I stopped by my closest Home Depot store today, and they’re setting up their holiday gift center a full week earlier than usual.
I had a quick chat with the Assistant Store Manager, who was overseeing the setup. I asked them about what prompted this, and was told that the store’s Halloween merchandise sold out faster than expected, leaving most of the seasonal floorspace rather bare.
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They had planned to restock the Halloween décor items, but the inventory is still “stuck on a [container] ship.” “You can’t sell air,” he told me, and so they decided to accelerate their holiday season setup.
The 10/25/21 start date on the boxes and promo materials indicate that this was a corporate-level decision for when stores should start putting out the holiday gift center promos. These displays are typically put out right after Halloween or during the first week of November, but as well all know this is not a typical holiday season.
Home Depot’s accelerated timetable isn’t all that surprising. We’ve already seen online retailers getting a jump on the holiday season, with Black Friday-like deals, and so it makes sense that Home Depot has adjusted their holiday promos plans for 2021 as well.
Also, Lowe’s surprised me last year, setting up their full holiday gift center tool deals earlier than usual, and it’s possible that Home Depot moved their schedule up as a competitive move.
Retailers and the media have also been urging customers to buy their must-haves early this year, because replenishment inventory might be not arrive fast enough to allow for late-season restocking.
Here’s what I expected for Home Depot’s holiday tool deals this year:
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- Typical “gift center” promos (starting this week)
- Pro Black Friday deals later in the season
- Black Friday “doorbuster” deals, online only
This is what we saw last year, and it’s probably what we’re going to see this year. The main difference I’m seeing so far this year is that the gift center promos are a week early.
Have the holiday tool promos gone live at your Home Depot or Lowe’s stores yet?
And, since we’re talking about holiday tool deals, is there anything on your shopping list? Are there any types of tools or promos you’d like help keeping an eye out for?
MM
I hit HD yesterday for a 3rd attempt at purchasing one of the new Dewalt Atomic compact impact wrenches. On the previous two occaisions I visited in the last month the website showed inventory but nobody could find the tools and I was told the computer must have been wrong.
This time was strange: first the store was very open, they had clearly removed a lot of the displays to make room for something. And this time I found an actually helpful employee: an older lady who knew nothing about tools but who took the time to track down where they were. Apparently the computer was right all along, it was just that the previous employees didn’t care enough to find them. This lady told me that they were part of some inventory for displays which were due to be set up this week and therefore wasn’t located with the normal backstock of tools.
I was able to purchase the driver, though there was no deal on it. If anything pops up in the next month I’ll take advantage of home depot’s deal-matching offer, but even for its purchase price I’m happy with the driver.
The lady also said that they had some new batteries which were due to come out soon too. I asked if they were the “power stack” batteries and she said these were different. I’m not sure what to make of that, she didn’t have any more specifics.
MM
Oh, and promos I’m keeping an eye out for:
I could use a couple more Flexvolt batts, at least 9ah, so I’m hoping for some kind of bundle, perhaps they’ll have something appealing when the new flexvolt batts finally hit the market.
The Power Stack 20V max batteries are interesting, I might buy a pair of those if some kind of sale or freebie is involved.
A 20V max random orbit sander would be appealing if the price is right.
I’m also interested in the new 3″ multi-cutoff tool when that hits the market, as well as a couple of the tools which were leaked but we don’t know full details on yet like the 23ga cordless pin nailer and the DCF900 heavy duty impact wrench.
I’ve also noticed I’m starting to wear out a few of my hole saws and I could use some more pilot drills for those too so I think I’ll see if any of those come up for sale. I think the last couple years HD has had great deals on Milwaukee sets so I’ll probably look for one of those too.
For M12 tools I might be tempted by a deal on the 1/2″ 90 degree impact wrench or the 90 degree 1/4 hex driver.
Big Richard
You can get the DeWalt 20v ROS “free” when you purchase the DCB246CK starter kit for $199 at HD (currently out of stock though).
https://www.homedepot.com/p/DEWALT-20-Volt-MAX-XR-Premium-Lithium-Ion-Starter-Kit-6-0Ah-Battery-Pack-4-0Ah-Battery-Pack-Charger-and-Kit-Bag-DCB246CK/313759426
MM
Thanks for the heads-up on that. My local HD has plenty of stock of those actually but I don’t really need any more 20V max batts in that size range and I have enough basic chargers and bags to equip a small army.
Though that reminds me, I wouldn’t mind a DCB1112…
Travis
I happen to stumble on the new dewalt dcf 850 1/4” impact at Home Depot Saturday just sitting on a cart. No display yet but I got it for $99. I was shocked because it’s $150 everywhere else
Steve
I have scoped out all my local stores, the Home Depots are all almost done stocking the holiday promos, the one Lowes sorta near me hasn’t even started.
Frank D
One could tell over the past two weeks that HD is really pushing out the tool merchandise, because they don’t really have anything else to sell. And, holiday items probably won’t sell anywhere well enough, so roll out all the ryobi, milwaukee, makita, ridgid, etx
Gordon
Some Makita promos went live online today. The 36v saws are yet again a crazy good deal with some deal “hacking”.
ethan
What deal “hacking” are you referring to??
Albert
Buy tool + free battery and then return the battery. This doesn’t sit right with me, but seems to be widely practice.
Munklepunk
Considering how many batteries I’ve purchased through hd I have no problem with it. What I don’t like is people buying up as many as they can and piecing them out on cl so people who are looking for the sale and want to use the tools can’t find them.
Big Richard
Agree. That is the worst. I have no doubt in a few days I will see all these tools/kits for sale on fb marketplace slightly higher than what they cost after the itemized discount, but less than MSRP, so it seems like a great deal to the unknowing.
King duck
Why doesn’t it sit right with you? This has been known for several years and last year several YouTube people posted a videos about it. That’s when it went from a deal to a hack. Do you really think home depot is stupid and didn’t figure this out? Hell they print the damn return price for each item right on the receipt. Does it not sit right to use their return or price match policies as well?
Brian A
Decades more like it lol. I cant believe they have not changed the way promos are, they have with online purchases. The problem is its such public knowledge now days that its abused. In the past two years some stores have started hassling people doing the returns. I havent done it in forever cause theres nothing I need that is ever in the promos or worth it. I remember first doing it with Gen1 M18 Fuel kits…. thats a long time ago.
Julian Tracy
Home Depot explicitly allows it and even specifies on the receipt how much you’ll get back for any individual item bought as part of a “buy one, get one…” promo.
Their computer is automatically set up to process the return, no muss no fuss.
If you’ve a problem with those returns, you must also generally have a problem with any return for any reason.
Stuart
Is this exploitation of the return policy and proportional discount pricing allowed? Yes. Is it approved of? I cannot imagine this being a sanctioned practice.
Home Depot also accepts the return of tools that have been used (for certain reasons), and some people exploit this as a way to get a “free tool rental.” They buy a tool, use it for their project, and then return it.
Just because you can get away with something, that doesn’t mean it’s an approved practice.
Exploiting the way that Home Depot bundles their “buy this, get something for free” deals is an ethical grey area. It’s tolerated, but definitely not sanctioned.
Rob
When you buy “free gift with purchase” promos at Home Depot, they itemize everything out on the receipt so that there is a line discount on each item as opposed to taking 100% off the bonus item. A few Youtubers made it a thing to take advantage of this by buying the promotion and then immediately returning the stuff you don’t want. Home Depot also made the mistake of being able to split up delivery locations on website purchases. So people send what they want to their house and some random store gets stuck with random inventory.
Stuart
Let’s say there’s a promo where if you buy a tool for $100, you get a free battery or accessory.
Let’s say that free battery or accessory has a $100 sticker price.
Home Depot’s register will process the sale as follows:
The $100 value of the freebie will be split proportionally between the two items. This means that the “buy this” item is discounted by $50, and the “get this free” item (with hypothetical $100 price) is discounted to $50. Thus, the final price is still $100, and so you effectively buy the “buy this” tool and get the “get this free” item for free.
But if you return either item, you get its proportional value back. So, if you return the “freebie” in the example above, you get $50 back, resulting in a net purchase price of $50 for the “buy this” tool.
The register assigns values and discounts like this just in case you have to return something, and it makes it so that you don’t have to return everything.
A realistic ratio might involve a $200 kit with a $100 battery or bare tool as the “free with purchase” item. A proportionately-applied discount would result in the kit being priced at $133 and the batteries at $67. You end up spending $200, but if you return part of the order, you get to keep the part you want at a big discount.
The “hack” is really an exploitation, and one that is abused by resellers.
This is presumably also why a lot of “buy this” or “get with purchase” items sell out disproportionately in stores.
As far as I am aware, this exploitation only works in stores, since the website often bundles things together as single SKUs.
Aaron s
There are notable exceptions, particularly if you can set the freebie for in store pickup and the main item ship to home. The discount applies and you can cancel whichever part you want independently.
MM
I have noticed the SKU bundling from HD as well. Whereas companies like CPO or Acme will have their website handle combo deals and freebies it seems that HD simply makes a new SKU for every possible combination of freebie tools.
Got to CPO and pick the “starter kit” with a free tool and a web form pops up asking you to choose what free tool you want from a list. Go to HD for the same deal and you have to wade through an ocean of SKUs for every possible combination to get the exact one you want.
Aaron s
This is partially a size thing. Stuart may still have the numbers handy, my recollection is that Home Depot is far and away TTI’s biggest customer like 40% or more of their business?
Home Depot says put six random objects in a box and put your logo on it, Milwaukee asks if they can advertise it as 40%off
Brian A
The master plan is to sell out the Xmas junk by Thanksgiving to either prepare for all the seasonal employees quitting because its going to be so horrible working retail this year or to lay them off as soon as all the junk is gone because there will not be any restock.
My xmas shopping is already done, I do not plan on going to any store except for normal shopping which I will do Mon-Thu. Only thing I might have to buy is if the wife is extra giving and ok’s a Dan Wesson.
Les
I can confirm our local Home Depot had the Christmas stuff fully out and had cleared the section where they put out Holiday tool deals as of yesterday.
ONR
I’m hoping for a Makita 6ah 2-pack battery deal. Hoping Diablo thin kerf blades will also be thrown in the mix. And maybe Gearwrench? Wishful thinking.
MT
My local Home Depot had a couple of Gearwrench sets in one of the sales displays today. I didn’t look too close because I’m not in the market for mechanics sets but you might want to have a look.
Julian Tracy
Last year HD had some Husky ratcheting wrench deals that were instant money makers. The sets had a 10-12pc metric, a 10-12pc SAE and a 5 pc each stubby metric and SAE. The whole bundle was selling for $50-60 I think. I bought 5-6 of them and sold each of the lg sets for about $45-50 and each of the little stubby 5pc sets for $15-20 each.
Folks were falling over themselves to buy the individual sets at those prices too.
Popgun42
I went to my HD to pick up a Ridgid Shop Vac. They had a 5hp 16 gal listed for $49. I went as soon as I could get there and it rang up at that price. When I looked it up later it was #99.00…Its in my shop now…$49 +tax…
Bryan
My local HD still hasn’t set up the gift center.
Stuart
Some stores take longer than others.
I was at 3 Home Depot stores today. The one I went to yesterday was still putting things together, a second one had everything up, and a third was maybe 80% complete, with a brand rep still working their displays.
Dan Huff
I went today. Picked up two Milwaukee M18 5.0HC batteries and charger for 199.00. I got the fuel hackzall for free. Pretty good deal in my book since I saw single 5.0 battery for $149.
Aaron s
Menards has also started Christmas early. Must be a Nationwide shortage of Halloween crap in all channels.
I guess people actually buy all that junk?