Daniel replied to our newsletter, seemingly unhappy at its contents. His criticism touches upon an issue I am actually very sensitive about.
He wrote:
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Dear ToolGuyD:
It’s a pretty dumb idea to include the Home Depot Deals of the Day (2/5/2016) in this weekly update — since it expired 3 days before the e-mail was sent !
First, I’m sorry that you seem disappointed about this.
As an aside, how do I make it clearer that this is ToolGuyd, and not ToolGuyD? Someone wrote in recently, Hello D. This is a very common thing, indicating that the problem is possibly with how I wrote ToolGuyd, leading it to be read as ToolGuyD or ToolGuy’D.
Anyways…
I wouldn’t say it’s dumb for a weekly newsletter update to have expired deals. It is less than ideal, but unavoidable.
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You see, our daily and weekly newsletters automatically draw headlines and content from our RSS feed. This is how we have always done it.
And when you sign up for our newsletter, the daily and weekly email update newsletters options are described as automatic.
I try my best to get time-sensitive deal posts up before 11am ET, because that’s when the daily newsletters go out. Weekly newsletters go out on Mondays, same time.
As they’re automatically composed, weekly newsletters will include time-sensitive and even expired deals from the previous week.
There’s nothing that could be done about this.
Well, I shouldn’t say nothing. Technically, I could hire someone to be ToolGuyd’s newsletter guy (or gal), and task them with manually curating post update emails every week. But I’m not going to.
Besides, there’s still value in reading through an expired deal post, and the discussion that often follows in the comment section.
I try to include timing info for limited time deals in headlines, and sometimes the excerpts as well, which should help prevent any confusion. If you see a headline saying “deals of the day” and a past date, it’s reasonable to expect that the deal is over.
Even if you check ToolGuyd daily or several times a day, there’s a chance you could miss out on a limited time deal. The Ridgid pin nailer, from the other day’s deal of the day, had sold out quite early.
P.S. I’m still working to establish a regular custom-content newsletter, but it’s been slow to get the format and structure just right. Subscribe to our newsletter!! Once the look is coded to my liking, it’ll be easier and quicker to create custom newsletters on a regular basis. I think it’s been years since the last custom newsletter, hopefully the next one will be coming soon.
And if you have requests, complaints, or criticisms, please let me know. A lot of the time, reader feedback is the only way to know something needs to be fixed, tweaked, or added to the site.
Mike
Stuart, I am totally dismayed by your horrible, terrible, and frankly predatory response. There is only one appropriate, obvious, and ethical response: offer a full refund, Stua-pid!!!
Mr. Daniel’s nuanced yet necessary comment reminds me of the (far, far too)many comments/responses I’ve encountered on the Web, usually regarding political/social issues or media(and Amazon) reviews about ‘stupid’ this and ‘idiot’ that…delivered with awful grammar and spelling. I don’t claim to be perfect, but I don’t call Web-strangers disparaging names either.
Stuart
I know you’re kidding, but I meant this post as a frank and to the point explanation.
This is the first time anyone has complained about expired deals in the newsletter, but other readers and subscribers might feel the same way.
Before switching “Related Posts” services, I had a blacklist of categories that couldn’t be shown, such as deals and giveaways, because it had led to some confusion years ago, when expired deals and past giveaways were popping up as being related reads to current posts.
But with the newsletter, I take care to avoid daily emails from going out with expired deals, but there’s no reasonable action I can take to avoid the same in automatic weekly newsletters.
I didn’t take any offense to Daniel’s wording. While not the word I would have chosen, “dumb” got his point across quite effectively.
Adam
Dear ToolGuyd,
As a UK resident, I am frankly astounded that your website doesn’t provide tailored info-streams based on geographic location.
What is this ‘Home Depot’ you speak of? And where are the deal summaries for B&Q and Screwfix?
Shocking service.
Regards, Mr Grumpy.
Stuart
That’s actually a request I’ve received a couple of times.
Mike
In the ‘spanner’ section, obviously.
tim
Still wish there was a like button in the comments.
Brandon
I demand nothing less than a full refund of the $0.00 I have spent on your free-to-consume web content if this is the sort of free service I am going to receive.
Dan
Automatically-generated newsletters are great for reaching people who don’t want daily (or more frequent) updates. Can you provide an introductory sentence in the newsletter? “Remember, these emails are generated and sent automatically. For up-to-date news…”
I read the site name as “tool guy D” for a long time, which I thought was really weird since your name is Stuart and not Dan or Dave or similar. Somewhere I saw mention that it was to be pronounced “tool guide,” which suddenly made sense. This is actually the exact same problem I have with my business name: it’s mildly clever and informative but hard for people to understand without being told. I think our choices are to just stick with it or change the name.
max
I read it as “tool guy-ed” rather than “tool guide” at first. But then I got it short time later.
mike aka Fazzman
I’m not even gonna touch this one.
Stu keep doing what you are doing sir,your site is a great wealth of useful info.
Milwaukee tool Steve
First of All ToolGuyd Is the only site I go to to get information on anything tool!
This site is amazing it gives amazing reviews and authors spend hours/days to write these this may seem like an easy thing to do But It’s Not. so these authors deserve anything but complaints. but if I ever did find something wrong with the site I would probably nicely send an email on the issue in question. Now this might seem silly, but I never ever have used email to look at post I always just go to the site and look recent post.
#Best_Site_Ever_Stuart
Darth Hansen
Long time reader, first comment.
Don’t sweat this one. A free website can’t tailor every e-mail to every person’s needs. It takes very little reading comprehension to realize if a deal is still going or gone. Your headlines even have the deal date written on them. Unless you want to spend all your time working on pleasing people who don’t pay the bills, let this one go. Yes, some readers may unsubscribe, but that is their loss. This site is great, and even though I only own a handful of tools which almost never get used, I still come for good reviews and good information on upcoming items I’ll probably never buy.
Keep up the good work. God bless.
Stuart
Thank you and everyone else for the kind words!
Requests, criticisms, and complaints are always appreciated, and of course compliments too. =)
No, ToolGuyd cannot satisfy everyone’s technical needs and wants, but sometimes it is possible. This is one of those rare times when it’s not.
Milwaukee tool Steve
Your welcome Stu. and their are a few deals going on that some may not have known about
http://www.homedepot.com/b/Featured-Products-M12-Fuel-Plus-Bare-Tool/N-5yc1vZcd28
And many more others ive been watching.
mikeh
I think we are missing the point here (and for the record anyone that doesn’t get the “tool guy/guide” name play is not paying attention) – i like the deal posts even if they are expired, i am in home depot, lowes, etc alot and having the ability to price check current prices against an expired deal sometimes helps me decide if i’m going to wait purchase an item. we have the same issue in our business which is heavily email notification driven, people want every email tailored to their exact thinking which just isn’t going to happen – it takes 3.76 seconds to look at each item in your email update and determine if you are interested in that item and if not you move on or delete the email. if that is too much then unsubscribe from email notification and take the extra time to access the site and scroll through the topics…which i’m certain you would like people to do anyway….keep sending the comprehensive updates/notices
Richie
I always read the name as “Tool Guide” but thanks to this article “Tool Guy D” sticks in my head. Thanks Stu.
Bill
I don’t if your headphone model is your little one Stuart but it’s a great pic and he really seems in to his assignment.
max
I get the weekly update and click over to the site from there probably 9 months out of the year. When it is a tool holiday season (Nov/Dec and mid-May to mid-June) I probably visit the site daily to look at deals.
I was thinking a “Deals” newsletter would be nice, but there are so many deals that I personally don’t really care about that I think it would clutter the inbox (for example, as a DIY homeowner I don’t need another drill or any woodworking stuff). If I was that serious about it I would just sign up for the daily newsletter instead or visit every morning. Since I am not in a trade I don’t need to do that 9 months out of the year.
I love your reviews and deal posts. Keep up the good work.
Farid
Stewart,
My only compliant is that you seem to grow younger and we keep getting older. And for crying out loud, get a proper sized hearing protection!
🙂
John
Honestly Stewart I love your site and appreciate the incredible work it takes to keep it updated. I always considered this site great for research, reviews, and news. Sales announcements quite low on the list of priorities for me and only briefly look over only for the fact it may be something for sale I never knew about. I don’t get the criticism you received and it’s a very mild inconvenience to look at the site referenced and see if it’s expired or not. There are sales and aggregate deals websites dedicated strictly for those. I’d rather keep that separate and have you attribute your valuable and limited resources to tool reviews, news, learning, and teaching than you having to kill yourself keeping up with sales and deals. Don’t kill yourself man and don’t worry you’re doing a great job. Big fan here.
Jon
It is remarkable when people think that because a service is free that there is, therefore, no room to suggest improvements, and that any such suggestion is therefore terribly inappropriate. In this case the feedback included the phrase “dumb idea” (which is not entirely inaccurate if you aren’t aware of RSS-based content workflow), so I can see how that might upset some people, but even the most gushingly positive feedback which includes any notion of a possible improvement is usually met with this same response.
Apparently these people don’t realize that “this is how it’s done” is as vulgar a sound to some of us as any profanity ever was to anyone. There is always room for improvement in any system, organization, community, etc. And improvement works best when it is based on feedback. In this example there’s not much to be done, but I do wish people would relax a bit when someone suggests an improvement for a free service.
DaveZ
Personally I prefer the expired deals – they save me money and keep me from being stupid (by buying more tools that I don’t really need!)
So thanks Tool Guy D — keep up the good work!
(After this article, now I can’t un-see the “D”. haha)
John
The name doesn’t come on my radar as ToolguyD, toolGuyd or toolguyd it’s alway been and always will be ‘tool guide’!
But on Australian ebay when I receive sales info what annoys me is the number of lazy bums that cannot capitalise correctly or use capitals when spelling their own names and addresses. Either myself or my warehouse guy have to correct the mistakes for so many people it’s not funny anymore.
Yadda
What a dull world it would be if everyone liked vanilla. Love the website and the content. You please the majority, you’re doing better than average. I believe you are beating the average. Keep up the good work!
Fede
Thanks for all you’re hard work. I love the site and you’re alerts on deals are always on my list. Regardless if they’re late I usually check you’re site daily.
fred
Stuart:
I really like your ToolGuyd site – but being an old retired guy – with a pretty complete home shop – the deals (expired or otherwise) are mostly of academic interest to me. What I do like is that, while I’ve been buying tools for over 50 years, I still think that I learn something new about them every day – and your site content and reader comments really contribute to that learning process. I also think that I observe that you listen to and act upon your reader’s comments with due diligence.
So, keep up the good work!
Stuart
Thank you Fred, it means a lot coming from you!
Chris
“I’m sorry that you seem disappointed about this” is not an apology, it’s a deflection and a jab at Daniel. Ditto “seemingly upset.”
max
He is apologizing for something beyond his control. It is how the site is programmed combined with the option Daniel has selected. I don’t even think an apology is needed. It is definitely not a jab at Daniel. He was the one being insulting.
Keep up the good work, Stu!
ktash
I appreciate the expired deals as I refer to them when I see a deal for something. How close in price is the deal to that previous price? I’ve used this frequently especially around Father’s Day and Black Friday/holidays. I also refer to the comments sections of those posts.
I’ve used this site far more than any other to make decisions about tool purchases. Great site! Cute picture of your son. You could start another site, Toolkitd. What tools would you give your (grand)kid, and at what age?
Bill
ktash,
My 3 year old grandson loves his Pop-pop’s garage and tools so much that I have been buying him tools, yes all plastic, for over a year now. The only problem is that he now wants “real tools like Pop-pop has”. This past Halloween, at 2 years old, my daughter dressed him up with a tool belt, lighted hard hat, safety glasses & ear protection. He loved it. When one of my dogs died last year and he asked what happened, I told him; “Honey was very old and that his body just quit working”. My grandson then told me, “that’s ok Pop-pop, I’ll get my screwdriver and fix him”.
Jay
Stuart,
Grateful for your outstanding site and daily emails. I’ve had the good fortune to capitalize on a few of the daily deals. Keep up the good work.
FYI, regarding the complaints, I have a button for occasional use. It is called IG-nore.