The Other Side of Home Depot

I know most of us take great pleasure in bashing Home Depot for their frequent ineptness, and Craftsman for their... well just because :-)

Ocassionally though, Home Depot gets it right. They currently have a sale going on in SE PA that gives up to a $300 instant rebate on qualifying tools.

My son and I have been eyeballing their 80 gallon, two stage air compressor for quite a while now. He likes to turn a wrench, and I like to make large piles of sawdust, so we thought this would be more than adequate for our needs. The problem was that I could never justify the $1079 price tag when my little 6 gallon twin stack did OK most of the time.

Well, it seems that air compressors were a qualifying item on this instant rebate program, and this one in particular qualified for the full $300 rebate. So for $779 this brand new, in the box, compressor now has a new home. Today's job is wiring it up to a dedicated 220v circuit!

How PO'ed would I have been if I would have bought it at the full price :-)

Joe aka 10x

Reply to
10x
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I betcha HD (or any other reputable purveyor) would honor a sale price on an item bought within the last 30 days.

A basic management principle is one does not want to discourage a prospective customer from spending money.

"I'm waiting for it to go on sale" is pretty discouraging to hear.

Reply to
HeyBub

My wife was buying some yard lights Friday at HD and saw the person ahead of her show his military ID and get a discount so she slid out her retired military dependent card and got 10 percent off and a thank-you.

Reply to
Gerald Ross

Nice! Now take the money you saved and go buy a sandblast cabinet and a Dynabrade palm sander and let me know how the compressor keeps up. I've been wanting to upgrade my 20-year old Sanborn 60-gallon single-stage to a two-stage for a long time now, but like I've never wanted to fork over the bucks.

So that rebate was a regional thing? Wondering if it would also apply here in Texas...

Reply to
Steve Turner

Like, why did I stick that superfluous "like" in there? Somebody put Frank Zappa's "Valley Girl" in my mind the other day; it must still be stuck in there... :-)

Reply to
Steve Turner

I'm glad you qualified your statement with "most". After living within spitting distance of an HD, Lowe's, and an Orchard Supply Hardware (both pre- and post- Sears) for the last 30 yrs, I gotta say I REALLY miss 'em. I'm now out in the Central Rockies, with ACE being the only chain. Lumber yards? We have 2-3 in a two towns of 2K and

4K pop. Small, privately owned, but it doesn't prevent me from getting poor supplies, occasionally. Prices? High. I was gonna use stringer brackets for my deck steps till I realised they were over $6 each. The biggest shock, imagine my astonishment when I discoverd there was not a 2x4 or sheet of plywood to be had on Sunday. All closed.

nb

Reply to
notbob

Like, OMG!

Reply to
Leon

notbob wrote: ...

I gather you're easily astonished... :)

Welcome to small-town America where we think retailers deserve a day off as well and not everything has to run 24/7 (and generally find things better for it)...

--

Reply to
dpb

Yes, I'm still looking for just the right hayseed to chew on. ;)

nb

Reply to
notbob
10x wrote in news:070920090739575567% snipped-for-privacy@home.com:

*snip*

What kind of CFM do you get out of it? That might be worth asking HD to extend my credit limit for.

Puckdropper

Reply to
Puckdropper

Perhaps, but since most others work a more standard week, weekends are all we have to spend money. It would be nice if those who wanted that money made it easy to spend it locally. If they want the money to stay local, perhaps they can take Wednesdays off and go golfing with the doctors. ...or Mondays and hang with the chefs.

Reply to
krw

Maybe you should take up being one of them instead... :)

If one really has no freedom to run an errand during the day or whatever, I'll agree that can be pita. OTOH, most small-town employers aren't so inflexible as big corporate employers tend to be.

Also, small-town businesses may well simply deliver what you want/need for you while you're at work if you just call 'em up. "Sure, J-Bob, Freddy'll run it over and put it in the shed out back thar for ya' next run...needin' anything else?" :)

Reply to
dpb

Houston HD has a sign with varying degrees of discount. The largest is $300 off $1000 or more.

Reply to
HeyBub

Just for everyones info, Home Depot and Lowes gives 10% off everyday of the year if you show a military ID (active duty or Retired). All you have to do is ask and show your ID.

Reply to
rmorton

It is not I who wishes to make money selling to others. I work plenty of weekends, M-F too. I do what's needed to get the job done, so I

*can* afford to live (and toys too).

I worked for a "big corporate employer" (IBM), where I could leave at will (didn't have any sick days, because if you were sick just stay home, please). I now work for a small LLC (100 employees) in a small town that isn't so generous.

Ok, I need an 8' 2x4 and while you're at it, the parts for the bathroom sink.

Reply to
krw

On 9/7/2009 4:39 AM 10x spake thus:

Well, I'm one of those "most". But I will say this about Home Despot:

  1. They're cheaper on a lot of stuff (but not everything, so one needs to comparison shop).
  2. It's a hell of a lot easier picking up things like tubafours and plywood there, assuming they have what you want (in the quality you can tolerate): no problem sorting through the bins, within reason.
  3. Their return policy is very good, to the point where it can be abused (not saying I've ever done that ...).
  4. They're open on Sundays, unlike my favorite local hardware store (Ace), which is not only closed Sundays, but also promptly at 5:00 weekdays, which often sucks.

So as long as you don't need help (beyond "where is _____?"), you're fine.

Reply to
David Nebenzahl

Seems to vary with local management. I was a volunteer fireman in Poughkeepsie and once got an urgent call at the lab to respond to a serious fire. I stuck my head in the boss's office to let him know where I was headed - and was told that I should stay put.

[ I replied that whether I went was not his decision, that it might be /his/ house burning, and that the decision for /him/ to make was whether I'd still have a job when I got back. (I did.) ]

Treat 'em well and they'll treat you well. I lived in the suburbs of Cherry Grove, Minnesota (pop 45, mail was delivered from the post office in Chester, Iowa) - a little over seven miles from the nearest lumber yard in Spring Valley, Minnesota and recall conversations and deliveries just as described.

The first time my stepfather visited us from Ann Arbor, he stopped on the way in at the little bank in Spring Valley and asked if he could cash a check. The clerk asked if she could see his checks, then asked if he was related to me. When he said yes, she said: "No problem, we'll cash your check," and when he offered identification she said: "We have all the ID we need - how much cash would you like?" I don't think he ever quite got over it.

It really is like a different universe.

Reply to
Morris Dovey

Your manager was an ass. I worked in P'ok for 19 years (and BTV for

15 after that) and *never* had a manager treat me, or anyone else, like that. We were always treated like adults.

The point being that I often don't know what I need before I take the broken carcass to the store.

That happened in a bar in the P'ok area to my FIL. I doubt it'll happen today, though.

I am in a different universe now (East Alabama). Mostly it's good, shopping not so much. OTOH, Atlanta is only 100 miles up the road (a little far for a 2x4 though).

Reply to
krw

While in high school, worked in a hardware store after school and on weekends.

One of my jobs was to be "Freddy" and use the pick up truck to deliver items to customers.

This was in a town of about 15,000 in the mid 50's.

Open 8-5 M-T-TH-F, 8-12 W, 8A-9P Sat and closed Sunday.

Today the town has grown to maybe 20,000, Walmart and Lowes have come to town.

Otherwise, not much has changed.

Lew

Reply to
Lew Hodgett

...

I was suggesting (jokingly) be the doctor or chef or whatevers... :)

That's a bummer--wouldn't really expect that so much. The only large employer here is quite hardnosed but they're on a high-volume production line where it isn't easy to get around a missing body. Other than that, afaict virtually all employers are pretty laisse faire as to personal time as long as the job gets done.

...

The guy I'd call here would go figure out what parts were needed if that were necessary... :)

Reply to
dpb

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