Home Depot stores and products

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A relationship (or relationships) with wholesalers is essential. But the big box stores are also essential, as are online suppliers. They all have a place especially given the absolutely horrendous counter service you get at most wholesalers these days.

Case in point, it's often quicker and faster to get something on amazon or ebay than it is if the supplier doesn't stock it. Heck, I've ordered stuff online before the supplier could even get a price on it. :roll:
 
JFletcher said:
going to big box stores maybe a little more difficult in the coming future... I read this morning that Lowe's is closing 51 locations, 20 of them the United States.
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all the big retailers periodically review the performance of their stores and close those that are not profitable. that is what they should be doing. why would you want any retailer to keep a store open that is losing money?
 
peter d said:
Sounds like you need to drop that place like a bad habit.
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Easier to do in a metro area than out here in the boonies.

My main supply house is 40 miles away. They do deliver to my area twice a week and adjacent areas on other days if I want something dropped off somewhere else or at a job site, which has some convenience to it, as I can have something delivered just about every day of the week (if they have it) though I may have to drive a little to get it, but less driving than going to their store. One bad thing, they once was smaller company only had stores in this State, got bought out a couple times and now are over a much larger region. Upper management likes the fact that they can say "we have one of those on hand", problem is that item is always in another store when you ask for it and you must either wait for transit time for internal transfer trucks or pay extra shipping to have a third party bring it ASAP.

Big box stores- even if you order online they usually ship out of a distribution center and not the nearest store. Next day delivery you would likely get from nearest store turns into three or four days depending on where the distribution center is unless you want to be raped on cost for next day delivery services.
 
kwired said:
Easier to do in a metro area than out here in the boonies.

My main supply house is 40 miles away. They do deliver to my area twice a week and adjacent areas on other days if I want something dropped off somewhere else or at a job site, which has some convenience to it, as I can have something delivered just about every day of the week (if they have it) though I may have to drive a little to get it, but less driving than going to their store. One bad thing, they once was smaller company only had stores in this State, got bought out a couple times and now are over a much larger region. Upper management likes the fact that they can say "we have one of those on hand", problem is that item is always in another store when you ask for it and you must either wait for transit time for internal transfer trucks or pay extra shipping to have a third party bring it ASAP.

Big box stores- even if you order online they usually ship out of a distribution center and not the nearest store. Next day delivery you would likely get from nearest store turns into three or four days depending on where the distribution center is unless you want to be raped on cost for next day delivery services.
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Fortunately the two or three main suppliers I use will always tell me which store at the time. The people working in them have been there for years and are not likely to 'forget' an LB cover and more likely to ask if I needing, expansion joints, bushings or various other common items depending on what I am buying.
 
kwired said:
Easier to do in a metro area than out here in the boonies.
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I've worked in the boonies (or the sticks) before, and it wasn't fun at all! The Home Depot was an hour away, so I had to be sure to buy everything I needed for that day when I was back in town -- either that evening or before leaving for work the next morning. The other issue was cell phone service. Receiving online radio stations was nearly impossible there, and it was even difficult to get a phone call through. I couldn't even listen to my favorite morning program on the Bluegrass Jamboree station; I had to play the MP3's I already had on my phone.
 
peter d said:
True, I'm spoiled here, a dozen HD's and Lowes to choose from and 7 different wholesalers.
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Closest HD and Lowe's are both about 100 miles from me. Menard's is a Midwestern based big box store and is a big competitor to both HD and Lowe's in the Midwest, closest one of those is about 40 miles from me - same town the nearest electrical supplier is in. I still have certain items that typically come from one place or the other - when it works out.
 
kwired said:
Closest HD and Lowe's are both about 100 miles from me. Menard's is a Midwestern based big box store and is a big competitor to both HD and Lowe's in the Midwest, closest one of those is about 40 miles from me - same town the nearest electrical supplier is in. I still have certain items that typically come from one place or the other - when it works out.
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I've been to Menard's when I was in Ohio and Wisconsin. I just had to see what it was all about. :lol:
 
ptonsparky said:
Fortunately the two or three main suppliers I use will always tell me which store at the time. The people working in them have been there for years and are not likely to 'forget' an LB cover and more likely to ask if I needing, expansion joints, bushings or various other common items depending on what I am buying.
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They always tell me which store the item is at as well. bottom line is it is not at the local store and I won't have it today.

Don't have too much trouble with forgetting LB covers and such, unless maybe it is a new guy taking the order. Do need to specify malleable iron or cast aluminum sometimes or you never know which you will get.
 
MAC702 said:
I knew there was some secret double-handshake code for the difference, but couldn't remember what it was. Thank you for reminding me.

I hate how when you ask questions at the parts counter of a supply house, they act like it's a waste of their time. You should already know the difference. And you should already know how much it costs. Because it's silly to ask how much something is at the counter, when he has to look it up and waste more time, and acts like you're a cheapskate if you simply want to know the price difference between two different products.

What disadvantages there are at HD/Lowe's are buried behind the advantage of walking in, grabbing what I need, comparing a price or two, choosing a suitable available product for the job, and then only standing in a line (sometimes) to get out. I almost exclusively use the lumber yard checkout. It's usually their fastest cashier. Come to think of it, I don't think I've noticed the self-checkout counters in a while. Do they still have them? If no one was in the line, I got pretty good at doing those, but if someone was in front of me, they usually weren't.
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Every HD I go to still has the self service registers. I've only seen it at one Lowe's.
 
Pretty bad my way we only have 3 electrical supply houses and 8 HD/Lowes in 15 min. of my house.
 
sameguy said:
Pretty bad my way we only have 3 electrical supply houses and 8 HD/Lowes in 15 min. of my house.
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They do have departments other than electrical don't they?;)

You still not walking in and asking for a motor starter for a 100 HP 480 volt motor either I would guess.
 
jmellc said:
Every HD I go to still has the self service registers ...
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I used to avoid them but my local one recently upgraded them. Now there are more stations and they are a pleasure to use. They use the same wireless scanning guns that the regular checkouts use and the same touch screen terminals.

Guess it makes a statement about their employees when anybody can do what they pay their cashiers to do. :lol:

-Hal
 
hbiss said:
I used to avoid them but my local one recently upgraded them. Now there are more stations and they are a pleasure to use. They use the same wireless scanning guns that the regular checkouts use and the same touch screen terminals.

Guess it makes a statement about their employees when anybody can do what they pay their cashiers to do. :lol:

-Hal
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Bet it don't have same cash drawer
 
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