix, it was a
no-brainer.


I had a row with my boss some time in the 80s about this. He wanted 80
DAC80s, which at the time weren't cheap chips. It turned out that buying
100 would be cheaper /overall/, not just per chip.

Could I convince him? Could I hell. And this man had a PhD in a proper
technical subject (not flower arranging from Wolverhampton Poly).

So I bought 100 anyway and had great joy having them to hand when he
fried half a dozen.

--
Skipweasel - never knowingly understood.

On Feb 3, 6:30 pm, Skipweasel wrote:
In article ,
says...

Needing some Postcrete, I checked out local prices, and Wikes
seemed best. The oddity is that, at £5.60 each, or £4.03 each for
5, buying 5 is cheaper than 4. As I have 4 posts to fix, it was a
no-brainer.

I had a row with my boss some time in the 80s about this. He wanted 80
DAC80s, which at the time weren't cheap chips. It turned out that buying
100 would be cheaper /overall/, not just per chip.

Could I convince him? Could I hell. And this man had a PhD in a proper
technical subject (not flower arranging from Wolverhampton Poly).

bet the flower arrangers are on your level (at least with the bulk
discounts).... ;)

Jim K

On 03/02/2011 17:58, The Medway Handyman wrote:
On 03/02/2011 17:26, Chris J Dixon wrote:
Needing some Postcrete, I checked out local prices, and Wikes
seemed best. The oddity is that, at £5.60 each, or £4.03 each for
5, buying 5 is cheaper than 4. As I have 4 posts to fix, it was a
no-brainer.

Wickes are like that.

Indeed. And (allegedly) you can take back the unused 5th post (having
lost the receipt) and get £5.60 credit against your next purchase

David

On 03/02/2011 18:10, Nightjar "cpb"@ insertmysurnamehere wrote:
On 03/02/2011 17:58, The Medway Handyman wrote:
...
The reverse is also true. An 8 x 4 of 12mm ply is £25.67 but an 8 x 2 of
12mm ply is $24.59?...

Assuming that should be a pound sign,

I should :-)

it is not at all uncommon to find
that a cutting charge makes a cut size is nearly as expensive as the
manufactured size.

B&Q bigger stores offer first cut free, my local BM charges 50p a cut.


--
Dave - The Medway Handyman www.medwayhandyman.co.uk

"Chris J Dixon" wrote in message
...
Needing some Postcrete, I checked out local prices, and Wikes
seemed best. The oddity is that, at £5.60 each, or £4.03 each for
5, buying 5 is cheaper than 4. As I have 4 posts to fix, it was a
no-brainer.

Chris
--
Chris J Dixon Nottingham UK


Have dancing shoes, will ceilidh.

Maybe I'm cynical, but perhaps this pricing allows them to make a healthy
profit from small-scale DIYers (who can't fit large quantities of stuff in
their cars, and wouldn't want to store extra stuff at home even if they
could), while still offering attractive prices to trade customers who have
vans?

Wickes' website says that they don't offer trade discounts, which surprises
me:
http://www.wickes.co.uk/pcat/quickAnswers#4

I suppose Postcrete might be a special case, because there's little point in
a DIYer buying more than is immediately needed, in case it goes off in the
bag and has to be taken to the tip.

In article , The Medway Handyman
writes

B&Q bigger stores offer first cut free, my local BM charges 50p a cut.

Unless it has changed recently, the warehouses do 5 free cuts per sheet
and the guys at the 2 near me can do decent cuts.
--
fred
FIVE TV's superbright logo - not the DOG's, it's ********

In article ,
says...
B&Q bigger stores offer first cut free, my local BM charges 50p a cut.

That's recently changed, at least at the Wednesbury B+Q. They used to do
first four free, then 50p/cut, though if you were helpful the bloke
usually overlooked it.

Now they've given up and just cut the stuff.

--
Skipweasel - never knowingly understood.

(%EMAIL) wibbled on Thursday 03 February 2011 18:10:

On 03/02/2011 17:58, The Medway Handyman wrote:
...
The reverse is also true. An 8 x 4 of 12mm ply is £25.67 but an 8 x 2 of
12mm ply is $24.59?...

Assuming that should be a pound sign, it is not at all uncommon to find
that a cutting charge makes a cut size is nearly as expensive as the
manufactured size.

Colin Bignell


2 cuts in B&Q are free - so if it the convenience of a car sized cut, go
somewhere with cutting facilities (or take a saw) and keep some spare for
another project.
--
Tim Watts

On 03/02/2011 19:22, The Medway Handyman wrote:
On 03/02/2011 18:10, Nightjar "cpb"@ insertmysurnamehere wrote:
On 03/02/2011 17:58, The Medway Handyman wrote:
...
The reverse is also true. An 8 x 4 of 12mm ply is £25.67 but an 8 x 2 of
12mm ply is $24.59?...

Assuming that should be a pound sign,

I should :-)

it is not at all uncommon to find
that a cutting charge makes a cut size is nearly as expensive as the
manufactured size.

B&Q bigger stores offer first cut free, my local BM charges 50p a cut.

Is that to buy a whole sheet and get it cut to size, or to get a piece
cut off the whole and only buy the bit cut off - which is what I mean by
a cut size?

Colin Bignell

On 03/02/2011 20:58, Nightjar "cpb"@ insertmysurnamehere wrote:
On 03/02/2011 19:22, The Medway Handyman wrote:
On 03/02/2011 18:10, Nightjar "cpb"@ insertmysurnamehere wrote:
On 03/02/2011 17:58, The Medway Handyman wrote:
...
The reverse is also true. An 8 x 4 of 12mm ply is £25.67 but an 8 x
2 of
12mm ply is $24.59?...

Assuming that should be a pound sign,

I should :-)

it is not at all uncommon to find
that a cutting charge makes a cut size is nearly as expensive as the
manufactured size.

B&Q bigger stores offer first cut free, my local BM charges 50p a cut.

Is that to buy a whole sheet and get it cut to size, or to get a piece
cut off the whole and only buy the bit cut off - which is what I mean by
a cut size?

Ah, sorry. That is to buy the whole sheet.

An 8 x 4 is heavy, difficult to handle & a problem to secure to the roof
rack. I find an 8 x 2 much easier.

However, in the Wickes case (who don't offer a cutting service) buying
two 8 x 2's would cost nearly twice the cost of a single 8 x 4.


--
Dave - The Medway Handyman www.medwayhandyman.co.uk

On 03/02/2011 19:27, MrFerrous wrote:
"Chris J wrote in message
...
Needing some Postcrete, I checked out local prices, and Wikes
seemed best. The oddity is that, at £5.60 each, or £4.03 each for
5, buying 5 is cheaper than 4. As I have 4 posts to fix, it was a
no-brainer.

Chris
--
Chris J Dixon Nottingham UK


Have dancing shoes, will ceilidh.

Maybe I'm cynical, but perhaps this pricing allows them to make a healthy
profit from small-scale DIYers (who can't fit large quantities of stuff in
their cars, and wouldn't want to store extra stuff at home even if they
could), while still offering attractive prices to trade customers who have
vans?

Wickes' website says that they don't offer trade discounts, which surprises
me:

They do a loyalty card which is 'apparently' trade only. You get points
rather like Tesco, but it doesn't add up to very much at all.

Every now & then I get a few 10% off vouchers which come in handy.


--
Dave - The Medway Handyman www.medwayhandyman.co.uk

On 03/02/2011 22:34, The Medway Handyman wrote:
On 03/02/2011 19:27, MrFerrous wrote:
"Chris J wrote in message

They do a loyalty card which is 'apparently' trade only. You get points
rather like Tesco, but it doesn't add up to very much at all.


It's not trade only (or marketed as that) but is geared to be only
worthwhile if you spend a lot.

You get £10 in Wickes per £1000 spend, apparently (more if you use
Wickes a lot) and the reward points expire after 12 months if not
redeemed. So not a wonderful scheme really!

David

The Medway Handyman wrote:

The reverse is also true. An 8 x 4 of 12mm ply is £25.67 but an 8 x 2 of
12mm ply is $24.59?

Yes, I went to the information desk to check on the price of
square trellis, which they confirmed as £15.99 for 6 x 6 and also
£15.99 for 6 x 3. I asked because I thought one of them might
have been a mistake. The manager happened to be standing nearby
and explained that they simply put a markup on what it cost them,
and the lower turnover on the 6 x 3 meant it worked out the same
price.

Chris
--
Chris J Dixon Nottingham UK


Have dancing shoes, will ceilidh.

On Feb 3, 5:58*pm, The Medway Handyman
wrote:
On 03/02/2011 17:26, Chris J Dixon wrote:

Needing some Postcrete, I checked out local prices, and Wikes
seemed best. The oddity is that, at 5.60 each, or 4.03 each for
5, buying 5 is cheaper than 4. As I have 4 posts to fix, it was a
no-brainer.

Chris

Wickes are like that.

Like what? That's how quantity discounts work.

10 pack of 18 x 28 x 1.8m PSE timber is 10.49. *Singles are 1.49, so
if you want more than 7 you may as well buy the pack.

Well, there's not much point in 10 for the price of 9.5 is there?
that's hardly a discount and would raise just as much bluster.

MBQ

On 04/02/2011 09:50, Man at B&Q wrote:
On Feb 3, 5:58 pm, The Medway
wrote:
On 03/02/2011 17:26, Chris J Dixon wrote:

Needing some Postcrete, I checked out local prices, and Wikes
seemed best. The oddity is that, at 5.60 each, or 4.03 each for
5, buying 5 is cheaper than 4. As I have 4 posts to fix, it was a
no-brainer.

Chris

Wickes are like that.

Like what? That's how quantity discounts work.

No it isn't.


10 pack of 18 x 28 x 1.8m PSE timber is 10.49. Singles are 1.49, so
if you want more than 7 you may as well buy the pack.

Well, there's not much point in 10 for the price of 9.5 is there?
that's hardly a discount and would raise just as much bluster.

???

Did we fail maths at skule?


--
Dave - The Medway Handyman www.medwayhandyman.co.uk

On Feb 4, 7:30 am, Chris J Dixon wrote:
The Medway Handyman wrote:
The reverse is also true. An 8 x 4 of 12mm ply is 25.67 but an 8 x 2 of
12mm ply is $24.59?

Yes, I went to the information desk to check on the price of
square trellis, which they confirmed as 15.99 for 6 x 6 and also
15.99 for 6 x 3. I asked because I thought one of them might
have been a mistake. The manager happened to be standing nearby
and explained that they simply put a markup on what it cost them,
and the lower turnover on the 6 x 3 meant it worked out the same
price.

Chris
--
Chris J Dixon Nottingham UK


Have dancing shoes, will ceilidh.

I'd be amazed the "manager" had any knowledge of real pricing
structure - just suited droids to bollock the late comer staff, do the
firing of slackers, dealing with an occasional "I insist on seeing the
manager" Consumer activist - rest is "computer says no".

Jim K