what an odd comment about "newfangled" ATM cards!
I bank with B of A and I have an ATM card AND free checking, PLUS a free safe deposit box... You need to check around, dude.
dave
Silvan wrote:
Same location: Southern San Jose. I typically head to HD every week or two. Typically with a list of 10 to 20 items, usually a weird mix. At the various area HDs, I typically find 2/3 of the stuff I want; the rest is just out of stock. This means that I typically have to visit
3 or 4 stores to get everything I need.So I've completely given up on Home Depot, and I take the 1/2 hour drive down to Gilroy, and go to Lowe's. Nearly everything is in stock there. The selection is not significantly better or worse than HD, but they simply stock much better. Also, they are much more friendly and helpful. And everything is extremely well organized, and neat and clean.
Here's the huge difference: HD has been pretty much a monopoly for serious home improvement shopping in the Bay Area, in particular since OSH (Orchard Supply Hardware) has been going rapidly downhill since they were taken over by Sears. HD has gotten incredibly lazy: Stocking, customer service, cutting, special orders, cleanup, neatness, speed of the lines (including the self-checkout, which works, but with all the teething problems is just as slow as waiting for a human checker) all of that is just a complete desaster at HD. Since Lowe's is brand-new, and trying to break into the market, they are really giving it the extra effort. This makes all the difference in the world. I'll probably spend a few hundred $ there this evening.
By the way, I can't wait until Lowe's opens the new store that is planned to be built at the corner of Hwy 85 and Cottle road (near the IBM/Hitachi site). Then it will be right next to where I work.
With the service I get from a typical cashier, I'll gladly do it myself. I can care less if some of them keep their job, as they barely do it.
Rarities exist, but most cashiers really stink.
Barry
if you are referring to the Walmart in South SJ, I agree: it's the worse one I've been in. But I still go there with SWMBO. Sometimes they even have Hostess Raspberry Filled Donuts in stock! (But not often...)
dave
Tim Douglass wrote:
maybe the bag was underweight. See, Tim, a new consumer tool at your disposal: maybe Weights and Measures should come out to calibrate the HD self service check out scales.
dave
Tim Douglass wrote:
Theres been number of things, plumbing parts, pool chlorine, some plants, other things I don't remember. I think I bought a ballast that was the same price as Lowes too. Dewalt tools are about the same price I noticed. Id pay a little more anyway just because the experience is so much more pleasant.
Excellent point. I have two things to add. First, MSH obviously hasn't used the self service checkout yet. Second, This concept is not ready for prime time. They are popping up all over. I was in BJ's and every other item, an attendant had to come over and the clear the equipment so one could proceed. What a royal PIA. This seems to the rule rather than the exception in talking with others. I'll stick to a human thank you. oops - thought of a third item. Three, MSH - this should teach you not to dissapear when you're attention is required. I always watch like a hawk since product information can easily be entered incorrectly into the computer. It's called human error. None of are perfect. Personally, tens of thousands of dollars later, I have no horror stories about any of the cashiers (typing pause to knock on wood). The people on the floor (if there actually are any - brain optional) is a different story! Mark from Pasadena, MD
$5 - exterior type. I can't count on finding it anywhere else close to where I live, so HD on Capitol Expressway is a good bet anyway.
dave
MSH wrote:
I read an recent article in a financial magazine, that the new CEO of Home Depot tried to cut costs to bring up the stock price. He eliminated many of the Full Time professional contractor types, which were making decent money, and hired a bunch of part time young people (cheap). Also, he cut down on the number of items stocked as well as a reduction of the inventory on hand. Needless to say, the idea has backfired. They started to quickly loose market share to Lowes because people where getting tired of not finding the product or the help they were once used to. They said they are moving more towards their original business model to improve customer satisfaction. Time will tell.
Actually, I have used the self serve and liked it. Can't do that with sheet goods, need to use the lumber checkout. Try getting 500lbs(approx) on a flat cart to the middle of the front isle.
I've never had a cashier problem, this one had a bad attitude.
MH
I've always preferred Lowes as well. At least I can find things there. I have to be pretty desperate to visit HD.
Guess it depends on who was there first, too. Lowe's has been here for years. HD is part of the latest round of sprawl. Further away, in a poorly-designed shopping center that was but recently a farm.
HD promised our Cub Scout pack they would do a tool demo thing. The person who set this up got sick. We showed up one night with a gaggle of Cub Scouts, and the hardware department manager pulled a tool demo out her butt at the last second. It was a good demo, and they spent some money. Gave away some stuff, and let the kids play with quite a striking variety of things. She asked me to come back and spend some money as a form of thanks.
Because of that, I shop at HD occasionally, but I really don't like the place. It's Just Like Lowe's, Only Orange, as I say. Same stuff, same manufacturers, same prices, but the layout is all screwed up, and I can't find anything, and I really hate the color orange.
I've been shopping at Lowe's for years. Just yesterday, after the fourth day in a row I had popped in to fuel the latest home improvement debacle, I told the cashier (the same cashier who had checked me out every other day) that we were going to have to stop meeting like this. We had a chat. At the end, he shook my hand.
I can't remember the last time a cashier shook my hand and meant it.
Besides, Lowe's is blue. Blue is good. Orange is bad.
Speaking of Sears, we used to have a fairly decent hardware store in our area called Sears Hardware. Then Sears bought Orchard and decided to try changing all the Sears Hardware stores to Orchard. Lucky us we were in the area they decided to test market this idea. Now I don't know what Orchard was like before Sears bought it, but when the stores reopened they were no longer hardware stores, but home decorating stores marketed toward people who have never been in a hardware store. Totally ruined the hardware image. From what I've read here, sounds like Sears ruined Orchard as well.
A lot of people complained to Sears. Had one friend that was so ticked off he talked to some VP of the company. Got a $100 gc to Sears. Where's the logic in that? After a few years of complaints, they decided the idea wasn't working and changed the store back to Sears Hardware. On the outside only.
Used to have really knowledgeable pe> I agree completely! It seems as though the employees of HD are the ones who
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