Screwfix Prices Then And Now

securespark

securespark

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I've been using Screwfix for decades, since before there were shops.

Since around 1993 I've been ordering via SF Direct and getting deliveries.

I am doing a load of tidying up and found a catalogue dating back to Spring 1999.

Some of the prices are as follows:

1999
Turboflush macerator. 775W. 3m vertical 40m horizontal £240.

2025
550W. 3.5m V and 45m H. £285.

So, down on wattage, but slightly improved performance.


1999
SF own brand Can't Believe It's Not Nails
310ml. £2.29

2025
No Nonsense CBINN
280-290ml. £4.49-£8.99


1999
Workbench. 9.4kg weight, 100kg load £13.99

2025
4.9kg weight, 100kg load £29.97. Smaller dimensions all round.


1999
Gold screws 4.0 x 50 £2.54 per 200

2025
4.0 x 50 £4.29 per 200


And unless I am completely misunderstanding the last price comparison, in the 1999 catalogue were 12 ga x 2 ½" brass slotted wood screws at £11.71 for 200.

In the current catalogue are Timco brass slotted wood screws 12 ga x 2 ½" listed at £93.89 for 100, part number 523KF.
 
Perhaps in the last 25 years demand for slotted screws has dropped massively with the ubiquity of cheap, good cordless drivers demanding pozi headed variants and they've moved out of mainstream "goldscrew" grade availability and into specialist manufacture from more expensive brands
 
securespark said:
I've been using Screwfix for decades, since before there were shops.

Since around 1993 I've been ordering via SF Direct and getting deliveries.

I am doing a load of tidying up and found a catalogue dating back to Spring 1999.

Some of the prices are as follows:

1999
Turboflush macerator. 775W. 3m vertical 40m horizontal £240.

2025
550W. 3.5m V and 45m H. £285.

So, down on wattage, but slightly improved performance.


1999
SF own brand Can't Believe It's Not Nails
310ml. £2.29

2025
No Nonsense CBINN
280-290ml. £4.49-£8.99


1999
Workbench. 9.4kg weight, 100kg load £13.99

2025
4.9kg weight, 100kg load £29.97. Smaller dimensions all round.


1999
Gold screws 4.0 x 50 £2.54 per 200

2025
4.0 x 50 £4.29 per 200


And unless I am completely misunderstanding the last price comparison, in the 1999 catalogue were 12 ga x 2 ½" brass slotted wood screws at £11.71 for 200.

In the current catalogue are Timco brass slotted wood screws 12 ga x 2 ½" listed at £93.89 for 100, part number 523KF.
Click to expand...
I can remember when screwfix used to have an advert in a woodworking magazine, they literally just sold screws and nuts and bolts.

That would’ve been around 1980
 
I'm now getting to an age where I'd be just as happy, maybe more so, looking through a Screwfix or Toolstation catalogue as opposed to a p0rn mag :)

And yes, I know p0rn is mostly online these days (or so I'm told ;)) but I used the mag reference to keep things in context.
 
Two tubes of CT1 a few weeks back from toolstation, 28 quid, needed more so looked at screwfix, they've stopped doing CT1 and do something called OB1 for a bit less, ended up getting the OB1 on Amazon for £9.99 a tube.
I know you can get deals for a case of 12 but I don't want 12.
 
fillyboy said:
Two tubes of CT1 a few weeks back from toolstation, 28 quid, needed more so looked at screwfix, they've stopped doing CT1 and do something called OB1 for a bit less, ended up getting the OB1 on Amazon for £9.99 a tube.
I know you can get deals for a case of 12 but I don't want 12.
Click to expand...
Sika Stixall is good. 7.49.
 
robinbanks said:
Perhaps in the last 25 years demand for slotted screws has dropped massively with the ubiquity of cheap, good cordless drivers demanding pozi headed variants and they've moved out of mainstream "goldscrew" grade availability and into specialist manufacture from more expensive brands
Click to expand...
Ironically I’ve been searching for slotted, curved stainless screws today. No4 is the size I’ve punted for. 10p each I think
 
robinbanks said:
Perhaps in the last 25 years demand for slotted screws has dropped massively with the ubiquity of cheap, good cordless drivers demanding pozi headed variants and they've moved out of mainstream "goldscrew" grade availability and into specialist manufacture from more expensive brands
Click to expand...

Imagine if all we'd had had been pozi or torx, etc screws "for ever", and then someone invented slotted.

How successful do you think they'd be?
 
I don't buy a lot from Screwfix, but recently bought a new radiator, as one of ours had developed a pin-hole leak. I hadn't initially realised that ours, probably all of them, are traditional imperial sizes, so I had to order a lightly smaller metric replacement. No problem, as the plumber obtained a extension connector. I found their prices are very reasonable and delivery quick.

As for screws, I am sold on Torx now. They never cam out, unlike posidriv, and are just as easy to use and better than slotted screws.
 
I used to find Screwfix shockingly cheap, back when it was an independent business.

I suspect a lot of the price hikes were after the B&Q takeover.

Then the original owner started up Toolstation, which was then sold to Wickes.

There are basically two companies that run the whole lot. They don't compete, they mostly just match each other's prices.

Duopoly - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org
 
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