HD Bessey Tradesman clamp experience

[bob]

Read the post here last night and made a special run to HD early this a.m. The clamps were on the shelf in ample quantities at the regular price. I left disappointed. On the way home from work, I checked another HD. Same thing. So this time I asked if they were on clearance. Clerk says he doesn't know. Nobody told him. But, he did offer to punch one up. Lo and behold, it came up 40% off. All of them did. I asked if the K-Bessey's were also on clearance. He said "the what"? I repeated myself. So did he. So I showed him. Christ, this guy works in the tool crib all day! Anyway, the K's were regular price. I got a buggy and stocked up on Tradesman's, including those cool three-way corner clamps of which there was only one. So, I head back over to the HD from this a.m. At this store, the Tradesman's are now marked down with yellow stickers. And the shelves are nearly empty. I did snag one more 36". But, the three-way's were NOT marked down on the shelf. I grabbed all they had and headed to the checkout. They rang up correctly and I went home fat and happy.

As I type this, there is a story on the radio news that HD is going to aggressively pursue "older" people to work in their stores. Why? Because they want to tap into their knowledge, dedication, hardworking ethic and passion. A great idea. Unfortunately, they won't get those type of workers for minimum wage. Knowledge, dedication, hardworking passionate workers cost more than minimum wage flunkies.

Bob

[Leon]

Unless the older people are like most the older ones at Wal-Mart.

[Seeker]

Don't mean to blow your cool but they pay more than minimum wage for their most experienced employees. Just so happened I was at HD the other night soaking up their Bessey clamps clearance sale and I was talking with the tool crib dude about HD's pay policy he told me that he was 20 year retired seabea and was getting a starting wage of 13.85/hr and the most highly experienced advisors specially those working in the kitchen cabinets dept are getting paid 17.00-18.85/hr and all are getting premium bennies. Not bad huh!

[WORSS]

Hey Bob. Just because someone make minimum wage does not make them a "flunky". The amount one gets paid has nothing to do with ones character or dedication. If we were all making $150,000 per year you would not be able to afford a hamburger let alone those clamps you just picked up for a steal.

Bill

[B a r r y B u r k e J r .]

I took a financial planning class where the instructor started with this:

"Those of you in the class who don't think you need to save for retirement, repeat after me: Welcome to Wal-Mart, can I help you find anything?"

The first chapter in the class was titled, "Save or Greet".

Barry

[B a r r y B u r k e J r .]

Absolutely!

I work part time in my buddy's bike shop at wages that many people would consider insulting. I enjoy working there, and often get "fun" assignments like teaching clinics, working community service events, like school helmet fittings, and providing mechanical support at charity functions. I am treated with a great deal of respect by the guys who own the store and my coworkers there. We ride together and I count many of them as friends.

I get a kick out of the way some customers treat me. As the second oldest customer contact person in the shop, I'm often mistaken as an owner. It's amazing how differently some customers treat a 38 year old who works in a bike shop once they find out he's only a "flunkie" employee. The customers that act like asses are not normally the serious cyclists, but the people who are there to buy their kids a bike, or looking for a rooftop accessory for their stylish new SUV. I smile, do my best, and suck it up.

I can't even imagine how 40-50-60 year old employees of the BORGs get treated by certain customers, 'cause after all, they're flunkies! For me, the number of idiots is normally pretty small, at the BORGs, it's gotta' be huge.

Barry

[dave]

I don't know about that. When I go into the BORG, if I need help, I try to find somebody my age or older. The guys in their 60s generally have a clue and better manners. i don't see them as flunkies, that's a job description for the 20 y.o. not from this country bunch. The older ones know the products and how to use them, in general. Dave in Fairfax

[Peter De Smidt]

Thanks to whoever first posted the HD sale. I was able to pick up a good selection. Regarding the "angle" clamps, the one's that have a wedge to hold pieces at 90* angles, how useful are these? My store had 4 at $15 a piece. Yes, that's right, I'm a newbie, who's in the process of setting up his first table saw.

-Peter De Smidt

[Jim Polaski]

I'd guess that perhaps as important to the older workers is health benefits and sick days. Maybe more than salary or hourly wage. OTOH, HD might find that with the knowledge of the older worker, the average sale and return sales would be higher per employee which would benefit the store in the long run in terms of profit.

[Bridger]

I'd say that that is sometimes true. I ran into a flagrant exception recently at the new lowes here in Tucson- a guy in the tool dept at least 10 years older than me who had no clue. none at all.

[B a r r y B u r k e J r .]

I don't think of them as flunkies at all. I was being facetious.

Barry

[David Zaret]

i love the 90 degree clamps - i own four of them, used them for about three years now. they are quite useful for constructing cabinets.

for $15, i'd recommend it. but buy in multiples of 2 - i am tempted to pick up another 4.

--- dz

Peter De Smidt wrote:

[Young_carpenter]

I don't know about now but originally the greeter at Wal-Mart was supposed to be a volunteer who wanted something to do. It fit perfectly with Sams sense of community.

[Young_carpenter]

always in twos and minimum of 8 is great. Why because you can use them for boxes and a box has four corners and sometimes you need a top and a bottom.

[Nate B]

"Peter De Smidt"

You know - I looked at these clamps and wasn't thrilled. Seems an okay deal, but not a really great deal. I think they were a little overpriced to start with for their quality. For example, where the cast metal contacts the bar, there is a set screw for reinforcement only on 1 of the 2 contact points. Most other clamps in this class seem to deal with these cast material contact points a little better than these clamps do. But - I'm sure they work and probably won't fall apart real fast.

Now there's a pretty good deal. I have 4 of these things, myself. I can't see getting 4 more before buying some other stuff, but they work pretty well for frames.

No K-Body clamps? Why on earth aren't you guys doing a little SPECULATING!? You see, Home Depot has a 30 day policy - if it goes on sale in 30 days, you get the sale price refunded.

Think the K-Body clamps will be on sale in 30 days? I notice they had a "do not replenish" note on the sold-out rack of 24" K-Body clamps this evening. They may just wait for them to sell out at full price - who knows. Probably win-win in either case - while the selection is good...

- Nate

[O D]

What a great deal. The wrkers will berecruited and traned under a $75 million Senior communityservice emplyment program, Guess AARP will use $100/hr trainers to do this . Dennis Donovan, home depot executive vice president for human resources, says "We have a need for qualified employees. We're looking for people who have the experience , the skills, the knowledge , and the passion. Just another example of the way big business does things. Let other people train them, we hire them for little $ s let themthink they will earn more in a year or so, and move on. I have no knowlege of the benifits the full time employees earn, but would like to know how much they pay for health ins for a family. Oh and Donovan said " we'll put everyone thru gh the same testing we put all applicants through. We'll always hire the best, and that's what we're continuing to do" Well if they have the best now,,,, how come such low pay? And what des that say about the aarp recruited? Forgot to read more on this story in the tampa tribune. The program helps people under 55 and under the povity level get training to update their skills, redo their resumes, and learn job skills. This just looks like more of the same SOP . Can some one tell me how to get to the local Ace hardware?

[B a r r y B u r k e J r .]

Times change when the leader dies. I wonder what ol' Sam would have thought of the company buying life insurance policies, with the company as the beneficiary, on the greeters, without their knowledge. This practice is both illegal and unethical. I also wonder what Sam would have thought of all of the illegally hired to clean the stores.

Witness the extremely aggressive licensing of the Atkins name soon after Dr. Atkins died.

Barry

[alexy]

Actually, it is perfectly legal in many states. Unless I'm getting the cases confused, I think the legality of the Walmart insurance purchase is being determined by the courts right now based largely on the question of what state's laws should apply. Legality and ethicality are often not very closely related.

More significantly, unless my memory fails me, they were once a big "made in the USA" proponent, weren't they?

[stickdoctorq]

"Young_carpenter" wrote in news:VSgVb.425$ [e-mail]:

more like Sam's sense of how to maximize his family's profits....

[Mark & Juanita]

It was one of their ad campaigns. Back when my part of the company was still part of Texas Instruments, I had a friend in the calculator division. He indicated that yeah, Walmart had this "made in USA" campaign, but your price had darn well better be as low as what they could get it for from a third world country.