[Shop-talk] [OT] Unbelievable

[Jeff Scarbrough]

In my state, a store pays property tax on inventory on hand on January
1st.  Between tax on things that don't exist, and lost sales due to
people giving up and going toteh competition, I can't imagine how it's
cheaper to hire one less employee to manage inventory.

I needed something from Lowe's on Saturday.  Web site said 20 were on
hand.  At the shelf, the hook was empty.  I found an employee, and we
found the box in the overhead storage.  Maybe I got lucky, but I like
to think my local store is helpful and organized.   Maybe they should
be giving lessons?

On Tue, May 4, 2021 at 7:33 AM DAVID MASSEY <dave1massey at cs.com> wrote:
>
> It cost actual money to do a hard count of inventory.  These outfits cut cost wherever possible and that is the first thing to go.  The right thing to do is when this happens the employee should zero out the count but I seriously doubt they are empowered to do so.  Nor are they motivated to do so.
>
> Dave
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Brian Kemp <bk13 at earthlink.net>
> To: Bob Spidell <bspidell at comcast.net>; Shop Talk <shop-talk at autox.team.net>
> Sent: Tue, May 4, 2021 12:24 am
> Subject: Re: [Shop-talk] [OT] Unbelievable
>
> I agree that it is unbelievable how bad some of the home centers can be.  Needed a vacuum cleaner belt fast.  Not in stock anywhere other than HD per the websites.  The nearest HD said there were five in stock.  Couldn't find any.  Next one said there were three in stock - none there.  Drove to a third one with seven listed in stock and still none available.  The employee at the last location said they are frequently shoplifted.  At each store I asked for help finding the belt and each employee said there were none in the store.  The sad thing is that a week later, the websites still had the same inventory numbers listed.  You would think there would be a process to correct inventory.  I'm in the Los Angeles area and have a number of stores to pick from and they are managed very differently.  I have not gone to the one nearest to my office in about five years because it is so poorly managed and the items like the plumbing and electrical fittings are all messed up.
>
> My last adventure was a replacement battery for my wife's key locator.  Went to Lowes because they had 47 listed on their website.  Had an employee help me and checked all the battery storage areas and we couldn't find any.  A month later, the website still said 47 and the hook for that size remained empty.
>
> I used to live near a nice True Value hardware store.  Much smaller, but organized better and there was always an employee willing to help me.  The prices are a little higher, but the convenience and service are worth it.  Sadly the landlord ended their lease to put in a restaurant that closed a year later (before the pandemic)
>
> Brian
>
> On 5/3/2021 9:01 PM, Bob Spidell wrote:
>
> Pardon me, I just gotta vent. Not being able to find these plumbing pieces at HD and Lowe's--even though their websites said they had bunches in stock--and at a plumbing supply, I finally broke down and ordered from Lowe's (2"<->2" elbow, external thread to slip joint, and a 1.5" plug, for a different application). So, after FedEx apparently lost, then found, the shipment they showed up today. One problem: the jackass that packed them jammed the 1.5" plug into the threaded end of the elbow so hard it may be impossible to remove it without breaking the elbow. I'll get it in a vice when I get to my shop tomorrow, but there's no guarantee of successful extraction.
>
> I get it; working the line at a warehouse is a shit job, but someone went out of their way to do this. I usually apply Hanlon's Razor--"Don't attribute to malice that which can be explained by incompetence"--but the plug is jammed in the elbow so hard someone really had to work at it. I hope it felt good.
>
> Vent mode off.
>
> Bob
>
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