Cheap luggage bites

On Sun, 19 Jun 2005 13:21:01 -0500, (Miguel Cruz)
wrote:

This experienced traveler uses a bag that wasn't cheap, but sure looks like
crap. It's held up for a remarkable 13 years of near-constant travel, and
other than a broken zipper handle (which I replaced with a jumbo paper clip
in order to accentuate the trashy look) it shows no signs of giving up. It's
never been broken into, and I attribute that to all the stains it's picked
up from rain, baggle handling, being kicked along airport floors, and the
like.

In 8 years of lots of travel, my very cheap backpack which was the
cheapest Argos had in 1997 has stood up, a couple of the less
important straps have a broke, but it's still solid, and I've not
seriously thought about replacing it yet.

Jim.

Hilary wrote:
john wrote:
Woolworths?

That's the name of a very old retail firm which went out of business
in the US a few years ago.

It's also the name of a major high-street retailer in the UK. Who are
still very much in business at the moment.

Still going strong in Australia too.

miguel
--
Hit The Road! Photos from 36 countries on 5 continents: http://travel.u.nu
Latest photos: Queens Day in Amsterdam; the Grand Canyon; Amman, Jordan

Hilary wrote:



That's the name of a very old retail firm which went out of business
in the US a few years ago.


It's also the name of a major high-street retailer in the UK. Who are
still very much in business at the moment.

Hilary



In 1909, FW Woolworth expanded to the UK
http://www.woolworthsgroupplc.com/ab...up_history.cfm

In 1997, Woolworth closed its last 400 US stores and changed its name to
Venator. In 2000, it took the name of its top retail performer and
became Foot Locker, Inc. Source:
http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclop...lworth-Company

So, the US Company that was Woolworth exists today as Foot Locker, Inc.

Miguel Cruz wrote:

Hilary wrote:
john wrote:
Woolworths?

That's the name of a very old retail firm which went out of business
in the US a few years ago.

It's also the name of a major high-street retailer in the UK. Who are
still very much in business at the moment.

Still going strong in Australia too.

Woolworths in Australia was like Woolworths in the UK, but it has for
decades been a supermarket chain, not a "5 & dime". The supermarkets
are called Safeway in some states, and oddly share livery with the
recently defunct UK safeway chain, but I don't think they have any
connection.

joan


--
Joan McGalliard, UK http://www.mcgalliard.org

This experienced traveler uses a bag that wasn't cheap, but sure looks
like crap. It's held up for a remarkable 13 years of near-constant
travel, and other than a broken zipper handle (which I replaced with
a jumbo paper clip in order to accentuate the trashy look) it shows no
signs of giving up. It's never been broken into, and I attribute that
to all the stains it's picked up from rain, baggle handling, being
kicked along airport floors, and the like.
In 8 years of lots of travel, my very cheap backpack which was the
cheapest Argos had in 1997 has stood up, a couple of the less
important straps have a broke, but it's still solid, and I've not
seriously thought about replacing it yet.

My 25-year-old Karrimor rucksack is still going fine. Grubby as you'd
expect from something that old, though finally it's lost the ingrained
marble dust from sharing the baggage compartment with a load of grave-
stones on a bus ride near Trabzon. It's had no repairs, though I've
customized it a bit by sewing on extra straps to hold a heavy tripod.
By now it's utterly distinctive on a carousel.

============== j-c ====== @ ====== purr . demon . co . uk ==============
Jack Campin: 11 Third St, Newtongrange EH22 4PU, Scotland | tel 0131 660 4760
http://www.purr.demon.co.uk/jack/ for CD-ROMs and free | fax 0870 0554 975
stuff: Scottish music, food intolerance, & Mac logic fonts | mob 07800 739 557

Joan McGalliard wrote:
Miguel Cruz wrote:
Still going strong in Australia too.

Woolworths in Australia was like Woolworths in the UK, but it has for
decades been a supermarket chain, not a "5 & dime". The supermarkets
are called Safeway in some states, and oddly share livery with the
recently defunct UK safeway chain, but I don't think they have any
connection.

The Woolies across the street from me when I lived in Sydney (1992-1994)
sold everything from socks to hair dryers. But there seems to have been a
lot of changes in Australian Supermarketry since then.

miguel
--
Hit The Road! Photos from 36 countries on 5 continents: http://travel.u.nu
Latest photos: Queens Day in Amsterdam; the Grand Canyon; Amman, Jordan

On Sun, 19 Jun 2005 21:35:21 +0100, Jack Campin - bogus address
wrote:

My 25-year-old Karrimor rucksack is still going fine. Grubby as you'd
expect from something that old, though finally it's lost the ingrained
marble dust from sharing the baggage compartment with a load of grave-
stones on a bus ride near Trabzon. It's had no repairs, though I've
customized it a bit by sewing on extra straps to hold a heavy tripod.
By now it's utterly distinctive on a carousel.

I thought mine was too, but I managed to walk off and through customs
at Jo'burg with someone elses...

Jim.

On Sun, 19 Jun 2005 15:35:59 -0500, (Miguel
Cruz) wrote:

The Woolies across the street from me when I lived in Sydney (1992-1994)
sold everything from socks to hair dryers. But there seems to have been a
lot of changes in Australian Supermarketry since then.

miguel

They have two basic store types here - a very large
"Woolworths" (Safeway in Victoria) supermarket chain broadly
equivalent to the Tescos I saw in Europe or Albertson's in
the USA, and a "Big W" version directly competing with
K-Mart.


Cheers, Alan, Australia

There is, of course, cheap and cheap. I use bags made from Cordura,
which is well-nigh indestructible. Those bags most often fail because
the internal steel stiffening breaks, while the outer remains intact.

Ah-ha! We may be in violent agreement. In my opinion, there are
three classes of luggage:
1) cheap crap that costs 50 USD or so, bought from such places as
Walmart; the fabric is usually thin nylon of some sort
2) intermediate luggage costing 200 USD or so, constructed of
Cordura and other quality materials
3) high-priced luggage such as Hartmann and designer labels

The type of luggage as described in my story was of the first category.
I personally buy luggage of the second category. Most people in this
thread seem to assume that there are only two categories of luggage,
and they are wrong. I remain convinced that buying #1 is a short-
sighted policy, buying #2 is probably good value for the money, and
buying #3 may be worth it (in the case of Hartmann and certain other
brands), but often may result in poor value for the money. Many
people assumed that I prefer #3, but they are wrong. In some
respects, e.g. handle length, high-priced brands like Hartmann are
inferior to cheaper brands like Eagle Creek and LL Bean. All of the
above references are American based, of course.


Pete

"spamfree" wrote in message
ink.net...
There is, of course, cheap and cheap. I use bags made from Cordura,
which is well-nigh indestructible. Those bags most often fail because
the internal steel stiffening breaks, while the outer remains intact.

Ah-ha! We may be in violent agreement. In my opinion, there are
three classes of luggage:
1) cheap crap that costs 50 USD or so, bought from such places as
Walmart; the fabric is usually thin nylon of some sort
2) intermediate luggage costing 200 USD or so, constructed of
Cordura and other quality materials
3) high-priced luggage such as Hartmann and designer labels

We are only in agreement if US luggage prices are exorbitantly high. I would
count very cheap as being GBP10-15 and expensive starting at around GBP
85-90, which is about the price of a Samsonite rigid wheeled suitcase.

Colin Bignell