Officially, Home Depot’s “Special Buy Deal of the Day” deals end at 4am ET, according to all the countdown and expiration notices that are posted on their site.
Sometime during the 2016 holiday season – yes, 2016 – I noticed that the promo prices seem to have expired after 3am ET, even though the countdown timer still hadn’t reached zero yet.
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Last night, I was up working on some things and also debating what to do about the disappointing “free tools, gimme” type giveaway entries we’ve been receiving. (Saying “yes” or “who doesn’t like free tools,” or “want moar toooools” doesn’t answer the “why do you want to win this particular prize package” part of the giveaway entry conditions.)
I noticed that it was after 3am ET, and I thought it was a good time to recheck Home Depot’s deal of the day countdown timer.
Well, there were 44 minutes left on the countdown timer, but all of the deals I checked had been bumped up in price, back to their previous promo or regular pricing levels.
So, observationally, Home Depot’s Deal of the Day Special Buy pricing looks to expire at 3am ET. Maybe earlier? Certainly not 4am ET.
Some of you are up late, or really early, and do your online shopping at those times. At least one reader complained to me about this promo timing discrepancy in the past year. Maybe you noticed it too, but shrugged it off.
As far as problems with the world or retailers go, this is a pretty small one. Still, maybe someone at Home Depot will read this post and fix whatever issue is going on. Either the deals are set to expire at the wrong time, or the timer is set to count down to the wrong time. I should also point out that the promos cycle over at 4am ET every day.
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The point of this post is to 1) reach someone at Home Depot’s online team that can put a fix into motion, and 2) bring it to your attention, because. I can’t be the only one who has taken advantage of tool deals less than an hour before they are set to end.
HV
I’m a big HD fan and buy most of my tools from them. I’m guessing this is a programming error or oversight. Given the expiration time is in the middle of the night when most people are not shopping, I doubt it’s part of a scheme to make a few extra bucks…
Nevertheless, things like that are annoying!
(Btw: I noticed a similar problem with how they calculate return windows for online orders. I had an item where the clock started from the moment of order, even though the item was not shipped or made available for pick up until later…)
Stuart
I assume the same. No doubt Home Depot.com has a very complex backend. All it takes for an error like this is one daylight savings setting, or other simple setting somewhere, disagreeing with another. Or it could be one server is in Atlanta, another in a central time zone.
I always appreciate it when people point out ToolGuyd errors to me. Otherwise how do I know to fix them? With Home Depot, I don’t have direct or even indirect contact to the people who can fix this, and so a public post seemed to be the best way to get the message across.
And if it doesn’t get fixed, then I have a post I can point to when I post about HD deals and mention a different expiration time than the one they publicize.
fred
I thought that the Great Western fixed that problem in the 1840’s so you didn’t arrive in Bath earlier than when you left London. All kidding aside – a programming algorithm should be able to distinguish between EDT and EST. Regarding other “clock’s” – Amazon says that they bill you when the item ships. Determining the time of that event – with some third-party vendors – may be tricky when they equate and report shipping with creation of a mailing label.
Jim Felt
fred.
I’ve always imagined Methuselah was a myth or like a chimera but here you be! But the “Great Western”?!
Great Scott! as the Professor would say to Michael J. Fox.
fred
My wife and I have taken the Great Western at least 4 times – out of Paddington to Bath, to Cardiff, to Oxford and to Truro and then on to Penzance.
FD
There have been other merchants and manufacturers too that go by the order date, never mind the fact there can be weekends and holidays delaying processing, out of stock delays, slow shipping, pickup delays, installation delays, …
Have had that with renovations and appliance warranties.
Adabhael
If I were a betting man, I would say this is a timezone plus daylight savings programming error. No less annoying, and should be fixed, but as my dad always says we should not ascribe to malice what can be more easily explained by incompetence.
Sco Deac
It is a time zone issue. It was likely programmed based on expiring at say 9:00 am UTC (universal time, coordinated or zulu). When the eastern US observes daylight savings time, it is UTC-4; and during standard time, it is UTC-5. If the coding is based on a fixed time, like UTC, the time we notices the expiration will change one hour based on the daylight savings/standard time observation.
firefly
I think you are right! That’s funny because I am a software developer so now I am thinking of what would be an elegant way to solve this problem.
It’s fairly easy to fix this bug once the developer are aware of the problem and have it working good enough (ie working most of the time of the year) but there is still some potential edge case on the days DST switch back and forth.
Adam
Not sure why this popped in my head while trying to fall asleep last night, but would any of this time zone / daylight savings really be the problem? As this early expiration has happened ALL YEAR long? I would think half the year it would be correct, and the other half not , but that’s defiantly not the case.
Chad
was gonna say its prob programmed with utc time and no one really checked it out properly !!
Sco Deac nailed it !!
James R.
In regard to your comment about the giveaways…
What is your normal view count for a new post during the first 24 hours?
I’ve been on your site for over a year now, and I typically see 5-30 comments on new posts.
However with these giveaways, I’m seeing hundreds of names and replies from people that I’ve never seen comment.
I have some relatives that are hyper-greedy and “flippers.” They’ll take anything for free, with the sole intention of selling it after they get it. I can’t obviously prove anyone is doing that in regard to the give-aways, however if they aren’t meeting your requested criteria (aka, they didn’t read the article, didn’t read the instructions) then perhaps there should be another way to do the giveaways that would exclude the “masses.”
Personally, I entered for two of the contests; the two that interested me and would benefit me personally. But I could have easily said “I’d love to try some red tools and having a compact screwdriver set would be awesome for changing out wall plates and electrical plugs.”
In the end, you have loyal returning viewers, people who participate in the comments as well as the forums, and then there are the people that show up purely for the giveaways.
It sucks that you’re being tremendously generous and awesome with all of the giveaways, and you’re being assaulted with greed.
FM2176
I feel much the same way about the spike in comments during giveaways, having been a regular visitor for over three years. I thought about entering l the Bosch 12v Max giveaway as I have exactly one tool in that system, but I also drills and drivers on a few other platforms. The Milwaukee M12 tools would be nice to own, but I’d need batteries and they would be the fourth 12v system I’d have, so instead I’ve refrained from entering any of the giveaways. Other regulars (some who may not be regular commenters) can probably use the giveaway tools more than I can.
It’s a shame that some of those trying to win free stuff are doing so in an attempt to profit off of it.
firefly
I think you brought up a good point. Not everyone who frequent the site is a frequent commenters. Some of us are just more vocal than other.
I only entered 3 out of the 5 because I feel bad too :))) I do happen to own both the Bosch and Milwaukee 12v system though.
SteveB
I frequent regularly, but rarely comment as usually anything I would have to add to the conversation already has been addressed in the comment section…
Tim
It’s to be expected when giving something away for free. Everyone and their mother shows up for that. In all honesty, I’m surprised there aren’t more entries (3-500ish when I typed this comment).
I assume the giveaway’s purpose is partially to drive more eyes to the site as well? So it’s not fair to be upset that part of the “masses” might get it.
It is funny (actually sad) how many people can’t even be bothered to read the instructions though.
Jim Felt
Sounds like a good demographic cross sectional description of voting age Americans…
(Just an innocent observation). ;-)~
Stuart
These giveaways are to get older and unneeded test samples into new hands.
I’d get more eyeballs if I spent all the shipping fees I’ll incur on Google or Facebook ads.
Chris Gutierrez
True, but you get more “excited” eyeballs with give away’s.
I check the sight multiple times a week and read every main post, but rarely comment. So a give away doesn’t increase my number of visits.
But, it does something else, it creates an excitement of “what if?”
What if I win? what would i use the tools for, what have i been wanting to do. Maybe a new 12v tool set that I don’t have, which other system tools would I want? I should probably read more about them….on toolguyd.
at least for me, no google / facebook add will create that “what if” excitement
So for that, thank you for giveaway’s and not for simple advertising, (even if i don’t comment regularly or have the best entry comments)
Bill K
James R., I took Stuart’s “disappointment” comment a little different than you. My assumption was Stuart was hoping that reader interest and comments would be much higher than that shown to date. I expect typical readership hits on ToolGuyd posts are much higher than the comments received on the giveaways to date, which is good for ToolGuyd. Stuart might be thinking, why go to the trouble of the giveaway if only a few people are interested?
Another perspective on the low giveaway comment numbers might be readers are holding out for something they really want and not commenting on every giveaway. This is what I’ve done, as I’d expect a winner would be excluded from future giveaway eligibility.
James R.
“Last night, I was up working on some things and also debating what to do about the disappointing “free tools, gimme” type giveaway entries we’ve been receiving. (Saying “yes” or “who doesn’t like free tools,” or “want moar toooools” doesn’t answer the “why do you want to win this particular prize package” part of the giveaway entry conditions.)”
I think he clearly indicates he was disappointed with the people just grabbing at free things, rather than people who actually want the tools and can articulate a use for them.
Troy
I’m a little perplexed by the “requirement” to comment for entry overall. I am a tool enthusiast, hence the reason I frequent and really enjoy this site. I comment semi-regularly. Some of the tools in the giveaways I personally think we would just be awesome to try and could work as great alternative set-ups in other places I need tools. Is that greedy? I don’t know. I certainly don’t NEED any of them (at least according to my wife).
I suppose if the giveaway is need based, then that should be more prominent. If the giveaway is loyalty based, then limit it to registered users or something. If the comments requirement is derived to drive-up user activity, there has to be some expectation of lame responses.
James R.
Purely speculating, but the comments part of the entry is likely to weed out “bots” from just filling out the Google form repeatedly for free entries.
Stuart
“Some of the tools in the giveaways I personally think we would just be awesome to try and could work as great alternative set-ups in other places I need tools.”
That’s a good entry comment.
“Yes.”, “MOAR TOOLS”, or”free tools, whee!” are not.
I read EVERY comment, or at least I make an effort to. If I’m going to go through the effort to host a giveaway, whether I pay to ship it out or not, the least I could ask is a little effort from an entrant.
Not many people realize it, but I learn an immense amount of information from comments.
How ToolGuyd readers use their tools, what they use them for, which brands they like, why they want a particular tool, why they don’t already have a particular tool, and so forth.
If you look at my past giveaways, there’s always that informational or experiential component.
If someone simply enters a giveaway with “count me in,” what’s there to learn? What insight does that give me? What’s the takeaway for me?
I like giving away tools, but when I see a “count me in” and nothing else, where’s the appreciation? I don’t need a “thank you” to put a smile on my face. I need a “I keep bothering my brother’s oscillating multi-tool, and winning this will make him happy,” or a “my STEM students are hard on my tools, and I could use some new ones just for them,” or even “Some of the tools in the giveaways I personally think we would just be awesome to try and could work as great alternative set-ups in other places I need tools.”
Giveaways are absolutely new opportunities for a winner to try something new.
There’s nothing greedy about entering a giveaway for tools that someone wants but doesn’t necessarily need.
I don’t want to send tools to someone that just wants to flip them on Craigslist. Or someone who just sees “free” and wants their name thrown in the hat.
All those kinds of comments are disheartening. Worse is when they copy and paste the same thing 6 times over.
A W
I apologise for some of my comments that were very brief. I didn’t see a deadline, was between work assignments, and wanted to make sure I signed up for each of the giveaways that I felt I could use. On some of them I put more thought into the comment, on some I didn’t.
I would love to have some more 12v tools as they’re smaller, lighter, and better suited for some tasks than my m18 set. Even just having a 12v Craftsman drill that stays next to be work bench had been really helpful when my m18 tools are in a construction zone. But whether that second set of tools is Bosch, Milwaukee or Craftsman doesn’t make a big difference to me in the giveaways. I would be thrilled with (and would put to good use) any of them.
Reading through the comments, I saw a lot of people that were really excited about the prospect of entering a drawing for free tools, and a lot of short replies. Are some of those respondents freeloading? Possibly. But I think a lot of people just wanted to make sure they got a comment in on the giveaways they felt they could use.
Sometimes I take time to mull over the comment I actually want to leave and it ends up being late
Stuart
AW, one of your comments might have been a little… inelaborate, but the others were okay.
But you’re also a regular commenter. It’s not your comment that threw up “what’s up with these “gimme gimme gimme” comments red flags.
A W
Ok thanks Stuart.
firefly
I thought most of the comments were decent enough. I can’t read Stuart mind so I don’t know what he have in mind but I thought this was a few (lots) fun giveaway to Toolguyd readers of all kind.
As far as need base, that’s always a difficult one to judge. Just because somebody can articulate their need better that doesn’t mean they are more deserving. Just because somebody seem more needy that also doesn’t mean they are more deserving. For example, who deserve more help, a single mother who work two job to make ends meet so her kids can have nice things vs a strong able homeless that doesn’t work?
Stuart
Nope, it’s the “I don’t want it, but gimme, free free free” that’s behind some of the invalid comment entries.
Such attitudes insult the time and effort that my contacts put into arranging for the samples, and in my efforts to pass them along to new ready and willing hands.
I don’t want to pay to send these tools to someone who doesn’t know what they’d use them for, I want to send them to someone who will put them to good use.
Stuart
James,
Without actually looking at real numbers, here’s a hypothetical:
Let’s say 100 people read a post. 10 might comment.
Let’s say 100 people read a giveaway post. 10 regular commenters might enter, 8 less vocal commenters might enter, 7 first-time commenters might enter.
Some people like to read, others like to engage and discuss.
Not all giveaways are going to be open like these. The ones where I will have to spend a lot more on shipping are going to be different.
Patrick H
I think another point of view to consider is that some is that even though you may hope that these go to someone who appreciates them, you never know what can happen. Perhaps I don’t have enough cynicism in this world and humanity but I am faithful that things such as this will benefit someone down the line. You never know what circumstances might be going on in the lives of anyone who posts. The father who works three jobs and took 10 seconds on his break to post in hopes of winning something for his teenage son etc. That free tool could end up in the hands of that fathers son and be the start of a life time of creating. I like to try and see the good outcomes rather than worry about the bad ones. Even if someone were to “flip it” that tool still can end up in the hands of someone who appreciates it, just a little further down the line. You do a great job Stuart, don’t let the what if’s nag at you too much.
Andrew
I also visit almost daily but rarely comment as in most of these areas I consider myself a novice. But I have learned quite a bit and appreciate
The site and the comments! I didn’t enter any of the contests in the end as I’ve just been too busy at work to create a positive response. I think the winner being picked at random may suggest to some that the quality of the post may not matter.
Stuart
Quality aside, “toooooooools” doesn’t fulfill entry requirements.
John Sullivan
Damn it… not only did I laugh inappropriately (in a meeting where I should have been paying attention to the speaker) after reading that comment, now the notion is stuck in my head. If somebody observes me walk into the shop shouting “ToooOOOOoooooooools!” this weekend, you can blame Stuart’s comment above.
Well, that and my limited impulse control. But mostly Dr. Stuart.
“TOOOOOOOOOOOOOOLS!”
Toolfreak
It’s probably the time zone/programming issue as stated above, but all limited-time deal offers always have terms and conditions that state they can end at any time by the retailer for any reason without prior notice to the customer so when stuff like this happens, the customer doesn’t have much a case, even though it is pretty reasonable to expect a major retailer to end the deal offer when they say they will and not before, especially if the items are still available.
Really, it’s in their best interest to fix this stuff, because at least a few of the sales for limited-time offers do occur in the last hour or two when there’s a time limit, and especially when there’s a countdown timer, making it easy to see how much time is left to get in on the deal. I’m pretty sure they hardly sell any of the same item once the price goes up, for at least some time afterwards, because who wants to pay that much more for something that was just available at a much lower price?
Adam
I take sometimes all day to debate weather to buy something or not, and because of their worthless countdown timer, I’ve missed out.
What is the point of a countdown timer if you don’t follow it? It’s similar to ebay sending you a promo that has a 8am expiration, but only gives you the day it expires on. So not helpful, at least from a customer satisfaction aspect.
Eric
It seems like it would be tough to regulate open giveaways. I can see the disappointment though. I entered the three giveaways that had things I did not already own and could use, although all would be duplicates in some way. I imagine most readers of a tool site already have a fair amount of hardware.
I started reading this site around the time I bought my house, and I am very thankful for the information I got from it. I could make arguments that it both saved and cost money… I am DIYing more than I thought I would, and getting a lot of satisfaction from it (and getting things done exactly how we wanted). I comment rarely, read often, appreciate constantly.
Craig
I noticed this issue in the past so decided to search the page for fine print and this is what is posted at bottom (copied and pasted from HD webpage):
* Online Only. While Supplies Last. Countdown clock is based on Eastern Standard Time (EST). All offers reset at 3 AM ET, 12 AM PST, 1 AM MST & 2 AM CST
Adam
That seems like a version of bait & switch. Everyone talks about correcting the timer based of UTC time programming, but sounds like they should really just make it a 23 hour countdown timer.
When the fine print contradicts what the main customer sees as the promotion, that seems very non-consumer friendly.
I’ll go back to eBay with their gift cards (extremely unhappy with them currently). Their first FAQ question about GCs states the only restrictions are both being able to buy other gift cards, coupons, bullion, and similar. Come to find out they only out a 1/3 of the correct answer. If you read the legal print, it restricts using on seller fees & can’t use with any promotions (so worse than cash/credit). Now what prevents them from including the real answer on the easy to read FAQ, it’s only your#1 question on there.
Sorry, again getting OT, but seems these big companies don’t care about what appears to them as not a big deal and continue to not fix the problem.
firefly
To make the correct count down timer, you still need to start with the correct start time. So if the start time is calculate wrong. The problem still there it just manifest itself in a different way (ie promotion end early/start early ).
Thought you brought up the timer, that actually bring up a very fundamental issue with programming that new programmer tend to miss. The code is only as good as the requirement. The count down timer , as you correctly suggested, is indeed an elegant way to solve the problem. However it fall more the requirement/design than the coding. It’s how the problem being look at.
firefly
As far as the give away, so the key word is “want” isn’t I want more tool is also a want?
Perhaps you were wishing that what their want are also based on a need or pending project? I am a tinkerer, I am not a professional. So I don’t have an immediate need for every tool. But if this is my line of work I would think that I would already have most if not all of the required tool already. For example I would like to have the impact wrench in the M12 package. Can I do without it? Certainly, I have a breaker bar. Would it make it more convenience? Yes. I also don’t have any immediately pending project since it has been rather cold lately in Texas.
I am just curious, what sort of comments/entries were you hopping to get?
Stuart
I’ve looked at your entry comments, and see nothing wrong with them. If you keep one or two tools from a prize package and spread the others around, that’s A-OK.
Each of your comments teaches me something different, and you have a demonstrated interest in winning the prize packages and not just because they’re free.
My disappointment is in the comments that look like this: “me toooo!”.
“Why not?!” is NOT a valid entry.
My disappointment perhaps stems from the fact that this has never happened before. In the past, I could count on one hand how many invalid or shallow entries there were. This time, there are dozens.
Maybe it’s because I have to read and manually approve first-time commenters who are leaving similar comments for multiple giveaways?
Erik
I worked at a Fortune 100 tech company and we had an internal mail classified mail list. Many people used it to give things away to fellow employees.
People began to find the products they were giving away for free were later being resold through other channels.
I’m not sure if its worth your time to do anything to try to solve this problem for your situation but I solved it by offering everything for $5 and when they came to pick it up the item I gave it away for free. I was always asked why and when I explained it to them…they always said they thought it was a great idea and would start doing something similar.
fred
I think that I’ve commented before, that in the Boy Scouts, my Troop leadership council and I learned to never offer a free trip – even if we were planning to do just that. Getting a deposit seemed to help insure that interest was genuine and the folks who signed-up would show up – or have a legitimate reason for bailing out. If we had done a fundraiser and had enough to cover one or more events – we might issue coupons that were redeemable to defray the cost of the events – but even with that stratagem – folks would feel they had “some skin in the game.”
With contests, sweepstakes or prize giveaways there are all sorts of rules and regulations such that a giveaway not be construed as a lottery – which is illegal to run – unless you happen to be a governmental entity.
firefly
Stuart,
Fair enough, since my comments on some of the entries fall on the short side. I was concerned that it might fall into the disappointment pile. It’s not so much that I am concern about my particular chance of winning but more so on the principle of it regarding comments that are similar to mine. In short my concern is that sometimes by trying to be fair we inadvertently handicap certain demographic in an unfair way. Sometimes it’s better just to let nature run it course. I am glad that doesn’t seem to be the case here.
Perhaps the spike on the “invalid entries” stem from the fact that your site is getting more popular so that’s just what come with the new territory?
A W
For me personally, I think it was the fact that there were multiple exciting offers and I wanted to make sure I signed up for each of them that I wanted.
If it had been one post with 5 different options and you had said: pick which one(s) you would use, and explain why you would want it, my response would have been much more articulate.
I refresh toolguyd multiple times each day, and to see half a dozen new posts, all giveaways, resulted in me feeling rushed through the responses.
I certainly understand how that could be discouraging though.
Chris Gutierrez
A W,
I think I had the exact same reaction. I remember when the flex volt give-away was ongoing. I must have re-written my response 5 times trying to be sure I had the right answer for me. This was because you had to choose between 4 or 5 items. I remember I wanted the 20v / 60v power station.
Today I popped in some quick answers for 4 of the contests, not “me too” but still much sorter than the flex volt contest.
Stewart,
Don’t take this as too many give-a-ways, keep them coming! they are fun. you could give away carpenters pencils and I would be excited to enter, primarily because I can never find one when I need one.
IJK
Similar problem for me. I work nights, and this site is one of the first things i check when i wake up before going to work. Waking up at 3pm, only to see a bunch of giveaway bundles, with a deadline of midnight that same night, made me feel like I had to rush through to make sure I got my entries in before work. Maybe do the giveaways as a week long thing? Or make the winner responsible for the shipping, at least for the smaller items like these? Even $20 for shipping would be a criminal deal for these giveaways.
To be fair, I would be giving away most of whatever I received, since I honestly do have a fairly well stocked tool collection due to my job. But not everyone I know has the same collection, nor the same budget, so they would be the ones to receive them (and hopefully cut down on the amount of loaning I do….)
IJK
*Since I can’t edit my previous comment*
Good idea on lumping it as a single giveaway post with multiple bundles. Pick one, explain why. Cuts down on the spam and would also have the automatic benefit of each person only having the chance to win once, guaranteed. Would also require a bit more thought from the poster beyond “it’s the one I feel is most expensive.”
Stuart
I considered that, but realized it would have been a big mess to have 6 giveaways in a single post.
I should have spaced the 6 giveaways across 6 days of the week, but I was impatient and didn’t want to waste time.
Erik
i’ve been bitten twice by this. Once of those times it was close to to exactly 24 hours earlier. Both times I called customer service and both times I was told that all deals are subject to available inventory. Both times a number of product deals went available at about the same time.
Apparently lots of people shop after midnight and arrange their purchases to exhaust supply on many products at the same time.
Mmm Hmm.
michaelhammer
I’m surprised that some commentators give Home Depot the benefit of the doubt. They don’t care. Their search engine is abysmal. Pretty sure the people writing the search algorithms don’t know how to describe the items. The staff is just as bad or worse. I was in there this morning and couldn’t find luan. I asked the kid in lumber and instead of giving a respectable answer like, “I didn’t know,” he told me the store didn’t carry it anymore. Luan, they don’t carry luan. I finally found it on the third tier in the lumber isle. Dumb me for hoping and praying I’d actually get some help from an orange apron. Sorry to complain, but the opportunity presented itself.
firefly
What state/area of home depot are you talking about? My local Home Depot and Lowes do have very good staffs. Personally I have found the home depot search engine to be pretty decent. At least I haven’t had any issue trying to locate whatever that I was trying to find.
Just out of curiosity, how is your local Lowes compare to your local HD? If your local Lowes is a lot better then perhaps it’s a management issue. If not then perhaps it’s a town/area issue.
If it’s an employee issue I am the type that would ask them nicely to fix their attitude or I’ll raise hell with management. I don’t mind somebody don’t know something. I do mind if somebody blatantly lied to me. Again I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt. For some people it’s their first job or first decent job and they are afraid to get fire. I can understand that and I am willing to guide them in the right direction. For some though they lied when they feel that they can, especially if they think that they can pull a one over on you. I always file a formal complain and I will follow up on it when it come to those kind of people.
The above only work when it come to an isolated employee. Some of the store (not just HD in particular) in certain area are so run down that I feel that doesn’t matter how much I try it won’t make a different. Those are the case where I just chart it up to experience and let it go…
jec6613
Yeah, the HD website is garbage. Coded inefficiently, runs like crap on anything that’s not Apple, search is terrible, and nobody checks their work. Oh, and it’ll randomly ship things to another store than you ordered them to. It’s definitely a DST issue, and it indicates that somebody just ran a GMT-28800 for one, and an actual time zone calculation for another piece of code. Rather than, you know, just source it from the same point like proper software does.
As odd as this sounds, Sears has a better website – and lately higher quality tools (I’ve had a lot of Husky stuff break the first time out).
As for the entries … mine are brief, but I don’t really, “need,” any of it. I’d like the pliers, I’m honestly most excited about the idea of having the hand tool set for that reason alone – for the power tools I only entered the DeWalt, because every power tool I own now is DeWalt; and the Craftsman 12V set because I know I’d actually use them and the other 12V sets were kinda overkill … oh, and that I have a Sears nearby so I can actually source batteries and accessories. 🙂
Josh A
It’s been interesting to read through the variety of comments posted in this particular thread and I have to confess that I am guilty of being a regular reader but a rare commentator as some of the others have said, my questions are often already answered. I hadn’t thought about, as Stuart pointed out, the aspect of what he learns about his readership from the comments that people make on the work that he does.
I own and operate a handyman business and have found ToolGuyd to be a wealth of knowledge and information, basing almost all of my tool purchases in the last couple of years on what I learn from reading his posts and the comments made by others.
I often recommend the site to people who ask me any sort of tool purchasing question as a excellent point of reference.
The webpage is saved at the top of my favorites on my phone and gets checked just about every day for new content and I will certainly endeavor to be more diligent to contribute my opinions and experiences when I feel that I can speak to whatever the subject is at hand.
avi
Another avid reader and rare commenter here, and part of that is because as has been said before, whatever I thought to contribute was already said before. And as I can tell from reading comments I am one of the less experienced readers here, so I tend to bow before the wealth of knowledge before me.
James
I have noticed that about the Home Depot daily deals. It’s somewhat annoying to miss out on something by an hour or even a day…
Which brings me to your tool giveaway….
I have been an almost daily reader of your site for the last 2 years, commented on numerous posts, engaged with other commenters and read almost all the articles, etc… basically I’ve been a contributing reader of this site.
I was upset to see the one day I didn’t come to the site, happened to be the one day all the giveaways were done. Looking at the entries I see hundreds of comments from names I NEVER see commenting on your normal posts, and likely many of them are one person creating dozens of accounts.
These people basically search for giveaways, they even have forums to share giveaways they find (just found that out actually), which is a shame. A ton of people who have no interest in your site, or any other they go to, just come to sign up for the giveaways…. way lame in my opinion!
While I’m obviously upset I missed out on the giveaways for personal reasons too! (Who doesn’t love free tools, especially when your a young woodworker/metalworker just starting out and you can’t afford ‘nice new’ tools) – I am also just annoyed by the hoard of people who apparently go around the internet spamming entries into every single giveaway they can find without ever contributing to that site. Giveaways are typically a way to attract new readers and/or reward regular readers or viewers of a certain site or channel (for YouTube). So, when you have people who show up by the thousands just to enter a giveaway, and then never come back, it kind of defeats the purpose!
The issue is (from what I can tell) calling it a giveaway or one of those key words makes sure it will end up in a google search. That in turn makes it easier for these “giveaway or freebie trolls” to find and then share with their Troll buddies! Other sites combat this by not using these typical keywords that the trolls search for. They instead just say something like “who wants a dewalt drill?” In the title… just a suggestion! YMMV
Anyway, I know it’s too late! But, if I were to enter for one of these giveaways it would have been the Milwaukee setup.
I have a prehistoric fossil of a Dewalt 18v drill and impact set that I use now, and understandably have been wanting to replace. However, as I am in my 20s and a single father, my money needs to go other places first. Not wanting to go into sappy details, it’s just me and my son on one income. Anyway, I make do with the dewalt stuff I have, and I’m lucky and thankful to have the amount of tools I do. I’ve found great deals and I am in no means lacking what’s necessary to delve into all my various hobbies (of which there are many, like a lot a lot)!!!!
But, if I had the money, I would definitely start investing in the Milwaukee line. Most likely the M12 normal and fuel stuff, as I am a self labeled “jack of all trades”. I have interests (read: obsessions) in everything from electronics to woodworking all the way to photography and everything in between! So, with the variety of tools offered in the m12 line (soldering irons, ratchets, heat guns, etc), it would be perfect for my needs. To be able to stay within one battery platform and keep costs down by buying bare tools when they go on sale would be great. I’m really excited about the M12 line. No matter what, when I find the budget, I will start investing!
Anyway, that WOULD have been my entry, had I not foolishly decided to not come to your site for a day or two! (#FacePalm) I’ll admit, I did visit the site when the very first giveaway with the dewalt pliers went up. Of course because I didn’t need any of those things, I didn’t enter… if only I’d known there would be Milwaukee m12 stuff!!! Noooooooooooo!!!
In conclusion…. keep up the good work! I love your site, but I do miss the reviews! They have been few and far between as of late. I liked when there was an article of some kind (not just a link to a deal) almost every day. That kept me coming back daily, sometimes 2-3 times a day even.
To be honest I liked your site so much when I first started reading it, I ended up going back to basically the very beginning, reading all the articles I found interesting. I particularly like the made In USA tool articles. However, the articles on Facom wrenches were the reason I started looking to build a set of them by finding deals on used ones on eBay.
Ok. I’m rambling now. Just wanted to get that off my chest.
Thanks,
James
A W
My Home Depot has a fantastic staff. I’d started going to Lowe’s more often once HD stopped matching the 5% card holders discount, but our store is really well managed and really well staffed. I now drive past Lowe’s to get to HD.
Bolt
Deals end at 1AM PST every day. I’ve ordered multiple times after midnight and before the change over. You need to change your local store to West Coast. Same if you change it to East Coast to preview deals before they’re live (if you’re not on the east coast).
Stuart
Either they added this to the end of the page, or it was always there, buried under a lot of non-special buy deal of the day stuff:
I have checked between 3am and 4am ET, and the deals are no longer valid. The countdown is to 4am ET every day. There’s definitely a discrepancy.