Shopsmith Forums

Ed in Tampa wrote:When my now ex son in law and I were building houses together we were the tradesman. We never got an order right from the pro desk, we usually were backed up an extra half hour because of some snafu by someone in the check out, and home depot really didn't carry the products most pro use.

We quickly learned to order everything from the friendly neighborhood lumber yard that did and would cater to tradesman. We only used Home Depot and Lowes for grab it and run type needs and there self check out was super.

Go into to Home Depot and ask for outdoor soffit drywall, or ceiling drywall, or quarter turn vertical garden bibbs, and until just lately green board. Try to find a 12' or 16' sheet of dry wall. WE found it was actually cheaper for us to have the window company come out to the house and install the windows than pay Home Depots price for tapcon screws (required by Florida wind codes)if you could find them, they usually carried cheap knockoffs. They only carried a very limited selection of metal tie in straps and supports again required by florida wind code. So you always had to go the lumberyard for those. These are all things used almost daily on build sites.

When you asked about things mentioned above they would look at you like you have one eye in the middle of your head.

However I will say they would hold coffee and donut seminars to present new products and I got a ton of caps, t shirts, coffee mugs and things like that from Home Depot. Of course if we ran into the Dewalt, Hitachi, Ridgid or various other tool reps they always were the ones to load us up with goodies. Dewalt was the best. New sets of drill bits, new router bits, recip saw blades, and the ever famous advertizing item of the month. Loved those guys! Of course we also owned a ton of Dewalt, Delta and Makita tools.

As I am reading this I come to the conclusion that you agree with me. The professionals were on the paying side of the front desk. This was my point. The "Pro Desk" has nothing to do with the hired help at the box store.

At my closest HD, if there is anyone lingering near the checkout area, I can not check out at the pro desk. That is reserved for the tradesmen so that they can get in and out in a hurry. Remember - time is money.

I can whole heartedly agree with the observations noted. If you really want to see a fiasco watch a mother with a couple of kids or more at a self check out. The oldest kids want to help scan where there it then becomes a battle between the kids. More than likely a sequencing issue will occur where the just scanned item doesn't get put onto the bagging location before the next kid scans an item and puts that in the bag. Thngs come to a halt in a hurry. Ideally you scan the item and put it in the bag in the bagging area. The system knows the weight of every item in the store--when the item is scanned the self check out (SCO) expects to see that items weight put in/on the bagging area. The bagging area is a scale with load cells accurate to a few hundredths of a pound. If the weights don't match the database it locks up the system and alerts the attendent. This is to keep one from scanning say a bag of screws and putting a tape measure in the bag. Or scanning a tool box with a hammer inside the tool box. It's there to keep the transaction honest. Back to the fiasco--now add a toddler that sees his/hers favorite candy in the bagging area and grabs it or leans on the bagging scale or climbs on it. Each will create a problem.

SCO was originally to be use for a few items say 10 or less. Some stores will have that posted as such. SCO times increase when someone buys two weeks of groceries for a family of four. The system can handle it but possible errors do increase with items not fully on the bag scale, falling off or no room to put the item. They should go to a regular checkout line in my opinion. Same holds true when purchasing plywood, lumber, and other bulky items. Not so common at a grocery store but at HD or Lowes it is.

Fairly common problem at HD involves paint. Paint department mixes up a gallon(s) of paint but does not fully seat the cover. The UPC/bar code is on the side of the can. You, the customer tip the can to scan it and the lid comes off. Paint on you, down into the scanner, down the side of the SCO, into the bagging area--SCO is now out of order to no fault of its own. FYI the vertical glass on the scanner will also read UPC/bar codes so there isn't a need to tip the can.

Yes there are problems that do happen with SCO's. It is basically a PC system with a lot of devices connected to it: Bill acceptors, coin acceptors, coupon sensors, scanner/scales, touchscreens, load sensors, credit card readers, printer, coupon printers, coin dispensor, bill dispensor, status light pole, takeaway belts--and all connected to the stores network and the attendants station and all controlled by software. When a problem exists the attendant is to inform the head cashier or management about the condition so the problem can be corrected either at the store or a call placed for service to correct the problem.

I have serviced SCO units for a lot of years. And yes they do act up. As with anything else intermittent conditions are the worst. And as with the Shop Smith we all know the importance of cleaning and lubing. Some stores work better than others and usually it is the operators/management that determine whether they want SCO to be in their store or not, which determine how well they work.

Like Ed--some people love em and some despise them. Keep in mind that a machine is trying to do what, hopefully, a trained cashier can do. I have had grabby cashiers also. You have the option to use either one. SCO gave me and a lot of suppliers, support people, software people jobs as well.

How this all works out for Penneys remains to be seen. My guess is that there will be a least a few regular cashiers present.

Respectfully,
Dwight

Back to the Penney's story,I wonder if this isn't to avoid the fact that their sales prices on the clothes are so hard to figure out to start with. Whenever I have gone with wife and daughters it seemed that the total was never what we expected either higher or lower due to a sale price that wasn't apparent from labeling or shelf labels. By making you go through self checkout you would not have the opportunity to stop checkout and make a decision when you disputed pricing which would then force you to go to the trouble of returning the item in dispute or just eating the difference.

Ed in Tampa wrote:I never saw a difference and the guys that man the "PRO Desk" aren't pro's.
At least that is how it is in 4 Home Depots I visit in my area.

I said 'Pro end' and checkout.

Desk? Counter is more like it!


That counter is where the 'pro' wannabes sit to kill time and BS!:D

Besides the 'staff' at the 'pro' checkout is usually much better looking than the 'counter' guys!

dusty wrote:As I am reading this I come to the conclusion that you agree with me. The professionals were on the paying side of the front desk. This was my point. The "Pro Desk" has nothing to do with the hired help at the box store.

At my closest HD, if there is anyone lingering near the checkout area, I can not check out at the pro desk. That is reserved for the tradesmen so that they can get in and out in a hurry. Remember - time is money.

Both the HDs and LOWES stores here have a checkout(or two) at the pro end(actually the lumber etc. end) in addition to the 'desk'. I have a Lowes pro card and have checked out there. I have never used the pro desk at HD other than to be misdirected to where to find something.

Now I don't hang out for hours on end so I might be missing a lot but I don't see much happening at the "desk" other than coffee and chit chat.

To be clear, I speak of HD and not Lowe's.

dusty wrote:Now I don't hang out for hours on end so I might be missing a lot but I don't see much happening at the "desk" other than coffee and chit chat.

To be clear, I speak of HD and not Lowe's.

My limited observation as well.

What is often 'interesting' is overhearing a couple of pro wannabes 'discussing' what they need for a particular job and how to use what was available at HD instead of what they should really use.

Believe it or not, I am off to HD.

They cannot screw up 30# felt can they?:D

My experience with the Pro Desk has been positive at Lowes. They helped me design my deck and used their program to print out a design plan and a list of required materials. Then the main guy and his helper came over that weekend and built the deck for me as well. They also advised me on how to insulate my garage door and attic. I'm not a Pro so I need this kind of advice.

fredsheldon wrote:My experience with the Pro Desk has been positive at Lowes. They helped me design my deck and used their program to print out a design plan and a list of required materials. Then the main guy and his helper came over that weekend and built the deck for me as well. They also advised me on how to insulate my garage door and attic. I'm not a Pro so I need this kind of advice.

Very, very positive report. I have never heard of them sending construction labor to the work site. You can't ask for more than that when you buy lumber.

The yard where I purchase is great but they don't come to the site.