Lowe's vs. Home Depot

md2lgyk

I retired about 5 months ago (several years early) and am looking for part-time work because I'm bored. Despite the orange apron stigma, I'm considering Home Depot because there's one nearby and I know some of the managers there. There's also a Lowe's a bit further away.

In building my own house, I've frequented the HD for the past two or three years, and noticed there is quite a large employee turnover. A couple of friends who worked there have said it's a terrible place to work. Does anybody know if Lowe's is any better? Anyone here who has worked for either place and cares to comment? Thanks.

paintdrying

I would encourage you to work at either place. The retired people are the best. We need your help, work at both places if you can. Work enviroments always go back to the management. Come in, do your job, have fun, go home.

Fix'n it

you have to take that with a "grain-o-salt".
example = those people may have been told to "do work". and because of that, they said it sucked.

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tribe_fan

In my area (Cleveland) - Home Depot seems to have surpassed Lowes in the Customer Service area - which is a change from a few years ago. Maybe local management has a lot to do with it.

TrailerParadise

ive noticed a few changes between places and there are several reasons i prefer HD to Lowes. First of all, when you walk into my local Lowes, there isnt a worker to be seen, except behind the registers. You have to be in there for at least half a hour before you find someone, and usually that someone doesnt know his head from a hole in the ground. At HD, when you walk in at least three people will ask if you need help within the first ten minutes. Very good customer service. At Lowes, the returns are great, ive never had a problem. At HD, its not a problem unless you dont have your receipt. At lowes you dont need a receipt, so in Returns, Lowes gets the higher vote. In terms of friendliness, definitely HD. In terms of knowledge, definitely HD. The workers at lowes sort of resemble the workers at Walmart, theyre just there for a paycheck and could care less about your project, whereas HD workers will go find an expert if they cant help you.

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md2lgyk

You're probably right. Come to think of it, they are both in their 20s.

TrailerParadise, I agree 100% about the friendliness at HD. As for knowledge, I've rarely had occasion to need help except with what aisle something's on. While not a pro at any trade, I've been a DIYer for almost 40 years, and my wife and I built our current house almost entirely by ourselves. It's legal here for the homeowner to do everything themselves

My other hesitation about working at either place is that, except for a few years when I was an LEO, I've never had a job where I dealt with the general public. Don't know if I'm really a customer service kind of guy. Guess there's only one way to find out LOL.

Fix'n it

just go try it. sounds like you don't "need" the money. so if it doesn't work out, so what, quit.

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Moritasgus

I agree - I have received a lot of great advice from the experts at both of these stores. They need you!

Blondesense

Like most jobs, the quality of your immediate supervisor will probably have more to do with your job satisfaction than anything else.

Unfortunately, with the economy in the toilet, about the only thing retailers can cut costs on is payroll. This is why shoppers complain there is no one to help them. Most retailers just have less people in the store.

TheBobmanNH

Oddly enough, with the bad economy I find customer service the thing that's been improved the most. Jobs a little harder to come by, people are more willing to actually WORK for their paycheck, and managers can be a little more strict in making their employees do things right (since they have more leverage in a crappy job market).

My local Home Depot used to be the pit of despair as far as finding workers to help you out; nowadays, they're MUCH more helpful. Maybe they have new management, but it's a trend I've noticed elsewhere as well.

I still prefer Lowe's to Home Depot as a consumer, just based on product selection and store layout, but that shouldn't have much bearing on which you work at.

md2lgyk

You're right. I don't really need a job. Just looking for something to occupy some of my time. I'll probably give it a try. That is, unless I can find a job in a gun shop.

DexterII

Good luck with that, considering the fact that they seem to have a hard time keeping guns or ammunition in stock!

Anyway, on subject, maybe 12-18 months ago, about a half dozen of the employees of one of our premier lumber yards left there and went to work at the local Lowes. I have no idea how it came to be, as none of them have volunteered anything, and I don't ask about such matters, but I have known all of them for quite a number of years from the lumber yard, so we chat, and they all seem content at Lowes.

Thurman

@ "md2lgyk" : First let me congratulations on your pending retirement. I also had the idea of working with Lowe's in my town after retirement.
I had thirty-eight (38) years of Industrial Maintenance behind me and thought I might be of some benefit to customers who would patronize the store. That all changed during the interview process.

The Human Resources lady took me out into the electrical department, with the young lady sale rep who worked in that area and started asking me to identify certain object and used the sales rep girl to validate my identification.

Clearly 3/4 of the items the HR lady selected and I properly identified the young lady had no idea of what the items were or if I was correct or not.

The kicker came when the lady asked em what I would do if a customer came in and specifically asked for an item they did not stock. I told her that I would instruct them to go to a specific electrical supply house in town, even giving them reference names, to seek the item they were looking for as we did not have this item in stock.

Wrong!! She informed me that she would fire me for doing this. The correct answer was "You should tell them that an item we have in stock would do the same thing and that way you would make a sale".

I had to ask "What about the fact that they would most likely return the item as it would not work?' Her answer: "We would find it damaged and no return in the item". That's when I excused myself and walked out--no job and glad of it.

md2lgyk

Thank you. But it's not pending; I retired almost six months ago. Your interview story makes me sick. I hope that HR lady has since been fired. I can't believe her upper management would condone such conduct. And in the case of electrical things, it can, as I'm sure you know, be downright dangerous.

My wife and I only recently finished building our log home (almost entirely by ourselves) so I have been a frequent visitor to my local Home Depot for more than three years. I have often observed the clerks interact with other customers; those in electrical and plumbing, in particular, seem to be quite knowledgeable.

Jim F

My daughter worked at Lowes. It was her first job out of high school. She liked it there for the most part. They put her in the building materials department. One thing she did share was the stories from contractors about all the money they made got boring fast! She now works as an RN but she did learn a lot about building materials there.

My nephew has done well with Lowes. He started out in the entry level with no college and has worked his way up to the Human Resources manager.

Both places hire both unskilled laborers as well as skilled tradesmen.