how come staff at box stores know nothing baout their products?!?!?!

[2LaneCruzer]

I have had similar experiences in the paint department at Lowe's and Home Depot. It finally dawned on me that if I wanted something that was out of the ordinary, i.e. help with stain vs. paint for concrete; special color mixes, penetrating finish vs. surface finishes, I would have to go to a dedicated paint store. I went to Sherman Williams, and the little gal there, maybe 25 years old, took a sample of my concrete patio paint and matched it pretty darn exactly to a special color mix for my deck. I painted for a living when I was in college, so I had a fair talking knowledge of the subect...I talked to her for a few minutes, and she really seemed to know what she was doing.

 

[Soundguy]

I might point out that Home Depot and Lowes both advertise about their experts in all departments...Heck, HD even has their Mascot Homer...I have run into the same thing Chris is posting about...especially when we were building our house...Even the folks at the contractors desk knew very little with the exception of one fella that was a former builder.

yep. walmart or dollar general? I expect them to not e experts in their department. with the excepion of the lube/tire people. i kinda want the guy putting tires onmy truck to actually know how to run the equipment.. at least on the ballancer.. ... and the person in the pharmacy. I want them to know their job too. you know. the lil thing.s

 

[Soundguy]

I have had similar experiences in the paint department at Lowe's and Home Depot. It finally dawned on me that if I wanted something that was out of the ordinary, i.e. help with stain vs. paint for concrete; special color mixes, penetrating finish vs. surface finishes, I would have to go to a dedicated paint store. I went to Sherman Williams, and the little gal there, maybe 25 years old, took a sample of my concrete patio paint and matched it pretty darn exactly to a special color mix for my deck. I painted for a living when I was in college, so I had a fair talking knowledge of the subect...I talked to her for a few minutes, and she really seemed to know what she was doing.

it's nice to find someone who knows their job. what a concept!

 

[Scooby074]

ahh.. i get your point. a specialy store. like if I had had an actaul 'plumbing supply' store to walk into.

Yeah.. hopefully.. they would have known. Wish I had one of those near me..

You dont have a plumbing supply house in your area? Where do your pro plumbers get their stuff? Dont tell me Home Depot

 

[Scooby074]

Funny story since were talking about incompetience.

Up here we have Canadian Tire. Think Canadian Wal Mart + tools and auto parts. Well they are notorious for following a script when you ask for a part. Basically questions pop up on their screen, which they read, and you answer. Things completely unrelated to the part requested, like engine size or if it has AC when your asking for a headlight! Its like dell customer support. Its an ongoing joke between me and my buddies.

Well anyways, the point is, they used to have GOOD staff, ones that could think and suggest and not ask those stupid unrelated questions despite what the computer was prompting them to do. They all left because crappy tire didnt want to pay them for their skills. Now they are replaced by no-nothing teeny-boppers who spend most of their shift trying to hit on their female co-workers

You get what you pay for, crappy tire chose to NOT pay for skilled employees at the Auto Parts section, so they got idiot script readers. The skilled employees have moved on to bigger and better things.

By the way, I buy all my parts at the small independent parts house down the road who knows their business and only visit CT for after hours emergency stuff (dreading every second) , its just not worth the frustration and usually CT costs more!

 

[DFB]

it's a box store.. not a 'spray ityourself' pest control sales place.

these ar ethe same people that offer clinics on the weekends on how to build things. roofing.. lighting/electrical.. put in a playground. etc. same as home depot.

you'd THINK they might hire someone who knew what all the shiney parts on the wall were for?

I can sure tell you in my job.. if I didn't know what all the neat boxes with lights and slider and buttons did.. or where any of the cables went.. and just waited for other to know what to do with them. i'd be in a bread line!

Don't take my joking around wrong but I believe it is what you get. What is a box store? Just a move it in...move it out volume purchasing warehouse. And they're usually never part of the community. Except for wages all the profits go back to corporate and usually towns and cities are so desperate to get a few jobs there are huge tax breaks negotiated in trade. I'm no big fan of big box sorry to say. Maybe they are more popular in other parts of the country but I do contracting work, my buddy is Mass licensed GC and we do our best to keep the lonely remaining lumber yard/hardware store within 20 miles of most of our jobs in business. They are fully competitive and highly knowledgeable. The lumber is so much better plus they deliver twice a day. We would lose so much time going do it yourself its ridiculous. I also get my plumbing at a specialty plumbing supply house. Just don't get the discount if its not on a licensed plumbers account.

My boss at the greenhouse made me go to a big box to get patio blocks even though there is stone and masonry supply next to the greenhouse BUT CHEAPER PRICE PREVAILED. Took me all day to drive to the big box watch them make a major production out of getting 100 patio blocks...really who stores them three shelves high anyways Plus I had load and unload all of them by hand Cant figure how we saved money with my wages, lost time and fuel all being considered

I know two professionals who worked there for a while one was an apprenticing electrician (in fact the kid that helped me wire my new home) and the other was an out of work building contractor. The electrician kid tried to steer folks to the better quality products at HD but people buy what they want and they go there because there is almost always a choice. READ CHEAP. Pretty much the same with the lumber my buddy would always recommended laminated plywood and high grade shingles its tough living around here. But they always bought chipboard and the cheapest shingles. I wont even discuss their vinyl siding lol!

And if you think some of tractor supply sales staff around here is any different

I'd like to ask what do most here folks think a knowledgeable staff should get paid these days? 2 bucks over min? A 40 hour paycheck and still be considered below poverty level for a family of four?

Obviously wages and jobs are a major concern across America. Its in the news every single day.

Its also been said young entry level workers today do seem to feel they have sense of entitlement.

 

[Soundguy]

You dont have a plumbing supply house in your area? Where do your pro plumbers get their stuff? Dont tell me Home Depot

there is a large and i do mean large waterworks store 2 cities up and 2 cities down from me... mostly a wholesaler. I don't know if they do retail or not. the large road contractors use them for suppliers.

the average well digger and small time plumbers.. you guess it. 6am you see them at lowes and home depot ( we have both near each other ).

i know lowes sells 'contractor pack' plumbing fittings.

IE.. the elbows, connectors, unions..e tc. you can get in bags of 25 at a time. and in fact. that fauced cup ring and spring kit. you can get in a 25 pair pack too.

so yeah. lots of builders and workers are going to lowes and home depot in my area. roofers too. saw a roofer laoding up OSB while i was getting my stuff last night.

eectric supply is the same way. we actually have a small mom n pop electric supply shop near my work. open 8-3 mon-thur.. and has about 10 things onthe shelf and some wire spools in the back.. plus some MH poles. in fact. most of the stuff in his store is MH/RV electric fixtures..e tc. not sure how he stays open. all the packages look liek they are fromt he 70's and 80s and are dusty. must be a front for drugs or something

 

[Soundguy]

i surely don't disagree with you.

around here the box stores have pretty much 'made extinct' the small specialty shops.

They surely don't offer better service ( as my post/rant is about ).. however they stock a ton of product and end up being a price leader. as you pointed out. lowes or walmart can sell a cheaper patio stone than a landscape supplier if walmart or lowes is blowing out millions of them vs thousands at the lanscaper. same with pipe and fittings here. our lowes here.. entire center isle of the store, before lumber is pvc. huge selection. most of our 'local' plumbers here are the well driller guys. 2 big outfits.. and one commercial outft. every morning all of their trucks are at lowes or HD. whoever has white pipe on sale that day..e tc. I've seent hem hauling out toilet fixture and well pumps too. that one surprised me. same with builders though. guy had a roof put on his house 3 weeks ago. roofer showed up..and then a lowes delivery truck showed up... really! shingles tar paper, osb and all.... mind you i've seen roofers at lowes and HD before. our local stores have this ongoing price war with 7/16 OSB sometimes.

that's the new 'plywood' in my area... regualr plywood is so spendy nowadays.. osb is being used for everything plywood used to be used for.... 1/3 the price many times.

Don't take my joking around wrong but I believe it is what you get. What is a box store? Just a move it in...move it out volume purchasing warehouse. And they're usually never part of the community. Except for wages all the profits go back to corporate and usually towns and cities are so desperate to get a few jobs there are huge tax breaks negotiated in trade. I'm no big fan of big box sorry to say. Maybe they are more popular in other parts of the country but I do contracting work, my buddy is Mass licensed GC and we do our best to keep the lonely remaining lumber yard/hardware store within 20 miles of most of our jobs in business. They are fully competitive and highly knowledgeable. The lumber is so much better plus they deliver twice a day. We would lose so much time going do it yourself its ridiculous. I also get my plumbing at a specialty plumbing supply house. Just don't get the discount if its not on a licensed plumbers account.

My boss at the greenhouse made me go to a big box to get patio blocks even though there is stone and masonry supply next to the greenhouse BUT CHEAPER PRICE PREVAILED. Took me all day to drive to the big box watch them make a major production out of getting 100 patio blocks...really who stores them three shelves high anyways Plus I had load and unload all of them by hand Cant figure how we saved money with my wages, lost time and fuel all being considered

I know two professionals who worked there for a while one was an apprenticing electrician (in fact the kid that helped me wire my new home) and the other was an out of work building contractor. The electrician kid tried to steer folks to the better quality products at HD but people buy what they want and they go there because there is almost always a choice. READ CHEAP. Pretty much the same with the lumber my buddy would always recommended laminated plywood and high grade shingles its tough living around here. But they always bought chipboard and the cheapest shingles. I wont even discuss their vinyl siding lol!

And if you think some of tractor supply sales staff around here is any different

I'd like to ask what do most here folks think a knowledgeable staff should get paid these days? 2 bucks over min? A 40 hour paycheck and still be considered below poverty level for a family of four?

Obviously wages and jobs are a major concern across America. Its in the news every single day.

Its also been said young entry level workers today do seem to feel they have sense of entitlement.

 

[Midniteoyl]

Tell ya this Soundguy - you know a LOT more about Delta faucets than me, and I rebuilt 2 already! I STILL have to take a faucet apart and 'match' the parts up

 

[Soundguy]

well.. i regret not taking it apart last night. I had the water draining when i left so it would be down when i got home.

there are apparently 2 stems. .. the springs and cup seals i knew about. along with the cup tops and the orings for the swivels. just wasn't sure which stem it had ..

I know now.

i also found out that at midnight you can rebuild a tub valve with leaking oring stem packings using a universal oring kit found in the barn