Why have all the big box store websites just turned into Amazon?The Aisle/Bin# is never right, and whether or not it's in stock at my nearest store is never right.Then I'd say 75% of ALL the products on their website is online only. Same with Walmart.Harbor Freight, strangely enough, has the most useful website of all the big names.
>>2998475My least favorite is Lowe’s>i am looking for shit you have in stock at this specific store>here’s what you’re looking for>at this specific store?>…no, but it’s only 100 miles away at this other store!Why even have the search filter, kekGoogle’s shopping tab is the worse offender>bare copper ring terminal (some specific dimensions) near me nearby>first result>temuKnowing where to buy things and have them by the end of the day could be itself a profession
For some unknown reason I can't even access Home Depot and Lowe's websites anymore. Probably because my desktop is running too old of a version of windows or some equally stupid bullshit.
Because consumer trust is an asset that doesn't make any money so lets cash it out and pay ourselves some nice bonuses.
>>2998475Filter via "pick up in store today" or "available in store today" to see the products only in the storeAssume anything with the "Only X left!" message is out of stock if the number is less than 10, and only filter for your store and uncheck "check other nearby stores"
>>2998497Oh they have those features, but show up and try to find it. >"Oh it's in stock, but it maybe on a pallet on the top shelf...I think. But there's no lift driver available."You'd think their inventory software would tell them when shit is getting low to put more out on the floor.Harbor Freight is smaller but they actually have a stockroom that they can check as soon as you find one of the max 5 people working there at any given time.
>>2998475This is even better in rural Canada because ever since Canada post went on strike a bunch of telejeet companies cropped up to fill the gap. Now it's literally impossible to order anything online because every order just says "attempted to deliver" but Ranjeet didn't even put it in the van, much less try to deliver your package. I personally confirmed this by walking in and picking up a package at their warehouse while it was "out for delivery"
That site now takes like a minute to load anything useful (prices, search bar) for me, but makes sure to prioritize the recommendations and stupid AI assistant that takes half the page. Funny enough, closing the AI feature doesn't add a 5th column ot results, just white space.>>2998485No hardware store has a decent website. Even HF fails to load unless I'm on certain browsers/devices.
>>2998503For all the shit that is going on in Germany, boomers weirdly didn't accept that one at all. If your store doesn't have an explicit DHL option, you might as well close it down again. Hermjeet is basically nonexistent again and even Amazon made a deal with DHL to use their package stations. It's great.
>>2998475>Harbor Freight, strangely enough, has the most useful website of all the big names.buy an ad.harbor freights website sucks ass. they all suck ass. you suck ass, and your mom? she REALLY likes to suck ass.
>>2998506
>>2998475I went to home depot to pick up an item that the website said was in stock. When I arrived an hour later, it wasn't there. I then went to the customer service desk and they were pathetic so I just left. Once home, I called the 800 customer service and bitched to them.>I drove half an hour each way, blah blah, blah>Your customer service rep didn't care, blah, blah, blahThey sent me a $50 gift certificate for my trouble.
>>2998505I think part of it is everyone has their own fucking gay app now. They'd rather you use that so they can load up on your data. But yeah Lowes and HD websites are barely useable and take forever to load even if you're using blockers.
>>2998505>No hardware store has a decent websiteDo you even McMaster Carr?
>>2998527I was only considering physical stores but I do love their site. It's like how Rockauto beats actual parts store sites by a mile.
>>2998475If they don't have like 3+ of a thing in stoe they have 0 because it either walked out the door fell between the shelves. If you need to pick it up today or tomorrow make them pick it for you and bring it to the front
>>2998533or it also might be up on the 3rd shelft. gets a stick of pvc to knock shit down when ladderboy keeps dodging me
>>2998475>The Aisle/Bin# is never right, and whether or not it's in stock at my nearest store is never right.Because the wagies that work there are equal parts too busy and too stupid to manage these things and their bosses don't give a fuck.>Then I'd say 75% of ALL the products on their website is online only. Same with Walmart.The things they keep in stock are either things people need the same day or things they sell a ton of. The online only stuff is just to compete with Amazon's breadth.
>>2998511You tell me. Why they're so overrepresented in certain jobs, but never construction?>>2998543>Because the wagies that work there are equal parts too busy and too stupid to manage these things and their bosses don't give a fuck.Hardly an excuse in a time where most of that is automated. If your hardware store isn't overrun by thieves, it's none at all.
>>2998475Don't buy from big box stores unless you really really need it right this second and cant wait, they just resell to you cheap chinese shit at a high markup. Get it shipped online directly from the manufacturerIf its something like lumber, get it at a local mill in bulk, its almost always cheaperI HATE home depot and lowes. They tried to sell me Lustron dimming light switches at a 300% markup. Also their employees arent knowledgable about shit. At least ACE hardware usually has real /diy/ employees I hope these mfers go out of business
>>2998475They're sold by "affiliated vendors" who pay a fee to advertise on the store's website with the aims of getting retards to show up in-store asking which aisle the incredibly niche product they've found online is in.
I love the whole >oh no we don't have that but we can order it for you!Bitch if I wanted to order it I would and wouldn't have come to your store to dodge fat women looking at Ryobi tools
>>2998626Most ACE and True Value stores are part of the co-op and independently owned. Our local Ace was literally a hundred fucking years old when is closed last year. Collier Hardware. My house is from the 50s and I love buying and fixing old shit. Every few months I would walk into that place with some odd bit of hardware from 50-70 years ago that needed a replacement and they would have it. Shit I didn't even know was unique so I couldn't even find what I was looking for. Size 'Seven and fucking Half' brass slotted oval head screws for hinges on a Hoosier cabinet? In stock. Stainless steel bath overflow faceplate screws? Yes, they are a unique type. In stock. I once went in there looking for a beater tine for a Hamilton Beach mixer from the 1970s and they fucking had a pair in stock. Ron Swanson himself could walk into that place and know that he stood on hollowed ground.
>>2999524I have a theory this is also a part of it being the neighborhood hardware store. They've been buying this screw, this shower mixer, this faceplate for 70nyears and have a back stock of them. It'll be great to keep your house running until some new shit head manager comes in and pushes it all into the trash so she can sell more lawn chairs this season
>>2999534Colliers was kind of a tomb in some ways. Up front they had the housewares and BBQs and big ticket stuff. Everything was shiny and new. In the middle they had bolt bins, pictured. This corner, with the library ladder, was god knows how old. Notice the tar paper on wood floors? Across from this (just out of frame) they had an 'island' of large metal parts bins of various types. On top of that were smaller parts bins. It was this hodgepodge of stuff that had built up like layers of a city that had been lived in for a thousand years.
>>2999538As you went further back you had this little area. Look at the color of the pegboard. This was probably installed in the 1950s or 60s. This photo is from 2025.
>>2999539Here's a shot from at least 2013 that shows the other side of the ladder and what was behind it.
>>2999540When I said they had size #7 screws in stock, I mean they had vintage, American made screws in their original cardboard box on the shelf. It was a box of 100 and there was maybe 10 left. They were made by a company called Noble Fasteners out of San Jose, California. I can't even find a mention of that company anywhere they have been out of business for so long. Hell, most places I look up imperial screw sizes they don't even mention #7. They go 1,2,3,4,5,6,8,10.
>>2998482my lowes has flock cameras so i stopped going. their site also makes my phone get hot
>>2998475>whether or not it's in stock at my nearest store is never right.Because this being accurate relies on part time minimum wage employees doing inventory on a regular basis. I once worked as general manager of a good sized retail store for a while and all we were expected to do was verify a certain number of products per week. An actual full store inventory count was something we did once a year, we had to hire a third party company to come help, and it took a team of around 20 people around 6 hours to complete.The only way you could possibly maintain accurate counts for this sort of thing is having at least a couple employees spending their entire work week doing nothing but inventory counts and corporate simply isn't willing to pay for that. I got out before this online shopping shit so maybe it's become worth it to them but I doubt it; the one constant was corporate looking for any excuse to reduce payroll.
>>2999524>>2999538>>2999539>>2999540>>2999542Dang that looks like it was a kick ass place to go shop. Too bad the shitty world we live in today has no place for gems like that anymore...I hate this fake and gay world.
>>2999524In Los Alamos it was Metzgers. When the TG&Y closed, they kind of moved to fill the space, selling some small home appliances and suchIt will be a sad day when Metzgers closes, as there will be fuck all left on top of the hill
>>2998475My understanding is that it requires an actual person to go around cataloging the inventory once or twice a day and they don't want to pay for that.
>>2998502I don't like doing this but it usually works if you buy it online and select pick up in store today because they know they'll get in trouble if you end up getting refunded because they didn't have it ready for you when the website said it would be
>>2998518Better then FedEx. They said they couldn't find my address so left the package at a warehouse. Tried calling the warehouse and you just get an automated voice system that hangs up on you if you demand a person. Managed to find the number on a third party forum and when I got ahold of them they said: "we unlist this number for a reason." and hung up on me.Finally got the voice system to have the package delivered to a dollar store by me and found out the shipper had gone through the trouble of printing out step by step directions on how to get to my house with a picture of it on Google Streetview. They didn't even try.
>>2998521I would really like it if a law could get passed saying it's illegal to withold features or usability for people who won't download their app. It should be possible to do anything on any website without having to sign in or download an app
>>2999558I feel like if they did an accurate inventory at least once you'd be able to keep it mostly on track by recording what's scanned at the registers, returned at customer service, and delivered on truck each week as long as you start with an accurate baseline.Only putting it into practice would really tell you the rate is error that occurred but doing a full inventory at least once a quarter would hopefully be enough to curb that. God willing.Though, as you said. They probably don't have an actual vested interest in doing it. It seems we've passed the innovative and efficient stage of our society and entered into a "squeeze it for every drop" stage.
>>2999634It's like this already. People steal shit and shit falls behind shelfs and gets hidden around the store by retards
>>2999639But that’s something you can calculate. There’s probably some basic research on that already (percentages of loss, depending on the type of product and ethnici…err location of your store and all that stuff, and with the occasional inventory, you adjust the numbers to fit your exact pattern and you add some safety margin on top and you should be good)
>>2999678Not really. You could project maybe a total $ of expected loss, but did Mr. Rosenberg take a can of spray foam or a polyurethane post setting pack? When he reached back to grab it did he knock a 1ah Bosch battery down the shelf or a 2ah? Where did he hide the snickers bar fkr later?
