Home Depot Rant

[Ashton Crusher]

You must live in Phoenix. Is that tire place still in Business? I haven't driven thru that area in a long time.

[Ashton Crusher]

All the stores carried the part *in theory*, it's just that all but one were out of stock at the moment. There's no guarantee that a specialty store would have it in stock either. The last time I went to a plumbing specialty store they were out of whatever it was I went in for.

[Ashton Crusher]

Since this particular valve is, and always has been, stocked by HD for years there was no reason to think buying one would turn into an ordeal ending at Lowe's. So no, I gave no thought to heading to a specialty store for this commodity item. Where do you buy your apples, and flour, and sugar? Do you go to a grocery store or do you seek out specialty stores used by large restaurants?

[Ashton Crusher]

This valve is a commodity around here. Except for when I happened to need it this time it's ALWAYS in stock. My point wasn't so much that they didn't have it, it was how less then helpful they have become over the years. They seem to have less and less people on the floor and they don't seem very well cross trained.

[Ashton Crusher]

It must vary widely from one part of town to the next. I'm in Tempe and the one on Warner road has gone way downhill. There used to be knowledgeable people in every department, now it's hard to find someone and usually they are the wrong person for whatever you want.

and the Lowe'ses are

[HeyBub]

Don't forget all the thousands who had jobs. And the free funerals.

If it weren't for the "coal barons," all those folks would have had to eat bark. THEN what would the environment look like - with all those naked trees?

[HeyBub]

By every study, Walmart's pay and benefit package is slightly better than for retailing generally.

Oh, it's admittedly not as good as a worker on a unionized auto assembly line; it's probably not as good as your ordinary government worker. But the renumeration is as good or better than that found in local mom-and-pop shops or even nationwide retailing chains (Sears, Target, and the like).

One seldom, if ever, sees a complaint by a Walmart worker about the horrid pay and conditions. All the complaints about the Walmart workers' ghastly lot in life seem to come from enemies of Walmart. There are the unions, of course. Then there are the people who accuse Walmart of having employees on the public dole.

Just think how much MORE the welfare system would cost if it weren't for the salaries Walmart pays to those getting assistance!

[Doug Miller]

It appears that way due to settings on *your* computer. It doesn't appear like that for me, or for several of the others who have replied in this thread. Granted, he probably shouldn't be doing that -- but it's *your* newsreader that's making a problem out of it.

[JoeSpareBedroom]

Where is "this town"? Sounds like there's a business opportunity.

[JoeSpareBedroom]

I consider a grocery store to be the equivalent of a hardware store. In certain seasons, I get produce directly from the growers at farmstands or our local farmer's market. But, there's no such analogy for plumbing parts, since they don't grow on farms.

[JoeSpareBedroom]

I have real problems with Wal Mart when it demands (and gets) a city to essentially pay the costs of land and part of their building expenses. Of course, some people are childish and will say "Oh yeah? Well so-and-so got the same deal." It's still wrong, even though that's the exact kind of deal George W. Bush and his investors got when they raised local taxes to pay for the Texas Rangers' stadium.

[ng_reader]

Hi,

My name is Ben Bernanke.

I'm trying to push some radical legislation through congress that will affect the FED, the FCC, and the SEC.

Basically, my plans call for any retail establishment not to offer any of its shares on a public exchange.

Trust me, this is radical, but it WILL work.

Gotta go.

[George]

It is next to impossible for any actual small business to get even the lamest versions of those small business assistance packages that are handed out to say Walton Enterprises, LLC (currently worth around $83 Billion dollars) just for the asking.

[Robert Allison]

I am with you on this one Edwin. I have done nothing but referral work for years, now, and it is always done on a cost plus basis. I do an estimate for the job and we use that as a budget.

Some commercial companies always require three bids, but they want me to do the work. In that case, I turn in my estimate to them and they get two more from other companies. Even if I am the highest (I usually fall in between somewhere), I will still get the job, due to my history with them and my reputation. That is understood up front. On a couple of occasions, I was the lowest bid, and that scares the hell out of me. I always wonder what I left out. I never want to be the low bid.

But Ron is right about new companies. They obviously have no reputation and no one to use as references, so they must be lower than other bids to be considered. Not necessarily the low bid, but not the highest either. A client that knows what he is doing does not take the low bid.

When I first started out 35 years ago, I had to do alot of low bids to get the jobs so I could get in the door with people. After you get the reputation that people look for, you no longer have to do that.

[cshenk]

"Ron" wrote

I know, I saw the '' on it! Unfortunately, my humor model wasnt up to replies in the same vein just then, having forked over 750$ in repairs.

We got a 36$ oil filled heater for the garage, not much of a unit but it has a 'heat the garage' setting for 42F which is working fine. It probably wont carry the load if it drops to the teens (will have to watch it carefully) but we've got pipe heaters now on the pipes and are finishing off insulating the washing room side part.

[Larry Caldwell]

Yeah, but it only took you 5 minutes to find that out, as opposed to half an hour at a big box store. Depending on location the big box stores can also be substantially more expensive than specialty stores for many items. In my area, Home Depot and Lowes are about 20% above lumber yard prices for lumber.

[David Starr]

Flint, Michigan

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Retired Shop Rat: 14,647 days in a GM plant. Speak softly and carry a loaded .45 Lifetime member; Vast Right Wing Conspiricy Web Site:

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[Larry Caldwell]

Lumber yards don't allow high grading. Building codes require lumber to be of certain grades, and "#2 and better" (also known as Construction Grade) has to have a certain percentage of #1 and Select Structural mixed in. You can reject the occasional stick as unsuitable, but they won't let you sort through the pile.

Big box stores are good for hobby wood. I bought some 3/16 x 6" pine for a radio enclosure from Lowes not long ago. They can also be good for shopping ideas. When I replaced my patio door, I saw a neat french door set at HD that was a Pella knock-off. It was a great idea, so I ordered the original from Pella. Hey, I live here. Sometimes cheaper is not always better. :)

[JoeSpareBedroom]

I understand Gander Mountain steadfastly refuses this kind of handout, preferring instead to stand on its own two feet. I knew there was a reason I liked their store, other than the fact that I just like it.

[Kurt Ullman]

At least in Indiana, they are not only refusing this kind, but actively suggesting that cities shouldn't be doing this kind of stuff in the first place.

BY PATRICK GUINANE, Times of Northwest Indiana [e-mail]

INDIANAPOLIS | A competing outdoors retailer has been lobbying state officials to put the lid on government subsidies for a Cabela's in Hammond and Bass Pro Shops in Portage.

The message is that Gander Mountain doesn't need government assistance, and neither should its competitors.

This fall, a public relations firm connected to the Minnesota-based Gander Mountain sent Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels and top officials at the Indiana Economic Development Corp. a report titled, "Leveling the Playing Field: Making the Case for Limiting Government Incentives for Retail Development."

The report was paid for by Oppidan, a Minnesota investment company that is the exclusive developer for Gander Mountain stores.