Made in the USA

A friend called today and told me most of the nascar and sports type crap from
china that napa has made room for over the passed years while not having a
real good inventory of needed parts and telling folks " we can order it, have
it in a wk or 10 days give or take but gotta charge ya shipping. Happens a lot
in the small town America and may not reflect your napa. I have even been in
our napa 3 or 4 times in the last 10-12 yrs bought something once, they had my oil brand on hand,maybe its just me. Anyway friend said
they have a good selection of tractor restoration stuff and a big sign that
says Made in the USA, gauges, emblems, carb kits and even headlight wings.
Maybe they had this for a long time but 1st I got wind of it as its hard to
find anything ag related here in one of the largest corn and cattle production
states , but the theater is showing Clint Eastwood's new movie 2 Mules for
Sister Sara ! cant wait to see it heard it was in color.
Now if ya dont believe the part about rural America our post office is open 2 hrs a day----------no kidding,postmaster is a volunteer, just kidding -- she gets min. wage not considered a postal emp. maybe Jon can explain.

I guess your NAPA is NOT counting on you for much business since you have only been in there 3/4 times over the past 10/12 years.

I am little confused as to what your point of your post is ???

Popgun easier for me to track a bobcat than follow your post. You haven't been sipping at the recipe have you?

I guessing that Popguns Napa store only has the key chain size of NAPA KNOW HOW,and not the 55 gallon drum size.LOL

Man I had to re-read that several times really slow to understand what you said. I don't ususally go to napa unless its for a 12v round can coil. Otherwise Oriellys gets my business...however they too frequently have to order parts for me it seems. Few months ago I went in to get a new plug for the front diff on my pickup, they got them fancy plastic washers on them and mine was leaking just enough to annoy me. They tried selling me something off the wall that was for no particular application, nope just order me one. Now they do not charge shipping, in fact I don't recall ever being charged shipping from a parts store. Never picked the plug up as it went in the shop to get the axle seal done again and the hub assembly was shot. Maybe yer Small town America napa doesn't place orders every week so that's why they charge ya shipping. Never have sourced napa for headlight wings, you sure they have them in stock or would you have to order them and pay shipping? Would you be surprised as chitty as tsc is they have made in America copper core plug wires...So its hard for you to find anything ag related in one of the largest corn and cattle states and your comparing that to them showing a movie? Lucky to still have a post office. We had several close in small towns around here.

I checked NAPA's website, just out of curiosity, and it looks like they're carrying some Sparex parts: plug wires, sediment bowls, some Ford emblems, etc., so maybe that's a recent change. I don't have a NAPA very close to me, so I don't get there too often.

I don't know if they're a real Sparex dealer, and can get the full line, but it might be pretty handy if they could.

Den it is sad, as I can see you get it. I dont see how napa stays in business if they are like the one we have it is so sad.

My local small town NAPA store is amazing. They have almost anything I ever need in stock. If they do not, they order it with no freight charges. They know me by name and my voice over the phone if I call them. And their prices beat O'Reillys. I am sold on NAPA. GAJIM

(quoted from post at 16:13:56 05/12/15) My local small town NAPA store is amazing. They have almost anything I ever need in stock. If they do not, they order it with no freight charges. They know me by name and my voice over the phone if I call them. And their prices beat O'Reillys. I am sold on NAPA. GAJIM

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DITTO! Plus NAPA here can also get me any TISCO item I want too. So I don't know if you just need some cheese with that whine or what. If you don't go to your NAPA but once every 3-4 years how on earth can you expect them to know what your needs are? Let's see, NAPA 5 miles. Anyone one else at least 25 miles. Plus they get me what I need when I need it at a reasonable price.

Rick

Our NAPA here is a dump. I decided to try something else after I got sick of having to take back Autozone's DURALAST parts after inevitable failure. I have to drive to Saginaw to get any parts, but here in Frankenmuth, our Auto Value store isn't half-bad. The Car Quest is ok, but is only open when the owner feels like it.

I'm so tired of specifying part numbers and specific parts, only to have a 17-year-old look at me sideways and ask what year/make/model of vehicle (because that's how they have to put in into the computer).

Who here remembers getting a Coke in a glass bottle on Saturday at the local parts store with your dad? There used to be donuts and stools for shooting the manure....and cigarette smoke. Oh glorious cigarette smoke.

but i digress.

Also - be glad we don't have to go to the J-D store. I refuse to buy tractor parts from a place that has more toys than parts. (I'm talking about YOU, Bader Bros)

Many small town NAPA's are franchise stores, so they carry what the owner can afford to hold in $. I happen to live in the apex of 3 corporate stores, if they don't have it in stock they can have it brought in usually in less than 4 hours from the local regional distribution center.

Kevin

(quoted from post at 18:02:38 05/12/15) Our NAPA here is a dump. I decided to try something else after I got sick of having to take back Autozone's DURALAST parts after inevitable failure. I have to drive to Saginaw to get any parts, but here in Frankenmuth, our Auto Value store isn't half-bad. The Car Quest is ok, but is only open when the owner feels like it.

I'm so tired of specifying part numbers and specific parts, only to have a 17-year-old look at me sideways and ask what year/make/model of vehicle (because that's how they have to put in into the computer).

Who here remembers getting a Coke in a glass bottle on Saturday at the local parts store with your dad? There used to be donuts and stools for shooting the manure....and cigarette smoke. Oh glorious cigarette smoke.

but i digress.

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Thing of it is it isn't the kids fault. The computer won't let him just put in the part number. You may have made a mistake and they don't want you trying to sue them because you gave them a wrong number then installed the part causing more damage. So the computer is set up so they have to ask year make and model. I remember the "so called good old days". Where they spent 10-15 minutes looking a part up in a book, finding it on the card system only to announce that it was out of stock and it would be several days. Now after taking about 30 seconds of my precious time to state the year, make and model, 4X4 and auto, they take less than 2 minutes to find the part, say it's out of stock and it will be here at 8AM. That sucks so bad to be in and out of the parts store, with my lungs clean (now that I'm a non smoker) in less than 5 minutes! OH I just hate that so bad. Please bring back the good old days so I can waste half an hour and have to wait 3 or 4 days for a part or half a day driving to another town if I'm in a rush.

But then I degress..... :wink:

Rick

You are correct. I think the problem lies in the fact that I have the Autozone app on my smurtphone and can see who has the part in stock...but have to go in and repeat the process with the 17-year-old that doesn't know his butt from a hole in the ground. It's not his/her fault - Autozone pays near-minimum wages for the redshirts and doesn't require any actual automotive or mechanical knowledge.

Now, if I could look the part up and put a "hold" on it at the place I intend to pick it up...walk in, give my name and pay for it, that would be the bee's knees.

Autozone, O'Reilly and Advance Auto all use the same part numbers / rebuilders. The quality SUCKS. In the past two years I had to re-do R&R on about 50% of the reman parts I've purchased from Autozone. Sure the warranty gives me a new part...but that 2006 Dodge Ram water pump I just had to re-do because of a bad bearing after 6 months really chapped my a$$, I'll tell you what. And the 2000 Silverado caliper bracket that I drove 50 miles to get in an emergency...the threads were stripped in one hole.

Sorry for the rant. I try to buy new parts now when I can, and am starting to patronize my local junkyards for parts I know will fit. What are your findings with remanufactured parts quality from the "big box" chains?

3 NAPA's within driving range, all ok.
One I use most...very good
I just call them with what I need, yes we have it,
or no, but we can have it by noon tomorrow.

Shipping charges? must be another 'new' idea.
(their business logistics are not my concern. Just tell me the truth...$20 part with $10 shipping is a $30 part)
I'll never pay shipping charges at a walk-up store.
That's why I'm actually there......no shipping charges, and to support my local business.
If they want shipping, I'll just order it online, and
it will come to my house, not another trip to the store.

hints for dealing with the computer whiz at the counter.
do research online.
ask them to cross reference a competitors part number.(they can)
when you have a part number, google it, and pick any vehicle it fits and tell them that is your 'car'.

My local advance auto,
I have been looking for an odd looking coolant hose for my old 1984 jeep, I was given a possible part number by a guy on the jeep forum.

I took the part number to the guy at advance, he looked it up, no problem, even checked out another brand,

unfortunately when he pulled up the part picture, it was not what I needed.
I was very satisfied with their performance.

I agree, I try to buy new parts rather than remanufactured parts when I can, better long term outcome.

They must be out of "punctuation" as well.

(quoted from post at 02:24:51 05/13/15)
Sorry for the rant. I try to buy new parts now when I can, and am starting to patronize my local junkyards for parts I know will fit. What are your findings with remanufactured parts quality from the "big box" chains?

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I went through 4 of NAPA's reman power steering pumps on my Ram 1500. One leaked out of the box and the other three didn't make it more than a couple months. Finally found a NEW one at Autozone for ~$150 and it seems to be holding up well. And by the way, I called the Dodge dealer thinking I would pop for new OEM - they wanted just short of a grand.....

TOH

I know all about small town USA. I live in a town of 120 people. My post office is open for four hrs. I sure hope it stays open. I ship packages daily. Most fast food joints are 30 to 70 mile drive one way!

I had a NAPA tractor parts catalog back in the early 90's. That catalog was worthless. I ordered a belt for my SC Case. The catalog was wrong belt at least 4 inches too short. I ordered brake linings. After searching for a month NAPA couldn't find any.Ordered a fuel strainer. Had to be special ordered will take 30 days! I tossed that catalog in the trash.