Don't get me started with them. My guys and I won't go there anymore unless its a small item where we have to run around to different stores to get them. I just go to the electrical, plumbing supplies or lumber yard instead. So they are a few bucks more. They really piss me off. Both the managerment and the dumb a$$es that work there for 3 bucks an hour. How about when you just get in line and pay for your stuff in front of the security guard that had been looking at you at the cashier's for the past 5 minutes, and demand that you stop and hold up everyone so he can mark your ticket while you have a long or big item in your hand when you had just put away your ticket in your wallet. Fu*k oh dear. I one time ask the dumb security guy to count all the pieces of pipe fitting and check the length on the 1/4 round so I can waste his and everyone else's time. Actually I am asking him to do his job correctly. He said, no I just need to check your ticket to make sure you have ripped off anything.

the end game is ONE GIANT WAREHOUSE STORE THAT WE ALL SHOP AT FOR EVERYTHING (soap, nails, books, cars).

this one giant warehouse will, over time, reduce the selection to highest margin items with ZERO CONCERN FOR QUALITY OR SUITABILITY.

we will essentially be buying what we are told we can buy at prices we are told to pay. you want dove soap instead of irish spring? sorry, not available because irish spring gave MEGAMART the best deal. dove is out of business. you want a good wine glasses with cut rims? sorry, we just have 'megabrand' glasses which are injection molded. the german hand made stuff is no longer available.



it's coming people, i swear to God it's coming. it's not about the mom and pops failing to offer competitive prices; i can live with that because it's capitalism. the REAL problem is that the big stores will eventually tell us what to buy and how much to pay for EVERYTHING.

fight the power brothers!

My 10 year old top loader Kenmore broke down on Sunday. Since about 99 I have bought all appliances at a local store. Because it was Kenmore, I tried briefly to contact Sears remembering the old days when Sears Roebuck was a good place to buy stuff like this and get it fixed when it broke. What a joke. Voice recognition call system with stupid questions like "tell us why you are calling". I called the local guys, he diagnosed it over the phone, fixed it Wednesday, was here when he said he would be, etc.

One problem......there's a lot of stuff that they don't stock. It's pretty sad when I need a fine thread metric nut, and in all of Home Depot's 150,000 sq ft of store they don't have any. But then I drive to my local Ace Hardware and they have everything I need. WTF?! There's even common items that we stocked at the small hardware store I managed that HD doesn't stock. Need a pre-cut and threaded galvanized or black pipe nipple? Good luck at HD, but my store used to stock 1" - 12" in 1" increments, 2" increments up to 24", then 30", 36", and 48". When I looked for the same item at HD, they had MAYBE 4 different lengths.

Not to mention, check the price on said small items. Bolts and nuts are typically more than double what you pay at a small store. Then they sell them in pre-packaged quantities, so you can't get one of anything.:mad:

Will it be called Sam's Club or Costco?

More like the "US Government Distribution Warehouse"

Given the incestual relationship that will exist between the company who ultimately owns this 'warehouse' and the gov't i would say the above is appropriate.

It will be called Chinko.

Don't laugh, it's not meant to be racist. It actually IS the name of a chain of stores over there.

HD has been great for my business. Get more customers from them every day. HD may have some cheaper prices but will cost more to do business with at the end of the day.
Like Reg, customers will go well out of their way to do business with us.

1. Re: The dissolving receipt... I find it hard to believe in this day and age they don't have electronic records of the sale (we all know they do).

2. When I went into a Homo Depot in a small town in Kentucky we had to beat the helpers off with a stick... seriously, we couldn't walk twenty feet without someone running up to us asking "can I help you?"
It was like some weird parallel universe.

3. With money being tight I have actually considered taking on a part time job there... however I afraid once they found I am marginally competent they would badger me to work full time or become a manager.

I buy as much stuff as I can from my local hardware store. Yep there are still mom and pop stores doing business. They have all the weird stuff that HD don't carry because they are not fast mover. Such as carbon brusher for DC motors, and you can just buy one screw or nut and not a bag full of screw or nuts at HD.

Don't worry - in my experience it's usually the incompetent ones that get promoted. You should be fine. ;)

Just DIY my washer and dryer. Replace the bearings and seal on our front loader Frigidaire washer and replace the rear bearing on the dryer. Total cost for both fix was under $75.00. Should be good for another 9 years.

Hey that has also been my experience. People get promoted to their next level of incompetency, while the competent one stay at their current level.

In today's paper Sam's Club in Canada is shutting all stores at the end of this month.
Lowes may be interested in taking over 5 of the 6 sites.

I've already spent an hour of my time with them.
1-2 more and I would have been money ahead just buying a new one.
Which I'm going to do...

Somewhere else.


KT

Really? I had a worst experience at lowes. Some of them treated me like they were gangsters. I like Home Depot better.
Maybe different areas, different tradition.

I've been to Lowes once. They seem to be the same except they have a better selection of automotive tools.

I needed some redwood lattice panels one time and the only stuff they had was way up top on a pallet. I asked 3 different clerks in the span of about 30 minutes for help and they all said they would find someone to run the forklift to get the stuff down. After waiting 10 minutes from the last clerk I found one of their forklifts, fired it up and got the stuff myself.

I've been in that store. ( FF )


KT

trekkor,
your store has alot better selection though. I just wish they hadn't shut down the Yardbirds here. I hate going into Home-Depoo.