The "never going back" part is what gets me, because I keep seeing this same story play out with everything these days. People ditching the big cable company, the big cell carrier, the big grocery chain, and finding some smaller local option that actually treats them like a person. In my experience once you get used to a place that picks up the phone and knows your name, going back to a call center and a phone tree feels impossible. Your mileage may vary depending on where you live and what the credit union offers, but the pattern seems real. Bigger isn't always better, it just costs more and cares less, and I think folks are finally catching on.

Estate sales are basically the last stop for tools that nobody makes anymore, and that's what makes them worth digging through. What most people miss is that old repair shops were also metal shops, so check the lathe and mill area for custom jigs and fixtures the guy made himself. That stuff never shows up at swap meets because it looks like scrap, but it's often the most useful thing in the pile.