“Buy this one,” the wife said.  “It’s only $30 more, but it has a lifetime guarantee.”

   “Whose lifetime,” her husband questioned?  “I’m 78 and have lived 3 years more than I was suppose to.”

   A lifetime guarantee is generally considered to be no longer than 10 years for any manufactured product.  Of course, certificates with fine print can exclude important components, and unless you retain sales slips mere possession may not be sufficient to prove ownership.  Warrantees expire generally when 80% or less of the life expectancy of an item has been reached.  In most cases, ‘new and improved’ will have made your model obsolete by the time it dies, especially if it is an electric or electronic product.
   And what’s to say that the dealer, distributor, or factory will still be around when you need them?  A most amazing fact is that 95% of all new businesses in the US fail in the first 5 years.  Even long established reputable companies appear in the newspaper over night for being in trouble.  As a mechanic said:  “It’s hard to break a drop-forged wrench, whether I buy cheap or expensive guaranteed tools.  I’m more likely to loose it first.  I’ll buy two cheap ones, and then get the new and improved one in a couple of years.  It saves me money and my temper when I mow the lawn and find my wrench right where my kid left it years ago.
   For more information on tools, contact (your emergency preparedness specialist).
SEE THE NEED AND THEN PROCEED, TO BE PREPARED.