Was working on my never ending project yesterday, test fitting front sheet metal, making battery cables, running trans cooler lines etc.... I bought pre-cut sections of 3/8th inch hardline from O'Reilly's for the trans cooler lines. The stuff that is pre-flared with the fittings already on it, I wanted to do two separate pieces for each line with a union in the middle. Ease of bending and fitting and service-ability were deciding factors. When I went up to pay, with my "shop discount", the unions rang up at $4.99 each. I nearly choked!! The guy at the counter said I think we have these in back. Two minutes later he reappears with the EXACT SAME FITTINGS at $1.99 each! Only difference is the packaging! Moral of the story is the fittings on the floor, packaged in the large, anti-shoplifting box are severely over-priced and it never hurts to ask if they have anything in back!
Good tip, NAPA is like that too. I have a Marine Surplus store across from work that is fabricator paradise, all stainless steel and brass parts - dirt cheap.Trailer parts,U-bolts, you never know what will turn up on the shelves. The only thing expensive is the paint products.
i work at an O'Reilly...and yes, those fittings in those little packages hanging on hooks out on the floor are a bit high. the Edelmann fittings are in drawers in the back a lot of the stuff in those convenient packages can be bought cheaper individually. and battery cable , heater hose ,fuel line, vacuum line, etc can be bought by the foot. 10-12-16-18 gauge wire by the foot too. even some wiring terminals can be bought individually i've had bad luck with their steel line....i just can't get a good double flare on it. i still go to Napa for steel line
Good luck getting the parts out of a heat sealed package with out a knife or box cutter. Looks like a monkey trying to screw a football.
Advance Auto parts also has a bunch of them in the back.They are mostly sold to commercial customers but now that you know they are back there.........................
I agree with binder rod.this is off topic but i dont like anything in those plastic heat sealed packages.they are had to open.and the chances of cutting yourself is good.the person that started this should have their eggs delivered in the same package
We buy quite a bit in "bulk" packaging to save money, light bulbs, bolts, brass fittings, etc and yes, the customers are happy! However, some things don't come this wy and in fact make me question whoever does the "box to product" sizing? Oh well.............
my local Napa sucks at fittings too,O'Reilly and Carquest are not too bad. Napa carries Weatherhead and the last two have Edelmann....i have have both Weatherhead and Edelmann catalogs and i just look up my own fittings before i get to the store
Same thing with hose clamps, among other things. I was at advanced I think, and asked one of the guys working there about it and he gets some from in back for me. I think the bulk price was about a third of the shrink wrapped price.
Our local O'Reilly's does't have much in the fittings dept. Looks like they did at one time, but don't restock. But hot damn,they have some bitchen stick on plastic vents, and vinyl flames. Gotta keep in stock what sells, I guess.
Typical "Blister Pak" pricing is 10X what the supplier cost is....10X... if you can purchase it without the packaging, you are waaaay ahead.
I've noticed that some stores are taking advantage of our conditioning to think that buying in bulk saves money. For example, when building my house I noticed a couple of the big chain home improvement stores will sell say a 3 pack of a plumbing item, and a 10 pack of the same item. If you calculate the cost per item in the bag, it's actually MORE if you buy the bigger package than if you just got 3 or 4 of the smaller ones. I imagine this could be the same at your FLAPS.
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