Copper Olives

[hilti68]

Good evening,

Does anyone know a supplier (UK national, preferably online) where one can mail order small parts like copper olives ?

All I can seem to find (Manchester East) is brass ?

Also ......

Where do the 'trade' use for purely plumbing supplies (again, preferably online, for mail order) - does everyone use screwfix or are their others better suited to plumbing supplies & components

Cheers

 

[Dan Robinson]

True plumbers re-use their olives

 

[Softus]

Does anyone know a supplier (UK national, preferably online) where one can mail order small parts like copper olives ?

My local plumbers' merchants stock, or can get hold of, everything I need.

Where do the 'trade' use for purely plumbing supplies (again, preferably online, for mail order)

Local merchants.

...does everyone use screwfix or are their others better suited to plumbing supplies & components

NO! If you use mail order then you drive a nail into the coffin of your local merchants and the community in general.

 

[hilti68]

In general, I agree with what you're saying Softus, but local merchants don't offer the convenience of mail/online ordering.

Yes,they may be local.
Some may even be good.
Some counter staff might even understand english rather than just grunt

but they aren't open at 10pm on a sunday evening or like now (4am) on a Thursday morning.

I'll take convenience, timesaving & ease over supporting some local supplier who says, when you turn up at 4.55pm

"Sorry, going home now, back tomorrow 8am. If its urgent, try B&Q" !!!

..... very helpful, not. Did I return ? What do you think ?

 

[chrishutt]

The usual ones to use, apart from Screwfix (linked to this site), are Toolstation and BES.

 

[Softus]

In general, I agree with what you're saying Softus, but local merchants don't offer the convenience of mail/online ordering.

Clearly. And if armchair ordering is more important to you than supporting your community, then go right ahead.

Yes,they may be local.
Some may even be good.
Some counter staff might even understand english rather than just grunt

I see. And you consider Screwfix staff to be technically knowledgable and capable of more than grunting?

but they aren't open at 10pm on a sunday evening or like now (4am) on a Thursday morning.

Nor is any shed.

I'll take convenience, timesaving & ease over supporting some local supplier who says, when you turn up at 4.55pm

"Sorry, going home now, back tomorrow 8am. If its urgent, try B&Q" !!!

..... very helpful, not. Did I return ? What do you think ?

I think you didn't. I also think that you're prejudiced and mixed up.

I also think that you're typical of someone who hasn't tried very hard to find a local merchant of any worth, and who is trying to justify their preference by making their decision look rational.

The fact is that mail order takes planning ahead, in the same way that visiting a local shop during their opening hours takes planning ahead. Most people who order online do it because they think it's cheaper and because they have no negotiating skills. What is actually the case is that all suppliers eventually make a mistake, and if you order enough times then a mail order problem is about 50 times as hard to put right than one with a local merchant.

To most tradespeople, the risk isn't worth the reward. If you think that you're saving money by doing it, then you're not only misguided but you're diverting money away from the very retailers upon whom, one day, you might be relying in order to fix an urgent problem.

The last time I bought a batch of 15mm copper olives from my local merchant, the guy checked every single one of them, without me asking, and rejected any that was either out-of-round or had any blemish. And while doing it he chatted with me and gave some very useful information. If you think that's not worth paying a few pence more for, then you and Screwfix deserve each other.

 

[wilhelm]

The last time I bought a batch of 15mm copper olives from my local merchant, the guy checked every single one of them, without me asking, and rejected any that was either out-of-round or had any blemish. And while doing it he chatted with me and gave some very useful information. If you think that's not worth paying a few pence more for, then you and Screwfix deserve each other.

the useful information being you could have been home 2 hours earlier if he hadnt run a d.n.a check on every freekin oilve.


ah well, fortunately im rich enough to take a few hits on an oval olive.

 

[Paul Barker]

I agree with Softus to support local merchant.

The post ordering system is more time consuming when you really think about it.

However you do have to keep an eye on prices. It is financial suicide to buy cooker hose at the merchants where they are double BES price. Consumers are already hyped up about our charges we have to get a margin somehow.

A few weeks ago I did the following ';

day one disconnect cooker so delivery irm could take old one away. Day two return to connect and notify new cooker. New cooker needed mains for igniter, so put spur uned adjecent unit, supplied new hose, old one was tatty. Charge £60. Client said under his breath "£60? I'll have to become a plumber".

Totally ignorant of the many thousands of pounds of education that has gone into me being able to install a cooker and a new electrical accessory, the thousands of pounds insurance and membership of certifying bodies. The thousands of pounds worth of test equipment orerequisit to me seing foot out of the door. Yet I have to find the extra that makes the job wirth doing sourcing a cooker hose for £8 less by mail order,

 

[Soggy_weetabix]

I agree with Softus to support local merchant.

The post ordering system is more time consuming when you really think about it.


However you do have to keep an eye on prices. It is financial suicide to buy cooker hose at the merchants where they are double BES price. Consumers are already hyped up about our charges we have to get a margin somehow.

A few weeks ago I did the following ';

day one disconnect cooker so delivery irm could take old one away. Day two return to connect and notify new cooker. New cooker needed mains for igniter, so put spur uned adjecent unit, supplied new hose, old one was tatty. Charge £60. Client said under his breath "£60? I'll have to become a plumber".

Totally ignorant of the many thousands of pounds of education that has gone into me being able to install a cooker and a new electrical accessory, the thousands of pounds insurance and membership of certifying bodies. The thousands of pounds worth of test equipment orerequisit to me seing foot out of the door. Yet I have to find the extra that makes the job wirth doing sourcing a cooker hose for £8 less by mail order,

Wow, never had any probs charging 75 notes for a cooker fit (bayonet, hose, and safety chain) And that was informing the customer to get a sparks to do the oven.

Dave

 

[gas4you]

Wouldn't use screwfix if they were the last suppliers on earth

 

[corgiman]

Wouldn't use screwfix if they were the last suppliers on earth

why not matey

 

[ACOperson]

I don't see why I should support some local scallywag who sits on his arse all day charging me 200% mark up on fittings and looks at me like some piece of dirt when I ask him for a 45 degree street elbow or some other fairly non-standard thing! I also seem to have to spend at least 45 mins in local shops whenever ordering any real quantity of stuff (eg boiler, fittings for installation, TRV's etc).

What do they put back into my local community or do for me other than exploit me? I use them in an emergency if I've run out of something, in which case I will gladly pay them silly money for a couple of fittings. However under normal circumstances I avoid them as much as possible.

If i could mail order my boilers at a decent price I would.

Anyone worried about local shops etc should honestly consider where they buy their groceries and major electronic purchases? Do they go to Tesco's or another major chain for groceries or spend all weekend going around the local greengrocer, butcher, baker, corner shop etc? Where did they buy their last TV from? A small local AV specialist with no prices next to the goods so they can charge what they want or the internet where you can compare prices and get the best deal?

 

[Softus]

What do they put back into my local community or do for me other than exploit me?

I don't know - have you asked them?

Anyone worried about local shops etc should honestly consider where they buy their groceries and major electronic purchases? Do they go to Tesco's or another major chain for groceries or spend all weekend going around the local greengrocer, butcher, baker, corner shop etc? Where did they buy their last TV from? A small local AV specialist with no prices next to the goods so they can charge what they want or the internet where you can compare prices and get the best deal?

I don't know, and it doesn't make any difference. Do you gob in the street just because you see others do it?

Doing the right thing doesn't require someone else to have done it first.

 

[gas4you]

Wouldn't use screwfix if they were the last suppliers on earth

why not matey

I just don't like the quality of goods they supply and being part of Kingfisher group gets up my nose. Also the hassle of having to have somebody in to receive goods.