Man , screw box stores

[blues90]

I haven't been in one of the cinder block abominations in 6 years of more .

I am doing a job to survive rebuilding lamps and ceiling fixtures from the 30's and 40's for some place .

All the smaller hardware stores here have a very limited selection on electical supplies so I thought Home D . Boy was I wrong , they have NOTHING beside being so over crowded and the help could not be more useless .

All I needed was wire and some sockets and connectors , some I got but your choice is 17 feet or 500 feet or bulk where you need to find some worker to cut it for you and of course they did not have enough of each color I needed , no one seems to stock the crap or is even aware .

I swear I'll never enter another box store as long as I live I would rather cut my own wrists first . My have thing in these box stores gotten worse in just the 6 years since my last visit .

All the old shops are now gone forever . now you are forced to go online and pay shipping and deal with a customer service person who knows nothing about the products if you happen to have a question .

Now If I wanted fast food well then that's a different story or clothes , no problem or electronics , no problem , however if you need to repair anything you are on an egg hunt in the middle of the atlantic in a row boat .

[Vincardog]

1. I hear you. It is soooo true.

[SoCalDem]

2. Shop for that stuff online..some places even have free shipping

everything I have ordered online usually arrives in a few days, and in perfect condition..

You might also look in 2nd hand stores.. buy OLD lamps & cannibalize them for hard to find parts :)

[pepperbear]

3. They're even outsourcing the fast food jobs....

drive ins are using call centers to proces orders.

http://www.metafilter.com/38901/McDonalds-Outsourcing-Drive-Through-Order-Takers

[karlrschneider]

4. Are there Lowe's where you live? I find them to be excellent for stuff like that.

We buy a lot of electrical supplies there...they even have good commercial-grade stuff.

[ben_meyers]

5. Nobody goes there anymore

because they're always overcrowded!

[blues90]

6. Going in one of these places is like working in a factory

You need a hard-hat , and safety glasses just to keep for getting killed by a 2x2 or like today some lady on a cell phone holding two garden rakes right out in the aisle just as I walked by . These people are completely unaware of where they are and what they are doing .

[Swamp Rat]

7. Home Depot sells junk.

Period.

[blues90]

8. Absolutely ,!

[yy4me]

9. You might check this out, we used Kirks Lane for years as a

source for parts to restore antique lamps and lighting. They have things that were not available elsewhere. I believe there is a minimum order but where else can you but lamp socket bases with side cord holes? This is a wholesale only operation with over 4000 items in the catalog. Worth a call to see if they sell what you need. Pictures shown on-line are limited.

http://www.kirkslane.com/index.cfm?killnav=1

Good luck...and I agree about the big box building supply stores. If I go in with a list of 6 things, I usually come out with two and with a great deal of frustration.