HD blames the weather:
http://www.bigbuilderonline.com/industry-news.asp?sectionID=363&articleID=498651
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ROAR! That's a good one!
;)
Welcome to the
Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime.
where ...
Excellence is its own reward!
FWIW:
MOORESVILLE, N.C., May 21 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Lowe's Companies, Inc. LOW, the world's second-largest home improvement retailer, today reported net earnings of $739 million for the quarter ended May 4, 2007, a 12.1 percent decline versus the same period a year ago. Diluted earnings per share declined 9.4 percent to $0.48 from $0.53 in the first quarter of 2006.
http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/provider/providerarticle.aspx?feed=PR&Date=20070521&ID=6928910
Same causes cited as in the HD article.
With my mouth I will give great thanks to the Lord; I will praise Him in the midst of the throng. For He stands at the right hand of the needy, to save them from those who would condemn them to death.
- Psalms 109:30-31
Considering Corporate America's methods, when profits are down, then layoffs are in order. Can't see HD laying people off as they are short staffed to begin with.
OPD
They are laying off, at the corporate level. My mother in law works there.....at least for now anyway.(G)
dug
HD may need to close some stores but I can't see them going under, they are pretty firmly entrenched in our area. Might be like Circuit City or K-Mart; close half the stores that aren't profitable and try to run the company on the rest.Or merge with someone (SEARS!)
from the storm they created???
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming
WOW!!! What a Ride!
Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
Its those dam*/^& lumber carts they want us pro's to use. Better to go to the local lumber yard and pull your truck up to the stack you need and have the yard worker help you load. HD & LOWES say they want our business but are clueless in this aspect of material purchasing.
Best to you and yours, Chris.
Building as thou art paranoid never harmed anyone.
How about I send you a fax and you deliver really nice material to me within 24 hours, at no charge. If I have to come inside to get lumber I'll probably quit the business, take up day trading or something.
Its those dam*/^& lumber carts they want us pro's to use.
No kidding. I've wondered for a long time why they chose the shopping cart method. Even if I save a small amount on each board or piece of plywood, it's just not cost effective for me to have to go to HD. When I go to my local lumber yard, we drive right out to the stacks and load it up. Takes all of 10 minutes. Every time I go to HD it seems like an odyssey.
If I were running the show at HD, I'd consider having all large building materials in a rear yard. I'd have customers tell the cashier that they want x number of 2x4x10, and x number of sheets of 1/2 CDX, etc. Then they'd pay for it, take a loading slip to the back and have it loaded up.
This approach would simultaneously prevent morons from searching through a pile of 2x4s for a piece of finish lumber AND limit HDs liability when it comes to worrying about customers getting hit by a forklift or whatever.
I imagine they have their reasons for the shopping cart approach -- I just can't imagine what those reasons are.
I agree. But then if that, would it put you off from going to your locally owned lumber yard? Ergo, putting them at further risk of going out of business. And, would you really want to loose the the local guy as a resource?Best to you and yours, Chris.
Building as thou art paranoid never harmed anyone.
Yeah, I've thought about the question you're asking.
It is, in fact, very important to me that my local yards stay in business. Fortunately, I'm not really torn with an "ethical" question of whether to support my local yard (and presumably pay more) or go to HD (and presumably pay less). This is just due to the fact that I'm primarily a finish contractor, and HD carries NONE of the profiles I need for working on vintage homes.
Also, as things currently are, it's typically more cost effective for me to do business with the local yard when I factor in my time.
But if things changed, I'd definitely have to consider going to HD. Economics is a very important consideration, although not the only one. Quality is also paramount for my work, and HD lags greatly there, too.
So at current, at least, I don't think I'll have to worry about HD stealing my business away any time soon. ;)
It is all for the clueless DIY $$$They get to push a cart around and see all the choices and pick them up and put them in thier mouth....they dont have to know that it is called a 2x4 not a 4x2 or a toggle bolt not a "little wing thingy that comes on a screw"and the A-R engineer can sort thru the whole lift of 4x2's to find enuf perfect ones to build his shed, cause he "does things right!!!"then he can goe over to the fastner section and buy 2" drywall(piffen) screws to fasten the studs with.
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What was that??
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"If I were running the show at HD, I'd consider having all large building materials in a rear yard. I'd have customers tell the cashier that they want x number of 2x4x10, and x number of sheets of 1/2 CDX, etc. Then they'd pay for it, take a loading slip to the back and have it loaded up."That is the way that Payless (and associated companies) worked. It was much handier for lumber than the big box stores.But they went bankrupt because they could not figure out who they customer was. About once a year they could change focus and surplus out 1/2 the stock that they brought in for the last focus..
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A-holes. Hey every group has to have one. And I have been elected to be the one. I should make that my tagline.
Mark my words right now. Home Depot won't live to see much past 2010.
Justin Fink - FHB Editorial
Your Friendly Neighborhood Remodelerator
What's your reasoning?
more more
Yiou caint just jump on the top bunk and drop one boot. Whats a matter with ya ? <G>
Tim
Fink knows that Taunton offering a leveraged buyout of HD, 25 cents on the dollar.
hahahahahahaha. ahem.Expert since 10 am.
I worked there for 3 years during and after college to help pay the bills. I don't know, for some reason once I saw how things are run from the inside I was pretty surprised...
Some for instances:
- My first day, a busy Saturday in the beginning of the summer. I went to a few hours of "product knowledge" classes at some remote distribution center, then literally was told to drive to the store, punch in, and hit the floor to start helping customers. Within a half hour I had an irate contractor literally screaming at me and insulting me for not knowing how to help him with his problem. Ever wonder why the employees don't offer good advice? It's cause they were never taught anything that really applied. The only way to survive was to learn how to read the information on the package faster than the customer.
- you wouldn't believe what gets tossed in the dumpster at that place... you know how the lumberyard has a "boneyard" or somethign similar where the deals are awesome? HD throws all of that away. Shower units, sinks, toilets, lumber, plants, whatever you can think of. The dumpsters are locked and you need a manager key just to throw away. "If we're going to toss this, can't I just take it home or buy it for a buck?" - "nope - against store policy"
- Wonder why you can't find anybody to drop a bunk of 2x4's when you need it? It's all about profit. Even if there are lines down every aisle and the one person working in each department is flat out and sweating bullets, they won't add more staff in many cases. Apparently not cost effective. Everything is mapped out in advance - they decide which weekends will be busy and they schedule you based on that. If a weekend turns out to be busy on it's own, tough luck to the customers.
- Morale is just ultra low. I can't give solid examples of this because it's a feeling. There's just a general sense of defeat in that place - and you can see it on everyone's face.
- I just feel that the company is running down hill, and they don't seem to care. Nobody in those stores seems to care about helping customers. As a point of comparison, I was in Lowe's getting a bunch of paint with a buddy and we didn't get a cart. The guy at the paint department came out from behind the counter, walked all the way outside, and came back in with a cart for us - great big smile on his face. Every employee I passed in that Lowe's offered to help. And they were genuine offers, not just annoyed murmurs as they clearly were on their way to do something else.
Alright, that's enough...my coffee is getting cold and it's too early to be angry already. Justin Fink - FHB Editorial
Your Friendly Neighborhood Remodelerator
Within a half hour I had an irate contractor literally screaming at me and insulting me for not knowing how to help him with his problem.
The real problem as I see it is that the contractor felt that some $10/hr employee at HD should know more about his own business than he did!
If the employees at HD were really as knowledgeable as experienced contractors, they'd either be: (a) working as contractors, or (b) need to be paid a lot more than $10/hr for that knowledge.
Since when can a person go to a builder or architect for free design advice? Yet that's apparently the mindset of people who get irate with low-level HD employees.
I'm tempted to Email your post...
" 90648.15 in reply to 90648.10
I worked there for 3 years during and after college to help pay the bills. "
... to the Wall Street Journal to see if they might publish it. I've been that screaming contractor. Not about the HD employees knowing my job but they knowing theirs. And as a former USMC enlisted, I know screaming.Best to you and yours, Chris.
Building as thou art paranoid never harmed anyone.
I was tempted to email that post to the top management at HD to see if they can take a hint.One of the better investors of our time is Peter Lynch. One of his basics for stock picking is knowing what the average joe sixpack is buying.If his wife and daughter and all their friends are heading to the mall to buy a certain brand of shoes, it is a pretty good bet that the company is a good investment to look into. You know that sales and earnings are likely to be rising.Same on the converse - any investor reading threads like this or talking to the people who actually buy building materials for the past five years would have been able to conclude that HD has hit its top and is ready to fall in stock price because of declining earnings.So we are jsut now seeing the confirmation.
Welcome to the Taunton University of Knowledge FHB Campus at Breaktime. where ... Excellence is its own reward!
Humorous aside re: HD sales staff / knowledge.
Had a job today to rehang a door in a historic house, 4" butt hinge mortises needed to be cut into the jamb to match a very old door.
Decided discretion was the better part of valor - entered the local HD last evening and cruised the tool section in search of a 4" butt marker - no luck in the tool section so I headed on over to the pro desk.
Asked if they carried butt markers (O silly me to expect the "pros" to know this was not a Sharpie used for questionable purposes), although I could see the wheels turning in the resident "pro's" mind, he had the composure to ask one of the floor guys - floor guy didn't have a clue - when I finally told them it was for door hinges, they sent me to the hinge section - lo-and-behold - a 4" Stanley butt marker hung on a peg.
Took the marker back to the pro-desk, showed it to the guy and explained it's use - he duly noted that "Geez, it really is called a butt marker, says so right there!"
This proves that at least some of the people at the pro-desk can read, even if they don't know the names of tools in their store. Need more edumacation!
Jim
Never underestimate the value of a sharp pencil or good light.
that's because they don't own a Fine publishing company like Lowes doesI wish I knew how to insert an annoying Martha Stewart Banner in my tagline....
you've got it backwards, we own Lowe's!Justin Fink - FHB Editorial
Your Friendly Neighborhood Remodelerator
same diff...I wish I knew how to insert an annoying Martha Stewart Banner in my tagline....
Interesting! The city officials here in Butte Montana, a little town of 30,000 are telling us that Home Depot is going to start construction here in the next few months. Do you know if they are expanding and building new stores at all? They have stores in Bozeman (85 miles) and Helena (60 miles). The stores here in Montana are not busy at all, at least not compared with other parts of the country.
HD will have three new stores within 5 miles driving distance from me opening in about a 12 month period. We have had one in our town and one in the town about 10 miles away for years, but now they're really expanding in the area.
Jon Blakemore RappahannockINC.com Fredericksburg, VA
They just broke ground in Richmond, KY finally..for ours. The closet one is 25 miles north. We've had Lowes for as long as I'v been here...3yrs.
And there are 3 up in Lex!"you are dead a lot longer than you are alive"Noah Aaron MacKenzie, 1990.
How will HD deal with the psycho sheep? Put orange aprons on them?
Edited 6/7/2007 8:16 pm ET by Disputantum
That is so cute! Butte has such a meth problem. If HD didn't do drug tests, you might see some creatures that look like that in orange aprons!
Does anyone know if HD normally asks for tax abatements from the localities where they open stores?
Thanks.
In Kansas, HD has opened some stores in towns of about 20,000 population.In the Denver stores I have been in, there is a large selection of items. They are so busy you can't find a cart and if you turn your back, someone will steal yours.The smaller stores don't seem so busy. They don't seem to have a selection much larger than a good local lumberyard.Other than their loss leaders and inferior grade stuff, the prices aren't that much better.If I lived in any of those towns, there wouldn't be much reason to do alot of business with them. I suspect most of their business is DIYers who go there on a knee-jerk reaction that they are going to get a huge bargain.I wonder if these small stores are profitable for them?
The HDs aroung Kansas City and through Missouri are always very busy. Wyoming, and Nebraksa not very. The HD in Bozeman here is a mini-warehouse type thing. It is very frustrating going there, so we normally drive farther and go to the one in Missoula. But, none of the HDs in Montana are very busy. They can't be making money off them.
We are pretty heavy DIY types. But, we still get most of the basics at the lumberyard where it gets loaded.
Didn't mean to sound derragatory about the DIY thing. It's just alot of people around here bypass the local guys without asking and drive a 100 mi. to HD.
Craig, I am sure you do a lot of your own work. And, you do it yourself for two reasons. One, if you do it yourself, it gets done right. And, two, it gets done on time.
I know most of you who post and respond on this board are small contractors. And, I really appreciate the advice you give! If some of you were in my area, we would hire you. I cannot believe none of you have heard the complaints of homeowners about contractors who never return phone calls, never show up for appointments, or, even worse, who start the work and never complete it.
We just had a plumber flake on us. And, we had used him before. My husband called him that morning to confirm their appt. He said he would be there, but when the time came, he said he had to meet someone and would be back in an hour. He never returned that day, or the next! So, because we had a deadline, my husband had a week to remove one of those old barrel traps, replace all the water and drain pipes, the wallboard, the floor, and fixtures in the bath. We came back from a trip two weeks earlier to get this work done, but waited for the plumber. If he just told us he wasn't going to do the work, we could have gotten it done earlier.
We were going to replace lots of windows in a six-plex. Made an appointment with local glass company. They never showed up, never called.
We bought an old brick duplex which had the bricks pulling away from the building by about 6 inches. We called all the brick contractors in the phone book. Only one returned the call, said he would drive by, never called back. We pulled the bricks in ourselves. Later, I talked with a local architect who had wanted to buy the building but told me all the contractors he talked to said they wouldn't touch that wall, so he didn't buy it.
I am sure some DIYs make the decision to do their own work solely because of the cost. We do most of the work we do because that is the only way to get it done! We have a great heating contractor and roofer in Billings, but that is 250 miles away. We do use them for all the work in that area, though we could probably do that work ourselves. By the way, they are not the cheapest, but they are the best and worth every cent we pay them.
We pay a premium to buy most of our material from local lumber yards and go to HD or Lowes for my fru-fru stuff that they don't carry like Ralph Lauren paint.
So, I know you and other small contractors depend on us homeowners for your livliehood. But, I am sure you will agree that not all contractors are created equal and do the same quality work. Some don't work at all!! I am a CPA and would never defend all CPAs. Nor, do I knock those who do their own accounitng or taxes. Some of them do a better job than a bad accountant would do.
I dont know a lot about Depot . Ive only been inside a couple of their stores .
I do quite a bit of business with Lowes and I would be in sad shape if I didnt have them on my team.
Theres a lot of bashing going on about both those stores and I can not comment on the first one ..
I write this similar post every now and then and IM fixing o write it again;
Im sure everyone has heard that someone sells somthing they cant get to work and the the new owner gets it working for him which is the point to the post .
I think contactors learned the business dealing with lumber yards and for lumber they cant really be replaced. By this time the contractor is set in their ways and they want the box store to operate the way the lumber yard has for years. I think thats a wrong conclusion of how to get it to work for them so for so many the box store doesnt work. Catching fish is much the same way. You have to figgure out how they want caught and it doesnt make any difference what you want . If ou figgure out what they are biting on it will fill your freezer so to speak and so that does work. Rarely its the time of day you would choose or where but really box stores have similarity.
I dont depend on help to help me out or I know Ill be disapointed. However , in the day time during 8 to 5 they have experienced people working in contract sales or commerical sales . The most expericned people there only work 5 days per week and its day shift , Mon through Friday. I dont have the time to visit Lowes during that time because it would cost me time . Like every other contractor I would rather it be evening or weekend when the young and unexperinced help are manning the joint . The supervisors have gone home to have dinner with their family and someones kid or a new hire have taken their place .
I dont like lumping material out of that place and hauling it . It doesnt pay anything and is a big waste of my time.
How I got it to work is to have a commercial account which Lowes delivers to them for free . They deliver and bill just like the lumber yard. I never touch the material. I go in at night and pick my items and write down the numbers or skew #s. I make a list and leave the store unless I want to carry somthing out like a tool. The next morning I call my friendly Linda at the contract sales desk and make my order . It gets delivered just like the lumber yard. The prices are normally better on select items and Ive learned what they are so they get my order every time but on other items I have learned not even ask or I know Ill be disapointed . For example a Lowes store runs 8 ft drywall on cost leader all the time along with 1/2 in blandex , 1/2 plywood , and studs . They also sell concrete blocks cheaper than the block factory and no one knows why. When I need those items they get the call but I dont ask them for select lumber as it would be similar to fishing in a mud puddle and I would not expect to catch anything.
The guys here seldom talk about the night or weekend job because they dont do it all the time . No one wants to do this work 7 days per week. Its a physical job and we need time to rest . Some of us get called out like a wrecker driver. . Im on call all the time . I dont like it but its part of the beast . Those times I appreciate having a Lowes store open after working hours . Plus no hardware store carries their selction of mechanical items used in residential.
So for people that do work nights and weekends , they are a blessing . They could be used all the time if the contractors would learn a different system to make it work. Not in place of a lumber yard but a little lumber yard and a lot of other things they cant buy at a lumber yard 7 days and evenings a week.
Tim
You make a great point!
We have gotten so used to not having Lowes or HD here. So, my husband has to anticipate what will go wrong after hours and Sundays before 6 PM daily and 4 on Saturdays. To clarify, his job is remodeling our 100+ year old properties.
When we were in CA, we had a HD open really late two miles away. It was packed morning til late at night by very small contractors, entrepreneurial handyman types who bought everything in small quantities. HD was great for them. I always felt HD's customer base was the very small contractors like these and the do it yourselfers. It took a long time before the guys at the local lumber yard got friendly and helpful with my husband since he doesn't buy in large quantities. But, unlike the homeowner do it yourselfer, he knows what he is looking for and pretty much what he is doing. Working on these old houses, he has learned a lot.
Of course during any given sports season or somthing like that that draws a mans butt to a recliner like a magnet , its not a bad deal to have the excuse that all the stores are closed. <G>
Tim
Yeah,there are alot of flakes doing construction. I won't work on my own house because I am too unreliable to show up on the job:)I totally support you doing your own work. I have trouble with communicating through typing. I got to thinking later that the way I wrote my first reply sounded critical of DIY ers which isn't the case.Not very good at writing so that my tone would be the same as I was talking to someone.
Craig, aren't you so "typical"? And, I mean that in a very good way! Most of us don't get our own projects done until we get ready to sell the house. You make a very good point for hiring someone to do the work. I would love to and, again, we do when we have someone good.
When I was working, I specialized in construction companies. I had a lot of laughter. Like the time one of the supervisors sold the copper gutter off a commercial building for scrap for $ 50. When the general called my client, a sub, about the gutter, the supervisor handed my client the $ 50 and walked away. I thought John was going to cry. Replacing it was thousands. And, I saw million dollar homes where you could see the drywall seams, etc. The big problem here is lack of good contractors. And, Montana has this system of putting prisoners in "pre-release centers" where contractors and restaurants can hire them for $ 6 an hour. 95% of the restaurants in town probably use them as cooks. And, so do most of the contractors. Many small, one-man operations have come and left because they can't compete with $ 6/hr. It is really sad. And, we have a tremendous theft and drug problem. So, one needs to be careful about who comes into their home.
As an aside, the plumber that didn't show is outside right now apologizing to my husband, two weeks late!
I do try to read this board on a regular basis and I am always telling my husband that Piffin or somebody said he should do something he is working on a certain way. I really appreciate all the expertise all of you share with each other and those of us who lurk. And, I love the humor.
So, thank you and all the others who work so hard. By the way, where are you?
I live in the part of Kansas everybody drives through without noticing unless they break down here. Along I-70, not far from Colorado.
We are getting a house in the midwest; I thought maybe you would be close. When we get settled in, we will come back here to look for help we need.
That part of Kansas is pretty. We drive that way occasionally and we stop in all the little towns that have antique stores. Next time we drive through, I will think about you!
Thanks.