Tractor Supply Article

[daugen]

I went in yesterday to buy a rubber o ring for my Echo chain saw after all the chain oil leaked out all over a helper, due to someone unnamed, not me..., losing the rubber o-ring on the oem oil cap. I think Echo wanted seven dollars a piece or something utterly silly.
It took me asking for the manager, who was someone I had never seen before, almost like all the staff has changed in there, and he went back to hydraulics vs hardware where I was and came back with a bag of o rings 4 for 2.49. Bingo.
Just what I needed at just what I wanted to pay.

TSC remains one of my favorite stores, I just wish my local store had more staffers and more than one person who knew where
things were. It takes a while for new employees to know where things are in a store with tens of thousands of different sku's.
I used to own a Radio Shack and my five employees knew when times weren't busy, they were to straighten up, and study, study where everything was so they could lead a customer right to where they needed to be. And give them the chance to mention some specials on batteries or whatever on the way. A customer touch point where the customer was treated to good old fashioned
customer service and whose appreciation for which might guide them to an add on sale. My local Ace hardware was run exactly like
that too, and the guy just retired and no one would buy his business, no one wanted to compete with Lowes and Amazon.
The hardware store owner and I used to talk about this, we were dinosaurs.

And here I walk into my TSC store and am always greeted with a hello. They are sure trained on that.
Four years ago the staff was mostly women and they were good. Smart, knew where things were, and there usually was someone
standing at the customer service desk in the middle of the store. Now there is never anyone at that desk. Never.
So maybe this is just a local staffing issue. In a strong economy it is genuinely hard to get good help. And if that good help has gone elsewhere for higher pay due to labor demands, what is left for the retail segment aren't the sharpest knives in the drawer.

Would be interesting to hear from anyone if the staffing in your current TSC has changed a lot recently.
Do they have a lot of new employees?
That by itself could explain a lot of service issues.

 

[Diggin It]

I used to own a Radio Shack and my five employees knew when times weren't busy, they were to straighten up, and study, study where everything was so they could lead a customer right to where they needed to be. And give them the chance to mention some specials on batteries or whatever on the way.

Ahh, yes, Battery Shack. No matter what I ever went in for, even shrink tubing ... 'Do you need batteries with that?' 'Wanna join our battery club?' 'We got specials on batteries!' That was one of the main reasons I cut back on my trips there.

Would be interesting to hear from anyone if the staffing in your current TSC has changed a lot recently.
Do they have a lot of new employees?
That by itself could explain a lot of service issues.

If I'm going to any store enough to recognize employees, I'm going too much. They ain't social clubs.

 

[cqaigy2]

Our Canadian TSC had become a lost cause. Tractor stuff and hardware sections were eliminated and more camo slippers, toys and licensed clothing was the focus it seemed. Recently, I understand there was a corporate change of some kind, and I don't know if things improved. I rarely if ever go there anymore.

Same here, in Washington state. Looks to be more oriented to the hobby farm, i have nothing against hobby farms, as i resemble that. The poor kids there, in most cases, haven't been around farm or livestock, but seem to be able to point out where the cameo shirts, socks, gloves, phone cases, shoes, boots, pants, hats, shoe laces, did i miss something? :laughing:

 

[BlackOps]

diggin it - sorry you are a lug nut short. the point was that my car being totaled by someone i did not have a vehicle to just run down to tsc but had to arrange a vehicle but i did not want the last pair or two of welding gloves to be sold by the time i got in there sometime this week i kindly asked them to hold a pair for me. they refused. it was a first. girl could care less. THAT was the point and relevance to TSC - which stand for Tractor Supply Corporation for your information ( and to clarify it a bit more). Geezzzz.

 

[Diggin It]

^^ A few weeks ago, I was in the second closest store to me. Had only been there once before. I was wandering around the place aimlessly looking for something I could use for a project I was cobbling together. Didn't really matter what it was intended for, only what I was going to use it for. Found a widget that would be perfect. No tag on it. No price or SKU of any kind. No more hanging on the same peg, or any where near it. No shelf tags in the area that matched it. Flagged down someone who looked to be in a more senior type position, maybe an assistant manager. Explained the whole thing. She looked high and low and couldn't find anything similar. We agreed on a price of $10 and she made up a 'non-stock item' clearance price tag. Bear in mind, I'm new to tractor stuff and don't know what things are called. But I knew this widget was perfect for my needs even if I had to gut it and cut it a bit.

When I got home, I got curious and started hunting through their website. I found it was this: CountyLine Adjustable Leveling Arm at Tractor Supply Co. priced at $28.99

Even though I didn't know what it was at the time, there is no reason a person in that position should not have known and couldn't point me to the right section with the shelf tags.

 

[daugen]

Quote Originally Posted by daugen View Post
I used to own a Radio Shack and my five employees knew when times weren't busy, they were to straighten up, and study, study where everything was so they could lead a customer right to where they needed to be. And give them the chance to mention some specials on batteries or whatever on the way.
Ahh, yes, Battery Shack. No matter what I ever went in for, even shrink tubing ... 'Do you need batteries with that?' 'Wanna join our battery club?' 'We got specials on batteries!' That was one of the main reasons I cut back on my trips there.

you would have liked my store, I was an independent franchise, half RS and half any other electronics I could sell.
I had to honor the stupid battery club thing but we didn't push it. Sort of died out anyway, like green stamps.
instead of silver and glass, my shop was brown tweed carpeting on the floor, and real oak wall systems, though I had to utilize their
parts holders for those walls and walls of little component parts. Never totally understood what a thermistor or triac did but I sure knew how to walk you over to find one.

No, my guys might mention that we had just gotten in a new Panasonic or Motorola cell phone, one of the second gen tank like transportables you put on the seat of your truck. They had poor range but built almost to military spec, I never got one back for repair.
Back then they were in tight supply, even at 1600 each. But regardless of the product , you need folks knowledgeable about what's in the store and hopefully about the industry they work in.

At the moment my local TSC is not doing well at that. Looking around having owned a store
not that much different than TSC, just most parts are smaller...,
and I see lost revenue due to lack of staffing. Maybe they can't get help...
In my small city we only have TSC and Lowes, that's it.
So I'd really like TSC to thrive and improve.

I wonder what percentage of Hillman nuts and bolts are made in the US.
Also wonder if tariffs are going to drive up the price of my favorite high grade bolts.

 

[Industrial Toys]

They kind of had a "serious" busines counter in the rear of each store where some guy that knew a thing or two worked. Now they have a "Customer Service" desk up front with basically just another cashier.

Also saw some rotating type display, like you used to have for Timex watches, with some really fancy knives or something in there. More stuff I don't want or need.

When they have their clothing sales, they never, ever have had the size or color I wanted, and they never ever called you back if you had a rain check, like they said they would.

 

[Natureboy]

The thing with the bolt bins is that the employees are not supposed to do anything with them. There is supposed to be stocked and rearranged by their Hillman dealer. From what I was told, if they do much of anything with them they can get in trouble.

Aaron Z

Not so, Hillman delivers the boxes, employees stock the bins.

 

[Natureboy]

From what everybody is saying TSC is not the ideal store like the OPs article said. One more thing CNN didn't report correctly. Can they do anything right?

CNN, or do you mean FOX?

 

[paulfun9]

CNN, or do you mean FOX?

CNN for sure!
They have been making up things for a long time. Nothing new to those of us who have been there first hand and then seen how the report was twisted by them.