A CHALLENGE TO ALL

I hope this post really takes off. I am not a fanatic about boycotting the major chains but, 9 times out of 10 I'll go to a privately owned business. Ironically big chains are FREE ENTERPRISE at its best (or worst, actually). The missing link to free enterprise, however, is we as individuals have the right to shop or use the services of whomever we choose. Unfortunately, most people still go to the chains for convenience and price. We as car-freaks all know how irritating it is to go to Home Depot and look at their bolt selection and see a giant row of 5/8 and 9/16 bolts and little else. It sucks. Word to the wise, SUPPORT your local PRIVATE business', THEY almost always have the little spring or fastener that you need. Same with food, plumbing or whatever. I've seen too many of my favorite business' fold up. I give all my Autozone business to the Year,Make & Model store.

 

i usually stop at home depot for bolts and small tubing... $2-$5 spent, tops

otherwise i rarely go into chain stores, and i get my clothes at surplus shops... then again, i dont have a family to support, and im still not familiar with the hardware spots in west LA/LA proper.

 

Unfortunately people shop price instead of quality and service... like I said before, stuff is cheaper than it's ever been.... and that comes at a price.
Sam,

 

In north Dallas, there's no hope of finding a mom&pop shop. C&S, a smaller hardware chain is now ACE. P&R the indy parts store is now napa. Even out in stephenville, with a pop. of 30k and 2hrs from any major town, only had one indy parts store. I buy where I can afford it. It's not a mentality, it's a necessity. If you want to send me some money I'll start buying in the smaller / higher price stores.

 

Food I can deal with. The place I go to is locally owned. They make their own stuff instead of prepackaged burger pattys and fast food. Nothing on the menu is over 10 bucks, you can smoke at any table in the place and no one cares. 1/2 the people who eat there don't smoke but come there anyway and they don't preach. Want pancakes and eggs for supper? No problem. Most of us are regulars and eat there or just go for coffee several times a week. Everybody knows everybody. It's like Cheers. You can walk in by yourself, grab a cup of coffee and usually find someone to shoot the shit with. They even put the car shows on the TV but they keep the sound turned off so you add your own dialog to the shows. I hit Mc.Donalds a couple times a year, but I hit the cafe several times a week.

 

I very rarely go to the evilbigchain stores.

When I lived in Massachusetts, there was this cool old local grocery, and at the deli the guy actualy ziplock closed my deli orders! Man I hate that they just fold over the plastic bag and put the sticker across it. Lazy bastards.

 

Even Ace stores are owned individually, even though they pay franchise fees.

 

I am 100% on board with this one.

The idea that wall-mart has anything to do with free enterprise is insane. They push out competioin and have created a monopoly in many areas by using nearly slave labor from overseas or exploiting labor in this country. They absolutely do not "create" jobs. More part time jobs does not equall less unemployment. It just means there are more people working 2 or theee jobs with no benefits.

For the market to work, everyone has to be plying by the same rules. Wallmart has gotten big by ignoring labor laws and is getting bigger by using it's monopoly to control manufacturing. And ultimately the QUALITY of products has to go down to meet the low price demands.

I am not anti-capitalist. But capitalism has always needed a few checks and balances to keep the playing field fair. In the '30's people fought and died to bring some humanity into the workplace and end child labor. . . we just have to get that mad again I guess. I'm ready to fight for it right now.

 

I only Go to CORPORATE AMERICA BIG STORES,,,,,,,,,
that way I can SHOPLIFT, and Do credit card fraud,,,,,,,,,,
I get a CRACKHEAD, who has a BAD HABIT,,,
I bring them to my SHOP, and GET them HIGH on CRACK for three days STRAIGHT,,, then I INTRODUCE the STOLEN CREDIT CARD,, followed by the REMOVAL of CRACK COCAINE,,,,,,,,,,,,,

Then I pull out a 200 dollar ROCK,,, (it is like a SUGAR COOKIE on that BITCH ass HABIT,,) IT TAUNTS them to DO anything YOU want,,,,,,
I make them SIGN the CREDIT CARD, and I give them A LIST of what to buy,,,,,
They DONT care they ARE fiending so BAD to get HIGH,,, they will SIGN their NAME and show their LICENSE, to the IMMIGRANT RUSSIAN behind the COUNTER with NO FUCK*ING GREEN CARD.................

CRACK HEADS RULE,,,,,

MOM and POPS stores usually seem to entice a FUCKING HEADACHE, when you RETURN the BULLSHIT, that you have STOLEN,,,
The BIG STORES???
they seem to think NOTHING is STOLEN, because they HAVE some FAT LESBIAN BITCH behind a SECURITY camera,,, So they will give CASH BACK on any STOLEN ITEM...........

When Im too STONED to actually STEAL, and too lazy to KIDNAP a CRACK HEAD,, I go to BIG STORES....
When I do SHOP I only BUY from PLACES who APPROVE of CHILD SLAVE LABOR,,,,
The cheaper the LABOR, THE BETTER THE PRODUCT....

HAVENT YOU NOTICED AUTOMOBILES???
AMERICANS BUILD SHIT!!!!
so why BUY???

The JAPS BUILD A FUCKING MACINE that will run on CUM for 300,000 MILES without CHANGING a fucking THING...................
I hope some KID is being MISTREATED in a SHITBAG COUNTRY...
That means my CAR will BE CHEAPER.....

SLAVE LABOR rules......

I took BUSINESS in SCHOOL,,,
and a BUSINESS of SUCCESS is a BUSINESS with NO MORALES, but LOTS of PROFIT....

You people ARE HIPPIES,,,,,and you feel special when you invent some FAGGOT social CAUSE, to build your SUBURBAN SELF- ESTEEM...

Me???
I LIVE LIKE A KING,,
It's called LIVING THROUGH T.V. EYES......

 

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Disastron, a year or so ago, some friends were in town from New England, and they were hanging out with someone that went to their high school years before them who also lives out here. When I met back up with them they were telling the story and laughing about how the guy that they were visiting had his own construction company, and that he'd hire the illegals that hung out at Home Depot for cheap labor, and at the end of the week, he'd dime them out to INS so he didn't have to pay them.
It made me fucking sick. Just one of the reasons I wish this was a union state- so assholes like that could't get away with screwing honest people so easily.

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That DUDE sounds LIKE a "RULER"... maybe you want to RAISE that ILLEGAL persons KIDS with your TAXES

 

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In north Dallas, there's no hope of finding a mom&pop shop. C&S, a smaller hardware chain is now ACE. P&R the indy parts store is now napa. Even out in stephenville, with a pop. of 30k and 2hrs from any major town, only had one indy parts store. I buy where I can afford it. It's not a mentality, it's a necessity. If you want to send me some money I'll start buying in the smaller / higher price stores.

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Ace and Napa are good! better than home depot and autozone! just like target is better than wal mart, and all you need to do is spend a few minutes reading about wal mart and how they screw EVERYBODY. it is even small businesses that TRY to play the game, but can't and outsource.

and when you think about cost of where you shop, remember what it is like to frequent small stores, and get the buddy discounts. also, so an item may cost a few bucks more, you can sleep well knowing that that few dollars made a real differance in the store owners life, as opposed to the slave wages paid by the HUGE chains.

and i should not have to point this out to you guys, but buy used stuff! barter! use CASH whenever possible!

its amazing when you really start to look around how many hole in the wall cafes and stuff there is, all the money you spend there STAYS there! not deposited right into the corporate account!

i try to spend my money locally whenever possible, sure some things cost more, but when you take out shipping costs, finance charges, and the low quality of the crap you get at most huge stores, in the end, i have MORE money to spend on the things i WANT to spend money on. i don't even have a credit card, so that is money i have every month to spend on what i want, not interest to some nameless company, it makes me feel good to hand that money over to a real person who appreciates it.

stay apathetic if you wish, but this is just one of the basic steps of surviving the 21st century, and probably one of the easiest.

don't forget, levis has no more us factorys.

 

There are no Woolworths left anymore.
I predict that eventually WalMart will follow suit.
It's nature.

In the meantime I have to go cast some Grade 1/4 bolts out of chicken broth and silt.

 

Germ get back on the subject
yer LOSIN IT
Punk Rock is about sayin NO to the corporations that FEED on us like LOATHSOME VAMPIRES...not about rippin some LOSER crackhead for your JOLLIES
EXENE would SLAP YOUR FACE for what you said
Your 52 will be DRIPPIN with STOLEN TIAWANESE PARTS and it will come around...
the SUBJECT here is how we're bein RIPPED and not TEENAGE BRAGS about how some MARGINAL ex punk in Califas is RIPPIN on LOSERS
Some GEEK
FUCK in a $900 suit in NEW YORK is laughin right now cause YOU DON'T GET IT
Man, kids these days.

 

The owner of the ACE store here is a Rodder, plus he's into Dirt Track Cars. Anytime I can buy something from him, thats where I go.

WalMart pissed me off a long time ago. They came into our little town of 11,000 with a "Super Center" and within a year Kmart, two Grocery Stores, and several Ma and Pa places were out of business.

The final straw was the Door alarms. The damned checkers never manage to kill those little anti-theft things in the packages. After the third time the Door alarm went off on me, I took $100 worth of shit I had just bought right up to the return counter and made them give me my money back. Haven't set foot in WalMart since.

Assholes run off all the other stores, then jack up the prices and put Cameras in every aisle and alarms on every door.

WalMart=Communism

 

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WalMart=Communism



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If they were communists, wouldn't everything be free (or bartered for)?

 

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Oh, also, lots of Wal-Marts have a McDonald's inside them. One store had a McDonald's inside it, and right on the other side of the parking lot, not 500 yards away, was a regular McDonald's. I couldn't friggin' believe it.



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Was that in Clovis Cal?? Thats how ours is.

 

i like our local hardware store,but it is expensive....it's hard cause my wife works at lowes so we get a discount there

 

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and i should not have to point this out to you guys, but buy used stuff! barter! use CASH whenever possible!

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Ray, maybe it is different up there in CO, but I don't think I'll get much at napa by trading old car parts.

Most people on this board bitch about EBAY..but that's as close to free-enterprise as it gets. Face it, America is corporate. It's built to be that way. If you want ma&pa stores everywhere, move to Italy. A lot of you are using "corporate" like it is a bad word. What's the big deal? If you succeed in your business wouldn't you want it to grow? Or would you really just stop after you make 50k a year to preserve the ambiance? If your business succedded at all that probably means there was someone else who got ousted. It works like that on all levels. For one to succeed, another must fail. Don't tell me it isn't true, or we'd have 50 million different stores and no-one would ever go out of business.

 

When i joined my first UNION in 1973 they were saying BUY A FOREIGN CAR an put 10 AMERICANS out of work, sure looks like the country thinks it's a good idea.We been doing it for 30 years ,sorry but it's WAY to late to turn it around now.BUY UNION BUY AMERICAN thats what the UNIONS have been saying for the last 35 years but No one listened so here we are.VOTE BUSH SEND ALL THE JOBS OVER SEAS. BRES

 

I just wish people (this is directed to these threads as a whole, I don't have any one person in mind) who think they're about to open thier pie-hole about International Commerce and the ramifications of what we import/export, would stop, and educate themselves before they fly off on some rhetorical, emotional diatribe.

Here's a hint... The complexities of our production/distribution agreements are so vast that I'd wager no one person could grasp all the ramifications of would-be changes to them. We have massive organizations full of highly educated people for that.

The cries of Anarchist gutter-punks seem almost quaint if you honestly try to understand the issues.

"Supply vs. Demand" as a concept has grown up to include the edicts of "Globalization." It ain't just a Joe's hardware vs. Lowes, concept anymore.

I shop at my local, family owned hardware store when at all possible, but I'm not so naive as to believe that if I buy a Chinese fan at Home Depot, I'm stealing jobs from hard-working Americans. Where would the Dock Workers work if we no longer imported anything? I bet their Union would sue to keep them employed even if all they did was clean the dock all day!

Is you're local hardware store on the NYSE?

But then again what the hell does all this have to do with Traditional Hot Rods, or Kustoms....
Or mini-bikes and Low-Rider Bicicles... Or Rockabilly Dating?

 

I'm one of the FNGs here,but I gotta get into this one,or forever not say shit.Walmart,and all the other "price only" big box horror stores are for buying toilet paper,and dog food.I try like hell to not buy anything else there,unless it's 3 AM,and I've got to have cutoff wheels,or motor oil,and it won't wait 'til morning.In a few years,nobody there will speak English,but,hey,the prices will be cheap,huh???
All you price only guys try to remember how fucking wonderful Walmart,Costco,Sams,etc.,etc. are in a few years when you won't be able to find ANYBODY who knows shit about ANYTHING at these stores.By then,you won't have a choice,all the independent stores will be gone,and it'll be a Walmart world.So buy your $40 DVD player,your $80 bicycle,your $50 TV,then you can stand around,scratch your balls,and talk about how "they don't make 'em like they used to",when all your shit falls apart.As a society,most people have no fucking clue what quality is.I'm a little old fashioned about shit,I expect my stuff to do what it's supposed to do,and I expect to be able to find SOMEBODY who knows what the hell they're talking about when I ask a question.
And please,don't blame the government for jobs going to fucking China.If Americans were smart enough to consider anything but price,we would always have a choice in what we buy,but we are fast losing our options.Brand names that used to mean something are corrupted everyday.Guess what,the Black and Decker,Dewalt,Schwinn,Sony plus a million other brand names from "my" youth don't mean DICK anymore,because we get a fucking hard-on about price.
I know a lot of people here don't have money running out of their ass...Me neither,but I will do without before I will buy a piece of shit product that I KNOW will fuck up much too quickly.
Walmart doesn't force their vendors to produce decent shit,they force them to do it cheap.NOBODY GIVES A FUCK AT THESE STORES.
How about car parts places?Do you want a lifetime warranty on a bogus rebuilt part,and have to crawl on your ass several times replacing it,or would you rather buy it ONE FUCKING TIME ONLY???
Autozone,Advance,etc. already figured it out,too.If you buy a POS starter,alternator because it was cheap only,you deserve to crawl on your ass replacing it in 6 months.I tried to find a decent water pump for my 91 Caprice a couple of years ago...Everything was garbage China,with castings so fucking poor,I could hide my dick in them (and it's not quite that small).ALL the parts houses laughed at me when I asked about GM rebuilt,until I found the smallest,dirtiest rathole parts place hidden away,and they had 2 factory rebuilds.They shook my hand for knowing the difference,and sold me both of them.Cost a little more,but guess what,they work.
We used to have a NAPA store near here,went out of business a few years ago,couldn't compete on price.I've been told since then,NAPA has started selling shit,too,where before they had a higher standard.If you're trying to find vintage engine stuff,sometimes NAPA online still has the good stuff.
When all the little guys are gone,and you need help on your project,good luck.The internet can't always help you,and the big box stores don't care if you succeed or not.A good parts guy is worth his weight in gold,but they are disappearing fast.
Sorry for the rant,I could go on for hours,but I doubt anybody is still reading this.
Cars cost a shitload on money,but when places like Speedway and Kanter do more and more of their business with China,do you really think they go to these manufacturers because they make a superior product? If you believe that,you deserve what you get.......williebill

 

I am on a personal crusade to not shop anymore. Period. That will help me maintain my sanity.

The cows in my yard provide meat, and will keep the grass mowed.

The sheep provide wool, I'll make my own clothes. I took home ec.

I am planting a garden for food. I'll can stuff for the winter.

I made a glass-blowing shop to make glass jars for the canning that has to take place for the winter.

I made a foundry, so I never need to go to the hardware store again for a screw or nail...but it takes me at least an hour to make one nail...

I made this distillery that makes rum, it only takes up one room in my house.

I have a hamster that makes me electricity, but he has a hard time keeping up on his wheel when I switch on the compressor.

I have a crew coming over to drill for oil, so I can refine my own petroleum and make oil and gas for the cars.

I haven't figured out how to make bondo yet.

So I guess I'm not totally self-sufficient.
Hmmm.

 

Have or would you you ever go to a swap meet and pass up an item priced at $20 because it should be $100? Have you ever sold an item for $100 even though you bought it from a poor schmuck for $20? When you bought a $100 item, did you offer him $80 first?

Have you asked the owner of that Mom and Pop store if he has has invested in mutual funds that invest in Coca-Cola, Sony, Home Depot and McDonalds or has a few shares of Toyota or Exxon stock?

It's a global community, your money doesn't stay in your community anymore.

 

[ QUOTE ]
Germ get back on the subject
yer LOSIN IT
Punk Rock is about sayin NO to the corporations that FEED on us like LOATHSOME VAMPIRES...not about rippin some LOSER crackhead for your JOLLIES
EXENE would SLAP YOUR FACE for what you said
Your 52 will be DRIPPIN with STOLEN TIAWANESE PARTS and it will come around...
the SUBJECT here is how we're bein RIPPED and not TEENAGE BRAGS about how some MARGINAL ex punk in Califas is RIPPIN on LOSERS
Some GEEK
FUCK in a $900 suit in NEW YORK is laughin right now cause YOU DON'T GET IT
Man, kids these days.

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Hey JADED PUNKER GUY who still HOLDS ON to an IDEOLOGY that made the REST of you OLD PUNKERS, WAGE SLAVES and HOMELESS BUMS.........
, The NUMBER ONE RULE I MADE UP FOR "PUNK ROCK" is

"That there ain't no chord in my MUSIC called POLITICS"

EXENE is a DYKE, not a punk
ANOTHER CRYING "ARTIST", who feels like "PUNK" means something.....
ITS MUSIC, if you want a MOVEMENT, john the FREEMAN IN MONTANA, or BECOME A SERIAL KILLER......

and JELLO is HUMAN RHETORIC ANNOUNCER.....
to a BUNCH of ARM CHAIR- AMERICANS. who DECIDED that they were going to BE PUNKROCKERS, cause they HATE their PARENTS.......

punk rockers WERE MORE like Billy THE kid, AND MY personal hero "MARION BERRY",,,,

I also LIKE "JOHN ROCKER" and MICHAEL SAVAGE, and SAM WALTON....oh and that DUDE who BOUGHT "VON DUTCH,,,,,

MOM AND POPS shops= PEOPLE who SHOW up for WORK LATE. shops that are closed on FAMILY BIRTHDAYS and LIBERAL HOLIDAYS,,,

BILLY CHILDISH was PUNK,,,,

KRS ONE, is PUNK,,,,

 

Punk was always, and is now, more than music to me.

 

The noble pursuit of a lofty goal is how we got here.

I salute your spirit sir.

Kind of sucks the way it goes, but it is the way it goes.

Price is the bottom line and likely will always be for most.

 

!?!?!?!?WTF

 

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When i joined my first UNION in 1973 they were saying BUY A FOREIGN CAR an put 10 AMERICANS out of work, sure looks like the country thinks it's a good idea.We been doing it for 30 years ,sorry but it's WAY to late to turn it around now.BUY UNION BUY AMERICAN thats what the UNIONS have been saying for the last 35 years but No one listened so here we are.VOTE BUSH SEND ALL THE JOBS OVER SEAS. BRES

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I hope your UNION was worth a shit. Mine wasn't. I worked in a shop for 4 years, and only saw my rep ONCE. That was for a strike vote. We voted for a strike. He went back to management, made us give up "field pay", which was .25 an hour, got us a 2 dollar raise over 3 years, and agreed to a clause the made it an automatic fire if you got caught on the job doing ANYTHING other than working. Oh yeah, we asked for PRO UNION bullshit, like hats or shirts or something to be proud of, and he sent ONE fucking poster for the wonderful, fabulous LOCAL 698... to hang in the shop.

So you guys think you're saving the world huh? Think about the guy who used to work for the big three, here in MO-FUCKING-TOWN, that now has to work at one of your "EVIL" chain stores, to make sure his family has formula and food, because the too good "independent" stores won't take a chance. People gotta eat, dudes... And if you guys were in the "know" you all would probably be doing the same things. Cause if you're a tight ass poor, you're still gonna be a tight ass rich. What about the people who helped the Waltons, or any other corporate family, rise to the top. When they were "mom and pop" stores, are they evil too. Or just in the right place at the wrong time?

I used to feel the way you do. Then I realized it is your "precious" unions that do the exact things you hate so much. They drive prices up, they save the workers that aren't worth their weight in used grease...

The boys talking about the govt selling out nailed it. It's been happening since the end of "the Big One" at least. If you haven't seen it coming, you have been left in the 50's.

My 2 cents, sorry if I pissed anyone off, but it's a true experience.

Jay

 

Face it.... Three options.

1) Maintain the status quo. We'll be speaking a mixture of Chinese, spanish and Tamil in 10 years.

(we fucked central and south america pretty good, I won't feel quite as shitty when they fuck us...)

2) Germ's way. we all go crashing down together.

3) Elect a "charismatic" leader. Close the borders, kick out all the immigrants. Bomb the fuck out a few key countries to wreck their economies. Begin a wartime economy here. We all take a massive paycut, suffer high inflation, and work a 14 hour day. BUT MADE IN AMERICA WILL MEAN SOMETHING AGAIN!! Import nothing, except maybe exotic prostitutes and luxury items that our armies plunder or that which is manufactured in the CAMPS we set up in conquered lands... Export only that which would keep other economies and industries pathetically dependant on our own. Ban automolbiles for the general public, we all ride nuclear powerd trains so that the middle east can drown in oil and poverty. Learn to click your heels together as you salute. EIN REICH, EIN VOLK, EIN WAL-MART!

So, whats it gonna be? I wanna make a movie about #2 and get rich before #1 happens... #3 will likely be a response to putting up with #1 for a couple decades...

 

Hello all you Xenophobes! I didn't realize this was some half baked political board. I thought it was a Kar forum. How many of you dolts are typing on computers which have components made overseas?
What about your internet service?
Where do you buy your gas?
How about your clothing? Or towels?

Guess I outta toss my Canon camera out to the trash along with my chineese Holga and my Fuji Film and my Ilford film.

What about your TV?

What about your cable company or Satellite? They run wallmart ads and autozone ads on tv?

What about Levis......they are made in MEXICO!!!!

What about Rolls & Pleats magazine.......It's made by the fuckin french!!! We should not read it anymore cause it's not American.

While we are at at it....lets look at we export to the rest of the world. American culture is our biggest export. What if all the damm french people and Swedes, Mexicans, Asians said fuck those Conglomerate american Businesses and their filthy Hot Rods and music, art, movies,food!

I am a dues paying Teamster........and often wonder what good does it do? Hell yes I like to rent my movies from our local MAW AND PAW video store but....im only renting a "Time/Warner/AOL" movie and making them rich. What if he only has 5 copies and they are always checked out? I'll go to my local nutbuster chain where they have 500 for rent!

THIS IS SILLY. Im done.