TonyI had to buy a box of nine hundred assorted panhead bolts just for two M1.7 ones to repair a Weston Master light meter.
The modern age is dumb. Bring back proper hardware stores, please.
My mum worked in a local hardware store before I was born. Even when I was a teenager, she was bumping into people she knew from her time there; regular customers who would sometimes pop in for one specific bolt, a couple of sheets of sandpaper, or an assortment of O-rings.
While this is no means a new statement, every so often I am reminded that we have just lost so much as a society.
Tristan Colgate-McFarlane@coldkennels my grandfather worked in one in Croydon, I only went in once or twice when I was *very* young, but my memory of it is *exactly* the one int he Two Ronnies sketch.
@tmcfarlane Hah. That's how I remember the one my mum used to work in - a real relic. It survived until the turn of the millennium, but it was gone by the time Google Street View first visited the area in 2009. The space it used to take up holds a curry house now.
@coldkennels my grandad even had the long brown coat. I actually don't really remember where it was, either central croydon (maybe round near the law courts), or up in new addington. I'd be shocked if the building is still there (this must have been about '84.
maya_b 🇨🇦if you're ever in London, Clerkenwell Screws has you covered. They have all of them I think. Certainly any oddballs I've ever thrown at them
Xyphoid process@coldkennels I'm glad we got Hornbach. They sell screws, bolts and other hardware by weight or number (depends on the product). They have everything for most jobs in or around the house.
@XyphoidProcess That's the ideal setup.
I did have a look to see if I could buy M1.7 bolts on their own somewhere. The best option I could find online was a sack of 500 direct from China - even less reasonable than the mixed box I ended up with.
Meanwhile, the town I currently live in is so useless that I couldn't even find screen cleaning wipes in any shops in the town centre. That's what's "killing retail" (well, that and sky-high rents), not online shopping.
Myphatself@coldkennels but the cost is the same for a box of them as it would have been for 2 in the "proper" store.
@Myphatself Not even close. I paid £8 for this box. No traditional hardware store in their right mind would sell a 4mm long M1.7 bolt for £4.
Of course, they wouldn't be the same price per bolt compared to this box, so am I getting "more" for my money? Yes. But how much of this am I ever going to use? How much of it is just waste? And how much is the expertise/advice of the shop keeper worth?
The hyperfixation on "lower prices" - even when they're not lower in real terms - is ruining us.