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Thread: Online Inventories

  1. #1

    Online Inventories

    I really hate it when the online inventories at stores are so absurdly off that you make a trip to get something, only to find they never had it in the first place. So I needed to get a concrete mixing tub, I get on Lowes' website and it says they have 39 in stock in a certain aisle and bin. So off I go to Lowes and... not only do they have none, the spot where they're supposed to be is filled with something else entirely. I ask the guys at the commercial register and they're saying "I don't know the last time we had any of those, we've had concrete footers sitting right there for years."

    So I run across the street to Home Depot because their website says they have 3. The shelf is empty. They don't know why their count is off either. Yes, it is possible that someone bought all of them since the counts were updated, but we know that nobody bought 39 of them today at Lowes and I kind of doubt they bought 3 of them at Home Depot. There's another store about 5 miles away that is supposed to have 50 of them. I guess I'll have to try there.
    Last edited by Lee Schierer; 04-18-2018 at 9:23 PM.

  2. #2
    Have the store you are in contact other store to verify inventory before driving over. Be sure and get the name of the person who does the checking. When Lowes got rid of the Biesemeyer fences for $70, a near by store showed two had been sold and the third wasn't any where to be found. Wife and I went down, walked to end of insulation aisle, and on top stock was a box with BIESEMEYER written on it. Hardware guy couldn't believe me when I said I had come to buy their remaining fence, as it had been missing for several weeks. Showed him where it was, just like plan a gram said it should be. Very glad he couldn't read he plan a gram.

  3. #3
    I'll call the store directly before I go. It isn't far away, but this store and the next store along both say they have a ton of them in stock. I'll believe it when I see it.

  4. #4
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    I worked in retail for 25 years.
    My guess is when the store did inventory, The employee from the inventory company scanned the shelf label, then counted whatever was in that spot. In your case concrete footers. There should be some kind of safeguard in their system to catch mistakes like that. We got a report at our company that listed items showing no sales for the week.
    Possible someone put them out someplace crazy in the store like outdoor garden. Thought they were pond liners or ???????
    My local lowe's now has an on-line pickup right by the front door. I can order online then drive to the store and get it once they confirm it is in stock.
    "Remember back in the day, when things were made by hand, and people took pride in their work?"
    - Rick Dale

  5. #5
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    I've had mixed results using the various websites where you can see if the store actually has one or not. Many of the big box stores only do inventory once a year and the farther you get from that inventory, the less accurate their online information gets. This is even true if you are in the store and need two of something and there is only one on the shelf and you ask an employee to check inventory to see if they have another one.

    It is hard to understand because every item leaving the store is supposedly checked and recorded at the register. If their shop lifting is that bad, then they could easily support a full time detective in every store. Yeah, it is hard to believe that 39 people would shop lift cement mixing tubs without being noticed.
    Lee Schierer
    USNA '71
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  6. #6
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    Lowe's does have online pickup, but verify what you are getting if you place orders with lots of items. I placed four $50 orders the same day last year. They completely screwed up the orders. I ordered a bunch of 2" conduit and half the order was 1-1/2". I also got fittings the wrong size and some of the breakers were GE instead of Siemens along with other mix ups.

    I ended up there for more than hour while the customer service manager dumped everything on the counter to inventory it and then waited while someone went back to get the right parts from electrical.

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by Lee Schierer View Post
    I've had mixed results using the various websites where you can see if the store actually has one or not. Many of the big box stores only do inventory once a year and the farther you get from that inventory, the less accurate their online information gets. This is even true if you are in the store and need two of something and there is only one on the shelf and you ask an employee to check inventory to see if they have another one.

    It is hard to understand because every item leaving the store is supposedly checked and recorded at the register. If their shop lifting is that bad, then they could easily support a full time detective in every store. Yeah, it is hard to believe that 39 people would shop lift cement mixing tubs without being noticed.


    Unless you have ever worked in a store, you have no idea what theft is like.
    I remember once we did an inventory in the electronics department and we were only short $40K. That was considered very good.
    Last edited by Dave Lehnert; 04-18-2018 at 9:50 PM.
    "Remember back in the day, when things were made by hand, and people took pride in their work?"
    - Rick Dale

  8. #8
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    I used to have to deal with quarterly inventories when I worked at CompUSA. They first had an outside inventory crew go through and count everything overnight on a Saturday night. The counts were compared against the store's inventory to find shortages and overages. The regular employees then came in real early in the morning to recheck everything that didn't match store inventory before the store opened on Sunday morning. This was long before the Internet.

    This wouldn't work nearly so well in today's big box stores. I actually bought a concrete mixing tub at Home Depot the other day and they had them in the store just as the website said.

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dave Lehnert View Post
    Unless you have ever worked in a store, you have no idea what theft is like.
    I remember once we did an inventory in the electronics department and we were only $40K. That was considered very good.
    Years ago I worked retail and we had several full time employees that wandered the store (K-Mart) and watched for shop lifters. They even had one way windows high up in the warehouse areas where they could sit and watch shoppers. They would catch 2-3 shop lifters every week. It should be even easier with cameras. How does one stick a cement mixing tub in their pockets or under their coat and walk out?
    Lee Schierer
    USNA '71
    Go Navy!

    My advice, comments and suggestions are free, but it costs money to run the site. If you found something of value here please give a little something back by becoming a contributor! Please Contribute

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dave Lehnert View Post
    Unless you have ever worked in a store, you have no idea what theft is like.
    I remember once we did an inventory in the electronics department and we were only $40K. That was considered very good.
    I worked at a CompUSA store starting about a month before it opened. The first quarter saw losses of only $10,000 total even with sales of nearly $100,000 per day. The store manager bought all employees a nice leather jacket to celebrate the low theft rate.

    The other day I saw a Makita cordless miter saw marked down to $399 from $649 at Home Depot, plus two free batteries. I decided to buy, but the store couldn't find the saw they were supposed to have in stock although they had the batteries. They said another store had like five of the saws in stock. They only had three saws, but no batteries even though inventory showed six of the batteries. The tool employee said they think the batteries were stolen as they had been looking for them for days. He also thought the other saw had been stolen. (How do you steal something in a box more than two feet on each side?) They couldn't get me the free batteries if I bought the saw. He said another store had the batteries, but no saw. I planned to go buy the batteries and then return at the store that had the saw. Luckily, the third store had both the saw and a set of batteries. I went to grab the saw to buy it and it turned out it was locked with a cable! The employee who unlocked it said theft is so bad they had to lock the saw down.

    I have no earthly idea why anyone would steal a concrete mixing tub. Too much work to get $12 back on a store credit, and no resale market. It sounds like the Lowes with 39 supposedly in stock just had bad inventory and not really stolen. Nobody is going to reorder something that shows plenty in stock unless someone manually fixes the problem.
    Last edited by Brian Elfert; 04-18-2018 at 10:01 PM.

  11. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by Lee Schierer View Post
    Years ago I worked retail and we had several full time employees that wandered the store (K-Mart) and watched for shop lifters. They even had one way windows high up in the warehouse areas where they could sit and watch shoppers. They would catch 2-3 shop lifters every week. It should be even easier with cameras. How does one stick a cement mixing tub in their pockets or under their coat and walk out?
    People just walk out with them.
    We use to have an small Hardware store here in town. They had problems with people grabbing high ticked items, going out the back fire exit to a car waiting for them. Long gone before employees could check the exit.
    I knew a lady that worked in a store, Said one Saturday in spring the garden department was busy selling lawn mowers. When the manager came in they told him the new employee he had was doing well making sales that day. The Manager said "I don't have any new employees" Turns out some kid had a store uniform on. Friends would pull up front and he would load them a new push mower. Never saw the kid again.
    "Remember back in the day, when things were made by hand, and people took pride in their work?"
    - Rick Dale

  12. #12
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    Lowes has a guarantee that if you place an order online it will be ready in 30 minutes when you come by. It checks the inventory as you place the order so they know it is in stock.
    Only problem is if they do not meet the promise there is nothing they do for you except tell you to come back in a few days and maybe the stuff will be in stock by then. no free delivery when it does come in, no gift card, no nothing!
    Bill D

  13. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by Dave Lehnert View Post
    I knew a lady that worked in a store, Said one Saturday in spring the garden department was busy selling lawn mowers. When the manager came in they told him the new employee he had was doing well making sales that day. The Manager said "I don't have any new employees" Turns out some kid had a store uniform on. Friends would pull up front and he would load them a new push mower. Never saw the kid again.
    Unbelieveable! That's like something out of a movie.
    And to steal lawnmowers? Even at $400 each, that's pretty bold. Justt 'wow'.

    I had no idea shoplifting was as huge a problem as the stories you folks are describing. Eye opening for sure.

    Fred
    "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."

    “If you want to know what a man's like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals.”

  14. #14
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    I've had the online inventory problem with both Lowes snd Home Depot. The best was at Lowes, when their website told me they had lots of the item, on Aisle Thirty-something. Went to pick it up and not only were they out of the item, there was no AISLE with that number in the store.

  15. #15
    Quote Originally Posted by Dave Lehnert View Post
    I worked in retail for 25 years.
    My guess is when the store did inventory, The employee from the inventory company scanned the shelf label, then counted whatever was in that spot. In your case concrete footers. There should be some kind of safeguard in their system to catch mistakes like that. We got a report at our company that listed items showing no sales for the week.
    Possible someone put them out someplace crazy in the store like outdoor garden. Thought they were pond liners or ???????
    My local lowe's now has an on-line pickup right by the front door. I can order online then drive to the store and get it once they confirm it is in stock.
    I know I can do that but I honestly shouldn't have to. I mean, Lowes is especially bad at this, but their online "product locator" is always way off. It tells you where in the store something is supposed to be, but invariably I have to ask because it's usually all the way on the other side of the store. And since they have no idea what they actually have, and their online inventory is so clearly off (and they should have just done inventory at the beginning of the year anyhow), showing up expecting something and them not having it would be pretty common.

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