19 hours ago, Ron Dudelston said:

I bet 10% of the customers don’t bother with the rebate.

I think I read once that half of the rebates were not submitted. Assuming that if you spend a few hundred there, you'll do it, but if you spend $5, the postage is not worth it. I'm sure they count on that as it would be much easier to have an online submit that does not require manual processing. So I don't know if that "half" number is dollar-wise or receipt-wise.

16 hours ago, kmealy said:

16 hours ago, kmealy said:

I started at HD around the time of the Nardelli disaster. The new guy hired pros for the specialty departments - plumbing and electrical primarily, and paid them well. We had Edgar (now there's a great name for the AI bot), retired with both licenses. He was our go-to guy for customer's tough questions. And he would tell them plainly when their idea was dangerous/stupid and how to do it correctly. We used to mimic his gravelly voice saying "ya can't do that!"

After a few years, the bean counters decided to cut, and Edgar was gradually phased out with decreasing hours.

I know it's in infancy, but I can't see a bot providing the level of service that Edgar did.

Edited February 22Feb 22 by JimM

First Menards I encountered was in Iowa City IA. About 2.5 blocks from where I lived. Handy, but they aggravated me with hardware (nuts and bolts) sales that were pre-packaged and always 3 per package. Never did I need 3. If I needed 4 then I ended up buying two more than I needed. If I needed two it was one extra I didn't need. Made me grumble every time I went in there.

My current Local Menards is on the opposite side of town. A 15-20 minute drive depending on traffic.. They are my only local source for a variety of hardwoods, but the walnut or cherry or whatever that isn't red oak come shrink wrapped and priced 3x per board foot what a distant lumber yard charges for S3S 1" or even thicker boards. More grumbling, but they are more likely to have what I need than my local HomeDepot which is 10 minutes away.

It was my experience a decade or more ago when HD was drastically cutting back staff. I used to say I could walk in with an AK47 and never hit an employee (thanks, CEO bean-counter). Or they'd hire a retired electrician and put him in paint and hire a retired plumber and put him in electrical.

I also remember once going in Menards and asking to find a Kreg screw driver bit. I asked him where the pocket hole supplies where. "Oh for drills to make holes they are in aisle 37." No, not a drill, pocket hole jigs. He looked confused and asked another guy there. He, too, had no idea. On to a third, while the first one wandered off. Still no idea, and on to a fourth. Four guys all working in the tools department. I gave up, walked over two aisles and there was a whole bay of blue Kreg tools, screws, and accessories.

As for nuts and bolts, Tractor Supply or Rural King is my go-to, they sell by the pound and you can get as many or as few as you want.

Edited February 22Feb 22 by kmealy

49 minutes ago, kmealy said:

I also remember once going in Menards and asking to find a Kreg screw driver bit. I asked him where the pocket hole supplies where. "Oh for drills to make holes they are in aisle 37."

I've learned to never ask for advice at one of those stores, though I will ask where something is located. I've told this story several times before. I once wnet into a Cincinnati area HD (before they were any closer to us) and was looking for those small FF biscuits. Skippy stockboy came bouncing up to me and asked "Can i help you find something?". I asked where the biscuits were. His reply, with a silly grin on his face, was to point toward the front door and " I think Burger King over there has biscuits". I just said "thanks" and left.

No Menards near me, but I hear enough about them over the last 20 years that I would likely shop there if we had one.

HD/Lowe's my experience is typical, in line with everything said here and elsewhere. The one thing I like them for is that the clerks will generally leave me alone and I can sort out how to do what I'm going to do by looking at the available parts - I do that a lot in the plumbing area.

We still have an Ace that is quite good in town. The owner or manager is clearly an old guy like my dad was - they stock old school "strike anywhere" matches and I once bought a gallon of toluene there. I don't know how they got that stuff, but I grabbed it. It's the best adhesive remover you'll ever find, though it is the kind of thing that will take the paint with it!

I once was in an Ace over in a small city in AZ, and I needed a key for a motor shaft. I knew roughly where to find it but any more a lot of places don't stock it and I wasn't having much luck. The 16 year old clerk looked like she probably didn't know a bolt from a nail, so I wandered around and found an older clerk who clearly had been working there a while and looked like a typical rancher's wife. She knew exactly what a shaft key was and knew where to find them (with the evap cooler supplies, not the hardware). 😀

On 2/22/2026 at 1:12 PM, Fred W. Hargis Jr said:

I've told this story several times before

Perhaps, but I forget so it's just as funny each time. It never gets old.

I don't see a burger truck being a draw to get me to HD; Steak-n-Shake parking lot literally connected to our HD parking lot. Not to mention the 15 other places to eat within a 1/2 mile either direction including the mega Ace Store which always has a couple taco trucks in their lot.

I do much prefer ourHD for a lot of garden plants or soil and the ease to get them during the spring season. Menards is more of a hassle.

At times I've preferred Lowes for lumber, other times HD. Just depends on their buyers and the available lots I guess. For a while Lowes had really nice Canadian SPF 2x4's and I used to go there specifically for those (we were building something or another, I don't remember what but it had lots of walls!). None of it beat the lumber from a local yard in Roswell though. I once bought a couple hundred 2x6's from them, picked right off the pile without picking and choosing. About 60% were stamped #2, the rest were #1 or select. I would go down there more often, but you drive for hours and then you're in Roswell....

6 minutes ago, JWD said:

I would go down there more often, but you drive for hours and then you're in Roswell....

Oh boy, can I relate to that!