X2, and those folders start getting pretty thick! I call those register receipts "slimies". The ones that curl up pucker string tight and after a few weeks the non UV stable ink is illegable. I take a regular pen or sharpie and circle the amounts and dates PLUS write the amounts by hand on them as well. I think the register ink is disappearing ink sometimes too as when the stuff sits even in a file cabinet it miraculously "goes away". I also cut the part info off of a box flap and keep that; sometimes even stapled to the slimy. ws
The parts stores are getting cheesy, they keep the new part boxes now. Say they have to send old parts back in them
One thing about this society is that electronics is ruining our archeological footprint. By that I mean that ours and successive generations will leave nothing physical to the historical record or museums to record our lives, it's all on some contemporary electronic media which will one day go "fftt" and be gone. To go back to your parts stores, how many of those guys can still use an old parts catalog? Not many, and there's a reason why we collect and keep them even though the records are supposed to be easily accessible electronically. I collect these weird things called "books", they require some physical effort to study and read, and many of mine are so old that any pictures in them were hammered first on woodcuts or some metal plate before being placed in some nasty stuff called "ink". The downside to these "books" is that they're heavy, they take up a lot of floor space, they require a separate light source to view, and in some cases they stink of who knows what. But the neat thing is I can go back to them over and over again, I can "bookmark" pages easily and because I know how to use something called a "pen", I can replicate or explain them. This all required that I learn something called "cursive" writing; and unlike font selection and keyboarding, it is very personal.
I took my pistons to Michaels yesterday and we were talking about this younger generation and all the electronic do dads they have available to do stuff, they literally want an EASY button for everything, no work required!
When I was selling parts, the founder of the company and I got along well. One day a guy came in looking for info and a source on a carburetor for an old tractor. I went to the founder’s office and he pulled catalogs out of his office closet and dug through them to get info for him. Ten years later his son’s in charge, the old man retires, and I have to fight to keep all my paper catalogs because the son doesn’t think I need them since we have computers. Ten years after that battle, the third generation (better educated and smarter, just ask them!) takes over. Their ‘smart’ ideas plus what they ‘learned’ while daddy was buying them degrees have hurt the business by pissing off the customers and the help. Many of both have left. I took all my damn catalogs, too! Patrick
