Home Depot and power tools

Well, the folks we love to hate have done it again.

The LOML and I went to Home Depot, and I got my errands done before she did, so I went to drool over the stationary power tools while I waited. Couldn't do it. No display. Pation Furniture was there instead.

The person at the Contractor desk said that Corporate had decided that the tool display wasn't bringing in enough sales, so they still had the tools, in the box, and they could show me pictures of what they looked like, but that was it.

I suggested that I never bought things like that from pictures, and he agreed, but said no one at the decision level wanted to hear concerns from the front lines. I look to see big iron tools dropped from their stores pretty soon, cause they don't sell any without working display models. Watch for the closeouts, might be able to score a gloat or two.

Old Guy

Reply to
Old Guy
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They did this at a Home depot near me a couple a months ago. The floor displays they had were sold at 30% off. The only had the jointer and drill press left to sell when I got there. I already had a new jointer just got last fall but the drill now sits in my shop...

Randy

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Reply to
randyswoodshoop

Yeah - it's true that people who make decisions make those decisions based on what they observe and someone "on the front lines" is always going to be upset. But - in the world of retail, leaving hunks of iron or any other product out on the floor, just because you or I like to drool over it without purchasing, is quite foolish. That floor space is needed for the things that will turn cash. Like it or not - this time of year, they are going to turn cash with patio stuff. I'd be willing to bet that if you were seriously looking to buy, someone would have opened up all the boxes you wanted to see. But you weren't - and you're commenting about them providing for the most of their customers (as indicated by the floor sales), because like the rest of us, you just wanted to drool over the tools. For all the bitching that goes on around here about every retailer out there, one would think that people would find it agreeable that a major retailer would dedicate their floor space to the products that the consumers are really after at any given time of year.

As for never buying things from pictures - good for you. I do buy some things just from pictures. I just bought a new spray gun just from a picture on a web site. Didn't need to handle it or anything else, to know what I was going to get. In your case, you weren't even going to buy, so what's the big deal?

Sorry - this is just my personal campaign against all of the posts that populate this forum that bitch about what the big retailers do, regardless of how practical those decisions may really be in light of the population they serve, or the realities of business.

Reply to
Mike Marlow

I wonder how many tools Old Guy has bought online or over the phone or mail order without ever handling or seeing them in person. Or seeing and handling them in person from a local retailer and then purchasing them online at a lower price. For specialty activities, like recreational home woodworking, online/catalog/mail order/phone purchasing probably consumes a considerable amount of the sales revenue. I would guess almost all of the Grizzly machine owners on this forum never saw their machines before they were delivered.

Reply to
russellseaton1

Over my many years with Delta, one of the things I used to hate to hear from marketing is "we've just cut a deal with (fill in your favorite big box retailer) to offer selected units in the industrial line".

I would be guaranteed the necessity for working overtime in a chaotic manner to fill the units per store requirements by the contract time since they were never part of the original forecast.

A year or two later, I could be guaranteed that I would have a large inventory reset with units sent bact to the factory as the current set of big box execs. figured out how dismal their inventory turns were on the iron and their minimum ratio of turns to space couldn't be met.

During the contract, I could be guaranteed that my warranty would go up due to the liberal big box return policy and the inability of the machinery sales people to make sales stick. The "I'm finished with my project, think I'll take this thing back and get my money back" syndrome.

And the cycle would repeat itself as soon as the memory of the past faded, or the big box buying execs turned over. For the manufacturer's marketing arm, it's like candy, you just can't resist it.

IMHO heavy iron belongs with the local distributor. Their sales and service personnel are generally properly trained for the task.

Frank

Reply to
Frank Boettcher

Did you get many of the "I need a new part, I'll buy a tool, pull the part, and return the tool sans part or with the busted one" syndrome?

Reply to
J. Clarke

You know Frank... I found that hard to believe until I actually heard a guy bragging about bringing a shop vac back to Sears after he had used it to clean up his garage.

I have since had people suggest to me that any "special" tools needed for a project can be done in a similar manner.

I thought it was maybe one or two out of a thousand, but now I believe it is a wildly popular method.

Frank Boettcher wrote:

The "I'm finished with my project, think I'll take this thing back and get my money back" syndrome.

Reply to
Pat Barber

It is also a popular method of cleaning the basement after local flooding. We all pay higher prices for our tools because of these bozos.

Reply to
Lee Michaels

When going to school and working part time in the early 70's I worked in the automotive department of the old Woolco stores. Next to our department was the Glidden paint department. Even back then paint that was being returned for a refund had to be inspected to insure that a refund on a paint can full of water was not being given.

Reply to
Leon

A 25% restocking charge, but only with a receipt would solve that problem in a hurry; however, until the retailers figure out it has to be done by the entire retail industry, it won't happen.

At the industrial level, returns are few and far between, almost always with a restocking charge.

Lew

Reply to
Lew Hodgett

Reply to
bob kater

Ahhh..., the insurance fraud thing. Two thoughts...

Your neighbor got just what he deserved. I hope it was worth it for him.

Secondly, insurance companies are putting more and more people into fraud investigations. The reason is simple. It doesn't cost them anything. Every dime that it takes to pay these guys is less than the recovery/savings on bad claims.

Reply to
Lee Michaels

"Frank Boettcher" wrote

A remarkable treatise on the vagaries of "educating beyond intelligence" versus "common sense", left un-snipped on purpose for posterity!

:)

Reply to
Swingman

The first I heard of it was several years ago when a guy who ran a camping goods store told me I wouldn't believe how many tents he sold - for two weeks! He also told me how much he added to the price of tents to allow for that, but I forget the percentage - it was however, up in double digits.

I can't comprehend people who have that little ethics and that much gall. They might as well just rob the store, but that would make them liable for criminal penalties. Hmmmmm ...

Reply to
Larry Blanchard

Interesting. I bought the Ridgid oscillating spindle/belt sander Monday and the store looked just like always. I'll have to check it out next time I'm in there. But right now I wonder if it wasn't just that store.

BTW, sometimes we get lucky. I knew prices were going up almost everywhere as a result of the tanking dollar and fuel costs, so I went to get the sander while the $199 price was still in effect. They had coupons for a dollar amount off depending on purchase amount hanging in various places in the tool aisle. I got $30 off on the sander! Usually those sales occur the day after I buy something :-).

Reply to
Larry Blanchard

Hard to say, information coming back was often sketchy. Picture an RSR (retail sales rep), usually young and fairly inexperienced who gets to the store, has to set up any aisle displays that have been authorized, check shelf stock,cleans stuff up, sets up a reorder, maybe has an in store class to give, then lastly heads for the return cage to authorize the RMA's for an equally inexperienced store clerk. Most reasons are "alledged defective" Then rushes out because he's got three more stores to get to today. And both these individuals are more used to dealing in small stuff, much of which has a "destroy in field" policy.

Industrial distributors and the sales people who call on them, are more like old partners, tend to know their customers, can spot customers who might have a history of questionable returns, can immediately fix problems to keep returns from happening in the first place. It's where heavy iron belongs.

Frank

Reply to
Frank Boettcher

Reply to
sweet sawdust

Eww. That kind of dishonesty never even occurred to me.

I did laugh some years ago when a friend took a worn-out BB gun back to Wal-mart. His intention was to buy a new one, so he took the old one with him to show the kind he wanted. When he got there a clerk insisted that he return it. The return form asked why he was returning it. He wrote, "wore out". They gave him a new one.

Reply to
darkon

Yup, HD is closing 15 under performing stores and stopping the opening of FIFTY stores.

At HDepot returns I stood behind a pair of losers that returned three tree trimming saw chains. They said their boss got them new that morning, but they were already worn and dull. Farkers.

Reply to
bfay
[snip - no need for me to copy the entire post]

Here in Cincinnati I go to Mueller Company . They're not the cheapest place in town, but their sales staff is knowledgeable and courteous. I bought a band saw there a few years ago. When I got it home I discovered that one of the wheels was cracked. I took it back a day or two later and added more money to buy an American-made saw (which I still have). When I buy a good table saw to replace the el cheapo thing I bought used, I intend to go to Mueller. I could get it cheaper online, but I try to patronize local stores when I can. In this case I can. I bought a floor-model drill press, a planer, a (small) jointer, and some other equipment from them. (clamps, etc)

I have no connection to them, in fact I think I annoy some of the sales staff, but I like the place.

Reply to
darkon

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