Buyer Beware - A rant

Old_Paint

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Lifetime Member

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LX2610SU, LA535 FEL w/54" bucket, LandPride BB1248, Woodland Mills WC-68
Dec 5, 2020
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AL
In this day and age of technology that should be able to minimize the stress and grief of buying a product, I find it's only gotten worse. Maybe it's more the selfish culture of the generations behind mine, that really don't care about the issues they cause for other people. I don't know the actual root of the cause, so don't want to point my finger at a particular person or store.

The big box stores that have put the little Ma and Pa shops out of business just really don't seem to care that they regularly have defective products on the shelf, and every customer that finds them thinks "It isn't my problem." as they put the defective item back where they found it, until finally, the entire collection of items that the next customer finds is defective, and the store won't order more because they show all those defective items in inventory. Obviously, they're measured on their losses against profit, and I can understand this to a point. But what about discounting items with minor damage so they will sell? This is particularly true in building materials stores where defective lumber or bumped/scratched/dented items get put back on the shelves. They simply don't purge their inventory of the defected materials. That's one side of the coin, that customers aren't nearly as helpful to the next customer by pulling items and giving them to the store clerks at checkout as perhaps we could be. Guilty of it myself, especially with lumber, but if I think it'll actually help to take a defective product up front and not buy it, I usually give it a try with small items that I find. Don't even get me started about bolt bins and specialty hardware. With lumber, you get to pay full price for an 8' 2x4 of which you may only be able to use 3 feet of it. And Mr. Big Box is quite happy to let you buy it that way, at full price. Or, he'll let you pay for a shorter board, which has the price built in for their cutting services. Not very fair to the customer. I remember getting culls for free at sawmills when I was a kid. Even if we couldn't use them for anything but stove wood, it was FREE if it was culled.

Mostly, because I know what Mr. Big Box is going to do with the item, I rarely bother trying to help him and his customers out. That makes me feel like a bad person, sometimes. He's gonna put it right back on the shelf. I'm not talking about items that I purchased and could not use, I'm talking about a product that could not be used before I bought it. DEFECTIVE, broken, or otherwise unusable for the purpose intended. I went in one big box store, purchased a toilet tank repair kit, not noticing it had been opened before I took it off the hook and until I got home with it. What a PITA, but the ONE part I needed desperately was missing, my toilet tank was disassembled, so I had to return it to finish the job I started because the part I needed was cracked and completely unusable to try to put it back in. I used a Sharpie, and marked the edge of it as missing that part in small letters on the edge of the back side of the card of the shrink pack. What I wrote was on the opposite side of the barcode side of the package, which is probably how the following happened. Lo and behold, the second toilet developed the same problem (probably because they're the same age), so I went to get another kit, same box store, same aisle, same bin. I pulled the front card off the rack, and thought, "Self, last time you did this it took two trips and a lot of aggravation at Customer Service to get it replaced." So, I flipped the card, and SURE ENOUGH, there's my scribble (I know my own handwriting) about the missing part, that I again needed. So, I got another off the rack, verified the part was in it and that the package was indeed unopened, and headed to the checkout with both. The cashier IMMEDIATELY rang up both and it took a bit of protesting to get her to take one back off. I had shown her my handwriting on the back of the package, and told her that I had found it back on the shelf, but, she didn't care. She told me I should have gone to Customer Service, despite me protesting that I got it off the shelf (again) that way. The only difference in the two packages was the writing on it that I'd put on there 3 weeks prior, and the still missing part. Customer service comes over to figure out the commotion and stopped line at the checkout. They didn't care. They put it in the returns basket, which means, and you probably guessed, it wound up BACK on the rack to be sold to someone else that might not look at the package and might not need the part that was missing. Just out of a curiosity, I went by that aisle just to check while I was there for other items, and there it was, front card again. For full price, of course. If full price sale is the policy, shouldn't I be able to expect unopened NEW merchandise that I'm about to pay for?

I can remember when small parts stores and hardware stores were very diligent about making sure the right parts were in the kits as well as very generous about marking down pricing on opened items. If you had to return one, it was a matter of get another off the shelf if you showed up with the original as purchased with a receipt and could verify all parts were back in the package. I know, that some people are dishonest enough to break or steal a component of a repair kit and then return it to get their money back. Unfortunately, that's the world we live in, but that problem could be mitigated by an exchange only policy if there's no proof that a store associate advised on the selection of the returned item. You know, you're the expert, you should know what you're buying, and the store should not be responsible. OR, if the seal of the package is broken, no return, period. But if a package is marked defective, or has duct tape all over it indicating it's been opened, shouldn't there be SOME discount or compensation? Sometimes, I'd be willing to buy "scratch n dent" packages, other times, NO, I want NEW. Shouldn't any package clearly marked as defective or short components be put in a place for disposal or return to manufacturer or a discount area? I've cut shrink-wrap off items and found them to be missing components and unusable, and that is clearly a manufacture's issue, or, maybe someone less honest with a shrink-wrap machine. It happens, I know.

These days, if I pick up a packaged item from a shelf in ANY big box store, the FIRST thing I do is inspect it CLOSELY to see if all seals are in place and if I see ANY evidence the item has been opened, back on the shelf it goes until I find one unopened. If an associate is near, I might point out that the package is opened and missing parts, but most of the time, I'm met with a blank stare, especially if the associate is a 20 something. I don't care if it was opened by a store associate or a curious potential buyer. I don't open packages. I make sure the package is supposed to contain what I need. If it does not when I get home with it, then that's my problem for making the wrong selection. My main reason for that behavior is that whether or not all the parts are there, it is now an opened item, and should therefore be discounted by management, and marked accordingly. I do my best not to add to the cost of items in places I shop (or anywhere else). Any item that is returned, whether opened or not, should by virtue of the fact it's left the store, be sold as a used item. That's the practice with cars. You drive a new car off the lot, you're not likely to get full purchase price back if you're gone more than 24 hours or put more than 10 miles on it. They might fix it at no charge if it's defective in anyway, but if you want a different car, you'll get used vehicle price for the one you want to return, and pay full price for another. The ONLY exception to this in history that I can remember was the Warranty program on Saturns. If you brought it back for a defect, regardless of what the defect was, you were allowed to just pick a new one off the lot and start over. THAT was service. But as it is, if I want new gutters, I have to sift through all the scratched and mishandled pieces for a long time to find items that are in the new condition I'm about to pay for. Give me a discount, I'll take some of the used/damaged materials off your hands and put them to use in places less noticeable. But making me pay full price for anything on the shelves will only make me picky about what I take off the shelf. Sometimes picky enough to go to a different Big Box store.


CLUNK! (me getting off my soap box)
 
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lynnmor

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Equipment
B2601-1
May 3, 2021
1,452
1,172
113
Red Lion
In this day and age of technology that should be able to minimize the stress and grief of buying a product, I find it's only gotten worse. Maybe it's more the selfish culture of the generations behind mine, that really don't care about the issues they cause for other people. I don't know the actual root of the cause, so don't want to point my finger at a particular person or store.

The big box stores that have put the little Ma and Pa shops out of business just really don't seem to care that they regularly have defective products on the shelf, and every customer that finds them thinks "It isn't my problem." as they put the defective item back where they found it, until finally, the entire collection of items that the next customer finds is defective, and the store won't order more because they show all those defective items in inventory. Obviously, they're measured on their losses against profit, and I can understand this to a point. But what about discounting items with minor damage so they will sell? This is particularly true in building materials stores where defective lumber or bumped/scratched/dented items get put back on the shelves. They simply don't purge their inventory of the defected materials. That's one side of the coin, that customers aren't nearly as helpful to the next customer by pulling items and giving them to the store clerks at checkout as perhaps we could be. Guilty of it myself, especially with lumber, but if I think it'll actually help to take a defective product up front and not buy it, I usually give it a try with small items that I find. Don't even get me started about bolt bins and specialty hardware. With lumber, you get to pay full price for an 8' 2x4 of which you may only be able to use 3 feet of it. And Mr. Big Box is quite happy to let you buy it that way, at full price. Or, he'll let you pay for a shorter board, which has the price built in for their cutting services. Not very fair to the customer. I remember getting culls for free at sawmills when I was a kid. Even if we couldn't use them for anything but stove wood, it was FREE if it was culled.

Mostly, because I know what Mr. Big Box is going to do with the item, I rarely bother trying to help him and his customers out. That makes me feel like a bad person, sometimes. He's gonna put it right back on the shelf. I'm not talking about items that I purchased and could not use, I'm talking about a product that could not be used before I bought it. DEFECTIVE, broken, or otherwise unusable for the purpose intended. I went in one big box store, purchased a toilet tank repair kit, not noticing it had been opened before I took it off the hook and until I got home with it. What a PITA, but the ONE part I needed desperately was missing, my toilet tank was disassembled, so I had to return it to finish the job I started because the part I needed was cracked and completely unusable to try to put it back in. I used a Sharpie, and marked the edge of it as missing that part in small letters on the edge of the back side of the card of the shrink pack. What I wrote was on the opposite side of the barcode side of the package, which is probably how the following happened. Lo and behold, the second toilet developed the same problem (probably because they're the same age), so I went to get another kit, same box store, same aisle, same bin. I pulled the front card off the rack, and thought, "Self, last time you did this it took two trips and a lot of aggravation at Customer Service to get it replaced." So, I flipped the card, and SURE ENOUGH, there's my scribble (I know my own handwriting) about the missing part, that I again needed. So, I got another off the rack, verified the part was in it and that the package was indeed unopened, and headed to the checkout with both. The cashier IMMEDIATELY rang up both and it took a bit of protesting to get her to take one back off. I had shown her my handwriting on the back of the package, and told her that I had found it back on the shelf, but, she didn't care. She told me I should have gone to Customer Service, despite me protesting that I got it off the shelf (again) that way. The only difference in the two packages was the writing on it that I'd put on there 3 weeks prior, and the still missing part. Customer service comes over to figure out the commotion and stopped line at the checkout. They didn't care. They put it in the returns basket, which means, and you probably guessed, it wound up BACK on the rack to be sold to someone else that might not look at the package and might not need the part that was missing. Just out of a curiosity, I went by that aisle just to check while I was there for other items, and there it was, front card again. For full price, of course. If full price sale is the policy, shouldn't I be able to expect unopened NEW merchandise that I'm about to pay for?

I can remember when small parts stores and hardware stores were very diligent about making sure the right parts were in the kits as well as very generous about marking down pricing on opened items. If you had to return one, it was a matter of get another off the shelf if you showed up with the original as purchased with a receipt and could verify all parts were back in the package. I know, that some people are dishonest enough to break or steal a component of a repair kit and then return it to get their money back. Unfortunately, that's the world we live in, but that problem could be mitigated by an exchange only policy if there's no proof that a store associate advised on the selection of the returned item. You know, you're the expert, you should know what you're buying, and the store should not be responsible. OR, if the seal of the package is broken, no return, period. But if a package is marked defective, or has duct tape all over it indicating it's been opened, shouldn't there be SOME discount or compensation? Sometimes, I'd be willing to buy "scratch n dent" packages, other times, NO, I want NEW. Shouldn't any package clearly marked as defective or short components be put in a place for disposal or return to manufacturer or a discount area? I've cut shrink-wrap off items and found them to be missing components and unusable, and that is clearly a manufacture's issue, or, maybe someone less honest with a shrink-wrap machine. It happens, I know.

These days, if I pick up a packaged item from a shelf in ANY big box store, the FIRST thing I do is inspect it CLOSELY to see if all seals are in place and if I see ANY evidence the item has been opened, back on the shelf it goes until I find one unopened. If an associate is near, I might point out that the package is opened and missing parts, but most of the time, I'm met with a blank stare, especially if the associate is a 20 something. I don't care if it was opened by a store associate or a curious potential buyer. I don't open packages. I make sure the package is supposed to contain what I need. If it does not when I get home with it, then that's my problem for making the wrong selection. My main reason for that behavior is that whether or not all the parts are there, it is now an opened item, and should therefore be discounted by management, and marked accordingly. I do my best not to add to the cost of items in places I shop (or anywhere else). Any item that is returned, whether opened or not, should by virtue of the fact it's left the store, be sold as a used item. That's the practice with cars. You drive a new car off the lot, you're not likely to get full purchase price back if you're gone more than 24 hours or put more than 10 miles on it. They might fix it at no charge if it's defective in anyway, but if you want a different car, you'll get used vehicle price for the one you want to return, and pay full price for another. The ONLY exception to this in history that I can remember was the Warranty program on Saturns. If you brought it back for a defect, regardless of what the defect was, you were allowed to just pick a new one off the lot and start over. THAT was service. But as it is, if I want new gutters, I have to sift through all the scratched and mishandled pieces for a long time to find items that are in the new condition I'm about to pay for. Give me a discount, I'll take some of the used/damaged materials off your hands and put them to use in places less noticeable. But making me pay full price for anything on the shelves will only make me picky about what I take off the shelf. Sometimes picky enough to go to a different Big Box store.


CLUNK! (me getting off my soap box)
To bring it back to Kubota, I bought a tractor, loader & backhoe, 5/3/21 and found a number of serious defects in the backhoe on first attempted use. It is now 9/3/21 and it ain't fixed yet. I asked for a refund after it was back at the dealership for over a month, that was denied. I brought it home so I could use it as is and to get it out of the sun, rain, extreme dust and hurricanes and told them to call when they have good parts. Second worse purchase decision of my life, second only to a piece of crap RV.
 
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ccoon520

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Equipment
L2501 w/ FEL
Apr 15, 2019
360
109
43
IA
Walmart was founded in 1962, macy's in 1858, sears in 1893, Home Depot in 1978, Lowe's in 1921, Menards in 1960. These companies are all at least 40 years old and are the Big Box Stores that you are describing I honestly can't think of any that are much newer. You don't go to a Walmart or Menards and expect any quality help. You go there when you know what you need, you're only using it once, and you want it as cheap as possible.

As a note I have no issue finding Mom and Pop shops to buy things from that I want to be quality. All of my Stihl equipment is from a mom and pop shop, my kubota and implements are from a mom and pop dealership. If you want to support local look for it. They often don't have websites but are in the yellow pages (even the online one). I even found a mom and pop shop for bathroom renovations and one that sells TVs and appliances. All of them I frequent have well trained staff and can help you if you need it.

If you want to go buy a quality trimmer it isn't going to cost 50 bucks like it did in the 60s because of inflation but you can get a quality stihl, husky, echo, etc. for 300 (which as a bonus 50 bucks in 1960 would be 450 today so in reality it is cheaper) from a mom and pop establishment that will help you pick one that fits your needs. If you don't like big box stores don't go to them. There are plenty of alternatives if you look for them and are willing to pay the low volume good service fee (except maybe groceries there you might have some difficulty).
 
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Henro

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Equipment
B2910, BX2200, KX41-2V mini Ex., Beer fridge
May 24, 2019
5,803
2,994
113
North of Pittsburgh PA
In this day and age of technology that should be able to minimize the stress and grief of buying a product, I find it's only gotten worse. Maybe it's more the selfish culture of the generations behind mine, that really don't care about the issues they cause for other people. I don't know the actual root of the cause, so don't want to point my finger at a particular person or store.

The big box stores that have put the little Ma and Pa shops out of business just really don't seem to care that they regularly have defective products on the shelf, and every customer that finds them thinks "It isn't my problem." as they put the defective item back where they found it, until finally, the entire collection of items that the next customer finds is defective, and the store won't order more because they show all those defective items in inventory. Obviously, they're measured on their losses against profit, and I can understand this to a point. But what about discounting items with minor damage so they will sell? This is particularly true in building materials stores where defective lumber or bumped/scratched/dented items get put back on the shelves. They simply don't purge their inventory of the defected materials. That's one side of the coin, that customers aren't nearly as helpful to the next customer by pulling items and giving them to the store clerks at checkout as perhaps we could be. Guilty of it myself, especially with lumber, but if I think it'll actually help to take a defective product up front and not buy it, I usually give it a try with small items that I find. Don't even get me started about bolt bins and specialty hardware. With lumber, you get to pay full price for an 8' 2x4 of which you may only be able to use 3 feet of it. And Mr. Big Box is quite happy to let you buy it that way, at full price. Or, he'll let you pay for a shorter board, which has the price built in for their cutting services. Not very fair to the customer. I remember getting culls for free at sawmills when I was a kid. Even if we couldn't use them for anything but stove wood, it was FREE if it was culled.

Mostly, because I know what Mr. Big Box is going to do with the item, I rarely bother trying to help him and his customers out. That makes me feel like a bad person, sometimes. He's gonna put it right back on the shelf. I'm not talking about items that I purchased and could not use, I'm talking about a product that could not be used before I bought it. DEFECTIVE, broken, or otherwise unusable for the purpose intended. I went in one big box store, purchased a toilet tank repair kit, not noticing it had been opened before I took it off the hook and until I got home with it. What a PITA, but the ONE part I needed desperately was missing, my toilet tank was disassembled, so I had to return it to finish the job I started because the part I needed was cracked and completely unusable to try to put it back in. I used a Sharpie, and marked the edge of it as missing that part in small letters on the edge of the back side of the card of the shrink pack. What I wrote was on the opposite side of the barcode side of the package, which is probably how the following happened. Lo and behold, the second toilet developed the same problem (probably because they're the same age), so I went to get another kit, same box store, same aisle, same bin. I pulled the front card off the rack, and thought, "Self, last time you did this it took two trips and a lot of aggravation at Customer Service to get it replaced." So, I flipped the card, and SURE ENOUGH, there's my scribble (I know my own handwriting) about the missing part, that I again needed. So, I got another off the rack, verified the part was in it and that the package was indeed unopened, and headed to the checkout with both. The cashier IMMEDIATELY rang up both and it took a bit of protesting to get her to take one back off. I had shown her my handwriting on the back of the package, and told her that I had found it back on the shelf, but, she didn't care. She told me I should have gone to Customer Service, despite me protesting that I got it off the shelf (again) that way. The only difference in the two packages was the writing on it that I'd put on there 3 weeks prior, and the still missing part. Customer service comes over to figure out the commotion and stopped line at the checkout. They didn't care. They put it in the returns basket, which means, and you probably guessed, it wound up BACK on the rack to be sold to someone else that might not look at the package and might not need the part that was missing. Just out of a curiosity, I went by that aisle just to check while I was there for other items, and there it was, front card again. For full price, of course. If full price sale is the policy, shouldn't I be able to expect unopened NEW merchandise that I'm about to pay for?

I can remember when small parts stores and hardware stores were very diligent about making sure the right parts were in the kits as well as very generous about marking down pricing on opened items. If you had to return one, it was a matter of get another off the shelf if you showed up with the original as purchased with a receipt and could verify all parts were back in the package. I know, that some people are dishonest enough to break or steal a component of a repair kit and then return it to get their money back. Unfortunately, that's the world we live in, but that problem could be mitigated by an exchange only policy if there's no proof that a store associate advised on the selection of the returned item. You know, you're the expert, you should know what you're buying, and the store should not be responsible. OR, if the seal of the package is broken, no return, period. But if a package is marked defective, or has duct tape all over it indicating it's been opened, shouldn't there be SOME discount or compensation? Sometimes, I'd be willing to buy "scratch n dent" packages, other times, NO, I want NEW. Shouldn't any package clearly marked as defective or short components be put in a place for disposal or return to manufacturer or a discount area? I've cut shrink-wrap off items and found them to be missing components and unusable, and that is clearly a manufacture's issue, or, maybe someone less honest with a shrink-wrap machine. It happens, I know.

These days, if I pick up a packaged item from a shelf in ANY big box store, the FIRST thing I do is inspect it CLOSELY to see if all seals are in place and if I see ANY evidence the item has been opened, back on the shelf it goes until I find one unopened. If an associate is near, I might point out that the package is opened and missing parts, but most of the time, I'm met with a blank stare, especially if the associate is a 20 something. I don't care if it was opened by a store associate or a curious potential buyer. I don't open packages. I make sure the package is supposed to contain what I need. If it does not when I get home with it, then that's my problem for making the wrong selection. My main reason for that behavior is that whether or not all the parts are there, it is now an opened item, and should therefore be discounted by management, and marked accordingly. I do my best not to add to the cost of items in places I shop (or anywhere else). Any item that is returned, whether opened or not, should by virtue of the fact it's left the store, be sold as a used item. That's the practice with cars. You drive a new car off the lot, you're not likely to get full purchase price back if you're gone more than 24 hours or put more than 10 miles on it. They might fix it at no charge if it's defective in anyway, but if you want a different car, you'll get used vehicle price for the one you want to return, and pay full price for another. The ONLY exception to this in history that I can remember was the Warranty program on Saturns. If you brought it back for a defect, regardless of what the defect was, you were allowed to just pick a new one off the lot and start over. THAT was service. But as it is, if I want new gutters, I have to sift through all the scratched and mishandled pieces for a long time to find items that are in the new condition I'm about to pay for. Give me a discount, I'll take some of the used/damaged materials off your hands and put them to use in places less noticeable. But making me pay full price for anything on the shelves will only make me picky about what I take off the shelf. Sometimes picky enough to go to a different Big Box store.


CLUNK! (me getting off my soap box)
That's a rant to be proud of! (y)
 
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PaulR

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Equipment
BX 23S -- 100 hours seat time so far
Aug 3, 2020
581
460
63
Hadley, MA
Meh.
6/10
Very high marks for length and detail, but then you went on too long, you should have condensed it, and please shorter paragraphs next time too, thanks.

Topic was pretty good, although to most all of us, nothing new. We all know to go into these big box stores with ZERO anticipation of any service or quality of items.

I hear you though. Just yesterday I grabbed a handful of 3/8's bolts out if the bin for the Hammock project, sifted through them and found almost half to be 5/16's. That woulda really pissed me off.

Here's another one from two days ago as well:

Went in the lawn entrance to buy 12 bags of Milorganite. Not a damn flat cart to be found anywhere around. Instead of walking to Istanbul and back, I said screw it I'll use a regular basket cart. loaded everywhich way I could 500 lbs of milo onto this shopping cart, lugged it towards the lawn checkout, a few bags falling off, had to restack them, people staring at me, get about 20 feet from the checkout, 6:30PM they just closed the door and turned off those checkout lights....so now I have to lug this unstable heaping load of fertilizer all the way across the store to the regular checkout................screw that!!.......I left the whole damn cart right there in the middle of the aisle and walked out. 🤬
 
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xrocketengineer

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Lifetime Member

Equipment
BX1880, FEL, Grapple, 36 in. Forks, 48in. MMM, Quick Spade, Ripper
Nov 14, 2020
754
650
93
Merritt Island, Florida
You are right. Some years ago, I ended up buying a Magic Chef microwave oven from Home Depot. When I opened it at home, I realized it had been returned. It was still dirty with food residue inside. I repackaged and returned it. Stupid me, got another one. This time it was brand new, however it took me too long to realize what a piece of crap it was so I could not return it. To this day I am looking forward for it to break so I can buy a Panasonic. But these days, I am afraid that the quality of these type of appliances are probably down the toilet on all brands.
 
D

Deleted member 47704

Guest
I miss the old hardware store in town. I went in to by some parts for some old plumbing, couldn't find it anywhere else. They had it. They had a box of them on the shelf since the 50s or 60s, the price written on the box was 25 cents. Bought 2 and they charged 50 cents.
They closed a long time ago and an ACE opened up, they aren't bad. But really can't help with metric stainless socket head cap screws.:unsure:
 

lugbolt

Well-known member

Equipment
ZG127S-54
Oct 15, 2015
5,248
1,924
113
Mid, South, USA
One word.

Corporate.

bigger stores don't give a half a crap about you, me, or any other customer, and they certainly don't care about the employees. Working a corporate job means you are a number, and not much more. The company that I spent almost 30 years with (mom and pop shop) got bought out by an investment company that had a bunch of other stores. It took less than one month to realize that I hate the corporate atmosphere. It's all about numbers. Upper management doesn't have the time to scrutiinze each individual store or what they do, they rely on the numbers and nothing more. And we all know that numbers are very easily manipulated, which I learned quickly when corporate took over. I stayed there 2 1/2 years and hated all but the first couple days and a few days in between. I noticed a lot of things some ow which were already talked about above. Something else I saw, the customer is not number one anymore--the dollar is. The customer spends the dollar, and the company is grateful. However, when the customer isn't happy about paying a little more than the mom-and-pop shop across town, so long, tough, we don't care, we are not going to discount it to compete because corporate will tear us a new one if those numbers are down.

Same for me (in the service dept). In our case (shop maggots grease monkeys whatever you call us), the old boss watched the numbers but his overhead was MUCH lower than "corporate" overhead. One store vs many. The old place had a $80k/mo budget. New place was consistently losing money at $121,000/mo. So with that in mind the only ways to get back into the white are to raise the prices of goods and services, reduce overhead, or work your folks harder. So us shop guys had to work more hours, and we were asked to work faster and faster and focus less on trying to help the customer and more on hurrying up on that job so you can move to the next one.

THAT is why I shop local.

Overhead is much much higher with corporate stores. Mom and pop stores can keep pricing roughly the same but the problem is volume. Everybody knows where the 250,000 sq/ft Home Depot is, but not many people ever heard of Cartright's lumber and hardware nor do they know where it's at. But at Cartright's the service is a thousand times better.

There's two local places here that compete with TSC and Attwood's and I shop at the local places. They have better stuff, better faces, better service, just a better place overall. And-they have much much more made in the USA stuff than either TSC or Attwood's does. TSC is majority Chinese goods.
 
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B737

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Lifetime Member

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LX3310
Jun 9, 2019
2,024
2,200
113
USA
Much like air travel, this environment was created by the consumer, us. People want cheap.
We can't complain about something we asked for, making sausage.

I second @PaulR, rant needs to be condensed, skimmed it.
(edit, i shorted my own rant)
 
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OrangeKrush

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I was 2-3 Chapters in and give up.. 😊
 
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DustyRusty

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I said the same thing about paying for an implement and waiting 6 moths before it will ship, and was crucified by some. Doesn't matter what the item is, or the vendor is, once they get you hooked, they can do what they want, and the sheep will follow. Look at the EA thread, it is probably 40 pages now, but people continue to send them money, based on a promise to deliver in 6 months. I wonder what these people will do if the company were to go belly up? Your credit card company isn't going to protect you, because it isn't their problem that you agreed to their terms of sale.
 
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Bmyers

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I think the general compliant can be summarized with poor customer service. Across most industries, customer service has taken a back seat to price and profit.

Customers like low price, companies like higher profits, something had to give, so out went decent customer service, which includes insuring quality products are available, knowledgeable staff, enough staff, and the ability to deal with issues post sale.

I'm just as guilty as the rest, I like low prices so I have help create the current environment not realizing at the time what I would be giving up.
 
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JimmyJazz

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Mr. Big Box Store is now being challenged by Amazon where there are no employees to interact with. Just some reviews and ratings. Strip malls, malls, Mr. Big Box and retailers in general are all facing possible extinction. Who benefits? Some would argue the consumer. Variety, ease of finding items, price, convenience of not having to get off of your butt. When I first started driving gas stations were converting from full service where an attendant would pump your gas ,check your oil and tire air pressure, to self serve. At the time I thought self service where people could fill up and leave without paying was doomed (don't ask). Last month Amazon opened a 1.5 BILLION dollar fulfillment facility in Kentucky. This IS the future like it or not.
 
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Old_Paint

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Meh.
6/10
Very high marks for length and detail, but then you went on too long, you should have condensed it, and please shorter paragraphs next time too, thanks.
Well, I did label it a rant in the topic. :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO: :ROFLMAO:

Once I get up on my soap box, I tend to stay there for a while. It hurts too much getting up and down at my age.
 
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Old_Paint

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Yeah, customer service is certainly a part of it. But is that because of the employees? No, not always, I don't think, other than their lack of training on things they have no clue about. Most of the associates in Lowe's/Home Depot tend to be retirees from other lines of work. A former boss of mine for many years actually worked in one of the Lowe's I frequent. Was kinda strange having him wait on me instead of telling me what to do.

I rarely need customer service when I go in one of those places (unless it's to return something that was broken), and my primary reason for going there is not having to make several stops (or trips) to get what I need. If I go after lumber, I can also get a left-handed waffle turner while I'm there, and not have to go to another place pulling a 16 foot trailer into small tight parking places.

Those big stores wiped out all the small businesses around here. If you're lucky enough to have a private store survive that wave, I'm happy for you. But, finding someone besides a big-box store that sells building materials at a competitive price is like pulling chicken teeth. Very hard to do.

As for the corporate greed issue, you're preaching to the choir. That soap box is entirely to high for me to climb up on today.
 
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RCW

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I said the same thing about paying for an implement and waiting 6 moths before it will ship, and was crucified by some.
Dusty - - I agree. I haven't done business with EA, nor need to.

I think part of that is the web-based consumerism we've taken for granted now. Like the others here said.

We ordered a couch from a brick-and-mortar, locally-owned furniture store late-March. I got to sit on the same couch, but we (my wife) wanted different fabric.

6 month lead time; 6 weeks was the norm for a similar order pre-COVID. Factory is NC, if I recall correctly.

We chose to put down a 50% deposit. Probably 10% would have worked.

I paid the nice lady at the register after she wrote out the ticket, by hand. Balance due upon (satisfactory) delivery, paid to their driver.

Not that I'd like it, but I would be more apt to pay a "local guy" 100% with a 6-month lead, but not sure I'd have the same opinion for a "website."

My take is illogical, in that "local guy" could go under too. But in our rural area, I usually know who that local guy is...and where he lives.... ;)

Can't say the same thing for a website.
 
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OrangeKrush

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You know I just have to ask.. being kind of a city folk! Why would you be pulling chicken teeth in the first place? Did the chicken some how communicate they had a toothache??
Yeah I'm still interested in the thread!
 
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Ikc1990

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Well it's a lot of scrolling wish I could read lmao jk I agree and shop local more than anything they put a big walmart bout 10 min from work, or 40 min from home. I've been 2 x. But that's in like 7 years. Not much in it I cant get any where local.
 

DustyRusty

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Wife buys groceries locally, but also has to go to Walmart for some things that the local store doesn't carry. She likes their 12 grain bread, and for the last month they have been out every time she goes shopping there. There is no shortage of grains, and bread is made by machines, baked by a machine that moves them through the oven, and packaged by machine. Why would they be out of bread? The whole store looks like it is going under. An employee told me that the managers are under pressure to increase profits, and for the life of me, I can't see how they can increase profits, unless they have the merchandise to sell. The world is going to hell in a hand basket!
 
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