Home Depot sure likes to waste money issuing rebates!

[Tom M King]

Electrical stuff, as well as plumbing stuff, is Way cheaper here at a dedicated supplier than in the box stores.

[Doug Garson]

Electrical stuff, as well as plumbing stuff, is Way cheaper here at a dedicated supplier than in the box stores.

Same here but some only sell business to business and many charge restocking charges for returns.

[Brian Elfert]

I don't know. There is a plumbing supply place near me and they charge more than either Home Depot or Menards. I've bought a few items at a large electrical supply house over the past 18 months and they are not any cheaper than HD, at least not for retail customers. Plenty of electricians say they buy wire at big box stores because it is cheaper than supply houses. Electricians were wiping out the electrical sections at big box stores in late 2020 because prices were going up much slower at big box stores than at electrical wholesalers. (That, and the fact that wholesalers simply had no inventory.)

[Mark Bolton]

Id agree with Brian here. The days of the supply house beating the home centers on price are long gone other than for certain quality items. Im friends with an owner of local supply and the same distributon that feeds them feeds the boxes. The gain to dealing with supply houses is service, being able to call in your order and have it ready, and that ridiculous feeling you get behind your zipper walking into the supply house and being stroked.
Service is rhe big one. The idiots who need the stroke and walk behind the counter being the big man are in the stone age.

Pretty much every plumbing and electrical contractor here shopela at the home center. HVAC is one of the last trades to hold out and protect themselves. Goodman is sewing the seeds to that end.

Use to be the supply houses could sell quality or crap. Those days are gone for the most part. The boxes have leveled the playing field. Vendors cant manufacture dual/triple lines of quality. Its extreme high end.. or what everyone buys.

[Alex Zeller]

The local hardware store just keeps all the information on the computer (so does Tractor Supply). So just entering your phone number and they just ask if you want to apply any discount or rebate vs dealing with cards.

[Brian Elfert]

The local hardware store just keeps all the information on the computer (so does Tractor Supply). So just entering your phone number and they just ask if you want to apply any discount or rebate vs dealing with cards.

The whole point of the rebates is not all of them will get redeemed so it really costs less than 11%. Home Depot used to just take 11% off at the register or give you a gift card on the spot if you asked to match Menards. HD decided a few years back to make it a rebate process like Menards. Menards and Home Depot use gift cards and merchandise credits to get you to come back to the store where most people spend more than just their rebate amount.

[Doug Garson]

Hmmmm, it's almost like Home Depot is making business decisions to maximize profit for their shareholders. Who'd a thunk that?

[Brian Elfert]

They aren't maximizing profit with all the waste in sending out rebates.

[Mark Bolton]

The crazy part of it all, and its understood its a matter of scale, but can you imagine the cost of implementation and execution of such things on their part and their shareholders and executives are still raking it in along side all that waste? Its mind blowing how much profit there is in flushing other countries down the toilet, completely destroying the marketplace in your "home country", overarchingly reducing quality of goods across the board in lieu of mega yachts, obliterating the environment with manufacturing and waste from returns.... on and on.. and they are STILL making money, and people just blindly and willingly march through the door with wallets open and extended, forking it over.

Its absolutely nuts and its unsustainable.

[mike stenson]

Its absolutely nuts and its unsustainable.

but it looks GREAT quarter/quarter.

Which, you know.. is about the maximum length of attention spans.

[Dave Lehnert]

I worked in retail for over 20 years. It would amaze me the lengths people would go to to save a buck or two.

I ran an outdoor garden center and we ran a promotion once where you received 3 cents off per gallon of gas for every bag of mulch you purchased. People would come in and buy a pickup full of mulch, go to the gas station fill up then come back and return the mulch.

Another promotion we offered a free hanging basket for just coming into the store to shop. Limit one per customer.
Customers would go out to their cars and change clothing . put on hats /sunglasses and keep coming in to get another free hanging basket.

My guess is Home Depot system is not set up to combine rebates because rebates is not their thing, They are just trying to make a way for the few customers who would rather buy from them vs Menard's to do so. If some customers see fit to abuse that process they just see it as the price of doing business until it gets out of control.

[Maurice Mcmurry]

Those rebates are a pain. I have over $2000.00 in Nard Nunny (Menards Rebate Money). I have not been interested figuring out my Home Depot rewards . Lowes gives 5% and often 10% on the spot with no need to have money to save money.

[Malcolm Schweizer]

I’m with Mark Bolton. The problem isn’t with Home Depot; it’s with your ethics. You figured out a way to “beat the system” by taking advantage of a loophole that clearly wasn’t the way the rebate was intended and you came here to brag about it. Personally, I think this thread should be removed, as it serves no purpose other than teaching people to take advantage of Home Depot.

[Malcolm McLeod]

I’m with Mark Bolton. The problem isn’t with Home Depot; it’s with your ethics. You figured out a way to “beat the system” by taking advantage of a loophole that clearly wasn’t the way the rebate was intended and you came here to brag about it. Personally, I think this thread should be removed, as it serves no purpose other than teaching people to take advantage of Home Depot.

Ethics aside, I read thru the process and figure there's 15-20 minutes required for every rebate dollar (planning, purchase, application, opening envelopes, extra trip to store, etc). ...maybe $4/hr.? Maybe. On a good day.

My time is worth more than that. And maybe I'm just lucky, so if someone is in a financial tight, $12-$15/hr jobs are posted on the door of every retail venue I've been to in the last 6-8 months. Productive opportunities abound.

[Scott Brader]

I’m with Mark Bolton. The problem isn’t with Home Depot; it’s with your ethics. You figured out a way to “beat the system” by taking advantage of a loophole that clearly wasn’t the way the rebate was intended and you came here to brag about it. Personally, I think this thread should be removed, as it serves no purpose other than teaching people to take advantage of Home Depot.

A few individuals scamming the system leads to ruining it for the rest of us. It's not just the Home Depot rebate issue; it's everything. People are always looking for a loophole and it hurts the people following the spirit of the rule.