Keeping Menards honest

[jethrob]

I'm not sure if this had been discussed but I just discovered a little trick to get better deals on Menards stuff.

Turns out their stores are divided into "Northern" and "Southern" zones. I'm not sure if there are other "zones" or "markets".

The zones price items differently. It's not just insulation but lots of things, have noticed savings upwards of 20% on the same item with the different zones.

Also I've been able to get the stores to match the price from their other zones without problems.

All you have to do to check is go to Menards website and select a store from up North then one from down South.

I just kind of lucked into this because I live on the line between Northern and Southern zones and picked up on pricing differences walking around in the stores.

You can take these lights for example. $39.99 in Effingham,IL.
$32.98 in Evansville,IN.
http://www.menards.com/main/lightin...dem-t8-fluorescent-strip/p-1385175-c-7242.htm

The different zones hold different sales at the same time. If you are into reading flyers I would check both zones.

 

[tadwolfe]

Great news, will check this out next week. Thanks for the insight Op


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[pauls_workshop]

Thanks Jethro, that is good to know, which I didn't.

 

[tdkkart]

Don't know that zones have anything to do with it. People around here have found differences between the Cedar Rapids/Marion and Dubuque Ia stores for years. The stores are approx. 65mi apart. Some have even seen considerable differences in the 2 Cedar Rapids stores.

 

[pauls_workshop]

Hmmm, could well be like Lowes where each store is free to do what it wants more or less. I know HD also will vary prices by location. - Paul

 

[Super Sport]

I'm still trying to figure out what is dishonest about a retailer charging different prices in different regions...

 

[rodm1]

Lots of retailers do this Target is another one.

 

[Mumbly00]

All retailers do this Target is another one.

Fixed it for ya

 

[PugetDude]

Menards makes a lot of their high value-added products themselves- doors, cabinets, metal roofing and siding, trusses, etc. A lot of it is either manufactured at their plant in Eau Claire, Wisconsin or distributed from there. It might just reflect the cost of freight to the outlying stores. (They have recently opened new metal roofing plants in Ohio and Nebraska to be more competitive with local suppliers.)

 

[PugetDude]

I'm still trying to figure out what is dishonest about a retailer charging different prices in different regions...

It's the new low-information consumer mentality- people have been programmed to think that all retailers are dishonest and exist only to screw the consumer. Funny how gullible and easily led some folks are.

 

[Hillyard]

I live in Evansville, IN and our Menards rocks! It has to compete with a Home Depot and Lowes within less than 3 miles which may be why it's so competitive.

 

[BDAZSVT]

I live in Evansville, IN and our Menards rocks! It has to compete with a Home Depot and Lowes within less than 3 miles which may be why it's so competitive.

What are the odds I am in Eville also and SVT in my screen name

 

[jethrob]

Hmmm, could well be like Lowes where each store is free to do what it wants more or less. I know HD also will vary prices by location. - Paul

no it's not each store they are grouped up into zones. I'm not sure how many there are, at least two.

 

[jethrob]

Menards makes a lot of their high value-added products themselves- doors, cabinets, metal roofing and siding, trusses, etc. A lot of it is either manufactured at their plant in Eau Claire, Wisconsin or distributed from there. It might just reflect the cost of freight to the outlying stores. (They have recently opened new metal roofing plants in Ohio and Nebraska to be more competitive with local suppliers.)

nope, they are headed by different marketing teams- those lights are not made by Menards, and the company that does make them is actually farther away to the southern zone store which they are cheaper

 

[jethrob]

I'm still trying to figure out what is dishonest about a retailer charging different prices in different regions...

lighten up I was just trying to pass some info on to help your garage budget go further.

I just saved $70 with it on some lights.

 

[jethrob]

I just checked the Effingham store and they now have a sale going on and are the same price as Evasnville on those lights. If you look closer at the "everyday price" you will see it's different.

Last week Effingham was $39.99 on those.

Menards is very active at repricing things and creating sales, rebates, and different regular prices. If you keep a sharp eye you can catch the drops on certain things.
I'm talking building materials haven't looked much into tooling prices.

 

[diggerrick]

My local store frequently has un-adverstised specials - not sure if those are common to all stores or not. I've found several great deals that way.

 

[Letsgobowhunting]

lighten up I was just trying to pass some info on to help your garage budget go further.

I just saved $70 with it on some lights.

I hope you pull my name for the Christmas gift exchange. I love getting more for less. Great discovery. Home Depot.com is also a seperate company from Home Depot and they have a lot of price descrepancies that the local store will match.