Lack of fenceposts

**grassfarmer** · Oct 2, 2006, 20:11

Is that U for useless? I find the new store in Red Deer very poor. The product lines are good, sometimes very price competitive, but the staff have very poor knowledge of what they have and spend too much time hiding out behind desks to actually deal with customers.
I don't know what peoples experiences are with local Co-op stores but I find ours very poor. On the last visit they had 5/8 inch bolts but no nuts for them, no ardox nails between 4 - 6 inch length. Their warehousing supply depot in Saskatoon is alledgedly always to blame for shortages. I went in to buy some quiet wean nose tags last week to find they had one bag (#25) in stock. Couldn't quarantee me to supply them within 7 days if they ordered more in - again product coming from Saskatoon. Couldn't the pony express do better in it's day? The other local Co-ops gave the same story - 1 bag of tags in stock and no idea when more would be delivered. Got the company to mail them direct and they came two days later.
I suspect poor management and lack of incentive to perform affects all these farm supply outfits. Give me Peavey Mart every time.

**WRAPper** · Oct 2, 2006, 20:15

I've been threatening to build a peavy mart locally for about 10 years.
Made some call late today and got the same story from a couple non-coop suppliers as well. Might have to cut down my wife's ornamental's to keep the cows in..

**poorboy** · Oct 2, 2006, 21:41

Tapered fence posts have been in very short supply since early spring, province wide.

All you can get most places is a planed post, where it is the same size from top to bottom. They look like pencils. I want to buy some 6-7" by 8 foot tall sharpened posts for gates and cornerposts and they are just not available.

**mb_rancher** · Oct 2, 2006, 22:02

Our local co-op is usually stocked to the brim but they are having trouble getting stock from the Co-op warehouse. As for fence posts here if you can get them the price has jumped over a dollar a post since spring but most are unavailable.

**ruggb** · Oct 2, 2006, 23:23

The Coop warehouse for hardware is in Calgary. Apparently they just can't get enough staff. Orders are backed up all over Western Canada.
Another casualty of the booming oil business.

**coppertop** · Oct 2, 2006, 23:45

it's not just co-op that is short of staff. Our local Home Hardware is absolutely a nightmare. If you need to pick up anything in the lumber yard at the back its like driving through a maze. I went to pick up pellets for my stove on the weekend and not one member of the yard staff had a clue what they looked like or where they were stored. I backed my pickup around picture windows, ladders, shingles, and lord knows what else until I found the pellets myself, then had to find a kid to load them.
Our UFA store is new and the lack of knowledgeable staff is very evident.

**cswilson** · Oct 3, 2006, 00:50

Guess Alberta is becoming the 'have not' province lol. There's tons of posts just across the border.

**WRAPper** · Oct 3, 2006, 09:05

But those are NDP Posts and they wouldn't work on our conservative cows.....(LOL) Talked to a friend last night and we are bringing some in from Manitoba later in the week.

**cswilson** · Oct 3, 2006, 10:16

They all pound lol.

Lack of fenceposts