I call em crimps, everyone knows what i'm talking about, some ppl "correct" me by saying they're called tips or "ends". In the end, it's nothing to lose sleep over, HOWEVER....

Most shops give ya those things for free. That's pretty standard, especially if they've seen you before, and you're not annoying. (Annoying ppl can have em for $1/each.) Those guys arguably shouldn't have charged you, but they only charged 20cents! I can see how some of y'all might be surprised, but this is NOT a reason to ditch a shop. Likely, these were some rookie dudes who, entrusted with the shop, didn't want to get ish from the owner for giving stuff out for free. For all they knew, the OP was friends with the boss, and they'd have gotten a lecture about "nothing's free". The $.05 charge was probably some CYA in action.

I ditched the bike shop i used to work at when the owner reduced our employee discount to levels that couldn't compete with online shopping. I ditched all the other bike shops long before that, because 99% of bike shops will sell you a cassette that sells for $65 all day online for $99. Even when you go in, explain that you'd like to support the local merchant/local economy, and ask them to match the price b/c, hey, they can get $15 in profit for the thing, or they can get zero, but they aren't going to get $50 from me just to order the thing. $15 seems like a good deal for the 30 seconds it takes to add a cassette to the next qbp order, but NO, these guys cling to the msrp, which is why they're suffering so. Even if you *do* bite the bullet and pay too much for your cassette, you'd better hope the thing's in stock. Otherwise, you'll need to wait 2 weeks for a thing that'd come in the post in 5 days, had you ordered it online for $35 less.

I know THAT's gonna get some ppl angry, but it really is simple math.

-rob