An Open Letter to Home Depot

[G3750]

I posted the following open letter on another forum (can you guess which one? ) It lasted there about 10 minutes. As usual, the truth cannot and will not be tolerated.

Dear Knuckleheads:

Recently I came into your store to purchase some #10 x 1.25” pan head screws and fender washers for them. It took me more than 10 minutes to decipher your horrendously labeled and counter-intuitive Fastener aisle. Of course, no staff were available to assist. They were busy avoiding work, walking around with their masks down around their necks.

But let’s break down the problem:

• Labeling – how about putting useful information on all your packages of washers? Such as the screw size they fit? Instead, we get the size of the opening which leaves us guessing as to the screw size that fits. Some packages have this information, others do not.
• Quantity of washers in a package – 3. Really? 3? Not 2, not 4, not 12, but 3. Sheer moronic imbecility.
• Quantity of screws in a package – 7. Because 7 mates up so well with 3, right? Of course. It’s intuitive.

I wish I could fix the problem by visiting Lowe’s but they also live in your (shallow) end of the gene pool. In fact, I know coffee mugs with more intelligence than you two.

Please – get a clue.

George

[healey36]

My one and only time to Steubenville, I hit the True Value out on 43. They were well-stocked and helpful.

Our local Home Depot is a dump, the store frequently a mess and stuff randomly on the shelves everywhere. The local Lowes is far better (neat and clean), but recently seems to suffer fairly common items that are out-of-stock. HD and Lowes largely caters to the weekend wood-butcher, so packaging is often directed toward the small project and/or the housewife. There used to be at least a few folks in these stores that had some sense about them, but that seems no longer the case, especially in hardware and electrical.

Find the local hardware store - you might do better there if the owner isn't a small-business malcontent who thinks the world owes him a living.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Do they even stock #10 x 1.25” pan head screws???

Yes.....odd numbers in packaging.......designed solely to get you to buy 1 more package than you really wanted just to get the number to add up to what you really needed to begin with....and then have leftover parts that you probably never use.

[healey36]

Coincidentally, I picked up a pack of #4-40 x 1/2" pan head screws/nuts at Lowes yesterday (14 of each in the pack), along with a pack of metric M3-.50 metric pan head screws and a pack of hex nuts to fit (a dozen of each in each pack). I only needed one of each

The nearest Ace store is seven or eight miles up the road, and I would drive up there to support the guy except the last time I was in he was drastically short of help. Customers were largely left to find stuff for themselves, which is basically the service model of HD/Lowes.

[G3750]

Both Lowe's and Home Depot take turns pissing me off with their stupidities. It is, as they say, a "target-rich" environment.

I confess to being somewhat surprised the thread was pulled as I didn't insult any of their sacred advertisers.

George

[Rufus T. Firefly]

I confess to being somewhat surprised the thread was pulled as I didn't insult any of their sacred advertisers.

The arbitrary and inconsistent actions there have gone on forever despite the constant claims otherwise.

[J. S. Bach]

Here in my tiny little town of Chester, SC, we have three full-service hardware stores: Tru-Value, Ezell's (in continuous business since the late 1800s!), and Sam's (includes a lumberyard). I have shopped at all three; to get to Tru-Value, I have to pass right by Ezell's so they get most of my business. HD & L are at least twenty miles away.

[Chris Webster]

Home Depot's website will tell you the aisle and bin number where an item is located in your store. Try it.

[G3750]

Home Depot's website will tell you the aisle and bin number where an item is located in your store. Try it.

I do know that, thank you.

[jlong]

Look forward to seeing your open letter when and if Home Depot decides to re-brand discontinued MTH.

[J. S. Bach]

Look forward to seeing your open letter when and if Home Depot decides to re-brand discontinued MTH.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Home Depot's website will tell you the aisle and bin number where an item is located in your store. Try it.

I have and it's frequently not accurate as the stores every so often relocate entire sections.

Lowes does this as well; last time I used it they had the aisle correct but the bin number was incorrect; the item was in a location that needed a ladder..........and nobody from Lowes was remotely available to help. Place your products where customers cannot get to them.......

[Rufus T. Firefly]

So HD discontinues carrying thw MinWax brand and Lowes picks it up but only stocks 1/2 pint sizes..........when I need a quart.

And Amazon sells a quart for less delivered to my door. The concept of competition is lost.

[sarge]

HD and Lowes are old and arthritic. They are in the process of going the way of 84 and Hechingers.

I’ve had more than one conversation with the old guard at Lowes; seems millennials with computer algorithms in “The Office” dictate what is stocked anymore, and if Brandy says they aren’t to receive self tapping screws in order to make room for cute little window treatments, that is what will happen because the store itself doesn’t do its own ordering anymore. It’s all centralised using a pretty sketchy inventory system read remotely.

I hate having to go there. The ignorance is appalling and the corporate thought is to have names of items and location computerised so when you ask someone (the really dumb one you could corner because they can’t even skive off with some degree of competence) they crack out their phone, do a keyword search, and tell you what aisle. That way you don’t have to hire or retain someone who knows what spackle is let alone give you tips on how to get a good finish with it. All they need to do is be able to do a word-search on “spackle”, a skill any child can handle. That’s why you see nothing but lazy young failures working at Lowes.

When the last of the few remaining old school people are forced out, it’ll be nothing more than Walmart with sticks.

Thankfully, I have a lumber milling company with a True Value front end to it up the road, and a real High Street style hardware store run by old guys in the next town. They both report their business is booming, thanks to Lowes.

[robert.]

the home depot i go to will tell you to "use your cellphone to find an item". You can use their app to find what isle it is in. Then they want you to check your self out. If i'm going to do all that. I'll just buy it on amazon.
A few miles from me is a family owned hardware store. Finkle's in Lambertville NJ. They probably have been around for a 100+ years. They have a warehouse that sells metal, 2 row homes filled with lighting and electrical items, 2 row homes filled with plumbing/heating and a large storefront fill with everything you need. Take a number and tell them what you need. If they don't have it. It was never made. sometimes you get things from them in an old original box. Nice lithographed boxes with hardware in fish paper. The harder your item is to find. The older the guy is that finds it for you.