Veritas medium router plane question

[Jim Koepke]

It'a a standard 10-32, 1/2 inch long, pan head, machine screw. I'll bet every hardware store in the country has it in stock. It would take less time to go get one then to ...................whatever.

I could find one as quick as it takes me to walk out to my shop. It might need to be cut, so add about 30 seconds.

jtk

[Matt Evans]

I think there are two discussions intertwined here. (1) What would Lee Valley actually do? And, (2) How do I recover from my mistake without asking Lee Valley to do something they shouldn't have to do?

I'm not sure which the OP intended.

I expect, based on previous behavior, LV would send a replacement. (It even occurs to me sending the occasional replacement part might be cheaper for LV than stocking and selling replacement parts would be.) On the other hand, I'd really expect that only if the part was originally missing and would want to buy the replacement if I lost or broke it.

Yep, I think you probably have it there. The second is what was intended. And, as I stated earlier, Lee Valley/Veritas should not have to eat the price of the screw + shipping, even if it is in the interest of having customer service that is above and beyond. As a very small tool manufacturer myself, I've added up all the shipping and extra or replacement parts that I've shipped people free of charge over the course of a year . I'm a tiny one man operation. 2 years ago the number for me was nearly 5% of that part of my business. I would imagine Lee valleys percentage may be a bit lower, but still is a likely a hefty number that could go to better things.

As someone who sees both sides of the transaction, yes, its nice when a company goes above and beyond, however, that makes them less profitable (or they have to maintain higher prices to maintain profit) Do you want to eat into the profitability of a company you like because YOU made a mistake? I certainly wouldn't.

A company that prides them selves on customer service will have no compunction about shipping a small part like that, charge or no charge. When it's a proprietary or custom part for a tool, yes,I'll pick up the phone or send an email, and make sure I can at least cover the cost of the part plus shipping, or if they just send it to me, I'll typically make a another purchase from that company that same day. For a stock common item like a screw, yeah, the hardware store is gonna get my $.26.

Thats 10 minutes less the customer service rep has to waste on me, 10 minutes less that the shipping dept has to deal with me, $2.50-6.00 on shipping plus the .26 part they don't have to eat. Assuming that the shipping and customer service folks are making a mid to low wage, thats $2.50 for 10 minutes, each. . .my calling them and getting a tiny little part I could likely find anywhere is costing them a minimum of $7.76

[Bill Houghton]

Getting back to the original question: on a new product like that, you're likely to find standard screws, either U.S. standard or metric - none of those strange No. 9 machine screws or suchlike, as can be found on Stanley planes. Taking the tool to the hardware store and wandering through the screws-and-bolts aisle to find a match. It's not hard to know when you've got a match - you can feel the screw's fit, or lack of fit, as you thread it in. Unless you've got a stash of machine screws, in which case you can do the wandering in your shop.

[lowell holmes]

I have reconsidered, it's easy.

Take the part with you to Lowe's or Home Depot and find a bolt or screw that matches the thread. I have done it once or twice.