i love my "flip-tops" for my seed beads. i wouldn't be without them. however, i don't love the boxes they come in. i'll be honest - i'm HARD on things. the hinges on the boxes break, or the box cracks - or THEY JUST DON'T HOLD ENOUGH.
Mary and I finally found a solution - at Wal-Mart. in the fishing tackle section. "Shimano" makes fishing tackle boxes [in two sizes, of some kind of high-impact plastic] that hold those flip top containers. with the dividers in place, the compartments will hold 3 of the "half-size" flip tops. take out one divider and the resulting space will hold 3 of the "full-size" containers. and the rounded bottoms actually make it easier to get the containers out. one box is 10.75 x 7.25 x 1.75 inches. $3.78 the larger box is 13.75 x 9 x 2 inches. $2,87 yes, i know they're made in China, but they FIT. so i bought all Johnny's Wal-Mart had, and my other boxes will be converted to holding lampwork!
you can go here:
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and find a dealer near you if you don't want Wal-Mart. ALSO: regarding scanners. my HP 3500 does do a fine job on scanning 3D images, just like it said it would on the box. someone was having problems with the HP psc 1210, and i did too this weekend. evidently a big difference between the two - although the software is the same. here, at least, there are at least six scanners from various companies that specify "3-D" scanning on the boxes.
have fun, all!
----------- @vicki [SnuggleWench] (Books)
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----------- The measure of the menace of a man is not what hardware he carries, but what ideas he believes.-- Jeff Jordan
vj found this in rec.crafts.beads, from snipped-for-privacy@aol.com (DreamBeadr) :
]Since Walmart ripped off mine and Betcey's (from BeyondBeadery) idea for the ]flip-top tubes, I refuse to step foot in one of their stores. =o\
okay - now, see, i had NO idea that the flip-top tubes were yours specifically - although that's where i bought mine. i thought they were something you were "importing" or reselling. thanks for that information!
----------- @vicki [SnuggleWench] (Books)
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----------- The measure of the menace of a man is not what hardware he carries, but what ideas he believes.-- Jeff Jordan
Many years back Betcey & I were selling at BeadExpo in Santa Fe. Suzanne Cooper invited us over for dinner one night to her new home. After dinner, Valerie Hixson brought out this plastic box with little flip-top tubes in it that Suzanne had devised. Betcey and I both looked at each other across the table and watched each others light bulbs go off. I asked if that was something they were considering marketing. When they declined, Betcey and I both asked if they minded if we took the idea and adapted it.
The same day we returned home to our respective locations, Betcey started the research on the flip-tops & I did the research on the boxes. We made an agreement to enter into this together. We had to work for a bit in order to get our initial box set-up, which is my box A. The flip-top tubes are extruded at certain lengths and need to be cut to specifications. The little one was causing us some problems, but we finally got what we wanted. The next show for both of us was an Embellishment in Portland, OR. We debuted the boxes then and both of us sold out within the first few hours of the show.
When I placed the next order, I quadrupled it. Within the next year, another vendor, who apparently felt they came up with the idea first, got their knickers in a twist and started advertising as the "original". Whatever, it doesn't matter to me who thinks they were first. What mattered to me was keeping the quality of the product up and keeping it in stock. (there is another company that extrudes the tubes, they are not of the same quality, but they are less expensive..beware).
After 1 year had passed, we were contacted by a company who supplies beadstores with essentials. He wanted to market them. Again, big company ripping off the two smaller women owned companies.
Then, I received a phone call from a customer of mine. Her husband is the manager of my local Walmart. She let me know that the Walmart corporation had taken our exact box and was having them assembled overseas, and to expect them to be hitting the shelves within the next few weeks. Sure enough, there they were.
Now, while I am also a frugal person, and do my best to get the most for my money, I am also a loyal supporter of smaller family run businesses. Large corporations, in my opinion, do nothing more than remove jobs from the country and peddle mass produced junk, while sitting in their big mansions getting richer. So, while I did not make it a habit to shop at Walmart prior to this, this just gave me the final reason to not step foot in there again. Our sales are still good on them. We continue to pay extra to get the best quality. We have them assembled down the street at a local company that employees mentally and physically challenged adults, (this is one of their favorite jobs, and they just beam when we show up with more).
And I am sure, more and more people will either try to undercut us or market over us in the future. But, I don't have to like it. =o\
climbing down, down, down, down off my soapbox. =o) Beki
vj found this in rec.crafts.beads, from snipped-for-privacy@aol.com (DreamBeadr) :
]Within the next year, another ]vendor, who apparently felt they came up with the idea first, got their ]knickers in a twist and started advertising as the "original". Whatever, it ]doesn't matter to me who thinks they were first.
[much snipping of background info]
okay - i don't buy the "flip tops" at Wal-Mart. those are in the bead section, as far as i know, and i avoid it like the plague. all i get at Wal-Mart are the fishing tackle boxes and my glasses, because Wal-Mart has spent a year training my son for his optical licensing exam and then promoting him like crazy. there aren't a lot of businesses that would be paying a 19-yo kid $50,000/year. so he is happy.
but you are right - in general, i don't like Wal-Mart. i have BIG issues with them, and Johnny and i have argued about them more than once. so i seem to be caught in the middle.
i've seen the flip-tops in several places, and wondered why it hadn't been patented, or if they had been. since several places are marketing them, i'm guessing someone missed the boat. i'll ignore the other vendors and come back to you for more. the part that causes me problems are the boxes the flip-tops are held in - and i admit, i'm hard on things, since i travel quite a bit. that was the only reason for my post about the Shimano fishing tackle boxes, and i see from the link to the Shimano site that i posted, there ARE other places to get them, so i don't have to go back to Wal-Mart to get them. [the original boxes the flip-tops were in are now serving other purposes quite nicely, btw!]
so we're still friends?
----------- @vicki [SnuggleWench] (Books)
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----------- The measure of the menace of a man is not what hardware he carries, but what ideas he believes.-- Jeff Jordan
vj found this in rec.crafts.beads, from Tinkster :
]Geez. That totally sucks. I've never seen those at Walmart though. Did ]they stop selling them?
no - but their version are totally for the birds. so far, from what i've seen when i looked, they only sell the "mid-size" and those are within a container designed by an idiot.
----------- @vicki [SnuggleWench] (Books)
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----------- The measure of the menace of a man is not what hardware he carries, but what ideas he believes.-- Jeff Jordan
And I fully understand why some folks need to shop at Walmart. And I also know about some of the jobs they have brought into communities. Everything has two sides...and some things many more sides than that! ;o)
I can only speak for myself...and for me...its just not a place I need to visit.
We appreciate your business with the tubes, and I totally understand why that harder plastic box doesn't suit your needs. I am glad you found something that will work better for you.
As for all the other places selling them, we supply to many of them. ;o)
How is this "ripping off" your companies? I love having a marketing rep...saves me from the cold calling. Do you mean that he wanted to make the product? Did he want more than "his fair share"?
I don't get it...it's probably in the story, and if it is, I missed it. LG
If was not an offer to buy them from us...it was a "courtesy" call letting us know in advance that he would be knocking them off.
As I mentioned earlier, the tube is extruded. It can be cut into any length imaginable. Also, the box we use comes from a company that carries over 200 sizes of boxes. They will also custom make sizes for you. Instead of going with something unique, they chose to use the exact sizes we carry. It was proven to sell.
On Tue, 17 Feb 2004 19:42:08 -0500, Dr. Sooz wrote (in message ):
I had a problem last year when shopping with DD and one of her friends. The friend is not white (it only makes a difference in the context of this story). DD and her friend were side by side looking at craft things, and I was five feet away. A security person passed by me, passed DD, and walked up to DD's friend and started giving her a very hard time about touching the merchandise. (DD and I also had merchandise in our hands and nothing was said to us)
I was in shock. For about five seconds. Then I went over and got between the security person and DD's friend and had a word or two with the security person. The security person backed off once she saw the child (who was very upset by now) was with me.
I thought I was being unfair, thinking that Wal-mart was discriminating against people of color, when it might have been something else. But then I saw a series of articles in our local paper. This particular Wal-mart has a habit of targeting young people of color and accusing them of shoplifting. They had paid some fairly big settlements to some of these kids because they hauled them into a security area and detained them with no probable cause.
I shudder to think what would have happened if I hadn't been there to intervene. This friend of DD's is one of the nicest kids in the world, and wouldn't take a piece of gum that didn't belong to her. OTOH, if anything had happened, her parents would probably own the store by now - they are incredibly wealthy, and don't put up with a lot.
As a general rule, I avoid the 'mart whenever I can. Once I'm able to drive again, it will be much easier to go places that are a little further away.
vj found this in rec.crafts.beads, from Kathy N-V :
]As a general rule, I avoid the 'mart whenever I can. Once I'm able to drive ]again, it will be much easier to go places that are a little further away.
i agree - it's a really !@%!@%!@ policy. Johnny's old store lost over $1 MILLION to shoplifting last year. just in ONE store. that, however, does not excuse such a policy.
----------- @vicki [SnuggleWench] (Books)
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----------- The measure of the menace of a man is not what hardware he carries, but what ideas he believes.-- Jeff Jordan
I had no idea - that is awful! Another thing to add to the 1,005 Reasons I Don't Shop At Wal-Mart.
My LBS carries flip-top boxes, and I buy them - I will definitely check to make sure of where they get them, and if they don't get them from you then I'll stop buying them from them.
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