March 8, 2007
Is Home Depot shafting shoppers?
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com....aspx?GT1=9215

By cutting back on employees, the home-improvement retailer is putting
the screws to the people it needs most: its customers.

By Scott Burns

Sixteen years ago, I sent my wife a love note. It went like this:

Carolyn: I've gone to Our Store. Be back soon. Love, Scott.

We called Home Depot "our store" because we spent a lot of time there
back in 1990. We're house freaks. Wherever we go, we imagine living
there, owning a house or a condo. We like to remodel houses. In the
past 16 years we've done major work on three houses in Dallas and two
houses in Santa Fe, N.M.

But I have a confession to make. I still love my wife, but we don't
shop much at Home Depot anymore. Indeed, we generally try to avoid it
and grieve for the loss.

We're not alone. Last month Home Depot announced a whopping 28%
decline in earnings for the fourth quarter. Even more striking, same-
store sales were down 6.6% from the previous year. This had never
happened before, not in all 28 years of company history. Once a growth
darling, "the new Wal-Mart (WMT, news, msgs)" and a stock that sold at
twice the market multiple, Home Depot is now widely discussed as a
potential private-equity buyout candidate because it earns 22% on
shareholder equity and has lots of assets to hock. Today it sells at a
below-market multiple of 14.4 and offers an above-average dividend
yield of 2.2%.

Much of the recent disappointment in the stock is due to the slowdown
in housing and the reassessment many are making of homes as an
investment. With home resale prices flat to declining, many homeowners
are reconsidering the kind of home-improvement projects that make for
multiple visits and big spending.

Home Depot rival Lowe's reported an earnings drop of 12% for the
fourth quarter.

Some of the less recent disappointment in Home Depot shares is due to
the egregious compensation of its former CEO and his high-handed
treatment of shareholders.

Consistent abuser of customers' time.
========================

But I'd like to suggest a much bigger reason that Home Depot has
become a troubled and unloved company. I call it time abuse.

Home Depot is a consistent abuser of its customers' time. Let me
explain.

Back in 1990, when my wife and I loved Home Depot, the stores were
staffed with well-trained, knowledgeable and helpful people. If you
had a question, even a silly one, it was easy to find someone who knew
the answer. Home Depot had an amazing inventory. It also had a staff
that helped you access that inventory and make choices.

Though it didn't have employees waiting at the door, as do high-
service stores such as Elliot's in Dallas and Big Jo in Santa Fe, you
could make a purchase quickly at Home Depot.

But that was then.

Today, it is difficult to find a staff person at a Home Depot.
Personally, I've left the store empty-handed after a hopeless wait.
During one long wait shortly before Christmas, I commented to a worker
that the store was so busy they must be getting lots of overtime.

"No way," the employee said.

My wife has gotten so frustrated waiting -- while trying to buy
carpeting for an entire house -- that she has taken her business
elsewhere.

I know we're not alone. One of my friends started to seethe when I
mentioned Home Depot. He'll buy things almost anywhere, except Home
Depot. He hates having his time abused.

Add people to the payroll
================

That's what Home Depot does by short-staffing. It abuses our time. We
can't get the help we need, and we can't make our purchases quickly.
The result is that a once iconic, wonderfully American store has
become an aggravation rather than a blessing.

Home Depot is not unique. Many supermarket chains and some of the
large department stores appear to have decided that short-staffing is
the way to meet their profit plans, hoping to drop more dollars to
their bottom lines by stealing our time at the checkout counter or
elsewhere.

My bet is that a few years from now someone will give this a clever
name, like "millennial myopia" or some other phrase suitable for the
Harvard Business Review. Until then, the investment bankers will be
working on different ways to solve the share price problem with
financial moves.

Let's hope the board of directors at HD takes the time to learn what's
obvious to ordinary people who do a lot for themselves and need to
make good use of their time.

The solution is to add people to the payroll rather than reducing both.

Be sure you cruise the 300 pages of comments.

You got a story to tell? This is a current ad promotion on the HD
website. Good or Bad, let us know.

True Stories
http://www6.homedepot.com/truestories/index.html

What Story do You Have To Share?

From your major renovations to simple weekend repairs, every story is
unique. The story of any home improvement project begins with the
inspiration to take on a project and, with every step make it a better
place for you and your family. Your stories have inspired us and we
want to share these stories with others just like you. Simply submit
your story right here so that you may inspire another great project.

"Stephen Blackpool" wrote in message
ups.com...
March 8, 2007
Is Home Depot shafting shoppers?
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com....aspx?GT1=9215

By cutting back on employees, the home-improvement retailer is putting
the screws to the people it needs most: its customers.


Let me get this straight: Brain-dead customers can't figure out how to open
the yellow pages and find a hardware store, lumber yard, plumbing store,
lighting store, or garden center, any of which will give better advice and
often have better prices than Home Despot, and this is Home Despot's fault?
Not the fault of brain dead parents who were too busy watching 200 channels
of cable to to get off their fat, lazy asses and teach their kids how to
find a merchant in the phone book?

They live with their kids for 18 years or longer, and no time to teach
something easy like this?

JoeSpareBedroom wrote:

Let me get this straight: Brain-dead customers can't figure out how to open
the yellow pages and find a hardware store, lumber yard, plumbing store,
lighting store, or garden center, any of which will give better advice and
often have better prices than Home Despot....

Around here, HD has the best prices on pretty much all
electrical/plumbing stuff.

Some of the local hardware places have admitted to buying their stock at
HD because it ends up being cheaper than going through their wholesalers.

Lumber/lighting/garden still offer better options elsewhere.

Chris

Stephen Blackpool wrote:

March 8, 2007
Is Home Depot shafting shoppers?
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com....aspx?GT1=9215

By cutting back on employees, the home-improvement retailer is putting
the screws to the people it needs most: its customers.

By Scott Burns

I think that they're trying to be more like Lowe's, where the staffing
is thin (ten minutes to get help, even during lax periods) and the
training almost nonexistent (three employees didn't know where the
room air conditioners were stocked -- in July -- in Phoenix). Home
Base did that when they tried to copy HD, and they're gone now.

"Chris Friesen" wrote in message
...
JoeSpareBedroom wrote:

Let me get this straight: Brain-dead customers can't figure out how to
open the yellow pages and find a hardware store, lumber yard, plumbing
store, lighting store, or garden center, any of which will give better
advice and often have better prices than Home Despot....

Around here, HD has the best prices on pretty much all electrical/plumbing
stuff.


Hopefully, nobody interprets this to mean "everywhere", because it sure
isn't the case here. And, even if the stuff is more expensive elsewhere, one
must consider the rest of the equation: Walk into a good plumbing store,
walk out with the right thing in 8 minutes. Walk into HD, and *maybe* you
can find someone to help you get the right thing. Maybe you buy 5 things,
knowing that one of them will be right, and you have to make another trip to
return the other 4. Time is worth something, too.

larry moe 'n curly wrote:
Stephen Blackpool wrote:

March 8, 2007
Is Home Depot shafting shoppers?
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com....aspx?GT1=9215

By cutting back on employees, the home-improvement retailer is putting
the screws to the people it needs most: its customers.

By Scott Burns

I think that they're trying to be more like Lowe's, where the staffing
is thin (ten minutes to get help, even during lax periods) and the
training almost nonexistent (three employees didn't know where the
room air conditioners were stocked -- in July -- in Phoenix). Home
Base did that when they tried to copy HD, and they're gone now.

Maybe it's just 'cause they're new in our area, but I find Lowe's to be
cleaner, the salespeople are more helpful, and they actually have sales.
(Sales with prices that are lower than everyday prices, at both Lowe's
and Home Depot.)

--
Notan

"JoeSpareBedroom" wrote in message
...
"Stephen Blackpool" wrote in message
ups.com...
March 8, 2007
Is Home Depot shafting shoppers?
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com....aspx?GT1=9215

By cutting back on employees, the home-improvement retailer is putting
the screws to the people it needs most: its customers.


Let me get this straight: Brain-dead customers can't figure out how to
open the yellow pages and find a hardware store, lumber yard, plumbing
store, lighting store, or garden center, any of which will give better
advice and often have better prices than Home Despot, and this is Home
Despot's fault? Not the fault of brain dead parents who were too busy
watching 200 channels of cable to to get off their fat, lazy asses and
teach their kids how to find a merchant in the phone book?

They live with their kids for 18 years or longer, and no time to teach
something easy like this?

You've never run a business, have you?

"Matt Barrow" wrote in message
...

"JoeSpareBedroom" wrote in message
...
"Stephen Blackpool" wrote in message
ups.com...
March 8, 2007
Is Home Depot shafting shoppers?
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com....aspx?GT1=9215

By cutting back on employees, the home-improvement retailer is putting
the screws to the people it needs most: its customers.


Let me get this straight: Brain-dead customers can't figure out how to
open the yellow pages and find a hardware store, lumber yard, plumbing
store, lighting store, or garden center, any of which will give better
advice and often have better prices than Home Despot, and this is Home
Despot's fault? Not the fault of brain dead parents who were too busy
watching 200 channels of cable to to get off their fat, lazy asses and
teach their kids how to find a merchant in the phone book?

They live with their kids for 18 years or longer, and no time to teach
something easy like this?

You've never run a business, have you?


Matter of fact, yes. How do you feel your question relates to the fact that
some people somehow reach adulthood with virtually no resources?

Stephen Blackpool wrote:
March 8, 2007
Is Home Depot shafting shoppers?
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com....aspx?GT1=9215


[...]

Is your name really "Stephen Blackpool?" Or did you read the novel and said:
"This is my life?"

"Blackpool provides a stark contrast to these earlier characters. One of the
Hands in Bounderby's factory, Stephen lives a life of drudgery and
poverty...

"Stephen is an important character ... because he finds himself in the midst
of a labor dispute that illustrates the strained relations between rich and
poor. Stephen is the only Hand who refuses to join a workers' union: he
believes that striking is not the best way to improve relations between
factory owners and employees, and he also wants to earn an honest living. As
a result, he is cast out of the workers' group. However, he also refuses to
spy on his fellow workers for Bounderby, who consequently sends him
away...."

"larry moe 'n curly" wrote in message
oups.com...

Stephen Blackpool wrote:

March 8, 2007
Is Home Depot shafting shoppers?

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com...ShaftingShoppe
rs.aspx?GT1=9215

By cutting back on employees, the home-improvement retailer is putting
the screws to the people it needs most: its customers.

By Scott Burns

I think that they're trying to be more like Lowe's, where the staffing
is thin (ten minutes to get help, even during lax periods) and the
training almost nonexistent (three employees didn't know where the
room air conditioners were stocked -- in July -- in Phoenix). Home
Base did that when they tried to copy HD, and they're gone now.

Water finds it's own level. I suspect they'll soon go the way of Handy Andy
and Builders Square for the same reasons.

"Chris Friesen" wrote in message

Around here, HD has the best prices on pretty much all electrical/plumbing
stuff.


Glad I don't live "around here" where you are. I guess you didn't see my
post from last Saturday about big box store pricing. My Taco circulator
would have been $86 from HD, but was $61.48 from the plumbing supply house.
A light fixture that was $10.99 at HD was $8.99 at a local
hardware/lumber/home store.

Notan wrote:
larry moe 'n curly wrote:
Stephen Blackpool wrote:

March 8, 2007
Is Home Depot shafting shoppers?
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com....aspx?GT1=9215

By cutting back on employees, the home-improvement retailer is putting
the screws to the people it needs most: its customers.

By Scott Burns

I think that they're trying to be more like Lowe's, where the staffing
is thin (ten minutes to get help, even during lax periods) and the
training almost nonexistent (three employees didn't know where the
room air conditioners were stocked -- in July -- in Phoenix). Home
Base did that when they tried to copy HD, and they're gone now.

Maybe it's just 'cause they're new in our area, but I find Lowe's to be
cleaner, the salespeople are more helpful, and they actually have sales.
(Sales with prices that are lower than everyday prices, at both Lowe's
and Home Depot.)

Lowe's looks nicer, and at first I thought that their people were
less
competent because they lacked experience, but they've been open
here for at least 2-3 years, and they're still making the same
mistakes --
can't find products, don't know much about the products, lots of
mismarked
prices.

Me: "What's the battery warranty on this cordless drill? The box
doesn't say anything."

Lowe's: "Uh...uh...hmm...it doesn't say. I don't know."

HD: "90 days. The whole drill is warranted for two years. This one
uses plastic
gears, that one metal."

I've yet to get an intelligent answer from Lowe's, except in their
lighting dept.

JoeSpareBedroom wrote:



Hopefully, nobody interprets this to mean "everywhere", because it sure
isn't the case here. And, even if the stuff is more expensive elsewhere, one
must consider the rest of the equation: Walk into a good plumbing store,
walk out with the right thing in 8 minutes. Walk into HD, and *maybe* you
can find someone to help you get the right thing. Maybe you buy 5 things,
knowing that one of them will be right, and you have to make another trip to
return the other 4. Time is worth something, too.



Its the same where I live. It you want a good selection of stuff and you
want to be quickly in and out and have the right stuff the first time
you go to the real plumbing supply house.

Stephen Blackpool wrote:
March 8, 2007
Is Home Depot shafting shoppers?
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com....aspx?GT1=9215

By cutting back on employees, the home-improvement retailer is putting
the screws to the people it needs most: its customers.

I am surprised that anyone is surprised. Big box stores are interested
in wiping out all of the small stores. To do that they had to make
themselves look like good guys at first. Once they decimate the small
stores they can cut way back on staff and raise prices.

George wrote:

I am surprised that anyone is surprised. Big box stores are interested
in wiping out all of the small stores. To do that they had to make
themselves look like good guys at first. Once they decimate the small
stores they can cut way back on staff and raise prices.

They could, but they don't. If you can point to one single monopoly that HAS
raised prices in a captive market, I'd be surprised (except for professional
sports and government-sanction monopolies like utilities).

In fact, the biggest monopoly ever (Standard Oil) - the poster boy for all
that's evil about large companies - managed to lower the price of Kerosene
from $3.00/gallon to five cents in less than three years! Of course this put
the whale-oil suppliers out of business...

At least you have choices. In my small town, all we have is a
Menard's. Staffed only by retarded teenagers who avoid customer
contact at all costs.

"Mitch" Mitch@... wrote in message
...
At least you have choices. In my small town, all we have is a
Menard's. Staffed only by retarded teenagers who avoid customer
contact at all costs.


If the manager is near suicide daily, it would be understandable. :-(

"Edwin Pawlowski" wrote in message
t...

"Chris Friesen" wrote in message

Around here, HD has the best prices on pretty much all
electrical/plumbing stuff.


Glad I don't live "around here" where you are. I guess you didn't see my
post from last Saturday about big box store pricing. My Taco circulator
would have been $86 from HD, but was $61.48 from the plumbing supply
house. A light fixture that was $10.99 at HD was $8.99 at a local
hardware/lumber/home store.


You shouldn't expect much from big box store employees. Those stores get
the quality of employees they pay for, and then treat them poorly.

I worked at Lowe's part-time for awhile. Scary thing is they have trouble
hiring because about 60% of people who apply can't pass the employment test!
But with what they pay and the insane way they schedule shifts, I'd say the
fact that they can attract any employees who can walk and talk is amazing.
Getting people who actually care would be a miracle. But, unbelieveably,
they do have ongoing required training - it's just that many of the
employees don't give a damn.

I also worked at HD full-time for a VERY short period. Their employment
practices make Lowe's look great! I was on the floor for two weeks with NO
training, and it took over a week to meet my department manager. They're so
nuts about overtime that they have employees lined up at the time card
machine 10 minutes before their shifts are over so that they don't go 5
minutes over their regular time.

--
nj_dilettante
in the words of the immortal Sgt Schultz:
~~ I know NOTH-THING ~~

"justadilettante" wrote in message
...

"Edwin Pawlowski" wrote in message
t...

"Chris Friesen" wrote in message

Around here, HD has the best prices on pretty much all
electrical/plumbing stuff.


Glad I don't live "around here" where you are. I guess you didn't see my
post from last Saturday about big box store pricing. My Taco circulator
would have been $86 from HD, but was $61.48 from the plumbing supply
house. A light fixture that was $10.99 at HD was $8.99 at a local
hardware/lumber/home store.


You shouldn't expect much from big box store employees. Those stores get
the quality of employees they pay for, and then treat them poorly.

I worked at Lowe's part-time for awhile. Scary thing is they have trouble
hiring because about 60% of people who apply can't pass the employment
test! But with what they pay and the insane way they schedule shifts, I'd
say the fact that they can attract any employees who can walk and talk is
amazing. Getting people who actually care would be a miracle. But,
unbelieveably, they do have ongoing required training - it's just that
many of the employees don't give a damn.

I also worked at HD full-time for a VERY short period. Their employment
practices make Lowe's look great! I was on the floor for two weeks with
NO training, and it took over a week to meet my department manager.
They're so nuts about overtime that they have employees lined up at the
time card machine 10 minutes before their shifts are over so that they
don't go 5 minutes over their regular time.


The idiots who manage those stores are too cheap to do something free and
simple: Tell new hires to NOT put on their little vests for the first 15-20
minutes of their shifts, so they won't be distracted by anyone who needs
help. Now, pick an aisle and browse slowly. Some of these employees don't
know which END of the store has certain things, much less which aisle.

I work for Home Depot, and the article is correct. The dickhead who
just left the company ( Nardelli) made his quarterly numbers by cutting
costs anywhwere he could....and "store Hours" was a major point of cutting.
Every store is given a budget of "man hours" they can spend in any given
week (based on prior sales, time of year, time of day etc)...and
particularly on week days that means entire departments without coverage
by at least one employee. Often you have one guy covering two
departments...like appliances and plumbing.
Right now - weekdays in the winter - HD is at its lowest hourly store
budget. And that means customer service is at its worst.
The founders built the chain on that knowledgeable service. Bob
Nardelli trashed it in just a few short years.
The interesting thing though is how many customers come in complaining
about Lowe's (and their corporate flagship store is right across the
street). Lowe's pay less, hires young kids who don't know their ass
from their elbow, and who actually turn and walk the other way when
they see a customer coming. I hear that story 10 times a week.
Bottom line is that you can't tar either chain with a single brush.
Reagrdless of corporate policies, every store is different and each one
a reflection of what that store manager feels is most important.
Some stress customer service and some stress paint cans perfectly aligned.
Some place HD wins and some Lowes. But the customer always has the
final word.
My 2 cents worth.

Stephen Blackpool wrote:
March 8, 2007
Is Home Depot shafting shoppers?
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com....aspx?GT1=9215

By cutting back on employees, the home-improvement retailer is putting
the screws to the people it needs most: its customers.

By Scott Burns

Sixteen years ago, I sent my wife a love note. It went like this:

Carolyn: I've gone to Our Store. Be back soon. Love, Scott.

We called Home Depot "our store" because we spent a lot of time there
back in 1990. We're house freaks. Wherever we go, we imagine living
there, owning a house or a condo. We like to remodel houses. In the
past 16 years we've done major work on three houses in Dallas and two
houses in Santa Fe, N.M.

But I have a confession to make. I still love my wife, but we don't
shop much at Home Depot anymore. Indeed, we generally try to avoid it
and grieve for the loss.

We're not alone. Last month Home Depot announced a whopping 28%
decline in earnings for the fourth quarter. Even more striking, same-
store sales were down 6.6% from the previous year. This had never
happened before, not in all 28 years of company history. Once a growth
darling, "the new Wal-Mart (WMT, news, msgs)" and a stock that sold at
twice the market multiple, Home Depot is now widely discussed as a
potential private-equity buyout candidate because it earns 22% on
shareholder equity and has lots of assets to hock. Today it sells at a
below-market multiple of 14.4 and offers an above-average dividend
yield of 2.2%.

Much of the recent disappointment in the stock is due to the slowdown
in housing and the reassessment many are making of homes as an
investment. With home resale prices flat to declining, many homeowners
are reconsidering the kind of home-improvement projects that make for
multiple visits and big spending.

Home Depot rival Lowe's reported an earnings drop of 12% for the
fourth quarter.

Some of the less recent disappointment in Home Depot shares is due to
the egregious compensation of its former CEO and his high-handed
treatment of shareholders.

Consistent abuser of customers' time.
========================

But I'd like to suggest a much bigger reason that Home Depot has
become a troubled and unloved company. I call it time abuse.

Home Depot is a consistent abuser of its customers' time. Let me
explain.

Back in 1990, when my wife and I loved Home Depot, the stores were
staffed with well-trained, knowledgeable and helpful people. If you
had a question, even a silly one, it was easy to find someone who knew
the answer. Home Depot had an amazing inventory. It also had a staff
that helped you access that inventory and make choices.

Though it didn't have employees waiting at the door, as do high-
service stores such as Elliot's in Dallas and Big Jo in Santa Fe, you
could make a purchase quickly at Home Depot.

But that was then.

Today, it is difficult to find a staff person at a Home Depot.
Personally, I've left the store empty-handed after a hopeless wait.
During one long wait shortly before Christmas, I commented to a worker
that the store was so busy they must be getting lots of overtime.

"No way," the employee said.

My wife has gotten so frustrated waiting -- while trying to buy
carpeting for an entire house -- that she has taken her business
elsewhere.

I know we're not alone. One of my friends started to seethe when I
mentioned Home Depot. He'll buy things almost anywhere, except Home
Depot. He hates having his time abused.

Add people to the payroll
================

That's what Home Depot does by short-staffing. It abuses our time. We
can't get the help we need, and we can't make our purchases quickly.
The result is that a once iconic, wonderfully American store has
become an aggravation rather than a blessing.

Home Depot is not unique. Many supermarket chains and some of the
large department stores appear to have decided that short-staffing is
the way to meet their profit plans, hoping to drop more dollars to
their bottom lines by stealing our time at the checkout counter or
elsewhere.

My bet is that a few years from now someone will give this a clever
name, like "millennial myopia" or some other phrase suitable for the
Harvard Business Review. Until then, the investment bankers will be
working on different ways to solve the share price problem with
financial moves.

Let's hope the board of directors at HD takes the time to learn what's
obvious to ordinary people who do a lot for themselves and need to
make good use of their time.

The solution is to add people to the payroll rather than reducing both.

Any idea what HD pays their managers?


"curmudgeon" wrote in message
...
I work for Home Depot, and the article is correct. The dickhead who just
left the company ( Nardelli) made his quarterly numbers by cutting costs
anywhwere he could....and "store Hours" was a major point of cutting.
Every store is given a budget of "man hours" they can spend in any given
week (based on prior sales, time of year, time of day etc)...and
particularly on week days that means entire departments without coverage
by at least one employee. Often you have one guy covering two
departments...like appliances and plumbing.
Right now - weekdays in the winter - HD is at its lowest hourly store
budget. And that means customer service is at its worst.
The founders built the chain on that knowledgeable service. Bob Nardelli
trashed it in just a few short years.
The interesting thing though is how many customers come in complaining
about Lowe's (and their corporate flagship store is right across the
street). Lowe's pay less, hires young kids who don't know their ass from
their elbow, and who actually turn and walk the other way when they see a
customer coming. I hear that story 10 times a week.
Bottom line is that you can't tar either chain with a single brush.
Reagrdless of corporate policies, every store is different and each one a
reflection of what that store manager feels is most important.
Some stress customer service and some stress paint cans perfectly aligned.
Some place HD wins and some Lowes. But the customer always has the final
word.
My 2 cents worth.

Stephen Blackpool wrote:
March 8, 2007
Is Home Depot shafting shoppers?
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com....aspx?GT1=9215

By cutting back on employees, the home-improvement retailer is putting
the screws to the people it needs most: its customers.

By Scott Burns

Sixteen years ago, I sent my wife a love note. It went like this:

Carolyn: I've gone to Our Store. Be back soon. Love, Scott.

We called Home Depot "our store" because we spent a lot of time there
back in 1990. We're house freaks. Wherever we go, we imagine living
there, owning a house or a condo. We like to remodel houses. In the
past 16 years we've done major work on three houses in Dallas and two
houses in Santa Fe, N.M.

But I have a confession to make. I still love my wife, but we don't
shop much at Home Depot anymore. Indeed, we generally try to avoid it
and grieve for the loss.

We're not alone. Last month Home Depot announced a whopping 28%
decline in earnings for the fourth quarter. Even more striking, same-
store sales were down 6.6% from the previous year. This had never
happened before, not in all 28 years of company history. Once a growth
darling, "the new Wal-Mart (WMT, news, msgs)" and a stock that sold at
twice the market multiple, Home Depot is now widely discussed as a
potential private-equity buyout candidate because it earns 22% on
shareholder equity and has lots of assets to hock. Today it sells at a
below-market multiple of 14.4 and offers an above-average dividend
yield of 2.2%.

Much of the recent disappointment in the stock is due to the slowdown
in housing and the reassessment many are making of homes as an
investment. With home resale prices flat to declining, many homeowners
are reconsidering the kind of home-improvement projects that make for
multiple visits and big spending.

Home Depot rival Lowe's reported an earnings drop of 12% for the
fourth quarter.

Some of the less recent disappointment in Home Depot shares is due to
the egregious compensation of its former CEO and his high-handed
treatment of shareholders.

Consistent abuser of customers' time.
========================

But I'd like to suggest a much bigger reason that Home Depot has
become a troubled and unloved company. I call it time abuse.

Home Depot is a consistent abuser of its customers' time. Let me
explain.

Back in 1990, when my wife and I loved Home Depot, the stores were
staffed with well-trained, knowledgeable and helpful people. If you
had a question, even a silly one, it was easy to find someone who knew
the answer. Home Depot had an amazing inventory. It also had a staff
that helped you access that inventory and make choices.

Though it didn't have employees waiting at the door, as do high-
service stores such as Elliot's in Dallas and Big Jo in Santa Fe, you
could make a purchase quickly at Home Depot.

But that was then.

Today, it is difficult to find a staff person at a Home Depot.
Personally, I've left the store empty-handed after a hopeless wait.
During one long wait shortly before Christmas, I commented to a worker
that the store was so busy they must be getting lots of overtime.

"No way," the employee said.

My wife has gotten so frustrated waiting -- while trying to buy
carpeting for an entire house -- that she has taken her business
elsewhere.

I know we're not alone. One of my friends started to seethe when I
mentioned Home Depot. He'll buy things almost anywhere, except Home
Depot. He hates having his time abused.

Add people to the payroll
================

That's what Home Depot does by short-staffing. It abuses our time. We
can't get the help we need, and we can't make our purchases quickly.
The result is that a once iconic, wonderfully American store has
become an aggravation rather than a blessing.

Home Depot is not unique. Many supermarket chains and some of the
large department stores appear to have decided that short-staffing is
the way to meet their profit plans, hoping to drop more dollars to
their bottom lines by stealing our time at the checkout counter or
elsewhere.

My bet is that a few years from now someone will give this a clever
name, like "millennial myopia" or some other phrase suitable for the
Harvard Business Review. Until then, the investment bankers will be
working on different ways to solve the share price problem with
financial moves.

Let's hope the board of directors at HD takes the time to learn what's
obvious to ordinary people who do a lot for themselves and need to
make good use of their time.

The solution is to add people to the payroll rather than reducing both.

Mitch wrote:
At least you have choices. In my small town, all we have is a
Menard's. Staffed only by retarded teenagers who avoid customer
contact at all costs.

I have to say that the Menard's stores near me have people who go out of
their way to make sure you're finding what you're looking for, almost
to the point of wishing they'd ignore you.

Almost.

--
Martians drive SUVs! http://oregonmag.com/MarsWarm307.html

On Mar 9, 2:08 pm, "Stephen Blackpool"
wrote:
March 8, 2007
Is Home Depot shafting shoppers?http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com...meDepotShaftin...

By cutting back on employees, the home-improvement retailer is putting
the screws to the people it needs most: its customers.

[snip]

There are two market forces at work. One is that many a homeowner
prefers the convenience of going to one store to find what they need
for their household projects as opposed to going to three, four, five
different places. Two is a large-scale retailer is often positioned to
undercut the prices of smaller, locally-owned stores - e.g., Wal-Mart
killing the small businesses across America.

This trend towards fewer employees as a way of saving the company
money is nothing new: Macy's was doing in back in the early 1990s when
I was a manager there. The belief is the customer doesn't want
employee help and the staff is the easiest place to cut overhead
costs. I know a salesperson who, when Macy's converted their employees
from commission to hourly pay went from making an equivalet of $13/
hour commission to an hourly rate of $8.25/hour. He left pretty
quickly, as did most other competent salespeople.

What HD, Macy's and myriad other large retailers fail to understand is
many customers will not even notice slightly higher-than-average
prices if they get exceptional customer service from well-trained,
knowledgable staff. It's what keeps places like Nordstrom and the
Men's Warehouse and other clothing retailers in business. And it's
what will set apart local hardware stores from the big box places.

On Sat, 10 Mar 2007 14:09:24 GMT, Mitch Mitch@... wrote:

At least you have choices. In my small town, all we have is a
Menard's. Staffed only by retarded teenagers who avoid customer
contact at all costs.

You can't really expect to have choices in a small town.

Don't know about hardware stores, but my home town of 50,000 had 3
lunch counters, only one nice place for dinner, and a Dairy Queen.

It had one high school.

If you had too many stores, it woudn't be a small town.

On Sat, 10 Mar 2007 12:19:35 -0600, clifto wrote:

Mitch wrote:
At least you have choices. In my small town, all we have is a
Menard's. Staffed only by retarded teenagers who avoid customer
contact at all costs.

I have to say that the Menard's stores near me have people who go out of
their way to make sure you're finding what you're looking for, almost
to the point of wishing they'd ignore you.

Almost.

I'm like Goldilocks. I don't like it when I can't find anyone, nor
when they are always talking to me.

I really don't like it when someone greets me at HD at the door to
sell me a credit card.

First, she ruins the fantasy I'm having about all the great hardware I
will but and build great things with. Or at least I forget what I
came there for.

Second, the rates are outrageous and she'd do me more good working on
the floor. They have someone there about 2/3rds of the time.

That person is there to deter shoplifters from walking out the "in" door
with merchandise. The credit cards are just gravy....


"mm" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 10 Mar 2007 12:19:35 -0600, clifto wrote:

Mitch wrote:
At least you have choices. In my small town, all we have is a
Menard's. Staffed only by retarded teenagers who avoid customer
contact at all costs.

I have to say that the Menard's stores near me have people who go out of
their way to make sure you're finding what you're looking for, almost
to the point of wishing they'd ignore you.

Almost.

I'm like Goldilocks. I don't like it when I can't find anyone, nor
when they are always talking to me.

I really don't like it when someone greets me at HD at the door to
sell me a credit card.

First, she ruins the fantasy I'm having about all the great hardware I
will but and build great things with. Or at least I forget what I
came there for.

Second, the rates are outrageous and she'd do me more good working on
the floor. They have someone there about 2/3rds of the time.

user wrote:
HeyBub wrote:


They could, but they don't. If you can point to one single monopoly
that HAS raised prices in a captive market, I'd be surprised (except
for professional sports and government-sanction monopolies like
utilities).

Microsoft, and with Vista

You're right. Even considering inflation, Vista costs more than Windows 95.
But with the greater productivity of Vista, users make more money and,
hence, can pay more. The additional cost is still a lower percentage of
their disposable income than was Win95.

Even so, Vista is not the same product (like Kerosene or nails).

On Sat, 10 Mar 2007 17:38:29 -0600, HeyBub wrote:


user wrote:
HeyBub wrote:


They could, but they don't. If you can point to one single monopoly
that HAS raised prices in a captive market, I'd be surprised (except
for professional sports and government-sanction monopolies like
utilities).

Microsoft, and with Vista

You're right. Even considering inflation, Vista costs more than Windows 95.
But with the greater productivity of Vista, users make more money and,
hence, can pay more. The additional cost is still a lower percentage of
their disposable income than was Win95.

Vista hasn't greater productivity. Quite the opposite actually as vista
users will spend most of their time staring at the hourglass whereas a
windows 95 user could get some usefull work done with a pentium I.

Unless, of course, you supply Vista with at least 6 ghz of processor, 4GB
of ram, etc.

On Mar 10, 11:30 pm, user wrote:
HeyBub wrote:

They could, but they don't. If you can point to one single monopoly that HAS
raised prices in a captive market, I'd be surprised (except for professional
sports and government-sanction monopolies like utilities).

Microsoft, and with Vista

LOL!!!! I didn't know Bill Gates was holding you down making you
purchase Vista!

On Sat, 10 Mar 2007 17:55:22 -0500, "justadilettante"
wrote:

That person is there to deter shoplifters from walking out the "in" door
with merchandise. The credit cards are just gravy....

OK, that's better. Thanks. (I still wish she wouldn't talk to me.)


"mm" wrote in message
.. .
On Sat, 10 Mar 2007 12:19:35 -0600, clifto wrote:

Mitch wrote:
At least you have choices. In my small town, all we have is a
Menard's. Staffed only by retarded teenagers who avoid customer
contact at all costs.

I have to say that the Menard's stores near me have people who go out of
their way to make sure you're finding what you're looking for, almost
to the point of wishing they'd ignore you.

Almost.

I'm like Goldilocks. I don't like it when I can't find anyone, nor
when they are always talking to me.

I really don't like it when someone greets me at HD at the door to
sell me a credit card.

First, she ruins the fantasy I'm having about all the great hardware I
will but and build great things with. Or at least I forget what I
came there for.

Second, the rates are outrageous and she'd do me more good working on
the floor. They have someone there about 2/3rds of the time.

On Sat, 10 Mar 2007 12:01:45 -0500, curmudgeon
wrote:

Some stress customer service

and some stress paint cans perfectly aligned.

I really like that. I'm trying to learn how to do my soup cans at
home.

"mm" wrote in message
...
On Sat, 10 Mar 2007 12:01:45 -0500, curmudgeon
wrote:

Some stress customer service

and some stress paint cans perfectly aligned.

I really like that. I'm trying to learn how to do my soup cans at
home.

How about one of those laser things for installing things nice & level? You
could buy one at Home Despot.

Well, as I recall, and it's been a few years now, I couldn't have my
girl Rachael and then I falls into a hole in the ground but now I work
at the Home Depot.

I find that basic hardware items are unavailable at my local HD's. I guess
the lack of ability to make big profits on such items as steel rivets keeps
HD from stocking them. It's really bad when it's easier to start out
shopping at a small hardware store 15 miles away rather than checking at the
local HD about 2 miles away because usually the HD either won't have or
doesn't stock what you need.

HeyBub wrote:


They could, but they don't. If you can point to one single monopoly that HAS
raised prices in a captive market, I'd be surprised (except for professional
sports and government-sanction monopolies like utilities).


Microsoft, and with Vista

On Mar 10, 10:38 pm, "rivahrebel" wrote:
I find that basic hardware items are unavailable at my local HD's. I guess
the lack of ability to make big profits on such items as steel rivets keeps
HD from stocking them. It's really bad when it's easier to start out
shopping at a small hardware store 15 miles away rather than checking at the
local HD about 2 miles away because usually the HD either won't have or
doesn't stock what you need.

I have a love/hate relationship with Home Depot. I love it because it
is convenient and they carry many common items that you need for a
home. I hate them because of the service that they provide. I asked
a guy where I could find three prong outlets and he commented that I
could have just broken off the third prong and it would have worked.
Not all of them are that bad but its hard to find good help. I tend
to go to Lowes when I am shopping for anything that I feel would look
good in the home such as lighting and crown moulding. I go to Home
Depot when I am fixing a wall or repairing pipes.

"JoeSpareBedroom" wrote in message
...
"Matt Barrow" wrote in message
...

"JoeSpareBedroom" wrote in message
...
"Stephen Blackpool" wrote in message
ups.com...
March 8, 2007
Is Home Depot shafting shoppers?
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com....aspx?GT1=9215

By cutting back on employees, the home-improvement retailer is putting
the screws to the people it needs most: its customers.


Let me get this straight: Brain-dead customers can't figure out how to
open the yellow pages and find a hardware store, lumber yard, plumbing
store, lighting store, or garden center, any of which will give better
advice and often have better prices than Home Despot, and this is Home
Despot's fault? Not the fault of brain dead parents who were too busy
watching 200 channels of cable to to get off their fat, lazy asses and
teach their kids how to find a merchant in the phone book?

They live with their kids for 18 years or longer, and no time to teach
something easy like this?

You've never run a business, have you?


Matter of fact, yes. How do you feel your question relates to the fact
that some people somehow reach adulthood with virtually no resources?

That you blame the problem on the customers.

So typically American.

Put my vote for the store doing it right.

Their only reason for existence in this world is to turn a profit.

There is little profit in a box store hiring employees to answer dumb
consumer questions. Let the consumer hire a professional to train
them.

I'm on home depots side in this battle.





On 9 Mar 2007 11:08:37 -0800, "Stephen Blackpool"
wrote:

March 8, 2007
Is Home Depot shafting shoppers?
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com....aspx?GT1=9215

By cutting back on employees, the home-improvement retailer is putting
the screws to the people it needs most: its customers.

By Scott Burns

Sixteen years ago, I sent my wife a love note. It went like this:

Carolyn: I've gone to Our Store. Be back soon. Love, Scott.

We called Home Depot "our store" because we spent a lot of time there
back in 1990. We're house freaks. Wherever we go, we imagine living
there, owning a house or a condo. We like to remodel houses. In the
past 16 years we've done major work on three houses in Dallas and two
houses in Santa Fe, N.M.

But I have a confession to make. I still love my wife, but we don't
shop much at Home Depot anymore. Indeed, we generally try to avoid it
and grieve for the loss.

We're not alone. Last month Home Depot announced a whopping 28%
decline in earnings for the fourth quarter. Even more striking, same-
store sales were down 6.6% from the previous year. This had never
happened before, not in all 28 years of company history. Once a growth
darling, "the new Wal-Mart (WMT, news, msgs)" and a stock that sold at
twice the market multiple, Home Depot is now widely discussed as a
potential private-equity buyout candidate because it earns 22% on
shareholder equity and has lots of assets to hock. Today it sells at a
below-market multiple of 14.4 and offers an above-average dividend
yield of 2.2%.

Much of the recent disappointment in the stock is due to the slowdown
in housing and the reassessment many are making of homes as an
investment. With home resale prices flat to declining, many homeowners
are reconsidering the kind of home-improvement projects that make for
multiple visits and big spending.

Home Depot rival Lowe's reported an earnings drop of 12% for the
fourth quarter.

Some of the less recent disappointment in Home Depot shares is due to
the egregious compensation of its former CEO and his high-handed
treatment of shareholders.

Consistent abuser of customers' time.
========================

But I'd like to suggest a much bigger reason that Home Depot has
become a troubled and unloved company. I call it time abuse.

Home Depot is a consistent abuser of its customers' time. Let me
explain.

Back in 1990, when my wife and I loved Home Depot, the stores were
staffed with well-trained, knowledgeable and helpful people. If you
had a question, even a silly one, it was easy to find someone who knew
the answer. Home Depot had an amazing inventory. It also had a staff
that helped you access that inventory and make choices.

Though it didn't have employees waiting at the door, as do high-
service stores such as Elliot's in Dallas and Big Jo in Santa Fe, you
could make a purchase quickly at Home Depot.

But that was then.

Today, it is difficult to find a staff person at a Home Depot.
Personally, I've left the store empty-handed after a hopeless wait.
During one long wait shortly before Christmas, I commented to a worker
that the store was so busy they must be getting lots of overtime.

"No way," the employee said.

My wife has gotten so frustrated waiting -- while trying to buy
carpeting for an entire house -- that she has taken her business
elsewhere.

I know we're not alone. One of my friends started to seethe when I
mentioned Home Depot. He'll buy things almost anywhere, except Home
Depot. He hates having his time abused.

Add people to the payroll
================

That's what Home Depot does by short-staffing. It abuses our time. We
can't get the help we need, and we can't make our purchases quickly.
The result is that a once iconic, wonderfully American store has
become an aggravation rather than a blessing.

Home Depot is not unique. Many supermarket chains and some of the
large department stores appear to have decided that short-staffing is
the way to meet their profit plans, hoping to drop more dollars to
their bottom lines by stealing our time at the checkout counter or
elsewhere.

My bet is that a few years from now someone will give this a clever
name, like "millennial myopia" or some other phrase suitable for the
Harvard Business Review. Until then, the investment bankers will be
working on different ways to solve the share price problem with
financial moves.

Let's hope the board of directors at HD takes the time to learn what's
obvious to ordinary people who do a lot for themselves and need to
make good use of their time.

The solution is to add people to the payroll rather than reducing both.

I used to like the Home Depot stores also, but after I started going
down to the stores looking for sale items from the weekly flyer and
finding that they would have to raincheck or special order almost
everything that I was looking for I just started going down to Lowe's
with the home depot flyer for a price match because they actually had
the items in stock.
I expect with the housing slowdown Home Depot will start to feel the
pinch and eventually go the route of the old HQ Wearhouse chain. Some
people will say no way but when you see them starting to scale back on
employees then it won't be long before they start shutting down less
productive stores but they won't call it that they will call it
consolidation of market area.
I'm quite happy with the service I get at my Lowe's store people are
always asking me if I need help and assisting me with my purchase.
Lowe's seems to have their act togeather by actually providing what
you want when you need it. Home Depot just puts out commercials.