Old stock

[bungeejumper]

Slow days in the DIY sheds, by the look of it. My local B&Q this morning was like the Marie Celeste, again. Nobody much in the store except for the staff, who were all smiling and greeting at anyone who looked like they might buy something. It was almost a bit spooky.

But there are two sides to an empty DIY shed, and I nearly tripped up. I was in for a couple of bags of Blue Circle cement (among other things), and I'd already put them onto my trolley when I checked the expiry date and found that the cement had only a couple of days to run. The entire pallet was close to going off. Which was sad news for the store manager, but it would have annoyed me even more, since I wasn't planning on using the cement for a couple of weeks.

Fair enough, there was another pallet nearby with an end-July expiry date, so it was up to me to make sure I bought that one and not the old stock. But it was a timely reminder to me to double-check on expiry dates for this kind of stuff. (Especially plaster, but also fire cement, which can also hang around on the shelves.) Lesson learned.

BJ

[JMN2]

It's not like buying milk or fish...

[bungeejumper]

It's not like buying milk or fish...

So remind me, what is it that those Nordics do with fish?

BJ

[quelquod]

Not only slow-moving items (or only B&Q etc.). I ordered some Paslode nail packs from Screwfix and had to reject them due to the gas being out of date. Not that I think that gas expires all that suddenly of course, but that's not the point.

[stewamax]

Another nail in the B&Q coffin: for ages the nearest Screwfix has been 15 miles away, but no longer - they have just opened up five minutes drive from our B&Q. And local Wolseley plumbing will probably suffer too unless they reduce their prices (but I imagine their pricing is national or at least regional).

[AF62]

Another nail in the B&Q coffin: for ages the nearest Screwfix has been 15 miles away, but no longer - they have just opened up five minutes drive from our B&Q.

As B&Q and Screwfix have the same owners you would hope they know what they are doing. In my town B&Q and Screwfix face each other on opposite sides of the road. The B&Q car park is always far busier at a weekend and busier with 'non-trade' cars, so I can only guess there are a lot of people who still find it off-putting to be faced with a catalogue and a counter.

Anyway they are probably hoping that the reduction in profit from people moving from B&Q to Screwfix is made up with new customers using Screwfix rather than other suppliers in the area.

[csearle]

I quite like Screwfix. Most of what I want is available there. It is mostly cheaper than elsewhere.

The few things I find to note are:

1. certain items including copper, like cable, are often cheaper at electrical wholesalers,
2. certain plastic items, e.g. oval trunking, are of such a low grade that they are horrible to use, I'd rather pay more,
3. sometimes to get 15 of some part I would need to get three from five stores within 35 miles - or wait a day (often not an option).

Apart from that they're great!

Chris

[quelquod]

And the lacquer on their brass faceplates is so poor that a few fingermarks quickly start to stain the metal.
(And oh how I wish there was a standard for terminal placement on 2-gang socket faceplates!).

[csearle]

(And oh how I wish there was a standard for terminal placement on 2-gang socket faceplates!).

Yes, some terminals are marked be the faintest most difficult to read letters. There seems, as you say, neither rhyme nor reason as to where the terminals might appear. Some have so little depth that the average (let's say 11mm) stripped, folded copper part of the wire still pokes out of the hole so has to be re-done. Some have an Earth busbar right in front of the hole so any slight nervous shake of the neutral wire (brought on no doubt by the thought of knocking out the client's power to his unsaved computer-work) is enough to trip the RCD. Some have such a weak bit of metal attached to the Earth terminal that you can't tighten it up without bending it.

I like the MK ones for their terminal placement and hole depth but I find the material of the grub screws a bit soft for my liking. There are some that have two terminal holes per conductor, which can be quite useful, and many colour code the terminals so you don't have to twist and tilt the thing in the half-light to read the writing. I like that too.

When it comes to switches though I like best the Click modular ones that allow you to create pretty much whatever switch plate you want simply by swapping out the switch modules. Much cheaper than grid-switches.

Regards,
Chris