I am at HD 45 hrs a week, and spent plenty of time at Lowes as a customer for my home and my rental house. I DIY everything. From my viewpoint, the differences in execution are quite glaring, but so easily fixed. Ellison will get it done. My biggest fear is the quest for same store sales growth. You can only do so much with the XXX sq footage and we are pushing the limit. See and post my HD thread if you like. I called earning this quarter, right down to the horrible FEB when HD compo was -5%. I knew it was coming and they could possibly blow away earning. My HD store is crazy efficient, but they take good care of employees and we are mostly happy even though retail work sucks bad if you let it. Thank God this is only my retirement gig. LOW needs to figure out the corporate culture. If we go all month without killing anybody with a forklift and meet our sales goal, we are rewarded somehow.
When I was leaving tonight at 7PM I saw the store manager arriving, again. He already worked a full shift earlier today. Asked him what was up. His response... "corporate made me cut staff from the night time freight receiving team. They are working so hard and you know they just can't keep up. I am going to BBQ them some steaks and potatoes for their break tonight, I owe them that". IMO this mindset might be part of the reason we have so many employees with 10+ years service. Maybe all retail managers do this? Somehow I doubt it. Mr Ellison now with Lowe's knows what's going on. This anectodotal tale might sound silly, but I have been watching it work for 8 months. 5th largest employer in the US for a reason.
When I was leaving tonight at 7PM I saw the store manager arriving, again. He already worked a full shift earlier today. Asked him what was up. His response... "corporate made me cut staff from the night time freight receiving team. They are working so hard and you know they just can't keep up. I am going to BBQ them some steaks and potatoes for their break tonight, I owe them that". IMO this mindset might be part of the reason we have so many employees with 10+ years service. Maybe all retail managers do this? Somehow I doubt it. Mr Ellison now with Lowe's knows what's going on. This anectodotal tale might sound silly, but I have been watching it work for 8 months. 5th largest employer in the US for a reason.