About 12 years ago, I bought my first house. It was a fixer-upper of sorts, and I did all the fixing myself from paint to hardwood floors to new doors and adding a closet or two. Nothing terribly major. To do the work, I was at Home Depot a lot. And I do mean ‘a lot’ – as I was on a first-name basis with several of the employees there 🙂 It was a great store, and I liked it a lot.
With my recent home purchase, I’m back at Home Depot a lot. About 3-4 times a week. It’s still a good store. It’s bigger. It’s got more choices. But, I find I don’t like it as much. There are three things that aren’t as good as they used to be at the big HD.
Self Checkout
Am I the only one that loathes self-checkout? At Home Depot, they basically don’t have anything else anymore. They have one line for the folks getting lumber (which is usually very long), and they have 4 self-checkout counters. These things are slow and I hate them. As you wait in line you can see the confusion and frustration that others have too. Is this really a good way to go?
Long Lines
You’d think with all the checkout people freed up due to self-checkout, there would be more help available in the store. But there isn’t. It’s still hard to find anyone to help, and when you do, there is usually a line. I was excited the other day when an employee actually approached me! My excitement faded quickly when I learned she only wanted to offer me a 10% discount if I signed up for a Home Depot credit card.
Too Big
I actually do find the store to be too big now. It seems the stuff I want is always at one side of the store, the checkout is at the other, and my car is parked back at the original side. The store is larger than a football field; it’s just massive. If they didn’t have such good product choice, I’d probably complain about that – but instead I’m complaining about this. Can’t win!
I’ve recently learned about Lowe’s – and I’m planning to try it (I know, I’m behind the times, it seems). It’s farther from my house, but looks promising.