Big Box rant
hairmetal4ever
6 years ago
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hairmetal4ever
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agoRelated Discussions
Have you ever wanted to counsel someone at a big box store?
Comments (35)Gary, One thing to keep in mind with orchids at the big boxes is many are, for the money, a better deal than buying cut flowers because they last so much longer. I do that, knowing that I know very little about keeping it alive or getting it to rebloom after it finally peters out. I just stick them in the boot of the palm tree out back and once in a blue moon fertilize them. And several have died out there, but one rebloomed for me recently. I felt like I doubled my money on that little very common purple and white dendrobium. I do the same thing with the little broms with the spectacular flowers (or whatever brom's non-flower flowers are called.) After several weeks, the flowers die and I plant them in the ground. I've had several of those rebloom too, and I'm even bringing pups and big divisions to the swap. They're not fancy, but for the $8 I paid, I got a lovely flower in the kitchen window for weeks, and if I get more, wow, yippee! I also think the orchids make much nicer hostess gifts than showing up with a bunch of cut flowers. If the hostess can't keep it alive to rebloom, he or she will at least get to enjoy the nice spray of flowers for much longer than cut flowers will last. (so when you see me at HD, don't bother to counsel me on my brom and orchid buys... just all the other stuff I might buy and potentially kill or hate!) As for the in-store kills, I saw a massacre in the making yesterday. Someone should go to the K-Mart in Miami Shores and convince the manager to sell them all the broms and orchids for cheap. They lost the shade covering in Fay and everything there is burned looking and won't last much longer. I thought about talking to him or her, but I don't know enough about orchids to think that even if they were heavily discounted, I could keep enough of them alive and get them to rebloom to make it worth it. susannah...See MoreBuying from big box vs. appliance store
Comments (18)I think some of the people commenting are missing your question. Manufacturers of plumbing fixtures and lawn mowers for example make "less expensive" lines which they pour into the big box stores. Then, at show rooms or manufacturer stores, they fill will higher end products. For example a John Deere mower will cost you more at the dealer, not because they jacked up the price, but because it's a higher end model that at the Home Depot. Most people don't wanna spend $6,000 on a mower so John Deere makes less expensive mowers. Ditto for plumbing fixtures. Your plumbing show room and Lowe's may indeed carry Moen, Delta etc. but those companies make less expensive faucets for the big box stores. There are more plastic pieces for example. That faucet may last you 5 years, but if you spend just a little more at the plumbing show room, your facet will have more metal pieces and last much longer. All a manufacturer's products will be decent, but the low end stuff ends up at the big box stores for consumers who wanna make a change but are on a budget. I see no reason why appliance manufacturers don't do the same. If you compare model number to model number exactly, then you will get the same product. However, I'm sure the big box stores and Best Buy don't even carry the high end stuff. So if appliances are anything like mowers or plumbing fixtures, you get what you pay for and YES, it's better to buy appliances at an appliance center instead of the big box stores but only because they'll have available units that the big box stores don't even get which would include more "meant to last" products....See MoreSupply/distribution center vs big box store
Comments (44)@ Sophie The entire reason that cost plus contracts were born was to remove contractors from quality decisions. For example, when NASA wants to build a rocket, they want to ensure quality rather than that it can be done under budget. This is done by control of the bidding process from all subcontractors. This idea of quality control and it's side effect of cost control was perfect for capital investments by businesses and so shortly after WW2 they stole it. When used well, by parties who understand the ideas, it works well for home construction also. However, too many contractors want to use it as if it is essentially a fixed price contract without any risk to them. If you want to ensure quality, or protect supply house relationships, then use a fixed price bid. However, if you want to be largely indemnified from any loss by using a cost plus contract then you give up all rights to dictate quality. There are many far less complimentary words to call someone who takes advantage of the lack of knowledge and experience of their customers. I went with lazy, because I believe the reason most contractors do this is because they simply don't want to go through the effort of producing a fixed price bid, when they can do a serious bid for their money and rough estimates for everything else. @ Joseph Nothing in the original post makes me think they agreed at any time to use his recommended supplier. They even call it a recommended supplier rather than a required supplier. Just because they are agree to a standard cost plus (contractor's net cost, plus contractor's set fee) doesn't mean he gets to decide where his costs come from. That is the consumer's purview in a cost plus contract....See Moreunknown volunteer in potted canna at big-box store
Comments (5)Yes, I believe macranthos is right. In my curiosity I went back today to see if the tag had the grower's location, and it did - Martin County, Florida. There were a number of these mixed pots, and I found another one containing the same volunteer (a bit smaller). Here's a better photo of the lower part of the original plant Might make an interesting dieback perennial here in Michigan ;)...See Moredigdirt2
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