Thread: Bunnings dumbing down it's stock?

Originally Posted by kiwigeo

Can you think of one globally significant piece of technology invented by either the Chinese or the Japanese? Apart from fireworks I can't think of much else.

Paper, Paper Money, pasta/noodles, just in time production, They are just off the top of my head. I do agree with you on the labor front, but it doesn't mean they cant innovate, they just haven't had to yet.

Originally Posted by Gra

Paper, Paper Money, pasta/noodles, just in time production, They are just off the top of my head. I do agree with you on the labor front, but it doesn't mean they cant innovate, they just haven't had to yet.

The issue here is that chinese history goes back 4000 plus years. A long time. The modern state is a different matter. The production methods are all well documented, and a state wide disadain for intellectual property means anything can be copied.

Interestingly Ive heard reports of companies pulling out of China and moving to Vietnam to save money, what goes around eh,

I dont think I'd ever include Japan as a low cost labour provider BTW?

While low cost labor IS an attraction for china - they are still building heavily automated plants (for example producing plasma panels), that have avery small labour cost - its mostly capital cost based - yet still these high tech high capital spoend industries anre setting up in china, not in Australia.

Whatever the situation with inventions etc, the quality issue isnt about how skilled their workforce is or isnt, its the quality in the design and the level of quality demanded by the "brand" that makes that decision. Its probably a bad sign that one of our examples of superiority is the job of digging something out of the ground and sticking it in bulk carriers so someone else can use it and send it back as mobile phones, CFC globes, laptop computers etc??????????

First it was Japan, then it was taiwan, next it will be China. the route taken is the same, use cheap labour to get your foot in the door, build things with everincreasing reliability and consistancy, and thus when skilled labour costs increase, you will now be able to sell as a quality producer of product.

So its Australian, US, English, German brands that choose the quality level, the chinese just make it how its ordered - cheap and ????, or more expensive and better.

Here's my test for a brand I will support - if they sell something in australia for the US price * exchange rate + 15% (to allow for market size), I support them, if they ask +50% - they are ripping people off and dont deserve any support form aussies - yet they still manage to sell their gear....

Originally Posted by pharmaboy2

I dont think I'd ever include Japan as a low cost labour provider BTW?

Agreed...post war, Japan's labour costs were low. Not the case now. Its why most major Japanese manufacturers have plants set up in China and other Asian countries.

Originally Posted by Gra

Paper, Paper Money, pasta/noodles, just in time production, They are just off the top of my head. I do agree with you on the labor front, but it doesn't mean they cant innovate, they just haven't had to yet.

I don't consider noodles and pasta as examples of technology. There was certainly not much technology involved in making the stuff when it first appeared.

All very interesting. Here in NZ, well, where I live anyway, I'd say Bunnings are a higher quality supplier than Mitre 10 Mega -I have given up on Mitre 10. Placemakers is a slight step up. Sadly the only way I have found to get good hand tools is second hand or import. Carbatec has a reasonable supply but they are miles away and 2-3x the price of importing from the US, or even UK and I can't justify that extra expense. There really isn't anyone else.

I was looking at the quality of the new Record tools, vices, cramps etc coming from China. I'm not rubbishing Chinese per se, it is just sad to me that reliable brands have been taken over and their once good names are being used to sell cheaply made junk. I always thought of Record as good solid, no-frills but depenable. Not now. And what else can you get that is of the quality Record used to make (I haven't seen the vices made in India using the Record tooling they bought - maybe they are OK)? There doesn't seem to be much alternative.

Originally Posted by Frank&Earnest

After the recent studies committed and paid by them, both Howard and Bush have publicly admitted that it can not be denied that we are a cause. Nobody in their right mind has ever said that we are definitely the cause. If it is good enough evidence for them, it is good enough for me.



You just made my point.



I have just a few months ago changed a Philips fluorescent light that had lasted more than 11 years (I had written the date on it) and for all that time consumed 20W instead of 100W. If you do not accept new technology for fear of giving in to "false guilt" you might try using candles...

Great example using Bush and Howard they are so hard to convince on any subject then it must be true! Sounds like WMD all over again to me.
Being willing to accept their judgement on anything is why both our countries have young men getting killed in IRAQ.

I didnt say the Green bulbs were bad just that some people are making a killing out of their growing use.


Ross

Originally Posted by Wild Dingo

ahem...

A couple of points
1) the saying
"Buy what you can afford and upgrade as you can afford" has merit and if you cant see it then well I am not about to explain it to you

2) Affordability has nothing to do with the discussion weather you me of anyone else here has $100k in their bank account cheque account credit account IS IRRELEVENT... the fact is that Bunnings HAS BEEN AND CONTINUES to get increasingly more cheep chingalese crap and their staff have become increasingly LESS knowledgeable as they gather more and more of the market... that is a fact IN THE STORES I KNOW I cant talk for all stores just the three I know over here.

3) The argument to me is by dumbing down the stock AND the staff are they putting unsuspecting DIYers who really wouldnt have a clue but want to have a go at risk? and my answer remains YES they are.

Weather or not anyone agrees with me is really irrelevant... I have said I go in there from time to time... I also have said I have bought tools there from time to time... I have also said Bunnings serves a purpose... and I have tried to be light hearted in my attempt to calm what I saw as the thread going downhill now I see that was a waste of time since some only want to argue and see negatives in the comments of others and attempt to make it a have and have not argument which ITS NOT so get over it.

ah fluck it I could give a fat rats buttcheek

Well said Dingo

Seems to me some peoples feathers get ruffled too easily because they take personal exception to being pigeon holed as tight arses despite their obvierce pride in having bought the cheapest crap available without any thought as to it use longevity or impact on future availability of "Superior" products.

Seems to me some people are suffering from a bad case of inverted snobbery as they seem to hold only distain for people who can afford to or who chose to save for a superior product.

The whole dumbing down idea is redundant as the General public are dumb and were always thus and always thus shall be. There is a reason they are called the "General" public not the exceptional public or the brilliant public it is just a polite way of saying Joe Citizen is stupid.

I maintain I think Bunnings etc are a disease and when we buy from them we are just hastening the demise of legitimate vendors of hardware, tools and machinery.


Ross

Originally Posted by Different

Great example using Bush and Howard they are so hard to convince on any subject then it must be true!

Ross

My apologies Ross, I overestimated your cognitive ability, should have expressed myself more clearly. What you say is totally true, only you have not seen in my sentence how the concept extends to man-made global warming. Because B&H have so much political credibility at stake for always denying it, if even they begrudgingly admit that there is some truth in it, it is reasonable to deduce that it must be true to at least that extent. You go even further because you believe that overpopulation is the contributing factor.

I thought this was a woodwork forum - when did it change to a political forum? The only Bush on here should be able to be used for woodwork - and the only Howard should be a brand name for finishing products.

Originally Posted by Different

Well said Dingo

Seems to me some peoples feathers get ruffled too easily because they take personal exception to being pigeon holed as tight arses despite their obvierce pride in having bought the cheapest crap available without any thought as to it use longevity or impact on future availability of "Superior" products.

Seems to me some people are suffering from a bad case of inverted snobbery as they seem to hold only distain for people who can afford to or who chose to save for a superior product.

The whole dumbing down idea is redundant as the General public are dumb and were always thus and always thus shall be. There is a reason they are called the "General" public not the exceptional public or the brilliant public it is just a polite way of saying Joe Citizen is stupid.

I maintain I think Bunnings etc are a disease and when we buy from them we are just hastening the demise of legitimate vendors of hardware, tools and machinery.


Ross

I won't argue whether what you say here is true or not. What is demonstrable is that it is unsubstantiated prejudice.

Centuries of philosophical debate on the nature of man have gone by, and your point of view is legitimate as any other: you believe that man (Joe Citizen) is stupid.

By following the syllogism, you discover that:
Man is stupid;
I am a man,
therefore I am stupid.

You do not like this, so you say:
Man is stupid,
I am not stupid,
therefore I am not a "man", I am an "exceptional man".

Convenient, but unsubstantiated.

Another topic done & dusted