Counter Storage recommendations

Gunner Scott

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howdy-

tried searching here for counter storage info and came up empty. Where is there in the USA to buy plano 3701 cases? I tried Amazon but they have so many different case types it got confusing. So any help in pointing me in the right direction would be awesome.

scott
 

Jplott94

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Another option is the Darice Model 1157 32-compartment No-Spill Organizer. Primarily used in the arts and crafts world for storing beading supplies, I found it to be a better choice for my particular requirements. I bought the majority of mine at Walmart for $5-6 apiece. I really like the grooved tray lid that really limits counter migration from one compartment to the next, and the individual compartment walls are molded into the tray as opposed to the Plano, which are pieced together by the consumer. Also like the Plano, there are existing templates available for individual compartment labels and whole tray compartment guides.

A nearly identical product is the Beadery Craft Products Large Bead Keeper Model 2176.

I've tried both the Plano and Darice products for counter storage, and I prefer the Darice option. YMMV.
 

DVexile

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I second the recommendation for the Darice 32 bin version. An important difference is the bins are fixed - you can’t pull out the dividers. The plus to that nothing can slide under the dividers. Also the lid has ridges that fit around the dividers so nothing can slip over the top. Two sides of each bottom are rounded making it easier to extract counters from the bottom.

Michaels also sells a version. Very slightly cheaper than Walmart if bought in a pack of six, more expensive than Walmart if purchased individually:

https://www.michaels.com/product/6-pack-bead-landing-craft-storage-organizer-MP468278
 

kcole4001

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Those are what I use as well.
They're readily available locally and cheap, the bottoms of the trays are rounded slightly so it's easy to dig in and remove counters.

They're not very deep, so get the biggest ones.
Planos or other tackle type rigs will hold more per compartment, but I just bought extra and subdivided my counters a bit more.
 

Hutch

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I use the Plano:
3600 for Infantry
3700 for Armor
3701 for Informational
 

DVexile

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Trigger warning: Germans don't understand humor.

You're kidding, aren't you?

von Marwitz
Sadly, he's not. Well, he's kidding about them causing cancer, but not kidding about the not shipping to California for a reason related to cancer.

Basically California has a rather old law (Proposition 65) that requires putting warning labels on things that contain chemicals that might cause cancer. The list of chemicals is ridiculously long and includes many things that you'd have to ingest in vast quantities to have a hope of contracting cancer, but if a product is made with such a chemical (even an inedible plastic box) it is suppose to have a warning label if it is sold in California.

As a result, pretty much anything that is sold in California has one of these warning labels on it because the penalties for non-compliance are higher than just slapping a sticker on the package and possibly losing a few customers scared by the label. In fact nearly every store, including restaurants, in California have a sign someplace warning you the place contains things made from chemicals that might cause cancer. So at this point the law is useless, everything just has a warning label on it in California whether there is any risk or not.

The issue for some online retailers is that they source products from lots of places and some of them may be "drop shipped" (meaning they ship to the customer directly from the manufacturer without ever passing through the hands of the online retailer). So if they drop ship something that is actually made with one of the listed chemicals and the manufacturer didn't put the silly label on it (common thing from China) then they are potentially liable for a fine. So some online retailers have decided it just isn't worth all the hassle of shipping anything to California because they don't want spend money to track which items in their inventory have listed chemicals and don't have labels on them.
 

von Marwitz

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Sadly, he's not. Well, he's kidding about them causing cancer, but not kidding about the not shipping to California for a reason related to cancer.

Basically California has a rather old law (Proposition 65) that requires putting warning labels on things that contain chemicals that might cause cancer. The list of chemicals is ridiculously long and includes many things that you'd have to ingest in vast quantities to have a hope of contracting cancer, but if a product is made with such a chemical (even an inedible plastic box) it is suppose to have a warning label if it is sold in California.

As a result, pretty much anything that is sold in California has one of these warning labels on it because the penalties for non-compliance are higher than just slapping a sticker on the package and possibly losing a few customers scared by the label. In fact nearly every store, including restaurants, in California have a sign someplace warning you the place contains things made from chemicals that might cause cancer. So at this point the law is useless, everything just has a warning label on it in California whether there is any risk or not.

The issue for some online retailers is that they source products from lots of places and some of them may be "drop shipped" (meaning they ship to the customer directly from the manufacturer without ever passing through the hands of the online retailer). So if they drop ship something that is actually made with one of the listed chemicals and the manufacturer didn't put the silly label on it (common thing from China) then they are potentially liable for a fine. So some online retailers have decided it just isn't worth all the hassle of shipping anything to California because they don't want spend money to track which items in their inventory have listed chemicals and don't have labels on them.
Thanks for the insight.

Maybe considering the old (chivalric) virtue of Mâze could be an idea.

Tellingly, I could not find the term in the english-language Wikipedia.

For a basic idea:
Mâze [ˈmaːsə] is a Middle High German word for moderation. It characterizes the balance achieved through "zuht" (lifelong self-education) between two extreme qualities that destroy the order ordained by God. The Mâze belonged to the basic canon of the knightly virtues of Middle High German poetry.

von Marwitz
 

daniel zucker

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Thanks for the insight.

Maybe considering the old (chivalric) virtue of Mâze could be an idea.

Tellingly, I could not find the term in the english-language Wikipedia.

For a basic idea:
Mâze [ˈmaːsə] is a Middle High German word for moderation. It characterizes the balance achieved through "zuht" (lifelong self-education) between two extreme qualities that destroy the order ordained by God. The Mâze belonged to the basic canon of the knightly virtues of Middle High German poetry.

von Marwitz
Oh My dear von Marwitz. I hope you are not under the naive idea that a majority of americans know how to be 'moderate' of even have any inkling of what a 'lifelong self-education' means. Our history over the last decade has/is showing how extreme and stupid we are.

YMOV
o_O
 

DVexile

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Thanks for the insight.

Maybe considering the old (chivalric) virtue of Mâze could be an idea.

Tellingly, I could not find the term in the english-language Wikipedia.

For a basic idea:
Mâze [ˈmaːsə] is a Middle High German word for moderation. It characterizes the balance achieved through "zuht" (lifelong self-education) between two extreme qualities that destroy the order ordained by God. The Mâze belonged to the basic canon of the knightly virtues of Middle High German poetry.

von Marwitz
Thanks! I love concepts that literally have no word for them in other languages.

Indeed, the US is generally not know for moderation. We are, however, really good at Schadenfreude to the point we adopted the word into the language wholeheartedly.

Regulations can have bizarre side effects. Recently in the US a new law was passed regulating foods that might contain sesame flour to protect those with allergies. The regulations require extensive cleaning of processing facilities before producing a product that did not list sesame in its ingredients list. However, another existing regulation makes it illegal to list ingredients that aren’t actually in your product. So manufacturers couldn’t just add a sesame warning or add sesame to the ingredients list to comply with the law. The cheapest solution? Specifically add sesame flour to all of your products so you can legally list sesame as an ingredient and not be subject to the stringent regulations in the law requiring facility cleaning.

So after years of effort and lobbying a law was passed to try to make life a bit safer and easier for folks with sesame allergies. The end result was many products people with sesame allergies were once able to eat have now had sesame flour added to them on purpose instead.

Anyway, the topic has now been dragged well away from counter storage…
 

David Reinking

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Some of my favorites are from Container Store— both the Box-Box 27-compartment container and the 32-compartment container which are smaller than the larger 32-compartment Bead Storage container— which I also have.
 

DVexile

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Some of my favorites are from Container Store— both the Box-Box 27-compartment container and the 32-compartment container which are smaller than the larger 32-compartment Bead Storage container— which I also have.
Is this the 27 compartment one:


That is a nice design with shallow bins.
 
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