Just moved my shop about 50 miles and left some stuff behind thinking I would just get new stuff. First thing I needed was a gas can, Lowes wanted $16 for a new 1 gallon can. So tried another store and found the same can for $15 no more stores around this small town so I got it. once home and full of gas I tried the pour spout but after 20 min of frustration my wife stepped in for a crack at it. After a visit to the web she got it pouring. Has some kind of contraption that keeps the can from leaking air or gas. I still don't understand how to pour it and the next day the can looked like a train hit it because the locked vapor in the can collapsed it. Next I needed some 75 watt bulbs, not even one regular bulb at lowes. local hardware store had none finnaly an old country hardware store had some left. Same trip I was looking for plain old Elmers wood filler. Of course no luck at lowes all they had was new and improved for $6. Nobody had anything but the new and improved stuff that is purple when wet and tan when its dry. I don't get it I have a clock to know when its dry. The only thing that's improved on the wood filler is the store profit margin. Threw away my little PC palm sander and now found out its new and improved. CAN SOMEBODY STOP THE MADNESS?

I feel your pain. I have found that if they can't find a way to make it new and improved, they will simply discontinue it... doesn't matter what it is. But if it's something that I use regularly, it will be discontinued faster, in lieu of sh*t that doesn't work as well, if at all.

PS... I HATE the new fuel can nozzles, too. I've ended up pouring more .damn kerosene on the floor and gasoline on the driveway than I'm happy about. Try getting one of those nozzles to work when you are holding a FULL 5 gallon can of kerosene when it's 5 degrees outside.

Gimpy, you are so right. The light bulb thing drives me insane, and I was in a rainstorm trying to put a gallon of gas in my car and most of it ended up on the ground. If it ain't broke...

It poured rain here yesterday and the new roof on the shop leaked bad. The roofer showed up and told me the leak was around a vent they put in. He also told me the old vent had been changed for a newer model and it is too short to work. When I asked why they didn't use the same kind of vent as the old one he told me they don't make them anymore.

Great... The roof leaks in my shop, too. Guess I have nothing good to look forward to.

Careful, you guys are beginning to sound like a bunch of old fuddy duddies! Oh wait, that would be me too! However, someone has decided that we must be protected from ourselves hence many of the improvements to various products.

What really gets me is the posts on various sites that say "remember these"? Remember, h3ll I still have 5 of them in the shop! They don't make them like that and you can't buy them anymore so I hoard them (whatever it/them is). I have to say that I do like the new LED light bulb that I have for the work light on my bench. It is nice and bright and stays cool.

The big box stores have driven most of the real hardware stores out of business. Now you cant buy what you need, only what they want to sell you. Can't buy a faucet washer for 5 cents but you can get a new faucet for $150.00!

Instead of new and improved....it should be made correctly and right!!

Richard

Gimpy I have a similar story about the new gas cans.

I ran out of gas and wasn't too upset because the gas station was three blocks away and I had plenty of time to get to my gig. I got to the gas station bought a gas can and filled it with a gallon of gas.

On the walk to my car it started to rain lightly so I started jogging. By the time I got to my car it was pouring but at least I had my gas and could get to my gig. (I thought)

Standing in the pouring rain I tried and tried to figure out that gas can. I've had many gas tanks in my life and they all worked pretty much the same (and they did their job just fine).

Now I was worried about getting to my restaurant gig on time so I got the attention of some people who lived in the area and asked for their help. They thought I must pretty dumb not to be able to work a gas can until they tried it.

Keep in mind that the directions were printed on the can. They just made no sense to us. It turned out we had to twist and pull much harder than a reasonable person would expect to "open" the nozzle and then it still wouldn't pour gas until you stuck it tin the tank and pushed forward.

What in the world is the purpose of this complex monstrosity? The old ones worked fine. The new one DOES NOT prevent kids from getting to the gas because they would only have to unscrew the nozzle. The new design only prevents you from accidently pouring out gas using the nozzle. Silly

I realize this is probably a generational thing, and it will eventually work its way out for the good or the bad of humanity. But what I miss, what I really miss, is having our neighborhood's hardware store...just a 10 minute walk from us that had everything anyone could want in our neighborhood of century-old homes, right there for us to go to in a moments notice...shut down due to lack of business. And, shut down close to a year after a big box store opened nearby.

I could walk into that store and they would know who I was, ask me how I was doing (and I felt, genuinely cared), and promptly tend to my needs from experience and most importantly...a knowledge of the neighborhood and its homes and issues. I wasn't a handyman. But somehow, they made me feel like I was one, and with a few cheap washers, fittings, hinges, etc., I saved a lot of money tweaking our quaint old nest. I walked into that store. Smelled the metal. The wood. The history and the neighborhood. Spent a few dollars and felt richer in every way.

For me, this experience is now gone. And that's sad.

Here is the gas can in question for any one interested. You definitely didn't need a youtube vide to use the old ones

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byzIOJUwXpc

Mike,

Thanks for the you tube clip. The lawn mower is needing gas and knowing how to use the new can is better than the elaborate scheme I had come up with to keep gas in the mower. Looks like we can get two mowings out of one fill up so my plan was to switch jobs with my wife every other week since she already knows how to use the can.