HOME DEPOT HELL

National Review Online - The Corner ^ | April 20, 2004 | John Derbyshire

[Cincinatus' Wife]

This darn place is going to the dogs. As if the aisle-closing business wasn't bad enough, I have now encountered a new annoyance.

The Home Depot has introduced self-check-out stations. Fair enough, and a convenience, if you have just small items & no complications. However, there are now situations -- I just encountered my second -- where Home Depot employees apparently feel that the self-check-out business relieves them of the need to man check-out stations altogether. If for some reason you can't check yourself out, there may be no regular check-out stations manned. (Personned, whatever.)

I gotta stop using this store.

[Bottom_Gun]

Try buying your paint at Wal-Mart. It's made for them by Benjamin Moore and sold as the Wal-mart brand, it's much cheaper and holds up real well... having a 3 yr old, and an 8yr old it's put to the test all the time in my household *L*

[OldBlondBabe]

We remodeled our kitchen and put on a garage addition in the past year, so I've spent a considerable time shopping at HD (a dept manager there even knows me by name). I've always been treated courteously and helpfully when visiting my local store in Rochester Hills, Michigan.

[daybreakcoming]

"I refuse to learn how to do it. I also hate the store where you have to bag your own stuff."

After my own heart. We did it once at Walmart - never again.

In European grocery stores, you have to bag your own and you better be good and fast at it.

[dalereed]

It's apparently the managers of the individual Home Depot stores that makes the difference.

I spend $1,200-$1,500/month in the 7 Home Depots in North County San Diego and have no compaints at all. The help and service in the Glendale one sucks!

[daybreakcoming]

I've seen Home Depot employees actually break out into a trot to get away from an approaching inquiring customer....that is, when you can find one.

[Howie66]

I've seen where a couple of Home Depot stores in my area have put those "self check-out" counters in...I avoid them like the plague.

Having said that, if you think you have problems at "My Toy Store", then I'll bet that you haven't been to a Lowe's Store recently. I honestly think that Lowe's has a personnel policy that insists that they hire only those that have been rejected by the United States Postal Service. No kidding!

[FourPeas]

It's been amazing to watch. Over the past decade or two, we (the consumer) have been conditioned to buy at the absolutely lowest price. Customers now insist on it. In order for the businesses to compete on price, they have to cut costs. Among other things, they've cut merchandise quality, inventory stock, and the number of employees and their benefits and wages. The result is that the consumer now pays less for an inferior product, made with inferior materials, by a company that has also had to cut costs to meet the price point of their customer (the store), the item is ultimately sold to the end customer by an unhappy employee who is often poorly trained, that is, if the item can actually be found.

I recently worked retail as a "fun" job. It was an incredible eye opener.

[r9etb]

Call me a Luddite, but except for gas stations I really dislike the self-checkout deal. I'd rather deal with a person.

[Pharmboy]

OBB, you've had better luck than I have. At the HD in Rockaway, NJ, I can recount 4 different incidents where their employees were beyond merely not knowing something. And, we're far enough away from NYC (45 miles) so as to avoid that brand of nastiness (other merchants in this area are fine).

But, I hasten to add, there are some HD employess that are knowledgeable and considerate (and often female!).

[Pharmboy]

Now that is a MOST interesting fact. My next paint will be at Wal-Mart (I always learn something on FreeRepublic).

[daybreakcoming]

I think I know that trip over the mountains down into Eugene. We cut over on that road coming from the coast - took forever. You live in one of the most beautiful areas in the world but sure don't envy you that drive.

[Bottom_Gun]

yea it is, and it was told to me by a Home depot employee, when I was looking at paint and commented on the price *L* a good basic satin, or semi gloss goes for about 12 bucks at Wal-mart a full gloss goes for about 13.99 a gallon

[Snerfling]

Never going back, I swear

We recently completed a major home improvement campaign, so I got chance to become quite the expert on the various hardware/home improvement centers.

The rule of thumb with HD is (1) go early and (2) don't ask any questions and/or ask for any service. What we really did was use HD as a baseline for about 50% of our purchases.

Anything other than generic products were purchased elsewhere. For example, HD has decent 2x4s, but for anything else like nicer redwood, etc we went to a local lumber provider. Same for plants: run of the mill shrubs, fertilizer, etc were purchased at HD, harder to find specialty plants were acquired at a local nursery.

Finally, as most DIYs know, timing & momemtum are everything; even though you might save a little more at HD, if you need a couple of small items, the local hardware store (Ace in our case) is the only way to go. Just getting there and back in 5-10 minutes is a blip compared to the 5 min park/walk alone at HD.

PS Lowes sucks. I could never place my finger on it until a eearlier poster mentioned that they cater to women. Makes sense now - it masquerades as a hardware store if you actually need something, but is probably less intimidating.

[ArrogantBustard]

We have self-checkout in the "BJ's" (wholesale club) ... I'm not a fan ... it's a two-person job to run the thing with a large number of items. The output end gets backed up. When you go to empty it into a cart the computer times out; thinks you've done with checking out and wants payment. I also wish I could set the machine to STFU. I hate talking computers.

[bondjamesbond]

...(T)he Mr. T voice: "Place the item in the bag, fool! Now git your change! I pity the fool who shops at Lowes!"

No kidding. This is a great idea. You could have a personal preference that is keyed to the ubiquitous "preferred customer" card. I would love checking out with Mr. T.

Or maybe Captain Kirk... "Place... your item.... in... the BAG!"

I'm going to be laughing every time I go to the grocery store thinking up silly voices they could use.

[Atlas Sneezed]

I love Oregon's gas stations. State law forbids anyone to pump their own gas. Hate pumping gas.

---

It's nice when the government forces other people to subsidize your preferences, isn't it?

[smith288]

I prefer them (Lowes) to HD 99% of the time.

Not to mention all their stores around town are basically laid out the same. HD seems to have erratic layouts and never have a good organizational plan for their products.

[lewislynn]

I love it, I can zip right through, if there is an open station.

Wouldn't that also be true, maybe truer if there was a cashier?

[In_25_words_or_less]

I was going to email the URL to this thread to Home Depot but they wanted too much personal info on the form.

Just one more annoyance~! LOL