Please tell me the pro desk knows when I ask for backer rod what I'm asking for?

Nope. Sent me to the aisle with nothing of the kind.

So my request is, when you build your big box, please organize it the same each time.

Easier for your consumer..,,,,,

That is today's rant brought to you by the irritated shopper in aisle 5!!

**update**

Asked at another desk and both associates blank on what I'm asking for.

However another shopper says "aisle 3!"

Problem solved now let me go to self checkout, will save that trend for another rant!

That company took 7 years of my life I will never get back. They have a simple motto. If it is stupid we will do it. The more incompetent you are the better your chances of being promoted.

Hardware cloth is either in the garden section or the roofing section, so when i go to buy some it is a 50/50 shot if i am at the correct end of the store, since every store is set up different

lol I here ya! They keep changing it! I needed some weather stripping for my horse trailer. 1st one had a puzzled look on there face. Sent me on a tour of the store. 2nd one sent me to building materials. 3rd to the pro desk where know one was. 4th actually got it right. It was not by the doors it was in hardware! Who needs to run or jog for exersize just go to Lowes and ask for weather stripping. lol

I support local businesses...........

If those of you that have to put up with Lowes and Home Depot ever get a Menards store in your area, you will think that you've died and gone to retail heaven.

I really don't care if this company was started by a jerk. He employs local people that you recognize and know. On those few occasions where they don't meet or beat competitors prices, I let them know. Amazing how much room there is to deal. ( Just like Rick Federation pointed out )

Just like Vinke pointed out; I support local businesses. But I also expect them to support me. ( And since we have very few people that can read Spanish, one of our two Lowes stores is about to become a Walmart.)

Went to a Menard's store out of our area, knowing they were coming to St. Louis and wanting to check them out.
They pushed the store account on us, and told us it would just take a few minutes (We were on vacation and the dogs were impatiently waiting in the truck).
About 25 minutes later, after giving them my life story, I walked out of there wondering what "a few minutes" means to some people.

By store account, do you mean their Big Card? And why would they do that since you were out of your area? One of the reasons I like Menards is that they get you checked out in a hurry. That stupid store is making me look bad.

Lowe's came and went in our area. Home Cheapo opened a store across the street from Menards in Forest Lake. They do have a couple of product's Menards doesn't have. To quote my brother, "you might save a couple of pennies, but you will spend more time looking for what you want. Go to Menard's and it's right where you would think it would be, every time!"
Dave, maybe the account pusher's weren't very efficient, wait six month's after they open to get people trained. I think you will like it. They seem to train their people pretty well.

My first stop is usually the local True Value. The people working there know what they know, what they don't and who to send me to to find out.
Like Rick F said, some things are better obtained through direct sources. When buying welded wire/hardware cloth in bulk I go through Klubertanz.
I drive past Lowes and HD both to get to Menards.

It has been my experience that all three of the big box stores (Lowes, Home Depot, Menards) are the same when it comes to lack of customer service.

I choose Menards over the other two in most cases because they are Wisconsin owned. Home Depot carries some items I can't get at the other stores. But like Tom stated earlier, it seems the small local True Value usually has staff who know where things are but are also usually the highest priced.

I was at Gander Mountain in Milwaukee the other day looking at some items and an employee was on the phone with a customer who was looking for some trapping items. I thought it was funny the employee not only didn't know what item he wanted (110 conibear)but also didn't even know if they carried them. I ended up telling the employee that they did not carry them at that location and told him what two closest locations did carry them. Then the employee asked if I worked there?

Just a follow up to some of the comments, I too agree if I can buy from a larger supplier or direct, I do so, but I can't imagine anyone doesn't occasionally find themselves having to drop by and grab something of this nature. I rarely need some of these items, but things come up with weird structures or issues that I need them for and there are big box stores everywhere so I hit them up.

In smaller towns the ACE folks are usually the standard and though I've bought from them and do agree they tend to know where things are and are more knowledgeable, the price to help the "little guy" is a tough sale for me.

Friends of ours years ago when my wife and I were in our first jobs and trying to pay down college debt and start planning for life, used to give us grief (in a friendly way) about buying groceries at Wal-Mart rather than the small stores. I have the same issue there and still do, if I go to smith's, albertson's or other small chains things better be on sale or I'm not shopping. Their local flyers draw us in for deals on certain things, meat, produce etc... however at full price I simply can't buy at the small store and not feel like I'm getting hammered.

Its one thing to support the little guy, but quite the other to just be paying more for the same product. I think its wonderful if folks want to do that and help but heck, I don't think too many folks have a pile of cash sitting around just for a charity of this kind.

I guess I should also say that I realize every store has some good folks and all chains are bound to have employees (they need so many of them) that are undertrained, under concerned or other factors that lead to a bad shopping experience.

Lately my real frustration is heading toward the idea that the price of products isn't dropping but I can walk into a big box store including wal mart on busy days of the week and see only 2 lanes open and one you will be checking your own groceries like you wanted to work there!

While in Scottsdale there was a grocery store we stopped at during the conference that had some unique offerings, and the interesting part, all the checkout lanes were self check, not a one has a person running it. They do have one guy who overseas the 10 lanes, but folks were in there, it was busy and everyone knew (except us) that self check was the standard.

I'd prefer that to making me think I'm walking into a mecca and will be assisted and finding that I'll be checking myself out after I pile up a bunch of awkward sized items, especially at the hardware!

Ok, rant day 2 over!



Good thoughts by everyone....

Justin

Justin I hear you on the price difference between Walmart and Albertsons, I worked with a bunch of union goons for years that would not step foot in Walmart because they were so hard core union. I kept telling them that Al's was 100-200% percent higher on groceries, and they didn't care they were going to shop union. As for Ace they do have a good selection and fairly knowledgeable people but oh the prices, now for me as a homeowner Ace is one mile away and Lowes and Depot are 11 miles, most of the time a 2 mile round trip beats a 22 mile round trip every time just in gas savings. And I will not use a self-check lane, just part of my anti-technology protest. Our Walmart is on their second attempt at them, the first time failed because they just didn't work, now they have two people stationed full time to watch over them, why not just have attended lanes?

As long as it's okay to rant, who do you suppose was the complete moron who came up with term "hardware cloth". "Yes, sir, you can find that in our hardware section, which is over there, or our cloth section which is over there."

I am thinking about having a bar code tattooed on my wife's neck so I can find her when we're shopping. "Clerk, can I borrow your scanner for a second?"

I hear ya! Or when they say, "I can take you over here sir," when again, they could just be manning whole aisles.

I am quite sure the folks running grocery store and big box chains know the answer and are hoping it achieves some financial balance.

I will admit if I've got two items I might jump into those diy lanes, but usually theres someone trying to figure out how to punch in or weigh their produce or some random thing they don't teach us as customers!

I do buy from ACE if its local to the small town and I'm too far from big box land and just need something quick.

Paul,

I think they could rename a bunch of things!

I read a very interesting book on WallyWorld and its effect on so many parts of American life (some good, mostly bad). We know of good people who work at various WM's and hate it.
Our WM had self checkouts for about two months, took 'em out (people were using them as a way to shoplift). Now they're going back in after about six years - all inside a corral: one way in, one way out.

I do appreciate self-checkouts in the grocery store. I swear that some of these people have more coupons than they have purchases. And then they're digging around in the purse for the exact change and the whole thing falls on the floor.

I can scan a bottle of whiskey, ( make that a cup of coffee ) pay with my credit card, jump in my Transit Connect, and be on my way, before they find their coupons.

I understand shopping the box stores and do it occasionally. Trade offs both ways. My time is valuable and I absolutely hate wasting it wandering acres of floor space in the box stores. Then there is the limited packaging. If I need 100 screws/nails/whatever, I don't want to have to buy 20 boxes of 5. Local TV has bulk hardware and is only a mile over the hill from home.

Self checkout at the grocery with one or two items is one thing but really a pain at the Home Depot and bilk(yeah a typo, but it could fit) purchase.

My animosity towards the box stores may be due to 38 years with regional grocer. ( been very good to me) Midwesterners can probably guess which one from my screen name.

Kind of off subject, but I hope you're not buying large quantities of backer rod from box stores. That would be really expensive. I buy from Kenseal. They have sizes from 1/2" to 4" in diameter. I use sizes from 7/8" to 1 1/2". A roll of around 500ft runs less than 30 bucks. Kenseal has about a dozen locations along the east coast from NC to Maine and they do ship products. I'm sure there are other companies that sell backer rod, but Kenseal is the closest one to me so that's who I use.
As long as we're talking about buying smart, if you're using lots of hardware cloth it would do you some good to consider buying in bulk from a wholesaler. I use a company out of TX, and even after freight charges it's still less than 1/2 of what I'd pay for the same product at a big box store, since that's the same place they buy it. I go through an average of 1000-1200 linear feet per year, so that saves me around $700/yr by buying direct. I get a mixed pallet full, with 100ft rolls varying from 24" to 48". I usually have them include a 36" wide roll of PVC coated 1/2" for deck exclusions, and that normally lasts a couple years since I don't do a lot of decks. They have more than just hardware cloth, and I ended up having to buy a 100ft roll of 1/3" stainless screening for a solar panel bird exclusion project on the oceanfront. Couldn't convince the customer that the PVC coated would work just fine in salt air, so I got the stainless. I have been using the rest of this huge roll for retrofitting powered attic fan screens to keep critters out. It's wicked strong, and after it's cut the cut edge is as sharp as scalpel blades so it's tough to work with unless using good leather gloves. But it's perfect for keeping any critters from using the attic fan for entry.
I'm not normally a fan of stockpiling supplies, preferring to buy as needed, but when it comes to saving a lot of money, it's worth making room in the warehouse.

Kevin, please tell me that you have help doing all of this or you're going to make me feel like a slacker.