Hi - Does anybody know where I can find cheap sockets (especially adaptors). I need (for example) an adaptor that allows me to put 1/4 drive sockets on my impact screwdriver (hex drive). I want a bunch of them as I keep losing them. I don't care about quality as they will be lost before they break.
The problem is that I have found that sockets are the biggest ripoff in the world. The retail cost must be 10,000 times the manufacturing cost. These things aren't exactly high-tech (I think the golden era for making a lump of metal peaked about a hundred years ago). If you buy a set, you'll just get one adaptor. If you try and buy several adaptors, you'll go broke.
Also, I need a place that ships to Canada at a rate less than sending the stuff into low Earth orbit aboard the Space Shuttle. I'm looking for the DealExtreme for tools (a socket adaptor for a buck and free shipping).
" snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com" wrote in news:3d9a8e7f-839d-416f- snipped-for-privacy@k1g2000yqf.googlegroups.com:
Try your local flea markets. These often have tools - usually made in India or China - for extremely cheap prices. These are probably the cheapest you'll find outside of used tools. But quality is commensurately low, so don't expect much.
Garage sales can be surprisingly good for used tools. But get there early, like 6:00am.
If you're in Canada you can try Princess Auto. Their Chinese-made stuff is pretty good quality for the home user.
every now and then there's a traveling tool sale that comes to town. Some of the stuff looks like Harbor Freight crap, but some is quite decent (a friend bought a set of "Cummins" brand polished combination wrenches there, and they're quite nice. They're twisted 90 degrees so you don't tear up your hand when using Excessive Force.)
Or, you could just go to Harbor Freight.
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Sometimes even HF stuff is OK... e.g. I bought a real Jacobs chuck there once, and also got a fairly decent grinder pedestal for about $30 although I think I'm going to replace the upright with some Sch.
40 sprinkler pipe to make it a little sturdier.
Pawn shop. Usually have buckets full of misc. sockets from pawned and unredeemed tool boxes. You want cheap, they've got 'em. You select/ sort sizes yourself.
Maybe you have more reasonable pawn shops where you are; around here I stopped even looking at hand tools because their prices were 50-75% of retail. Worth a look though.
At least one local pawn shop has started putting stuff on eBay rather than trying to sell through a storefront.
Thanks, I'll search around for some other suppliers as you mentioned. I checked the shipping at ACE ($20.70), but the bigger problem is that it is via UPS. UPS is just shy of a criminal organization where they keep your items until you pay brokerage fees that exceed the value of the items and the shipping. I don't know why a company would deal with them.
No, the customs rules are okay. UPS charges bizarre brokerage fees to carry your stuff through customs... fees which FedEx Ground and USPS do not do. It's not just Canada either... UPS will charge upwards of $50 on packages with no declared value on which no customs is owed, when shipping from China to the US.
Nope - as the other fellow mentioned... it's not the governments that are ripping us off. Canada Post charges a flat $5 for a brokerage fee (that's sounds reasonable to me). I have had brokerage fees from UPS that exceed that value of the item and the shipping. Now that I'm fired-up... UPS will keep coming to my house during the day and they don't figure-out that most people are not home during that time. I end up having to do their job (parcel delivery) and drive to the next town to pickup the parcel. Canada Post (yes a government organization) figured out a long time ago that treating customers like that would be ridiculous and they have agents all over the place where you can pickup your parcel near your home. Again, I dunno why anybody would deal with UPS.
snipped-for-privacy@panix.com (Scott Dorsey) wrote in news:h57qke$5gq$ snipped-for-privacy@panix2.panix.com:
FedEx Ground requires you to handle your own brokerage (we use Peace Bridge Brokers for that) at your own separate expense. FedEx Priority Overnight (Air) is a lot more expensive, but they handle the Customs stuff for you.
I've found that USPS has a weird rate structure that results in air shipments to Canada usually being cheaper than ground ones.
For end-users (consumers) the cheapest US->Can cross-border shipping is from USPS, but be prepared to WAIT!
So you're that $%^&*! that turns up at 6 when my sign says 8! Look dammit, I don't sell nothing until the coffee is brewed and the kid has come back from the store with the donuts.
Yup. Either way if you are shipping something that is not subject to duty, you don't have a problem.
Yes, and in fact you can no longer make ground shipments to most countries any longer. Your choice is ONLY air now, which means Fedex and DHL international services are cheaper.
I have actually had good luck going in both directions, going Priority. Much less than the two years that UPS took to deliver a package from Atlanta, GA to Chamblee, GA. a few years back.
" snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com" wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@g31g2000yqc.googlegroups.com:
It hasn't occurred to you that there might be some back-scratching between government departments, but not between government and private carriers?
They're not allowed to leave the parcels without somebody signing for them. If your neighbor /will/ be home, you can arrange with your neighbor to receive the package, and just put a note on your door telling the driver that. All carriers I know of will abide by this (except Canada Post).
You can register with most carriers for an account and a "No Signature Required" sticker that goes on your door. This authorizes the driver to leave your packages when you're not at home. I have stickers for FedEx and Purolator on my front door at home for this reason.
Canada Post will also /not/ deliver a parcel if you're not home and it won't fit in your mailbox. But I don't think you can register for NSR with them. It's just a good thing for them they can use their first-class mail infrastructure to handle parcels as well, which makes it more convenient for you to pick up stuff they won't deliver.
If their customer service is so good, then why did they stop giving direct home delivery to addresses built after about 1985?
It must be borne in mind that Canada Post and USPS are not operating under the same rules as private companies.
Canada Post, for example, is exempt from paying many taxes private companies must pay. Plus they receive government subsidies and a government-enforced monopoly on first-class mail. It's my understanding that parcels are subsidized by first-class postage rates. It would not surprise me if USPS was the same. For these reasons (and probably others) Canada Post's parcel rates are not comparable to those from private companies.
Canada Post in particular has raised ire among private carriers for their ownership of Purolator Courier, a FedEx-type shipping company that used to be private. Private carriers are not allowed to compete with Canada Post's mail business, but Purolator is in the market against private carriers for non-mail business. In the past, Canada Post has been accused of using their subsidies and infrastructure to allow Purolator to unfairly underprice the private competition.
GeeBee wrote in news:h57tnj$1dv$ snipped-for-privacy@zinnia.noc.ucla.edu:
T'ain't me!
My sister, a garage sale junkie, says all the good stuff is gone by eight, so the cognoscenti show up at six, sometimes earlier.
That explained why, when I had my one-and-only garage sale in 1983 that was supposed to start at eight, I had people ringing my doorbell at that magic hour of six.
snipped-for-privacy@panix.com (Scott Dorsey) wrote in news:h57u1g$r8k$ snipped-for-privacy@panix2.panix.com:
For us, even if it's not subject to duty, some Customs guy has to sign off on it, so it still gets stuck if you don't have all your paperwork present and correct.
For me, USPS is still cheaper to Canada than any private carrier. From a business perspective though, only private carriers have the level of service and urgency we need, so we happily pay the extra. Cheap is no bargain when it takes too long to get there.
In 15 years of using FedEx, they've only ever lost one package on me, and the only one that was ever late was delayed on account of winter storms. Purolator has lost several packages in that time. I never use UPS if I can help it.
for what it's worth, years ago when I held garage sales, anyone who showed up before opening time as posted was welcome to look, but prices were doubled. if asked, my reply was "I said starting at 9AM, it's now 8AM - you can pay the "early" price or come back" - about half paid the early price, and about 1/3 just left, the remainder came back
Yeahbut UPS tacks on a $30.00 handling fee whereas anything shipped parcel post thru USPS is subject to a $5.00 handling fee for the same service. Government has nothing to do with it. Case in point, a recent purchase of a set of DVD's @ $69.99 + $10.00 S&H cleared customs duty free but subject to provincial and federal sales tax of 8% and 5% on C$76.86 (US$69.99) with Brokerage fee of $29.55 + $1.48 tax. I ended up paying taxes of $11.11 and UPS charges of $29.55 over and above what they were paid to transport the goods. Some years ago UPS tried to charge Junior $35.00 fee on a manufacturers sample clearly labeled as such and "no commercial value", he refused delivery and the item was returned to sender then re-shipped DHL and delivered "NO CHARGE" Gerry :-)} London, Canada
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