An Open Letter to Home Depot

[Rufus T. Firefly]

HD and Lowes are old and arthritic. They are in the process of going the way of 84 and Hechingers.

I hate having to go there.

I dislike both as well, but there is little choice around here as the real hardware shops dried up and died long ago; real lumber yard does exist (sort of....) but my dealings with them have never been pleasant; you get treated badly and as if you are a problem they'd like to not have; if you are not there to buy the lumber to do an entire house, you are shouldered aside....and ignored.

84, btw still exists in some form - I've seen a few in my travels. Going the way of Hechinger's......not based on anything related to their financials nor the crowds that make the parking lots a true hazard - and our new stove came from HD, delivered and installed for about 1/2 the price of the kitchen supply shops and w/o the months long wait that seems to plague the rest of the supply line

The ignorance is appalling .............

Well, it is and isn't. That's based on my experience as to who in the store to provides your assistance. Last time I needed plumbing supplies I got great help at HD. Got the exact stuff I need to marry the sink from my GF's install to the relocated drain lines....that used some apparently rather odd non-standard fittings. And, oddly enough I've had great service and help from the Lowes in Chambersburg off Rt 30!

Finkle's in Lambertville NJ.

We used to have a similarly stocked store in Springfield that was worth the trip for anything off from routine as you knew it would be there and aged staff would be able to confer and locate it for you. It was sold, closed, re-opened, closed, and went through legal machinations and finally died quietly.

[healey36]

84, btw still exists in some form - I've seen a few in my travels. Going the way of Hechinger's...

There's still an 84 here, and if you're looking for just lumber, it's the place to go. It's priced reasonably (putting aside the debacle that has been the past year in the lumber trade) and the stock moves quickly enough that half of it doesn't look like sled runners when you survey the pile. They also deliver for what was a reasonable fee. I bought a brace of 6"x6"-16' pressure-treated posts a few years back, and they were laying in my driveway 20 minutes after I got home.

The bonus is Tiffany doesn't go there, as they don't sell plantation blinds, air purifiers, garden supplies, or fake oriental rugs.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

84, btw still exists in some form - I've seen a few in my travels. Going the way of Hechinger's...

There's still an 84 here, and if you're looking for just lumber, it's the place to go. It's priced reasonably .........

Probably would have been worth my driving there today; got what I needed but why is HD selling wood imported from Sweden?

[healey36]

Volvo, Saab, Scan, what good has ever come out of Sweden? Oh yeah...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YN1hL9cn7s0

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Volvo, Saab, Scan, what good has ever come out of Sweden? Oh yeah...

I rather liked my 9.5 -- good fun to drive....

[HONDO74]

what good has ever come out of Sweden?

Agnetha Fältskog

[healey36]

Fun to drive; drop dead miserable to maintain. Years ago, my brother had a girlfriend with a Saab 900S; a "simple" oil/filter change was a multi-hour exercise. Surprisingly, he married her anyway, which also proved a disaster. The only Volvo I've had personal experience with was a used 1963 PV544 that The Old Man drug home at some point. We used to call it "The Furnace", for it's propensity to burn oil at a prodigious rate.

I never got caught up in that ABBA thing; I'm more a Sabaton kinda guy.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

Fun to drive; drop dead miserable to maintain.

Got 10 years out of mine before the radiator failed and the gas tank entry port could not be sealed/repaired.

Ran like a demon though..........

I never got caught up in that ABBA thing; I'm more a Sabaton kinda guy.

Tool.........Fear Inoculum.....for the last 8 weeks or more........

Although this week I've been listening to The Who Live at the Isle of Wright in 1970.........

[sarge]

I shall stand in defence of (at least old) Saabs. We autocrossed, icecrossed and rally’d a pair of Saab 96. They were very capable and reliable cars, especially as rally cars they were very very good. What came after the 96 I have no real interest in. Drove 99s a couple of times on long trips in Europe and never fell in love with them, not like the 96. The 99 was just a bit of a pig, really.

We also still have an 84 north of me about a half hour. I’ve never been, since there is the aforementioned planing mill five minutes from here where I get such things, so I can’t really comment. I remember when 84 were just everywhere.

[Rufus T. Firefly]

I shall stand in defence of (at least old) Saabs. We autocrossed, icecrossed and rally’d a pair of Saab 96. They were very capable and reliable cars, especially as rally cars they were very very good. What came after the 96 I have no real interest in. Drove 99s a couple of times on long trips in Europe and never fell in love with them, not like the 96. The 99 was just a bit of a pig, really.

You'd have liked the 9.5 with the turbo 6, Deceptive....

We also still have an 84 north of me about a half hour. I’ve never been, since there is the aforementioned planing mill five minutes from here where I get such things, so I can’t really comment. I remember when 84 were just everywhere.

To be within five minutes of a planing mill is a luxury......particularly if they are amenable to custom work. I had an opportunity a few weeks ago at grabbing some exceptional rough planking........

[healey36]

The 900S seemed a decent enough car, just misery to take care of. It had that effed up slant engine configuration where it was mounted back-to-front with the gearbox/transaxle on the underside. I recall the first time I changed out the oil encountering two drain plugs on the "pan". I picked the wrong one and drained the fluid out of the transmission, then spent an hour running around trying to find a funnel with a flexible attachment so that I could put the transaxle fluid back in through the fill located on the side directly up against something or other. Never made that mistake again. It also was turbocharged, at a time when a turbo seemed to last 30K at most.

We always crack on BMW for its recent "tech-for-tech's-sake" product offering, but I think Saab beat them to the punch 10 years earlier with the 900-series.

I was back to Lowes yesterday for a quart can of Fast-n-Final lightweight spackling. I didn't know if DAP still made that stuff, but sure enough, there it was on the shelf in pint and quart containers. I've got a bit of slope I want to add to some scenery features I'm working on and thought I'd try this again (I've used it in the past for wargame scenery). If it doesn't work, I'll try some Sculptamold, something I've not used before.

A year or so ago I noticed Sherwin Williams was selling paint in Lowes, which seemed like a throat-slit for the local Sherwin Williams dealers. I'm a big fan of SW paint, so the next time I was in to the SW store, I asked the guy what he thought of Lowes selling their paint. He said not to worry; the stuff in Lowes is a lesser quality product than the dealer offerings. I also noticed that Lowes sells Valspar paint, also now owned by Sherwin Williams. We sold Valspar paint in the building supply place I worked at 45 years ago, and it had a reputation as a second-tier quality product back then. So then one begins to wonder what the marketing strategy is by Sherwin Williams. It almost feels like the grocery store model...suck up as much shelf-space as possible and the odds are folks will blunder into buying your stuff.

[gregj410]

...... but why is HD selling wood imported from Sweden?

God only knows but beware of what’s beneath the thick layer of primer on ‘pre primed’ wood from all the box stores. I picked up some 1/2” x 7” material I thought was solid wood for a skirt behind some crown molding I’m putting up. Ripped one edge only to discover it’s some sort of African mahogany plywood. Maddening as I had to prime and sand an exposed edge a thousand times to get it smooth. Looking for pre primed 1x? ...buyer beware. Most of it is trash wood finger jointed and layered together to make a 1x ?. It’s very deceiving on the rack until you cut into it. Worse shit I’ve ever worked with. I have a hunch that China or even Sweden may have something to do with it.

As for Saab....my buddy was a mechanic and he said that’s what they do when they get the repair bill

[G3750]

Look forward to seeing your open letter when and if Home Depot decides to re-brand discontinued MTH.

Come on, John. You know very well there won't be any discontinued MTH available soon. It's all rare!



George

[Norton]

I much prefer to support local stores but Home Depot and Lowes has closed down all the mom and pop hardware stores around me. Closest is an Ace Hardware 30 miles away. I have resorted to Amazon or eBay for fasteners which offers selective assortments, maybe 150 pieces for not much more than what Home Depot wants for 10-12 of a single size.

Pete

[Rufus T. Firefly]

...... but why is HD selling wood imported from Sweden?

God only knows....

Real question is how is it cheaper to import wood from Sweden than to cut our own.

but beware of what’s beneath the thick layer of primer on ‘pre primed’ wood from all the box stores. I picked up some 1/2” x 7” material I thought was solid wood for a skirt behind some crown molding I’m putting up. Ripped one edge only to discover it’s some sort of African mahogany plywood. Maddening as I had to prime and sand an exposed edge a thousand times to get it smooth. Looking for pre primed 1x? ...buyer beware. Most of it is trash wood finger jointed and layered together to make a 1x ?. It’s very deceiving on the rack until you cut into it. Worse shit I’ve ever worked with.

Old news and why I never use pre-primed anything other than maybe ( ) trim that's getting painted and put where being finger jointed stuff doesn't matter

I have a hunch that China or even Sweden may have something to do with it.

Got a worse hunch - the finger-jointed stuff is made here from the leftovers of the decent wood that we're exporting.

As for Saab....my buddy was a mechanic and he said that’s what they do when they get the repair bill

My Saab mechanics just giggled and said "we'll be seeing you a lot more frequently..." when I mentioned Audi....