It has been reported that Lowe’s is laying off thousands of workers, with most news stories pointing to a WSJ article for breaking the news.
It is being said that Lowe’s has eliminated the positions of thousands of assembly and maintenance staff, and will be outsourcing their work to third party companies.
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Reports say that the workers in these positions were responsible for assembling grills, wheelbarrows, and other such products. Other reports say that maintenance and janitorial staff are also being laid off.
The cuts are being to “allow store associates to spend more time on the sales floor serving customers.”
Evadman
Sounds like SPI, a project home depot did about 15 years ago. That didn’t go well from the consumer or employee standpoint 🙁
Matt
I wonder what’s going on there? Our store has really gotten their act together recently but it’s a smaller store in comparison to the competitors in town. If you’re looking for one stop shopping it makes it tough to just go to Lowes. I recently read they had lots of debt on the books though I don’t know if that’s true or not. I do know that Craftsman within the last 2 weeks has been ramped up at Menards as well as Blaine’s Farm & Fleet again. It would be sad if our Lowes could potentially close in the future. They really do have the best selection of appliances in town.
In our area though, it would be tough to compete with Menards. The day they opened up here in the early 90’s, Sears took a big hit. This was before HD and Lowes were around. And I’m still stumped on how HD even says open. Their parking lot is just as empty if not more so than Lowes. Yet Menards is packed like Wal Mart. And it’s always been that way in our area.
James D Madara
In general, our Menards has lower prices on similar items. Unfortunately, they don’t carry the higher-end tools like Milwaukee and Dewalt. If you are willing to play Menards rebate game you can get a ton of deals as well as their 11% off specials.
OhioHead
I noticed about 2 months ago that Craftsman (hand tools, OPE and power tools) were showing up @ Menard’s, I could not get the email to go thru to Stu to give him the heads up/investigate. I wonder if the Craftsman exclusive @ Lowe’s was a year or if Stanley is hedging it’s bets on Lowe’s long term survival?
10 years ago I was (in order of preference) 1) Lowe’s 2) HD.
Now I am 1) HD/Menard’s with no thought of Lowe’s.
Agreed Menard’s power tool selection is not as good as HD.
Kilroy
Also worth noting that Menards owns the company that processes all of their rebates, and the Menards’ focus on customer service extends to the way they handle their rebates.
Unlike most other rebates, where you have to basically copy/scan the forms and plan for the rebate company to initially deny your rebate for a BS reason, I never got the runaround from Menards when I lived in the Midwest. I submitted hundreds of Menards rebates for store credit, some of them past the deadline. I tracked the rebates scrupulously out of habit, but it wasn’t necessary, as Menards honored every single one of them.
Finally, in the event people don’t know… If you save your original receipts, you can apply most of Menards’ rebates retroactively, for purchases made a week or so before the official rebate promo period started… It’s not something that Menards really advertises, and it doesn’t stack for some promotions (you may not be able to claim a rebate this week for an item that was on sale when you bought it last week; I forget the exact details), but it’s worth asking about at the rebates desk.
fred
This sort of thing is always a tough call. When I was working on my MBA, the then current philosophy was that you should stick to your knitting, do what you did best and do only what added value to the bottom line. So if you made widgets – the idea was to stick with making widgets and leave cleaning the factory floor or painting the walls to others that specialized in those tasks. I say “tough call” because there is a logic and temptation to want to do everything that impacts your domain such that you have direct control over the outcome. There is also the issue of what to do with your employees during slack periods. If you can (allowed by contracts etc.) use your machine operators to spruce-up the shop during downtime? Should you take on the old Peoples Express (airline) ideas that everyone should be trained and allowed to do most every job that they are qualified to do? Or is it better to have employees focus on fewer jobs? In some cases – my partners and I decided that some tasks – like office and shop cleaning were better left to a separate after-hours cleaning company – with some logic applied. The logic being getting the buy-in of our skilled workforce and letting them understand that they could and should (as an example) pick up a broom if the piles of trash were getting the way.
Ken
That is quite the problem with the education of today that the subjects being taught are far removed from what actually occurs. Did you simply look at the jobs these people were doing or did you actually perform any of them? Take a skilled person out of their job during a “slack” time to have them clean an office where more important work was done? Who is to say which is more important?
But also what is being taught at many of the “higher level” educational is that the most important thing is product out the door, period. Maintenance is always the first thing these number crunchers want to get rid of as it impacts the bottom line. That piece of capital equipment is supposed to be maintenance free for a period of X years, so why should we have maintenance people? Mechanical Maintenance is NOT another word for Janitorial Services.
Stuart
I should point out that Fred, now retired, is not a product of “education today.”
fred
Thanks – but I was the product of education wrought in the tumultuous 1960’s. I like to think that my engineering and business degrees were good disciplines that helped me organize my thoughts in running, acquiring, growing and then selling my share of businesses. I’m pretty sure that my partner’s and I never added much to the state-of-the-art in business management, in the work we did, or in the products that went out the door. But – I do like to think that we kept most of our employees, safe, happy and gainfully employed across several related businesses for many years – through both good and “less than good” economic times. I’m also pleased that we had a great track record of customer satisfaction/repeat business and long-term employee retention. My thought was that our businesses were only as good as the employees who supported us – and we were blessed to have attracted and retained an outstanding workforce.
As far as the relative importance of different aspects of work – be it on the production floor of our fabrication business – or out on a jobsite in our contracting businesses – I believe that they are all interrelated. On a vacation one year I was particularly impressed by a tour of an ice cream plant – where the owner talked about how he valued his workers. His thought was that the food scientist was important – but that if the person sweeping the floor swept the dust into the ice cream then the food scientist’s good work would be for naught.
JR
Out local Lowe’s is mostly “self serve” in that the employees, if you can find one, are mostly useless and rude. It seems little care is taken with their training on customer relation skills. Local HD is much better, but that is a relative scale. I do wish for more competition, like in the old days.
Marco Lima
Lowe’s biggest hit is where Home Depot excels. Commercial sales.
Raymond C
I don’t know what Lowe’s corporate is thinking. What service do they think there associates are providing. It’s all self service besides the rude and wrong advice associates provide. My wife and I were at Lowe’s today. I explained to the associate that my toilet tank is leaking at the metal bolt. He said to change the metal bolts. I told him it’s not the metal bolts, but the rubber washer. It was like talking to a 3 year old plus the ego of a licensed plumber.
fred
I wonder if that Lowes store manager ever comes out of his office. Stores like other work places can usually benefit from some MBWA
Al
Oh so is that why there is never any competent employees in doors windows dpt…or anyone for that matter…
Al
You are moderating comments? Looks like i’ve been wasting my time supporting this site. Is communist china hosting the site now
Stuart
First-time commenter comments are ALWAYS moderated to cut down on spam, and it works. If this wasn’t your first time commenting, email address typos and name-changes are the usual suspect, and I usually get blamed or rudely yelled at for that too. There are also certain trigger words, but as far as I can tell you didn’t need any.
Frank D
Completely uncalled for …
Any commenting system has basic moderation tools, to screen new commenters, use a different email address or if your comment includes some links, wording, it can go to SPAM or the moderation queue.
I shared an on topic product link the other day to a European site, and the comment did not appear. Asked Stuart, and he found it filed in the spam bin.
No reason to get wound up about it.
The world would be a different place without spammers, scammers, robo callers, … and people who express themselves in an uncivil matter.
Kent
Yet another troll who simply doesn’t understand that the first amendment doesn’t apply here (it’s not a government run website) and screaming about communist China just makes you look like a fool.
This website is fairly clear of spam, jerks and trolls because of the owner. If this doesn’t fit your style, there’s plenty of other sites out there. I’m sure you can find a SnapOn vs Harbor Freight fight over at GJ.
Adam
If part of the thousands are the horrible staff I dealt with on the last couple occasions, then I’m all for it.
They also just changed their discount methods. If you have Military discount, you may no longer actually get 10% off an item, depending on what it is. Tried using a $20 off $100 on a $99 power washer & drink, and it would only take $4.xx off. Tried my dad’s military, and the same thing. Was later told the markdown is tied to the margin on the item. I get you don’t want to lose money, but I wouldn’t offer something to all military personal, then not really explain it isn’t always the case. They need a huge asterix after that.
This on top of cancelling all the Sunex & Gearwrench orders a few weeks ago, after letting the mistake go on for days. HD always honors that stuff, but Lowe’s had poor communication only letting some people know a week or two later, on top of waiting a couple weeks to get your money back, that is if you didn’t have to call to request it.
Keep running Lowes into the ground like JC Penney Mr. CEO. Maybe soon again I can buy crap clothes with (medicore) Craftsman tools again.
Andrew
My dad was in the military so I got the discount. A little disappointed I no longer qualify but I am fine with that as I was not in the military myself. Sad so many people took advantage of it who did not qualify. All well not much will change. People can still make an online order if they wanted the discount. Soon all military discount may be gone.
adam
Actually they took it away from online ordering because of that, and I want to say it was the same time they changed how it was applied in store.
I wasn’t either eligible myself which is fine, but I’m his errand guy for buying all his tools & supplies (and often doing the work strangely enough :D), so I really just use it for his purchases, where there is only a Lowe’s & Menards to go to. I stick to HD when I’m shopping for myself.
One thing Menards has over both, is a great wood selection, at least for a big box retailer.
Steve
The three Lowes I’m occasionally forced to deal with are uniformly horrible. The staff are rude and incompetent. I always get the idea the customer is the enemy.
John
I doubt Lowes sells enough grills and patio furniture to justify having company staff working these positions, so it makes sense to move these jobs to a third-party. I’d be willing to bet that this initiative is part of a larger cost-cutting plan. The nearest Lowes to us closed their doors within the last year and the next closest one suffers from pretty poor store traffic. The nearby Menards and Home Depot are always busy.
David F.
This is sad to hear, our Lowe’s (zip code 98002) has been consistently decent, same folks work there for a long time, helpful on finding stuff, helpful on helping me load stuff in the truck when I was hurt. Granted, I am strictly homeowner level, but do see many contractor trucks at the commercial end of the store.
Diego
Sad news for the workers. But as a business case it makes since. My experience with Lowe’s has always been a disorganized mess. That’s why i enjoy going to Homedepot. I was a huge craftsman fan and thought it would entice me to go to Lowe’s more often. However it hasn’t and their decision to axe the kobalt hand tool line was in poor taste for the consumer.
On a personal note my Lowe’s doesn’t allow dogs and my local Home Depot’s always welcome my pup with smiles.
Robert
I have to say I have recently noticed how every employee near me will ask if I’m finding everything I want and if I need any help. One guy in Lumber went above and beyond pulling sheets of plywood to find the one I wanted. He told me not to worry about the sheets’ he’d put them all back. I said no and helped. He followed me out to my pickup and loaded the sheet into the bed. Must have been a big meeting in my local store. We’ll see how long it lasts.
Frank D
Very sad to hear.
The handful of Lowes I go to, in two states, have always been head and shoulders above Home Depot. Clean, organized, friendly staff … and they honor 5% discount with lowes card.
The same can’t be said for Home Depot. Ever been accused for attempting to “ steal from the store “ for asking for the 5% credit card discount match? Happened to me … HD was phasing it out – supposedly due to abuse – though I always showed both my HD and Lowes card at checkout — Had a phone chat with the store manager said he would continue to honor it, put my name on a list at the pro desk … two weeks later, no discount, no list, and a bunch of BS … I made a note on my phone, date, time and his name which I otherwise would not remember. Sure, I am making up that we spoke. Gggrrr.
Stopped going to that HD store for 1 year and just went to Lowes. No hassles. 5% discount.
And don’t get me started on the “ pro parking “ that is now a default for the covered loading zones. Dumbest idea ever to placate to people too lazy to park and then being their vehicle up for loading … if they even need to load. Seen people walk out with next to nothing … but no, I can’t load my trailer under cover to pickup $$$$ materials; because people need to be able to get in and out to park there … nr 1 thing that needs to change … loading zone is for LOADING … not parking, camping, etc and inconveniencing others who legitimately need to load bulky goods, heavy items, …
Corey Moore
My local home Depot has been slacking a little bit recently, but they’re generally pretty good about “pro parking” requiring either a company vehicle (we’re a huge group of mines and contractors out here) or a trailer (personal or otherwise) THAT actually needed loading. I’d be lying if I said I never snagged a spot at 6am when it’s dead and I needed an armful of misc parts, but during popular business hours (daylight) I’ve many times seen them requesting people not needing loaded, relocate their rigs to general parking. If there’s one thing that’s apparent in this age, it’s that homogenous customer service is not assured throughout the regions.
bwh
It is a terribly run chain, top to bottom.
Doubling down on Craftsman was a wretched decision. Why take a failing brand, prop it up, reduce known “pro” brands like Bosch and Dewalt, and then expect to succeed?
The bodies in the store are non-existent, and if not, they are borderline corpses. Literally shuffling their feet as they walk. It’s a depressing place with bad selection, crap lumber, and terribly disorganized.
Both Lowes and HD can’t seem to figure out matching inventory locations to where it says it should be online, but HD is always moving forward with new ideas (better self checkout, bigger coolers at checkout, having actual… staff and multiple managers to get involved if necessary).
Reducing headcount at Lowe’s is not going to save the store. It’s going rob Peter to pay Paul. They’ll look better for a quarter, maybe two, before having to make another cut somewhere as they didn’t fix the fundamentals that would drive more revenue.
MichaelHammer
It’s strange that Lowe’s claims their reasoning is to allow employees to focus more attention on customers. Are they eliminating positions or staff? You can’t focus on customers if your not employed.
mattd
I know for a fact that home depot has used third party assemblers and janitorial staff for decades (I have family that has worked there for that long) so to hear lowes is only now doing this kind of surprised me as these seemed like common sense.
Steve
Headline: “Lowes Lays Off Their Employees That Actually Use Tools”
To be fair, I worked for HD almost 20 years ago and sold grills for them and they were all assembled by a 3rd party at that time.
I’ve seen the Craftsman tools at Menards ramp up and hope it goes to full line/ singles eventually as I don’t have a Lowes that’s all that close.
Steve
*Better yet*
Headline: “Tool Retailer Lays Off Their Employees That Actually Use Tools”
DC
I avoid going to Lowes. Their sales people are rude and don’t say a thing if you’re looking for something. If you need help and they see you coming towards them they quickly walk away. Hope they go bankrupt and close cause they suck.
Frank D
Funny how that is my HD experience in two states, while the Lowes ones offer help!
Greg
Its night and day by me in southern New Jersey. Home depot is packed with contractors day in day out. The same friendly staff at the pro desk which is always full.
If I ever need to get something at Lowe’s which is 1/2 mile away from all the home depots in my area its a ghost town. No contractors, no customers at the pro desk, and barely any customers.
The double down on the failing craftsman line is gonna be the shot in the hull for this sinking ship. Mark my word.
Scotty.
I got Lowe’s stock in my retirement plan when they acquired a former employer.
Dumped it all last month. Nuff said…
George
It’d be a shame for the local Lowes stores to close around here. HD is good for tools and construction stuff, but the Lowes near me has much better appliance and “finishing” items (shelving, storage, painting, etc type stuff). Plus, their garden center is miles ahead of HD, though not quite as good as the proper nurseries. A bit more homeowner-friendly than HD, I guess.
Plus, they give a 10% military discount year around which is always nice.
Frank D
Same here … I have no idea where all these terrible, worse than HD stores would be. Every Lowes I have been to in two states has been head and shoulders above HD.
OhioHead
My Lowe’s no stink at finishing items……..this used to be there strong area! I buy my lights/fans @ Menard’s now and HD has stepped up there game in these areas.
As I read the press release, I read it as these employees will be given a chance to interview for Lowe’s jobs or w/ the new companies……..in my experience these jobs are off hours or early morning/late evenings jobs.
As a former vendor rep, I hated overnight resets, I know both HD/Lowe’s have merchandising teams today, so this is just a shift…….the merchandising team have always been awesome to interact w/ as a customer……..
OhioHead
Grammar – yikes!
David Zeller
Could you please re-write your comment as a sentence? 🙂
Matt F
I am certainly in one of the areas where staff at Home Depot is noticeably better than at Lowes. The one exception is that one of the Lowes has a few people in lawn/garden/grills section that are really good.
Only thing that usually gets me there is random clearance posted on Slickdeals.
Oh, and they have the L-boxx holder for the Flex dust extractor for $22.97.
fred
While 29 comments (so far) on ToolGuyd hardly represents a statistically significant sample – nor are they in response to a scientifically designed survey, the do point to what I see as a mixed-bag of opinions about Lowes. For my principal residence – there are a few more choices of nearby Home Depots – for my summer place the HD and Lowes are about equidistant, for my winter Condo – the HD is about 5 miles closer. Overall – I shop HD much more than Lowes – but have not formed much of an opinion about the respective staffing.
What I have noticed about some other retailers (CVS in particular) is that levels of service do vary a lot store to store. I have 4 CVS stores about equidistant from my principal residence. Two of them I’ve found to be less than satisfactory – rude unhelpful staff with an attitude like they are doing you a special favor to wait on you. The other 2 are just the opposite – one is in a Target Store and the other (that I regularly use is a stand alone. Maybe this experience (and those at HD or Lowes) get down to the manager or the training (formal or informal) that employees have received. Perhaps it is a legacy from earlier excellent or disgruntled employees – passing on their work habits and ethics (or lack thereof) to new employees – such that great service – or the opposite (unfriendliness and rude behavior)has become the culture for that store. Or maybe it is something in the corporate culture – and the better performing stores are just a fluke.
Back to Lowes, one has to wonder what metrics the corporation uses to evaluate its stores – and why do they are not able to reward those with superior service – while correcting behaviors at those where customer service is not king. Once you lose a customer it is hard (if not impossible) to get them back – and I’ve never seen an exit interview at the door of a retailer asking a customer why they are leaving angry.
Ray
We wanted to buy a lamp on sale at Lowes. The floor model up on the higher shelf was the last one. We literally had to wait 20 minutes at the Butler NJ store to get a clerk to answer the store page and help us.
At the Rio Grande NJ store there were 9 people ahead of me with only 1 cashier open. I asked a store clerk who wasn’t doing anything to tell the front desk about the backlog. He said it wouldn’t help turned his heels and walked away. After paying I told the front desk about his behavior and they said they would talk to him.
This is why people drive a mile or two further and go to HD and why Lowes doesn’t make their quarterly numbers
Ray
At Home Depot you can always find someone who has plumbing or electrical experience who can give you technical advice and give you the parts you need.
At Lowe’s try to find someone who can even find the Teflon tape for you.
Chip
I am not on either of their preferred customers wish lists.
I buy tools on sale or clearence only.
Being from a rural area, we have a Lowes 35 miles away in one town.
And 1 HD and Lowes 50 miles away in a different city.
Our local builders supplies, have better materials… at a better price point.
HD has better brands for tools that I buy.
Like any big box store, I despise the different store layouts.
One Lowes has the plumbing section, on complete opposite corner from the pro desk.
I understand having lawn/garden on the open side (nearest side road etc) for easy access.
But one wallmart has groceries on the left, and the next one will have them on the right side.
MattF
One other really frustrating things is that Lowes allocates customer service related to online orders and appliance orders to the local stores, while Home Depot deals much of these from central call centers.
The in store reps are not super well trained in the additional computer systems and how to deal with these orders. When you are on the phone with them, they get interrupted to deal with other things. A lot of times, dealing with these things takes a significant amount of time and may involve calling a vendor and delivery company. It is overall very unsatisfying. I never thought I would long for a call center, but I really do.
In store it is similarly frustrating, you can’t get customer service help because I am on the phone with the person standing in front of you for 45 minutes.
Also every time I pick up an order in store it seems to take 15 minutes or more and feels like it’s the first time they have ever done it. The process is really cumbersome. Why am I waiting for you to figure out how to print the packing slip for me to sign? If they really need a paper signature, make the signature form part of the pick slip that sits on the shelf with my order!
DRT
Oh yeah. I have totally had the same experience ordering. When it arrives, I have waited 1/2 hour (seriously) to have the order retrieved “from the back” at Lowes. None of the special order stuff is up front – it’s all buried in the back somewhere. At Home Depot, I go to the automated locker up front, type in a 6 digit code, the locker door opens, and I’m on my way in 30 seconds. On top of that, Menards opened a store in the area, and the local Lowes took a big hit. I will be surprised if my Lowes is still around a year from now.
BuildingMech
There are three HD stores each within 10 minutes of me. Generally I go to HD. A Lowes is also 10 minutes from where I live. The Lowes is comfortably air conditioned, has items I need that are not carried by HD and one of the best home repair tips I ever got was from a Lowes employee.
Brian M
“The cuts are being to ‘allow store associates to spend more time on the sales floor serving customers.'”
Yeah right, laying off employees is how to get more employees available for customers.
They’re laying off employees that assemble items and presumably “Help” customers when they’re not doing missassembling a grill. They’re laying off maintenance and janitorial staff which means that falls onto the staff that should be “Helping” customers. So basically, Lowe’s is going to suck more than it already does. Half the time I need help I’m basically telling the guy what I need him to do because their Manager would be upset if I did it or needing their forklift.
Bob
Hopefully this helps the bottom line as I believe competition is a good thing. I do hope the former employees get a shot at rehire in a different position. Sucks to loose your job.
Near me HD is nominaly closer (by 5 min) but I often find myself saying I should have went to Lowes or actualy having to go to Lowes b/c HD doesn’t have what I need.
Lowes has way better hardware section than HD but ACE ( 15min away) hardware has a better section than both. But thats about all that ACE has going for it.
HD and Lowes are about equal on tool selection but I often buy online at HD b/c Lowes doesnt have Dewalt flexvolt stuff.
I won’t buy ANY craftsman stuff untill it says made in USA. That was the reason I stopped buying Sears Cradtsman b/c of the shift to offshore production. Hopefully Lowes lasts long enough for SBD to get those USA factories going.
I do feel bad about the military discount not getting applied correctly. Those guys and gals kept their end up. I agree though that people blantantly abused it. 10% discount fraud has to hurt the bottom line. A year or more ago I think Lowes or was it HD was setting up some sort of verification system? I recall an employee walking an older gentleman through the online process. He asked jokingly if his navy tattoo of the ship he served on in WWII would suffice.
PS. If you moderate my coment I will…wait patiently for it to post as I dislike spam as well 🙂
keep up the good work.
Stuart
They have the “opportunity to apply for open positions,” and one article said there’s no guarantee they’ll get the same pay.
Paul
This stinks. In North Carolina we don’t have Menards, nor Fleet Farm. We have HD and Lowes and that’s it with the exception of maybe an Ace or Do It here or there. At one time East of 95 each major town had both an HD and Lowes. However whoever was the stock manager was a moron. Essentially HD never maintained enough stock of anything so you pretty much had to go to Lowes. So about 6 years ago HD declared that they were losing money and couldn’t compete East of 95 and closed all their stores except one in Jacksonville and one in Wilmington. Now we are stuck with Lowes and that’s it. Good thing I’m a contractor with a large service territory. I stop by HD whenever I’m outside of Eastern North Carolina all the time because my only real alternative to Lowes here is Amazon. HD is far better than Lowes outside of what it was in Eastern North Carolina, all because of one idiot. In Michigan where the relatives live it’s the same thing….Menards and HD beat Lowes hands down in terms of selection for HD and prices for Menards.
ktash
Lowes website is a part of the problem, IMO. Often I can’t find things on there that I know they have. Also, there will be different prices at different stores. They really need a better online presence, and I think this is part of the problem. I stopped going to one Lowe’s because the guy in the tool/hardware section was really rude, and had a scowling expression all the time, even when I saw him from across the store. Why keep such a person? The do have the best bargains sometimes. Except for that department, they are ok, though seem to have already cut back on staff. I was in there the other day and everything seems to have turned red. A big gamble, given that both Ace and Menards carry Craftsman. Some of their better brands seem to be disappearing, or not very visible.
Home Depot has its ups and downs. Down is that I hate online orders from them, it is painfully slow and always fumbling to find things and do the procedure right, takes at least 20 minutes. There are many things they don’t have in stock, but free delivery to store, so for some things unavoidable to order online. Up is that there are people who are often knowledgeable in the different departments where it matters. They will cut 4×8’s, which Menards won’t do. I always mark the cut, since the quality of cutting varies depending on who does it. Best quality tools locally.
Menards is different and they carry things the other stores don’t, but their tool selection seems dominated by lesser brands like Mastercraft, or Masterforce, never can keep them straight. Menards in our area is certainly larger, so better selection. Years ago I got an LED task light that was perfect, at Lowe’s. Looked there for something similar but they didn’t have anything comparable. Today I found what I was looking for at Menards, helped by an employee who knew exactly where it was and pointed out the options in a helpful way. Menards is huge compared to the other stores, plus a large outdoors section.
In some ways, Ace is my favorite, with really knowledgeable friendly people who have been with them a long time and a store that’s small, quick trip. But they don’t have the selection of the other stores, so being small can be a disadvantage. Also, there’s no way to find on the website what they have, since online and local stores aren’t connected. But if I call I get a person immediately who can tell me what they have, so that makes up for it.
I do hope Lowe’s survives. I hope they change some things, too. Doesn’t sound too good for them.
The What?
I can’t stand Lowes for the fact that it is the only store that I have ever had to yell out to get someone to help me. I’ve never been in a store where it’s employees completely disappear in the evenings. Every time I’ve had to go to Lowes after 8pm, there’s nobody in the store. I’m still baffled how Lowes is the 2nd biggest home improvement company in the US. Where I live, HD and Lowes are directly across the street from each other. They’re less than 3 miles from my house and it’s not even fair how much HD just kicks Lowes ass in the amount of business that they get. It’s so bad that Lowes doesn’t even turn on the lights for the sign or turn the parking lot lights on because they know nobody wants to go there when it gets dark. But that’s enough about how shitty they’re employees are at the store next to my house. Let’s talk about this layoff that is about to occur. Lowes does not generate enough business to do what they were doing. They don’t sell anywhere near enough patio furniture and grills to fully staff a warehouse facility for the purpose of assembling the grills and furniture. But I think it goes a bit deeper as to why this is happening and I think a lot of it has to do with the craftsman tools deal that Lowes made with sbd. They made the wrong decision to sell their soul to sbd so they could try to reestablish craftsman as their own brand and its not going to happen. Sears established craftsman a long time ago. That’s the bottom line. Sbd nor Lowes will ever be able to establish craftsman tools as the well-known quality brand that became a household name 75 years ago when Sears made that happen. And sbd made it even worse when they made the pledge to make craftsman a USA brand and then released made in China crap as the first tools to be sold by their newly established brand. That put the nail in the coffin for me. And I think it did for a lot of people. And they’re still releasing made in China crap as their newly established craftsman tools to be sold at Lowes. And now Lowes has been forced into a situation where they are the mercy of sbd which has made Lowes look like the asshole in a situation that’s out of their control. Just from my experience and observations from going to several Lowes stores in Georgia, nobody is buying the new sbd version of craftsman tools from Lowes. Nobody is buying into it as being Lowes new house brand. It’s literally the same thing in every store that I’ve been to: tools are collecting dust and are discounted or on clearance and there’s a lot of them sitting on shelves going nowhere. Lowes really shot themselves in the foot by shelving kobalt for craftsman. Although the revenue generated from tools is a small portion of the overall net profit of the entirety of Lowes annual income, sbd craftsman being sold at Lowes isn’t how they should move forward into the future. If I were Lowes, I would ditch craftsman tools, take it on the chin, and move on by getting rid of all the craftsman tools as quickly as possible so I could at least break even and get kobalt tools back on my shelves which I know is going to generate profits. And it’s too late in the game for any USA made craftsman tools to get Lowes back in the black. They reestablished the same garbage that was being sold at Sears through Lowes and people know it. Just because ownership changed didn’t mean that quality did. Now Lowes has to suffer because of it and it plays a role in occurrences such as huge layoffs like the one we’re reading about.
Matt
Lowe’s issues pre date anything related to Craftsman, SBD or Sears. They still have Kobalt power tools. Just not hand tools. I highly doubt Kobalt hand tools were going to change anything one way or another even if they were to restock them on the shelves again. It wasn’t until the Craftsman store make over a few months ago that our Lowe’s actually became a nice place to shop.
Lowe’s nor anyone else can put this on SBD’s efforts towards Craftsman or lack of current USA Craftsman product. And I want USA Craftsman, but Kobalt was as Chinese as the rest.
Kent
One of the benefits of living in a small town is the lack of HD (although we got one a few years ago) and Lowes. Instead, we have a handful of really good local hardware stores with good prices and selection.
Edwin C.
I’m aware that I’m running a lot more security apps than most, but I find it interesting that even with all of them turned OFF I get a “you are not authorized to access this server” message every time I access http://www.lowes.com with Firefox. If I can’t see what’s available, and if my local store(s) stock it, I’m certainly not going to drive there to find out.
I can access it with Edge but anything Microsoft is a security nightmare so I don’t.
I wonder who’s doing IT for Lowe’s – third party, in-house or Mrs. Callahan’s 2nd grade class at Podunk Elementary?
Bryan
Seems like Lowes is slowly starting to follow Sears into the abyss. May take a long time but it’s headed that way.
Rob Walker
I shop at both HD (or as my kids call it, “Homey Deeps”) and Lowes. HD is my go to for most items, but Lowes carries some brands that I like (Mapei and Legrande Adorne) that HD doesn’t. So I choose the store based on the project I am working on, and what I need.
HD does have a good rental unit that I have used quite a bit.
In terms of power tools, I usually get them online or at HD. I’m not impressed with Lowes curious choice of promoting the Porter Cable and Craftsman brands. That stuff is strictly homeowner grade. If I’m looking for a bargain priced tool, I find Ryobi acceptable, so HD wins there. But neither store carries some of the more esoteric tools I like (Festool, Stabilia) so I get those elsewhere.
In terms of staffing, the guys and gals at HD have been there for a long while, and they can be helpful, but to be honest, I rarely interact with staff other than the cashiers. I research the products I am looking at in advance of going to the stores.
Oh, and here’s a good tip. Never wear an orange polo shirt when shopping at HD. You will get asked a million questions from customers.
Benjamen
Yeah, I made the mistake of wearing khaki pants and a red shirt to Target once. I’ll never make that mistake again. I told 4 different people in a matter of 5 minutes I didn’t work there. I ended up helping a few people find things in the end.
Coach James
I could not read the WSJ article, but found several others on the same topic. Lowes is doing what many other retailers did long ago in using outside companies to do assembly and maintenance. There was not enough assembly to make it profitable enough in house, so Lowes moved it to outside service companies. Maintenance could be done cheaper and more efficiently by an outside company so it was also farmed out. It has nothing to do with Craftsman, SBD, China, etc..
Jim Barnhart
Our Lowes, 32724, almost always has people we can ask for help. They are friendly and helpful, and they let my wife take her Labrador in the store.
HD is also good, but it is harder to find an employee to show us where items are located. Lowe’s offers me a military discount, both in store and online. HD has it in store only. There are no Menards here so I don’t know them.
We find that each store brand here has some things that excel the other.
Hang Fire
I originally switched to Lowe’s when the contractor managed hardware bins were devoid of nuts and bolts, and the staff did nothing to remedy the situation for months. That was 20 years ago.
Local Lowe’s staff is polite and helpful, the big if is finding one.
Hang Fire
Switched from HD, that is.