This trend to lower cost has downsides. My local Home Depot has become horrible to visit. Last time I was there I had to wait 40 minutes for a piece of hose to be cut from a reel. Workers in an adjacent aisle said they weren’t authorized to cut the hose, and the one worker on shift who was authorized was apparently busy. Once someone called for him it took ~15 minutes for him to arrive followed by 15 minutes of him helping the one guy there before me. So ~30 minutes later he cut my 4 foot length of hose, then discovered there was no SKU to scan for by-the-foot measurement. Another ten minutes passed of him radioing for a SKU to give me on a slip of paper. I felt like I should not have bothered, apparently the workers are all overworked or not permitted to help.
Meanwhile at my local ACE hardware store they manage to have everything I need in a MUCH smaller building, but they always have someone on hand if any help is needed.
So I’d rather the shop cut costs in other ways, like use smaller buildings and narrower aisles to save on rent. I like people.
Meanwhile at my local ACE hardware store they manage to have everything I need in a MUCH smaller building, but they always have someone on hand if any help is needed.
So I’d rather the shop cut costs in other ways, like use smaller buildings and narrower aisles to save on rent. I like people.