Had the opportunity of visiting the local hdepot here and it was like a vacant wasteland in the middle of the day no less. They had all their 40% 60% and 70% tagged specials going on. A 3 piece metal/rubber gasket screw on exterior door jamb weather seal was $1.94. Man, they must be hurting or else import the things for a quarter.
Half of good living is staying out of bad situations.
Replies
Lowes came to our area first, about 6-7 years ago.
Home Dump opened across the highway from Lowes two years ago.
Home Dump started out at 6 am and closed at 10 pm.
Lowers followed suit, changing from their 7 am - 9 pm hours.
Now it's all back to normal hours as it was before with Home Dump staying open less hours then Lowes.
In both stores, the high pitched buzzing of mercury vapor lamps gives me a headache and my ears get a sun-burning sensation.
Yes, I admit I go to both stores occasionally and noticed Home Dump less busy then Lowes. Very fast checkout at Home Dump, though.
What I'd really like to know is how HD is able to hire women with the same obnoxious, irritating voice to speak (shout?) over their PA system. That voice in every HD I've ever had the displeasure of being in sounds the same. How do they do that?
I guess the battle between HD and Lowe's is different everywhere. Yea, they seem always to be a few blocks from one another. Personally I'll go to the Lowe's as the people are friendlier and offer to help more. The local HD is too busy for me and another reason for selecting Lowe's. For your amusement check this site I just discovered today...LOL
Ken Fisher
http://www.homedepotsucks.com/
Im not qualified to post on this , so watch out .
I would hate to have those folks after me. Damn !!!!!
How is it HDs problem ???? Usually we look to goverment . I dont understand .
Tim Mooney
The 24 hour HD here is jam packed during normal hours, and even quite busy late at night. The nearest Lowe's is maybe 20 miles away. I went there once when I was nearby, and found it to be almost identical to HD, only smaller, especially in lumber.
-- J.S.
I have one Blows about 5 mins from my house and 3 Home Dildos kind a like a triangle each 15 mins from my house all seem to be doing good the last time I was there. But as I said in a few post I bare rarely go there any more i just dont like the whole box thing they were good when they had a devcent return policy but after they got me on the rotozip nah they can KMWA from now. If I have to go to a box it'll be Blowes..at least they didnt hose me on the rotozip... Darkworksite4: When the job is to small for everyone else, Its just about right for me"
Ron, you really have to get over the rotozip thing, it's going to drive you nutz...err, nutzer.
So nobody here' ever heard of inventory time...doh!!
are you serious ?
Tim Mooney
My therapist says Im Ok its the rest of you guys that are a little looney :)
Darkworksite4: When the job is to small for everyone else, Its just about right for me"
Edited 7/27/2002 12:04:04 PM ET by Ron Teti
And I thought it was just me !!!! lol
I've noticed that the local HD (which is about 10 years old) is looking pretty ragged, product piled everywhere in disorder, shelves misorganized and unmarked, and generally pretty dirty. The workers seem disinterested and almost churlish, and unknowledgable.
The Lowes (less than 1/2 mile away and 3 years old) still looks clean and more organized. The workers offer to help, but seem unknowledgable also.
Be interesting to see if the Lowes ends us looking ratty when it gets 10 years old.
don'tcha know, It's only a matter of time. Home Cheapo will be like K-Mart Think Chapter 11makinsawdust
may they both calcify, and crumble to the underworld.
We have about 8-9 HD stores in town, and the 5th Lowes opened today. One of the HD was open 24 hrs for about the past 2 yrs, but last week cut the hours to 5am-midnight. My daughter works at Lowes, and she reports they aren't getting the sales the expected.
according to my brother in-law who's in commercial real estate, h-d objective is to have one witin urban city limits every 1-1 1/2 mile , in surburban confines, 5miles these numbers are radii. i feel sometimes when i do go in there i perpetuate sub-standard building materials. and with any luck they 'll choke each other out.
"or else import the things for a quarter" - how about 19 cents.
Now you've hit the answer. A friend is insurance adjuster for big shipping outfits. Mfgs usually ship for their cost. His company sells "damaged" goods to employees only at what insurance paid out. Typical of his tools is item from tool barge overturned in salt water, some stains on tools, otherwise perfectly serviceable. Using his data as a base, retail $12 pliers and $40 calipers or $40 saw blades are about 10 cents on the dollar for manufacturer's cost.
Sometimes the 'returns' service amazes me. A few years ago a big box moved in named 'DIY' and they were the first. Since then they went bankrupt about when lowies and depot moved in. When DIY first opened I was standing at a counter and the guy in front of me, no lie, bought in a cordless dewalt drill in the metal case that was broken, asking for a replacement since DIY sold dewalt. He didn't even buy the drill at that store and the thing looked like it had bounced around in the back of his pickup for a year. Scratches and rust on the case. Apparently they were so eager to make a positive impression on the community they bloomin' gave him a new dewalt cordless drill. I about broke wind sideways. I was tempted to start buying my tools there. Makes me think of Ron's rotozip episode and wonder how things have changed.Half of good living is staying out of bad situations.
"$40 saw blades are about 10 cents on the dollar for manufacturer's cost."
If that was true, everybody would be doing it. Virtually every business is so competitive nowdays, I just can't buy that.
Remember the line about "If it sounds too good to be true.............."
The best way to remember your wife's birthday is to forget it once.
I almost got downsized last year and talked to HD and Lowes about part time jobes. The guy at HD told me that if a store does 1 million a week retail, they stay open 24/7.
Courious thing is they both have employee benefits programs that are very simimlar, both based on company stocks. I bet most of the people that work there are nervous about that now, after the Enron debacle.
Lowes offers employees a discount on tools and material, HD does not. Pay at both is very close.
I figured that between the $15.00/hr carpenter job 40 hrs. a week and $8.00/hr 20 hr a week job at one of those places I might survive. Fortunately that did not happen. I'll sweat it all agian in about 3 years when our contract is up.
Dave
"Lowes offers employees a discount on tools and material, HD does not.
"
Builder's Square also didn't allow employee discounts when I worked for them. That really stinks, IMHO. That was the only place I've ever worked where they didn't cut their employees SOME kind of break.
Teamwork is essential it allows you to blame someone else.
Its nice to get "information " in a post like this you just gave. I guess I have a problem talking about someone , especially with out concrete evidence. I was amazed at the site that was posted up on a web site against HD. Im from our past presidents home state, and we are certainly not proud of him, but they spent so much time blasting him , he wasnt as good a president as he really would have been . Its a shame that the public was allowed to hound him the way they did and him trying to be president. I can think of a lot of good about the boxes and bad .
More to the subject ; Business across the US is shaky right now. There is a lot of "jockying for position " in the markets right now . I think a lot of money was put in to staples that didnt exist before. I see too much money being spent in market row streets like the boxes build on. Does any one have facts about how they are doing nation wide ? One store would only be a pimple on a goats butt. WE just got a 'full service contractors HD" in FT Smith Arkansas. They will be running head to head with Lowes, Sutherlands,very successful National Lumber, and Yeagers Hardware. Time will tell, but this could be a jockey store. A new Super Center just opened here , but Piggly Wiggly moved from here to a town that didnt have one . They elected not to compete with them. Not a lot is known about full service home depots, except one they have in Texas. But again that was a jockey store. Every one seems to be trying different things to keep food on the table in these hard times.
Tim Mooney
"Does any one have facts about how they are doing nation wide ?"
They're doing great (click on financial information, then quarterly earnings):http://www.homedepot.com/prel80/HDUS/EN_US/diy_main/pg_diy.jsp?CNTTYPE=NAVIGATION&CNTKEY=compinfo/index.jsp
Ron's return experience aside, Home Depot is a company that knows its business: retail, not construction. It's making money hand over fist, like it or not. Even those who don't shop there might want to consider adding some Home Depot shares to their portfolio...
"A completed home is a listed home."
Edited 7/27/2002 3:40:36 PM ET by Lisa L
If the last few years have taught us nothing, I hope we've gained some insight into the fact that you can not trust the accountants, executive staff, and mostly the financial men that check the accountants. They are out for themselves, and when caught cooking the books, should be dragged behind a pick-up through town. Freaking whores.
You are so right...just watch the news, Human GREEED..makinsawdust
So do we assume all financial reports have the integrity of Enron's? Do we label all auditors and executives as crooks? Do we dismiss all reported profits as smoke and mirrors? That seems as foolish as blind trust.
"A completed home is a listed home."
Lisa...let the buyer beware, and I am. I'm now going into defense mode and will live by the motto "guilty until proven innocent" In God we trust, others pay cash, or prove the net worth.
I too believe we will see 5000. I swear the problems are related to the fact that 70% of the younger generations have attention deficit disorder(to much TV, video games, loud music and parents giving instant gratification). Can't concentrate on anything for more than a blink(get bored to easy, need instant results, with great graphics and wild colors)...and the amount of middle age and below people on prozac.....I think they are all traders, and brokers...I'm up...I'm down...I'm up...I'm down...buy...sell, buy....sell. The markets are fluctuating by these flakos mood swings.
And the day traders and the internet contribute to the wild swings also. To much information trading hands too fast. No time for well thought out decisions, just fire, ready ,aim , type decisions. Everybody wants to be rich, no matter what they have to do, who they have to hurt or financially ruin enroute.
I'm disgusted with it all.
Ouch. As the mother of twins with medically diagnosed ADD, I can tell you it's not caused by environment. It's caused by inadequate dopamine production in the frontal lobe of the brain. And I can promise you that you would find my twins to be tender hearted, honest and reliable.
I'm all for finding the sources of problems and solving them. But let's not allow our frustration to inplicate the innocent in the process, OK? There are a lot of good people out there; don't let the jerks get you down.
"A completed home is a listed home."
lisa -add in most cases is a temporary condition, that last's years, but get's better with time.with help medication,tutoring, and self discipline. trust me i know, was diagnosed in 1964. when it was tad obscure, i graduated college with a degree in commercial art. if the kids have good parents 95% , the kids will follow suit.remember, patience, perserverance, and find the child's innate strongpoint's and focus on those for his selfesteem, i had a grandfather and he loved me. and that lady is all you need , it's not any big frickin' secret. trust me on this cheers the bear
'I'm disgusted with it all.'
That's what everyone should be looking for. When the investors in mass say that and aren't investing and stock values level out then the true bottem will occur and one should be ready to buy solid blue chips for a ride up. Key word is 'solid'.Half of good living is staying out of bad situations.
Lisa- whatever you do don't go long on your stocks now unless you REEEAAALLLY now what you're doing. Dow will be 5000 before this mess turns around. Nas is ready to slide into the abyss, under 1000 before the sunshine will stay a while.Half of good living is staying out of bad situations.
No worries - diversification is my middle name. :-)
You think the market will go that low? I hope not - time will tell. In the end whatever is left will at least be of real value, but that's no comfort to those who have lost a lot.
"A completed home is a listed home."
I wouldn't say that HD is hurting, but the days of continual, extreme growth are over. They are trying to be smarter in their operation, because they cannot just sit back and expand.
In regrads to the 40-70% off sale, we do lose money on many of the items sold. However, they are all items in our inventory that we need to get rid of. Either we will no longer sell that product, or something new will take it place. There comes a time when you just need to get rid of stuff, even if it does mean selling it at a loss.
I have visited several HDs in my area, and have been shocked at the condition of some of the stores. I wouldn't even shop there. I visited a Lowes, and was blown away by the cleanliness of the store. Thankfully at my store we have associates who do care about the imange we present to the customer.
"They are trying to be smarter in their operation, because they cannot just sit back and expand."
Thats what is going on world wide. That is why american car parts are being moved to China , and Mexico. WE are losing our comapnies . China pays no workmans comp, taxes of any kind . WE do not tax their products at all . Goverment charges this trade [self employment , and social security ] 49 percent . How do we compete with this? The Tarrif that has been imposed on Canadian lumber is another issue . WE are not buying our own pine timber . We want Canadian lumber . Yall see a problem here ? WE should not spend energies having issues with AMERICAN COMPANIES. Our goverment is where we should have issues.
I know this is a little off course to the subject of the thread, but the bashing of two AMERICAN COMPANIES seems to continue , just like Clinton keeps getting it , and my years with him had less problems.
Just my thoughts and opinions ,
Tim Mooney