Oh for the Love of Pete all I need is one stinkin' "U" bag!

The BBQ Pit
1

My vacuum is a Dirt Devil. A month ago, I used my last vacuum bag. No worries, I think - I’ll just head over to my handy-dandy Canadian Tire and pick some up. That’s where I got the vac - should be no problem.

So, since that time I’ve made at least 6 different trips, to 3 different Canadian Tires looking for bags.

I go to the vacuum bag asile. The bags are sorted by letter. “U” is the style I require. I scroll the shelves. Again and again, every time I get to the “U” slot I’m thwarted. Always empty. Never a “U” bag to be found. They’ve got “T” bags. They’ve got “G” bags. They have “A”, “B”, “C” and “D” bags. And not a single “U” bag to be found.

Ok, I think. This is going to require some more serious intervention. I head to customer service.

“Hello, I would like a “U” bag, please.”

The friendly gal checks the computer - “We’re showing 3.” she says pleasantly, and sends someone off to search, as they are missing from the shelves.

She then checks the computer for 3 other stores. One is showing 18 “U” bags. One is showing 9 and one is showing 14.

Great. Surely there will be a “U” bag somewhere. She calls the stores. They do visual searches. They do visual searches up in the stock room. They all hunt for these blasted “U” bags.

Among the 4 stores collectively showing 44 “U” bags in the computer, not a single store actually has one. Not. One. Bag.

How is this possible? How can the bloody computer be out by 44 FRIKIN’ BAGS?!?!

I haven’t been able to vac in a month. I have bunny fur a foot deep around here. In fact, I have enough to make a whole other bunny.

THIS IS REDICULOUS!!! ALL I WANT IS ONE STINKIN’ “U” BAG!!!

::sob::

2

Y’all have vacuum bags in tire stores? Do you have Wal-Mart??

(But this is why I now have a bagless vacuum - I could never find bags for my dirt devil.)

Good Luck!

3

Do you have a sewing machine and a spare flannel shirt ?

4

DeVena - apparently not.

My mom has gotten in on the action - it is now a cross country “U” bag search - she’s gonna check in Manitoba and courier them out here if she can find some.

I’ve checked at Home Depot - they don’t even carry vacuums. The Walmart didn’t have them either. It’s like being in a really odd episode of the Twilight Zone.

Squink - I assume you’re going to suggest I whip one up on my sewing machine. A novel idea, except my sewing machine is currently burried under a pile of my roommates crap.

Tomorrow I’m going to try at a different Walmart.

This is getting bizarre.

MY KINGDOM FOR A “U” BAG!

5

Here ya go. Just do a Google search on Dirt Devil u-bag

http://www.vacandsew.com/dirtdevil/dirtdevil_bags.htm

6

If you’re really desperate, this will tide you over. (Truly, I’ve done it.)

Take the full bag out of the vacuum cleaner. Use scissors to slice off the end seam, taking as small amount off as you can manage. Dump the dirt into some other bag to dispose of. Fold a tiny little ‘hem’ on the bag. Repeat the fold, again using as little of the bag as possible. Staple that fold down, using as many staples as possible.

(In case it isn’t obvious: this surgery should be performed OUTSIDE, or at least in your garage if it’s a windy day.)

Reinstall the bag. The ‘recycled’ bag should be good for at least half the time a new one would have lasted, hopefully giving you enough time to track down those elusive bags.

7

Um, alice could you please respond to this? My curiosity is going crazy!:eek:
Why exactly do you go to a tire store for a vacuum cleaner bag?
What the heck is going on up there?:stuck_out_tongue:

8

The local Wal-Mart, K-Mart and Shopko are also out of “U” bags and have been for three weeks. What the hell is happening to these bags? Can the terrorists use them to make bombs?

Hey! if you send me enough bunny fur to make a bunny, I’ll send you enough cat fur to make a cat.

Tink

9

pkbites: Canadian Tire, while it does indeed carry tires, is really a sort of all-purpose home repair place. They have power tools, sports equipment, cheap lawn furniture and (usually, at least) vacuum bags.

10

Really? How unique.

11

No, how Canadian. :smiley: I think it’s so the whole family can go shopping on a saturday morning: Mum can look at kitchen appliances and cheap seat cushions, Dad can go to the hardware section, or look at lumber or something, and the kids can wander up and down the aisles of bikes and rollerblades raising kiddy havoc.

12

Also you can pull the dirt out of the bag through the hole that the dirt goes in. You won’t get all of it out but enough so you can use it till you get some U’s. (as per the suggestion before do it outside)

13

Why would you buy lettuce and milk and bread at the Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company?

14

Re: Canadian Tire

A bunch of us from NY/NJ were up the Ottawa River (in that town where the girl in Mulholland Drive was “from”) and we needed some stuff, like rain suits, a bit of fishing stuff, etc. I knew about CT, and suggested we go there. The other guys had the same reaction as pkbites. “What the hell ya goin’ to a tire store for?”

A veritable plethora of stuff. Car parts, lawn furniture, food, hardware. Most of it is cheap stuff, but it does the trick.

There are now a bunch of Yankee Canadian Tire fans. :stuck_out_tongue:

15

Wow, I think the situation at hand is global. We cannot find a “U” bag, either. Right now, we’re just reusing the old bag, basically as kanicbird suggested. And goddamn, whatta mess it made.

Good luck.

16

Before U bags started to be readily available in stores, I just called the number shown in the owner’s manual, and they sold and sent me as many as I wanted. If it’s been this long, what’s a couple more days waiting for the mail?

17

My god, I have like 750 vacuum cleaner bags at home, and they are the only thing preventing me from getting a new vacuum!

If they are U bags, we could be the answer to one anothers’ prayers.

18

I asked my husband (who works at home) and he said they are marked “U-3.” Is that the same as just plain ol’ U?

bites lip, looks hopeful

19

[hijack]
This is one of the reasons I never patronize Canadian Tire. Wal-Mart is a class act compared to them IMHO.

20

I thought this was going to be a Scrabble thread.