04-13-2019, 08:48 PM
Here is another anecdotal update for what it is worth. I have now spent a few more months in one of the high dollar specialty departments. This is all of course very local info. A corporate HQ insider I am not.
My job is a stressful adventure like I haven't seen since I was deployed to the big desert. We are missing sales goals for six months now, by a wide margin. Store wide a bit better but still well short of goals. It's a well managed store that has a good REP for meeting or exceeding goals, but not now. I am in Millwork dept alone and that is not working, not at all. They have hired 30 temp employees this month for garden because that is HD's Christmas. No luck finding a competent assistant for me. The labor market remains tough here. Now we just need some very good weather. The store traffic is still weak with better weather. The HD response is to cut hours and under staff departments. Trust me that ticks the customers off. I hear about it hourly.
I am extremely curious what this quarter sales and earnings look like nation wide. Hopefully the rest of the country is doing MUCH better than the upper Midwest. I am absolutely amazed the stock is launching now. Do the analysts have no visibility of current sales trends? My official opinion is there is no way HD should be rising so fast right now. I think the summer will be a better story as it historically is.
We shall see soon enough. Quarter ends in a few weeks.
My job is a stressful adventure like I haven't seen since I was deployed to the big desert. We are missing sales goals for six months now, by a wide margin. Store wide a bit better but still well short of goals. It's a well managed store that has a good REP for meeting or exceeding goals, but not now. I am in Millwork dept alone and that is not working, not at all. They have hired 30 temp employees this month for garden because that is HD's Christmas. No luck finding a competent assistant for me. The labor market remains tough here. Now we just need some very good weather. The store traffic is still weak with better weather. The HD response is to cut hours and under staff departments. Trust me that ticks the customers off. I hear about it hourly.
I am extremely curious what this quarter sales and earnings look like nation wide. Hopefully the rest of the country is doing MUCH better than the upper Midwest. I am absolutely amazed the stock is launching now. Do the analysts have no visibility of current sales trends? My official opinion is there is no way HD should be rising so fast right now. I think the summer will be a better story as it historically is.
We shall see soon enough. Quarter ends in a few weeks.