Home Depot Rant

[SMS 斯蒂文?]

Actually, the good specialty stores and good independent hardware stores survive (for the most part). The crappy ones, that provided as poor service and products as HD, but at higher prices, disappear. That's what happened in my area when HD opened in 2000. The nearby lumber store folded, but it sold lumber almost as bad as HD. The good independent lumber store, one town over, continues to thrive. The local plumbing store, which kept bankers hours and was closed weekends went out of business, but one in the next town that opens for about four hours on Saturdays is a mob scene.

HD opened one of their Expo Design Centers not far from me, but it folded after a couple of years, unable to compete with all the independent supply stores, which are much less expensive.

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" Actually that article is wrong, because the East Palo Alto store was already right next to a Home Depot, it wasn't converted, and it remains empty.

[SMS 斯蒂文?]

There's a new building supply store around here, called HD Supply. Much cheaper than Home Depot. They sell to anyone.

I needed some cabinet knobs and handles for a rental I have. I wasn't interested in anything designer. HD Supply had some good ones for 88¢ each, less than 1/2 the price of anything decent from Home Depot. Less than Ikea too. These are very high margin items that Home Depot charges a lot for.

[Ron]

Not gonna play semantics with you.

[George]

Sure, if you want to spend the afternoon rooting through a pile of their lower quality lumber they buy trying to find something usable.

I can pull into my local lumber yard and everything they stock is good quality and if I need more than a couple they will deliver them and they will all be good.

[George]

It is basically a fancy water heater. Do you think any of the big box stores would give the actual service (not the marketing speak) that I received from the local mom & pop place?

I thought we were talking about DIY? I wouldn't attempt a lot of stuff but would certainly do what I know how to do. I am sure that is a similar thing with others.

[George]

Thats why I don't go there because they only stock common stuff so you always end up with another trip anyway to the real supply house.

I was over my buddies a few weeks ago and he is trained to go to big box. He asked me to help him with something so off to hd we go. After a long treasure hunt and trying to cobble things together from what they had we asked about a common item. The guy says they don't have that but "Smithville Plumbing" would.

[Pete C.]

One trip to a real plumbing supply house would have found you one for $8 and a lot less gas and time as well. Not only do the big boxes have crappy service and stock, their prices are frequently more than those at a real supply house. About the only reasons to visit the big boxes are if you desperately need something outside the 9-5 hours of the real supply houses, or if you need to browse the aisles to figure out what you need, which you generally can't do at the supply house.

[George]

It seems you just described how big box drives small businesses out of business and its pretty simple.

It is a proven thing that you can make people believe anything you want them to by constantly repeating your message. Big box stores have big warchests and are able to do this.

[George]

Costco has a store in San

Thats just plain un-American. Can we have them shut down?

[JoeSpareBedroom]

Look at the success of Wal Mart. They've got millions of people convinced that their grocery prices are cheaper, and IN SOME MARKET AREAS, this is simply not true. And yet, people believe the signs hanging in the stores. They don't even bother to compare prices.

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In fact, Wall Street _has_ complained about how well Costco treats their workers:

"From the perspective of investors, Costco's benefits are overly generous," says Bill Dreher, retailing analyst with Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. "Public companies need to care for shareholders first. Costco runs its business like it is a private company."

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" Responsible corporations like Costco would like universal health care, which would level the playing field versus corporations like Wal-Mart whose employees heavily rely on the safety-net system of health care, not to mention food stamps.

I guess we should all shop at Wal-Mart, since our taxes are subsidizing their whole operation.

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""If other large California retailers adopted Wal-Mart?s wage and benefits standards, it would cost taxpayers an additional $410 million a year in public assistance to employees."

[RickH]

Yes there are plenty of Wal Marts here in the Chicago-land area but just outside the city limits and beyond. I dont blame them one bit for not wanting to deal with trying to run any business in Chicago, where the payoffs to the politicians exceed the taxes. Women absolutely love WalMart, my wife was estatic for a whole month when ours went "Super". And women always get what they want, except in Chicago.

[JoeSpareBedroom]

Yes there are plenty of Wal Marts here in the Chicago-land area but just outside the city limits and beyond. I dont blame them one bit for not wanting to deal with trying to run any business in Chicago, where the payoffs to the politicians exceed the taxes. Women absolutely love WalMart, my wife was estatic for a whole month when ours went "Super". And women always get what they want, except in Chicago.

++++++++++++

Wal Mart typically demands so many tax breaks that many municipalities now tell them to go phuque themselves. This is the correct response to Wal Mart. The company claims its stores will be a net benefit to the community, but very often, the opposite is true.

[HeyBub]

.

Maybe. But you can't get a GENUINE Home Depot Pepsi at the carpet store.

[HeyBub]

Yeah, I remember when they opened that store, on the other side of the street that separated Chicago from the next city. Walmart got 15,000 job applications for some 300 jobs. 90% of the applications were from folks who had a Chicago ZIP code.

[HeyBub]

Maybe. The city's loss. The cut the city would have gotten on the state sales tax would more than make up for any tax abatement.

[JoeSpareBedroom]

I'll bet you believe in fair competition, or you'll claim that you do.

[HeyBub]

Maybe. But Walmart has created more help for the downtrodden that all government programs combined (WIC, Medicade, AFDC, Rent supplements, etc.). At least according to Walmart.

"As a force for poverty relief, Wal-Mart's $200 billion-plus assistance to consumers may rival many federal programs. Those programs are better targeted at the needy, but they are dramatically smaller. Food stamps were worth $33 billion in 2005, and the earned-income tax credit was worth $40 billion."

Critics often point to Walmarts low wages and lack of other benefits. But for every employee seemingly screwed, a Walmart stockholder benefits.

It averages out.

[HeyBub]

Costco is unionized. Sam's Club is not.

[SteveB]

What?

No one going to piss and moan that McDonald's put all the small Mom and Pops hamburger stands out of business?

Well, not put them out of business.

DROVE them out of business.

As everyone knows, it was all a well orchestrated conspiracy from the start by the TriLateralists, Buildabergers, Skull and Bones Alumni, and let's not forget the Bush family participation in the matter.

What's next? McDonald's inside Home Depots?

It wouldn't surprise me.

It's called capitalism, and it's just not fair! IT'S NOT FAIR! IT'S NOT FAIR! IT'S NOT FAIR!

And any time you don't like it, just shop somewhere else. It's wickedly simple.

Steve

Oh, I forgot that the masses were involved in the conspiracy by going to the big stores and not to the Mom and Pops ShopRites.