I needed a sheet of 1/4" maple plywood. According to the Lowe's app. on
my phone, the local store had 13 of them. When I got to the store, I
found that the spot labeled for them had underlayment instead, so I
called one of the staff, but he couldn't find them. I said, "I know some
stores only update their inventory overnight; maybe you sold them today
already." He replied, "I think we do updates only once a week," which I
told him I thought was terrible. After much searching he decided to
check their computer, which told him that they had 17 sheets -- as at
*9/10/2015* (yes, more than a year ago!), and that their last delivery
was at about that same time. He said he would update their computer
system to show that they had no stock and would order more -- but they
will not be available for 9 days.

I said, "Even if I had called, you would have looked in the computer and
told me that you had 17 of them, wouldn't you?" "No," he said, "I know
that the system is a mess, so I would have gone and looked on the racks."

Now the Lowe's app. does show that there are none in stock at my local
store. So if it gets synched so promptly now, how come they were out of
synch before (13 vs. 17)?

Perce

Same thing at the big orange store. I've had store associates check inventory many times and it is always off.

I know for a fact that they do perodic inventory checks, but that is done by an outside company using people who are not familiar with the merchandise.