Home Depot is getting worse

[wroughtn_harv]

I have two problems with the box stores, Lowes and Home Depot.

1. They run out the real hardware stores with their low prices and that leaves us professionals in a lurch at times.

2. The lurch is usually when we want something that they don't sell umpteen million of in a week.

What this does is limit our options of materials to with which to do our work. This is a progressive problem. Eventually all of us will only have the cookie cutter products because the box stores won't carry anything else. And the products that used to be available at real hardware stores won't be available any longer because those stores are a thing of the past.

I won't mention that it bothers me when they buy up a manufacturer with a great trade name and use that name to sell garbage.

I won't mention that they spread like products in different parts of the store so you can't really compare prices or specifications.

I guess the market will determine what's best in the long run. And maybe it will be really quite fitting. People with limited knowledge about working with their hands buying at a place with a very limited selection of products.

The unknowing led by the uncaring to knowwhere?

 

[Gary_in_Indiana]

I hate to admit this, but that could be the ONE advantage to smoking. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

 

[chim]

Chris, I enjoyed your account. Just this Friday, the carpenter on a job we're doing asked for a box of 2-1/2" #14 wood screws. The HD is only minutes from the project, so I stopped in on the way from the office to pick up a box. Well, seems like #12 is as large as they go. Next stop was at a Tru Value at the other end of town. They stocked several lengths of #14's. They didn't have the 10-32 rod couplings I was looking for though.

There is a family-owned hardware store outside Ephrata PA where I could get lost for hours. They have everything, since they serve all the local farmers and yuppies alike. The place is awsome. I recall stopping in there a couple years ago for some Nycopress crimps after exhausting the small supply at another store. I asked the cleark how many they had in stock, and he asked how many I needed, producing a large case of them.......................chim

 

[Gary_in_Indiana]

<font color="blue"> True Value has their own dog in the store </font>

THAT ALONE is a reason to shop there. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

I once bought a car dolly from a company because when I was in their shop down on one knee to look at one that they were just assembling the company Golden Retriever was just being brought back in from a stroll out back.

She saw a new friend (Goldens only have friends they haven't met yet; there are no strangers) and strained at her leash to get to me. After telling the folks what a fan I am of Goldens and I'd love to see her, they unhooked her and I just knelt there playing with her for a while and swapping dog stories with the owner and his wife/secretary.

When that was over I just asked who I should make the check out to. I'd intended to look at a couple other brands and this brand at other places but all that went away when I found these were just my kind of folks. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Truth be told, I was probably better off. Instead of spending the entire day out of town looking for one of these and probably not doing much if any better than I did anyhow, I got what I needed and was back in town in time to call a friend to go out for lunch. /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif

 

[Gary_in_Indiana]

Harv,

I agree with you on the big box stores. Wal Mart is a prime example of this trend, too. Even in his book, Sam Walton wrote his plan was to go into a market and price out his competition and run them out of business so he could then hire their knowledgable people to work at his stores and then raise his prices as he'd eliminated his competition and was also able to be something of a 'value added' seller since he would then have the good folks working for him.

Quite frankly, after reading that I've never darkened the doorway of a Wal Mart or Sam's except in an emergency.

Generally speaking, things like that tend to run in cycles. The big guy comes in and some smaller guys close. Then someone from the big guy decides he can do it better and becomes the small, service oriented guy and opens his own store.

 

[OkeeDon]

Wow. I have to say, this thread has been a real surprise to me. We have 3 Home Depots within a 12 mile radius of where I live now, and I get fantastic service at all of them. Yes, they don't have all of the specialty items, but I rarely need them - and they mostly have everything I do need. All of the clerks are knowledgeable, and sometimes I get annoyed by how many of them ask me how they can help when I already know where I'm going.

There are two local builder's supply companies, and they get most of the contractor trade. Here's the problem - if you are a contractor building more than 6 houses a year, you can get the same prices at the local store as at HD. If not, you pay about 1/3 more at the local store - one item I buy frequently at HD is $18, at the local stores $24, unless you're willing to buy a truckload. Everybody gets the lower price at HD, doesn't matter how much you buy.

When HD doesn't have an item, I'll go to one of the local stores and pay more if they have it in stock, but often they have to order it. I find that HD will often order things they don't normally stock.

The only problem is that out in Okeechobee, where we're building our new place, they don't have a HD, yet. So, most folks out there drive 45 miles to the coast to go to a HD. The only alternative is a local building supply that's even more expensive than the ones around my current home. It actually pays to drive a 90 mile round trip if what you need is more than a box of nails (slight exxageration).

We also now do all our grocery shopping at Walmart unless one of the other stores has a sale. There are 3 Walmart Superstores within the same 12 or so mile radius, plus one in Okeechobee. The prices are a lot lower, they've got a bigger selection, and they're all open 24 hours.

I don't have any HD stock, but I do have some Walmart, and also some Albertson's (grocery chain) stock, and only buy items there on sale.

Oh, yeah, I almost forgot. When I had my BBQ Grill store, all the Home Depot people knew about me, and referred all their customers who wanted something better than what they carried to my store. Since I didn't sell anything at the quality levels they carried, I didn't lose any business, and I sold a lot of stuff to people who were referred by HD. I made it my business to stop in frequently and thank them.

 

[jyoutz]

I guess that you live in a larger town than me. Our local small business hardware and lumber stores never have much merchandize in stock, they have to order everything. And they are usually not very quick about it either or act like they care (service -why should we worry about that-we are the only game for miles around?). What I like about Home Depot is selection. When I walk into one, they usually have what I'm looking for and rarely do they have to order it. They are building a Home Depot in our small town right now. I'm thrilled-no more 125 mile trips to Flagstaff just to have a merchandize selection. As to our sleepy little hardware and lumber stores whom have ripped us off for years with high prices, poor selection and bad service, I say so long!

 

[Boondox]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">(

I think I'll try the "socialization" routine with our Golden Lab. I never had a mean dog before and we got her as an abused castoff. She only has 2 people that she trusts, my wife and I. You come in our house unannounced, she will literally take you apart and I mean right now. She'd make short work of the rug rats!! )</font>

Daryl -- That's another thing HD is good for. We do a lot of work with horribly abused dogs. That type tend to bond to one or two people only, and even that takes a lot of hard work. But it's difficult to place that sort of dog in a new home if you're the only person it trusts...so we use HD for the next phase. Just the two of us connected by a leash, lots of reassurance around all those strange, scary people. Eventually we'll let strangers pet us...and in no time at all they've come to accept that there are more good people in the world than bad.

Of course sometimes in the process we bond so completely to the dog that we simply can't bear to give it up to a stranger...which is why we have four of our own! /forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif

Pete

 

[kokopelli2]

man if we had the space, we would be fostering dogs too! the best we can do is to help out and donate all of our unused stuff to the pit bull rescue where we got penni.

i always love reading your dog posts!

 

[JDGREEN4ME]

I have no problem with the 2 Home Depots, the Lowes and the Ace hardware that I shop at... /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif maybe the problem is with who is managing the individual stores... /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif