If you have an active local freecycle, you might try posting an ad requesting canning jars. I did that and scored a huge haul of quart and pint jars...almost 200 of them, if I remember correctly. They all came from the same person. I see other people posting requests from time to time, so part of it must be just luck of the timing. Sorry about your jar mishap. I'm sure the cleanup was not a fun chore! I dropped an empty jar last week and it hit the edge of a heavy glass mixing bowl. The jar shattered and shards were all over the kitchen. I was barefoot at the time and couldn't move until my husband brought my shoes and helped with the cleanup. The dishwasher was open and glass particles were in the machine and dishes, particles were all over the counters, across the room, and even down in the garbage disposal. Thankfully, no open food containers were out. Jill

My husband and I had an appointment at a Direct Buy in New York City. After the sales pitch, we were given the opportunity to view the catalogs of affiliated manufacturers. We were mainly interested in furniture (case goods and upholstery) and home furnishing items (fabric, accessories, etc.). The highest quality level of these items were on the low end of what I would term "mid-quality" home furniture. Several furniture manufacturers were low-end mass-market type. I was disappointed to find that only a couple of the furniture manufacturers I was interested in were participants of Direct Buy. That said, the pricing structure of the two manufacturers I was interested in, which had a couple of case good pieces I wanted to price out, was virtually the same as what a smart shopper will negotiate at their local furniture store. The high membership fees become ridiculous in this scenario. We also saw that a number of products actually had surcharges applied to them. These surcharges make purchasing from Direct Buy more expensive. We also noticed that home electronics and applicance items were not competitve to what one could price out at the local PC Richards or other electronics stores. Direct Buy is not the place to go for appliances/electronics items--there is heavy competition for these items and many places one can go to find the best price. While we were sitting with the Direct Buy sales associate, my husband called his contact at the electronics/appliance store we have purchased from for years, priced the exact model of an item available from Direct Buy and found that the Direct Buy price was in fact more than $100 more expensive. All this said, the high membership fees that Direct Buy charges may be of value to individuals who first and foremost have many, many purchases to make, i.e., a whole house to purchase for and are the kind of people who: (1) Don't have the time or inclination to research the best price among retailers. This is quite understandable, it takes time and effort to get the best value for your money!! (2) Are willing to settle for lesser quality items (for the money) in purchasing items for their home--this is really a point about making sure you purchase enough items to justify that hefty membership fee! (3) Doesn't like to negotiate with sales people. This is really a good point to make in favor of a Direct Buy kind of place--many people in the United States don't like to do this & Direct Buy has already done it for you. You're not getting the best price or best quality for your $$ but at least you're not paying full retail!

Is it a local builder? A manufactured home or modular home dealer? What?

I did a google search "meganite review" and this complaint board popped up. It doen't sound like most of the folks liked it very much, claiming it scratched and marked easily. I found very , very limited info about this product on the web at all. Personally, I would not try a product that seems to have a very limited track record. Here is a link that might be useful: meganite reviews