Replies

1. 
   EUGENE978 | Sep 17, 2002 12:11am | #1

   This somewhat related to your posting.

   I have been buying the Bruce Pre-finished oak flooring, 2 1/4 x 3/4 in Natural (CB921), at an average price of $2.00-.  This is how I do it.  I have about 4 HD's near my house.  Every now, at each HD, I will check for broken/open/ripped/damaged boxes of the pre-finished flooring.  If there are any, I will approach the Floor manager or the store manager and ask them if I could purchase these damaged boxes at a discount.  Sometimes the discount is 50%, sometimes is 25%.   I have been able to get most of them at 50% off.  After I have enough for a bedroom I install it.  If I don't have enough, I just continue making my rounds until I have enough.

   Home Depot's policy as regard to the Bruce flooring is somewhat ecologically horrendous.  If a box is slightly broken, ripped, torned, and it does not sell, the box of flooring is grinded and trashed.  The rationale is that Home Depot gets a full credit for each damage box from Bruce.  If the credit is chosen, nobody can buy or use the flooring material.  It is simply destroyed.  One time during one of my cruisings, they were throwing away about 5 boxes of flooring that were just ripped with no major damages.  I asked them why not just sell them at discount... answer: Because we get a full credit.

   So if you are up to it, start checking out Home Depot flooring department (or basically any other department that has 'broken' merchandise) and if you see any brokent boxes just ask the floor manager to sell them to you at a discount.                                                                            

1. 
   RSRose | Sep 17, 2002 12:56am | #3

   eug,

   Thanks. Unfortunately, here on Maui there is only one HD and they don't carry Bruce at all. They didn't even know about the ad. I have to special order it from the national order center. It's a pretty busy place, but I haven't seen any opportunity to get damaged boxes of merchandise.

   Actually, we wanted to use Maple flooring, but when we saw the price on the Beech, we decided to go with that if we can get the price. It's beautiful stuff.

   Rich

2. 
   Schenker11 | Sep 17, 2002 06:12pm | #5

   Eug,

   Funny you mention this, because recently I was in my local Home Depot, looking at the hardwood flooring.  I noticed a few damaged boxes, and even joked with one of the salesmen about how "I guess no one is going to buy THOSE!!"  I didn't even think to ask about a discount for it.  Maybe I should go back there?

   What you are saying sounds fascinating.  I am in the process of finishing an 800-square-foot loft in my house.  Right now, I still have the original (circa 1900) pine flooring up there.  I want to install maple, beech, or oak.  What you are saying sounds interesting.  At the discounts you are describing, I could do it for $1600 instead of $2700!

   How do you get Home Depot to sell you the flooring at a discount if they are going to get full credit from Bruce?  You said yourself, when you ask them why they don't sell it at a discount, they told you they get credit from Bruce.

   What's your strategy?

1. 
   EUGENE978 | Sep 17, 2002 10:52pm | #7

   Well, it is basically a crap shoot.   I just go to the Flooring mgr.  In one of the stores that I go to, the mgr is already familiar with my requests and he has no problem doing it.  When there is no Flooring mgr, I just go directly to the store Manager On Duty (MOD).  Some managers are amenable to the idea and some are not.  The discount amount also varies between managers and stores.   When I go into the stores and if I see managers that I know are not very 'friendly', I just come back some other time.

   I have received the same discounts for insulation, tools, unfinished hardwood flooring, returned special orders, windows, grass seed, etc.  Basically any kind of merchandise that a regular customer is not willing to buy.  The more destroyed the packaging is, the more likely a discount.  Of course, before I ask for the discount or 'mark down', I make sure that the item is ok and worth it.

   When I make my request, I also try to make them feel guilty about wasting all that wood, materials, etc.  It is truly a shame that HD just 'destroys' so much usable stuff.  I have heard from HD employees that I will be shocked if I knew the amount of good materials that they 'have to' throw away every day.  These materials cannot be purchased by employees or customers.  This is company policy.

   I must mention that all these things take time and require some effort.  I am lucky that I have 2 HDs within 2 miles and 2 within 5 - 8 miles apart.  I try to time my trips with other errands. 

   I have been able to get enough hardwood flooring for the whole upstairs of my house.  Four bedrooms and a hallway.  Currently, I am saving enough unfinished red oak select for the main floor.  If you select the Bruce Butterscoth you can mix and match with other prefinished options like Marsh and Dove.  By mixing and matching you can accumulate enough flooring quicker.  I also bought a reconditioned Porta Nailer during one of their sales for $180.

   Well, good luck and sorry for the lenghty note.

   PS.  I must also mention that I am a 'dumpster diver' and I have picked enough good lumber from constructions dumpsters for my projects and renovations.  My wife thinks that I am the biggest pack rat she has ever seen.  She just doesn't understand that this 'thing' might come in handy in the future... ; )

1. 
   DennisS | Sep 17, 2002 11:23pm | #8

   > ...It is truly a shame that HD just 'destroys' so much usable stuff.  I have heard from HD employees that I will be shocked if I knew the amount of good materials that they 'have to' throw away every day. 

   It's not just the stores. Check out dumpsters on any construction site. Now in this case, the lion's share is first class waste to be sure. But I've stocked my shop storage shelves to overflowing with all sorts of exotics that were falloffs from trim work on the project where I'm working. Get to know a landscape or tree service professional in your area and likely you'll score some nice turning wood.

   I really applaud your resourcefullness. We should all make a concious effort to help minimize waste.

   Sorry - sorta transgressed the topic- just wanted to show my appreciation for your approach.

   Dennis in Bellevue WA

   [email protected]

2. 
   SlyTheCat | Sep 17, 2002 11:48pm | #9

   >>How do you get Home Depot to sell you the flooring at a discount if they are going to get full credit from Bruce?  You said yourself, when you ask them why they don't sell it at a discount, they told you they get credit from Bruce.<<

   When negotiating, one rule is to try to understand the other's perspective, and another rule is not to be afraid to ask for something - the worst that will happen is you get a No.

   Home Depot's full credit is their cost, not the price to the customer - I would guess somewhere between 35 and 60% of retail - so at 50% off they aren't losing a thing.

   If you tihnk it's worth 50% to you, rather than ask can they mark it down, you might just ask "Any way you can sell that at 50% since it's unsellable now?"  If he says 10% is the best he can do, walk away.  As the original poster re: this was saying, it's best to be already talking to a Manager who can actually make the call.

2. 
   CRAIGCONEY_M | Sep 17, 2002 12:15am | #2

   I'm not certain about the flooring, but in electrical I buy Leviton at my wholesale house, which is far superior than the Leviton sold at HD.  The quality and price at HD has erroded my profit margin on the superior Leviton products, and its difficult to get customers to understand why my parts are 3x as much as HD..

   Old addage-you get what you pay for. 

1. 
   RSRose | Sep 17, 2002 01:01am | #4

   Craig,

   Is the HD electrical stuff identified as differing in any way from the more expensive stock at the wholesale house?

   It's OK for big box stores to have lower prices, but I think it is actually deceptive, if not fraudulent if a manufacturer releases a lower quality item packaged and labelled to look exectly like his better stuff just to sell at HD.

   Doesn't this eventually hurt the manufacturer? When the product doesn't live up to expectations, it's not HD the customer will have a bad taste for, it's the product itself.

   Rich

1. 
   CRAIGCONEY_M | Sep 17, 2002 09:34pm | #6

   The model numbers are different, it's packaged differently, but the product looks nearly identical, but try rationalaizing with a customer why my receptacle costs $5 and the one at HD is 97 cents.  They are both the same brand of course, so they must be the same......right???

   I don't think it's fraud, the big box stores are after the margin and moving volume.  

   I was just trying to give an example of one specific item that I was familiar with.   

   Edited 9/17/2002 2:54:01 PM ET by craig