Had to go to Lowes today. In the tool department, I browsed a bit. I came across this product, and just wanted to go on national TV to rage against the machine! Really???
These are little lengths of pencil lead in a plastic carrier. A "carpenter's" pencil is a wooden pencil. It's flat and wide. The lead is about three times as wide as it is thick. It's used in a chisel point wedge which you drag on it's chisel edge, in knife fashion, to mark wood. In this configuration, the soft lead is more durable and you can apply the types of hasty markings used when you are in the zone, working, without endlessly breaking the point. The pencils are just all wood with the lead glued inside. Two swipes with the construction knife in every carpenter's tool belt, and the point is renewed.

And NOW!!!

We actually have a product produced to aid any CARPENTER who is too STUPID to sharpen his own pencil!!!

I really don't get paid enough for what I do .....



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/06/2012 04:32AM by barnespneumatic.

thought you guy's used whatever was in reach.... nail-knife-scribe. I bet you forget you have these available and use the ones i just listed.

It makes perfect sense...from a marketing / commercialism perspective.

Why sell someone a cheap, effective wooden pencil that can be used over and over again when you can sell them a "system" that requires them to constantly purchase your "new" widgets instead?

Wooden pencils are a disaster from the marketing perspective; they're the oldest of the old tech, there's nothing "new and improved!" that you can hype. You can't patent or market any exclusive improvements, you can't make any dramatic claims about how yours is so much better than the other guys. Worst of all they last WAY too long, and you only get to sell them once. With the new "always sharp" plastic widget models, you can keep selling them the same thing over and over again, and they have to keep buying if they want it to work.

It's all in how you look at it. Sure...as a consumer you might see an advantage in paying less for a superior, long proven and completely refined product that's undoubtedly better for both the environment and your pocketbook. But can you really live with yourself knowing that you're keeping your hard-earned cash out of the greedy, clutching hands of a Chinese factory owner and a handful of cynical, calculating marketing execs and mid-level distributers? Those guys gotta pay for their new luxury cars and time-share condos, after all. All this "the old model worked perfectly well and I see no need for improvement" business is putting a crimp in their marketing program!

Do you mean to say you don't send your pencils out to be professionally sharpened?
Pencil sharpening service




Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/12/2012 04:00AM by CA_airguns.

CA AIRGUNS!!!! Thats got to be a FAKE (JOKE) website for pencil sharpening.

It's official, we are LAZY!

In the near future, its gonna be...get in your car, TELL IT TO TAKE YOU TO WORK, then sit at your computer, TELL IT TO DO YOUR WORK, then back home, TELL YOUR STOVE TO COOK YOUR MEAL, then off to bed and, TELL YOUR ROBOT WIFE TO.......well, you get the idea....

i once bought some ,,,, self assembly furniture ,,,, afetr a week it still hadnt??????

Darn, my furniture assembled itself in minutes!

Marketing has failed you Gary. You are supposed to feel better after accepting the newest wonder. Take New Coke for example. Some think that New Coke was the attempt by Coke inc to compete with Pepsi. Wrong, New Coke was a gimmick to clear the shelves of Coke. Now New Coke was a big flop. No one liked it, so in the interest of its loyal base, Coke inc returned to "Original Coke" and all was right with the world. Problem was "Original Coke" was not the original formula which was based on cane sugar but the real new Coke that was now beet sugar based. Seems beet sugar is cheaper than cane sugar but you can't just change Coke and have people comparing beet sugar with cane sugar on the same shelf, the sheep will never go for that! SO enter "NEW COKE" which clears the shelves, leaving nothing for comparison and all hailed the return of "Original Coke". All is good.

It still goes on today. Don't just cut the product and try to sell it at the same price. Package 9 pieces of gum in a new package instead of 12 but initially give the sheep two packs combined and marketed as "50% MORE" in big letters. Now give a couple of weeks for the old packs of 12 to get off the shelf and then sell the new packs of 9 singly at the old 12 piece price and all are happy to have gotten "50% MORE" for a couple of weeks rather than protesting the reduction from 12 to 9 forever more!

Went to buy some Methyl Ethyl Ketone M.E.K. for use as a thinner in a specialty paint. What do I find "M.E.K. Substitute" on the shelf. Now I'm sure their "Substitute" will do fine striping a floor but not what I want to experiment with when thinning a $17 dollar a pint paint that specifies M.E.K. So a trip across town to a little hardware store that hasn't been stripped by the EPA or DEA or what other alphabet soup agency is saving me from myself today.

Kent

Wow Kent. It's not "paranoia" when the whole world REALLY IS trying to get you!

I know. Much of my distress is caused by being just sharp enough to catch much of this advertising manipulation. I note that the gallon can tells you on thenlabel that there is no longer a gallon in it. . Of course, it's probably listed in Troy Zombats or some obscure ancient weight form.

This evening, I was rushing to order a couple of thongs in the shop before the 10pm deadline. I wanted a live center for my newest Chinese lathe. I'd debated ... $45 ... Then added it to the list. Once I'd told the girl the stock number, she read back the item and price to me. $111 and change. WHAT. was that! She repeated. It had ... Ah .. Hone up. Yes, older indexed catalog bi always expect an increase. Not nearly three times though. I said no thanks.

The gimmick with food service is that theyvhave determines d the amount of money they want from you. They will shovel on five times as much as you want, just to reach their price goal. You cannot order less, unless you order from the "homeless menu".

It's all around. They've had a hundred years of mind game brain busting coercion. They'll get you, wear you down. But I still fight it. I'll end up with a hypo dart in my butt and wake up in a reeducation camp I'll bet. With a 500 pack of pencil points, a six pound hamburger, and a digital rock.

Gary,

Ordering a couple of thongs for the shop? What do you need a couple of..... Oh! Never mind I don't really want to know or see the videos on Youtube. I know you are using the Iphone and the digital screen. Well I hope that was it.

Digital rock.. I blew a bit of my lemon grass tea up my nose that was funny. At least they won't be sending you messages to upgrade to the 5 piece set of Digital Rocks or the Digital rock program upgrade I hope.

Larry

Note to Self don't drink while reading Gary's posts. Got it.

Similar to the non-gallon gallon, they advertise computer hard-drive capacity in GB*

*not the meaningful Gigabytes, but the obscure derivation that has no meaning to the customer except to falsely inflate the figure

and also food advertised as "92% fat-free". Well fat-free is an absolute status. It's either 100% or else it's 0%. What next, Nigeria is 64% scam-free?

Yes, Gary's spellcheck gets more hits for thOngs than thIngs !!!! That alone speaks to what the future holds.
Kent

Yes guys. I was ordering DIGITAL THONGS. latest thing. Don't ride up like the analogs ...

About 75% of the time, the spell check will default to the most obscure and absurd.



Gary

digital rocks are so yesterday , im now back to the all new old style annalog rock ,,,, nostalga is the future ,

Gary,

Auto Correct is so bad there is a great website of belly laughing auto correct mistakes. I read some and was in tears laughing and my ribs hurt later that day. Just Google funny Auto Correct if you dare.

But with my gutter humor "a few thongs for the shop" was funny to me and still is.

Thanks for Auto Correct laugh Gary.

Sorry the price on your lathe part was expensive. Was that a Chinese part if so and if it is not too heavy I can price it in Manila and ship to you. China stuff sells here about the price they sell wholesale in the U.S. on many things and no tax on one piece. Check this link. [www.alibaba.com] I know there is a 10 piece min. But I can buy one piece at a time here.

If I can help let me know.

Larry

P.S. other members might check China, .22 cal air rifles and take a peak at what comes up on that site if they have not found it before.

Digital thongs eh? Does that mean they fit on your fingers? I hope so, because even edging around the possibility of thinking about the other alternative is making me reach for the brain bleach.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/16/2012 08:27AM by rotorhead.