On Jan 2, 9:34*am, George wrote:
DerbyDad03 wrote:
On Jan 1, 9:11 pm, "benick" wrote:
"George" wrote in message

...

DerbyDad03 wrote:
On Dec 31, 12:34 pm, George wrote:
benick wrote:
"Percival P. Cassidy" wrote in message
...
On 12/31/08 11:01 am George wrote:
I notice a great price difference between two HD's 20 miles apart in
different towns. The same goes for the availability of low priced
items which are absent in the higher priced store.
A recent experience I had is I needed to replace the circulator on
my
wood boiler. Went to HD in local town, nothing under $100.00.
Went to next town to Loews, nothing under $100.00 there either. But
the HD in the same town as Loews had a model for $80.00 and another
for $65.00. It they were quality pump makers.
I think the local managers can do pretty much what they want at HD.
Or just go to the real place and pay $50. My neighbor's heating
system
went down and he asked me about it. The circulator had failed. This
guy
is a total believer that big box is his buddy just like the marketing
tells him so he immediately wants to drive 10 miles to hd. I asked
him
to check how much his friends at hd will sell it to him and he called
and they wanted $70 for a Taco cartridge pump. We have a great mom &
pop
place that is 1/3 of the distance away. I called them and they wanted
$49 for the same model.
It occurs to me that this *could* be because the mom and pop store has
had this thing sitting on the shelf for a while, purchased when prices
were lower. If HD sells more of them, the ones they have on the shelf
could have been bought at a higher price.
So HD isn't *necessarily* out to screw you. It may just be how things
happened at a particular time in a particular place.
I realize that there's a difference between groceries and
hardware/electrical/plumbing, but I've read that mom and pop grocery
stores often have to pay more for items than the local supermarket
chain is selling them for -- and they can't just buy their stock from
the supermarket instead of from the distributor because the
supermarket often limits the quantities an individual customer can
buy. (A long time ago, limiting quantities was illegal in South
Australia, but I don't know whether it is anywhere else -- or even
whether it still is in SA).
Perce
The Homedepots around here will MATCH any local competitior...I've done
it a couple of times...
So what would be the point of wasting my time doing that? I can get
better prices and often better quality at the local places.- Hide quoted
text -
- Show quoted text -
The reason you would do that is because, according to some posters, if
you go to the local store you're going to get sneered at, laughed at,
berated and trampled.
Or I guess we could laugh at the folks required to do what my friend calls
the "big box dance" running back and forth to match prices like they are
on some reality show.
Ever hear of the new 2 fangled inventions called a *CELLPHONE and the
INTERNET....Idiots....All it takes is a couple of minutes to do your
homework before you buy...Sometimes I wonder how some make it through the
day by themselves...Tirewarehouse even supplies a phone with numbers to
local competitors so you can check in a minute if it's the best
price...Money might not be important to some but to some of us every buck
counts , especially now....Maybe that's why stores like Walmart and Micky Ds
are the only ones not crying for a bailout and MAKING MONEY....- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

In an earlier post you said:

"The Homedepots around here will MATCH any local competitior...I've
done it a couple of times... "

A couple of times..impressive.

And how many times have you tried to price match only find that the HD
model was not the exact same model as the local stores model - thus,
no price match?

How often have you seen a single digit difference or an extra letter
in a model number - even from a major manufacturer - making it a
"different" item. InSinkErator comes to mind - Lowes vs. HD vs. the
local hardware stores all carry different model numbers, even in the
same HP ranges. I wonder how that happens.

Tires are easy - in many cases you'll find the same Goodyear/Firestone/
Michelin model at different tires stores. Try that with many of the
things we buy from HD. Other than your "couple of times" price
matching between stores is a pretty much a farce these days.

Agree on all of the above. Like my friend says they have you doing the
"big box dance".

But you do have to watch out for those rotten mom & pop tire places...
There are a couple of them in this area. One is right down the road so
it is really convenient. You will spend more if you buy from an online
store and have them mounted someplace (I checked).

And to prove how rotten they are their service stinks too. I went out
one morning and had a flat. It was really cold so I pumped it up and it
looked like it would allow me to drive over to the tire place so I did.
I pulled in and he told me he was backed up and it would take 15 minutes
to get me in. They removed the tire from the wheel and patched it
properly from the inside and balanced and mounted it. He said "you are
ready to go". I asked how much and he simply said "we sold you those
tires so it is no charge". This was even though I had not purchased any
additional insurance or coverage.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

re "You will spend more if you buy from an online store and have them
mounted someplace (I checked). "

I've checked too. It all depends on when and where. In some cases I've
purchased tires from on-line stores and ended up with "4 for the price
of 3" compared to the local tire stores, even after mounting and
balancing. Was it a bit more inconvenient to have to load the tires
into my van once they were delivered? Sure, but for over a $100 in
savings, I didn't mind.

In other cases the local stores were having sales, so I bought cheaper
locally.

It also depends on where you have them mounted. Take them to a
national chain where selling tires is their business, and they may
charge you more than the "mom and pop" used tire/used car parts scrap
yard where I go. Mounting and balancing is mounting and balancing. I
don't need a fancy showroom with a flat screen TV and gourmet coffee
machine - where I'm paying extra for those creature comforts. I'd
rather put my boots on and walk through a muddy junk yard if it saves
me a third or more in the cost of the service. (Although I gotta
admit, the 35 cent coffee from the beat up vending machine was
brutal!)

One year I saved enough by buying a set of high-end snow tires on-line
to purchase a set of used wheels from that same yard so I could leave
my snows on the rims and change them myself. None of the "chain
stores" could come close to the price I paid for the tires on-line or
the rims and mounting from the local shop.

Ya gotta shop around - that's half the fun!