"frank1492" wrote in message
...
I used to take great joy in visiting HD, but over the past year it has
become a frustrating experience. (I live in MA.) Every time I need
something these days, they are out os stock, and I'm not talking
slow-moving stuff, I'm talking basics like 3/4" copper elbows! They
tell me they can't order when they need something these days,
but receive stuff only when the home office tells them they need
it!
The other day, they only had ONE model of hedge trimmer in
stock in the Worcester store, so I went to Lowe's. No problem
finding HedgeHogs there.
Anybody else seeing this? One other observation: If an item
can be found at both Wal*Mart and HD, Walmart usually steps
all over HD on price.
I'm starting to dread going to HD.
Frank

HD is based here in Atlanta, so the local media gives them a fair amount of
coverage. Some of the things which have come out in the last few years is
that the folks at the corporate office have more or less taken the power
away from the stores. Once upon a time, the store managers had a lot of
latitude on what to stock, how to price it, etc. Today, virtually all of
that is controlled at the corporate level. In addition, it has become much
easier to get a job in one of the stores because the company has moved away
from hiring experts for the respective departments (i.e. someone with
plumbing experience in the plumbing dept.). While HD hasn't devolved into
*just another retail store*, it isn't nearly as service and customer
oriented as it was a few years back.

The bottom line is that HD isn't what it used to be, although I still prefer
it to Lowes and (uggh) Wal-mart.