Home Depot WTF?

[Just_George]

Sometimes I just don't understand those folks...

Stopped on the way home to pcik up a couple of items I need for tomorrow (not my 'regular' store) Browsing the isles in the tool department, I noticed on the bottom shelf 3 Husky right-angle die grinders, marked down to $14.80 from $49. Maybe not the greatest tool, but should meet my needs and the price is right. At the register, the cashier is having trouble getting it to ring up, so asks for assistance from the head cashier. It was coming up for $0.01 - she says anything that rings up for a penny they're not supposed to sell. Huh? Anyway, she says I can have it for that, but she needs to show it to the dept. manager so he can correct it.

I follow her over and talk to the manager as he's pulling the other 2, along with the price tag, off the shelf. Ask him what they're really selling for and where he's taking them. He says "When they're marked down to a penny, we throw them away" I offered him $5 each for the remaining 2, he wouldn't listen or even stop walking away..."can't do it" is all he said.

Can someone, anyone, explain to me how they benefit by throwing away things that they could get at least a little revenue out of? Makes absolutely no sense to me, not to mention being incredibly wasteful...

 

[JimmyTheMonkey]

Maybe it was a recalled item? That's the only justification I can think of for them not selling it to you or just donating it.

The time and energy going into selling you something would surely cost $.01.

 

[SweetD]

Yeah, the manager is probably "throwing them away" into the trunk of his car. Check your local craigslist later on...

Dave

 

[Ign]

That is weird. But maybe they're concerned about warranty claims on an item they sold for a penny or have concluded is defective and is likely to fail.

I've noticed things quickly go from the clearance area to just "****-gone" and I'm sure they didn't sell either because of their odd nature or quantity of the items. I always figured they were RTV'ing them but maybe they're just tossing them out. Home Depot dumpster diving??

 

[OccupantRJ]

Likely the vendor won't take them back at that point because the supply contract and planagram for that particular item has expired. If the store was to sell them, then they might have to eat any returns, instead of the vendor. Vendors eat a lot of returned product. The supply side of things to these major players is another world unto itself, and it is not in the vendor's favor.

 

[Fordman7795]

I believe i heard on here before that stuff that is marked down to a penny IS supposed to be thrown out and not sold. The reason, I do not remember. This story aligns exactly with what I remember a GJer talking about before.

 

[warmpancakes]

advance auto has the same policy but their price on items is .05

 

[6t5Goat]

If only you had gone through self checkout..

 

[trout]

If only you had gone through self checkout..

this.


when they were clearancing USA made Vaughn hammers a lot of them were coming up as a penny. after someone posted that in the hot deals thread I remember clearing out a couple of my local stores.

 

[rsanter]

Most store like that have deals with someone that will come in and buy the bins of defective merchandise for pennies on the wholesale dollar, but they have to buy it all no questions.
That is one source of all the clearance items you find in CL and eBay

Bob

 

[05r50]

Could be a lot of things. Company policies don't always make sense to us.

Wife processes returns for a different company. Required to throw out stuff all the time that gets returned. Various reasons. Part of her job is contact the supplier to request credit for the item to the store. When that happens, the supplier/vendor doesn't want it back but they sure don't want the store to profit twice. (Credit from supplier and Money from consumer).

Other times it has to be crushed because they cant risk the liability of the item being tampered with or unsafe because it was returned. Lawsuits happen whether we like it or not.

It's a shame. Lots of good stuff gets destroyed every week.

 

[SlowAl]

I suppose the real question then is why would they leave that stuff in the store taking up shelf space and having to explain to customers each time they try to buy it instead of clearing it all out as soon as they mark it down to that point?

 

[djb2]

My only $0.01 was with light bulbs. They were already on the clearance shelf at under $1, so it wasn't an obvious pricing error.
I routinely use the self checkout, as it lets me more easily verify the price.

The theory about avoiding warranty claims shouldn't apply to light bulbs. Pretty much no one would expect a store to warranty those.

 

[jakemac]

I used to process returns for defective or recalled items at a store I worked for (not HD). Once we got the credit confirmation, I was required to throw the item out. Sometimes it would take up to a month. I would have to sit on the stock until the paperwork came through.

After I got the confirmation, a lot of times I would give the item to one of our regular contractors or customers to foster customer good will. Sometimes an employee. Often, the item would only need a minor repair. As long as there weren't any safety concerns, I figured giving the item away was cheaper than paying a dumpster fee based on weight. That's pretty much the same reason the vendor doesn't want the item shipped back to them, they don't want to pay the shipping fees for a "disposable" item.

Sometimes, the vendor requires proof of disposal before they will issue a credit. That may be why the manager wouldn't sell you the item. However, he should have taken a moment to explain. Turning your back on a customer isn't a good customer relations policy.

 

[G_P]

HD throws away tons of items like this every day. The amount of waste is shameful.

Sent via carrier pigeon.

 

[24ModelTFord]

If only most poeple could see what gets tossed out. I worked for a company that had a contract woth Kubota. We recieved 100 4 cylinder deisel engines deemed as "scrap" because they had gotten wet in shipment, and the exhaust ports weren't covered. They sent a rep over and watched as we blew a hole in the block and tossed the entire engine - injectors, pumps, and all, right into the scrap bin.

 

[mech-tech]

I was told at my local home improvement store, not HD, that certain employees were buying clearance item tools and selling them on the internet and profiting because employees always get first chance to buy clearance items before the new price tags were advertised.

Needless to say, they no longer have low clearance prices like they used too.

 

[jhelrey]

I need to dumpster dive at HD

 

[DelayedZ]

I was a manager at Advance Auto Parts, this is common practice. We clearance items down and if we still can't get rid of them they drop them to .05, I usually would make a little raffle with peoples receipts and give all the stuff away. A lot of them were brand new or being redesigned. People liked to get something for free. It worked out for all parties the old **** was out of my store and someone would get some free stuff just for coming to my store.

Edit - To be clear I was supposed to destroy the items, but I asked my Regional Manager and told him I'd rather make some random customer happy with free stuff then have people going through my dumpster.


Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 4

 

[gmt]

I went through something similar with HD last year, only with a tool chest. I was told that once it shows in their system for 1 cent it is going to be sent back and should not be sold. I sent a email to their customer service telling them that if they don't want to sell the products in their store that I was going to buy from Lowes from now on. The next day I got an email from the store manager and told he wanted to make the situation right. He ended up giving me not only the bottom tool chest I wanted to buy, but he threw in a middle and top box. It really impressed me what he did, but ultimately it is up the each store manager on what they do in this situation.

 

[CWP1616L]

Home Depot dumpster diving??

They got the dumpster sealed up against the loading dock.

Only accessible from inside the receiving area.

 

[gsmornot]

Bummer.

 

[soj]

They got the dumpster sealed up against the loading dock.

Only accessible from inside the receiving area.

Or with a cutting torch!!!

 

[redwrench60]

They got the dumpster sealed up against the loading dock.

Only accessible from inside the receiving area.

Damn CWP, you've put too much thought into this!

 

[upndown]

Something like that happened to me at Lowe's, after a day of garage sales with my ladyfriend we stopped on the way home, I wanted to see if they had any plywood cutoffs for a small work bench at my cabin. didn't see anything, after telling the lumber guy what I wanted he takes me past the saw and says will these do? 2 pieces of 3/4 almost totaling a full sheet..How much? He says Oh Hell and marks N/C.

On the way to grab some 2x4, pass the clearance cart.. brand new JELD-WEN solid core door, small tear in paper. No price so I keep on going, Ladyfriend says I'll go find someone. I get what I need and see her talking to some lady, I get closer lady says hows 20? Ladyfriend says He was thinking more like 10..lady says We can do that! WTF.

After I load that heavy *****, lady asks if the 2x4 were for the bench? Yep.. She says follow me, if they don't need to be perfectly straight we've got a bunch of lumber we're tossing. I told her we had already talked to the guy, he said would have to charge us .50 apiece for burning scraps. Lady says nonsense! Ladyfreind says we weren't gonna pay **** for scrap wood! Lady laughs and says to me..I like her.

By now they had a bunch of lumber stacked up, Lady says take whatever you need and burn the rest..calls over the .50 guy and says you help him load whatever he wants! The 2 Ladies head up to pay for the door, could hear them laughing all the way.

Got the truck loaded..2x4, 2x6 a 2x4 Basics box with just the corner brackets, a ton of scraps. Finally the ladyfriend comes bouncing down the isle, big old grin on her face carrying a bag hops in the truck hands me the receipt, She'd been wanting to replace her main bathroom faucet, she found one she really liked..of course in the clearance section 1/2 off, scanned it.. .01 haha! $180 faucet. She asked the lady about the pallets by the dumpster, lady says come by in the morning if they're not gone he can have them, but not the painted ones.

The next morning I hooked up my smaller trailer and filled it with nice clean pallets and headed north. I really don't care what their policy is, that sort of thing seems to change constantly from store to store. But We sure had fun at Lowe's for under $11..

 

[comedyman809]

If only most poeple could see what gets tossed out. I worked for a company that had a contract woth Kubota. We recieved 100 4 cylinder deisel engines deemed as "scrap" because they had gotten wet in shipment, and the exhaust ports weren't covered. They sent a rep over and watched as we blew a hole in the block and tossed the entire engine - injectors, pumps, and all, right into the scrap bin.

didnt they have to pay for the labor to do so?

 

[Skin]

I need to dumpster dive at HD

I fixed a Honda mower that had orange spray paint on it (it had nothing major wrong, just needed the basics). Guy I know saw it and mentioned that HD uses that spray paint to mark things as garbage. I guess there is a pretty dedicated following that tracks what they toss and some guys even get into physical fights over the stuff. If they throw away power tools and other working equipment like that it doesn't surprise me. So good luck to you.

 

[NUTTSGT]

Several years ago, the wife and I were at HD. I saw some Spot-X cleaner marked down real cheap like 10¢ a bottle. I asked a clerk why it was so cheap. He reply was that it was a chemical and if they threw it out, it was a hazardous waste product and cost more. He said it was cheaper to mark it way down and let somebody else buy it and deal with it.

 

[cheechi]

Here's what happens. They have a contract with a consignment company (Lowe's guys actually call him 'the trash man') and they buy everything that is still functional/appears functional if it's sit on clearance for too long, was returned opened/incomplete/ugly, those kinds of situations. They sell them for a predetermined % of the write-off price and the guy has it in his contract he has to take it all, they have to give it all without withholding, etc.

Breaking these contracts even one time the store manager gets in pretty severe trouble. So if you happen to see something (at Lowes more than HD in my experience) marked at half off or lower and it looks like it was 'rented' & returned, they can go about another half off that price before they get into trash man pricing.

Since HD has a rental section, and they refurb returns while Lowe's doesn't, they don't always take back returns when its obviously been 'rented' like that. Around here we have a store called Ollie's and used to have another 'TNT Deals' or something similar, they pop up in the place where a big retail or grocery store used to be, in both of these cases old Circuit City stores. They typically sell similar consignments from office supply, book stores, I've even seen some store brand items from Target, Wal mart, & JCP before. They aren't supposed to be sold store brand items but anyway. Big lots is similar to this too but they get them from the suppliers or manufacturers when there is no buyer, instead of it coming back from the stock of a store. In both stores I've seen displays from lowes & HD, I've seen display items or tags that are definitely from one or the other, and often most of the non-generic tools they have in stock are ryobi, task force, milwaukee, etc.

So clearance stuff you see at HD or Lowes for a while is either there for one of too reasons. Corporate hasn't decided they want to eat it yet, or it's been overlooked by the local store and you might get a good deal. Hard to tell which without asking but I've got some decent deals lower than the marked 'clearance' price on enough items that it's worth asking. Been told no plenty of times too.

 

[24ModelTFord]

didnt they have to pay for the labor to do so?

Yep. They supplied the bin, had a guy take pictures of every serial number before the engine was pitched, then had the bin taken away.

 

[southalabama]

Dumpster diving in some locals is illegal. A former store manager at a statewide home improvement chain told me it would make you sick what gets thrown away and they are barred from taking it. A former waste company driver said drivers liked the Walmart run cause they'd dumpster dive their load before leaving the landfill

 

[Jawn]

I used to work for an electronics store... returned answering machines and the like that weren't repairable got taken out back and used for batting practice... using an old antenna mast as the bat. Fun stuff.

 

[Ign]

If only most poeple could see what gets tossed out. I worked for a company that had a contract woth Kubota. We recieved 100 4 cylinder deisel engines deemed as "scrap" because they had gotten wet in shipment, and the exhaust ports weren't covered. They sent a rep over and watched as we blew a hole in the block and tossed the entire engine - injectors, pumps, and all, right into the scrap bin.

While I agree this lacks some logic, at least they were putting it in a scrap bin, not a dumpster. Big difference in my book.

 

[Haveblue]

^^ LOL! Jawn! Reminds me of this!

 

[zkling]

It makes me so sad, actually almost sick to think of all the waste in our society. Majority of it thanks to lawyers and people being afraid of lawsuits. So many good, useable products being thrown away, and so many people that really need those products.

What really makes me sad is to know that restaurants throw away so much untouched, perfect edible food. Yet thousands of American people go to bed (if they are fortunate to have a bed) hungry at night. Really, do you think someone that needs a meal is going to sue your restaurant?

Waste like this screws society in two ways. Not only does it take away from people that need the goods, but it fill up are ever decreasing landfill space.

 

[Haveblue]

You are absolutely right about todays "throw away society" These tools could be easily stamped with a special number, with a no warranty disclaimer,and sold at a very low cost to kids in vo-tech schools. Such a waste to just throw things away,or recycle perfectly good items.

 

[zkling]

You are absolutely right about todays "throw away society"

So sad, but so true. My grandfater's profession, he is 89 now for a time frame, was an RCA repair man after he got out of the war (36 months of WWII). His LIVING was repairing tvs, radios, all RCA stuff. For him making house calls to repair a tv was the norm. Now today you see old CRT's sitting by the curb all the time.

I have lot of very expensive things, that I bought super cheap because they needed to be repaired. I'm not sure if it is just a lack of knowledge, ambition or what not these days. But very few people have any interest in fixing something. Majority of the time is it something super simple. Ex. bad switch, gummed up carb, needs lubed, cleaned, so on and so forth.

I mean heck, I'm <10 years out of high school. Good size high school and we didn't even have shop class. .

 

[Haveblue]

^^Ive been given many things myself that the owner did not want to repair,and turned out to be an easy fix. What good is recycling a perfectly rebuildable part (cash for clunkers) It amazes me that with all the information that is on the net now, some people wont spend the time to find out if they can fix the lawn mower or oven with a ten dollar part, they just get rid of it. I graduated 20 years ago, with no internet...but at least it seemed like people back then tried to repair what they could. Society has reversed. Thats what I like about GJ..members here want to fix things.

 

[bigd2203]

All returns from Costco get sent to the compactor. A couple years ago I took a load of aluminum to Las Vegas to recycle. Sitting in the yard was about twenty or so pallets of random items. Chainsaws, ladders, bikes, you name it it was there. All scrapped for minor issues. The chainsaw was missing the gas cap. Four or more pallets of ladders were slightly damaged from shipping. Only one stack of ladders were messed up. The rest were perfect. The society we live in is ruled by gimme gimme gimme. Its broke, GO GET A NEW ONE!!! Fixing things is out of the question, or mental range of most people.

 

[neonnblack]

Here's what happens. They have a contract with a consignment company

This actually isnt the case. Years ago, its what happened but its different now, its all RTV'd or trashed.

The price is what is called being pennied out. It happens when product is phased out or a new model replaces it and the vendor doesnt want the old models sold. This is not a HD thing, HD has to listen to its vendors or lose them. Depending on the vendor instructions, which is brought up in the "bear" guns, dictates what happens. Some times we green tag clearance the item, somtimes its pennied out and trashed, and sometimes it goes through the buy back process. Hd has no say in what happens.

With returns they get RTV'd, packed and shipped back to the DC where vendor reps take care of them.