WHERE EVERYONE GETS A BARGAIN?

 In the good old days blokes had sheds.

In the shed could be found bits and pieces of every known household item known to man at the time (the 1960s). Of course life was simpler then and large format retail shops hadn't been created, warehouses were well, warehouses. There was little in the way of mass produced items except for the disposable junk coming from China and Japan. Household items from electrical items through plumbing, furniture and even electronics were made to be fixed. Fixed with purchasable (and storable) components from screws, grommets, wiring, fuses, nails and anything required to do simple reconstruction of maintenance.

The advent of large format retail, some of which call themselves 'warehouses' from supermarkets through Amazon, Costco,  Briscoes, Placemakers, Bunnings, Mitre 10 etc and, of course, The Warehouse brought mass produced and disposable items like never before. These are sourced from China and Japan but also from South Korea, Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia, India, Indonesia - and anywhere that cheap (child) labour and low costs make this junk stuff 'affordable'. 'Affordability' of course is a sliding scale with cheap but disposable (and necessity for early replacement) items at the one end and expensive but lasting items at the other. Most people have opted for the cheap and glitzy stuff which is not surprising given that the outlay is low and most people don't have much money beyond weekly earnings. This is exacerbated by advertising and the creation of the 'I want it now" consumerism.

The problem with this is that the growth of the 'instant satisfaction' stores has brought about the shrinking of the reliable appliance store operators and the old-style hardware stores that stocked virtually every item required, available for purchase loose, so that if you only wanted one bolt and nut you could buy one bolt and nut without having to buy a whole pack of them and have 19 left over. Sheesh!

Planned obsolescence in manufactured items too has accelerated this demise. What need is there for a store selling essential components if the item in question cannot be opened for repair? Most household items 'from electrical items through plumbing, furniture and even electronics' are plastic molded and can't be opened for repair. When they fail, and they do, they are simply thrown away adding to the world's junk problem.

"OK" you may ask "what's this got to do with anything?"

Well my reader readers, I have a problem.

I recently bought, collected and installed several shelving units in the basement area under the house. I've stored on these most of the items that The Old Girl informed me were cluttering up the laundry area. These were: electric drills and other tools including my large tool chest; several EGO batteries and chargers - for my EGO chainsaw, lawnmower and line-trimmer; The Old Girl's tool set which she never lets me use (and for some reason wasn't a problem and is staying in the laundry area); boxes, jars and various containers of screws, nuts, nails and bolts, washers and myriad other useful bits and pieces; chemicals, paints, varnishes, weedkillers and lots of other things in tins, pots, jars and bottles. I have to admit that clearing out this laundry area has made a huge difference and given us more space not to mention that it's tidier. The problem I mentioned is to do with the battery chargers.

We don't have a power outlet in the basement. Years ago I drilled a hole in the bedroom floor and ran an old-style electric cord down to the basement. At one end is the plug which I've connected to a socket in the bedroom. At the other end is a bulb connection. This works well. To install it, as it's 'old-style technology' I simply unscrewed the plug, undid the electrical wire connections, poked the wire through the hole, reattached the wires and screwed back the plug housing. Easy peasy. What I want to do now is run an additional wire down through the hole to a power box that I can plug in the battery chargers and an industrial strength lamp I bought. Easy?

No. I don't have an old-style power cord with detachable plugs. Every frickin' cord we have is modern, plastic housed that cannot be dismantled and reassembled. I've looked on-line at the inventories in electrical shops and 'warehouses', Bunnings, Mitre 10, Placemakers and, of course 'The Warehouse' but to no avail.

I'll have to find an old-style hardware store somewhere or trawl the jink and Op shops.

Sheesh!