Home Depot Woes

orangebluegreen · Sep 11, 2005

Probably depends on the area of country you live in. I live in a huge growth area and the HD Lowes TSC’s are well stocked, especially after last years hurricanes. I noticed they have far more electrical items in stock including heavy duty stuff. The frustrating thing is I have three HD’s and two Lowes within 10-15 miles of each other, and they all stock different items so a day into town to pick up supplies means going to all of them, the north HD has items the south one doesn't etc. Also have Ace, TSC, only a few miles away with two Northern Tools and a Harbor Freight Tool. Any large lumber orders still go to 84 Lumber, much better stock. It takes years to learn a town of who has what. I also own an old motorhome I have completely rebuilt over the years.....I find some of the big RV dealers are the best places for electrical items and real oddball things you can’t find elsewhere. Found my inlet plugs for hooking my generator to the home system at an RV shop.

Now if HD/Lowes would just stock the 18x30 AC filters like they used to that fit, the ones without the metal webbing. You would think 18x30 means 18x30....but NOOO it means slightly smaller depending on manufacture and you can’t count on them fitting snug without modification. HD/Lowes stopped handling that size a couple months after my new AC was installed....Ace is the only place that has them, but not the right size of 18x30. Even Graingers doesn’t have them.....I will probably be forced to install a larger grille, seems the HD’s of the world do stock 20x30.

Farwell · Sep 11, 2005

Mark777,
I retired early from American Broadcasting/Disney for almost the same reason. When Disney bought ABC they destroyed it by doing almost the same type of thing you described HD doing. As soon as I get done posting this I am going to Google to see if I can find "Home Depot Sucks" I need a little entertainment, thanks.
Farwell

DannyD · Sep 11, 2005

you will find lots of blogs, websites, and things on HD. I spent an hour looking over one site..........

Be in a good mood, the one I looked at will make you feel lousy, so much negative in it. I had to quit and go work on my pond

Junkman · Sep 11, 2005

you are ruining my thoughts of purchasing HD & Lowe's stock in my retirement account. The stock has been going up, but after people read all this negativity, who knows ..... they might just go bankrupt.... /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Farwell · Sep 11, 2005

Danny,
I did the same thing and quit the site because it was so depressing. I did not make it for an hour, only lasted about 25 minutes before I had enough. I quit and put a new muffler on my JD 2010. Not sure what thread it was on but someone wrote about a bad muffler could decrease horse power so I thought I would give it a try because my JD was becoming gutless. It worked, I have my power back!!!!!
I still shop at HD but I always shop with an alternative in mind.
Before I bought my truck I called the HD service desk and asked if I could reserve one of their rental trucks. The lady said that she could not reserve the truck for me but would hold it until 10:00 AM. I arrived at HD early after driving 25 miles and bought about $800 worth of building supplies stacked on two carts and headed for the check out stand at about 9:30. While the items were being checked out I went to the service desk and asked for the lady that I had talked to on the phone to see if I could get the truck keys. She was the keeper of the keys and she had let a HD employee use the truck for personal use and said that he would be back around noon. I had no way to get the items home so I went back to the clerk and let her know that someone would have to re stock the items and I left. I shocked my self at how polite I was when I left. Guess it made me feel good that they lost the sale and of course everyone with in 15 feet heard about it.
Farwell

Farwell · Sep 11, 2005

Junkman,
Wish I had purchased a ton of their stock a few years back. Not sure what it is doing now but they are still really expanding and that makes me a little nervous. They both may still be a good investment but if you do invest in them you will have to keep a close eye on them.
Wards was where I picked up on checking out the caliber of employee and their average attitude. Very slow service, rapid employee turn over and bad attitude. Three months later they were bankrupt.
Farwell

Junkman · Sep 11, 2005

I passed on HD & Lowes, and purchased Haliburton (HAL) at $55+ and now it is at $65..... I have a sell order in for $70... then I will just hold onto my profits and wonder what to do next... Anyone have any good tips???? /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

jmc · Sep 12, 2005

( Anyone have any good tips???? /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif )

As goes the housing bubble, so goes the building suppliers.

John

riptides · Sep 12, 2005

( Anyone have any good tips???? )

Buy low, sell high. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Looking at mid-sized oil, steel, and lumber companies.
Demand will outpace supply, IMHO.

-Mike Z. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Farwell · Sep 12, 2005

Junkman,
I am 61 years old so I do not invest too much in individual stocks. What I did was roll my company 401k money into seven Vanguard mutual funds under one IRA (for accounting ease). It is called the "Coffee House Portfolio" by some web sites. My investments are well spread through out different markets. I did the roll over about 3 years ago and have been living on the earnings from these investments. So far, I have pretty much been able to preserve my original investment.
At my age, in my opinion, I can no longer take the risk with my investments that I could 20 years ago so I think that the more conservative approach , mutual funds, spreads the risk over a broader market than individual stocks.
The single thing that I wish I had done when I was younger, and had an income, was to spend more time educating my self about individual finances. I do not use brokers or financial advisors. I have a phobia about trusting people with my finances, so I have spent hours and hours on the Internet sites educating my self. CBS has some very good information on the Web, but probably the best is Motley Fool. Motley Fool's site has some outstanding tutorials that I recommend to anyone interested in taking charge of their own money or finding the right way to find someone else to help and guide them with their finances.
The main goal is to make money with your money so you can buy a bigger tractor and more implements.
Farwell