OT: Borg rant

[Leon]

I absolutely agree.. I have no problem waiting for help but DO NOT make me wait to pay you money.

[Leon]

Cant say that I have ever seen that happen before.

The employees probably dont but the store manager should. Those low dollar items almost always have a very high percentage of mark up.. That high gross profit adds up and pays the bills more so than a large item taking up floor space that has a very low percentage of mark up.

[Larry Jaques]

On Wed, 20 Aug 2003 11:31:08 GMT, "Rich" pixelated:

I had 4 Borgs within 15 miles of me in LoCal but the closest one here is over 125 miles away. It was cheaper to order the Ryobi cordless drill/saw kit and ship it than to drive that distance. They're talking about opening one here in Grants Pass but the shitty council doesn't want them here. I have to go to Medford (25 miles each way) to get Lowes goodies because the Diamond Home Improvement Center (a super ACE, one of two) doesn't have nearly the variety and I end up going to 4 hardware-type stores and a pipe supply to get all I need at higher prices. I wouldn't mind a Borg here in town.

- Ever wonder what the speed of lightning would be if it didn't zigzag? -

Full Service Web Application Programming

[Trent©]

:)

Have a nice week...

Trent

Cat...the OTHER white meat!

[Trent©]

High percentage of MARK-UP? You mean after FINDING the damn thing?...lol...after Doug dropped it into a bin of EverReady batteries? lol

It'll be weeks or more before they even FIND it! Then it'll take one of the clerks a week or so to figure out what the hell it IS!

Then...he'll probably make up a new ticket for it...and put it in the

5" bolt drawer...so I can go buy it...and then bring it back...'cause its too damn short! lol

And it'll all be Doug's fault!! lol

Have a nice week...

Trent

Cat...the OTHER white meat!

[Doug Miller]

You did read the *entire* post, didn't you? See the part near the end where I said I went back to HD to buy the bolt? I picked up the same one I set down.

I don't think they're ever gonna find it, 'cause it's in my workshop now.

Do you have a reading comprehension problem?

-- Regards, Doug Miller (alphageek-at-milmac-dot-com)

[ToolMiser]

What bothers me in addition to the long lines is when (grocery stores included) don't have open an express lane. If there are two lanes open, one should be express. It should be the Retailers Law!

[Trent©]

I *WAS* trying to be facetious, Doug. Sorry you took it so seriously. But if ya wanna get serious for a moment...no, I didn't read where you said you went back and bought the bolt. Maybe I missed it.

I did read THIS, however...in your first post...

I don't recall reading where you actually DID go back. If I missed it, my apologies.

Have a nice week...

Trent

Cat...the OTHER white meat!

[Michael Baglio]

Isn't "express" spanish for "in training"? The only thing more irritating than being in the express lane with a catatonic checker is the woman ahead of me paying with a check from the Bank of Venus. "MANAGER, aisle 1..."

I'm sticking with Homer Simpson on this one. There should always be a "single-guy" line.

"I've gotta 12-pack, here's a twenty. I don't need change. Seeya!"

Michael Baglio Chapel Hill

[Henry St.Pierre]

Trent, I didn't read it either. IIRC he said he was going back to HD to pick up the bolt, not that he did. I could have missed a later post, but probably didn't. Waiting at a checkout can be a royal PITA. I really hate it at grocery stores, banks, or waiting for the dentist, doctor, tires being put on my car/truck or any other place that doesn't seem to appreciate how important I am and how valuable my time is. When I go to real lumberyards, ACE hardware and Mom&Pop stores they don't always have everything I need and sometimes I have to stand in line. Life can be a real bitch. Hank (used to run so I could stand in line)

[Trent©]

People often confuse 'express' with 'fast'. As we've all been shown at one time or another, they are NOT the same. lol

Have a nice week...

Trent

Cat...the OTHER white meat!

[Dianne & Greg]

Retail Customer Rule #1: If there are twenty items on a rack, and 19 of them will scan at the correct price, please choose the twentieth one.

RC Rule #2: Do not look at the price on the shelf tag. It couldn't possibly be correct.

RC Rule # 3 Be sure to get angry at the cashier. It's more than likely her fault that the item won't scan.

RC Rule #4 --Be sure and call the store before coming in, to make sure we have all ten items you are coming in for, in several sizes and prices. The sales people have nothing to do but answer the telephone, and we aren't supposed to give our attention to the customers who actually bothered to drive to the store.

Yes, I work in retail. And I spend a hell of a lot of time either working as a back up cashier (instead of assisting the people still shopping) or answering the phone for a bunch of idiots who want me to be their personal shopper. And my feet hurt.

Dianne

[Michael Daly]

Understandable complaints.

What I don't understand is why folks expect full-price service at low-service prices. There are places that will provide great service if you want to pay for it. If you want to pay the lowest possible price, expect clueless staff, stock problems and long waits.

Unfortunately, around here at least, many full service places are going out of business, since consumers have largely voted with their dollars to buy cheap. I'm not convinced that driving the price to minimum has been entirely good for us.

Mike

[Ron Bean]

They're not angry at *you*, they're angry at the *store*.

Some people assume that the nearest employee (in this case the cashier) will pass complaints up the line to someone who can do something about them. In a well-managed business this would be a reasonable assumption. Unfortunately many employees have given up on their managers, so they don't bother.

It's the customers who *don't* complain that you should be worried about-- they'll buy from your competitors next time.

[Chris]

I've said this before in this forum, HD may suck, but the alternatives aren't any better (in my area anyway).

I needed a 3' 3/8" threaded rod, a few 3/8" nuts, and 3 3/8" threaded inserts. As a bonus I would have liked to get a sleeve 2' long, plastic or brass to fit over the rod.

Based on past experience with HD, I figured that I would have to find everything myself, and I probably would not find it all, at least not all at the same store (there are 2 within 5 miles of my house). So at lunchtime today I headed over to the Sears Hardware about 3 miles from my place of employ. My last visit there I was impressed with the large number of hard to find fasteners and hardware that they stock. What they have "in-stock" is a little different: I found that over half the bins were actually empty. Also their selection of raw metal, rods, etc was very sparse. I could have got half of what I needed, but in a different size. I left empty handed.

On the way back to the office I stopped at a hardware store. This is a large hardware/lumber place with several locations in my area and a reputation for being pretty good. I found the threaded rod 30 seconds after walking through the door. I couldn't find the threaded inserts. The salesperson did not understand what a threaded insert was. Ok, maybe I wasn't using an industry standard term, but that's what I know them as. I described it to him. Blank stare. I finally found a blister pack of T-nuts. These would not do for me, but I showed them to him and explained that "they are *like* this, only they are threaded on the outside to screw into the wood, instead of using tacks or brads like the T-nuts." At this point another salesguy overheard this and said that they are down by the slide out boxes of hardware. Nope, just more T-nuts. I put the threaded rod back and left there empty handed too.

I am stopping at HD on the way home tonight to see if I can get everything in one shot. If I have to wait 15 minutes on line it will still be less than the time I spend this afternoon NOT getting what I was looking for.

-Chris

[Scott Brownell]

My local True Value hardware store stocks the inserts, maybe try one in your area. For the sleeve, could you use 3/8" I.D. plastic tubing? I know they sell it by the foot.

Scott

[Renata]

It used to be that anything beyond the most standard of hw, I would have to mail order. Then along came Hechinger and wow, they carried a fair amount of stuff more. But, they still didn't really cater to woodworkers or furniture builders so I still had to rely on mail order. Then along comes HD (and later Lowes expanded their hw stuff) and they got all these cool bins of fascinating hw, drawer slides, etc. For a while it looked pretty good. But, they don't really carry a wide range of things and are nowdays often out of stock on just the item one needs. Sure, for a quick pick me up I'll run out to the HD/Lowes. But usually for a project I'm building I still have to mail order what I need.

Seems like these folks have decided they'll only sell what sells the most and those odd items that aren't really in high demand, well, they're not going to have the expense of keeping that inventory. Least, it seems to be heading back that way - especially at HD.

Renata

--snip of tale of traipsing around town, looking for stuff, unsuccessfully --

(no stain for email)

[Kevin S.]

For that sort of stuff, you are really much better off going to an actual hardware store like Ace or True Value.

[Doug Miller]

[snip]

I know it, and I usually do. There's an Ace about the same distance away as HD/Menards, but in the opposite direction. What made the the difference for me that day was that we needed milk, too, and there's a grocery store on the way home from HD/Menards but not on the way home from Ace. I think it might have taken less time to make one stop at Ace, and then drive to the grocery. :-(

-- Regards, Doug Miller (alphageek-at-milmac-dot-com)

[Kevin S.]

Ouch. I know, I've spent many a trip fruitlessly looking for hardware at Menards while the wife was in the grocery store next door, only to have to stop at Ace on the way home.