What They Don't Want You to Know! Insider Secrets and Tips to Shopping at Harbor Freight

[StumpyOrson]

One precaution:

The coupon site given in the video, HFQDPDB.com, is not a secure site. (He says it right, but the text he displays in the video is incorrect.)

The correct url is HFQPDB.com

Fortunately my browser warned me and blocked it, and I never override those blocks. Then I went back and listened to him say the different-but-correct URL - and that worked.

Being a "secure site" only matters if you're putting credit card info into the website. This is just looking at coupons and not needed to be secure.

But either way the first url is a dead url so for this place it's a moot point. Or a moo point, depending on if you're Italian.

 

[1madmouse]

I have seen companies throw brand new products in the dumpster to avoid paying taxes on physical stock on the shelves. Companies can write of everything but labor. Hard to believe people think higher minimum wage will help without thinking whee the employer will get the extra money to pay it. Americans aren't willing to take a lower paying job to make ends meet sometimes. Many are lazy and fat from having it too easy. Most of us here know what it is like to work hard just to eat and pay the bills, plus do the best job you can because that is just how you are. It is screwed up and there doesn't look to be any fix anytime soon.

 

[Peva]

Thanks for the video it was interesting . I'd like to see a part II

Part 2 is PT mowerMech's 2nd post.

 

[Peva]

Being a "secure site" only matters if you're putting credit card info into the website. This is just looking at coupons and not needed to be secure.

But either way the first url is a dead url so for this place it's a moot point. Or a moo point, depending on if you're Italian.

Thanks for the info on sites that aren't secure and credit cards.

Of course my purpose in posting was to let people know that the problem was the mistake in the URL that was displayed and not that the intended site was dead. I'm probably the only one that re-listened to that part of the video where the incorrect URL was just to see if by chance he *said* it *correctly* - and, in fact, he did. (I had remembered that he had said the URL from when I watched it the first time - I just didn't know if he also had said it wrong until I played it again.)

You're welcome.

 

[rhkraft]

I don't trust the Chinese to anything for our benefit. Temu stuff looks like junk and the extraordinary low price implies it really is. Temu is just another example of Tik Tok. Sometimes you have to buy a Chinese product, if I can find it made somewhere else, I'll pay the extra money.

 

[StarTech]

Well that sorta like buying a AAA AX300 pump (540001) that Simpson want over $400 for or buying the same pump for only $199. Both comes from the same factory in the ROC. Just got to know what you are buying.

Or like accepting that new pressure washer is actually producing that 3100-3500 advertise pressure. Most don't according to my gauges.

 

[PTmowerMech]

About dumpster diving- I believe around where I live the dumpster and contents are considered private property of the refuse company. It is considered trespassing and theft if you are caught dumpster diving and removing items.

When I was a kid, me and some friends went looking for some boxes to build a fort. We started at the "Unclaimed Freight" dumpsters. HOLY MOLY, this thing was FULL of great stuff, still in their original boxes. I got all excited because there was some stuff I knew my mom would really like. So I started taking things out of the dumpster, when the manager just happened to walk out and stop me.
Apparently, one of the employee's was stuffing things in the dumpster and coming to get it after dark. For all I know, it could've been him. But he genuinely looked shocked at all the stuff that was in there. And was picking up boxes to see what was under the others.

 

[bertsmobile1]

That part of the problem but the biggest part of what you buy come from Chinese companies via middle men. Why not try to take a few of the middle men out the picture and deal direct.
Walmart is one the worst companies for buying Chinese products. Sure miss Sam Walton and his buy American philosophy. And Amazon is right in there too.

So many of OEM now have factories in the Far East because Americans are unwilling to work for lower wages which help lower prices of the goods they produce. No wonder so much automation is taking the jobs now as the machines are cheaper to maintain than the human workers and they don't require health insurance. There is even factories that no human hand touches the products once the raw materials enters the factory until it is on the shipping dock.

BTW the current wage increases are already having a negative on all across the board as their products are becoming out reach of the common man. The inflation it is causing it the reason it is beyond me to go to the fast food restaurants and why steaks are over $16 per pound but the grower of the beef still not seeing the price increases except for his costs. Personally I just had to switch lower cost items and just leave things on the shelves to rot. I refuse to pay $16 per pound for steaks as I am a below minimum wage earner. I have learn to live within my means.

Here is an example of what middle men can cause. A customer needed a new pressure washer pump as he ran his into the scrape pile. Simpson wanted nearly $400 + shipping for the replacement but thru research I was able to eliminate a few of the middle men and got the pump for $199 including shipping. And I didn't even check Temu as I needed quicker delivery. I making decent profit and the customer is saving quite a bit at the same time.

It is not the workers wanting too much money, it is the managers & shareholders wanting too much profits without spending any money
When you stand in front of a machine that is making 100 carburettor gaskets per minute, the hourly rate of the worker is insignificant .
But when you are working with a kick press trying to manoeuvre a piece of scrap gasket material to squeeze 101 caskets out of a sheet that would normally make 99 and take 10 minutes doing it, the hourly rate of the operator does make a difference.
And there in lies the problem.
US companies ( and Australian ones ) do not want to spend the $ 2,000,000 on the machine that will cut 60,000 gaskets an hour .
They would rather just spend that $ 2,000,000 buying Chinese products and wholesaling them at a 5000% mark up ( 50 x if you like )
I did not notice it being mentioned here but a mob called Carter Carburettor who apparently closed shop in 1986 have just bought Walbro carburettor Div ( what else do Walbro make ?)
Along with the sale was a price rise of 100% to 300%
So a D10 WAT kit goes from $ 8 to $ 26 ( Aust ) and this is wholesale price + 10 % GST
The same Kit from CTS is $ 2.20 via Ali-Baba or $ 1.00 from DC ( when he was trading ) or 24 ¢ direct from CTS ( min order 100 kits , min sale $ 500 )
Why are they so cheap, well it is not because they pay the workers 1/2 bowl of rice / day
It is because they have bought machines that can stamp out 10,000 gaskets hr from rolls of paper or mylar and the diaphragm machine can do 5,000 /hr

 

[PTmowerMech]

It is not the workers wanting too much money, it is the managers & shareholders wanting too much profits without spending any money
When you stand in front of a machine that is making 100 carburettor gaskets per minute, the hourly rate of the worker is insignificant .
But when you are working with a kick press trying to manoeuvre a piece of scrap gasket material to squeeze 101 caskets out of a sheet that would normally make 99 and take 10 minutes doing it, the hourly rate of the operator does make a difference.
And there in lies the problem.
US companies ( and Australian ones ) do not want to spend the $ 2,000,000 on the machine that will cut 60,000 gaskets an hour .
They would rather just spend that $ 2,000,000 buying Chinese products and wholesaling them at a 5000% mark up ( 50 x if you like )
I did not notice it being mentioned here but a mob called Carter Carburettor who apparently closed shop in 1986 have just bought Walbro carburettor Div ( what else do Walbro make ?)
Along with the sale was a price rise of 100% to 300%
So a D10 WAT kit goes from $ 8 to $ 26 ( Aust ) and this is wholesale price + 10 % GST
The same Kit from CTS is $ 2.20 via Ali-Baba or $ 1.00 from DC ( when he was trading ) or 24 ¢ direct from CTS ( min order 100 kits , min sale $ 500 )
Why are they so cheap, well it is not because they pay the workers 1/2 bowl of rice / day
It is because they have bought machines that can stamp out 10,000 gaskets hr from rolls of paper or mylar and the diaphragm machine can do 5,000 /hr

It would seem that Walbro has been selling off for some time now. The Carlyle group was in the news pretty heavily a few years back. I don't remember why though. Note the date. 2012

The Carlyle Group Acquires Walbro Engine Management​

Sep 24, 2012 — Tucson, AZ – The Carlyle Group (NASDAQ: CG) today announced that it has acquired 100% of the outstanding shares of Walbro Engine Management ...

 

[PTmowerMech]

A little ditty about Carter Carburetor. Short, but interesting read.